Police have arrested two people accused of stuffing ballot boxes during the October 26 election, Georgia's Interior Ministry said on October 31, adding that an investigation into the falsification of election documents had been opened amid accusations of widespread irregularities during the vote.

One of the two suspects is the deputy chairman of the city council of Marneuli, a city in southern Georgia where irregularities were reported at a polling station during the vote, prompting the suspension of the vote and the invalidation of all the ballots cast. Police did not release the identity of the two, naming them only as R.I., born in 1984, and E.I., born in 1990.

During the vote, an RFE/RL correspondent reported an incident at a voting station in Marneuli where a member of an opposition party was allegedly beaten up by a representative of the ruling Georgian Dream party amid reports of ballot-stuffing.

Russian-friendly Georgian Dream, which has been in power since 2012, claimed victory, with preliminary official results showing that it garnered nearly 54 percent of the vote.

The opposition and pro-European President Salome Zurabishvili refused to recognize the validity of the results, alleging massive fraud and Russian interference.

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In RFE/RL Interview, Zurabishvili Calls For Western Pressure To Keep Georgia On European Path

The European Union, NATO, and the United States have demanded a full investigation into reports of vote-buying, voter intimidation, and ballot stuffing raised by monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and other election monitors.

Zurabishvili has called on the West to pressure the ruling Georgian Dream party to reexamine the results of the election, which was seen as a crucial test of Georgia's democratic credentials.

The Prosecutor-General's office on October 30 announced an investigation into the fraud allegations and summoned Zurabishvili before prosecutors on October 31.

“President Salome Zurabishvili must have evidence of possible falsification of the 2024 parliamentary elections, in connection with which, in accordance with the procedure established by law, [she] was invited for questioning on October 31,” the prosecution said in a statement.

Zurabishvili refused to comply with the summons, saying at a news conference on October 30 that prosecutors should focus on their duties rather than engaging in a political vendetta.

"I would advise the prosecutor's office to start its work and avoid political retribution against the president. Moreover, our partners are watching whether the prosecutor's office can be independent and impartial," Zurabishvili said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has reiterated his call on Ukraine's allies to allow Ukraine to use advanced Western weapons to hit deeper inside Russia in the aftermath of a Russian strike on Kharkiv that left at least two people dead, including an 11-year-old boy, and at least 34 wounded.

Russian forces reportedly used an FAB-500 guided aerial bomb to strike the nine-story apartment building in Ukraine's second-largest city. Guided aerial bombs are powerful weapons that Russia has been increasingly using to hit civilian targets inside Ukraine.

"Tragically, there are casualties, including children, and more people may still be trapped under the rubble," Zelenskiy wrote in a message on X together with a video of the burning site of the attack.

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov said separately that the fourth floor of the building in the city's Saltiv district had been hit, starting a fire. Parts of the city went dark after the strike, according to reports.

The strike on Kharkiv was the third one this week. At least four other people were killed in the previous two strikes on the city center and the Osnovyanskiy district that used guided aerial bombs and missiles.

"Partners see what happens every day," Zelenskiy wrote, adding, "in these circumstances, every delayed decision on their part means dozens or even hundreds more Russian bombs used against Ukraine."

"Their decisions are the lives of our people," Zelenskiy added.

Ukraine has long asked its partners to give it permission to use long-range missile systems such as British Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles or U.S. long-range ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) to strike military targets deeper inside Russian territory in order to diminish Moscow's capacity to hit Ukraine's civilian and energy infrastructure.

However, the United States, Britain, and other Western countries have so far refused to budge, arguing that such permission would lead to an escalation of the conflict.

Russian guided bombs targeted a multistory residential building in Kharkiv late on October 30, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

"Preliminarily, we have information about a guided aerial bomb hitting a high-rise building. There are casualties," he said on Telegram.

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov said preliminary data indicates that the building hit was in the Saltiv district of the city. The fourth floor of the building was hit, triggering a fire, he said, confirming that there are victims, including some underneath rubble.

After the explosion the lights went out in a part of Kharkiv, according to reports on social media.

Earlier on October 30, Russian troops launched a massive missile attack on the Odesa region, said Oleh Kiper, head of the regional military administration.

"The enemy fired about 10 rockets of various types in the Odesa region,” he said on Telegram.

Guided bombs and ballistic missiles were used, according to Telegram channels monitoring the situation.

There was also an attack on the city of Dnipro, said Serhiy Lysak, head of the regional military administration.

"Restless evening in Dnipro. As a result of an enemy attack in the city, a 14-year-old boy was injured," he wrote on Telegram, saying the injury was to the boy’s leg and he was being treated on an outpatient basis.

Before the attack, the Ukrainian Air Force warned about drones launched by Russian forces in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has called the deployment of North Korean troops by Russia to aid its war against Ukraine a "dangerous and destabilizing escalation" and said it could lengthen the conflict.

Speaking during a news conference at the Pentagon alongside his South Korean counterpart on October 30, Austin said some 10,000 North Korean forces were already deployed to eastern Russia. Some of the troops are moving to the Kursk region wearing Russian uniforms and carrying Russian equipment. Other North Korean units have already arrived in the Kursk region.

SEE ALSO:

NATO Confirms North Korean Troops In Russia, Says It Shows Putin's 'Desperation'

Ukrainian forces staged a major incursion into the region in August and they continue to hold hundreds of square kilometers of territory there.

The deployment of the North Korean troops not only has the potential of lengthening the conflict, it could also encourage others to take action.

“There are a number of things that could happen," Austin said.

