LATEST from our news desk:
Moscow says it will take steps to respond if NATO begins regular troop rotations in the easternmost NATO-member countries.
Russia's permanent mission to NATO said via Twitter on August 27 that Russia's reaction would be "with a view to ensure its security."
The remarks come after NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced the troop rotations for NATO's eastern members in an interview published on August 26 by Britain's "The Guardian" newspaper..
Rasmussen said the troop rotations would be carried out at "very high frequency," so that "any potential aggressor" would know an attack on the NATO host country would target the entire NATO alliance.
Poland and the three Baltic states -- all NATO members -- have called for a stronger NATO presence after Russia's intervention in Ukraine and annexation of Crimea.
Here's an update from our news desk on the Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who is being complied in connection with the killing of two Russian journalists:
A Ukrainian Air Force officer who is being held in Russia told a court she is not guilty of the charge she faces and that Russia has no right to try her.
Senior Lieutenant Nadiya Savchenko says she was captured by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine and forcibly taken to Russia.
She is charged with complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists who died in June while covering the conflict between pro-Russian separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine.
At a hearing on August 27, Savchenko told the court she had been doing her job as a Ukrainian military officer on Ukrainian territory.
"No other country is eligible to try me," she said.
The hearing in the city of Voronezh was held to determine whether Savchenko will be held further or released on bail.
Russian authorities contend that Savchenko was detained in Russia.
(RIA Novosti, UNIAN, Interfax)