From our newsroom:
A Kazakh citizen prosecutors say fought alongside pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine is being tried on charges of intentional and illegal participation in a military conflict abroad.
Yevgeny Vdovenko went on trial at Sary-Arqa District Court in the Kazakh capital, Astana, on December 12.
Prosecutors told the court that Vdovenko, 30, took part in military operations in Ukraine, used weapons, guarded checkpoints, and patrolled the city of Luhansk, one of two provincial capitals held by separatists whose conflict with government forces has killed 4,300 people since April.
Vdovenko was arrested in October and faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.
He pleaded "partially guilty," saying that he did not go to Ukraine to kill people or overthrow a government.
"I went there to help the local people," he said.
Vdovenko served three years in jail between 2009 and 2012 for robbery and illegal weapons possession.
Based on reporting by KazTAG and Interfax
From our newsroom:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says there is a chance to end the war in eastern Ukraine and called for new peace talks.
Lavrov was speaking in Moscow on December 12, hours after Ukrainian President Petro Posrohenko said that a "real" cease-fire is now in place between government forces and pro-Russian separatists.
Lavrov said that "a chance to establish peace in Ukraine has emerged. It has been difficult, but a truce has been established, a cease-fire regime has been established."
He said, "We need to find a way to resume the work of the Contact Group" -- the mechanism for talks between representatives of Ukraine, the rebels, Russia, and the OSCE, which produced a September 5 agreement on a cedase-fire and steps toward peace.
Lavrov said there is now a "constructive base to move forward" on the "economic restoration" of the regions affected by the conflict and "establishing political dialogue that should eventually lead to a constitutional reform" in Ukraine.
Russia insists it supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine and has repeatedly called on Kyiv to establish direct dialogue with separatist authorities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Based on reporting by RIA Novosti, Reuters, and Interfax