Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on September 3 that he asked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step up advocacy among Ukraine's Western partners to allow strikes on military targets deep inside Russia. Zelenskiy urged Trudeau to lobby allies to grant Ukraine permission to strike military targets in Russia, he said on X after he and Trudeau spoke by phone. Trudeau's office said Russia's attacks "further strengthen global unity and resolve in support of Ukraine at upcoming international engagements." Zelenskiy said that he and Trudeau also discussed a conference on prisoners that Canada is due to host. Trudeau's office said Canada would host the meeting at the level of foreign ministers.

Two Ukrainian deputy prime ministers on September 3 tendered their resignations after three other ministers stepped down as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said more changes to Ukraine's government were coming.

The two deputy ministers who resigned are Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna and Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk.

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Speaker of the Parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk said the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) had received separate statements from Stefanishyna and Vereshchuk saying they had decided to resign.

"After almost three years in the government, I submitted my resignation today," Vereshchuk said. She thanked Zelenskiy for his confidence in her and expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and colleagues in the government for their cooperation.

Stefanchuk said the statements of Stefanishyna and Vereshchuk had been received and "will be considered at one of the nearest plenary sessions."

Their resignations came hours after Strategic Industries Minister Oleksandr Kamyshin, Justice Minister Denys Maliuska, and Environment Minister Ruslan Strilets resigned. Kamyshin, who oversees domestic arms production, said he would continue working in the defense sector but in a different role.

Zelenskiy noted in his evening address that state institutions should be configured so that Ukraine can achieve the best results.

"That is why there will be a number of personnel changes in the cabinet of ministers and the office of the president," he said, indicating that the changes would be coming in the fall.

He said the changes would result in slightly different weight given to individual areas of foreign and domestic policy.

Ukraine needs more interaction between the central government and communities, especially during preparation for the winter season, he said.

Secondly, Ukraine has already achieved significant results in defense production, Zelenskiy said, indicating the reason for the change in Kamyshin's role.

With reporting by Reuters

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on September 3 banned Russian athlete Tatyana Tomashova, a two-time world champion, for 10 years. The lengthy ban was imposed because it was her second offense after she was handed a two-year ban in a case that prevented her from competing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Russian athlete also was sanctioned with "disqualification of all competitive results" from June 2012, to January 2015 -- a period that included the 2012 Olympics in London. The court said Tomashova tested positive for anabolic steroids in a re-analysis of samples she gave prior to the London Games. The decision means the bronze medal in the 1,500-meter race will go to U.S. runner Shannon Rowbury.

The British rock band Placebo on September 3 announced on Instagram that its scheduled performance at the Yandex Park Live festival in Kazakhstan on September 8 was canceled for "compelling circumstantial reasons...not related to the professionalism of the organizers."

The group added that its performance at a similar event sponsored by the Russian tech giant Yandex in Georgia on September 12 was also canceled.

"We are deeply regretful for the disappointment this is bound to cause. We apologize profusely to all our fans in Kazakhstan and Georgia for canceling at such a late stage. We also apologize profusely to those of you who planned to travel from afar," the group said on Instagram.

The cancelation of the concerts in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, and the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, came amid criticism of Yandex's involvement in the events.

The Park Live music festival was held annually in Moscow from 2013 to 2019. Yandex, which operates the popular Russian search engine Yandex Search, has been the event's major sponsor since then.

Such rock groups as Gorillaz, Massive Attack, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Killers, and many other well-known rock bands performed at the festival when it was held in Moscow. A related festival was held concurrently in Kyiv.

The festival was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak and, in 2022, because of Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine that year.

After a five-year break, the event's organizers said earlier this year that the festival would be revived and held in Almaty on September 6-8.

Yandex is the festival's major sponsor.

