The Ukrainian parliament has renounced Ukraine’s “non-aligned” status with the aim of eventually joining NATO, angering Moscow which views the Western alliance’s eastward expansion as a threat to its own security.

Nato member countries approved a new interim quick-reaction military force yesterday to protect themselves from Russia or other threats, the alliance’s chief said.

There was a time as a new young nation when our membership of international bodies, like the League of Nations, was important to our sense of national self-esteem.

Serbia’s foreign minister is proposing an eight-point agenda for new talks on Kosovo that would be unlimited in time and without independence for the Serbian province as the pre-determined outcome.