Russian officials have threatened that a possible decision by the West to allow Kyiv to use donated weapons to strike deeper into Russian territory would result in a major escalation of its war against Ukraine that could include the use of nuclear weapons.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, warned on September 14 that Kyiv could be turned into a "gray melted spot" if restrictions against Ukraine's use of Western weapons were loosened.

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Kyiv has repeatedly said it needs to be able to conduct longer-range strikes into Russian territory to defend itself against invading Russian forces.

The idea has gained traction in recent weeks as Ukrainian President Volodymyr made his case, with some European leaders taking up the argument for giving Ukraine longer-range capabilities and Britain reportedly nearing a decision to let Ukraine use its Storm Shadow missiles against Russian territory.

U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer were expected on September 13 to discuss the issue during their talks in Washington.

However, the White House made no mention of the topic in its statement following Biden's meeting with Starmer.

The statement said only that the two leaders had discussed a range of issues and "reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine as it continues to defend against Russia's aggression."

In an apparent reference to the meeting, Medvedev wrote on September 14 that "the Anglo-Saxon imbeciles" do not want to admit that there is an end to Russia's "patience" and that experts who have suggested Russia could resort to using nuclear weapons against Ukraine would be proven correct if that patience is exhausted.

"What do Western leaders and their political establishments, playing at war, think our country's reaction to probable missile strikes 'deep into the territory [of Russia]' would be?" wrote Medvedev, who has frequently used his position to voice threats against Kyiv and the West since Russia's unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Medvedev said a nuclear conflict is a "very bad story with a very difficult outcome," claiming that is why Russia has not decided to use "nonstrategic or strategic" nukes to this point. However, he said, if it came to that there would be a "giant gray melted spot" on the site of Kyiv, which called the "mother city of Russia."

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Such rhetoric has increased from Moscow as Zelenskiy has increasingly lobbied for greater strike capabilities against Russian territory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 12 said any change in policy that would allow Western weapons to be used for long-range strikes would mean the NATO alliance would be "at war" with Russia.

"If that's the case, then taking into account the change of nature of the conflict, we will make the appropriate decisions based on the threats that we will face," Putin said.

In June, Putin threatened to send long-range weapons -- in what he called an "asymmetrical" response -- to areas of the world in a position to strike countries supplying weapons to Ukraine.

Russia has also said it is amending its doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons, with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov saying on September 1 that the move was "connected with the escalation course of our Western adversaries."

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On September 14, Ryabkov claimed the decision to grant Ukraine permission to conduct long-range strikes against Russia had already been made by the West, and that Moscow is "ready for everything" and would "respond to the fullest."

On September 14, State Duma deputy Andrei Kolesnik suggested Russia detonate a nuclear weapon on its own territory to remind the West of the threat posed by Russia's nuclear arsenal.

"We shouldn't relax. We need to carry out a nuclear explosion somewhere, at some testing ground," Kolesnik was quoted as saying in an interview with the online newspaper Lenta.ru. "Nuclear tests are currently banned here, but maybe people should see what all this actually leads to."

Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote in response to the comments coming out of Moscow that "the loud horror stories of Putin's regime only testify to his fear that his terror may come to an end."

"Strong decisions are needed," Yermak wrote on Telegram on September 14. "Terror can be stopped by destroying the military facilities from which it originates."

Permission to conduct longer-range strikes, he said, "would speed up the solution" and would not allow "Russian terror" to "spread to other countries of the world."

Russian forces have continued their offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, while the two sides reportedly carried out another exchange of captured soldiers.

Donetsk regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said on September 14 that four civilians were killed and seven wounded after Russian forces carried out more than 20 separate strikes, prompting the evacuation of more than 900 people.

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As Russian forces continue their advance on Pokrovsk, an important logistics and supply hub for Ukrainian troops on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, regional authorities have repeatedly said the area is not safe for civilians.

More than 130 clashes were reported by the Ukrainian military, most of them either in the direction of Pokrovsk or 50 kilometers southeast of that city near Kurakhove, which is home to a large power station.

On September 14, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that it had captured the village of Zhelanne Pershe, just 20 kilometers northeast of Kurakhov.

Russia also continued to target areas across Ukraine with drone strikes, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying on September 14 that more than 70 drones had been shot down.

Regional authorities in the Black Sea region of Odesa reported significant damage to several buildings near the regional capital as well as to grain storage facilities.

