Uzbekistan’s state company Toshkent Metropoliteni and Russia's Metrovagonmash signed a 52.85 million euros ($63 million) contract for the purchase of ten trains for the Tashkent metro.

Ukraine said on Monday that the Kremlin was not responding to its request from President Volodymyr Zelensky for talks on heightened tension along the neighbours’ border and suggested that Russia might be funnelling even more troops next to areas of the country held for seven years by separatists aligned with Moscow.

The recent establishment of a special judicial panel to review investment cases or disputes – which formally began work early this year – was another sign of the country’s sprint to attract major international investors.

Western countries sought explanations from Russia on the buildup of its forces along the border with Ukraine after Moscow stayed away from a meeting hosted by the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe meeting intended to ease tension in the area.

The assertiveness with which the government of President Ilham Aliyev is purging certain figures suggests a degree of post-war confidence that previous "untouchables" - once too thorny to confront on the backdrop of a war situation - are now fair game.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s press secretary has reopened a highly divisive debate over the use of the Russian language in the country, saying that alongside Ukrainian there existed “Ukrainian Russian” as a fundamental part of national identity.

A mark of the seriousness with which Washington regards Russia’s sudden troops build up on Ukraine’s border is that, after months of silence, it provoked new President Joe Biden’s first telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.