He added that “the likelihood is pretty high” that Russia will use the North Korean troops in combat.

Austin reiterated that the North Korean troops can expect to be targeted on the battlefield by Ukrainian troops using weapons provided by the United States and its allies, and some will likely die.

"If they are fighting alongside of Russian soldiers, they are co-belligerents, and we have every reason to believe that...they will be killed and wounded as a result of that," Austin said.

SEE ALSO:

North Korean Troops Are 'Fair Game' In Russia's War Against Ukraine

The United States is taking the situation very seriously, and urges the Kremlin to change course.

Moscow's ambassador to the United Nations told the Security Council in New York on October 30 that Russia's military interaction with North Korea does not violate international law and is "not aimed against third countries."

Vasily Nebenzya also denied reports that North Korean troops were present at the front line in the war.

"These statements about the North Korean soldiers in our front should not surprise anyone because they're all barefaced lies," Nebenzya told the council, accusing Washington and London of "disinformation."

South Korea has warned that Pyongyang would learn valuable lessons from its troops and witness modern warfare by helping Russia, and this would constitute a direct military threat to Seoul.

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun said at the news conference with Austin that he doesn't necessarily believe the deployment would trigger war on the Korean Peninsula, but could increase security threats because North Korea is likely to seek Russian military technology in exchange for the deployment. This could include tactical nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile technology.

Meanwhile, North Korea's top diplomat arrived in Moscow for talks that South Korea's spy agency said could involve discussions on sending additional troops and what the North would get in return.

With reporting by Reuters and AP

Russia approached the Day of Remembrance of Victims of Political Repression on October 30, amid a troubling landscape marked by a mix of solemn commemorations and unsettling governmental shifts.

On October 30, St. Petersburg and numerous towns across Russia -- including regions in Siberia and the Far East where a major part of the Soviet Gulag system was once located -- actively participated in the memorial event known as the Returning the Names on October 30. However, recent actions by the state raise significant concerns about the future of historical accountability for Soviet-era atrocities.

Since 2006, the Moscow-based Memorial Human Rights Center has held a poignant ceremony every year at the Solovetsky Kamen (Solovki Stone) memorial on Moscow's Lubyanka Square, a site steeped in history as it was once the headquarters of the Soviet KGB and is now home to the Federal Security Service (FSB).

The stone is named after the Solovetsky (Solovki) Islands, an archipelago located in the Onega Bay of the White Sea, where one of the first forced labor camps was established in 1923.

The Solovki camp became a notorious site for political prisoners, many of whom were executed or perished due to harsh conditions.

At the Solovki Stone Memorial in Moscow, participants -- including relatives of the dead and survivors of the Gulag, rights activists, and concerned citizens -- have gathered each year to read aloud the names, ages, occupations, and execution or imprisonment dates of the victims.

It is estimated that at least one million Soviet citizens were executed by Stalin’s regime during the Great Terror of 1937-1938. This ritual serves as a powerful act of remembrance and a stark reminder of the regime's brutality.

In St. Petersburg, participants of the Returning the Names action laid flowers at the Solovki Stone, a memorial similar to the one in Moscow, and read aloud the names of those who suffered under the regime. Diplomatic representatives from several Western countries attended the event, signaling broader international solidarity with victims of political repression.

In cities like Abakan, Nizhnevartovsk, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok, and others, local activists organized similar commemorations, demonstrating a grassroots commitment to preserving the memory of the repressed.

However, this spirit of remembrance is overshadowed by recent decisions from the Russian government that seem to undermine these efforts.

Notably, the Prosecutor-General's Office announced plans earlier to review past decisions on the rehabilitation of repression victims, prompting fears that the state may seek to rewrite or diminish the historical narrative surrounding Soviet atrocities. This move raises questions about the integrity of memorialization efforts and the potential for erasure of the painful legacy of political repression.

In June, further evidence of a shift in official policy emerged when Russian authorities announced changes to the official Concept on Victims of Political Repressions.

These alterations eliminated references to the mass nature of Soviet purges and removed calls to commemorate their victims, effectively sanitizing the historical account of state-sponsored violence.

Such revisions not only reflect a disconnection from the painful past but also signal a broader attempt to reshape public memory in a way that aligns with current political agendas.

The decision to cancel the 2024 Returning the Names event in Moscow, ostensibly due to a "sharp increase in COVID cases," has been interpreted by many activists as a deliberate effort to suppress discussions surrounding Soviet crimes.

The cancellation of this event exemplifies the tensions between state narratives and collective memory. Activists view this as a significant step backward in the ongoing struggle for historical justice and transparency.

While commemorative actions continue in some Russian cities, the shadow of governmental repression looms large. The voices of those remembering the repressed stand in stark contrast to the state’s efforts to revise history and restrict public discourse.

As citizens across Russia gather to honor the memories of the fallen and those who survived Soviet repression, they face a complex and often hostile environment that complicates their efforts.

Russian opposition figures Ilya Yashin, Yulia Navalnaya, and Vladimir Kara-Murza have called for a major antiwar demonstration in Berlin on November 17 to demand the resignation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Yashin and Kara-Murza, both former political prisoners, were released in August as part of a historic prisoner exchange between Russia and Western countries and now find themselves in forced exile.

Navalnaya, the wife of the late Russian corruption fighter Aleksei Navalny, said in a video on October 30 that "we must show ourselves and the whole world that there is an anti-militarist and free Russia."

