The top spokesman for the Pakistani Army said on September 5 that since the beginning of 2024 the army has conducted 32,173 anti-terrorism operations in which 193 officers and soldiers have been killed. Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said in Rawalpindi that in the past month a total of 4,021 operations were conducted in which 90 suspected militants were killed. He said that the army and law enforcement agencies conduct an average of 130 operations per day. The army has recently stepped up raids against militants, and Chaudhry said the Pakistani Army was "continuing its efforts" to "end terrorism.” He did not identify terrorist groups by name but said foreign elements are training the militants and are involved in the attacks. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, click here.

The death toll from a Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Poltava rose to 55 on September 5, the Interior Ministry said, adding that the number of wounded also rose and now stands at 328. The strike on a military communications institute on September 3 partially destroyed the institute's six-story educational building, the ministry said on Facebook. "Probably, there are still people under the rubble. Search-and-rescue operations are ongoing," the ministry said. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that two ballistic missiles hit the grounds of the institute and a nearby hospital. The attack, one of the worst in the war, triggered widespread condemnation. Washington denounced it as "another horrific reminder of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's brutality."

A grand jury in the U.S. state of Maryland has charged six Russians, including five who are officers in Russia's military intelligence agency (GRU), with conspiracy to hack into computer systems and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The indictment, unsealed on September 5, alleges that the Russians conspired to hack into computer systems associated with the Ukrainian government in advance of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Their original targets included Ukrainian government systems and data with no military or defense-related roles and later included computer systems in countries around the world that were providing support to Ukraine, including in the United States, the U.S. Justice Department said in a news release. The whereabouts of the men are unknown, and the Justice Department has issued a reward for information leading to their arrest.

Russian TV presenter Dimitri Simes, who served as an adviser to former President Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, and his wife, Anastasia, have been charged with violating U.S. sanctions in connection with alleged schemes to benefit Russian broadcaster Channel One.

The couple is charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), one count of conspiracy, and one count of money laundering.

If convicted, they each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count, the Justice Department said on September 5.

Following an FBI raid on the Simes’ Virginia home on August 16, the Justice Department alleges that the couple participated in the violation of U.S. sanctions by providing services to Channel One, a state-owned Russian broadcaster that was sanctioned by the United States in 2022.

The department said Simes was a presenter and producer of programming for Channel One and for his services received $1 million, a personal car and driver, a stipend for an apartment in Moscow, and a team of 10 employees from the broadcaster.

Simes, 76, as an adviser to Trump's 2016 campaign, arranged an important 2016 foreign policy speech in which Trump outlined a vision for greater cooperation with Russia. According to a 2019 report by special counsel Robert Mueller, who was assigned to look into whether Trump's campaign had colluded with Russia, Simes also sent Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner a letter detailing potential talking points for Trump about Russia.

The Justice Department also announced on September 5 a second indictment, naming only Anastasia Simes, alleging she participated in a separate scheme to benefit Russian oligarch Aleksandr Udodov through the buying, selling, and shipping of art from the United States to Russia. The department accused Anastasia Simes of receiving reimbursements and a service fee from Udodov, who was designated for sanctions in 2023 by the United States.

The Justice Department said the couple remains at large and are believed to be in Russia.

Simes, born in Moscow in 1947, emigrated to the United States in 1973 and later became a U.S. citizen. He served as an informal adviser to President Richard Nixon and regularly traveled with Nixon to the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries.

In 1994, Nixon named him to head the Center for the National Interest, which at the time was called the Nixon Center for Peace and Freedom. Simes retired from the position in 2022.

The White House called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to "stop interfering" in U.S. elections after he stated his support for Vice President Kamala Harris at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on September 5. According to Meduza, Putin said, “Our favorite, so to speak, was Mr. Biden. He has withdrawn from the race, but he recommended supporting Ms. Harris. And we will do so. We will support her." National Security Council spokesman John Kirby responded by saying Putin "shouldn't be favoring anybody one way or another." Kirby added that the only people who should determine who the next president is are the American people, adding, "We would greatly appreciate it if Mr. Putin would...stop talking about our election, and...stop interfering in it."

