In eight International Monetary Fund programs since independence in 1991, Ukraine has completed just one successfully. A year on from Russia's seizure of Crimea, it looks unlikely it will live up to the terms of its latest deal with the IMF also.

• March 19, 2015

European Union leaders look likely to keep economic sanctions on Russia in place until a Ukraine ceasefire deal is fully working, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday it would be wrong to ease pressure on Moscow prematurely.

• March 19, 2015

China has surpassed Germany to become the world's third largest arms exporter, a Stockholm-based think tank said in a report on Monday.

• March 16, 2015

More than 45,000 Russian troops as well as war planes and submarines started military exercises across much of the country on Monday in one of the Kremlin's biggest shows of force since its ties with the West plunged to Cold War-lows.

• March 16, 2015

Germany and other countries want European Union leaders to endorse a declaration saying that EU sanctions on Russia will not be eased unless Moscow complies with a Ukraine ceasefire deal, two officials said on Saturday.

• March 14, 2015

China has summoned the Myanmar ambassador for a meeting in Beijing after a bomb from a Myanmar aircraft fell in Chinese territory and killed four Chinese people, China's foreign ministry said on Saturday.

• March 14, 2015

The United States has abandoned plans to cut the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to 5,500 by year's end, the Associated Press reported on Saturday, but a senior U.S. official told Reuters no decision has been made.

• March 14, 2015

European Union leaders are unlikely to tighten sanctions on Russia when they meet next week but will haggle over whether they need to act now to prolong economic sanctions on Russia expiring in July, diplomats said on Thursday.

• March 12, 2015