The heavy fighting comes as Russia continues its efforts to push Ukrainian forces out of its territory. Ukraine has taken control of more than 1,300 square kilometers of territory in Russia’s southwestern Kursk region following a surprise incursion in late August.

Observers suggest the incursion could distract Russian forces from their offensive in eastern Ukraine, while Zelenskiy has said it could give Kyiv more leverage in possible future peace talks and in collecting captured Russian troops for prisoner exchanges.

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Russia said on September 14 that it had swapped 103 Ukrainian POWs in exchange for an equal number of captured Russian soldiers in what would be the third such swap since Ukraine’s incursion.

Nearly 50 Ukrainian POWs were released from Russian custody on September 13 in exchange for an unknown number of Russian soldiers.

Four people have died and hundreds of people are awaiting evacuation after eastern Romania was hit by massive flooding on the night of September 13. The Glati and Vaslui counties of the country's Moldova region are under a code red flood advisory, with many people stranded on rooftops waiting to be rescued. Many roads have been closed throughout the two counties, where floodwaters reached heights of 3 meters in some locations due to torrential rain. Authorities said that two women and two men have died as a result of the floods. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Romanian Service, click here.

Iran has sent a research satellite into orbit with a rocket built by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' aerospace division, the state-run IRNA news agency reported on September 14. The report said the Chamran-1 satellite has a weight of 60 kilograms and successfully reached a 550-kilometer orbit in space. In January, Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket. The United States has previously said Iran’s satellite launches defy a UN Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. UN sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired last October.

NATO could have done more to arm Ukraine to try to prevent Russia's invasion in 2022, the outgoing head of the Western military alliance said in an interview released on September 14. "Now we provide military stuff to a war -- then we could have provided military stuff to prevent the war," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told the German weekly newspaper FAS. Stoltenberg pointed to alliance’s reluctance to provide weapons that Kyiv had asked for before Russia's full-scale invasion because of fears that tensions with Russia would escalate. Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway, will step down in October from his role at NATO.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to deepen ties with Russia as he held talks with visiting security chief Sergei Shoigu, state media reported on September 14. Western powers have accused cash-strapped North Korea of selling ammunition to Russia in defiance of sanctions over the more than 30-month war in Ukraine. North Korea has recently bolstered military ties with Russia, with President Vladimir Putin making a rare visit to Pyongyang in June, where he signed a mutual defense agreement with Kim. Kim "affirmed that his government would further expand cooperation and collaboration" with Russia based on the agreement.

The US State Department on Friday said it had approved the sale of dozens of F-35 fighter jets to its NATO ally Romania, a deal worth $7.2 billion. The contract, which must still be approved by the U.S. Congress, covers Bucharest's purchase of 32 F-35A aircraft and related equipment produced by the U.S. aerospace and defense giant Lockheed Martin. The contract announcement comes as Ukrainian pilots began training this week at a special center in Romania on F-16s, U.S.-made fighter jets that Washington has approved Kyiv to use to repel Russia's invasion.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer reaffirmed their "unwavering support" for Ukraine at a meeting on September 13, according to a White House statement on the talks that didn't mention the topic of loosening restrictions on Kyiv's use of donated long-range weapons deeper inside Russian territory.

Meeting amid signs that Ukraine's allies are growing more receptive to loosening restrictions on the use of the long-range weapons to allow it to hit targets deep inside Russia, Starmer was expected to press Biden on the issue.

But a White House statement afterward failed to mention the topic and instead mentioned several global topics along with a pledge of continued support for Ukraine.

"The leaders had an in-depth discussion on a range of foreign policy issues of mutual interest. They reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine as it continues to defend against Russia’s aggression," the statement said.

The only other mention of the war in Ukraine was an expression of "deep concern about Iran and North Korea’s provision of lethal weapons to Russia and the People’s Republic of China’s support to Russia’s defense industrial base."

The United States has restricted the use of the weapons over concerns that allowing Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia could cause an escalation in the war and possibly prompt Russia to use a nuclear weapon.

Hours ahead of the talks, White House national-security spokesman John Kirby looked to tamp down speculation of a lifting of the restrictions, saying the United States was not planning to announce any new policy with regard to the issue.

The Biden-Starmer meeting came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a tour of Europe in which he heard repeated appeals from Ukraine and its allies to lift the restrictions.

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He said at the conclusion of the trip that he would relay the comments to Biden, noting that in the past the United States has adapted its policies to fit the situation on the battlefield.