A Moscow court on September 5 sent three officers of a notorious immigration center in Sakharovo, near Moscow, to pretrial detention for at least two months on corruption charges. Abdulgazip Mustapayev, Olga Adakina, and Rudik Teknedzhyan were charged with fraud. Investigators say the trio extorted money from migrants awaiting deportation, promising expedited trips to their homelands. The center has been known for its cruel treatment of migrant workers from Central Asian and the Caucasus. Many migrants who went through Sakharovo have claimed they were humiliated, beaten, and deprived of their money while being held there. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

The Romanian government is in the final stages of donating a Patriot missile system to Ukraine in the midst of Ukraine’s ever-increasing calls for more support from the West. On September 5, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis signed a bill allowing for the donation of the system, which is expected to be deployed as part of Ukraine's air defenses. Now, the government will issue an order for the donation to be carried out. The Patriot system is only one of two functioning in Romania. The government agreed to donate it on the condition that Bucharest's allies will replace it with another Patriot system at a later date. To read the original story on RFE/RL's Romanian Service, click here.

Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya has accused the Belarusian government of being behind the vandalism of organizations that cater to Belarusians living in Lithuania, including a help center for refugees, a cultural center, and a Belarusian Orthodox church. Tsikhanouskaya condemned the incidents, which took place in Vilnius overnight on September 4-5, saying they were “obviously aimed at sowing enmity between Belarusians and Lithuanians.” Natallya Kalehava, the director of the Dapamoha (Help) center for Belarusian refugees, said that graffiti appeared near the center that read: “There is no place for Belarusian parasites here.” Also overnight, unknown assailants fired a pneumatic weapon at the window of a Belarusian Orthodox parish church and unknown individuals broke windows of the Belarusian Culture Center in Vilnius. The Lithuanian police have been informed about the incidents. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, click here.

Azerbaijani journalist Afqan Muxtarli -- who in 2017 was abducted in Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, and subsequently transferred to Azerbaijan, where he was convicted of smuggling, illegally crossing the border, and using force against a government official -- has won a lawsuit against Georgia and Azerbaijan at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

The ECHR ruled on September 5 that Georgia violated Article 3 (prohibition of torture) and Article 5 (right to liberty and security) of the European Convention on Human Rights by not investigating Muxtarli's claims that he was abducted in Georgia, ill-treated, and illegally transferred to Azerbaijan.

The court also ruled that Azerbaijan violated Article 5, Paragraph 3 of the convention, which states: "Everyone arrested or detained in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1.c of this article shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release pending trial."

The ruling also says that Azerbaijan violated the convention's Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life).

The ECHR ordered Georgia to pay 12,500 euros ($13,830) and Azerbaijan 8,500 euros ($9,405) to Muxtarli.

In January 2019, a Baku court sentenced Muxtarli to six years in prison on the charges, which he, his supporters, and rights groups called politically motivated.

In mid-March, 2020, a Baku court ordered Muxtarli's early release from prison and allowed him to fly to Germany, where he reunited with his wife and daughter.

Human Rights Watch said at the time that Muxtarli developed serious health complications in prison and did not receive adequate medical care.

Georgian authorities said at the time that they had opened an investigation into the abduction and suspended a number of counterintelligence and border police officials.

Muxtarli's lawyer, Archil Chopikashvili, told RFE/RL on September 5 that Georgia failed to provide any information on how Muxtarli turned up in Azerbaijan after living in Tbilisi.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic says he will not attend a key summit in Russia next month, despite receiving an invitation from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Vucic told reporters on September 5 that he cannot attend the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) summit on October 22-24, because Serbia will "have important guests at that time." Vucic has recently denied having close ties with Putin, saying he hasn't met with the Russian leader since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine began in early 2022. But many other high-ranking officials in Serbia, including Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin, have maintained that Russia remains a close Serbian ally. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Balkan Service, click here.

A Moscow court on September 5 sentenced blogger Aleksandr Shpak, who now lives abroad, to eight years in prison on charges of distributing false information about the Russian military. The sentence in absentia stems from a video about the destruction by Russian forces of the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine in June 2023 that Shpak posted on Instagram. Shpak condemned the dam's destruction in the video, calling the Russian troops "rashists" -- a derogatory word used by Russia's critics to compare Russian troops to fascists. The video was later removed from Instagram. Shpak currently resides in the United States. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Russia was planning to attack Ukraine from the Kursk region before Ukraine launched its cross-border incursion last month, Ukraine’s top military commander, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskiy, said in an interview broadcast on September 5, after Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that the incursion has not affected Moscow’s special military operation.

