QONAEV, Kazakhstan -- A court in Kazakhstan's southern town of Qonaev on August 2 sentenced journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim to 7 years in prison for financing an extremist group and participating in a banned group's activities, charges he rejects as politically motivated.

The court also banned Mukhammedkarim from performing public activities for three years.

Mukhammedkarim's lawyer, Ghalym Nurpeisov, said the ruling will be appealed.

A day earlier, Mukhammedkarim reiterated his innocence, stressing he criticized the government "only for the sake of Kazakhstan's further development, which is not a crime," his lawyers said.

While, Mukhammedkarim was delivering his final statement in the courtroom, dozens of his supporters chanted "Liberty! Liberty!" near the court building as the trial was held behind closed doors.

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Two of the supporters, Abzal Dostyar and Bekzat Maqsutkhan, were detained then and later sentenced to 20 and 10 days in jail, respectively, on a charge of violating regulations for holding public events.

On July 18, Mukhammedkarim was transferred to a hospital as his health dramatically deteriorated following several hunger strikes to protest the secrecy of the trial.

Mukhammedkarim, whose Ne Deidi? (What Do They Say?) YouTube channel is extremely popular in Kazakhstan, was sent to pretrial detention in June 2023 over an online interview he did with fugitive banker and outspoken government critic Mukhtar Ablyazov.

Ablyazov's Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement was declared extremist and banned in the country in March 2018. As Mukhammedkarim's trial started on February 12, he complained of being beaten by jail guards, prompting prosecutors to launch an investigation into the matter.

Mukhammedkarim's trial was then postponed until an unspecified date to allow for the investigation, which was shut down later due to a purported lack of evidence.

The proceedings resumed after that.

Domestic and international right organizations have urged the Kazakh authorities to drop all charges against Mukhammedkarim and immediately release him. Kazakh rights defenders have recognized Mukhammedkarim as a political prisoner.

Rights watchdogs have criticized the authorities in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic for persecuting dissent, but Astana has shrugged off the criticism, saying there are no political prisoners in the country.

The oil-rich Central Asian nation was ruled by authoritarian President Nursultan Nazarbaev from before its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 until current President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev succeeded him in 2019.

Over the past three decades, several opposition figures have been killed and many jailed or forced to flee the country.

Toqaev, who broadened his powers after Nazarbaev and his family left the oil-rich country's political scene following the deadly, unprecedented antigovernment protests in January 2022, has promised political reforms and more freedoms for citizens.

However, many in Kazakhstan describe the reforms announced by Toqaev as cosmetic, and a crackdown on dissent has continued even after the president announced his "New Kazakhstan" program.

The widow of the former Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, who was shot dead in Berlin in late August 2019, told RFE/RL that she and her family had not been informed about the plan to take her husband's killer out of a German prison and send him back to Russia as part of a multinational prisoner swap.

Vadim Krasikov, who was sentenced to life in prison after a court found him guilty of murdering Khangoshvili in the Tiergarten park in the German capital, was the major piece for Russia in the largest prisoner swap between Moscow and the West since the Cold War that was conducted on August 1.

"Nobody asked our opinion about the swap. The fact that it took place shows that the opinion of the victim's side is not important for the German authorities," Khangoshvili's widow Manana (aka Raisa) Tsiatiyeva told RFE/RL.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said late on August 1 at the Cologne-Bonn airport, where a plane carrying some of the prisoners released from Russian custody landed, that the decision to exchange prisoners was "not easy."

Germany's Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann he was "responsible for a particularly bitter concession" made to release U.S., German, and Russian citizens involved in the swap, adding that the principle of "freedom in case of doubt" was decisive.

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Krasikov, who was identified by Germany's federal prosecutors as a "commander of a special unit of the Russian secret service FSB" was arrested minutes after he shot Khangoshvili in Berlin on August 23, 2019.

In December 2021, he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

The second criminal division of the Higher Regional Court in Berlin noted the gravity of the attack by Krasikov, stressing he had acted on the orders of Russian authorities, who gave him a false identity, passport, and the resources to carry out the assassination.

German prosecutors during the trial said evidence showed the murder was also aimed at intimidating other Chechen asylum seekers by making them believe they are not safe from the far-reaching tentacles of Russia's security apparatus.

The 40-year-old Khangoshvili, a Georgian citizen, fought Russian troops in Chechnya.

He survived several assassination attempts and continued to receive threats after fleeing Georgia in 2016 to Germany, where he was granted asylum.

Three U.S. citizens -- Alsu Kurmasheva of RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service, reporter Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal, and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan -- were among 16 people released from Russia and Belarus on August 1. Others included five Germans and seven Russian citizens who were political prisoners in their own country.

The Birinchi May district court in Bishkek said on August 2 that it had extended pretrial detention of the boyfriend of a niece of Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov on a charge of producing illegal drugs. The decision to hold Aftandil Sabyrbekov and his brother Tariel until at least October 3 was made three days earlier. Aftandil Sabyrbekov is the boyfriend of Lazzat Nurgojoeva, who is a daughter of Japarov's younger brother, Davletbek. In June, Japarov publicly apologized after a video showing Sabyrbekov proposing to Nurgojoeva in a lavish ceremony circulated on the Internet and sparked a public outcry. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

The bodies of 250 Ukrainian soldiers killed in action in Russian-occupied parts of the country have been handed over to the Ukrainian authorities, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported in a message on Telegram on August 2. The message said the bodies belonged to Ukrainian soldiers killed in Luhansk, Bakhmut, Maryinka, Avdiyivka, Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, Mariupol, and Horlivka. The transfer of bodies was carried out in accordance with the norms of the Geneva Conventions, the headquarters said. After identification, the bodies will be given to their relatives for burial, it said. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.

EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson has voiced concern about Hungary's recent decision to make it easier for Russian and Belarusian citizens to enter the country and asked Budapest for clarifications.

At the start of last month, after Hungary took over the European Union's rotating presidency, Budapest published details of a so-called National Card, a new fast-track visa system for citizens of eight countries including Russia and Belarus to enter Hungary without security checks or other restrictions.

Budapest has said many would be employed in the building of a nuclear power plant that is contracted to Russia’s Rosatom but the move sparked criticism it could open the doors to spies and saboteurs.

In an open letter addressed to Hungarian Interior Minister Sandor Pinter and published on X late on August 1, Johansson said Russia is a security threat for the European Union, and pointed to the need of "more, not less vigilance."

