Russian health officials claim a potential coronavirus vaccine has finished clinical trials in a Moscow lab and there could be mass vaccinations by October, news wires reported. Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said state research facility Gamaleya Institute is one step closer to registering the vaccine, according to Interfax news agency.

A dispute between Moscow and Minsk over the detention of more than 30 men who Belarus accused of being Russian mercenaries deepened on Saturday, as the two sides contradicted each other about the group’s plans, news wires reported. The arrests could further strain relations between Belarus and Russia, which soured after the neighbours failed to agree on an oil supply contract for this year.

Tens of thousands of supporters of President Alexander Lukashenko's top election rival hit the streets for a huge opposition rally in Minsk on Thursday, news wires reported. Political novice Svetlana Tikhanovskaya mobilised some 63,000 people, human rights organisation Viasna said. It marks the biggest opposition action in the ex-Soviet Republic in years.

Belarus suspects that the group of alleged Russian mercenaries it detained on Wednesday of plotting “acts of terrorism” ahead of a presidential election in August and summoned Russia’s ambassador for an explanation, news wires reported. Minsk’s handling of the situation risks worsening relations with traditional ally Russia, which has so far yet to set out its own position, Reuters commented.

The presidential office in Kiev announced that a "complete and all-encompassing ceasefire" has come into effect in the eastern Ukraine’s conflict zone as of 12 am on Monday (2200 GMT Sunday). The ceasefire in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where pro-Russian separatists have been fighting the Ukrainian army for more than six years, comes after at least two dozen attempts of complete ceasefire failed, news wires reported.

Russia plans to resume some international flights from 1 August, Deputy PM Tatiana Golikova said on Friday, but the list of destinations will initially be limited to Tanzania, Turkey and the UK. International flights were grounded on 30 March after the imposition of lockdown measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus, which has infected more than 800,000 people in Russia.

Ukrainian, Russian and OSCE negotiators reached an agreement on Wednesday for a full ceasefire between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, Ukraine's president's office said cited by Reuters. The ceasefire will enter into force on Monday. “The breakthrough is the result of the effective work of the Ukrainian delegation with the support of our international partners in Berlin and Paris,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's press service said in a statement.

Express COVID-19 testing will be available for some passengers at Russia’s busiest airport from Monday as part of a pilot project aimed at allowing air travel and tourism to resume safely.

The Belarusian central electoral commission on Tuesday refused to register the imprisoned main rival to President Alexander Lukashenko as a candidate for the country's presidential election on 9 August, news wires reported. A new wave of opposition candidates are seeking to unseat the 65-year-old strongman leader of the authoritarian ex-Soviet state, who is seeking his sixth term as president.

Hungary's president Janos Ader called on Ukraine and Romania on Tuesday to stop polluting two major rivers that flow across Hungary after floods in the past weeks brought in "dirty carpets" of plastic bottles from its neighbours.