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.

• Date: 19.02.2015  |  Published on EGF: 19.02.2015  |  External Relations  |  from http://www.reuters.com/

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.

• Date: 18.02.2015  |  Published on EGF: 18.02.2015  |  External Relations  |  from http://www.reuters.com/

Government forces were pulling out of an encircled town in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday after a fierce assault by Russian-backed separatists which Kiev and Europe said violated a crumbling ceasefire.

• Date: 18.02.2015  |  Published on EGF: 18.02.2015  |  Security  |  from http://www.reuters.com/

A Russian court on Tuesday ended house arrest terms for Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and upheld a suspended three-and-a-half-year prison term for the protest leader in a theft case he says is politically motivated.

• Date: 17.02.2015  |  Published on EGF: 17.02.2015  |  Markets  |  from http://www.reuters.com/

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.

• Date: 17.02.2015  |  Published on EGF: 17.02.2015  |  External Relations  |  from http://www.reuters.com/

Pro-Russian rebels pounded encircled Ukrainian government forces on Monday and Kiev said it would not pull back heavy guns while a truce was being violated, leaving a European-brokered peace deal on the verge of collapse a day after it took effect.

• Date: 16.02.2015  |  Published on EGF: 16.02.2015  |  Security  |  from http://www.reuters.com/

Assuming a ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels in the east holds, the implementation of a special constitutional status for the region is likely to be very difficult, according to Latvia's foreign minister.

• Date: 14.02.2015  |  Published on EGF: 14.02.2015  |  External Relations  |  from http://www.reuters.com/

Ukraine and Russian-backed rebels fought fiercely across the east of the country on Friday despite a new peace deal brokered by Germany and France.

• Date: 13.02.2015  |  Published on EGF: 13.02.2015  |  Security  |  from http://www.reuters.com/