RIA

Bulgaria's "Mom" Brussels and its "Dad" Washington had warned Bulgaria to suspend its funding if it allows South Stream on its soil, Russian news agency RIA wrote on Friday.

Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak has dismissed Tuesday's media reports suggesting Warsaw was sending troops to the east of the country, close to its border with Ukraine.

Siemoniak said on Wednesday his institution was merely working on a plan to restructure Poland' armed forces.

Interests of the local population and businesses within the EU in the South Stream pipeline project should be taken into consideration, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced.

The EU is likely to lessen sanctions imposed on Russia in response to the limiting of hostilities in Ukraine, former Bulgarian government official Simeon Djankov argued Thursday.

"If we reach a position of frozen conflict, then we can discuss how we and the Russians can work together," Russian news agency RIA quoted him as saying.

The Kremlin said on Sept. 3 President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko had agreed on steps towards peace in eastern Ukraine but a ceasefire had not been agreed between Moscow and Kiev because Russia is not a party to the conflict.

Ukrainan President Petro Poroshenko promised that over EUR 2.2 B are to be set aside for rearmament as the country is celebrating its Independence Day.

At the military parade marking the anniversary he explained the money would be allocated between 2015 and 2017.

It will be mostly spent on fighter jets, helicopters, ships, and cutters.

A convoy of lorries from Russia are entering Ukrainian territory, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow has announced.

The vehicles have not been granted Kiev's permission to cross the border.

In its statement [RU], the ministry says that the convoy is heading to Luhansk and warns Ukraine against any actions it could take to stop the trucks.

The European Union is to refer Moscow's decision to restrict imports of food from the bloc to the World Trade Organization (WTO), a diplomatic source reveals.

Russia has said it will ban all fruit and vegetable imports from the EU in response to the sanctions against Moscow imposed by the bloc over Russian support for Ukrainian rebels.