Yashin added in an announcement via his Telegram channel that the march will demand the "withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, while holding [Russian President] Vladimir Putin accountable as a war criminal, and the release of all political prisoners.”

At a recent meeting with supporters in Prague, Yashin expressed that he, along with Navalnaya and Kara-Murza, would soon present an "anti-war, anti-Putin initiative" aimed at engaging many émigrés and inspiring those living in Russia.

Yashin noted that, while legal protest opportunities within Russia are virtually nonexistent, “we can still show that a peaceful, free, and civilized Russia exists.”

Russian opposition activists regularly hold demonstrations against the war in Ukraine and the Russian government in various cities worldwide, though participation is often modest.

The last significant rallies occurred in February following Navalny's death in a Russian prison, with memorial events also held on his birthday in June.

In Russia, unauthorized protests are strictly prohibited, and authorities routinely deny permits for anti-war demonstrations.

In the months following the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, thousands faced prosecution for participating in such protests.

It remains unclear which opposition organizations and activist groups in exile will join Yashin, Kara-Murza, and Navalnaya’s initiative.

The United States imposed sanctions on October 30 against almost 400 entities and individuals in more than a dozen countries that Washington says have been supplying Russia with advanced technology used in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The sanctions and other restrictions were announced simultaneously in statements released by the U.S. Treasury, State, and Commerce departments. The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 274 targets, while the State Department designated more than 120 and the Commerce Department added 40 companies and research institutions to a trade restriction list.

The sweeping sanctions show that the United States and its allies “will continue to take decisive action across the globe to stop the flow of critical tools and technologies that Russia needs to wage its illegal and immoral war against Ukraine," Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said.

SEE ALSO:

Ukraine Live Briefing: U.S. Sanctions Hundreds For Supporting Invasion

More than half of the individuals and entities designated for sanctions in the new round are in India, China, Switzerland, and Turkey, the Treasury Department said.

"As evidenced by today's action, we are unyielding in our resolve to diminish and degrade Russia's ability to equip its war machine and stop those seeking to aid their efforts through circumvention or evasion of our sanctions and export controls," Adeyemo added.

The Treasury Department's sanctions added five deputy Russian defense ministers, including President Vladimir Putin's cousin, Anna Tsivileva, and former Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov's son, Pavel Fradkov. The other three deputy defense ministers designated are Andrei Bulyga, Viktor Goremykin, and Aleksandr Fomin.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that those added to the sanctions list by the State Department build on the “unprecedented measures” already imposed in coordination with U.S. allies and partners.

"The Department of State is targeting sanctions circumvention by parties in multiple third countries, several senior Russian Ministry of Defense officials and defense companies, and those that support the development of Russia's future energy production and exports," he added.

The State Department said it seeks to “disrupt the networks and channels through which Russia procures technology and equipment from entities in third countries to support its war effort.” The new designations target producers, exporters, and importers of items critical to Russia’s military-industrial base, it said in the statement.

The Commerce Department also unveiled trade restrictions against 40 foreign entities "to address their procurement of high-priority U.S.-branded microelectronics and other items on behalf of Russia."

Alan Estevez, Commerce's undersecretary for industry and security, said in a statement that American products “do not belong in the hands of those who prop up Russia's defense industrial base.”

The sanctions take particular aim at third-country evasion, including the highest number of entities and individuals in China, Hong Kong, and India ever hit in a single round of sanctions. In addition to targets in those three countries, entities and individuals in Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, and Switzerland also were designated.

The sanctions freeze any assets the entities and individuals hold in U.S. jurisdiction, block them from using the U.S. financial system, and bar American citizens from dealing with them.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Azerbaijani journalist and economist Farid Mehralizada, who is affiliated with RFE/RL, marked his fifth month in custody on October 30 on charges that he and his supporters say are fabricated.

Mehralizada was initially detained on June 1 on charges related to smuggling. Since then, additional charges have been layered into his case, including illegal entrepreneurship, gang smuggling, tax evasion, and document forgery.

Despite his claims of innocence, his detention was extended on September 6 until December 19.

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RFE/RL President Stephen Capus called for Mehralizada's immediate release saying his detention was unjust.

"Today marks five months since RFE/RL journalist Farid Mehralizada was unjustly detained in Azerbaijan. We are deeply concerned by his continued imprisonment on false charges," Capus said in a statement on October 30.

"We call for his immediate release so he can return home to his wife and newborn daughter."

Azerbaijani authorities insist that there is no political motivation behind Mehralizada's detention and that no one in Azerbaijan is held for political reasons.

Rights groups, however, point out that, since November, approximately 20 journalists and social activists have been detained on similar smuggling charges, many of them linked to "Abzas Media," which has come under pressure.

Several media personnel related to the company have been arrested and subsequently detained for what they say are politically motivated reasons.

Human rights organizations estimate that at least 300 political prisoners are currently held in Azerbaijani jails, underscoring ongoing criticism of President Ilham Aliyev’s administration.

Since taking power following the death of his predecessor and father Heydar Aliyev in 2003, Ilham Aliyev has faced accusations of suppressing dissent by detaining journalists, opposition figures, and civil-society activists.

The unexplained deaths of scores of Caspian seals in Kazakhstan's Manghystau region has raised alarm bells among local authorities and scientists.

As of October 29, 289 seal carcasses had been found along the coastline over the previous five days, prompting urgent monitoring efforts by the Interregional Fishery Inspection of the Ural-Caspian Basin and experts from the Institute of Hydrobiology and Ecology.

Seal researcher Asel Baimuqanova said some of the dead seals showed signs of trauma.

