By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- Russia says it is carrying out massive new military exercises close to the border with Ukraine in response to what Moscow views as "provocative actions" by the NATO military alliance in neighbouring states.

By BosNewsLife News Center TASHKENT/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Mourning Christians in several parts of Uzbekistan are wondering where they can bury their loved ones after authorities refused to allow funerals in state-owned cemeteries amid pressure from Muslim leaders, rights investigators say.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- Ukraine's interim President Olexander Turchynov has warned two regions in eastern Ukraine that Sunday's referendums on declaring independence could lead to their destruction. His comments came while Christians were distributing Bible books to help ease tensions, following deadly clashes between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces.

By BosNewsLife News Center with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos MINSK/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Christians say a pastor in southeast Belarus may face criminal charges after police raided his church venue during a Sunday worship service as part of a wider government crackdown on devoted believers in the autocratically-ruled former Soviet nation.

(AS UKRAINE PREPARES FOR A TURBULENT SPRING, BOSNEWSLIFE RE-PRINTS A KEY STORY BOSNEWSLIFE COVERED IN 2006). CHERNOBYL, UKRAINE

CHERNOBYL, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- Fresh flowers in front of a small statue resembling the Virgin Mary revealed that at least some Ukrainians returned Wednesday, April 26, to the 30 kilometers (19 miles) "exclusion zone" around the country's leaking Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which exploded 20 years ago.

By BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest BAKU/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Devoted Christians on Tuesday, August 14, prepared to go to Azerbaijan's Supreme Court after a lower tribunal upheld a decision to close down their Baku Greater Grace Protestant Church, adding to concerns about a reported crackdown on Protestants in Azerbaijan.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife BUDAPEST/VILNIUS (BosNewsLife)-- Lithuania has closed down its Soviet-built nuclear power plant as part of an agreement with the European Union, ushering in a new era of energy uncertainty for the country.

Listen to this BosNewsLife News report via Vatican Radio:  By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Dozens of people, including politicians, have been seriously injured when Ukrainian anti-government protesters clashed with police in the capital Kyiv. The overnight violence broke out after Ukrainian court handed down a six-year jail sentence to far right activists Igor Musiychuk, Volodymyr Spara and Sergiy Bevz.

By BosNewsLife News Center MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Christian missionaries say they have stepped up efforts to spread the "Gospel pf peace and hope" in Russia's volatile North Caucasus after revelations that the suspected Boston Marathon bombers arrived from that region.

By Peter Fedynsky, reporting from Moscow MOSCOW, RUSSIA (BosNewsLife)-- The second murder of a Russian priest in as many months has prompted a call by the Orthodox Church for Russians to think about their country's spiritual and moral condition.