Russian citizens do not face a ban on entering the EU and the border control-free Schengen zone, which also includes non-EU members Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland if they possess a valid visa and have no ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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However, following Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the West imposed sanctions that include a ban on Russian-owned airlines operating in EU airspace, making it more difficult for Russian nationals to travel to the bloc.

Although rules on issuing working permits remain a matter for each EU member state, "the extension of the facilitated processing of residence and work permit applications for citizens of Russia and Belarus could lead to a de facto circumvention of the restrictions the Union has imposed," Johansson wrote.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has maintained friendly relations with President Vladimir Putin despite Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, was subjected to widespread criticism after traveling to Moscow to meet with the Russian leader shortly after taking over the EU's presidency.

Orban said the visit, and a subsequent trip to China, were part of a peace mission, but EU leaders made clear he did not represent them on his travels.

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Many countries have since refused to send their ministers to meetings held in Hungary, prompting them to be rescheduled in Brussels.

Warning that "we need more, not less vigilance," Johansson asked Budapest for clarification.

"Given the potential security threat for the Schengen area of these unilateral measures, I invite your authorities to contact my services and reply to a number of questions annexed to this letter no later than August 19," the EU commissioner wrote.

"Giving potential Russian spies and saboteurs easy EU access would undermine the security of us all. If [the Hungarian] easy access scheme is a risk, we will act," Johansson wrote on X.

Her letter came after a similar warning by Manfred Weber, head of the European People’s party (EPP), the European Parliament's largest political bloc. Weber, in a letter to European Council President Charles Michel, said the Hungarian move raised "serious national security concerns."

Prosecutors asked a court in Kazakhstan's southern city of Turkistan on August 1 to sentence activist Nurlybai Tataev to 12 months in prison over an online conversation he had in 2021 with the self-exiled leader of the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement, Mukhtar Ablyazov. Tataev is accused of taking part in a banned group's activities. His lawyers insist the charge is illegitimate, citing the statute of limitations. The DVK was banned in Kazakhstan in 2018. Many activists across the Central Asian nation have been handed prison terms or parole-like restricted freedom sentences in recent years for their involvement in DVK activities. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.

Sulaimon Jobirov, a former member of Tajikistan's Group 24 opposition movement, was sentenced to six years in prison on a charge of cooperating with a banned organization, a relative told RFE/RL on August 1. Jobirov went missing in Russia, where he has resided for years, in April. He was subsequently located at a detention center in Dushanbe. Group 24 was labeled as a terrorist organization and banned in Tajikistan in 2014. The group's current self-exiled leader Ubaidullo Saidi, has said Jobirov quit the banned movement eight years ago. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Tajik Service, click here.

Emergency officials in the Urals city of Nizhny Tagil said on August 2 that the body of a fourth person was found amid the debris of a residential building that partially collapsed after a gas explosion. Rescue teams continue to search the rubble. Some 15 apartments were destroyed in the blast, which occurred in an apartment on the third floor of the five-story building on August 1. Russia's Investigative Committee has launched a probe into the deadly explosion. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Kosovo has accused security staff at the airport in neighboring North Macedonia's capital of violating international practices after an incident during which President Vjosa Osmani refused to allow her mobile phone to go through a security check.

Osmani and her detail were en route to Slovenia when the August 1 incident occurred.

"The Macedonian airport officials' behavior is contrary to all international practices that say heads of state are protected by diplomatic privileges and immunities when traveling. In violation of these rules, the Macedonian side took the personal handbag of the president," said Osmani's political adviser, Bekim Kupina, after the August 1 incident.

"Although this was against the rules, the president's team allowed it so that the president could enter the airport, specifically the VIP lounge, which was reserved by a verbal note from our Embassy, as is the practice for heads of state.

"However, for security reasons, the president did not allow her phone to be taken, since that would have been a serious violation," said Kupina, adding that a member of airport security "tried to physically push the president, prompting Kosovar police [protecting the president] to intervene to clear the way" for Osmani.

The incident was solved when the speaker of North Macedonia's parliament, Afrim Gashi, personally arrived at the airport and helped Osmani and her detail to continue their trip.

Macedonian authorities have rejected accusations of an intentional violation but said they have started an investigation.

The airport security company said its employees carried out a standard security check at the airport on August 1.

Kosovo and North Macedonia have diplomatic relations and so far there have been no similar incidents. Last month, Osmani traveled to Skopje where she met with North Macedonia's newly elected President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova.

Alsu Kurmasheva, Evan Gershkovich, and Paul Whelan -- three of the 24 detainees involved in the largest prisoner exchange since the Cold War ended – have returned to the United States where they were greeted by President Joe Biden and family amid cheers from those gathered at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington, D.C.

Arriving from Turkey where part of the exchange took place on August 1, the three were part of a group of 16 prisoners Russia and its close ally Belarus released in exchange for eight Russians held in the United States and several other countries.

Biden, who earlier in the day hailed the historic exchange at a White House news conference, was joined by Vice President Kamala Harris to welcome the three as family members, colleagues, and media looked on.

Kurmasheva, a journalist for RFE/RL, Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, and Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive, are all U.S. citizens.

Alsu Kurmasheva, Evan Gershkovich, and Paul Whelan -- three U.S. citizens freed by Russia in the largest prisoner exchange since the Cold War -- were greeted by President Joe Biden and family amid cheers from those gathered at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington, D.C.

Whelan, a former Marine, was the first to emerge from the plane and saluted Biden as he came down the steps and onto the tarmac. After saluting back and shaking hands, the president took off his lapel pin and gave it to Whelan, who had been in Russian detention for more than five years, the longest period of the three returnees.

Gershkovich, who also received applause as he embraced the president, followed, while Kurmasheva was the last of the three to come off the plane, also hugging Biden amid applause from the crowd.

The 32-year-old Gershkovich was detained in Russia in March 2023 while out on a reporting trip in Yekaterinburg. He was sentenced in July to 16 years in prison on spying charges that were rejected by the United States and his employer, the Wall Street Journal.

"Not bad," he replied as he greeted fellow journalists who asked how it felt to finally be home after spending 491 days in detention.

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Kurmasheva, a 47-year-old mother of two, was arrested in Kazan in October 2023 and first charged with failing to register as a "foreign agent" under a punitive Russian law that targets journalists, civil society activists, and others. She was subsequently charged with spreading falsehoods about the Russian military and sentenced to 6 1/2 years.

