EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, speaking after a virtual meeting of bloc foreign ministers, sounded more alarms, and said the Russian troop presence had grown to 150,000 along Ukraine's eastern frontier. Calling it the biggest military buildup ever near Ukraine's borders, he added “a spark” was all that was needed to set off a major war. 

Azerbaijan and Belarus agreed to boost economic cooperation between the two former Soviet countries after President Alexander Lukashenko's official visit to Baku.

Georgia's ruling Georgian Dream party and some opposition leaders signed an EU-mediated agreement late on Monday, in a bid to end a political crisis that threatens to derail its already vulnerable economy.

EU member state Czech Republic and Russia are at the heart of the latest intrigue. Prague on Saturday ordered 14 Russian diplomats to get out within 48 hours, saying Moscow was involved in a 2014 ammunition depot explosion in the country, which, if true, would be an extraordinary ante-up.

The talks come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week called on Russia to reverse a troop buildup near the Ukrainian border.