Kyiv's St. Sophia Cathedral from an amazing viewpoint:
Russia says it wants to have gas talks in the Ukraine-Russia-EU format before the end of the year:
Discovery of some 300 cubic meters of illegally chopped oak trees in the Zhitomir region.
Navalny Calls Minsk Accords A Priority If Elected President
By RFE/RL
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has followed his declaration of intent to run in Russia’s next presidential election by saying one of his top priorities if elected would be to implement the Minsk accords aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine.
Speaking to Current Time TV, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL and VOA, on December 15, Navalny said that "the first measure that we must carry out is implementation of the Minsk accords."
Those accords -- agreed among Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany in the Belarusian capital in February 2015 -- called for elections, a return of border control, and other measures to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 9,700 people as Kyiv battles Russia-backed separatists.
"Putin himself talks about this endlessly but does practically nothing about it," Navalny said. "The Minsk accords were signed by Russia, they need to be fulfilled, and that would be the first step to resolving the situation with Ukraine."
The United States, European Union, and allies responded to Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine with economic sanctions and other punitive measures.
The Minsk accords call for pulling out all foreign armed groups from the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine, withdrawing heavy weaponry, returning control of Ukraine's border to Kyiv, and ensuring local elections in parts of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions that are held by Russian-backed separatists.
Dutch PM Confident Parliament Will Pass EU-Ukraine Association Agreement
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says he is confident parliament will approve a compromise he secured from other European Union leaders on an EU-Ukraine pact.
Rutte’s government on December 16 prepared legislation clearing the way for parliament to approve the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, despite the rejection of the trade pact by Dutch voters in an April advisory referendum.
The fresh legislation comes a day after EU leaders offered additional guarantees about the trade pact demanded by The Netherlands.
In a special statement, EU leaders who met in Brussels on December 15 said Ukraine’s Association Agreement "does not confer on Ukraine the status of a candidate country for accession to the union, nor does it constitute a commitment to confer such status to Ukraine in the future."
The statement also says the pact "does not contain an obligation for the union or its member states to provide collective security guarantees or other military aid or assistance to Ukraine."
The Netherlands is the only EU country that has not ratified the deal.
The trade pact is vital to Kyiv’s efforts to establish closer ties with the West since mass protests toppled pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich in early 2014.