In announcing the swap earlier in the day, Biden slammed Russia for conducting "show trials" that led to the imprisonment of Gershkovich, Whelan, and Kurmasheva, saying "all three were falsely accused of being spies."

When asked what he would say to Putin after the swap, the president replied: “Stop,” a reference to taking Americans into custody on dubious charges.

Biden noted earlier that the prisoner swap required "significant concessions" from Germany, which released FSB Colonel Vadim Krasikov, a Russian convicted of the murder in 2019 of a former Chechen militant in Berlin.

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The trade came even with relations between Washington and Moscow eroding to their lowest point in decades after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The prisoner swap included dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, a dual Russian-British citizen who was imprisoned for making critical remarks about the invasion.

Kara-Murza also holds a green card, which allows a person to live and work permanently in the United States, but traveled first to Germany. His family currently lives in the United States and he is expected to travel to meet them in the coming days.

"Alsu, Evan, Paul, Vladimir and others, you belong home with your families and loved ones!" European Council President Charles Michel said in a post on X. "I thank all those, also in Europe, who helped to make the diplomatic deal possible. EU will continue supporting and standing for all those illegally detained in Russia and elsewhere."

After spending time with family and friends, Kurmasheva, Gershkovich, and Whelan will travel on to San Antonio, Texas, for medical treatment and debriefing by U.S. officials.

The release of 16 people from Russia and Belarus included five Germans and seven Russian citizens who were political prisoners in their own country.

In an interview with RFE/RL's North.Realities service, the parents of Ksenia Fadeyeva, one of the Russian activists released by Moscow in the exchange, said the first time they suspected something was in the works was when they began hearing more and more about the topic of prisoner exchanges in the media.

"She certainly didn’t think she’d be released like this. Neither did we. It's just some kind of miracle," said her mother, Iryna Fadeyeva.

Fadeyeva, 32, is a former local lawmaker and the former head of the late opposition leader Aleksei Navalny's regional office in the Siberian city of Tomsk. In December 2023, she was convicted on charges including organizing activities of an extremist group and was handed a nine-year prison term. She is now in Germany after the exchange.

"We don't know anything for sure yet, but we are ordinary citizens, not military personnel, without restrictions on entering and exiting the country. I think they will let us see each other," her father, Vladislav Fadeyev, said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the decision to release Krasikov, a convicted hit man, had been difficult.

"Nobody took this decision to deport a murderer sentenced to life imprisonment after only a few years...lightly," Scholz said, speaking in Cologne, Germany, where some of the released prisoners arrived later in the day.

"The state's interest in seeing him punished had to be weighed against the danger to the bodies and in some cases the lives of innocent people in prison in Russia and political prisoners," he told reporters.

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Biden said Germany asked for nothing in exchange. The president added that the prisoner swap was "a powerful example of why it is important to have friends in the world."

While those released celebrated, they also said they remained concerned for others who weren't included in the swap.

Marc Fogel, a 62-year-old English teacher, is one such case.

He was arrested at an airport in Moscow in 2021 for carrying about half an ounce of medical marijuana he said he had been prescribed to manage severe pain following surgeries on his back, shoulder, and knee. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison after prosecutors claimed he intended to sell the drugs to his students.

Senior U.S. officials said they tried to include Fogel in the exchange, but Russia rejected his inclusion.

That did little to help calm the despair Fogel's family felt after word came that he would not be returning home with the others. In a statement after the deal was made public, his family said it was "inconceivable" that he had not been part and urged the Biden administration to make his release a priority.

Poland, Slovenia, and Norway also played roles in the swap by releasing Russians back to Moscow that they held.

Turkey, a NATO ally that also has warm relations with Moscow, was heavily involved in facilitating talks on the swap, with Ankara hosting the actual exchange of the prisoners.

Moscow's Lefortovo Court on August 1 issued an arrest warrant in absentia on a charge of treason for lawyer Ilya Novikov, an outspoken Kremlin critic who has openly criticized Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine. Novikov, who currently lives in Ukraine and has Ukrainian citizenship, on June 11 was sentenced in absentia to 8 1/2 years in prison for spreading false information about Russia's military. "Hey, what's wrong with you? You can't arrest me in absentia! I'm already sitting in prison in absentia," Novikov ironically commented on the court's decision on X. Novikov has also been added to the registry of "foreign agents." To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Russia, the United States, and several other countries have carried out the largest prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War, freeing 16 people -- including RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan -- from Russian and Belarusian prisons, while eight Russians were returned home.

U.S. President Joe Biden hailed the historic exchange on August 1 at a White House news conference with several family members of the Americans who had been jailed at his side.

"Their brutal ordeal is over," Biden said, calling the deal that made the exchange possible "a feat of diplomacy."

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Biden slammed Russia for conducting "show trials" that led to the imprisonment of Gershkovich, Whelan, and Kurmasheva, saying "all three were falsely accused of being spies."

The prisoner swap also included dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, a dual Russian-British citizen who was imprisoned for making critical remarks about Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The U.S. government released a photo showing Gershkovich, Kurmasheva, and Whelan on a plane, saying they were on their way back home. Kara-Murza was to fly to Germany, but he told Biden in a call that he hopes to visit the United States soon.

The family members who joined Biden for the news conference included Kurmasheva's husband, Pavel Butorin, who also works for RFE/RL, and their two daughters, Bibi and Miriam. Biden said the prisoner swap was an "incredible relief" for all the family members present, adding that they had spoken to their freed loved ones by phone from the Oval Office right before the news conference.

The White House released a photo showing Kurmasheva's daughters in the Oval Office leaning over a telephone and speaking to their mother.

In an interview with RFE/RL, Butorin said he and his daughters are "overwhelmed with emotions, still trying to process what actually happened to us today, being in the White House, hearing Alsu's voice from the Oval Office, next to President Biden. That was something very special.

"But it's been an incredibly difficult year for us, and I'm glad we're at the end of this journey, and now we look forward to hugging Alsu, and to helping her reintegrate into the free world after so many months of unjust imprisonment in Russia."

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During the news conference, Biden motioned for Kurmasheva’s daughter, Miriam, to come closer, telling reporters that August 2 was her 13th birthday and then asking everyone to sing Happy Birthday to her. The teen was emotional as Biden put an arm around her shoulders and then wiped away a tear before walking back to her sister and father, who embraced her.