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Syrsky said in an interview with CNN that he considers the operation in Kursk a success because it reduced the threat of an enemy attack.

"We prevented them from acting. We moved the fighting to the enemy's territory so that he could feel what we feel every day," he said.

According to Syrskiy, Moscow has transferred tens of thousands of troops to the Kursk region, including some of its best airborne assault units.

Syrskiy also admitted that Ukraine is under significant pressure in the Pokrovsk area, but he said that Ukrainian forces have so far succeeded in stopping the Russian advance there.

"Over the past six days, the enemy has not advanced a single meter in the Pokrovsk area. In other words, our strategy is working," he said.

Syrskiy said that the ability of Russian forces to maneuver and deploy reinforcements from other directions has been limited and "this weakening is undoubtedly felt in other areas."

In recent weeks, the front line in the Donetsk region has moved closer to the strategically significant city of Pokrovsk, which in the first two years of the full-scale war was deep behind the front line.

Since its surprise incursion into Kursk, Kyiv claims to have seized control of more than 1,200 square kilometers of Russian territory, while Russian forces have pushed ahead with their effort to capture Pokrovsk.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview with U.S. broadcaster NBC this week that the aim of the incursion was to accrue Russian territory and troops for future exchanges, emphasizing that Ukraine does not need Russian territory.

"Our operation is aimed at restoring our territorial integrity. We capture Russian troops to replace them with Ukrainian [ones]," he said. "We tell them, you know, we need our military soldiers in exchange for Russian ones. The same attitude is to the territories. We don't need their land."

Putin, speaking on September 5 at the Eastern Eurasian Forum in Russia's Far Eastern city of Vladivostok, claimed that by sending troops into the Kursk region Ukraine had weakened its forces in its eastern Donbas region.

"The enemy's goal was to make us get nervous, mess around, move our troops from one site to another, and stop our offensive in key directions, first of all in the Donbas," Putin said. "Did the enemy manage to do so? No, it managed nothing."

Putin claimed that Russia's forces "stabilized the situation and started gradually pushing the enemy from the territories along the border." The move left Ukraine without the means to "contain our offensive" in eastern Ukraine, Putin said.

"To the contrary, by sending its sufficiently big and well-trained units to the border districts, the enemy weakened itself on key fronts, while our troops have expedited their offensive operations," he said.

Putin has previously called the Ukrainian incursion "a provocation" and publicly said it left Russia with no reason to negotiate with Kyiv. He backtracked from that position on September 5, saying that "we never refused to hold negotiations." However, he said in Vladivostok that any peace talks must take into account Moscow's long-standing conditions -- that parts of Ukraine occupied by Russian troops must remain under Moscow's control. Kyiv has rejected these conditions.

Putin also hinted in Vladivostok that when talking about possible talks, Kyiv must take into consideration the future losses it faces.

"It sometimes seems to me that those who now lead Ukraine are aliens or some sort of foreigners. As a matter of fact, they simply do not think, and I am serious about this. You know, [they have] such colossal losses. What can they do further, I do not understand," Putin said.

Putin's statements came as Russian forces targeted the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, with more overnight drone strikes. The Ukrainian military said that several other regions, including the northern Chernihiv and northeastern Sumy regions, were targeted by Russian drones.

In the Sumy region, the government expanded the mandatory evacuation from five towns in two districts.

Sumy Governor Volodymyr Artyukh discussed evacuation measures during a meeting in Glukhiv, one of the areas where shelling has intensified.

In view of the destruction of infrastructure and housing, the regional authorities decided to expand the list of settlements for mandatory evacuation, he said. The order now includes Glukhiv, Esman, and Svesa in the Shostkinsky district, and Manukhivka and Ivanivka in the Konotopsky district.

With reporting by Current Time and RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service

Ukraine’s parliament has approved the nomination of Andriy Sybiha as the country's new foreign minister, replacing Dmytro Kuleba as part of a major government reshuffle.

"First appointment: Andriy Sybiha as minister for foreign affairs of Ukraine," lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak announced on September 5. He added that 258 of the more than 450 lawmakers in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, voted in favor of Sybiha's appointment.