Although the exact cause of death remains unclear, Baimuqanova noted that several seals were pregnant, adding urgency to the investigation.

Caspian seals are the only marine mammals in the Caspian Sea, the world's largest inland body of water. Once numbering over a million in the early 20th century, their population has now dwindled to an estimated 70,000 due to overhunting and pollution.

Since late September, dedicated scientific teams have conducted daily inspections along the Tupqaraghan Peninsula’s western coast to investigate the unexplained surge in mortality rates.

The discovery of the dead seals follows a similar event in April, when 27 seal carcasses were found in the area, which was attributed to storm-related beaching, according to the Agriculture Ministry. Authorities suspect those seals may have died at sea before washing ashore.

The Caspian Sea, bordered by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan, is rich in oil and gas reserves.

Pollution from hydrocarbon extraction and declining water levels have been threatening both local species and the sea's ecological future, according to experts.

With reporting by Lada.kz

Belarus and Serbia have signed a cooperation agreement on fighting organized and hi-tech crime as well as on the joint training of police, special forces, and counterterrorism units, Serbia's government said on October 30. The agreement was reached during a meeting between Belarusian Interior Minister Ivan Kubrakov and Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin, who is visiting Minsk. Kubrakov is under EU, U.S., and U.K. sanctions for his role in the repression of protests following 2020 presidential elections that strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka claimed to have won despite weeks of mass protests by the opposition, who said the polls were falsified. Vulin is on the U.S. sanctions list for his close ties with Russia. EU candidate Serbia initially aligned with the bloc in imposing sanctions on Belarus due to its involvement in Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but did not do so last year when sanctions were expanded. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Balkan Service, click here.

Naim Qassem, the new leader of the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, vowed on October 30 to continue to implement the war plan set by his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, amid reports that Israel was again striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

In his first speech since being named earlier this week to replace Nasrallah, who was killed in a massive Israeli air strike on September 27, Qassem said Hezbollah, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States while the European Union blacklists its armed wing but not its political party, "must not stop and watch...despite the pain."

In recent weeks, Israel has been engaged in a campaign of air strikes and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon that has targeted Hezbollah's leadership and military capabilities in response to numerous rocket and missile attacks by the group.

Those attacks have intensified since the Israeli Army invaded the Gaza Strip following the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack by its Hamas rulers that killed around than 1,200 Israelis and took some 250 hostages. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

Qassem, who has close ties with Iran and whom Washington declared a “specially designated global terrorist” in 2018, gave no details on how he will continue the war against Israel and admitted Israel's strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon have been a "big blow."

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Will Hezbollah's New Leader, Naim Qassem, Seek To Negotiate With Israel?

Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general since 1991, Qassem is often credited with leading the organization’s efforts to transition from a mainly militant group into a dominant political force in Lebanon, with his writings mostly focused on the ideological and religious underpinnings of the group, rather than military strategy.

Analysts have been watching to see if the appointment of an experienced political figure may suggest that Hezbollah is preparing to talk to Israel to end the ongoing conflict, though Israel has shown no interest in meeting.

Hezbollah controls much of southern Lebanon and its political party has seats in the Lebanese parliament.

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov says he plans to revise the country's national anthem to adequately represent the "evolving" identity of the nation.

Japarov said in an interview with the Kabar news outlet on October 30 that he believes the current anthem, adopted 33 years ago, fails to inspire patriotism and unity, and does not reinforce the spirit of contemporary Kyrgyz society.

SEE ALSO:

Kyrgyz President Signs Bill Amending National Flag

"The current anthem was written shortly after we gained independence. We need a new anthem that embodies our rich history and the strong nation we are becoming," he stated.

The initiative follows Japarov's controversial 2023 changes to the national flag. Lawmakers had contended that the previous design resembled a sunflower -- kunkarama in Kyrgyz, a term that also means "dependent."

It also highlights Japarov's populist approach to governance, which often focuses on rallying public sentiment through national symbols.

Critics, including opposition political figure Adakhan Madumarov, have raised concerns over the necessity of such changes, suggesting they may serve to distract from pressing social and economic issues.

"We need leaders who are committed to strengthening our national identity. Our history is rich, and we must honor it through our symbols," Japarov said in defending the move.

Norway's government has announced it will give fellow NATO member Romania $127 million to partially cover the cost of a new Patriot missile-defense system to replace the one donated by Bucharest to Ukraine. Ukraine earlier this month confirmed reception of a Patriot system from Romania, after Bucharest initially had hesitated to give the advanced U.S.-made air-defense system in June. Romania in 2017 ordered seven Patriot batteries for a total cost of $4 billion. It has received four such systems so far and now it has three left -- two of which are currently operational. The remaining four are to be delivered by the United States in the coming years. A Patriot battery costs $400 million, while each missile costs an additional $4 million. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Romanian Service, click here.

More than 19 months after Iranians were barred from buying the latest iPhone models, authorities announced on October 30 that the ban was being lifted.

"The details and regulations related to the import of the iPhone will be announced in the nearest future," Telecommunications Minister Satar Hashemi said in a post on X.

He gave no further details but said the move was "supported" by President Masud Pezeshkian.

The ban -- aimed at limiting foreign currency spending as the country reels from crippling economic sanctions over its nuclear program -- was put in place in February 2023, outlawing the sale or import of the 14 and 15 series iPhones.

It didn't apply to iPhone 13 models and lower, creating a massive black market in a country where having an Apple-brand device is seen as a status symbol. Before the ban, analyst estimates showed around 1-in-3 smartphones were iPhones.