Biden in May altered U.S. policy to allow Ukraine to fire U.S.-donated missiles into Russia to defend itself against a major Russian offensive that included missile and drone barrages fired from Russian territory.

But he maintained a limit on the distance the U.S. missiles could strike, meaning Ukraine could only hit targets in regions close to the border.

The Guardian newspaper, quoting government sources, reported on September 12 that London had already given Ukraine permission to use its Storm Shadow missile for strikes deep into Russian territory. Other British media, however, reported that the United Kingdom might require Washington's permission first because the weaponry contains U.S.-made components.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 12 warned against any change in policy that would allow Western weapons to be used for long-range strikes on his country's territory, saying it would mean that the NATO alliance of which the United States and Britain are members, would be "at war" with Russia.

"If that's the case, then taking into account the change of nature of the conflict, we will make the appropriate decisions based on the threats that we will face," Putin said.

Putin claimed that the Ukrainian military would only be able to carry out such strikes when using data from NATO satellites and that only military personnel of NATO "can carry out flight tasks for these missile systems."

When asked about the Russian president's warning, Biden said before meeting Starmer that "I don't think much about Vladimir Putin."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on September 13 reiterated Berlin's refusal to send long-range missiles to Ukraine, telling a news conference that Germany "has made a clear decision about what we will do and what we will not do. This decision will not change."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has recently ramped up his calls for Kyiv's Western partners to loosen restrictions on donated weapons.

Zelenskiy has argued that longer-range capability is needed to allow Ukraine to better defend itself against attacks as Russia has moved its long-range weaponry beyond Ukraine's reach.

Russia has also made significant territorial gains on the ground in Ukraine's east amid an ongoing offensive. It has also begun a counterattack to retake Russian territory overrun by Ukraine following a surprise incursion into Russia, the first since World War II.

Zelenskiy said on September 13 that the counterattack in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine took more than 1,300 square kilometers of territory in the space of a few weeks, was expected but had so far seen “no serious success.”

The Ukrainian president also said at a conference in Kyiv that the situation around the strategic eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, which Russian forces aim to capture as they advance in the Donetsk region, remained difficult but was stabilizing.

Zelenskiy said that he plans to present a “victory plan” to end the war with Russia to Biden later this month.

"[It] can pave the way for a reliable peace -- for the full implementation of the peace formula," he said at a conference organized by the Viktor Pinchuk Foundation charity.

In recent weeks, Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine has no intention of holding the Russian territory it controls as a result of the incursion launched in August. However, he said it gave Ukraine leverage for future negotiations and that captured Russian soldiers were valuable in exchanges for Ukrainian troops captured by Russia.

During the conference, Zelenskiy said Ukraine needed the full support from its allies in order to be in a strong position to negotiate with Russia, and repeated his calls for the West to help Ukraine carry out long-range strikes into Russia.

Starmer and Biden also reiterated their "ironclad commitment to Israel’s security, the urgent need for a ceasefire deal that will free the hostages and enable increased relief in Gaza, and the need for Israel to do more to protect civilians and address the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza," the White House said.

The two leaders also had an "in-depth discussion" on a range of foreign policy issues of mutual interest, including attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea by Iran-backed Huthi rebels, environmental issues, and economic ties, the White House said.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on September 13 laid out a long list of demands that he said must be met in order to make progress in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

Vucic said the demands include local elections in northern Kosovo, an area populated largely by ethnic Serbs, where tensions have remained high since Kosovo shut down several Serbia-backed parallel institutions at the end of August.

Speaking at a news conference, Vucic named several other demands, including the return of ethnic Serbs to the police force and the judiciary and the withdrawal of Kosovo's special police forces from the north.

Vucic also announced that the Serbian parliament would adopt a decision declaring illegal all bodies and institutions established in Kosovo since the former Serbian province's declaration of independence.

Serbia has not recognized Kosovo's independence, which it declared in 2008. Russia and China are among the other countries that do not recognize it.

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The situation in northern Kosovo has been volatile for months. The latest escalation in tensions occurred after the Kosovar authorities closed the parallel Serbian institutions, which Serbs consider unconstitutional and illegal. Vucic said the move cost 5,880 people their jobs and halted 25 administrative services for Serbs.

Vucic said Serbia also is demanding to “return to what has been agreed and achieved so far in the dialogue” between Belgrade and Pristina, which has been mediated by the European Union since 2011.