“Now she gets to celebrate with her mom,” Biden said. “That’s what this is all about -- families able to be together again. Like they should have been all along.”

Biden said the prisoner swap required "significant concessions" from Germany, which released FSB Colonel Vadim Krasikov, a Russian convicted of the murder in 2019 of a former Chechen militant in Berlin.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the decision to release the convicted hit man had been difficult.

"Nobody took this decision to deport a murderer sentenced to life imprisonment after only a few years...lightly," Scholz said, speaking in Cologne, Germany, where some of the released prisoners were due to arrive.

"The state's interest in seeing him punished had to be weighed against the danger to the bodies and in some cases the lives of innocent people in prison in Russia and political prisoners," he told reporters.

Biden said Germany asked for nothing in exchange. The president added that the prisoner swap was "a powerful example of why it is important to have friends in the world."

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Who Are The 24 Prisoners Who Were Swapped In U.S.-Russia Deal?

Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Turkey "stood with us," Biden said. "They made bold and brave decisions, released prisoners being held in their countries who were justifiably being held, and provided the logistical support to get the Americans home."

Biden said earlier in a statement that all told, the United States and its partners, in particular Germany, negotiated the release of 16 people from Russia and Belarus -- including five Germans and seven Russian citizens who were political prisoners in their own country.

Turkey's National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) said on August 1 it played "a major mediation role" in the swap involving 26 people from prisons in seven countries, "which is the most comprehensive in recent times."

It said the negotiations allowed for the exchange of "Russian citizens and citizens of Western countries imprisoned in the U.S.A., Germany, Poland, Norway, Slovenia, Russia, and Belarus,” adding that German mercenary Rico Krieger imprisoned in Belarus and Russian dissident Ilya Yashin and Kraskiov imprisoned in Germany were also released.

State Department spokesman Vedant Patel called the exchange "the largest multi-country swap of its kind." Speaking at a briefing on August 1, he said the Americans would be back in the United States within hours to be reunited with their families.

The White House announced that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic party's presumptive presidential nominee in the November 5 election, would welcome them at 11:30 p.m. local time.

The eight freed Russians arrived in Moscow late on August 1. Putin welcomed them after they landed at Moscow's Vnukovo airport.

"I want to congratulate you on your return to the motherland," Putin said in comments broadcast on state TV. Addressing those who had served in Russia's military, he added: "I want to thank you for your loyalty to the oath, duty, and the motherland, which did not forget about you."

William Courtney, a career U.S. foreign service officer who worked on U.S.-Soviet arms talks before becoming U.S. ambassador to Georgia and Kazakhstan after the breakup of the Soviet Union, spoke with RFE/RL about the latest swap.

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"I think it sends a message to the world that the Kremlin really would like to offload some of these internationally prominent prisoners because detaining them doesn't help Russia's image," said Courtney, now an analyst at the Washington-based think tank Rand Corp.

He said Russia didn't want Kara Murza to die in prison, like opposition politician Aleksei Navalny did in an Arctic gulag in February, "because Russia got only bad publicity" out of that.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by TASS as saying the Kremlin hoped those who had left Russia would stay away.

"I believe that all our enemies should stay [abroad], and all those who are not our enemies should return. That's my point of view," TASS cited Peskov as saying.

News of the prisoner swap was also welcomed by U.S. lawmakers; however, some Republicans questioned the "steep price" that the United States had to pay.

"Those returning to Russia are some of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s most valuable assets who will be glad to return to their villainous ways," said Senator Jim Risch (Republican-Idaho), the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.

Representative Michael McCaul (Republican-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on X that he celebrated the news but remains "concerned that continuing to trade innocent Americans for actual Russian criminals held in the U.S. and elsewhere sends a dangerous message to Putin that only encourages further hostage taking."

Speculation of a swap had grown in recent days as defense lawyers for several high-profile people being held in Russian prison facilities said the whereabouts of their clients were unknown, a situation that often arises when inmates are being moved.

One of the first signs that the swap had started on August 1 came from a group of Russian lawyers and rights defenders known as Pervy Otdel, which posted a message on Telegram noting the flight track of an Antonov plane that had been previously involved in prisoner exchanges.

Data from the flight-tracking site Flightradar24 confirmed the plane's movements, while the Russian media outlet Agenstvo reported that several special Russian government planes in recent days had traveled to and from regions where prisons holding dissidents are being held.

Meanwhile, four Russians who have been charged or jailed in the United States disappeared from a database of inmates operated by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons prior to the announcement of the prisoner swap.

White House national-security adviser Jake Sullivan said on August 1 that the United States had been working on a prisoner exchange to include Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny prior to his death.

It was the first time a U.S. government official publicly confirmed that negotiations for a prisoner swap with Navalny had been under way prior to his death on February 16.

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Shortly after Navalny died, his allies said that Moscow had been in talks with the West about a prisoner exchange involving the politician. Weeks later, Russian President Vladimir Putin also said that he was prepared to release Navalny in a prisoner swap on condition that he never return to Russia.

Sullivan, speaking to reporters at the White House after the announcement of a prisoner swap involving 16 people released from prisons in Russian and Belarus in exchange for eight Russians, said that at the time of Navalny's death, officials were discussing a possible exchange involving Vadim Krasikov.

Krasikov, one of the eight Russians released in the prisoner swap announced on August 1, was convicted in Germany in 2021 and sentenced to life in prison for killing a former Chechen separatist in a Berlin park two years earlier.

After Navalny died in an Arctic prison under suspicious circumstances on February 16, senior U.S. officials made a fresh push to encourage Germany to release Krasikov. In the end, a handful of the prisoners Russia released on August 1 were either German nationals or dual German-Russian nationals.

Some of Navalny’s associates were freed, including Lilia Chanysheva, Ksenia Fadeyeva, and Vadim Ostanin. The swap also included Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin, a prominent critic of the Kremlin.

Navalny's closest ally, Leonid Volkov, lamented that the historic exchange came too late for his friend.

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“Today, we’re reveling in the release of political prisoners, Putin’s hostages who were suffering in Putin’s gulag,” Volkov said on X. “But it still will be joy with tears in our eyes. ‘The Navalny swap’ has taken place…but without Navalny. It hurts a lot.”

Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, also reacted to the prisoner swap, saying it was a "joy" to see almost a dozen Russian activists and opposition politicians freed.