The U.S. tech giant itself doesn't have an official presence in Iran as it is barred from doing business in the country due to U.S. sanctions.

A landmark deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and world powers in 2015 restricted Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions.

However, Iran expanded its program and restricted IAEA inspections of its nuclear sites after then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the deal and reimposed sanctions in 2018.

Tehran and Washington have not had diplomatic relations since 1980, when U.S. President Jimmy Carter broke off ties amid the Iran hostage crisis.

TBILISI -- Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has refused to comply with a summons from state prosecutors demanding evidence to back up statements of electoral fraud linked to last weekend's parliamentary elections.

Speaking at a news conference just hours after the Prosecutor-General's Office summoned her on October 30, Zurabishvili admonished the state's attorneys, telling them to focus on their duties rather than engaging in a political vendetta.

"I would advise the prosecutor's office to start its work and avoid political retribution against the president. Moreover, our partners are watching whether the prosecutor's office can be independent and impartial," Zurabishvili said, adding that she intends to continue carrying out her duties without reporting to the prosecutor's office.

The political climate in Georgia has become increasingly tense following accusations by Zurabishvili, opposition activists, and many Georgians -- tens of thousands of whom flooded the streets of Tbilisi on October 28 to protest results -- the increasingly authoritarian Georgian Dream party declared victory with nearly 54 percent of the vote -- they said were rigged.

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International election monitors said the polls were spoiled by "an uneven playing field, pressure, and tension,” while U.S. President Joe Biden late on October 29 voiced deep concern over Georgia's democratic regress and urged a transparent investigation into the voting-fraud allegations.

Opposition parties, meanwhile, have called for a new vote to be conducted under international supervision, citing a lack of transparency in the October 26 balloting.

Zurabishvili noted the prosecutors' summons "strangely coincided" with comments from Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, who suggested on social media that the Georgian president should be "removed from office and arrested."

"I appeal to the prosecutor's office: you are accountable to the people, and the public demands an immediate investigation, not my evidence. No one expects the prosecutor's office to initiate obvious political processes against the president in this situation," she said.

Election observers also decried recorded instances of vote buying, double voting, physical violence, and intimidation.

The Prosecutor-General's Office said in a statement that the probe had been opened after Zurabishvili declared that the election was marred by violations and refused to accept the results.

WATCH: President Salome Zurabishvili said Georgia's European and Western partners need to exert "extreme pressure" on authorities over what she called the "stolen election" of October 26.

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“President Salome Zurabishvili must have evidence of possible falsification of the 2024 parliamentary elections, in connection with which, in accordance with the procedure established by law, [she] was invited for questioning on October 31,” the statement said.

The statement pledges to carry out "all necessary investigative and procedural actions, as indicated in the appeal by the Central Election Commission, as well as with the aim of studying the accusations voiced by the President of Georgia, the representatives of individual political parties, and the observer missions.

"As part of the investigation, all persons who may have information about the alleged criminal facts will be questioned," it said, adding that "the prosecutor's office will periodically inform the public about the results of the investigation."

During her briefing, Zurabishvili presented videos that she said showed the alleged violations.

SEE ALSO:

Georgian Election Commission To Conduct Partial Recount Of Disputed Vote

The video footage showed alleged cases of the secrecy of voting being violated, as well as cases of violence at polling stations.

"Yes, there are live shots and you have all seen them, they were widely spread. These are the shots that need no explanation as they directly show what happened and how the elections were held on October 26," Zurabishvili said.

"It turns out that the prosecutor's office is waiting for evidence from me. As far as I know it should work the other way around -- the investigative bodies had to collect the evidence themselves. I have never heard that an investigative agency asked a president for evidence during the elections."

She added that the Prosecutor's Office is accountable to the people and that "society demands an immediate investigation from you, not my evidence."

SEE ALSO:

Amid Uncertainty Over Election Results, Georgians Look To The West

The elections were held after Georgian Dream earlier this year forced a controversial “foreign influence” law similar to Russia’s "foreign agent" law through parliament, despite an opposition boycott and months of mass protests that were at times violently suppressed. Legislation curbing LGBT rights was also passed last month.

Zurabishvili, who has been at odds with Georgian Dream but has limited powers under the Georgian Constitution, called on the West in an interview with RFE/RL on October 29 to put pressure on Tbilisi to keep the country on a Western path.

She had previously refused to sign off on the "foreign influence" bill and rejected the LGBT measures, moves that were overridden by Georgian Dream based on their control of parliament.

In recent years, Georgian Dream began to gradually turn the Caucasus country away from the West, despite the country gaining EU candidate status in December 2023.

Following growing international pressure, Georgia's Central Electoral Commission said on October 29 that it would recount ballots at five randomly selected polling stations in each of Georgia's 84 electoral districts.

The United States is "deeply troubled" by legislation approved by the Israeli parliament that bans UNRWA, the main United Nations agency bringing assistance to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and elsewhere in the Middle East, including Israel.

Responding to the move outlawing UNRWA from carrying out any activities in Israel and prohibiting any contact between Israeli authorities and the UN aid group, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington has made clear its concerns and opposition to the legislation.

"We are deeply troubled by this legislation. It could shutter UNRWA operations in the West Bank, in Gaza, in East Jerusalem," he told a briefing late on October 29.

"It poses risks for millions of Palestinians who rely on UNRWA for essential services, including health care and primary and secondary education," Miller added, noting UNRWA's "critical role in providing services to Palestinians."