After it was announced in June that Placebo would be a headline act at the event in Almaty, the band has been targeted by critics who have accused it of cooperating with a Russian-owned company they accuse of supporting Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Yandex co-founder Arkady Volozh stepped down as CEO after he was sanctioned by the European Union in 2022 after it accused Yandex of "removing content critical of the Kremlin, such as content related to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine." Volozh subsequently openly condemned the Russian invasion as "barbaric."

In February, Yandex announced it was leaving Russia and its Dutch-based parent company sold it, making Yandex fully Russian-owned. The European Union lifted the sanctions against Volozh in May.

In July, the British rock group Editors announced their decision to withdraw from the Park Live music festival in Almaty, saying that they made the decision after "having been informed who the sponsor of the event is."

NATO Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana announced on September 3 his resignation from that alliance post to run in Romania's presidential election in November. Geoana said he met with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg the same day to inform him of his plans. Geoana and other NATO sources confirmed the information to RFE/RL's Romanian Service. Geoana will reportedly be replaced in the deputy's post by German Boris Ruge. Stoltenberg is due to be succeeded by former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Ruttee on October 1. Current Romanian President Klaus Iohannis is barred from a third term by Romania's constitution.

The European Union has told Serbia that maintaining ties with Russia during the ongoing invasion of Ukraine is incompatible with the bloc's values and the EU accession process, highlighting a running dispute between Brussels and the candidate country.

The warning followed the announcement of a meeting between Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of an economic forum in Vladivostok on September 3-6.

"The European Union has been crystal clear with our partners: Relations with Russia cannot be business as usual after Russia's unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine," the bloc said in response to a request from RFE/RL's Balkan Service for comment on September 3.

Brussels also said the EU "wants to count on all candidate countries as reliable European partners for common principles, values, security, and prosperity."

Putin's office announced that the Russian president will meet with Vulin on September 4.

Putin will be meeting with Malaysian and Chinese officials the same day.

Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic told RFE/RL that he saw the announcement of the meeting in the media, adding that "it is nothing epochal or so terrible" for Vulin to meet with Putin in Russia.

"We have not broken off diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation; it is not forbidden for someone to meet with representatives of the Russian Federation," Vucevic added during a visit to Novi Pazar in southwestern Serbia.

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Vucevic also emphasized that Serbia doesn't encourage the war in Ukraine and does not support the violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity. "We have voted for all the resolutions confirming Ukraine's integrity, but we are not giving up our friendship with the Russian Federation, we have not imposed sanctions, we have not expelled the ambassador. On the contrary, we maintain normal communication," Vucevic said.

He noted that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban -- whose policies have angered the European Union -- had met with Putin.

"We will not apologize for our policy or justify it. We can explain our policy," Vucevic said.

Vulin was put under U.S. sanctions over his dealings with Russia, among other things.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on August 31 denied having close ties to Putin, telling attendees at a Prague security conference that his country is no "Trojan horse" for Moscow despite its refusal to join sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine invasion.

The chairwoman of Kazakhstan's Central Commission on Referendums (ORK), Sabila Mustafina, said on September 3 that 15.5 billion tenges (more than $32 million) has been requested for a nationwide referendum on the construction of a nuclear power station in the Central Asian country next month.

The announcement came a day after President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev announced the referendum and signed a decree setting October 6 as the date of the vote.

According to Mustafina, 71 percent of the requested sum would cover compensation for the work of more than 70,000 ORK members, while 29 percent would be used for communication activities, bulletins, and advertisements.

"The government will decide on the allocation of the mentioned sum for the referendum, after our estimations are approved by the Finance Ministry, the National Economy Ministry, and the Justice Ministry," Mustafina said.

Mustafina's deputy Konstantin Petrov said more than 12 million Kazakh citizens are eligible to vote at more than 10,000 voting sites across the country and 78 stations will be set up in different countries for Kazakh citizens residing abroad.

Only one question will be asked in the referendum: "Do you agree that Kazakhstan needs to construct a nuclear power station?"

Many in Kazakhstan expect that the answer will be "yes," considering the country's tightly controlled political environment.