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Sybiha, a deputy foreign minister, was nominated by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on September 5 to replace Kuleba as foreign minister.

Lawmakers also approved appointing Oleksiy Kuleba, who was serving as deputy head of presidential office, as deputy prime minister responsible for restoration and regional policies.

Dmytro Kuleba and several other cabinet members submitted their resignations this week after Zelenskiy indicated that a cabinet shake-up was imminent.

The voting in parliament on the possible dismissals of cabinets members and other senior officials began on September 4.

Commenting on the futures of Kuleba and the rest of the 22-member cabinet, Zelenskiy said on September 4 that "we need new energy, and these steps relate to strengthening our state in various areas."

Kuleba has been one of the main faces of Kyiv's efforts to gird international support since Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

He has been widely regarded as an effective messenger of Ukraine's warnings that stopping Russia's aggression is essential for the rest of Europe and the West along with pleas to continue massive military and other supplies by NATO members to a nonmember defending itself against Russian attack.

Parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk informed the public of Kuleba's resignation on September 4, as well as those a day earlier of two deputy prime ministers and three cabinet ministers as part of what could be the biggest cabinet overhaul since Russia's full-scale invasion began 36 months ago.

Zelenskiy has said more changes to the government are coming in an effort to strengthen it and deliver the results that the country needs.

"That is why there will be a number of personnel changes in the cabinet of ministers and the office of the president," he said on September 3, indicating that the changes would be coming in the fall.

Zelenskiy also said Ukraine needed more interaction between the central government and communities, especially during preparation for the winter season.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP and AP

Kyrgyzstan's Foreign Ministry on September 5 warned citizens against traveling to Russia, citing beefed-up security measures and increased document checks by Russian border guards. In late July, the ministry summoned Russia's ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Sergei Vakunov, to express concerns over increased pressure imposed on Kyrgyz migrant workers across Russia. Central Asian migrant workers and visitors have faced increased scrutiny from Russian authorities following a deadly terrorist attack at an entertainment center near Moscow in March that left more than 140 people dead and hundreds injured. Russia arrested 12 suspects, mostly from Tajikistan. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said a cooling tower at Ukraine's Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant had been badly damaged in a fire last month and would probably have to be demolished. Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, made the comment on September 4 during a visit to the plant. "Until today, we hadn't been able to get to this point, high up in the tower, so we can assess in a much better way the damage that occurred," Grossi said in a video he posted on X, formerly Twitter. "This big structure is not usable in the future, so it will probably be demolished at some point."

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin has offered assurances to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Belgrade is an "ally of Russia" as well as a strategic partner. During a meeting on the sidelines of an economic forum in Vladivostok on September 4, Vulin also said that Serbia would "never become a NATO member, will never impose sanctions on the Russian Federation, and will never allow any anti-Russian actions to be carried out from its territory." EU foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano said on September 5, "Maintaining or even increasing the ties with Russia during the time of its illegal aggression against the Ukrainian people, is not compatible with EU values and is not compatible with the EU accession process." To read the original story by RFE/RL's Balkan Service, click here.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will meet on September 6 in Frankfurt, a German government spokesman said. The one-on-one talks will take place on the same day that Ukraine's military backers, including the United States, are set to gather at a U.S. airbase in Germany to coordinate their support for Kyiv. The government spokesman did not give further details about Zelensky's program in Germany, but Der Spiegel reported that he will also attend the gathering at the Ramstein Air Base southwest of Frankfurt. Zelenskiy's presence is intended to underline "the seriousness of the situation" on the ground, the magazine said. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will host the meeting.

Belarusian security forces have detained a Japanese man who they say is an intelligence agent who observed border areas and military installations, local media reported on September 4. Belarusian state TV channel Belarus 1 reported the arrest and said it would provide more details on September 5. Belarusian media said he was suspected of gathering intelligence on social and economic conditions in Belarus, the implementation of China's Belt and Road initiative, and the situation along Belarus's border with Ukraine. The man introduces himself in the video as Nakamishi Masatushi. A man with that name is listed on Homel State University's website and is identified as a Japanese language teacher.

