Ukraine's military said its forces came under repeated attack on August 21 around the town of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, where Russian forces are pressing for a breakthrough.

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 a statement, the General Staff of the Ukrainian military said there were 46 Russian attacks in the Pokrovsk area over the course of day. Of these, 44 were repelled and two were ongoing into the evening hours local time.

It also said 238 Russian troops were killed or wounded in the same area on August 21. It did not disclose Ukrainian losses, and it was not possible to verify the number of Russian soldiers killed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine's military was responding to the Russian push by strengthening its forces around Pokrovsk, one of the hottest areas of the front.

The Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine has ordered a forced evacuation of children with their parents or legal representatives from certain districts of the Donetsk region, including Pokrovsk.

There were dozens of other clashes across the front line on August 21. Most of them were repelled, according to the General Staff, but some continued into the late evening hours.

The governor of the Bryansk region of Russia, Aleksandr Bogomaz, said Russian forces prevented an attempted incursion into the region by Ukrainian troops. Bogomaz said the attempted breakthrough occurred in the Klimovo district of the region, which borders the Chernihiv region of Ukraine.

"The enemy has been hit by fire. Currently, the situation at the site of the clash has stabilized," Bogomaz said on Telegram.

Ukraine said separately that it had destroyed a Russian pontoon bridges with U.S.-made weapons in Russia's Kursk region. A video posted by Ukrainian special forces showed strikes on several pontoon crossings after Russia reported that Ukraine has destroyed at least three bridges over the Seym River.

"Where do Russian pontoon bridges 'disappear' in the Kursk region? Operators...accurately destroy them," Ukraine's Special Operations Forces said on Telegram.

Claims of battlefield success could not be independently verified.

The Kremlin believes the fighting to repel Ukraine's incursion into the Kursk region will last for months and is trying to prepare the public for this "new normal," sources close to the Russian presidential administration and the government have told the Meduza and Verstka news websites.

The reports came as Russia is battling to repel the two-week-old Ukrainian incursion into its region bordering Ukraine, where Kyiv's forces say they control more than 1,260 square kilometers and 92 settlements.

The news outlets said the Ukrainian incursion "shocked" Russian elites, but now that the initial shock has passed, "they've gotten used to it."

'New Reality'

At the same time, the Kremlin is using its propaganda machine to try and prepare Russians for life in the conditions of a "new reality" and "new normality," said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"The Kremlin proposes convincing Russians that an enemy that breaks through to Russian territory will face 'inevitable defeat,' but 'the return of territories will take time and Russians need to wait,'" one of the sources said.

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Russian elites are expecting the resignations of those responsible for the Ukrainian breakthrough, a source told Meduza.

Ukraine's leadership has repeatedly clarified that its bold move into Kursk is meant to establish a buffer zone inside Russia meant to protect Ukrainian civilians from cross-border Russian shelling.

The American Institute for the Study of War said Ukrainian forces continued to advance along the entire front line in Kursk.

Earlier on August 21, Ukrainian naval forces struck a Russian S-300 antiaircraft complex in Russia's Rostov region, Ukraine's General Staff reported, while Russia said it was subjected to one of the most intense waves of Ukrainian drone strikes that ever targeted the capital, Moscow.

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Ukraine's General Staff said the strike against the S-300 missile complex near the settlement of Novoshakhtinsk in the Rostov region was carried out by naval force units and the consequences of the strike are still being evaluated.

"Russian invaders also use S-300 missiles to attack peaceful Ukrainian cities, destroying residential buildings and terrorizing the civilian population," the General Staff said.

Rostov regional Governor Vasily Golubev separately said a Ukrainian missile had been shot down in the region, without giving details.

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Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine

Meanwhile, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Ukrainian drones targeted the Russian capital in one of the largest such attacks, adding that air defenses shot down 10 of the drones.

"This is one of the largest attempts to attack Moscow with drones of all time," Sobyanin wrote, adding no casualties or material damage were reported.

Russia's Defense Ministry separately said its air defense systems shot down 45 Ukrainian drones.

"Eleven drones were destroyed over the Moscow region, 23 over the Bryansk region, six over the Belgorod region, three over the Kaluga region, and two over the Kursk region," it said.

Ukraine needs a real mechanism that will enable Russian frozen assets to work for the country in the coming months, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

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.