“What we are demanding is respect of European norms and dialogue,” Vucic said. “We do not want war.”

Vucic’s demand for "free and democratic" local elections in northern Kosovo would include the participation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe under the supervision of the European Union.

The demand for the return of Serbs to the regional directorate of the Kosovar police force in the north should take place in accordance with the Brussels Agreement, he said.

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Asked about a recently announced indictment of Milan Radoicic and 44 other individuals in connection with an armed attack in Banjska last year, Vucic said that Serbian authorities are conducting their own investigation. Radoicic, the fugitive former vice president of the Serbian List party accused of leading and organizing the attack, is believed to be in Serbia.

Prosecutor Naim Abazi said those indicted had different roles within their criminal group "ranging from organizing and directing terrorist activities to financing and money laundering."

Vucic said that, for Serbia, the Banjska case "is by no means terrorism."

Shortly before Vucic spoke, Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that Serbia decided to repeat threats and ultimatums to Kosovo instead of repenting for the crimes it committed during the past.

The Serbian government's approach toward Kosovo is "very depressing," but Kosovo is not afraid of threats, Kurti said on Facebook.

With reporting by AP

The controversial documentary Russians At War, about Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, was to be unveiled to North American audiences on September 13, but the Toronto International Film Festival paused the screenings after receiving "significant threats." Since it was first shown in Venice earlier this month it has sparked outrage in Ukrainian cultural and political circles against what many consider a pro-Kremlin film that seeks to whitewash and justify Moscow's full-scale invasion of its neighbor. Festival organizers in Toronto initially refused to drop the film, but after protesters and diplomats called on them them to do so, they issued a statement saying they had been "made aware of significant threats to festival operations and public safety," and given the "severity of these concerns, we cannot proceed as planned."

WASHINGTON -- The United States on September 13 said the Russian news outlet RT is taking orders directly from the Kremlin and working with Russian military intelligence to spread disinformation around the world to undermine democracies.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States has gathered new evidence that exposes cooperation between RT and four other subsidiaries of the Rossia Segodnya media group, and it intends to warn other countries of the threat of the disinformation.

In addition to RT, Rossia Segodnya operates RIA Novosti, TV-Novosti, Ruptly, and Sputnik, but the announcement on September 13 focused largely on RT. The outlet, formerly known as Russia Today, has previously been sanctioned for its work to allegedly spread Kremlin propaganda and disinformation.

It was the focus of an announcement last week by the U.S. Justice Department, which warned Americans about Russia’s attempts to influence the 2024 presidential election. The State Department and Treasury Department also issued warnings last week about Rossia Segodnya and its subsidiaries and announced sanctions, but Blinken and other officials who briefed reporters at the State Department on September 13 said they wanted to stress the global nature of their warnings.

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“The actions we are exposing today and the actions we exposed last week do not incorporate the full scope of Russia’s effort to undermine democracies -- far from it,” Blinken said. “Russian disinformation to subvert and polarize freedom-loving societies extends to every part of the world.”

He said the State Department will launch a diplomatic campaign to share the evidence that the United States has uncovered on RT’s expanded capabilities and urge other countries to act.

Britain and Canada will join the United States in launching the campaign to rally allies and partners around the world to address “the threat posed by RT and other machinery of Russian disinformation and covert influence,” he said.

Each government will decide on its own how to respond, but Washington will urge every ally and partner “to start by treating RT’s activities as they do other intelligence activities by Russia within their borders,” Blinken said.

n addition to the diplomatic campaign, the United States announced new sanctions on three entities and two individuals for operating Russia’s covert global influence operations, Blinken said.

Blinken warned in particular about Russia’s attempts to influence the upcoming presidential election in Moldova.

He said RT and its employees for years have coordinated directly with the Kremlin to support Russian government efforts to influence previous elections, and its efforts this year likely will be aimed at causing protests to turn violent, he said.

“We believe RT will almost certainly leverage its expanded capabilities to coordinate with Russian intelligence services to try to manipulate the outcome of Moldova’s upcoming election,” he said.

Blinken also described what he said is a large online crowd-funding program in Russia to provide support and military equipment to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine. The operation aims to fund such things as sniper rifles, night-vision equipment, drones, radio equipment, and diesel generators.

“The program is out in the open, but what is hidden is that the program is administered by the leaders of RT,” he said.