The United States accused Russia on September 4 of attempting to influence the 2024 U.S. presidential election through Kremlin-run media outlets and online platforms that are designed to trick Americans into unwittingly consuming Russian propaganda, a Justice Department news release said on September 4.

The Kremlin has used media outlets such as RT, formerly Russia Today, and online platforms it backs to target U.S. voters with disinformation, the department said. RT, a major focus of the announcement, is seen as a key part of the Kremlin's propaganda efforts.

The department announced the seizure of 32 Internet domains that it said had been used in "Russian government-directed foreign malign-influence campaigns" that FBI Director Christopher Wray said operate at the direction of the Russian government, setting up websites "filled with Russian government propaganda" meant to deceive American users.

Russian companies under the control of the Russian presidential administration use the domains to covertly spread Russian government propaganda, which in addition to attempting to influence the presidential election also aims to reduce international support for Ukraine and bolster pro-Russian policies and interests, the Justice Department said.

"As alleged in our court filings, President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, including [first deputy chief of staff] Sergei Kiriyenko, directed Russian public relations companies to promote disinformation and state-sponsored narratives as part of a campaign to influence the 2024 U.S. presidential election," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in the news release. "An internal planning document created by the Kremlin states that a goal of the campaign is to secure Russia’s preferred outcome in the election."

Garland did not specify the outcome preferred by the Kremlin, but Putin said earlier this year prior to President Joe Biden's decision to drop out of the race, allowing Vice President Kamala Harris to become the Democratic party nominee, that Biden was more "predictable" than former President Donald Trump. Putin also said the Kremlin is prepared to work with whomever wins the election.

The department also announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Russian nationals Kostiantyn Kalashnikov, 31, and Elena Afanasyeva, 27, with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Garland said the two employees of RT were charged in a $10 million scheme "to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging."

The United States "will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to exploit our country's free exchange of ideas in order to covertly further its own propaganda efforts," Garland said, adding that the investigation into the matter remains ongoing. Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva are at large.

Russia described the move as a "witch-hunt" aimed at scaring the U.S. population, and said it will target U.S. media in response to Washington’s actions against RT.

"There will be a response to the actions of the United States authorities, which directly contradict their obligations in the areas of providing free access to information and media pluralism," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on September 5.

The U.S. Justice Department announcement came a month after Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a speech that Russia was the primary threat to the U.S. election.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said in the statement that the seizure of domains "illustrates vividly what the U.S. government and private sector partners have warned for months: the Russian government and its proxies are aggressively accelerating the Kremlin’s covert efforts to seed false stories and amplify disinformation directed at the American public.”

The Russian government has long sought to "sow discord and chaos in the United States through propaganda and foreign malign influence campaigns,” Olsen said, adding that the new accusations reveal that Russia is "willing to impersonate our free and open press in its egregious schemes."

The tactics include using RT to advance anti-U.S. messages and content and promote networks of fake websites and social media accounts that amplify the claims. Typically, these networks seize on polarizing political topics such as immigration and crime. Americans who view the content may have no idea that it either originated or was amplified by the Kremlin.

In conjunction with the domain seizures, the U.S. Treasury Department announced the designation of 10 individuals and two entities for sanctions as part of the government's response to Russia’s malign influence efforts targeting the U.S. presidential election. Among the 10 individuals are Margarita Simonyan, editor in chief of RT, and Yelizaveta Brodskaya deputy editor in chief of RT.

The sanctions announced by the Treasury Department complement the law enforcement actions announced by the Justice Department and the State Department’s designation of the Rossia Segodnya media group and five of its subsidiaries -- RIA Novosti, RT, TV-Novosti, Ruptly, and Sputnik -- as foreign missions.

As designated entities under the Foreign Mission Act, they will be required to notify the department of all personnel working in the United States and will be required to disclose all real property they hold within the United States, the State Department said in a news release.

The State Department also announced steps to impose visa restrictions on people who act on behalf of Kremlin-supported media organizations, use those organizations as cover for covert activities, and are complicit in engaging in covert influence. Noting that visa applications are confidential, the State Department said it would not be disclosing the names of the people affected.

Moreover, the State Department announced a reward of up to $10 million relating to an organization known as RaHDit (Russian Angry Hackers Did It). The group engaged in election influence in other countries and is a threat to the 2024 U.S. election, particularly through cyber-enabled influence operations, the State Department said.

