Russia

The five countries bordering the Caspian Sea have met for a summit in the Russian city of Astrakhan, with efforts to close a deal on the distribution of the sea’s vast energy reserves and joint military actions on their agenda.

Ukraine on Aug. 19 pressed on with a punishing offensive to win back its war-torn east, after claiming that pro-Russian rebels had killed "dozens" of fleeing civilians in a rocket strike.
      

11 civilians killed in shelling of Donetsk

DONETSK -- Eleven civilians were killed and eight wounded in the shelling of Donetsk carried out by Ukrainian government forces.

The announcement was made by local officials in this stronghold of pro-Russian forces.

More than 27,000 Russian tourists have been stranded abroad, a tour operators association said Monday, as the latest in a series of travel companies failed amid strains over the Ukrainian crisis.
      

Two shareholders of Turkey’s largest mobile operator Turkcell, Turkish Çukurova Holding and Russian Altimo, have reached an agreement in an ongoing legal battle, a U.K. court looking into the legal dispute between parties has announced.

BELGRADE - There is no ban on Serbian pork meat exports to Russia, Serbian Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic said on Friday.

He denied media reports that another shipment of Serbian meat has been returned from Russia, adding that the next ten shipments from the Koteks company will be under particular scrutiny.

Russia has re-deployed "significant" military forces near its border with Ukraine and stockpiled additional tanks and artillery at a southwestern site, a US official said Friday.
      
Washington had information that the equipment and forces were being prepared by Moscow "to provide active support for separatist fighters," a senior US administration official said.
      

Russian tanks in Ukraine "unacceptable"

KIEV -- Petro Poroshenko has announced that he told Vladimir Putin that the entry of three Russian tanks into the Ukrainian territory was "unacceptable."

This is what Poroshenko's spokesman "wrote on Facebook," agencies reported.

The Russian and Ukrainian presidents spoke on the phone.

Two men have been given life sentences by a Moscow court for the 2006 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, reports BBC.

Rustam Makhmudov was given a life sentence for pulling the trigger. His uncle Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, one of those found guilty of organising the murder, was also jailed for life. 

A Russian court on June 9 sentenced two men found guilty of the murder of prominent journalist Anna Politkovskaya to life imprisonment, and handed lengthy prison terms to three others involved in the killing.