Zelenskiy said in his evening video address that the topic was discussed with Ukraine’s partners on August 21 “to bring real decisions closer to the promised $50 billion from frozen Russian assets.”

There has been a lot of discussion in the past about the transfer of the funds to Ukraine, but Zelenskiy said that despite these statements Ukraine still needs a real mechanism.

"It is necessary that the funds from the aggressor's assets work for real assistance in defense against the aggressor," he said. "Relevant discussions have been going on for too long, and finally solutions are needed."

Western countries froze some 276 billion euros ($300 billion) in sovereign Russian wealth funds following Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In June, the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized countries decided to service a $50 billion loan for Ukraine with proceeds generated by the so-called immobilized assets.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has suggested that the G7 could agree on the terms of providing Ukraine with a $50 billion loan secured by the assets by October.

Yellen said in June that there was "no legal problem" in providing Ukraine with the loan. She also rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin's accusation that the use of income from Russian assets for the benefit of Ukraine was theft.

Most of the frozen Russian sovereign funds -- some 210 billion euros ($228 billion) -- are held in Europe, while about $10 billion ($11.1 billion) is in the United States, the news website Euractiv.com estimates. Some $30 billion ($33.4 billion) are in Japan, and $10 billion in Britain.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced last month that 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) of “proceeds from immobilized Russian assets” would be transferred to Ukraine for defense and reconstruction.

"There is no better symbol or use for the Kremlin's money than to make Ukraine and all of Europe a safer place to live,” von der Leyen said on July 26.

In reaction to von der Leyen's announcement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would not leave the EU's move unanswered but said Moscow's response had to be carefully planned.

The Foreign Ministry said that “any encroachment on Russian state property under the guise of any contrived ‘reparation mechanism’ would be nothing more than theft at the state level."

Western countries have discussed the possible confiscation of the frozen assets, but it is associated with greater legal difficulties than using the proceeds from them.

The General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces has rejected a media report saying that the helicopter crash in May in which Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died was caused by weather conditions and the aircraft's inability to handle the weight it was carrying.

Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency reported on August 21 that the investigation into the helicopter crash had been "fully completed by the regulatory and security institutions."

Fars quoted an unnamed security source informed of the final investigation as saying there was "absolute certainty that what happened was an accident." The monitoring and security institutions "did not identify a suspicious factor" in their final assessments, Fars reported.

The two reasons given for the crash were bad weather conditions and the helicopter’s inability to handle the weight of extra passengers that exceeded safety protocols, the source added.

According to the Fars report, the chopper was carrying two passengers beyond the recommended capacity when it crashed.

But after the Fars report, the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces "strongly rejected" the reported findings, saying in a statement carried by state media that it was "distorted and discredited."

The headquarters said the claim that the helicopter was carrying more people than its capacity was "fundamentally false.”

The Bell 212 helicopter had a capacity of 15, including one pilot, according to the manufacturer. Raisi and seven others were killed when the helicopter crashed on its way to the city of Tabriz on May 19 in heavy fog as it crossed a mountainous and forested area.

Some reports at the time noted that because of international sanctions it has been difficult for Iran to obtain parts for its aging helicopter fleet. The Bell 212 was made in the United States and procured by Iran from the United States before the 1979 Iranian revolution.

Iran elected a new president, reformist Masud Pezeshkian, in June and on August 21 the country's hard-line parliament approved his 19-member Cabinet, accepting the entire slate of ministers without a change for the first time since 2001.

With reporting by AFP

A Russian court on August 21 sentenced exiled opposition politician and former parliamentary deputy Dmitry Gudkov to eight years in prison in absentia for his criticism of Russia's military offensive in Ukraine. Gudkov, who served in Russia's parliament from 2011 to 2016, was found guilty of publishing "false information" about the Russian military motivated by "political hatred," the Moscow prosecutor's office said in a statement. In response to the sentencing, Gudkov said on Telegram that his thoughts were with "the hundreds of real, and not 'in absentia' Russian political prisoners" who are waiting for a chance to be freed in a prisoner exchange or for the end of their prison terms. To read the original story on RFE/RL’s Russian service click here.

SARAJEVO -- Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik denied on August 21 that the Serbian entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina has ever pursued a policy of secession and or disputed the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia under the Dayton agreement.

Dodik said, however, that Republika Srpska "has the right to a political fight for its status” under the Dayton agreement.