"Every released political prisoner is a huge victory and a reason to celebrate," Navalnaya said on X, adding those released had been "saved from Putin's regime."

Navalnaya also spoke by phone with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, Navalnaya's spokeswoman said.

Harris called to “express her support, noting Aleksei and Yulia's contribution to the fight for a democratic Russia," spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on X.

Yarmysh said Navalnaya thanked Harris "for the U.S. assistance in organizing the exchange."

She also "called on the international community to facilitate the release of other Russian political prisoners," Yarmysh said.

Harris, the Democratic party's presumptive presidential nominee in the November 5 election, was set to welcome Kurmasheva, Gershkovich, and Whelan upon their arrival in Washington at 11:30 p.m. local time.

William Courtney, a career U.S. foreign service officer who worked on U.S.-Soviet arms talks before becoming U.S. ambassador to Georgia and Kazakhstan after the breakup of the Soviet Union, told RFE/RL that the prisoner exchange will be beneficial to the Biden administration's image.

It shows that the administration “knows how to deal with great powers who are adversaries [and] knows how to do complex negotiations,” he said.

Russia gets “nothing but bad publicity internationally” for holding high-profile prisoners like the ones freed on August 1. By releasing them, the Kremlin also avoids the risk of another political prisoner dying on their watch, he added.

Pakistan's National Counterterrorism Authority (NACTA) on July 31 added Hafiz Gul Bahadur and the Majid Brigade to its list of terrorist organizations, raising the number of Pakistani groups on the list to 81. The Hafiz Gul Bahadur militant group is active in the tribal areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The group stopped its attacks against the Pakistani government after an agreement in 2006 but resumed attacking from Afghanistan, where the Pakistani Foreign Ministry says the group has “thousands of associates.” The Majid Brigade is the “special force” of the Baluch Liberation Army, a Baluch militant group which has recently intensified attacks on Pakistani military bases and Chinese nationals in Balochistan. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal, click here.

TBILISI -- A widely criticized new law that threatens to publicly discredit thousands of media outlets and civil society groups as "serving" outside powers went into effect in Georgia on August 1, two months after the ruling party swept aside a maelstrom of domestic protest and international warnings that passage endangers further integration with the West.

Multiple lawsuits are still pending that challenge the law's constitutionality, including President Salome Zurabishvili's first-ever appeal to the Constitutional Court.

The new law obliges independent groups and media outlets that receive 20 percent of their funding from abroad to join a public registry that suggests they are "serving foreign interests." Its enactment on June 3 included a 60-day preparatory period.

"Everything is ready from August 1, [and] organizations that meet these criteria can apply to us," Justice Minister Rati Bregadze, whose ministry will run the registry, announced at a press briefing on July 30.

Noncompliance can be punished with ongoing fines.

An overwhelming majority of Georgia's 10,000 or so nonprofits are thought to receive funding from abroad.

Dozens of prominent organizations have vowed not to comply with the law, but activists say the accompanying fines would sink many smaller NGOs.

Passage in May of the Law On Transparency Of Foreign Influence came more than a year after the ruling Georgian Dream and its allies bowed to pressure over a similar bill that described groups funded from abroad as foreign "agents."

Tens of thousands of Georgians braved a brutal crackdown and violent retaliation to demonstrate against the slightly reworded bill in mid-April, whose aim and effect have been likened to decade-old legislation in Russia that has contributed to a fierce clampdown on independent media and public dissent.

Most protesters refer to it simply as "the Russian law." Many other Georgians, along with outside critics, call it the "foreign agent" law.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze argues the law will promote "transparency" and national sovereignty, although NGOs were already required to disclose their funding to the government.

Three legal challenges have already been filed with Georgia's Constitutional Court, with the plaintiffs in each case requesting a stay against enforcement until the dispute is resolved.

The first came from Zurabishvili, whose veto of the law was overridden in an 84-4 vote in the 150-member parliament that was boycotted by the opposition. Zurabishvili has had a dramatic falling out with the Georgian Dream party since it backed her candidacy for president in 2018, as critics have accused it of adopting pro-Moscow positions.

Another complaint was lodged by dozens of opposition lawmakers.

Both of those cases invoke Article 78 of the Georgian Constitution, which requires officials to "take all measures within the scope of their competences to ensure" Georgia's integration into the European Union and NATO.

"Georgian Dream stopped the path of integration into the European Union by adopting the Russian law," Strategy Aghmashenebeli party founder Giorgi Vashadze said of the appeal that he and 37 other lawmakers filed on July 29. "This is an unmistakably proven fact. Therefore, the fact that the constitution of Georgia was violated is an unmistakably proven fact."

The European Union has paused candidate Georgia's negotiations toward membership, saying the law is antithetical to the bloc's core democratic values.

The United States has announced a review of its relations with Tbilisi over the law and comments by Kobakhidze and other Georgian Dream officials since the reintroduction of the law three months ago.

This week, Washington announced the suspension of $95 million in Georgian aid over factors including "anti-democratic actions." It also signaled the Georgian government had created a new obstacle to its pursuit of NATO and EU membership.

Zurabishvili's complaint also cites protections including the right of free association, the right to protection from coercion, and privacy, among other things.

A third appeal to the Constitutional Court was filed by 122 media and civil society groups on many of the same grounds.

The law gives the Justice Ministry the power to request personal information about individuals associated with targeted organizations, including details about a person's political views, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or sex life.

Constitutional Court Chairman Merab Turava said the cases will be adjudicated together.

The nine-member court is expected to take at least a month to review the details of the consolidated case.

Government officials have consistently pushed back against characterizations of the legislation as "Russian" or as designating "foreign agents" despite its potential for a similar stigmatization of groups on the registry to that being felt in Russia.

At his July 33 press conference, Justice Minister Bregadze ignored a question after objecting to the journalist's "formulation" describing it as the "foreign agent" law.

Milad Bidi, a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was killed in an Israeli air strike on July 30 that targeted top Hizballah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut, Lebanon.

Confirming his death, IRGC’s top commander Hossein Salami hailed Bidi on August 1 for his “fight against the criminal and occupying Zionist regime,” referring to Iran’s archfoe, Israel.

“He will be an inspiration to the country’s revolutionary and passionate youth of today and tomorrow,” Salami wrote in a statement released by the IRGC-linked Tasnim news agency.