"Members of RaHDit disseminate and amplify propaganda and disinformation from the Kremlin-funded and -directed organization RT and RaHDit is associated with Russian intelligence services. RaHDit is led by Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officer Aleksei Garashchenko," the department said.

A controversial Iranian track star-turned-Turkish-para-athlete has been stripped of a gold medal he won at the Paralympic Games in Paris and denied the right to compete in another event at the Games.

Sajjad Hashemi was one of Iran's fastest men and represented the country in the London Olympics in 2012 and the Rio Olympics in 2016. He holds the Iranian record in the 400 meters and 200 meters, as well as in the relay events in the 400 and 200 meters.

But he last competed for Iran in 2021 and since then gained Turkish citizenship, changed his name to Serkan Yildirim, and gained a spot on Turkey's Para-Athletic team due to impaired eyesight. At the age of 33 he made his stunning para-athletics debut, breaking the world record in the 100 meters T12 event with a time of 10.53 seconds at the World Para Athletics Championships in Tokyo in May.

Yildirim followed up on that success in the Paralympic Games in Paris on August 31, winning gold in the 100 meters T12, a disability class for track athletes with a visual impairment that requires them to run with a sighted guide. But on September 4, the World Para Athletics (WPA), the international federation responsible for the sport, announced that Yildirim had been disqualified.

"The results of Mr. Yildirim in the men’s 100m T12 medal event have been disqualified, with all resulting consequences," the WPA said in a statement. "The medals from the men’s 100m T12 medal event will be reallocated.”

In addition to losing his gold medal, Yildirim was barred from competing in a second event, the 400 meters T12.

Yildirim's disqualification resulted from a technicality stemming from a German regional court ruling that allowed him to compete in Paris. According to the WPA, it was notified on August 30 without notice of an "interim injunction issued by a single judge in the Bonn regional court" requiring Yildirim to be allowed to compete in his two events at the Paralympic Games, which began two days prior.

However, the "WPA was not provided with notice of the proceedings, or any opportunity to participate in them."

Because Yildirim's classification status was under a "sport class status 'review,'" which would make him ineligible to compete under WPA regulations, the governing body appealed the German court's injunction, while allowing him to compete pending the results of the appeal.

After a higher court ruled in favor of the WPA's appeal, the injunction was lifted, and the WPA immediately disqualified Yildirim.

The WPA said in its statement that it was "unable to provide further substantive comment at this point in time." The WPA responded to further questions by RFE/RL regarding the reasoning for the review of Yildirim's status by referring to its September 4 statement, while the International Paralympic Committee did not immediately respond.

The Turkish National Paralympics Committee did not respond to RFE/RL's questions about the case, nor did it respond to RFE/RL's questions last month regarding a growing controversy in Iranian media about Yildirim’s status as a para-athlete.

Following a story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda titled A Champion With Two Identities in July, questions had been raised about Yildirim's eligibility to compete as a para-athlete.

The story noted that Yildirim often appeared in sunglasses while running as a para-athlete for Turkey and in photos posted to an Instagram page under his new name. The account, which RFE/RL was unable to verify was overseen by Yildirim, offered no hints that he had previously competed for Iran.

The report also noted that, in recent images on an Instagram account under the name Sajjad Hashemi, the runner appeared without sunglasses or other signs of possible impairment and no trace of his activities as a para-athlete in Turkey. That Instagram account no longer exists.

Following the publication of Radio Farda's report, Hashemi responded to questions sent earlier to his Persian-language Instagram account asking about the apparent inconsistencies in the posts on two social media accounts.

'Relatively Severe' Disability

Responding in the comments section of Radio Farda's Instagram account, Hashemi said that he was an "athlete from Tabriz who, for personal reasons, competes for Turkey today."

He said he had changed his name after gaining Turkish citizenship and that the only reason he did not mention his past as an athlete competing for Iran was because "the audience of my sports condition is tied to the people of Turkey."

The athlete said he had "been visually impaired since 1986" and has had "relatively severe" disability status in Iran for more than two decades but preferred not to compete as a para-athlete. In other reports he explained that his poor vision caused him to jump the gun at the start of races.

He said that while he is not completely blind, his impairment had grown bad enough to earn him permission to compete as a para-athlete.

