The United States and its allies are discussing imposing more sanctions against Russia for undermining a European-brokered truce in eastern Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday.

• February 21, 2015

Kiev accused Russia on Friday of sending more tanks and troops into eastern Ukraine and said they were heading towards the rebel-held town of Novoazovsk on the southern coast, expanding their presence on what could be the next key battlefront.

• February 20, 2015

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called for U.N. peacekeepers to be deployed to monitor a ceasefire in east Ukraine, a proposal that pro-Russia rebels swiftly said would be in breach of a peace deal.

• February 19, 2015

Greece's government said it was up to euro zone finance ministers to decide whether to accept or reject its proposal to extend a loan agreement, in a bid to play down German comments rejecting the proposal as insufficient.

• February 19, 2015

Sweden and Finland plan to extend their cooperation on defense and set up a joint naval task force as the two neighbors respond to rising tensions with Russia in the Baltic region.

• February 18, 2015

Germany will overhaul its security strategy in coming years in response to Russian attempts to use "power politics and military force" to assert its interests, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday.

• February 17, 2015

Insights into Turkish Domestic and International Politics
1 January – 5 February 2015
By John VanPool, EGF Turkey and Black Sea Regional Analyst

Key Points:

• Fethullah Gulen lambasts the AKP in the pages of The New York Times for Turkey’s perceived lurch toward autocracy. The government responds by seizing Gulen-affiliated Bank Asya for a lack of transparency.
• Free speech and journalism are increasingly under threat in Turkey as the AKP continues to crack down on critics, regardless of the issue.
• Greece’s new right-wing defence minister threatens to undermine Turkish-Greek relations in the eastern Mediterranean.
• The Turkish lira continues to slide against the dollar after the Turkish Central Bank considers cutting interest rates. President Erdogan continues to push for lower rates as a measure of fighting inflation, despite general economic theory to the contrary.

• February 17, 2015

Debt-laden Greece and EU paymaster Germany struck hardline postures ahead of a crucial meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday on the future of an unpopular international bailout for Athens, but France called for a compromise

• February 16, 2015