The daughter of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov says that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "politically" responsible for her

The ceasefire in eastern Ukraine between Kiev's forces and pro-Russian rebels is largely being observed but is still on "thin ice," an OSCE

A group of "battle-hardened" armed thieves attacked two heavily guarded vans carrying jewels at a French motorway toll in the dead of night, making off with a haul worth some nine million euros ($11 million), police said yesterday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel won't attend a May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow but will visit the Russian capital a day later, her office said yesterday, amid tensions over the Ukraine conflict.

Zaur Dadayev, a former Chechen police officer, who admitted taking part in the murder of Russian opposition activist Boris Nemtsov "likely confessed under torture", a member of the Kremlin's human rights council told AFP yesterday.

Russia has said that it has the right to deploy nuclear weapons to Crimea, a year after Vladimir Putin seized the territory from Ukraine following a referendum.

President Vladimir Putin has revealed the moment he says he gave the secret order for Russia's annexation of Crimea and described how Russian troops were ready to fight to rescue Ukraine's deposed, pro-Moscow president.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel waded into the fraught area of wartime forgiveness during a visit to Japan yesterday, saying that "facing history squarely" and "generous gestures" are necessary to mend ties.

Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine claimed yesterday to have completed their end of a February deal with government forces to withdraw heavy weapons from the frontline as part of a truce.

EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini said yesterday a "good deal" was near as an end-March deadline looms over talks on Iran's controversial nuclear programme.

The US and Russian foreign ministers expressed cautious optimism after holding talks in Geneva yesterday

Ukraine's frontlines were relatively calm yesterday ahead of high-level EU-mediated gas talks between Kiev and Moscow.

Ukraine yesterday said that isolated clashes were punctuating a shaky truce with pro-Russian rebels after international monitors warned that the conflict in the country stands at a "crossroads".

China has voiced its support for Russia's handling of the Ukraine crisis, with prominent diplomat Qu Xing calling on the West to "abandon its zero-sum mentality".

A UN-backed ceasefire showed signs of taking hold in Ukraine on Wednesday, but tensions remained high after the US accused Russia of "lies" and Britain ordered a small troop deployment to train Kiev's forces.

Foreign ministers from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France yesterday called for a total ceasefire in eastern Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin ruled out the "apocalyptic scenario" of all-out war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that Iran was a year away from making a nuclear bomb was contradicted by his secret services, according to reports Monday citing leaked documents.

Pro-Russian forces massing near Ukraine's port city of Mariupol are continuing to attack government troop positions, Kiev said yesterday, fuelling concerns for the fate of an internationally brokered ceasefire.

A bomb killed two people during a pro-government march in the east Ukraine city of Kharkiv on Sunday, officials said, as Kiev's army and rebels wrangled over a truce requiring them to pull back heavy weapons.

The families of three British schoolgirls feared to be travelling to join the Islamic State (ISIS) group in Syria issued emotional appeals for them to come home Saturday.