Bidi is the second member of the IRGC to be killed in an Israeli strike since the April 1 bombing of the Iranian Embassy compound in Damascus. That attack killed seven members of the IRGC, including two generals.

Iran responded by launching an unprecedented missile and drone attack against Israel and warned that a "new equation" had been established whereby Tehran would retaliate against any Israeli attacks on its interests in the region.

Raz Zimmt, a senior researcher at the Israeli-based Institute for National Security Studies, told RFE/RL in June that it was unlikely that Iran and Israel understand what the “new equation” is.

SEE ALSO:

What Hamas Leader's Killing Means For Talks Aimed At Ending Gaza War

Shukr and Bidi were killed hours before Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the U.S.- and E.U.-designated Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, was killed while on a visit to the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said after Haniyeh’s killing that it was “our duty” to avenge his death, which Tehran and its regional allies blame on Israel.

At least 20 members of the IRGC have been killed in suspected Israeli strikes in Syria and Lebanon since that start of the war in Hamas-controlled Gaza in October 2023.

Israel began its assault, which has killed nearly 40,000 people in Gaza according to the local health authorities, after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israeli settlements, killing nearly 1,200 people.

Pakistani authorities have banned the entry of Afghan drivers through the Torkham border crossing as of August 1 unless they have passports and visas. Torkham, a critical trade route between Pakistan and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, had been reopened by Pakistan in January after a 10-day closure prompted by Islamabad's imposing passport and visa requirements on Afghan drivers. Pakistan initially set an April 1 deadline for compliance, but then extended it until August 1. lslamabad's move to require visas and passports -- documents many Afghans do not have -- came as Pakistan accused the Taliban of allowing militants to stage attacks across the border from Afghanistan's territory. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, click here.

A Montenegrin court of appeals confirmed on August 1 the decision to extradite Hyeong Do Kwon to South Korea, rejecting Washington's request for extradition. The former CEO and co-founder of the cryptocurrency company Terraform Labs is being sought by U.S. and South Korean authorities for his alleged role in capital market and securities fraud involving assets worth some $40 billion. Do Kwon was arrested with his business partner Chang Joon in March 2023 at Podgorica airport while attempting to fly to Dubai using a fake passport. Chang, who was wanted only by South Korea, was extradited to Seoul on February 5. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Balkan Service, click here.

Russian shelling and drone strikes have killed more Ukrainian civilians in several frontline regions, officials reported on August 1, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy again appealed to Kyiv's allies to allow his forces to use Western weapons systems to strike military targets deeper inside Russia.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

In the eastern region of Donetsk, one civilian was killed and 10 others were wounded by Russian artillery fire in Marynivka, regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said on August 1, while local police said a tractor driver was killed in the same locality by a Russian drone.

In Hannivka, near the flashpoint city of Pokrovsk, a Russian aerial bomb wounded three people, including a 3-year-old girl and a 15-year old girl.

Russian forces have been pressing an offensive in the Pokrovsk direction for several weeks.

In the southern region of Kherson, 20 settlements were pounded by Russian artillery from across the Dnieper River, regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported. One person was killed and 10 others were wounded during the artillery barrage, Prokudin said.

In the northeastern region of Kharkiv, Russian shelling from across the border killed a 38-year-old woman and wounded a 10-year-old boy, regional governor Oleh Synyehubov said on Telegram.

In the southern city of Nikopol, Russian shelling killed a 72-year-old woman and her 40-year-old daughter, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lysak, reported on August 1. Nikopol has been a frequent target for Russian forces since the start of Moscow’s unprovoked invasion.

Zelenskiy, in an interview with French media outlets, said it was paramount for Ukraine to be allowed by its allies to use Western-provided long-range missile systems to destroy military targets deeper inside Russian territory, thus preventing more Ukrainian civilian deaths.

"We hope [to get permission] with all our hearts. We do everything we can," Zelenskiy told the French outlets. "Unfortunately, our partners are afraid of this now, but they must understand that we live and we fight."

Furthermore, Zelenskiy listed the lack of permission to strike inside Russia as one of the main reasons why Russian forces have continued their incremental advance in eastern Ukraine. He also said that newly trained Ukrainian forces need more Western weapons to be ready to replace those who have been fighting for long periods of time.

The Ukrainian leader also pleaded for more advanced air-defense systems and for Western warplanes.

"We need additional resources for air defense, to prevent their aircraft from hitting our territory. It's hard to fight them in the air. That's a fact. Their fleet is larger than ours," Zelenskiy said, on the same day when officially unconfirmed media reports said that the first of several F-16 fighter jets had arrived in Ukraine, in what could be an important boost in the embattled country's capacity to repel Russian air strikes.

Iranian political prisoner Shakila Monfared has started a hunger strike in protest against two new charges, her brother Ashkan Monfared said on July 31.

Monfared, 31, was on medical furlough when officers arrested her a day before her leave was set to end, her brother wrote on X, adding that she was “beaten” during her arrest.

She has been charged with “destruction” and “disturbing public order.”

Monfared, who is currently held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, was first convicted of “insulting sanctities” and “propaganda against the establishment” in 2020 and sentenced to just over four years in prison.

In 2021, while still in prison, she was handed two years and eight months in jail for allegedly being a “member of anti-establishment groups.”

Earlier this year, she was given an additional 15 months in prison after being convicted of having “links to opposition elements.”

Rights groups say the charges are “fabricated” and insist she has only engaged in peaceful dissent against the Islamic republic.

In April 2022, she went on a hunger strike and refused to take her medication after prison authorities refused her request to be taken to a hospital outside the prison.

That same year, she accused the authorities in Qarchak prison of compelling several prisoners to threaten to kill her and went on a days-long hunger strike after her complaints were ignored.

Monfared’s brother said appeals and requests to the judiciary to investigate the new cases that have been brought against his sister “have hit a dead-end.”

U.S.-based nonprofit Freedom House has given Iran a low score of 11 out of 100, noting that it is not a free country.

In its most recent annual report, the organization said many “remain in prison for peacefully challenging the clerical establishment and criticizing human rights abuses.”

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said that the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the EU- and U.S.-designated Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, will not influence the peace process toward ending the Israeli-Hamas war “because peace is not on the agenda at this point.”

Olmert told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda in an interview on July 31 that Iran’s response to the killing will be shaped by Tehran’s belief that Israel carried out the attack, regardless of the fact that Israel has not claimed responsibility.