Subsequent reports in the Iranian media openly questioned the veracity of Hashemi/Yildirim's impairment and eligibility to compete in para-athletics, including quotes published by the conservative news site Tabnak in which Iranian athletes said they had not noticed anything irregular while training and competing with him and coaches who said the Iranian team could "not accept the hypothesis that he had vision problems."

In an interview published on August 19 by Tabnak, Hashemi/Yildirim said that "sometimes news is published only for views and clicks."

He said that some people unfortunately cannot distinguish the difference between being blind and visually impaired, but that he had had a disease that affected his eyesight since he was 10 that got progressively worse. By the Rio Olympics in 2016, he said, he knew his condition was bad enough to be eligible to compete as a para-athlete.

On August 20, the WPA said in comments to RFE/RL that "classification is carried out through a rigorous process to determine which athletes are eligible for para athletics, and then allocate eligible athletes into sport classes for competition."

Classification is granted following a thorough review of medical evaluations to confirm an eligible impairment, as well as in-person evaluations by certified professionals to "assess whether the athlete meets the minimum impairment criteria for the sport and to assign them a sport class."

While saying that the WPA cannot comment on individual athletes or cases due to confidentiality, the oversight body said that it can protest an athlete's sport classification at any time and "takes all allegations of classification-related misconduct very seriously."

The famed "Russian spy" beluga whale was found dead in the Stavanger area of Norway last week, according to a statement by the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, and an autopsy has been ordered to find out if he was deliberately killed.

The whale, discovered in 2019 off the coast of Norway, became a international phenomenon after it was seen wearing a harness with "Equipment of St. Petersburg" written on it, creating speculation that it might be linked to Russian espionage.

The whale, nicknamed Hvaldimir after the Norwegian word for whale, hval, and the whale’s connection to Russia, was found dead on August 31. Initial official reports did not indicate a cause of death.

But NOAH, a Norwegian animal rights group, and One Whale, a group created to track Hvaldimir, released a joint statement saying there are "strong indications that he may have been harmed by people.”

After viewing the body on September 2, Regina Crosby Haug, the head of One Whale, told the AFP news agency that the whale "had multiple bullet wounds around his body." Several veterinarians and biologists viewed images of Hvaldimir’s body and also indicated to One Whale and NOAH that he had been harmed by people.

Hvaldimir’s body was sent on September 2 to undergo an autopsy, with a report expected in around three weeks, according to a spokesperson at the Norwegian Veterinary Institute.

Hvaldimir had aroused speculation about Russian spying since his discovery. According to Joergen Ree Wiig of the Norwegian Fisheries Directorate in 2019, even Norwegian military officials were interested in the whale’s origins.

Wiig said that the harness that Hvaldimir was wearing when he was discovered had a camera mount but no camera. The harness was apparently removed at some point after he was first seen in the Arctic Sea.

While Russia does not have a known history of using whales for military purposes, Dmitry Glazov, the deputy head of a beluga whale program who works at the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution at the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Interfax in April 2019 that the Russian military may be working with belugas.

Moscow has never issued any official reaction to speculation that he could have been used as a Russian spy.

Russian contract soldier Kamil Kasimov, who fled Russia for Kazakhstan last year to avoid being sent to the war in Ukraine, has been sentenced to six years in prison in Russia, the 72.ru website quoted his friends as saying on September 3. Kasimov was charged with being absent without notice after his arrest in April despite legally residing in Kazakhstan. The IStories website says Kazakh law does not allow extradition on military charges and concludes that Kasimov was taken to Russia from Kazakhstan illegally. Kazakh rights defender Artur Alkhasov said earlier that Kasimov was held in a Russian military base in central Kazakhstan after his arrest. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned a parole-like sentence handed to an Uzbek woman in April over her sharing of a 1991 video showing the late President Islam Karimov speaking to Islamists.

The move on September 4 comes two weeks after the Tashkent regional court upheld Sevara Shaidullaeva's 30-month parole-like sentence, which she was handed on a charge of "intentionally storing and distributing materials containing an open call to overthrow the constitutional order of Uzbekistan."

Shaidullaeva, who shared the video clip with her mother, was ordered to observe a curfew, stay away from public events, and not to leave the Tashkent region without permission.