Dodik made the comments a day after CIA Director William Burns visited Sarajevo amid what a U.S. government official described to RFE/RL as “worrying secessionist rhetoric and actions.”

Bosnia “is a community of two equal entities and three constituent peoples, so I encourage Mr. Burns' position that the responsibility for the functioning of the country lies with all ethnic communities," Dodik said on X.

He also said he welcomed cooperation in the area of terrorism, indicating that he believed Burns made the visit to discuss that topic.

"The fight against terrorism is a duty of the entire free world. In this context, the visit by the CIA director, Mr. William Burns, to Bosnia-Herzegovina is important,” he said. “Republika Srpska is committed to this fight and welcomes any cooperation in this sphere."

The U.S. official who spoke with RFE/RL about Burns’ visit said the CIA director held meetings at the Bosnian presidency with colleagues in the intelligence community, members of the presidency, and the foreign minister.

"They discussed issues of mutual interest, which include the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Bosnia-Herzegovina,” according to the official, who asked not to be named.

Dodik, who has been designated for sanctions by the United States, backed a proposal in May that called for the “disassociation” of Republika Srpska from Bosnia. The United States called it “secession by another name” and said it contradicted the Dayton agreement, which ended the 1992-95 Bosnian War.

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Dodik has also raised concerns among Bosnia’s Western allies because of his ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Dodik reaffirmed in February after meeting Putin in the Russian republic of Tatarstan that Republika Srpska would not join Western sanctions against Moscow over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Denis Becirovic, the current chairman of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, expressed gratitude to Burns for U.S. assistance to Bosnia in building a democratic and multiethnic state. He said he told Burns that the dangerous anti-Dayton policy of Republika Srpska threatens peace and security in Bosnia and the region.

"This is a very important visit, primarily from the security aspect, but it is also a confirmation of the strong support of the United States for the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina," Becirovic said on Facebook.

Almir Dzuvo, the chief of Bosnia's Intelligence and Security Agency, who met with Burns on August 20, told RFE/RL that that the visit had been agreed to earlier and that Burns “expressed support for cooperation’ between the two countries’ intelligence agencies and between the United States and Bosnia.

Analysts and current and former Bosnian officials considered the visit a response to the challenges posed by the Kremlin's influence in the region and the secessionist aspirations of pro-Russian Bosnian politicians.

"I am convinced that this is a serious problem, because the director of the CIA rarely goes on such missions and publicly announces it,” said Srdja Pavlovic, a historian and associate of the Wirth Institute at the University of Alberta in Canada. “I suppose that one of the reasons is the growing malign influence of Serbia and Russia in the Balkans," Pavlovic told RFE/RL.

Margarita Assenova, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, agreed that Serbia has been stirring up trouble in Bosnia for some time and it’s become “more visible and more dangerous.”

Burns' visit is a “very good message” to Serbia that the United States will not tolerate its actions, Assenova said.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has confirmed he is ready to visit the Kursk nuclear power plant in Russia at the end of August, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on August 21. Russia's Defense Ministry last week accused Ukraine of planning to attack the Kursk plant as part of its ongoing incursion into the Russian region, an assertion Kyiv has denied.

A former Russian defense official held in pretrial detention on corruption charges will remain behind bars, a Moscow court decided on August 21 in a ruling that rejected an appeal against his arrest. General Dmitry Bulgakov was detained in Moscow last month pending an investigation and trial, Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement. Bulgakov is charged with large-scale embezzlement. He reportedly oversaw the creation of a system to supply low-quality food rations to Russian troops at inflated prices. If found guilty, Bulgakov faces up to 10 years in prison. Bulgakov was deputy defense minister in charge of logistics from 2008 to September 2022, when he was dismissed.

YEREVAN -- Protesters in Yerevan pelted the Belarusian Embassy with eggs and other produce and demanded that diplomatic ties with Minsk be cut over statements made by authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka about Armenia's shift westward.

The protests on August 21 came a day after Lukashenka, speaking in an interview with Russian state television, sharply criticized Armenia's current diplomatic friendliness with Western countries amid tense relations between Yerevan and Moscow.

"Who needs Armenians? Nobody. Let them develop their economy and rely on their own resources. What is France? Who is [French President Emmanuel] Macron? Tomorrow, when Macron is gone, everybody will forget about the Armenians," Lukashenka said in the interview.