But the push to build a nuclear power plant has been met by significant opposition despite apparent efforts to silence dissent on the issue. In recent weeks, several activists known for their stance against the nuclear power station's construction have been prevented from attending public debates on the matter.

Nuclear-power-related projects have been a controversial issue in Kazakhstan, where the environment was severely impacted by operations at the Soviet-era Semipalatinsk nuclear test site from 1949 to 1991 and the Baikonur spaceport, which is still being operated by Moscow.

Hours before his decree was made public on September 2, President Toqaev reiterated his support for the plan to build a nuclear power station.

There was no official information about the site of the future nuclear station, but a public debate was held last year in the village of Ulken on the shore of the Lake Balkhash in the southeastern region of Almaty about the possibility of constructing a nuclear power station there.

The idea to build a nuclear power station in Kazakhstan has been circulating in the country for years, leading to questions regarding what countries would be involved in the project.

Kazakh officials have tried to avoid answering the question, saying the decision would be made after a referendum.

Shortly before launching its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia proposed its Rosatom nuclear agency to be Kazakhstan's major partner in the project.

Kazakh Internet users mostly rejected the idea of Rosatom's involvement, citing the legacy of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and Russia's gaining control over the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine as examples of Russia's attitude toward nuclear safety.

The Islamic State (IS) extremist group claimed responsibility on September 3 for an attack in the Afghan capital a day earlier that killed at least six people and injured 13 more. The attack is believed to have been targeting the Taliban-led government's prosecution offices. VOA's Pashto service and the AFP news agency quoted the IS group's Amaq media wing as claiming IS was behind what it said was a suicide attack once "prosecutor's employees were leaving their shifts." Some witnesses claimed a much higher death toll, and the Amaq report claimed "more than 45" had been killed or wounded. The Sunni-led Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) branch has carried out numerous attacks since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, often targeting Taliban officials, foreign nationals, and the Shi'ite Hazara community.

Iran summoned Australia's ambassador in Tehran over the publication of online content it deemed "norm-breaking," the semiofficial ILNA news agency said on September 3, a day after state media said the post "promoted homosexuality." The post on the embassy's official Instagram account celebrated "Wear it Purple Day" and expressed dedication to creating "a supporting environment where everyone, especially LGBTQIA+ youth, can feel proud to be themselves." ILNA quoted Australian Ambassador Ian McConville as saying the post was not intended to insult the Iranian people and their values, and that the Islamic Republic was not mentioned in it. The post remains on the embassy's Instagram account. In 2022, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described homosexuality as part of the "moral depravity" widespread in Western civilization.

As Iran threatens to attack Israel over the assassination of a leader of the U.S.- and EU-designated terrorist organization Hamas in the Iranian capital, its long-vaunted missile program offers one of the few ways for Tehran to strike back directly, but questions loom over just how much of a danger it poses. The program was behind Iran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on Israel in April, when Iran became the first nation to launch such a barrage since Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein lobbed Scud missiles at Israel in the 1991 Gulf War. But a new report by experts shared exclusively with the Associated Press suggests that one of Tehran's most advanced missiles is far less accurate than previously thought. The April assault showed "some ability to strike Israel,” said Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies who worked on the analysis. But "if I were supreme leader, I would probably be a little disappointed.”

Sardar Akhtar Mengal, the chaiman of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) and a veteran politician, has resigned his seat in Pakistan's lower house of parliament, the National Assembly.

Balochistan in southwestern Pakistan borders Afghanistan and Iran and is home to Pakistan's Baluch ethnic minority. It has been the scene of a low-level insurgency and brutal army crackdown for years.

"I have resigned as member of the National Assembly," Mengal wrote on X on September 3, according to Radio Mashaal.

Addressing a news conference in Islamabad later the same day, Mengal said he cannot serve his people as a member of the parliament and there was therefore no reason to stay in the seat.