A Russian missile strike on a civilian ship transporting Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea has drawn sharp condemnation from NATO and raised concerns in Romania about the status of shipping on the Black Sea.

NATO spokeswoman Farah Dakhlallah expressed the alliance’s reaction on September 13, just over a day after the missile struck the vessel.

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"There is no justification for such attacks. Yesterday's strike shows once again the reckless nature of Russia's war," Dakhlallah said, speaking in Brussels.

Romanian authorities said the ship was in the maritime economic zone of Romania, a NATO member, when it was hit at around 11 p.m. local time on September 11. The vessel was transporting grain from Chernomorsk, Ukraine, to Istanbul when it was struck, the Coast Guard said in a news release.

Ukrainian officials said the ship's cargo was bound for Egypt.

Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar spoke by phone with his Ukrainian counterpart, Rustem Umerov, on the security situation in the Black Sea area after the attack.

Tilvar reiterated Bucharest’s “firm condemnation of the unjustified attacks” by Russia against civilian port infrastructure on the Danube near the border with Romania, the Romanian Defense Ministry quoted him as saying.

"Unfortunately, as a result of the aggressive actions of the Russian Federation, the Black Sea is no longer an area of cooperation, but a theater of war,” Tilvar said, according to a ministry statement on September 12.

He added that Romania “condemns in the strongest terms the Russian aggression against the Ukrainian people, unprovoked and illegal, especially the attacks on the Ukrainian population and civil infrastructure.”

Tilvar and Umerov also discussed Romania’s effort to support Ukraine’s military and the coordination of multinational assistance projects.

Umerov called the discussion "fruitful,” saying the main topic was air defense against Russian missiles and drones.

"Ukraine will soon receive a new Patriot air-defense system from our Romanian partners. There will also be more F-16s in Ukrainian skies. A group of pilots are already being trained in Romania," he added.

Separately, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Romanian Foreign Minister Luminița Odobescu to discuss Romania’s donation of Patriot missile system to Ukraine.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement that Blinken thanked Odobescu for fulfilling Romania's commitment and for its “continued leadership in the defense of regional security.”

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A hotel in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, has canceled its agreement with a group opposing the government's plan to construct a nuclear power station to host a gathering next week.

Vadim Ni, a founding member of the group AES Kerek Emes (We Don't Need Nuclear Power Plants), told RFE/RL on September 13 that the hotel, run by U.S.-based Hilton Hotels & Resorts, canceled the deal three days before the event was to take place on September 16.

"This morning, after I sent invitations to media outlets to the event, the hotel administration called me and said the agreement was annulled due to -- what they said -- the hotel's closure," Ni said, adding that most likely the hotel canceled the gathering of about 50 people due to pressure imposed by people linked to the government or supporters of the idea to construct a nuclear power plant.

Ni also said his group is searching for an alternative site for the gathering.

The hotel's manager, who introduced herself as Aleksandra, refused to comment on the decision to cancel the event.

Kazakh authorities said last week that a nationwide referendum on the possible construction of a nuclear power plant will be held on October 6.

On September 12, the Kazakh Prosecutor-General's Office said four individuals and two companies were fined for holding opinion polls on the issue because they failed to inform the authorities about their intention to conduct the opinion polls.

Ni and several other activists announced the creation of their group on September 10.

The activists said that if a nuclear plant is constructed in partnership with a foreign country -- four companies are currently on the short list -- Kazakhstan could lose some of its sovereignty.

China's CNNC, South Korea's KHNP, France's EDF, and Russia's Rosatom have been named in media reports as possible partners.

Kazakh officials have avoided commenting directly, saying the decision would be made after the referendum.

Shortly before launching its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia proposed that its Rosatom nuclear agency be Kazakhstan's main partner in such a project.

Many Kazakhs publicly reject the idea of Rosatom's involvement, citing the legacy of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and Russia's occupation of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine as examples of Moscow's attitude toward nuclear safety.

Many in Kazakhstan expect the referendum to succeed, given the country's tightly controlled political environment.

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

Belarusian activist Hanna Auchynnikava told the Vyasna rights group on September 13 that she fled Belarus without travel documents after being charged with facilitating extremist activities because she sent parcels to political prisoners Zmitser Dashkevich and Svyatoslav Udod.

Auchynnikava was detained on January 23, after which police searched her home and confiscated personal items, including her passport.

She then spent three days in custody. Investigators told her that, because she sent parcels to people convicted on extremism charges, she may be convicted on similar charges as well.

