Vladimir Putin to Hold Security Council Meeting in Sevastopol

MOSCOW. KAZINFORM - Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to travel to the port city of Sevastopol in southwestern Crimea where he is to attend a scheduled meeting of the nation's Security Council, the Kremlin said early Wednesday.

Putin's working visit to the Crimean Federal District will run through Wednesday and Thursday, when the president is expected to fly back to Moscow to speak before the assembly of Russian political factions in the Duma, the lower house of the country's parliament, according to RIA Novosti. The Council last met on August 8, when it discussed the humanitarian disaster in Ukraine's east. To tackle the issue, Russia offered to send humanitarian cargo to the affected territories under the auspices of the Red Cross. On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Kiev had notified Moscow it was ready to receive humanitarian aid cargo, with US State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf later saying Washington had backed this proposal and called for its "swift implementation." A convoy of 280 trucks is expected to arrive at the Ukrainian border on Wednesday, carrying some 2,000 tons of relief aid contributed by Moscow and the Moscow Region.