The rally in front of the Belarusian Embassy on August 21 was organized by the pro-Western For the Republic Party. The party's leader, Arman Babajanian, was among the protesters.

The party's petition demanding the expulsion of the Belarusian ambassador and calling for ties to be cut with Minsk was also signed by two other political parties -- the Republic and the European Party. Three pro-Western nongovernmental organizations also signed the petition.

Earlier in May, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian claimed that two member states of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) helped Azerbaijan prepare for the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

It is believed that Pashinian was referring to Russia and Belarus.

Russian-Armenian relations have worsened significantly since Azerbaijan managed in September last year to regain control over Nagorno-Karabakh, which had been under ethic Armenian control for three decades.

Yerevan has been seeking closer ties with the West, accusing Moscow of not honoring its security commitments to Armenia.

Pashinian has repeatedly threatened to pull his country out of the CSTO, prompting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to charge that Pashinian’s administration was "leading things to the collapse of Russian-Armenian relations" at the behest of the West.

Iran's hard-line parliament approved moderate reformist Masud Pezeshkian's 19-member Cabinet, accepting the entire slate of ministers without a change for the first time since 2001.

The vote on August 21 included the appointment of 61-year-old career diplomat Abbas Araghchi -- a member of the negotiating team that reached a nuclear deal with world powers in 2015 -- as Iran’s new foreign minister.

Pezeshkian, a doctor and a former health minister, defeated ultraconservative hard-liner Saeed Jalili in a July 5 runoff vote and was sworn in earlier this month.

The election was triggered by the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May.

Pezeshkian has called for "constructive relations" with Western countries and favors reviving the 2015 deal that fell apart after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the United States out of the deal in 2018.

Iran's acute economic doldrums have since worsened under the weight of the harsh sanctions.

Pezeshkian has also said he supports the principles of the Islamic republic and said that he plans to follow Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's policies.

He has also questioned Iran's methods of enforcing the Islamic head scarf for women following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in 2022 while in the custody of Iran's dreaded morality police for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly.

He has also said that while the hijab law should be observed, "there should never be any intrusive or inhumane behavior toward women."

Journalist Andrey Kuznechyk of RFE/RL's Belarusian Service, known locally as Radio Svaboda, on August 21 marked his 1,000th day in prison on charges, he, his employer, and human rights organizations call politically motivated.

Kuznechyk, a father of two, was arrested on November 25, 2021, and initially sentenced to 10 days in jail on hooliganism charges that he rejected.

After serving that penalty, Kuznechyk was kept in jail and was subsequently charged with creating an extremist group, a move that officials withheld from Kuznechyk's relatives and colleagues for months.

On June 8, 2022, the Mahilyou regional court in the country's east found Kuznechyk guilty and sentenced him to six years in prison. The trial lasted just one day.

Human rights groups in Belarus have recognized Kuznechyk as a political prisoner.

Kuznechyk, who has maintained his innocence, and some 150 other Belarusian political prisoners, including another RFE/RL journalist, Ihar Losik, and former would-be presidential candidate Viktar Babaryka, are serving sentences at the same correctional colony No. 1 in the northern city of Navapolatsk.

Correctional colony No. 1 is known as one of the most restricted penitentiaries in the country.

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Initially, the territory of the colony was occupied by a number of temporary houses built for workers at a then newly built oil refinery in 1958.

The territory was later turned into correctional colony No. 10, where mostly members of organized criminal groups, noted crime kingpins, and so-called thieves-in-law served their terms.

Belarusian authorities started sending political prisoners to the correctional colony in 2010.

In 2017, the penitentiary changed its name to correctional colony No. 1.

Since a disputed August 2020 presidential election sparked mass protests over authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka's victory, tens of thousands of Belarusians have been arrested for voicing any dissent against the regime.

The crackdown has pushed most opposition politicians, who say the vote was rigged, to leave the country fearing for their safety.

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

Many countries have imposed several rounds of sanctions against his regime in response to the suppression of dissent in the country.

Three people are dead and another is seriously injured after an attacker opened fire at a high school in the northwestern Bosnian town of Sanski Most. Police from the Una-Sana canton confirmed details of the August 21 shooting to RFE/RL, adding that the attacker, an employee at the school, shot three other school employees with an automatic rifle. There were no reports of students being injured, while the director of the school was among those killed, police said. According to the police, the attacker tried to commit suicide during the incident but failed and was transferred to the Banja Luka University Clinical Center with serious injuries. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Balkan Service, click here.