On January 26, Auchynnikava was released and police returned her belongings, except for her passport. She was ordered to remain in Minsk as investigations continued.

In mid-March, Auchynnikava's family members left Belarus and shortly after that she managed to leave the country despite having no passport.

She did not say how she managed to get out of the country, or where she is now located other than to say she is in a European Union member along with her family and is trying to obtain legal status to reside there.

Meanwhile, on September 13, a court in the southeastern city of Mazyr started the trial of activist Paval Kebets on a charge of publicly insulting authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

A day earlier, a court in the western Brest district handed sentences to 11 local residents over their participation in mass rallies in 2020 protesting against the official results of a presidential election that declared Lukashenka had won amid opposition claims the balloting was rigged.

The activists were found guilty of taking part in activities that blatantly disrupted social order and received sentences ranging between suspended two-year terms and 18 months in prison.

Thousands were detained during nationwide protests and there were credible reports of torture and ill-treatment by security forces. Several people died during the crackdown.

Many of Belarus's opposition leaders have been arrested or forced to leave the country, while Lukashenka has refused to negotiate with the opposition.

The United States, the EU, and several other countries have refused to acknowledge Lukashenka as the winner of the vote and imposed several rounds of sanctions on him and his regime, citing election fraud and the police crackdown.

Russia's central bank raised its key interest rate to 19 percent from 18 percent, citing a recent acceleration of inflation. The last time the bank raised rates was in July, when it hiked the rate by 2 percentage points. Days after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the central bank hiked its key rate to 20 percent to prop up the ruble amid Western sanctions that restrict dealings with Russian banks, individuals, and companies. The bank managed to stabilize the ruble and financial system, allowing for an easing of policy, with the rate dropping to as low as 7.5 percent. But with the inflation rate back on the rise, the key interest rate has been gradually increased as well. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on September 13 that 49 Ukrainians were released from Russian custody and returned home as part of another prisoner swap. "[Representatives] of the Ukrainian armed forces, National Guard, State Border Guard Service, and civilians are among those released," Zelenskiy said on Telegram. Leniye Umerova, who was arrested in Crimea after she came to visit her sick father, soldiers who defended the Azovstal metallurgic plant in Mariupol, and noted military physician and Hero of Ukraine laureate Viktor Ivchuk were among the prisoners returning, Zelenskiy added. Russia has yet to provide details of the swap. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.

The European Union has condemned the recent alleged transfer of Iranian-made ballistic missiles to Russia and is considering new sanctions against Tehran in response.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on September 13 that Brussels had "repeatedly strongly cautioned Iran against transfers of ballistic missiles to Russia," which has worked to boost its depleted arsenal as it continues its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The bloc, Borrell said, would "respond swiftly and in coordination with international partners" and was considering ways to target Iran's already heavily sanctioned aviation sector.

The comments came after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week that the weapons received by Russia could be used in the war against Ukraine within weeks. In a joint statement issued on September 10, Britain, France, and Germany called the transfers "an escalation by both Iran and Russia" and "a direct threat to European security."

A diplomatic source on September 13 said that the French Foreign Ministry had summoned Iran's charge d'affaires in the country over the alleged transfers of short-range missiles, which Tehran has denied.

The three countries also announced they had canceled air-service agreements with Iran that would restrict flights by an Iranian air carrier to Europe.

In response, the Iranian government separately summoned the envoys of Britain, France, Germany, as well as the Netherlands. Iran's official IRNA news agency reported that the Iranian Foreign Ministry told the envoys that the accusations were part of Western hostility against Iran and that the actions would "be met with an appropriate response from the Islamic republic."

Iranian weapon transfers to Russia have been a contentious issue since Russia launched its unprovoked, all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Iranian suicide drones, both those manufactured in Iran and increasingly copies made in Russia using Iranian blueprints, have proven to be a deadly boost to Russia's strike capabilities throughout the war.

Russia has also pounded Ukrainian infrastructure and cities with ballistic missiles, depleting its stockpiles of such weapons even as it has greatly boosted its domestic production. Moscow has been accused of turning to North Korea and Iran to boost supplies of drones, missiles, and other munitions.

Iran has denied providing Russia with Shahed drones, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and said that any suicide and more advanced combat drones sent to Moscow were transferred before the war in Ukraine began.

