GORKI, March 21 - Observer status in the Customs Union will not allow Ukraine to influence decision-making in the union, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said.

KIEV, March 21 – Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev said Thursday Ukraine should quit the European Energy Community for Gazprom to participate in a joint venture to operate Ukrainian pipelines moving Russian gas to Europe.

KIEV, March 21 – Parliament on Thursday gave preliminary approval to a resolution opening the way for a Kiev mayoral election, but developments may escalate into political crisis when the Constitutional Court announces its verdict on the matter.

NEW YORK, March 21 – Ukraine’s top diplomat promised fair and free parliamentary elections in October, but offered few clues to whether jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and other opposition leaders will be able to run for seats.

KHARKIV, March 21 – Sanctions may be imposed on Ukraine if it ignores an instruction of the European Court of Human Rights regarding the treatment of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in a hospital outside the Kachanivska Penal Colony (Kharkiv), according to Tymoshenko's defense lawyer, Serhiy Vlasenko.

KIEV, March 18 – President Viktor Yanukovych has instructed Deputy Prime Minister and Social Policy Minister Serhiy Tyhypko to take steps to eliminate wage arrears in the country.

KIEV, March 18 – The final date for the completion of reconstruction work at the Olympiysky National Sports Complex in Kiev will be disclosed in late May, President Viktor Yanukovych has said.

MINSK, March 21 - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko plans to take part in events devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster to be held in Kiev in April, said Valentin Velichko Belarusian ambassador to Ukraine.

KIEV, March 21 - The 17-year process of the contractual and legal registration of a free trade area of the Commonwealth of Independent States should be completed as scheduled in May, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development and Trade Andriy Kliuyev said.

KIEV, March 21 - A Palestinian who went missing last month in Ukraine after boarding a train in Kharkov headed to Kiev was kidnapped by agents of Mossad and taken to Israel against his will, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.