“Whether we did it or not is less important,” said Olmert, who was heavily involved in unsuccessful efforts to work out a two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority while serving as prime minister from 2006 to 2009. “It's what they [Iran] think happened that will probably determine their reaction.”

Haniyeh’s death on Iranian territory and Israel’s targeting of Tehran-backed groups involved in attacks against Israel have sparked fears of a direct conflict between Iran and Israel and a broader Middle East conflict.

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In a July 31 post on Telegram, Hamas announced that the 62-year-old Haniyeh was killed in an "air strike on his residence in Tehran.” Haniyeh, who headed Hamas’s political headquarters in Qatar, was in the Iranian capital with other leaders of Iran’s “axis of resistance” opposing Israel to attend the July 30 the inauguration of newly elected President Masud Pezeshkian.

While Israel has not commented on the incident, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed revenge against Israel over the killing. The New York Times, citing Iranian officials, reported that Khamenei ordered a direct strike against Israel during an emergency meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on July 31. Pezeshkian said in a July 31 statement that Iran "will defend its territorial integrity" after the attack, without providing details.

Haniyeh was heavily involved in internationally brokered talks on reaching a permanent cease-fire to the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The 10-month war, sparked by a deadly assault on Israel on October 7 launched by Hamas and other Palestinian extremist groups, has killed nearly 40,000 people, mostly civilians, according to health officials in Gaza.

Haniyeh’s killing came just a day after Israel said it had killed Fuad Shukr, a commander of the Iranian proxy Lebanese Hizballah, which Israel said was behind a July 28 rocket attack in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights that killed 12 Israeli youths.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) confirmed on August 1 that Shukr was killed in Beirut in strikes Israel said it had launched against Hizballah targets in Lebanon.

Israel has described the July 28 attack as the deadliest since the October 7 assault by Hamas in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and hundreds were taken hostage.

Israel vowed to wipe out Hamas’s leadership after the October 7 assault and has demanded the return of Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas.

Haniyeh, who was a U.S.-designated terrorist and was seen in a video released by Hamas celebrating the success of the October 7 assault, was a marked man. But he was also seen as a relative moderate compared to those in Hamas’s militant wing and was key to securing a cease-fire, the release of Israeli hostages, and a possible peace deal.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Olmert downplayed the impact Haniyeh’s death will have on any peace negotiations.

“I don't think that it will in any way influence the chances for peace, because peace is not on the agenda altogether at this point,” Olmert told Radio Farda. “It may create some more difficulties in the process of reaching an agreement about the hostages.”

Olmert served as prime minister as a member of the hard-line Likud party currently chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During his time in office he endorsed the Arab peace initiative to end the longstanding Arab-Israeli conflict and was a supporter of a two-state solution to the Gaza crisis.

In 2006, a member of Olmert’s cabinet said that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities was “unavoidable” considering the apparent failure of international sanctions to deny Iran technology that could be used to develop a nuclear weapon. A spokesperson for Olmert subsequently said that “all options must remain on the table” and that more could be done to put financial pressure on Tehran.

In 2012, then-former Prime Minister Olmert opposed the idea of strikes against Iran’s controversial nuclear facilities.

Speaking to Radio Farda on July 31, Olmert said that the “Iranians will look for a way to react to the elimination of Ismail Haniyeh.”

However, he said that the fact that the Israeli government did not officially take responsibility for his killing will influence the “extremity of the Iranian reaction.”

“I think it will be somewhat more moderate than under different circumstances,” Olmert said.

Olmert expressed hope that an expected Iranian response would not spark a broader Middle East war directly pitting Iran against Israel, saying that retaliation beyond a direct retaliatory attack launched by Iran in April would be a “mistake.”

SEE ALSO:

Stunned by Hamas Leader's Killing In Tehran, Iran And Allies Weigh Response

Iran and its partners and proxies launched hundreds of drones and missiles against Israeli territory on April 13-14 in retaliation for an attack that Tehran said Israel carried out earlier that month against an Iranian Embassy compound.

Seven IRGC members, including top commanders, were killed in the April 1 strike, which Israel did not take responsibility for. The Iranian retaliatory attack caused little damage, with most of the Iranian missiles and drones shot down or otherwise failing to reach their targets.

After Iran reported downing a handful of small drones over the central city of Isfahan on April 19, which again was seen as a likely Israeli counterstrike for which it did not claim responsibility, fears of a wider conflict died down somewhat when Iran’s muted response was taken as an attempt to avert further escalation.

“I'm not certain that this is entirely in the interest of Iran and they may live to regret every such action,” Olmert said. “I think that the lesson they should have learned from the April confrontation is that even when you shoot hundreds of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones, others, you are not going to cause such damage that you have planned to make, and you lose your deterrence, and you lose the power of your threat.”

Moldova's Foreign Ministry has declared an employee of the Russian Embassy to Chisinau persona non grata and gave him 48 hours to leave the country. The move comes hours after authorities in Chisinau detained two Moldovan officials following a raid by security forces on parliament premises linked to a spying investigation.

Russian Ambassador Oleg Vasnetsov "was summoned today to the Foreign Ministry and was handed a note on declaring an embassy employee persona non grata," the ministry said in a statement on August 1, adding that the move was prompted by Moldovan authorities obtaining "information and evidence" proving that the Russian diplomat conducted "activities incompatible with diplomatic status on the territory of Moldova."

Neither the Moldovan government nor Vasnetsov identified the Russian diplomat to be expelled. But diplomatic and intelligence sources told RFE/RL that he is Dmitry Kelov, the deputy military attache at the embassy.

Russia's Foreign Ministry called Moldova's decision an "unfriendly step" and vowed to retaliate, without giving details.

The move came shortly after agents of Moldova's Intelligence and Security Service (SIS) and the Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS) searched the building of Moldova's parliament and detained an employee of the legislature and a border police official suspected of treason and conspiracy.

The two, who according to Moldovan law can be held for 72 hours, allegedly collected and gave an employee of the Russian Embassy in Chisinau information that harms Moldova's interests.

"It is paramount that we make sure now that this treason case will be punished in the harshest way according to the law," Moldova's pro-Western President Maia Sandu said in an interview with Moldova's Jurnal TV late on July 31.

Under U.S.-educated Sandu, who came to power in November 2020 after defeating Moscow-backed incumbent Igor Dodon, Moldova, a former Soviet republic, has sought to curb Russia's decades-long ubiquitous influence over its politics.