"Uzbek authorities should never have put Sevara [Shaidullaeva] on trial for sharing a video of the former president," HRW's Central Asia researcher Mihra Rittmann said in a statement. "However disagreeable its contents may be to Uzbek authorities, the speech captured in the 33-year-old video is a matter of historical record."

The video in question was taken in December 1991 in the eastern city of Namangan where Karimov was made to sit down in a hall and listen to Tohir Yuldash, the future leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), who lectured Karimov on government and Islam. The video, which Shaidullaeva downloaded from YouTube, has been in circulation for decades.

Karimov met later with a group of people in the Namangan region who had seized local government offices to demand that Uzbekistan be declared an Islamic state, which Karimov on the video promises to do.

However, starting in the late 1990s, Karimov's government launched a massive crackdown on practicing Muslims, which lasted until his death in 2016.

"Significant restrictions on freedom of religion and freedom of expression remain in effect under the administration of current President Shavkat [Mirziyoev]," the HRW statement stresses.

"Sharing a video documenting events that took place over 30 years ago shouldn’t be a crime," Rittmann said. "Uzbek authorities should immediately quash [Shaidullaeva's] conviction and lift all restrictions on her liberty."

A court in Russia in early August sentenced Madina Bondarenko, the Ossetian wife of a notorious recruiter for the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in Tajikistan, to 11 years in prison on a charge of being a member of a terrorist group, one of her relatives told RFE/RL on September 3.

Bondarenko, who was accused by Russia of cooperating with and belonging to IS, was extradited from Tajikistan in May 2023.

She is the wife of Parviz Saidrahmonov (aka Abu Dovud), who was sentenced to 21 years in prison in November on terrorism charges in Dushanbe.

Bondarenko's relative said she rejected the charge, saying that her husband tricked her when he brought her to Syria via Turkey several years ago as she was unaware that their final destination would be Syria. However, the court took into account Saidrahmonov's testimony to Russian investigators in which he said his wife went to Syria voluntarily, knowing that the couple planned to join IS there.

The couple and their children were extradited to Tajikistan from Turkey in 2022.

Saidrahmonov was accused of recruiting more than 200 people to fight in Syria and Iraq and was alleged to be behind multiple terrorist activities in Tajikistan, Russia, and Sweden.

He was sentenced on charges of organizing a terrorist group, extremism, and recruiting mercenaries to fight in a foreign country. Saidrahmonov was a migrant worker in Russia when he left in 2014 for Iraq and Syria, where he joined the ranks of IS.

Swedish investigators say Saidrahmonov was an accomplice of Rakhmat Akilov, an Uzbek man who was convicted of murder and terrorism for driving a hijacked truck down a busy pedestrian street in Stockholm on April 7, 2017, killing five people and injuring 14 others.

Akilov, a rejected asylum seeker in Sweden before the attack who was in contact with alleged IS militants from Tajikistan, was sentenced to life in prison in June 2018.

Saidrahmonov was later captured by Syrian authorities and in mid-2020 disappeared from a prison in the Syrian town of Afrin when Tajikistan was working on his extradition to Dushanbe.

Tajik authorities, who took Saidrahmonov into custody in September 2022, consider him to be "one of the most dangerous recruiters of Islamic State."

Dushanbe estimates that about 2,000 Tajik citizens joined IS in Iraq and Syria in 2013-15. Hundreds of them were killed in clashes in the Middle East. Some of those who returned to Tajikistan were either sentenced to lengthy prison terms or received amnesty.

International rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) says reports of a detainee death in custody are a chance for Iran's recently inaugurated President Masud Pezeshkian to demonstrate a commitment to holding security forces to account for alleged abuses. In an e-mailed statement, HRW noted Pezeshkian's instructions to Iran's interior minister to establish an investigation into Mohammad Mirmusavi's death in late August after he was picked up in connection with a street brawl in Lahijan and allegedly tortured. "Mirmusavi's reported death under torture poses a critical choice for President Pezeshkian of whether to continue to allow gross impunity for security forces or to actually credibly investigate and hold any perpetrators accountable," HRW said. Pezeshkian won the election in July after running as a reformer and was sworn in on July 30 to replace hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi, who died along with Iran's foreign minister in a helicopter crash near the border with Azerbaijan in May.