A radical group known as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has waged an insurgency there for decades against the Pakistani state, carrying out mostly small-scale attacks against government forces.

But the region was the scene in late August of the deadliest bombings and shootings in years, and the BLA appears to have gained strength.

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Pakistani militant groups including the BLA are believed to have obtained U.S. weapons and military equipment since U.S. and international forces pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021, leaving behind billions of dollars' worth of military gear and weapons seized by the hard-line fundamentalist Taliban after it took power in Kabul.

At least 51 people were killed and 219 were injured on September 3 in one of Russia's deadliest attacks in a single strike since its all-out invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the country's Defense Ministry said two missiles struck a building of the Military Communications Institute in a morning attack on the city of Poltava in central Ukraine.

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They said two missiles hit the facility just after an air-raid alert and people didn't have time to evacuate to a bomb shelter.

"One of the buildings of the Communications Institute was partially destroyed. People found themselves under the rubble. Many were saved," Zelenskiy said.

Poltava regional Governor Filip Pronin said on Ukrainian television that as many as 15 people may still be under the rubble, adding that search teams were continuing to work at the scene.

The Prosecutor-General's Office announced that it launched an investigation as it released the new death toll of 51 late on September 3.

"At the moment rescuers, an investigative and operational group, and other services are working on the site, and the demolition of the debris is ongoing. The number of victims is being clarified," the Prosecutor-General's Office said on Telegram.

Zelenskiy said earlier that he ordered a "full and prompt investigation" into what happened. He also said he was "grateful to everyone who, from the first minutes after being hit, helps people who save lives."

Zelenskiy and Pronin described the site as an "educational" facility, and the identities of the victims were not immediately disclosed.

The attack is believed to be the deadliest single strike since May 2022, when Zelenskiy said 87 soldiers were killed at a military training center in the northern Cherniv region.

Ukraine's defense readiness came under scrutiny after the strike on Poltava, and some observers questioned why a large number of people were left vulnerable to a single attack.

"A crowd of people at this facility in this number is absolutely unacceptable," said Yuriy Butosov, a Ukrainian activist and journalist. "We have a large number of military installations where there are significant numbers of people. These people in many cases that I have observed spread out so as so that they cannot be targeted by a single blow at the same time," he told Current Time.

Vladislav Seleznev, a Ukrainian military analyst and former spokesman for the General Staff of the Ukrainian military, said Ukraine can blame the Kremlin for the strike on Poltava, but there must also be a clear understanding of Kyiv's responsibility.

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"The conversation we need to have is first and foremost about responsibility of officials who did not do anything that could have saved lives lost today during the Russian [air] strike," Seleznev said. "Why do children in Kharkiv attend classes underground or in a metro while [people at] the training center in Poltava did not have such an option?"

He also said the strike shows that Ukraine lacks monitoring systems needed to detect reconnaissance drones.

"Russia is not even trying to hide the fact that they were guiding their Iskander [missiles] toward the training center using a reconnaissance drone. If we had a sufficient amount of such monitoring and eventually strike systems, this kind of tragedy could have been prevented," he said.

In addition, Ukraine must realize the danger faced by all regions close to the front line. "The enemy is using ballistic [missiles] and the time [between their launch and] strike amounts to mere minutes."

Zelenskiy again urged Ukraine's supporters to step up the supply of air-defense systems and long-range missiles that can "defend against Russian terror." he said. "Every day of delay, unfortunately, means more lives lost."

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said emergency responders had saved many people and pulled some from the rubble. He said the impact site was near a residential area and shock waves from the blasts knocked out windows and damaged the facades of high-rise buildings.

After dozens of people reportedly turned up to donate blood, a message distributed via local media urged Ukrainians to avoid queuing up at blood-donation centers.

Mariana Bezugla, deputy head of the Ukrainian parliament's National Security, Defense, and Intelligence Committee, appeared to suggest some sort of gathering had been targeted.