Last year in August, Moldova expelled 45 of the 70 Russian diplomats from the embassy in Chisinau after a media investigation revealed that the embassy building had an unusually high number of antennas installed on its roof that were suspected of gathering information for Russian intelligence services.

However, despite the sizeable expulsions, an RFE/RL investigation in September 2023 found that at least two of the remaining diplomats have ties to the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia's powerful domestic intelligence agency, while two others have been associated with Moscow addresses linked to the Russian military's intelligence directorate.

Since the start of Russia's unprovoked aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, Moldova has sided firmly with the West in condemning the invasion and has housed tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees.

Last month, Moldova opened accession negotiations with the European Union after being granted candidate status together with Ukraine in June 2022.

A funeral ceremony has concluded in Tehran for Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Iran-backed Palestinian extremist group Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU.

Iran said Haniyeh, 62, was killed on July 31 in Tehran in a raid that it accused Israel of carrying out and which has sparked fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East.

Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led the funeral prayers alongside the country’s newly inaugurated president, Masud Pezekshian, while in downtown Tehran crowds gathered carrying portraits of Haniyeh and Palestinian flags at Tehran University.

The entire ceremony was broadcast live on state television.

Haniyeh is due to be buried later in the capital of Qatar, Doha, where he lived.

Khamenei has threatened a "harsh punishment" for the killing of Haniyeh. His office said that it is Iran’s “duty to take revenge” after Haniyeh’s death.

Muza Abu Marzuk, a member of Hamas's political bureau also vowed revenge.

"The assassination of leader Ismail Haniyeh is a cowardly act and will not go unanswered," Marzuk said.

SEE ALSO:

Who Was Slain Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh?

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), who was the first to announce Haniyeh's death, said it was investigating the attack that killed him while he was in Tehran to attend Pezeshkian's July 30 inauguration ceremony.

The Israeli government has yet to comment officially, but a photo of Haniyeh with a stamp on his forehead saying "Eliminated" was posted on the Government Press Office's Facebook page. The post, which was later deleted without explanation, did not specifically claim the strike was carried out by Israel, though it noted the Hamas official "was killed in a precise strike in Tehran."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas over the group’s October 7 attack inside Israel's territory that killed 1,200 people. Around 250 others were taken hostage, some of whom have since been released.

Some of the hostages have died while in Gaza as Israel carries out a massive military operation it says is aimed at eliminating Hamas. Some of the hostages are believed to still be alive.

Haniyeh’s killing has triggered fears of an escalation in the region where tensions have already been high since the start of the war in Gaza.

The incident comes as Washington is making a push to get Hamas and Israel to agree to a temporary cease-fire and a deal to release hostages being held in Gaza. Senior officials from the United States, Israel, Qatar, and Egypt are engaged in the latest round of talks to secure such a deal.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that Washington was "not aware of or involved in" Haniyeh’s assassination and wouldn’t speculate on the impact it might have on the region.

He did say, however, that the "best way to bring the temperature down" was to keep pushing for a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel.

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on July 31 at Iran's request to discuss Haniyeh's death, with Tehran's envoy Amir Saeid Iravani urging members to take "immediate action to ensure accountability for these violations of international law."

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Ali Mamouri, a research fellow with Australia’s Deakin University and Middle East specialist, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that while the situation is still far from a full-scale regional war, "new levels of conflict will escalate."

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Radio Farda that there was "a likelihood that the Iranians will look for a way to react to the elimination of Ismail Haniyeh."

"But I think that the fact that the Israeli government did not recognize publicly and officially any responsibility...will somehow influence the extent or the extremity of the Iranian reaction. I think it will be somewhat more moderate than under different circumstances," he said.

Haniyeh became Hamas's political chief in 2017 and lived in the Gaza Strip until 2019, when he moved to live in exile in Qatar.

Seen by some analysts as a moderating influence, he had emerged as one of its most visible leaders during the war with Israel in Gaza as he shuttled between countries in the Middle East to attend international negotiations over the conflict, including the release of the hostages still being held by Hamas.

With reporting by AFP

Russia on July 31 completed the withdrawal of its border guards from Yerevan’s Zvartnots international airport, a move that was demanded by Armenia earlier this year amid mounting tensions between the two countries.

Russian border guards have for decades been stationed at Zvartnots as well as along Armenia’s borders with Turkey and Iran in a show of the close military ties between Russia and Armenia. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian announced in March that his government had given Moscow until August 1 to remove them from the airport. Armenia has the capacity to carry out border controls there “without the help of the Russian side,” he said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry criticized the move, saying that Yerevan risks inflicting “irreparable damage” to Russian-Armenian relations and jeopardizing Armenia’s security and economic development. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pashinian agreed on the withdrawal when they met in Moscow in May.

The process was completed with a farewell ceremony held for the few dozen officers of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) at Zvartnots. The newly appointed commander of Armenian border troops, Edgar Hunanian, thanked them for their service in a speech at the ceremony. He said the Armenian side will use the “experience and skills of Russian border guards passed on during more than 32 years of joint service.”

"Your not always noticeable but very necessary work has made a significant contribution to the security of both Armenia and Russia,” the Russian charge d’affaires in Yerevan, Maksim Seleznyov, said.

At his May meeting with Pashinian, Putin also agreed to pull back Russia troops and border guards from Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan. They had been deployed there at Yerevan’s request during and after the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. The border guards will continue to protect Armenia’s borders with Iran and Turkey.

Russia also has a military base in the South Caucasus country. In March, a senior Russian lawmaker said he "would not recommend that the Armenian authorities even think about" demanding an end to the Russian military presence.

Pashinian has signaled no such plans so far, but he has frozen his country’s membership in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization and not ruled out a bid to join the European Union.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met on July 31 with Indonesian president-elect Prabowo Subianto in Moscow for talks on expanding relations between the two countries. Despite heavy sanctions against Russia, trade between the two countries has doubled, Putin said. A free trade agreement between Indonesia and the Eurasian Economic Union led by Russia, which is ready to be signed, gives hope for further growth, he said. Prabowo welcomed Russian state airline Aeroflot's planned direct flights to the holiday island of Bali. He also said his meetings in Moscow covered Jakarta's interest in cooperation with the Russian nuclear company Rosatom. The former Indonesian defense minister was elected president in February and is due to take office in October.