Meanwhile in Crimea:
Russian border guards in the illegally annexed Ukrainian territory of Crimea claim they have apprehended a suspect in the 2002 hostage-taking incident at Moscow's Dubrovka Theater.
The press service for the Crimean branch of the Federal Security Service (FSB) border guards announced March 5 it has "succeeded in exposing a terrorist who took part in the taking of hostages during the musical 'Nord-Ost' in 2002."
The press service did not say when the suspect was caught but in December there were reports Khasan Zakaev was detained on suspicion of being involved in the Dubrovka Theater siege.
On October 22, 2002, a group of Chechen militants interrupted the performance at the Dubrovka Theater and took the audience hostage.
All the hostage-takers inside the theater were killed when Russian special forces stormed the building on October 26.
Some 130 hostages died, many due to negligent medical care they received after they were evacuated from the theater.
It was unclear from the border guard press service's report how the suspect was involved in the theater incident.
More on Savchenko:
A lawyer for Nadia Savchenko says the jailed Ukrainian military pilot has "partially" halted her hunger strike, which was in its 83rd day on March 5.
Attorney Mark Feigin posted a handwritten letter from Savchenko on Twitter in which she wrote that she would now drink broth "in order to live -- and to fly."
She thanked supporters and wrote, "I will fight! Together with you!" and added: "To be able to fight, one must be strong!"
Feigin visited Savchenko in a Moscow pretrial detention center after the Russian prison service announced that she had agreed to follow doctors' recommendations.
"I confirm...a partial halt of the hunger strike," he wrote.
Savchenko says she was kidnapped by Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine in June and illegally transferred to Russia, where she has been charged with complicity in the killing of two journalists who died covering the conflict.
Russia has rejected repeated Western calls for the release of Savchenko, who began a hunger strike on December 13.
Latest from our news desk:
A senior NATO official says Russian troops are dying in combat in "large numbers" in eastern Ukraine, where they have been fighting along pro-Russian rebels since last year.
NATO Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow told a conference in the Latvian capital Riga on March 5, that Russia's involvement in eastern Ukraine is beginning to lose support among Russians, "especially as Russian leaders are less and less able to conceal the fact that Russian soldiers are fighting -- and dying -- in large numbers" in the conflict.
Moscow has flatly denied the presence of any of its troops in eastern Ukraine.
Vershbow also said that while the truce agreement reached in Minsk last month is an important step toward putting an end to the violence which has claimed more than 6,000 lives since April last year, "full implementation is key" to finding solving to the crisis.
He said Russia bears "a special responsibility" to bring about "a real de-escalation -- not a temporary pause, but a lasting solution" to the conflict.
Before meeting Putin, Italy's Renzi visits site of Nemtsov's slaying:
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has laid flowers at the site where opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was shot dead in Moscow six days ago.
Nemtsov was killed on a bridge close to the Kremlin.
Renzi visited the spot and left six carnations wrapped up in a green-white-red ribbon, the colours of the Italian flag. He made no statement.
He later met with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and President Vladimir Putin.
Renzi held talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv on March 4.
The stated aim of Renzi's visit is to help international efforts to stabilize eastern Ukraine and urge Russia to cooperate in return for an easing of international sanctions.
The United States and the European Union adopted several rounds of sanctions after accusing the Kremlin of fomenting unrest in Ukraine.
The measures have affected the Italian economy, which counts Russia as one of its top export markets. (dpa and Reuters)
Ukraine's parliament votes to increase size of army:
The Ukrainian parliament has voted in favor of a bill to boost the size of the military by one-third, to 250,000.
The bill, which was submitted to parliament by President Petro Poroshenko on March 2, was supported by 270 lawmakers in the 423-member chamber.
Radical Party leader Oleh Lyashko, speaking before the vote, said, "Whoever votes against this law or doesn't support this law is working for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, for Russian aggression, so that the foot of the Russian occupier steps on our land in Donbas and our Crimean soil."
An explanatory note to the bill said that the extra troops will form two operations command centers, 11 brigades, four regiments, 18 battalions,16 squadrons, and 13 platoons each charged with different tasks.
The bill only needs Poroshenko's signature to become law. (Reuters, Interfax)