Alluding to a deadly Russian attack on a group of Ukrainian soldiers in the southern Zaporizhzhya region in November, Bezugla said the incident "did not teach [us] anything."

"We have the repetition and repetition of tragedies. Where is the limit?" she wrote on X.

The Ukrainian military confirmed the deaths of at least 19 soldiers from the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade and nine others in that attack.

The incident sparked fierce criticism when it emerged that the soldiers had been gathered for an award ceremony.

Russia did not immediately comment on the Poltava attack.

The Vyasna right group said on September 3 that at least 33 people will face trial this week across Belarus over participation in the mass demonstrations challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election that kept authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka in power. According to Vyasna, more than 2,500 people who took part in the months of rallies have been convicted on a charge of "participation in activities blatantly disrupting public order." Thousands have been detained over the protests against the August 2020 election results, and rights groups have documented cases of torture and ill-treatment by security forces. Several people died during the crackdown. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, click here.

The Moscow City Court on September 3 sentenced aerodynamics expert Aleksandr Shiplyuk of the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in Siberia to 15 years in prison on a treason charge. Investigators say Shiplyuk passed classified information to intelligence operatives from an unspecified country. Earlier reports said Shiplyuk was suspected of passing classified materials to China. The scholar has rejected the charge. Over the last six years, at least 12 employees of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences have been targeted in criminal investigations. Some of them died while in custody. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on September 3 before a planned visit to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, where he said the situation is "very fragile."

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Grossi said on X that he was on his way to Zaporizhzhya to "continue our assistance & help prevent a nuclear accident." The Zaporzhzhya plant has been occupied by Russian forces since shortly after their country's all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has frequently had its power cut by shelling or been caught in the cross-fire of nearby fighting.

In addition to meeting Zelenskiy, Grossi met with Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko; Petro Kotin, head of state nuclear power company Enerhoatom; and Oleh Korikov, acting head of Ukraine's State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate.

Grossi said they exchanged views on the IAEA's support to Ukraine's nuclear power plants ahead of his visit to the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. The visit follows the IAEA chief's visit last week to the Kursk nuclear power plant in Russia, which is about 40 kilometers from the part of the region that Ukrainian forces have occupied since the start of their August cross-border incursion. Moscow has accused Ukraine of trying to attack the Kursk plant.

Grossi said after meeting Zelenskiy that he wouldn't compare the situation at the two power plants.

Ukrainian officials reported multiple civilian deaths from overnight Russian attacks in Zaporizhzhya and an attack on the country's railway infrastructure.

The number of people injured as a result of a Russian missile attack on the building of a hotel complex in Zaporizhzhya on September 2 rose to six, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported on September 3. Two more women sought medical treatment independently, and one of them was in serious condition with a concussion, the Emergency Service said.

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Ukraine's General Staff said early on September 3 that around a quarter of the clashes with Russian forces over the past 24 hours had taken place in the east near the strategically significant Donetsk region town of Pokrovsk, where Russian troops have reportedly made significant gains in recent weeks.

Ukrainian Railways said on September 2 that it was continuing evacuation efforts for families from Pokrovsk, which is now only about 10 kilometers from the front line.

The state rail operator said on September 3 that an enemy drone had struck a locomotive on a Korchakivka-Sumy train but no injuries were reported. It also said overnight attacks had targeted rail infrastructure in the northeastern Sumy and the southern Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Ukrainian officials said an 8-year-old boy and his mother were killed in Russian shelling overnight in the Zaporizhzhya region.

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Ukraine's military said on September 3 that it had downed 27 of 35 Russian drones overnight around the country. Antiaircraft defenses functioned in the Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Mykolayiv, Kherson, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions, but two ballistic missiles that hit the eastern city of Poltava killed scores of people at a military training facility and nearby hospital.

