On the last day of May, a surface-to-air rocket was signed out of a military base near Moscow where it had been stored for more than 20 years.

• July 29, 2014

Ukraine said its troops had taken more territory from pro-Russian rebels near the site where Malaysian flight MH17 was brought down, as international investigators said fighting was preventing them reaching the crash location.

• July 28, 2014

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Russia would use its influence with separatists in east Ukraine to allow a full investigation into the downing of a Malaysian airliner, but said the West must put pressure on Kiev to end hostilities.

• July 22, 2014

Israel pounded targets across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, saying no ceasefire was near as top U.S. and U.N. diplomats pursued talks on halting fighting that has claimed more than 600 lives.

• July 22, 2014

Russia's Severstal CHMF.MM said it would sell two U.S. steel plants for $2.3 billion, withdrawing from the U.S. market at a time of rising tension between Russia and the West and turning its focus to its domestic business.

• July 21, 2014

The European Union should impose harder-hitting sanctions on Russia after the downing of a Malaysian airliner in Ukraine, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday, advocating an EU ban on future sales of military equipment to Moscow.

• July 21, 2014

Germany's foreign minister said on Saturday now may be Moscow's last opportunity to prove it is serious about peace in Ukraine as Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated her call on Russia's Vladimir Putin to use his influence over pro-Moscow separatists.

• July 19, 2014

Israeli tanks and bulldozers dug in across a mile-wide strip of Gaza's eastern frontier on Saturday, and Palestinian officials said military strikes had killed more than 300 people, most of them civilians.

• July 19, 2014