Japan protested after Chinese fighter jets flew "abnormally close" to Japanese military aircraft over the East China Sea on Wednesday, Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said.

• June 11, 2014

Russia and Ukraine resumed efforts to settle their gas price row on Wednesday after Kiev rejected a proposal that would have cut its gas bill by around a fifth and averted a possible suspension of supplies that would also hit the rest of Europe.

• June 11, 2014

China said on Tuesday that it wanted to counter Vietnam's "slander" to the world about what was happening in disputed areas of the South China Sea, after Beijing asked the United Nations to circulate documents outlining its position.

• June 10, 2014

Russia would consider any further expansion of NATO forces near its borders a "demonstration of hostile intentions" and would take political and military measures to ensure its own security, a senior diplomat was quoted on Monday as saying.

• June 9, 2014

The United States pledged millions of dollars in additional aid to Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia on Saturday, deepening American support to the Western-leaning countries on Russia's border.

• June 8, 2014

Ukraine's newly-installed President Petro Poroshenko is set to remake a governing team which will handle the crisis with Russia, with talks on gas prices on Monday providing an early test of his new relationship with Russia's Vladimir Putin.

• June 8, 2014

The United States and its allies used the first Group of Seven meeting without Russia in 17 years to condemn Moscow's actions in Ukraine and threaten hard-hitting sanctions if President Vladimir Putin does not help restore stability.

• June 6, 2014

China's military spending exceeded $145 billion last year as it advanced a program modernizing an arsenal of drones, warships, jets, missiles and cyber weapons, the Pentagon said on Thursday, offering a far higher figure than Beijing's official tally

• June 6, 2014