The Russian Defense Ministry said early on September 3 that it was deploying more air-defense systems in the southern Belgorod region that borders central Ukraine's Kharkiv region and in the Russian region of Kursk where Kyiv launched its surprise incursion last month.

Meanwhile, Reuters quoted multiple anonymous sources on September 3 as saying Russia's Gazpromneft oil refinery suspended work at the Euro+ combined processing unit in Moscow after a fire two days earlier. The sources said the plant was expected to be back online within six days.

Ivan Zhdanov, an exiled associate of Aleksei Navalny, on September 3 posted an official letter by prosecutors in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region that said they have canceled a decision by investigators in August against launching a probe into the late Russian opposition politician's death. The letter said the case has been sent to the Investigative Committee. In August, Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said Russian authorities had refused to open a probe into the death of her husband. The outspoken Kremlin critic died in February in an Arctic prison while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that he had rejected as politically motivated.

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov has refused to sign a bill into law that would exonerate victims of Soviet-era repressions. The Kyrgyz parliament's website says Japarov returned the bill to lawmakers for additional debate, saying that the state will be unable to pay monthly allowances called for in the bill for some 18,000 Kyrgyz victims of Soviet terror from 1918 to 1953 and their descendants. Lawmakers approved the bill in late June. According to the Memorial rights group in Russia, at least 12 million men and women were persecuted during Josef Stalin's Great Terror in the 1930s alone, of whom more than 1 million people were executed. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

Amnesty International has condemned as "alarming" a wave of preelection detentions and harassment by Azerbaijani authorities of critics, and it has urged the immediate release of political analyst Bahruz Samadov, who is accused of high treason, and others.

On September 2, the rights group highlighted that the persecution came ahead of the Caucasus nation's parliamentary elections the previous day, amid its ongoing peace talks with longtime foe Armenia, and with Baku preparing to host a major UN climate conference in November.

“The targeting of journalists and activists is nothing short of an attempt to silence dissent and suppress freedom of expression, particularly of those who are advocating for peace with Armenia," Amnesty quoted its South Caucasus researcher Natalia Nozadze as saying in a statement.

"The alarming new arrests and detentions targeting government critics must not be overlooked," Nozadze said, urging the international community to "condemn it in the strongest possible terms."

The Amnesty researcher noted that the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and OSCE Parliamentary Assembly observers described Azerbaijan's vote this month dominated by allies of President Ilham Aliyev as held in a “restrictive political and legal environment."

The group cited the arrest last month of Samadov, an activist and doctoral student abroad, for alleged "high treason" over "critical articles on Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh policy and connections with Armenian activists," which it said "mirrors the July arrest of Talysh minority advocate Igbal Abilov, also charged with 'high treason.'"

Both are still in custody awaiting potential prosecution.

A Baku court on August 23 sent Samadov to pretrial detention for at least four months on the high treason charge, which he rejects.

Samadov has been critical of Baku's military offensives in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, where in 2023 Azerbaijan regained control over territory held for decades by ethnic Armenians backed by Yerevan.

Azerbaijan's Central Electoral Commission, which is packed with loyalists, announced that Aliyev's ruling New Azerbaijan Party won 68 of 125 seats in the voting on September 1 for a new parliament.

There were widespread reports of tampering and other irregularities amid turnout of around 37 percent.

The vote was the second snap election called by Aliyev since Azerbaijan's lightning offensive last year that retook Nagorno-Karabakh and forced tough peace talks with Armenia.

Oil-and-gas powerhouse Azerbaijan was controversially granted hosting duties for the 29th UN Climate Change conference, known as COP29, despite critics' concerns about its democracy and rights record.

The European Union on September 3 criticized Mongolia for failing to enforce an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to the country.

"The EU regrets that Mongolia, a State Party to the Rome Statute of the ICC, did not comply with its obligations under the statute to execute the arrest warrant," an EU statement said.

Putin met earlier on September 3 with Mongolian President Ukhna Khurelsukh in Ulan Bator on his first trip to a member state of the ICC since it issued an arrest warrant for him in March 2023.