The laws were approved by the Knesset, Israel's parliament, on October 28, and take effect in 90 days.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been hard hit by the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran-backed Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

The war was triggered when Hamas fighters crossed into Israel on October 7, 2023, and killed some 1,200 people. They also took around 251 hostages back to the Gaza Strip.

Israeli retaliation has devastated Gaza and killed more than 40,000 people, according to Hamas-led Palestinian authorities. UNRWA has warned several times that Gaza is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis because of the conflict.

Israeli lawmakers approved the laws banning UNRWA, saying the agency has been infiltrated by Hamas and that some UNRWA employees were involved in the October 7 attacks.

The UN said in August that nine staff working for UNRWA were being fired because they may have been involved in the October 7 attacks against Israel.

The laws are likely to make relief work by UNRWA virtually impossible in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The Kremlin has denied a report in the Western media that Moscow and Kyiv have been engaged in secret negotiations to curb strikes on each other's energy infrastructure as casualties caused by Russian attacks continued to pile up in Ukraine on October 30.

The Financial Times on October 29 reported, citing senior Ukrainian sources, that Kyiv wanted to resume Qatar-mediated talks on the issue, which had been interrupted in August by Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region.

Ukraine has not commented on the report, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on October 30 dismissed the report as "fake," saying there were rumors circulating "that had nothing to do with reality" and adding, "Even the most respected outlets do not hesitate to publish such fabrications."

Since the fall of 2022, Russia has been systematically attacking Ukraine's energy infrastructure, resulting in huge damages, energy shortages, and overall misery to Ukrainian civilians, especially during the winter season.

Over the past several months, Ukraine, in turn, has started hitting Russian energy hubs with its own drones, mainly oil refineries and fuel depots that supply the Russian military engaged in the invasion of Ukraine.

Last month, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russian strikes had taken out over half of Ukraine's energy infrastructure, adding that the bloc is working to help restore it.

Meanwhile, Russia continued to target civilians in Ukraine, killing three people and wounding 15 more in strikes on the southern Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, the region's governor, said.

In Kyiv, nine people were wounded during a Russian drone attack early on October 30, the city's military administration reported on Telegram.

The attack targeted the city's Solomyankiy district, authorities said.

"A fire broke out in several apartments in a multistory residential building. 18 people were evacuated from the building; 9 people were wounded, including one child," the message said.

Ukrainian air-defense systems shot down 33 of 62 drones launched by Russia on 10 Ukrainian regions -- Kyiv, Cherkasy, Khmelnytskiy, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhya, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Chernihiv, and Poltava, Ukraine's Air Force reported.

TBILISI -- Georgia's Central Electoral Commission said on October 29 that it would recount ballots at five randomly selected polling stations in each of Georgia's 84 electoral districts after a disputed parliamentary election.

The polling stations have already been identified, and the results from those election precincts will be recounted, the commission said. While it did not specify when the recount results would be made public, it said that monitors had been invited to observe the process.

Official results following the election on October 26 gave the governing Georgian Dream party nearly 54 percent of the vote, but pro-Western opposition parties and Georgia's president have said the result was rigged.

President Salome Zurabishvili said the election was “stolen” with the help of Russia, claiming there was widespread ballot fraud.

WATCH: President Salome Zurabishvili said Georgia's European and Western partners need to exert "extreme pressure" on authorities over what she called the "stolen election" of October 26.

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Official results showed Georgian Dream won huge margins of up to 90 percent in some rural areas but underperformed in Tbilisi and other large cities.

The European Union, NATO, and the United States have demanded a full investigation into reports of vote-buying, voter intimidation, and ballot stuffing raised by monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and other election monitors.

My Vote, a Georgian monitoring coalition, said it had uncovered evidence of "large-scale election fraud" confirmed by photographs, videos, and eyewitness testimonies from its observers.

It said it had logged over 900 reports of voting irregularities at over a third of polling stations across the country and was taking its findings to the electoral commission.

A rally on October 28 outside the Georgian parliament demanded a new election under international supervision and an investigation into the alleged vote rigging.

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Western countries have voiced concern about democratic backsliding by the Georgian Dream-led government, which earlier this year passed a controversial “foreign influence” law similar to Russia’s "foreign agent" law, as well as legislation curbing LGBT rights.

Zurabishvili has called on the West to pressure the ruling Georgian Dream party to reexamine the results of the election, which was seen as a crucial test of Georgia's democratic credentials.

"So much depends now on the reactions of our partners, how definite will be their reaction, how strong their pressure on the authorities, because I think that nobody can afford to lose Georgia to Russia in such a form," Zurabishvili said in an interview with RFE/RL.

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Toomas Hendrik Ilves: 'There Has To Be A Price' For Alleged Election Rigging In Georgia

The CEC in a separate statement directed the Prosecutor-General’s Office to investigate Zurabishvili and others over their comments about alleged fraud. The statement said that after the announcement of the results the CEC "became the object of a special attack and groundless criticism."

Zurabishvili and representatives of some political parties participating in the elections have attacked the CEC “without justification and try to damage the reputation of the agency with baseless accusations,” the electoral commission said.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and dpa

The Russian Foreign Ministry on October 29 announced sanctions against 131 Australian citizens, banning them from entering the country. The list includes representatives of the defense industry, broadcast journalists, and public figures, whom Russia accuses of promoting an "anti-Russian agenda." The sanctions are a direct response to Australia's earlier measures against Russian individuals and entities. Among those sanctioned are the co-chairwoman of the Union of Ukrainian Organizations in Australia and employees of companies such as Electro Optic Systems and Micro-X. In addition, Russia has imposed sanctions on nine New Zealand officials from the Defense Ministry, including three deputy ministers. Since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Australia has sanctioned more than 1,000 Russian citizens and companies, a trend also seen in New Zealand. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

PRAGUE -- Ilya Yashin, a Kremlin opponent who was exchanged in a historic prisoner swap between Russia and the West in early August, says he is working with colleagues -- including fellow activists Yulia Navalnaya and Vladimir Kara-Murza -- to unite Russians abroad with the goal of removing President Vladimir Putin from office.

