Russia's President Vladimir Putin will host talks this week between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in a bid to quell a surge of violence over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region, Moscow said Monday.

At least 18 Azerbaijanis and ethnic Armenians have died in recent days in the most serious bout of hostilities over the breakaway region in two decades.

A plane carrying remains of victims from downed flight MH17 arrived in the Netherlands on Monday as Malaysian experts joined the international probe at the crash site in eastern Ukraine.

The Dutch military transport plane carried a single coffin filled with human remains which Ukraine said had been found in the search operation, as well as DNA and belongings that had been kept in the rebel-held city of Donetsk for some time.

Russian billionaire Gennady Timchenko, who has been hit with U.S. sanctions, said Monday he and other businessmen will not be cowed by pressure from Washington into asking Vladimir Putin to change his stance over Ukraine.

In a rare wide-ranging interview to state-owned news agency ITAR-TASS, Timchenko said being put on the blacklist has been inconvenient but that he fully supports Russia's "sovereign" policy.

Russia said Monday it had called on Israel to agree to a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, in a phone call between the foreign ministers of the two countries.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also told his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman that the foes "should reach an agreement that excludes the return to violence in which mostly innocent civilians suffer".

Germany has stopped a major deal to provide a fully equipped training camp to Russian forces due to the crisis in Ukraine, the government said Monday.

Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said he has withdrawn his authorization for the training camp project, which had already been put on hold in March after Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region.

Kiev urged separatist rebels in war-torn eastern Ukraine on Monday to allow civilians to flee besieged cities in the face of a looming humanitarian crisis, with major power and water shortages.

The call came as Malaysian experts were due to visit the site of downed flight MH17, joining Australian and Dutch police who have been combing the area for remains of the crash victims.

Germany has decided to scrap a major deal to provide a fully-equipped training camp to Russian forces due to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, according to a newspaper report Monday.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in an interview published Sunday that the alliance would draw up new defense plans in the face of "Russia's aggression" against Ukraine, urging members to up their military spending.

Echoing comments by British Prime Minister David Cameron, Rasmussen told French regional newspaper Midi Libre that "Russia's aggression was a warning and created a new security situation in Europe."

Fighting between government forces and pro-Russian rebels left at least 10 civilians dead in eastern Ukraine Sunday, as international experts pushed on with their grim hunt for remains at the crash site of downed flight MH17. 

The deputy mayor in the besieged insurgent stronghold of Donetsk told Agence France-Presse that shooting in a residential suburb had killed six civilians and injured 13, the latest victims of more than three months of civil war that has claimed at least 1,150 lives.  

Russians will have to declare other citizenships to the authorities under a new law coming into force on Monday -- leading some to fear they may end up on the wrong end of the country's increasingly nationalistic politics.

Failing to declare a second passport or the right to permanent residence in another country will become a criminal offense under the new law, which swept through parliament in a matter of weeks.