The Russian Central Election Commission (TsIK) said on August 21 that it has postponed local elections scheduled for September in seven districts of the Kursk region, parts of which have been under the control of Ukrainian armed forces since early August. "The process of preparations and holding the elections will resume when the full safety of voters is secured," the TsIK said in a statement on Telegram. According to the latest official data from Russian authorities, 31 people have died and another 143 were injured in the area since the incursion by Ukrainian armed forces into the Kursk region. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Romanian investigators carried out four fresh searches on August 21 at the residences of divisive Internet influencer Andrew Tate, 37, and his brother Tristan, 36, who are awaiting trial on charges of human trafficking, rape, and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. Romania's anti-organized crime agency DIICOT said in a statement the searches relate to new accusations of forming an organized crime group, trafficking of minors, a sexual act with a minor, influencing statements, and money laundering. The brothers, who hold U.S. and U.K. citizenship, said through a spokesperson that the fresh accusations "are not fully clarified yet."

Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, on August 21 ratified the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC), lawmakers Yaroslav Zheleznyak and Oleksiy Honcharenko reported. They said the move was supported by 281 deputies. Ukraine signed the statute in January 2000 but had not ratified it. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on August 15 submitted to parliament the bill on the ratification, which is a key requirement for Ukraine to eventually join the European Union. Ratification will increase the ICC's effectiveness in "prosecuting crimes by Russian citizens on the territory of Ukraine," presidential aide Iryna Mudra said.

The Keremet Bank in Kyrgyzstan said it suspended money transactions to several major Russian banks. Last week, another bank in the Central Asian nation, MBank, made a similar move. The 24.kg website reported on August 21 that after visiting 16 banks in Bishkek, the outlet's journalists found that in all, 13 banks have suspended monetary transactions to major Russian banks. The Tazabek website cited sources at the Kyrgyz National Bank (KUB) as saying that all commercial banks in the country had been instructed to stop cooperation with Russian banks sanctioned by the West over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court on August 21 rejected an appeal filed by activist Kanykei Aranova against a 42-month prison term she was handed in June over a Facebook post. Aranova was arrested in February as part of a case concerning protests against a Kyrgyz-Uzbek border deal that led to the detention of 27 people. Aranova was initially ordered to pay a fine after she was found guilty of inciting hatred and making online calls to seize power. Prosecutors appealed the ruling, calling it too lenient, after which the Bishkek City Court cancelled the initial ruling and sentenced her to 42 months in prison. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

Iran says it will take its time in its response to the July 31 killing in Tehran of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the U.S.- and EU-designated Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

Iran has kept the world on edge since it promised to strike Israel -- which it blames for the attack that killed Haniyeh -- a move experts say could plunge the region into an all-out war.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied carrying out the attack. But it has vowed to kill leaders of Hamas over the group’s October 7 attack inside Israeli territory that killed 1,200 people. Around 250 others were taken hostage, some of whom have since been released.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said after the assassination that Iran was "duty-bound" to avenge its "guest."

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"Time is in our favor, and the waiting period for this response could be long," Ali Mohammad Naini, a spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said on August 30, adding any response "may not be a repetition of past operations."

The 62-year-old Haniyeh was killed while he was in Tehran to attend the July 30 inauguration ceremony for Iran's new president, Masud Pezeshkian.

Tehran has rebuffed calls by Western nations to show restraint, insisting it has a legitimate right to respond to the killing of Haniyeh on Iranian territory.

The killing of Haniyeh and talk of retaliation comes as Washington continues to 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.

Naini did not comment on how Iran may respond to the attack on Haniyeh, but his reference to "past operations" may refer to Tehran’s launching of more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel in April in response to Israel's suspected bombing of Iran's embassy compound in Damascus.