In an interview with Current Time on October 29, Yashin said the group's efforts will be aimed at engaging many expatriates while at the same time inspiring those still in Russia in a campaign against the Kremlin's war in Ukraine and the country's leadership.

"I very much hope that we will manage to create an informal, unstructured community without a single leader, an international movement of pro-democracy Russians who are against the war," the 41-year-old stressed in the interview.

Yashin, a stalwart of street protests in the Putin era, argued against crowning a single opposition leader, explaining that any attempt to designate one would lead to conflict within the Russian diaspora abroad.

Instead, he said, work should be done on specific, time-limited projects that can unite various opposition figures without creating a formal party structure.

"In the Russian opposition, there are currently no objective grounds for consolidating around any particular figure. It seems to me that it is completely pointless to even discuss this, as it is impossible to do so today," he said.

"It's still probably not the right time to create a single party or a unified structure or to select a leader," Yashin added.

A local lawmaker who was chairman of his Moscow district council in 2017-21, Yashin was convicted and sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison in December 2022 over criticism of what he has called Russia's "monstrous war" in Ukraine.

The charge stemmed from YouTube posts in which Yashin spoke about the killings of civilians in Bucha, a city outside Kyiv where survivors, rights activists, and Ukrainian authorities say Russian forces committed atrocities before withdrawing following Russia's failure to capture the capital.

SEE ALSO:

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

Yashin was part of a group of 24 released on August 1 in a multiple-country prisoner swap, the largest of its kind since the Cold War. The diverse and sweeping roster of personalities freed in the exchange included Kara-Murza, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, and RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva.

In the Current Time interview, Yashin outlined three main goals of the Russian democratic movement: ending the war in Ukraine, achieving political reforms in Russia, and advocating for the rights of political prisoners.

"This is the basis that unites almost the entire democratic opposition today, both inside Russia and beyond its borders. It is what we can truly consolidate around," he stressed, adding that in his opinion, "real change in Russia will come from the citizens within the country rather than from external influences."

Yashin acknowledged the challenges faced by those still inside Russia, most of whom likely feel powerless in the face of the ongoing war and an oppressive regime.

He said he and his colleagues are working on new initiatives to address criticism that opposition figures should engage more substantively in politics rather than focusing on media presence.

Finnish authorities have seized a beach section owned by the Russian state that was previously used by diplomats for recreation, media reports in Finland say. The area, located near the southern town of Haggesbole, covers 17 hectares of land and 3.5 hectares of marine waters. The seizure was executed on October 24 by Finnish bailiffs operating under a ruling on frozen Russian assets issued by the Court of International Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. In a related case, a piece of land belonging to the Russian Center for Science and Culture was confiscated earlier following a lawsuit from Ukraine's Naftohaz energy giant, which claims $5 billion in losses associated with Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea. The Russian Embassy in Finland said on October 28 that it had not received official notification regarding the seizure. The Kremlin has stated it does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICJ. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

TBILISI -- President Salome Zurabishvili has called on the West to pressure the ruling Georgian Dream party to reexamine the results of a "stolen" election over the weekend or risk seeing the Caucasus nation -- an EU candidate with NATO membership aspirations -- lose its "European perspective."

Speaking to RFE/RL's Georgian Service in Tbilisi on October 29, Zurabishvili said Georgia's European and Western partners need to exert "extreme pressure" on the authorities "so that they review the results of the elections and review the amount of votes that have been stolen."

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Zurabishvili and opposition parties have said that some 300,000 votes were manipulated in favor of the ruling Georgian Dream party, which claimed victory with about 54 percent of the ballots. Those claims triggered protests that have seen tens of thousands of Georgian take to the streets amid accusations of Russian interference in the vote, which was seen as a crucial test of Georgia's democratic credentials.

"So much depends now on the reactions of our partners, how definite will be their reaction, how strong their pressure on the authorities, because I think that nobody can afford to lose Georgia to Russia in such a form," Zurabishvili said in the interview.

"If pressure is not tried, then it means that the West will not have tried everything to try to keep Georgia in the Western side and in the European perspective."

The United States, European Union, Canada, and Sweden, among others, have voiced criticism following the October 26 parliamentary elections, which followed growing concern about democratic backsliding by the Georgian Dream-led government. The government recently passed a controversial “foreign influence” law similar to Russia’s "foreign agent" law, as well as legislation curbing LGBT rights.

SEE ALSO:

Western Countries Reassess Ties With Georgia Following Disputed Vote

Immediately after the results were announced, Zurabishvili said she would not recognize an election that she said had fallen victim to a “Russian special operation” that used a methodology of "campaign threats and not promises, [and] the propaganda, the PR used during the campaign, which was a copy-paste of Russian campaigns."

International observers from the the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Council of Europe, European Parliament, and NATO said in a statement that election day was "marred by an uneven playing field, pressure, and tension.”

Russia has denied playing any role in influencing the Georgian elections.

