Russia has reached a compensation deal with France for the non-delivery of two Mistral warships, a Kremlin aide has said, but Paris on Friday denied that a final agreement has been hammered out.

The fate of the two Mistral helicopter carriers has plagued Franco-Russian ties for more than a year, following Paris' decision in November to put the 1.2-billion-euro ($1.3-billion) deal on ice as the West slapped sanctions on Moscow over its annexation of Crimea and alleged backing for separatist rebels in Ukraine.

Ukraine's highest court on Friday allowed parliament to vote on Western-backed constitutional amendments aimed at stemming daily bloodshed by giving pro-Russian insurgents partial autonomy in the separatist east.

The idea of granting at least three years of self-rule to rebellious parts of Ukraine's industrial war zone has struck a note of disquiet among many lawmakers and much of the Kiev media.

Cash-trapped Ukraine moved a step closer Friday to avoiding a devastating default thanks to a new offer that would see its creditors accept a small debt write-off.

The proposal that sources said was submitted by Franklin Templeton and three other U.S. financial titans to Kiev this week is still far short of the bond value reduction sought by the war-torn former Soviet state.

Iran's Ambassador to Beirut Mohammed Fathali has stressed that it was up to Lebanon's rival leaders to resolve the country's presidential deadlock.

“This is an internal Lebanese issue,” the diplomat told al-Akhbar newspaper in an interview published on Friday.

Speaker Nabih Berri has reiterated that the government of Prime Minister Tammam Salam is a red line, urging Lebanon's rival officials not to wait for the Iran nuclear deal to resolve the country's crises.

“Bringing down the cabinet means abolishing the country. This cannot take place,” Berri told his visitors, according to al-Joumhouria daily published on Friday.

The United States ordered additional sanctions related to Russia and Ukraine on Thursday, saying it aimed to fight evasion and align the U.S. effort closer to its international partners.

The fresh U.S. sanctions come after the European Union and Canada recently stepped up pressure on Russia to ensure it fully implements Ukraine peace accords reached in Minsk in February but regularly violated.

Russian authorities have arrested a journalist from a respected independent business media outlet on extremism charges over his alleged membership of a nationalist group, officials said on Thursday.

A Moscow court on Wednesday ordered Alexander Sokolov, a journalist with the RBK newspaper and website, be held in custody until September 22 as investigators probed him for helping to run a right-wing anti-government organization.  

China and Russia will hold joint military drills in the waters and airspace of the Sea of Japan, Beijing said Thursday, the latest defense cooperation between the countries.

The exercises will take place August 20 to 28 in the Peter the Great Gulf and other areas off the Russian coast, defense ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told reporters.

Ukrainian pilot and lawmaker Nadiya Savchenko went on trial in Russia on Thursday in a politically charged case that could send tensions between Moscow and Kiev to a new high.

The 34-year-old helicopter navigator faces up to 25 years in prison for her alleged involvement in the killing of two Russian journalists in war-torn eastern Ukraine last year.

Four civilians were killed in intense shelling attacks between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian rebels in the separatist east of the war-torn state, officials from both sides said Thursday.

"Two civilians were killed as a result of shelling in Dzerzhynsk," about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the rebels' de facto capital Donetsk, representative of the region's Kiev-appointed administration's health department told Agence France Presse.