Damage from the Iranian attack was minimal with some analysts saying the response appeared to be measured to avoid a broader conflict.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have banned UN's Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Richard Bennett from entering the country, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid was quoted as saying by private Afghan broadcaster Tolo. Mujahid accused Bennett of providing "false" information about the situation in Afghanistan and spreading "propaganda." Bennett called the ban "a step backwards" and said it "sends a concerning signal" about the Taliban's engagement with the United Nations and the international community on human rights. Bennett was appointed in 2022 to monitor Afghanistan's human rights situation. He has traveled to Afghanistan several times and pointed to grave human rights violations, especially against Afghan women and girls.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Moldovan President Maia Sandu and Prime Minister Dorin Recean in a meeting in Chisinsau on August 21 that Berlin will remain the biggest European supporter of Ukraine. The talks between the German and Moldovan leaders focused on bilateral relations and security policy issues, specifically, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and Germany’s support of Moldova’s accession to the European Union. Scholz is the first German leader to arrive in Moldova on a bilateral working visit in the last 12 years. To read the original story on RFE/RL’s Moldovan service click here.

A bus carrying Pakistani pilgrims overturned in central Iran, killing 28 passengers and injuring another 23 people, state media reported on August 21. The accident took place late August 20 in the central Iranian province of Yazd and was caused by a technical defect in the bus braking system, according to preliminary investigations made by the Iranian traffic police. Millions of Shi'ite Muslims are currently partaking in the Arbaeen pilgrimage in Iraq's Karbala Governorate. The event marks the 40th mourning following the martyrdom of Imam Hussein bin Ali, a central figure in Shi'ite Islam and the grandson of Prophet Muhammad.

Azerbaijan has officially applied to join the BRICS bloc of developing economies. Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Aykhan Hajizadeh announced the move on August 20, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the South Caucasus country. For over a decade, the bloc included just five nations -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. But it has recently seen a major expansion. Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates joined in January. Saudi Arabia has said it's considering joining as well. Azerbaijan initially expressed its desire to join BRICS in July, and China welcomed it. To read the original story on RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service, click here.

EU officials on August 20 again firmly rejected Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic's claim that Western countries were behind recent protests against his government's lithium mining plans.

"The European Union absolutely rejects any allegations that it would be involved in any kind of illegal or illegitimate activities linked to foreign interference. This is not what the European Union is doing," Peter Stano, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, said at a European Commission news briefing.

The protests oppose a lithium mining project set to be launched by the Anglo-Australian metals and mining giant Rio Tinto in Jadar in western Serbia over fears that it will pollute water and land resources in a country that already suffers from significant environmental degradation, a legacy of communist rule.

The protests took place after the European Union and the Serbian government last month signed a memorandum of understanding on a "strategic partnership" on sustainable raw materials, battery supply chains, and electric vehicles.

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The mining of lithium is necessary for Europe "to remain sovereign in a changing world and not be dependent on others," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on July 19 as he attended a Critical Raw Materials Summit in Belgrade, where the memorandum was signed.

Germany is seeking to secure lithium for the manufacture of electric vehicles as the EU aims to reduce its dependence on imports from China of the critical substance, which is used in batteries for electric vehicles.

Ana Pisonero, EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi's spokeswoman, stressed on August 20 that the EU “remains fully committed to developing -- jointly with Serbia and stakeholders -- concrete actions to put into practice the strategic partnership on sustainable raw materials, battery value chains, and electric vehicles.”

Stano and Pisonero, who joined the press briefing via video link, made the comments in response to a question about Vucic’s unsubstantiated accusation that recent demonstrations in opposition to the multibillion-dollar lithium-mining project were part of Western-backed "hybrid" warfare against his government.

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Moscow has also accused the West of being behind the protests, which demand a halt to Anglo-Australian metals and mining giant Rio Tinto's $2.4 billion lithium project in Jadar in western Serbia over fears it could pollute nearby land and water.

The project has the capacity to supply 90 percent of Europe's current lithium needs and make Rio Tinto one of the world's leading lithium producers. It could also play a critical role in Western electric vehicle supply chains as Washington and Brussels seek to reduce dependency on rival China.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- After the Wagner Group reconstituted itself earlier this year, including renaming itself the Africa Corps, Kremlin officials seem unsure of the group’s next steps and its role within Russia’s international strategy, experts speaking on August 20 at a Washington think tank said.

While major restructuring did take place, the newly formed Africa Corps appears to be different in name only. The war in Ukraine has continued to be the number one priority for the group, comprising heavy cooperation with Russian officials. Within Africa, however, both the group’s sovereignty and their exact role in the region come into question, the experts said.

