Any expansion of NATO to include Sweden and Finland would upset the balance of power and force Russia to respond, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday, underlining Moscow's nerves over moves to bring the Western alliance closer to its border.

• June 4, 2013

The potential for social unrest in European Union countries is higher than anywhere else in the world and the already yawning gaps between rich and poor, a major trigger, are likely to widen globally, the International Labour Organisation said on Monday.

• June 3, 2013

China warned the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees on Monday against making "irresponsible remarks" about nine North Korean defectors the U.N. believes were repatriated to their isolated, authoritarian homeland by China last week.

• June 3, 2013

Russia said on Monday it blocked a U.N. Security Council declaration on the siege of the Syrian town of al-Qusair over the weekend because it amounted to a demand for a unilateral ceasefire by government forces.

• June 3, 2013

Ukraine has signed a memorandum on deepening cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Commission, a regulatory body of the Eurasian Customs Union.

• June 1, 2013

The United States and Germany told Russia on Friday that arming President Bashar al-Assad's forces could jeopardize international efforts for a peace conference on Syria.

• June 1, 2013

Russia plans to resume nuclear submarine patrols in the southern seas after a hiatus of more than 20 years following the break-up of the Soviet Union, Itar-Tass news agency reported on Saturday, in another example of efforts to revive Moscow's military.

• June 1, 2013

While Syrian President Bashar al-Assad implied that Damascus had received sophisticated Russian anti-aircraft missiles in a TV interview, Russian reports clarified Friday that the S-300 systems had not yet arrived in Syria.

• May 31, 2013