The leaders of France, Germany and Russia discussed the Ukraine crisis over the phone on Saturday and agreed to hold a new summit in the coming weeks, said the French presidency.

Francois Hollande, Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin once again reaffirmed their support for the "Minsk II" peace measures agreed in February. 

A top Republican from the U.S. Congress on Saturday blasted the Iran nuclear deal as "deeply flawed" and said the agreement would make the world "less safe."

Congress is due to vote next month on whether to endorse the deal reached in July between Iran and six world powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

Russia on Friday hosted the newly appointed U.S. special envoy for Syria as world powers intensify efforts to end the four-year civil war raging in the country.

The new envoy, Michael Ratney, who was appointed to his position last month, had previously worked for the State Department in the Middle East.

Estonia on Thursday said it would build a fence along its eastern border with Russia to safeguard its security and to protect the EU's passport-free Schengen zone.

Interior ministry spokesman Toomas Viks said construction would begin in 2018.

A former leader of pro-Russian separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine on Thursday announced he was launching a support network for Russian volunteers who fought in the conflict and the families of those killed.

"A lot of people lost their health, lost their jobs, there are the families of the fallen," Alexander Borodai said at a news conference in Moscow.

NATO on Thursday opened a training center in Georgia as the ex-Soviet country eyes closer partnership with the Western military alliance amid tensions with Russia.

The establishment of the NATO-Georgian Joint Training and Evaluation Center, to be based just outside the capital Tbilisi, is aimed at buttressing the small ex-Soviet country which fought a five-day war with Russia in 2008.

The final report into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over war-torn eastern Ukraine last year will be released in October 13, Dutch investigators said on Thursday.

"The Dutch Safety Board (OVV) informed relatives and the accredited representatives to the investigation that the board will publish the final report on the investigation into flight MH17 on 13 October 2015," the board said in a statement.

A Russian military court in Tajikistan on Wednesday sentenced two soldiers from Moscow's largest foreign military base to lengthy prison terms for murdering a local taxi driver.

Fyodor Basimov and Ildar Sakhapov, both 24, were stationed at Russia's 201st military base in Tajikistan when they killed 36-year-old Rahimjon Teshaboev last year.

Ties between the EU and Russia remain at their lowest ebb over the conflict in Ukraine, ahead of a series of key talks including a visit by President Petro Poroshenko to Brussels on Thursday.

Renewed fighting in eastern Ukraine between pro-Moscow rebels and Kiev's government forces has made a mockery of a February ceasefire, while the European Union has renewed tough sanctions against Russia.

Syrian President Bashar Assad described on Tuesday as "legitimate" the presence of fighters from Hizbullah in Syria to back his forces against anti-regime gunmen.

"The difference (between Hizbullah and foreign anti-regime fighters) is legitimacy. Who invited Hizbullah to Syria?" Assad asked.