With the one-year anniversary of the plane crash that took the lives of multiple key figures of the then-Wagner Group approaching on August 23, Moscow officials have yet to fill the void that was left by the death of charismatic leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

After the dramatic crash in the Tver region northwest of Moscow -- an accident according to Russian authorities but widely believed to have been an intentional act carried out at the behest of Russian President Vladimir Putin -- the group splintered, with some elements incorporated into Russia's GRU military intelligence agency, some joining Russia’s National Guard, and others operating as part of a Chechen militia force.

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But even with this takeover, political analyst Mark Galeotti argued at the Brookings Institution on August 20 that the elements subsumed into the GRU are “trying to run a blended diplomatic, commercial, and military structure, while they only have the skill set to run the latter.”

With the GRU still getting a foothold on the operations of the previous group, Africa Corps has large shoes to fill if it wishes to continue the Wagner Group’s influence across several African countries.

In Libya, the Central African Republic (C.A.R.), and Mali, the Africa Corps has continued the same operations that were conducted by Wagner Group in years prior. But in the past year, Africa Corps’ leadership has begun to test its power in both Burkina Faso and Niger with expansions of personnel that bring its presence in each country to more than 100, according to Christopher Faulkner, professor at the U.S. Naval War College.

“Africa Corps is still in its elementary phase…. We’re just waiting to see what’s going to transpire and whether or not Moscow will actually invest in real genuine security in those states,” Faulkner said.

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With the Wagner’s Group previous reputation for brutality in Ukraine, it is surprising that its counterinsurgency operations have largely been unspectacular in Africa, according to Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

In C.A.R., Wagner’s success was underpinned by the fact that its adversary consisted of relatively weak local groups. Even in a case such as Mozambique, where it was fighting a weak Al-Shabab, its operation was largely considered a failure, Felbab-Brown said.

The goal of the newly formed Africa Corps, considered a terrorist group by Britain and a transnational criminal group by the United States, is to create regime dependency on Russia through the security it provides. It has systemically driven up polarization in the countries where it operates in Africa, provoked violence, economic infiltration, and made use of organized crime groups, Felbab-Brown said.

Africa Corps’ entry into Burkina Faso, which came after Prigozhin’s death, was an attempt to further this influence, while simultaneously the GRU began assessing its role on the continent. As this assessment continues, Africa Corps appears to be preparing to enter the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C) as well. According to Felbab-Brown, the Russian government has already signed military deals with the government of the D.R.C.

In addition, the government of the tiny island country of Sao Tome and Principe off Africa’s western coast, is cozying up to Russia. It has been signaling that it is keen on sending forces to a Russian training academy in Chechnya designed specifically for proxy actors. Similarly, Russia has begun canceling and restructuring large portions of debt owed to it by Guinea Bissau.

Russian influence in Guinea Bissau, one of the world’s least developed countries, will put Moscow within arms reach of Guinea Bissau’s massive cocaine trade, where many organized crime groups from both Africa and Latin America convene, according to Felbab-Brown. This would allow Russian intelligence groups to further link themselves to transnational criminal organizations.

While Africa Corps is slowly attempting to further cement itself on the continent, Moscow officials must first learn how to properly use the group to their advantage. In considering the reach the group already has, as well as the speed at which Moscow was able to reconstitute Wagner into Africa Corps, Felbab-Brown said it is easy to understand why “Russia is playing for influence, much as the U.S.A. is trying to counter this influence.”

Russia’s Supreme Court on August 20 extended the pretrial detention of three lawyers who once represented slain Russian opposition politician, Aleksei Navalny, and are now facing charges of extremism. Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin, and Aleksei Liptser were arrested in October in a case widely seen as a means to ramp up pressure on Navalny. According to his allies, authorities accused the lawyers of using their status to pass letters from the imprisoned opposition politician to his team, thus serving as intermediaries between Navalny and what they called his “extremist group.” The Supreme Court also denied a request to transfer the case away from a court in Russia’s western Vladimir region.

A court in Kazakhstan has fined three activists over their participation in a rally in late May demanding the official registration of the opposition Algha, Qazaqstan (Forward, Kazakhstan) party. Aizhan Zholdasova and Ermek Qonyshbai were ordered on August 19 to pay 110,740 tenges ($230) each, while Azia Abieva was fined 77, 532 tenges ($161). All three pleaded not guilty before the court in the southern city of Shymkent, saying they have a right to express their political demands. In November, a court in Astana sentenced the chairman of Algha, Qazaqstan, Marat Zhylanbaev, to seven years in prison on extremism charges, which he also rejects as politically motivated. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.