Information Telegraph Agency of Russia

Russia and Turkey may give preferential treatment to some sectors of their economies, the Russian Minister for Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev has said.

Lawmakers in Ukraine have passed a bill introduced by President Petro Poroshenko envisaging limited self-determination for the country's east.

Ukraine's government is now calling for local elections (both municipal and general) to be held on December 7 in self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk "people's republics", Russian agency ITAR-TASS and Ukrainian media websites have announced.

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has proposed on Monday a special three-year self-rule status for the Donetsk and Lugansk regions and the free use of the Russian language there.

Poroshenko told top lawmakers the proposal would be part of a broader deal with the pro-independence rebels.

Russia's Turpomosch will soon complete the evacuation of Russian tourists stranded in hotels abroad after tour operators Yuzhnii Krest and Solvex-Tour halted operations.

The 200 trucks in Russia's second convoy with humanitarian aid for the troubled eastern regions of Ukraine have crossed the border Friday night and Saturday morning, reports RT.com. 

"At 08:00 Moscow time  the customs procedures for all trucks and goods in them were completed," local customs service spokesman Rayan Farukshin told RIA Novosti news agency.

Yuzhnii Krest, yet another Russian touroperator, filed for bankruptcy, reports ITAR-TASS. 

According to the agency, the company currently has more than 10 000 customers abroad, with another more than 28 000 to go on vacation this week.

According to preliminary information, it does not have clients on holiday in Bulgaria. 

The Council of the European Union is to go ahead with a new package of sanctions targeting Russia on Friday, a diplomatic source has announced.

Measures could however be reversed depending on the situation in the east of Ukraine, the source was quoted by Russian agency ITAR-TASS as saying.

A Russian Defence Ministry official dismissed on Tuesday a complaint by Ottawa that Russian military aircraft had acted provocatively by flying near a Canadian warship sailing in the Black Sea.
   
Canadian Defence Minister Rob Nicholson said on Monday that Russian aircraft had on Sunday circled the frigate Toronto as it took part in a military exercise in the Black Sea.

Major Saint Petersburg tour operator Solvex-Tourne has suspended activities as of Monday, Russia's Union of Tourism Industry reported, as cited by Russian media outlets.

Some 9,000 clients of the company are abroad now, as most of them are staying in Greece and Bulgaria. About 8,500 clients have paid for their tours in 2013.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has announced Moscow could restrict the movement of foreign flights in its airspace if new sector sanctions are introduced against the country.

"If there are sanctions related to energy [or] further restrictions to our financial sector, we have to respond asymmetrically," Russian agency ITAR-TASS quoted Medvedev as saying.