Russia and Iran, two major oil and gas producers under heavy sanctions from the West and the UN, have significantly strengthened their political and business ties in recent years. The two have worked out barter deals that circumvent sanctions that restrict their petroleum revenue and get around punitive measures that have effectively cut them off from the international banking system.

The sharing of technology and know-how has raised concerns that Tehran could bolster its controversial nuclear program, while Russia could feed its war effort against Ukraine.

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The fears were heightened last year following reports that Iran was considering exporting ballistic missiles to Russia, and the expiration in October of UN Security Council sanctions designed to thwart Iran's development of ballistic missiles and which barred its sale of such weapons.

Britain, France, and Germany have maintained their sanctions intended to restrict Iran's nuclear development and possible delivery systems such as missiles, and the United States has imposed new sanctions targeting individuals in both Russia and Iran in an effort to penalize Iranian efforts to buy or sell technology related to its drone and missile programs.

However, both Russia and Iran said following the expiration of the UN sanctions last year that no obstacles remained to their defense cooperation and potential trade of military technology and weapons.

In August, a new report said Iran was preparing to export Fath-360 and Ababil close-range missiles. Last week, satellite imagery reportedly showed a Russian cargo ship suspected of carrying Iranian ballistic missiles docked at a Russian port on the Caspian Sea on September 4.

The U.S. Treasury department on September 10 assessed that the Russian Defense Ministry had used the Port Olya 3 ship to "transport CRBMs from Iran to Russia."

The development has added urgency to Ukraine's appeals to its Western partners to allow it to use donated weaponry to strike deeper into Russian territory.

India's NDTV television on September 12 quoted the country's Foreign Ministry as saying that 45 Indian nationals had been discharged from the Russian forces fighting in Ukraine after they were tricked into enlisting. The ministry added that some 50 Indian citizens remained in the Russian military in Ukraine. In July, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in Moscow that Indian nationals fighting with Russian forces in Ukraine would return home soon. Several Indian men have been killed in Ukraine fighting for Russia. To read the original story by Current Time Service, click here.

Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said on September 13 that opposition politician Azimbek Beknazarov was detained a day earlier on suspicion of having been involved in money laundering. Bekanazarov's son told RFE/RL on September 12 that his father was detained on unspecified charges after the UKMK summoned him for questioning. Beknazarov, 68, was among 27 activists acquitted in June of charges of "calling for mass unrest" and "plotting the seizure of power" in a high-profile case related to a deal that saw Kyrgyzstan hand over a disputed reservoir to Uzbekistan last year. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

The Russian streaming service Yandex Music has blocked the new album by the rap group Kasta, which is known for its opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Those looking to stream the album -- Novinki zarubezhnogo repa (News Of The Foreign Rap) -- on Yandex Music's site receive a message saying it "is inaccessible due to the request of Roskomnadzor," the state media watchdog. The album was released on September 6. Four days later, the pro-Kremlin Veterans of Russia group demanded that the rappers be declared "foreign agents" and investigated for financing Ukraine's armed forces. The group left Russia in 2022. To read the original story by RFE/RL's North.Realities, click here.

A jury in Florida has convicted four civil rights activists of conspiring to act as unregistered Russian agents as part of a secret initiative by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) to influence U.S. politics.

The September 12 conviction of the four activists in a federal court in Tampa followed a trial that revealed details of a seven-year Russian effort to sow division within the United States by backing marginal political groups.

The activists found guilty include African People's Socialist Party founder Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess, Jesse Nevel, and Augustus Romain Jr., who face up to five years in prison on the conspiracy conviction. They were acquitted of the more serious charge of acting as Russian agents.

"The most important thing is they were unable to convict us of working for anybody except Black people," Yeshitela said following the verdict.

Text messages entered as evidence in the case and first reported by RFE/RL revealed conversations between a Aleksandr Ionov, a Russian national who coordinated with the activists, and his FSB handlers.

The communications also detailed interactions between Ionov and a fringe U.S. group advocating for the secession of California from the United States.

Prosecutors had charged that the activists knowingly worked with Ionov and by extension the FSB officers; Ionov paid for at least one of them to travel to Moscow in 2015 for a conference planned by Ionov's organization, the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia.

Evidence entered in the case by U.S. prosecutors included images and video footage of Ionov and Yeshitela, 82, meeting in Russia.

Prosecutors said Yeshitela told his fellow activists that Ionov would only provide backing for efforts that would support Russia's attempts to "undermin[e] the U.S." and that Ionov was utilizing "forces inside of the U.S. to s[o]w division inside the U.S."

