In somewhat related news:
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin arrived in Moldova on August 21 amid tensions over trade restrictions and the former Soviet republic's tilt toward Europe.
Moldova tightened ties with the European Union by signing an Association Agreement in June despite Russian opposition.
Moscow placed restrictions on Moldovan imports in July and plans to impose customs duties starting September 1.
Rogozin and Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Adrian Candu are scheduled to discuss trade when they meet.
Rogozin is expected to spend a few days in Moldova and visit the breakaway, pro-Russian Transdniester region. He created a stir in May when he said his plane was barred from Romanian airspace after a Transdniester visit and vowed to take a strategic bomber next time.
Russia's annexation of Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine have raised fears in Moldova that Moscow could have designs on Transniester.
Reports of French fighters joining up with the pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk:
From RFE/RL's Russian Service, wrapping up what we know so far about Poroshenko's reported intention to dissolve the Ukrainian parliament in the coming days:
A Ukrainian presidential aide says President Petro Poroshenko will likely sign a decree to dissolve the country's parliament -- the Verkhovna Rada -- next week.
Presidential adviser Oleh Medvedev told RFE/RL that a 30-day deadline to create a new coalition is about to expire and "the Ukrainian president has lawful grounds to dissolve the parliament."
Medvedev did not specify the precise date. But in a tweet sent out on August 21, press secretary Svyatoslav Tseholko said Poroshenko could dissolve parliament as early as August 24.
The UDAR and Svoboda parliamentary factions announced in parliament on July 24 that they were quitting the coalition.
If deputies do not form a new coalition by the end of August, according to the constitution, the president can dissolve the parliament and announce early parliamentary elections.