Putin has been sought by the intergovernmental ICC over the illegal deportation and transfer of children from occupied parts of Ukraine to Russia since Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.

A government spokesman said Mongolia, which is home to more than 3 million people and borders Russia and China, cannot arrest Putin because it is energy-dependent. Mongolia imports 95 percent of its petroleum products and more than 20 percent of its electricity from its immediate neighbors, and these supplies are critical to the country's survival, the spokesman told Politico.

"Mongolia has always maintained a policy of neutrality in all its diplomatic relations, as evidenced by our official statements to date," the government spokesman added.

Mongolian officials rolled out a red carpet and honor guard for Putin at Ulan Bator's international airport as he arrived overnight from the Russian region of Tuva.

Khurelsukh escorted Putin into the Government Palace, where they both paid respects to a statue of Genghis Khan before going inside for closed-door meetings.

The leaders reportedly signed deals on aviation-fuel supplies to Ulan Bator and a feasibility study and renovation work on a Mongolian power plant, and Putin described plans to better link the countries by rail.

Russian media also said Putin invited Khurelsukh to attend an October meeting in the southern Russian city of Kazan of the BRICS group of developing nations.

It is Putin's first trip to Mongolia in five years.

Mongolia joined the ICC in 2003.

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Western institutions and officials called for Putin's arrest on his arrival.

"Mongolia, like all other countries, has the right to develop its international ties according to its own interests," European Commission spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said. "However, there is an arrest warrant against Putin issued by the international Criminal Court."

Russian opposition political activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was released from a Russian prison last month in a major prisoner swap between Russia and the West, says Mongolian authorities "must arrest" Putin.

He is one of dozens of prominent Russians abroad who signed an open letter urging Ulan Bator to arrest the Russian leader immediately on his arrival.

"In terms of the International Criminal Court, in terms of the Rome Statute, in terms of international law, Vladimir Putin should be arrested," Kara-Murza told Current Time in Prague on September 1.

The Kremlin said days before the trip that it had “no worries” about the visit.

The former Russian president and currently deputy secretary of its Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said in a statement on September 3 that the ICC warrant was "illegal." He accused those calling for Putin's arrest of being "madmen."

Putin's visit is timed to coincide with the 85th anniversary of the victory of Soviet and Mongolian troops over the Japanese Army at Khalkhin Gol in 1939.

With reporting by AP

At least 93 people were executed in Iran in August, increasing the total for the year to more than 400, UN rights experts said on September 2. The UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed alarm over the monthly total -- a rise from 45 reported in July -- and called on Iran to immediately stop the execution of people facing the death penalty. It said 41 of those executed last month were due to drug offenses. "The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party, restricts the application of the death penalty to 'most serious crimes,' understood as intentional killing," it said. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, is traveling to Kyiv again on September 3. He will also visit the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in the southeast of the country, the IAEA announced in Vienna. Europe's largest nuclear plant has been occupied by Russia since 2022. The facility has been the target of repeated attacks and acts of sabotage for which Moscow and Kyiv blame each other. Grossi said in mid-August that the security situation was "deteriorating." He spoke after a blast in the immediate vicinity of the plant, which IAEA experts believe was caused by a drone with an explosive charge.

At least six people were killed and 13 injured in a blast in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on September 2, representatives of the de facto Taliban rulers said. Witnesses said the incident took place near the Attorney General's Office in the capital, with some residents telling RFE/RL's Radio Adazi that at least 15 people had been killed. Police officials declared it a "suicide attack," but details remain scarce. Residents near the emergency hospital in the Shahr-e Naw neighborhood told Radio Azadi they saw bodies and injured being taken by ambulance to the hospital. No group immediately claimed responsibility, but the Sunni-led Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) branch has carried out numerous attacks since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, often targeting Taliban officials, foreign nationals, and the Shi'ite Hazara community. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi, click here.