Yeshitela's attorney, Ade Griffin, said in closing arguments in the Florida case that Ionov did not control the activists, saying his client was "not for sale."

Ionov also allegedly advised the group on wording for protest signs; according to the indictment, he also paid $3,000 to several activists for them to travel to San Francisco to protest at the headquarters of Meta, Facebook's parent company, after it restricted pro-Russian posts about Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

According to prosecutors, Romain messaged Ionov after the demonstration: "This is great! That was fun! Who [sic] we attacking next? With more time I can get a bigger crowd."

A sentencing date has not been set in the case.

The Justice Department said the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating the case.

With reporting by the Tampa Bay Times and the Associated Press

The European Union on September 13 removed Violetta Prigozhina, the 85-year-old mother of the late leader of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, along with several other Russians from its sanctions list.

The European Union has imposed asset freezes and visa bans on 2,300 people and entities since Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The EU's move to remove Prigozhina from the sanctions list was based on a decision by the EU General Court made in March 2023.

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The EU's second-highest court ruled at the time that Prigozhina's inclusion was based only on her family connection with Prigozhin, which the court said was insufficient proof she was complicit in her son's role in the Ukraine war.

The EU, the court said then, placed Prigozhina on the sanctions list on the grounds that she was the owner of Concord Management and Consulting LLC, part of the Concord group founded and owned until 2019 by her son, and also owned other business interests with links to her son.

The court also said it had established that Prigozhina, although owning shares in Concord, has not been the owner of the company since 2017. The EU also failed to prove that Prigozhina owned other ventures linked to her son when the sanctions were adopted.

Prigozhina was added to the EU's Ukraine sanctions list on February 23, 2022, one day before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, along with members of the Russian government, banks, businesspeople, and lawmakers.

Prigozhin, long a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died along with nine other people in a mysterious plane crash in August 2023, two months after he announced a rebellion as the head of the Wagner Group, a private army that played a major role in Russia's advance into Ukraine.

The Russian Prosecutor-General's Office on September 13 declared the Poland-based Belsat TV channel, which broadcasts in Belarusian, an "undesirable organization." In a statement, the office accused Belsat of broadcasting "pro-Western" programs, "distributing lies" about the war in Ukraine, and cooperating with people designated as "foreign agents" in Russia. Belarusian authorities declared Belsat an extremist organization and banned it in 2021. The TV channel covered the months of unprecedented protests in Belarus against the official results of the August 2020 presidential election that pronounced authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka the winner despite opposition claims the vote was rigged. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) on September 13 accused six British diplomats of spying and said a decision had been made to withdraw their accreditation. Russian state TV quoted an FSB official as saying that they will be expelled. The FSB claimed that it received documents indicating that they were sent to Russia by a division of the U.K. Foreign Office "whose main task is to inflict a strategic defeat on our country," and that they were involved in "intelligence-gathering and subversive activities." The move comes two days after the United States and Britain pledged nearly $1.5 billion in additional aid to Ukraine, and as Ukrainian officials renewed their pleas to use Western-provided missiles against targets deeper inside Russia.

A regional branch of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group has claimed responsibility for a deadly attack in central Afghanistan targeting Shi'ite pilgrims.

The Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) group on September 12 published images showing the massacred pilgrims, believed to belong to the Hazara minority persecuted by the Sunni IS-K.

Hadi Rahimi Zada, a former council member in Daykundi Province, where the killings took place, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi that 14 people were killed by unidentified gunmen in the attack.

Some other local sources told Radio Azadi that the killings were carried out by armed men on motorcycles.

A resident of Daykundi Province who spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns said that the group targeted had gathered to welcome pilgrims returning from Karbala in Iraq, a Shi'ite holy site.

"Their relatives had returned to Firouzkoh from Karbala. These people were going to welcome them. Four people attacked them and 14 people were killed," the source said. "They were all young men, and five others were injured."

Abdul Matin Qani, a spokesman for the Taliban's Interior Ministry confirmed the attack in Daykundi Province, saying on September 12 that further details would be announced.

The IS-K has carried out numerous attacks since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, often targeting Taliban officials, foreign nationals, and the Shi'ite Hazara community.

The IS-K was founded in Afghanistan in 2014 as a regional branch of the Islamic State extremist group that aims to expand throughout South and Central Asia. Khorasan refers to a historical region that comprised parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia.