Ukraine's state antimonopoly agency has imposed a $3.5 billion fine on Russia's Gazprom for allegedly abusing its monopoly control of Ukraine's natural-gas transit system.

• January 23, 2016

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says he believes Washington may be able to consider lifting sanctions it imposed on Russia over its involvement in violence in Ukraine later this year if Moscow complies with the Minsk peace deal.

• January 23, 2016

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Tehran on Friday to discuss improvement of economic and political ties after lifting of international sanctions because of Iran's disputed nuclear program, state TV said.

• January 22, 2016

The European Central bank will "review and possibly reconsider" it monetary policy stance when it next meets in March because of weaker-than-expected inflation dynamics in the euro zone, ECB President Mario Draghi said on Thursday.

• January 22, 2016

The Saudi-backed Syrian opposition ruled out even indirect negotiations with Damascus before steps including a halt to Russian air strikes, contradicting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's insistence that talks will begin next week.

• January 22, 2016

Ukraine plans soon to launch a fresh diplomatic initiative to recover the Crimean peninsula from Russia which annexed it in 2014, Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko told Reuters on Wednesday.

• January 20, 2016

Finland and Norway sought to ease migrant flows from Russia, as tensions over Europe's refugee crisis spread to the continent's northernmost frontiers.

• January 20, 2016

Four months of Russian air strikes in Syria are taking their toll on rebel forces, strengthening the hand of a defiant President Bashar al-Assad as the United Nations struggles to get peace talks off the ground.

• January 20, 2016