All 22 bodies have been recovered from the crash of a civilian helicopter Russia's Kamchatka region, the Emergencies Ministry said on September 2. The Mi-8 disappeared on August 31 with 19 passengers -- mainly tourists -- and three crew members aboard, and crashed into a hill, according to authorities. The crash site was discovered on September 1. The helicopter was operated by the Vityaz-Aero company, which has been engaged in passenger and tourist flights for 15 years, officials said. In August 2021, a helicopter operated by the same company also crashed in Kamchatka, killing eight people. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Russian Service, click here.

Belarusian activist Dziyana Maiseyenka told RFE/RL's Belarus Service that she was released from detention in Armenia but that she is prohibited from leaving the South Caucasus nation for now and has submitted documents seeking political asylum.

Maiseyenka was detained on September 2 by Armenian authorities at Minsk's request as she was crossing the Georgian-Armenian border.

She is wanted in authoritarian Belarus on charges of "organizing and preparing activities that blatantly disrupt public order."

The charges stem from Maiseyenka's alleged participation in mass rallies protesting the official results of the August 2020 presidential poll that named authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka the winner.

Many Western governments have refused to recognize the results of the election and do not consider Lukashenka to be the country's legitimate leader.

An Armenian court is to rule on Maiseyenka's restrictions before a decision on her possible deportation is made, her Belarusian consultant, lawyer Ales Mikhalevich, told RFE/RL.

Maiseyenka said she will travel on September 3 to the capital, Yerevan, from the city of Noyemberian along the Georgian border to meet with an Armenian lawyer and could continue to pursue political asylum amid the uncertainty over her case.

Maiseyenka left Belarus in the summer of 2023. She is the daughter of former political prisoner Andrey Ivanyushin, who was convicted for a September 19, 2020, incident involving motorcycles near the Europa shopping center, receiving a 2 1/2-year prison sentence.

The Crisis In Belarus

Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.

Maiseyenka said she believes she has been watched by the Belarusian authorities since at least 2022 as she waited for her father’s release.

"They detained my husband and gave him 15 days, although he did not go to any protests," she told RFE/RL. "I was followed by young men in civilian clothes and caps."

"In the summer of 2022, I decided to leave Belarus without waiting for my father's release from prison. He was released in June, but in August he was detained again and imprisoned in Zhodzina for six months.

"Father was once again convicted under Article 342 [organization of mass riots and participation in them]. Now he is free on bail," she said.

She said she had been living in Georgia for more than a year and did not know that a criminal case was opened against her in her home country.

She said she and a friend had previously traveled to Turkey but this time decided to visit neighboring Armenia.

"We arrived at the border, the border guards took my passport," she said.

"They took me to one office, then to another -- they told me that they had no right to disclose information. [An official] came and said that I was wanted and they took me to the local police."

She said she was treated well at the police station.

"I left the police station literally an hour and a half ago and still don't know what's going on. On [September 3], I will go to Yerevan to see a lawyer, who needs to work to get me permission to leave Armenia. For now, my exit is blocked."

"In theory, they cannot extradite me, but I'm afraid that security forces may come from Belarus and take me away. I don't know how realistic that is," she said.

"Therefore, I have already submitted a request for political asylum in Armenia," she added.

More than 1,500 political prisoners are currently held in Belarusian prisons, including journalists, human rights activists, and politicians.

Between 200,000 and 500,000 Belarusians fled the country after the crackdown on anti-government protests in 2020.

Richard Bennett, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, says he has arrived in Qatar to meet with "diverse groups" of Afghan men and women, along with government representatives, on the situation in Afghanistan. The country's de facto Taliban rulers barred Bennett from entering Afghanistan late last month, accusing him of "spreading propaganda." Since being appointed to the UN post in May 2022, Bennett has made several trips to Afghanistan and has accused the Taliban of violating human rights, especially in regard to the rights of girls and women. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, click here.