BRUSSELS, May 12 - The European Union is set to step up pressure on Russia on Monday by taking a first cautious step towards extending sanctions to companies, as well as people, linked to Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region, Reuters reported.

Discussions among EU foreign ministers in Brussels will again be dominated by the Ukraine crisis after pro-Moscow rebels held a referendum on self-rule in parts of eastern Ukraine on Sunday and fighting flared up again.

KIEV, May 11 - Pro-Moscow rebels declared a resounding victory in a referendum on self-rule for eastern Ukraine, with some saying that meant independence and others eventual union with Russia as fighting flared in a conflict increasingly out of control, Reuters reported.

KIEV, May 10 – The Ukrainian law on access to public information came into force on May 9.

As reported, on February 3, 2011, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych signed a law on access to public information and a law on amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine on ensuring access to public information, which the parliament adopted on January 13, 2011.

KIEV, May 10 – Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn and European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek at a meeting in Strasbourg discussed the liberalization of the visa regime and the talks on signing an association agreement and creating a free trade area between Ukraine and the EU.

KIEV, May 10 - Yulia Tymoshenko, the leader of the Batkivschyna party and a former Ukrainian prime minister, has filed a complaint with Kiev's Pechersky Court against the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office for opening a criminal investigation related to the 2009 Ukrainian-Russian gas contracts against her.

KIEV, May 11 – President Viktor Yanukovych will take steps to stop escalating tensions between Ukrainian regions following street clashes between nationalists and pro-Russian groups in Lviv on Monday, a presidential ally said Wednesday.

Yuriy Miroshnichenko, a lawmaker, responded to criticism aired by opposition parties that it is Yanukovych’s divisive policies that had caused the clashes, leaving at least two with serious injuries during the Victory Day celebrations.

SEVASTOPOL, May 7 - Russian ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov said that after the decision to prolong the duration of the stay of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine the amount of rent went up to $1.8 billion a year.

KIEV, May 11 - Opposition groups scheduled their next protest rally for May 17, when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is due to arrive in Kiev to sign a number of undisclosed deals in the energy sector.

KIEV, May 11 – Parliament’s freedom of speech committee will get together on Wednesday to look into reports of censorship that has been allegedly introduced at the country’s two popular television stations, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

KIEV, May 11 – Yulia Tymoshenko, former prime minister and the leader of Ukraine’s largest opposition group, was summoned to the Prosecutor General’s Office Wednesday in connection with a criminal investigation, her party said Tuesday.