The OSCE's parliamentary assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution condemning Russia's actions in Ukraine, further isolating Moscow in an organization created to facilitate dialogue between eastern and western Europe.

"The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly condemns the Russian federation's unilateral and unjustified assault on Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and the continuation of clear, gross and uncorrected violations of the principles of the Helsinki Final Act," the resolution said.

Georgian troops on Wednesday launched joint military exercises with United States marines and soldiers from four Eastern European NATO members, the pro-Western ex-Soviet nation's defense ministry said.

The drills dubbed "Agile Spirit 2015" are part of a "substantive package" of measures aimed at bringing Georgia -- which has long sought full NATO membership -- closer to the U.S.-led alliance's standards, the ministry said in a statement.

Lawmakers in Russia's pro-Kremlin upper chamber called on authorities Wednesday to blacklist 12 foreign NGOs as "undesirable," the first official proposal under a new law critics say is part of a clampdown on civil society.

An aide to senator Andrei Klishas confirmed that 12 organizations, including U.S.-based Freedom House, the National Endowment for Democracy and the Ukrainian World Congress, have been included on a proposed "patriotic stop list."

Global powers wrestling for a historic nuclear deal with Iran gave themselves yet more time Tuesday after foreign ministers failed to bridge what one diplomat called "very, very, very tough" remaining issues.

Iran and the P5+1 group -- the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany -- effectively gave themselves until Friday to agree a deal by extending the terms of a 2013 interim accord under which Iran has been curtailing its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.

The Russian military ordered Tuesday a snap combat readiness check of its troops stationed in Armenia as the Caucasus country grapples with anti-government protests.

"During the snap inspection, a commission will assess the readiness of duty troops in the air force unit stationed in Erebuni and at the military base in Gyumri to perform assigned tasks," Russia's southern military district said in a statement.

Russian police on Tuesday raided the offices of election watchdog Golos as well as the homes of its employees, a lawyer for the group said, amid an ever-increasing crackdown on independent voices in the country.

Earlier Tuesday police raided the homes of several Golos employees, including the apartment of senior executive Grigory Melkonyants and confiscated equipment including computers.

Kiev said Tuesday that Russia had cut off electricity to Ukraine's rebel-run regions in what appears to be another sign that Moscow is losing interest in plans to splinter its neighbor.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has gone through an extended spell without peppering his speeches with mentions of a "New Russia" (Novorossiya) made up of Ukrainian lands that were once under tsarist control.

Two pilots of a Russian military aircraft were killed Monday when their jet crashed during a training mission in the far east of the country, the defense ministry said, the latest in a string of accidents involving military planes.

"The aircraft suffered a crash during take-off in a planned training flight near the Khurba aerodrome. The two pilots were killed," the ministry said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders will discuss the threat the Islamic State group poses in Afghanistan at a Eurasian security summit in Russia this week, a Chinese official said Monday.

Xi travels to the Russian city of Ufa for a summit on Thursday and Friday of leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Greece has moved a step closer towards a eurozone exit, Russia's deputy economy minister said Sunday, as early results from a crucial bailout referendum suggested Greeks had overwhelmingly rejected creditors' demands for more austerity.

"You can't fail to understand" that this means "a step towards an exit from the eurozone", Alexei Likhachev was quoted as saying by the state TASS news agency.