In her interview with RFE/RL, Zurabishvili said local organizations are working to gather multiple forms of information and evidence to prove the accusations of malfeasance in the voting.

She also pointed, as opposition leaders have, to opinion and exit poll results that she said painted a different picture to the Central Election Commission's official results.

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Two opposition exit polls predicted that Georgian Dream would not receive more than 42 percent of the vote, whereas the results had it winning more than 54 percent.

The polls also suggested that four opposition parties -- the Coalition for Change, Unity-To Save Georgia, Strong Georgia, and For Georgia -- would combined have a clear majority, whereas the official initial results had them receiving only 37 percent combined.

"This standing of the population had not changed just before the elections," Zurabishvili said, though she did not provide specific evidence.

The OSCE has said it has recorded instances of vote buying, double voting, physical violence, and intimidation.

"On the whole, it is very clear that the authorities were helped, inspired in their activities by the Russian model and what they have promised to Georgia after the elections," Zurabishvili added.

Georgian Dream, in power since 2012, used to pursue a pro-Western agenda but in the last two years has reversed course toward Russia.

The Krasnodar regional court in Russia's southwest has sentenced Serhiy Denysenko, a Ukrainian-Russian dual citizen, to 25 years in prison for killing the former commander of a Russian submarine implicated in the shelling of Ukrainian territories in 2022.

The court also ordered Denysenko to pay 5 million rubles ($51,350) to the father of Stanislav Rzhitsky as compensation in the shooting death.

The court pronounced the ruling on October 29 after finding Denysenko, who obtained Russian citizenship in March 2023, guilty of murder, illegal weapon possession, and high treason.

Denysenko was arrested on July 11, 2023, a day after Rzhitsky, 42, was killed in the city of Krasnodar while jogging. The assailant fired several shots from a pistol with a silencer and struck Rzhitsky four times, Russian authorities said.

Rzhitsky, who served at the time as a deputy head of the department for mobilization work in Krasnodar, died at the scene.

Russian prosecutors claimed that the Security Service of Ukraine was behind the attack. The chief of Ukraine's Military Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, rejected the claim, saying the anti-war sentiments among Russian military may have triggered the assassination.

Rzhitsky used to command the Krasnodar submarine in the Russian Navy.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Krasnodar is a diesel-electric submarine built for the Black Sea Fleet and designed "to fight surface ships and submarines, lay mines, and conduct reconnaissance."

The Krasnodar is equipped with Kalibr cruise missiles, and Ukrainian authorities claimed that the vessel had participated in the shelling of the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsya in July 2022, firing its Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea.

In addition, a person with the same name is included in the database of a Ukrainian website that collects data on war crimes allegedly conducted by the Russian Army.

It claims that he was the commander of the Alrosa submarine and was directly involved in the military invasion of Ukraine.

It is unclear when Rzhitsky left the submarine fleet for the post of deputy head of the department for mobilization work in Krasnodar.

Germany has recalled its ambassador to Tehran following the execution of Jamshid Sharmahd after his conviction on disputed terrorism charges and summoned Iran's envoy to Berlin to answer questions about the death of the 69-year-old Iranian-German citizen.

The Mizan news agency, which is affiliated with Iran's judiciary, reported that the death sentence against Sharmahd was carried out on October 28 "after final confirmation of the court's decision by the Supreme Court.”

SEE ALSO:

Rising Number Of Iranian Women Sentenced To Death Amid Surge In Executions

In a trial last year that was dismissed as a sham by Germany, the United States, and rights groups, Sharmahd was accused by Iran of heading a pro-monarchist group that Tehran claims was behind a 2008 bombing of a mosque in Shiraz in which 14 people were killed and of planning other attacks in the country.

The dual citizen's family has dismissed the accusations as "ridiculous."

Germany's Foreign Ministry has denounced Sharmahd's "murder" and said German Ambassador Markus Potzel has been recalled. Before being recalled, Potzel also met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi to protest the killing in "the strongest terms," the ministry said.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has said Sharmahd's killing showed that an "inhumane regime rules in Tehran" and vowed that it "would have serious consequences."

Araqchi on October 29 lashed out on X at Baerbock, saying, "A German passport does not provide impunity to anyone, let alone a terrorist criminal," adding, "Enough with the gaslighting, Analena Baerbock."

Separately, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's office said on October 29 that Iranian Ambassador to Berlin Mahmud Farazandeh had been summoned by the German government to answer questions about Sharmahd's death.

SEE ALSO:

The Azadi Briefing: Sharp Rise In The Number Of Afghans Executed In Iran

The U.S. State Department referred to Iran's treatment of Sharmahd, who also had U.S. residency, as “reprehensible” and described his judicial proceedings as a “sham trial.”

"We have long made clear that we oppose the way Iran carries out executions, often in a way that fundamentally violates human rights,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on October 28.

The director of the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, called the execution "a case of extrajudicial killing of a hostage aimed at covering up the recent failures of the hostage-takers of the Islamic republic."

For the first time since Moscow launched its full-scale of invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the territory of Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya has been targeted by drone attacks. Chechnya's Kremlin-backed authoritarian leader Ramzan Kadyrov wrote on Telegram on October 29 that drones had attacked the building of the so-called "Spetsnaz (Special Forces) University" named after President Vladimir Putin in the Chechen city of Gudermes, some 500 kilometers from Ukraine's borders. According to Kadyrov, there were no casualties. A fire on the roof was extinguished. Kyiv did not comment. Kadyrov has said thousands of men went through special training in the facility before joining Russian troops in Ukraine. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.