NATO member Poland invited manufacturers of short-range surface-to-air missiles for technical talks for a planned military revamp amid heightened tensions with Russia.
Russia endorsed a crushing victory for Ukraine's pro-Moscow rebel leadership after controversial polls that the EU slammed as a "new obstacle" for peace.
NATO reported more Russian military flights and interceptsover the Baltics, North Sea and Atlantic, just days after it picked up "an unusual level" of activity over European airspace.
Russia agreed to resume gas deliveries to war-torn Ukraine through the winter in an EU-brokered, multi-billion dollar deal signed by the three parties in Brussels.
NATO said it had tracked and intercepted four groups of Russian warplanes "conducting significant military manoeuvres" in European airspace over the past two days.
Thousands of Russians gathered outside the former KGB headquarters in Moscow for an annual ritual commemorating the tens of thousands killed in Stalin-era repressions.
Russia announced it will recognise separatist polls in Ukraine next weekend, sparking an angry reaction from Washington and Kiev's newly elected pro-Western leaders.
I want to emphasize that when the USA and other nations were drafting sanctions, the sanctions were to be pin-pointed to be targeted at certain figures and companies, he said.
Kazakh singer Diana Sharapova has joined the team of Russian popular singer Leonid Agutin at Golos, a Russian version of internationally renowned The Voice.