Russia expects no breakthroughs at Berlin summit:
Russia says it does not expect any breakthrough in resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine at an upcoming summit in Berlin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the comments on October 19, hours before the leaders of Russia, France, Germany, and Ukraine were scheduled to discuss the peace process.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he did not have "very high expectations."
Peskov also said the aim of the meeting was to assess the situation and identify obstacles to implementing the Minsk peace agreement.
The 2015 accord brokered by France and Germany has helped end large-scale fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists in the country's east, but clashes have continued and efforts to reach a political settlement have stalled.
The conflict has killed more than 9,600 people since April 2014.
On the sidelines of the Berlin summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande are expected to discuss Syria with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, but Merkel cautioned against expecting "miracles" to come out of the talks.
Germany and France are sharply critical of Moscow's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and accuse both sides of atrocities in the five-year-war. (Reuters, AFP, AP)
With video
Here's an item that's been sent to us by RFE/RL's Christopher Miller:
LGBT Film Event Disrupted By Nationalists In Ukraine
KYIV -- A group of nationalists has violently interrupted an LGBT film event in western Ukraine, an activist says.
Olena Shevchenko, an activist for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, wrote on Facebook that police did "nothing" to prevent the group of right-wing Azov and Pravy Sektor battalion members from disturbing the October 18 event in the city of Chernivtsi.
Pictures shared on social media show some members wearing masks and rubber gloves, while others wore military fatigues.
Contacted by RFE/RL on October 19, Shevchenko said the nationalists were around 50 in number.
She also said two men -- one Ukrainian and one German -- suffered light injuries after being attacked by Azov members.
Around 20 people had come to the venue to watch the 2015 documentary film "This is Gay Propaganda."
Directed by a Ukrainian-Canadian filmmaker, it follows the progress of the Euromaidan revolution and the conflict in eastern Ukraine through interviews with members of Ukraine's LGBT community.
LGBT advocates say the community is being ignored by Ukraine's pro-Western government as homophobic attacks continue.
From a Kremlin-funded network (and, despite the headline, only Syria's parliament speaker has said this. There is no news of a formal decision having been made by Damascus yet):