By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent KIEV/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- One year after the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by Russia, Ukrainian Christians say they are still facing persecution there by pro-Russian separatists who already killed several believers.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)--Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, May 9, arrived in the Crimean Peninsula he annexed from Ukraine, after a Christian mission group said it would distribute hundreds of thousands of 'Gospel of Luke' Bible books in the region to help ease tensions amid fears of a new world war.

By BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest TASHKENT/BUDAPEST-- Police in Uzbekistan broke up a Protestant youth conference, detaining dozens of Christians, and separately raided and Protestant church feeding homeless people for allegedly violating local regulations, a religious rights group said Wednesday, April 21.

By BosNewsLife News Center BAKU/TBILISI (BosNewsLife)-- Christian activists have urged prayers for a frail Christian evangelist from Azerbaijan who has been spending a year behind bars in neighboring Georgia on what his supporters say are "trumped up charges" of drugs possession. If convicted the man could face 14 years imprisonment, Christians said.

Listen to this BosNewsLife News report via Vatican Radio:  By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- As many as half a million Ukrainians have participated in a pro-European Union rally in the capital Kyiv, where many toppled the statue of late Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin and called for the president to step down. Sunday's rally was the biggest demonstration since the pro-freedom Orange Revolution in 2004.

Listen to this BosNewsLife News report via Vatican Radio: Listen to Stefan Bos' report:   By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife RIGA, LATVIA (BosNewsLife)-- Officials say at least 51 people are now known to have died in the collapse of a supermarket roof late on Thursday in the Latvian capital, Riga. The Prime Minister has announced three days of mourning amid a police investigation into the worst disaster to hit the small Baltic nation in decades.

By BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest BUDAPEST/ASTANA/BISHKEK (BosNewsLife)-- Devoted Christians in autocratically ruled Kazakhstan and neighboring Kyrgyzstan face church closures and state control over Christian materials amid a fresh crackdown by authorities on faith groups in the region, BosNewsLife learned Friday, December 14.

Listen to this BosNewsLife News report via Vatican Radio:   By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife

KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- The NATO military alliance has warned Russia against making what it calls an "historic mistake" by supporting calls for secession in eastern Ukraine, that Moscow itself admitted could spill into a civil war.  

Listen to this BosNewsLife News report via Vatican Radio:   By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV/MOSCOW (BosNewsLife)-- Western leaders have expressed concern that Russia may move into other regions after it annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, where at least one person was injured this weekend in a Russian takeover of two Ukrainian bases. NATO and German officials said Sunday, March 23, the conflict could expand to eastern parts of Ukraine, and even the nearby former Soviet republic of Moldova.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife MOSCOW/KYIV/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Russian President Vladimir Putin has recognized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula as an independent state and says approving the region's entry into the Russian Federation makes sense.