Some of the most compelling photographs from RFE/RL's broadcast region and beyond for the 12th week of 2017. For more photo galleries, see our Picture This archive.
Photos Of The Week #12
1
An opposition supporter blocks a police van transporting detained anticorruption campaigner and opposition figure Aleksei Navalny during a rally in Moscow on March 26. (Reuters/Maksim Shemetov)
2
A Ukrainian forensics expert retrieves a gun at the scene where former Russian Duma Deputy Denis Voronenkov, whose body can be seen on the sidewalk behind, was shot dead in the center of Kyiv on March 23. (AFP/Sergei Supinsky)
3
Policemen restrain Maria Maksakova, the wife of former Russian lawmaker Denis Voronenkov, as she reacts near his body in the center of Kyiv on March 23. Voronenkov was gunned down in broad daylight. The attacker was shot in the ensuing gunbattle with Voronenkov's lone bodyguard and apprehended by police on the street nearby. He later died in hospital, officials said, but there was initially no word of his identity. (AFP/Sergei Supinsky)
4
Civilians flee the city of Mosul as Iraqi forces advance in their massive operation to retake Iraq's second city from Islamic State extremists. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)
5
A woman walks by graffiti in Moscow depicting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov by Russian artist Daniil Sudnev. Sudnev created the graffiti to mark Lavrov's 67th birthday. (epa/Yuri Kochetkov)
6
Displaced Iraqis who had fled their homes wait to enter the Hammam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq. (Reuters/Suhaib Salem)
7
A Kosovo dervish pierces his neck with a needle during a ceremony in Prizren during Norouz celebrations. The Kosovo dervish community carries on such centuries-old mystical practices as a way to earn salvation and find the path to God. Norouz is an ancient Persian festival marking the first day of spring. (AFP/Armend Nimani)
8
A woman lies injured after a terrorist attacks on Westminster Bridge in London on March 22. British authorities say a lone assailant fatally stabbed a police officer after ramming a car into pedestrians on the bridge, leaving two others dead and 40 injured. (Reuters/Toby Melville)
9
Kashmiri Muslim girls leave home to collect water in the Harinara Pattan area of Baramulla, some 22 kilometers north of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir. Some of the girls skip school to collect drinking water for their families. World Water Day is marked each year on March 22 as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. (epa/Farooq Khan)
10
A boy plays on a sculpture of a duck and ducklings with Moscow's Novodevichy Convent seen in the background. (AFP/Yuri Kadobnov)
11
Smoke rises over a warehouse storing tank ammunition at a military base in the town of Balaklia in the Kharkiv region. The munitions depot was rocked by a series of explosions that authorities blamed on "sabotage," prompting the evacuation of thousands of people living nearby. (Reuters)
12
A man carries sunglasses for sale during Afghan Norouz celebrations in Kabul. (Reuters/Mohammad Ismail)
13
An opposition fighter from the Failaq al-Rahman brigade fires a heavy machine gun in Jobar, a rebel-held district on the eastern outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus. (AFP/Amer Almohibany)
14
A truck driver offers afternoon prayers near his supply truck after the opening of the Torkham border crossing to Afghanistan in Landi Kotal, Pakistan. Pakistan ordered the two main border crossings with Afghanistan to be reopened on March 20, calling it a "goodwill gesture." The border closures on February 16 had left hundreds of thousands of people stranded at the two major crossings of Torkham and Chaman. (Reuters/Fayaz Aziz)
15
A Kyrgyz woman dressed in national costume carries a freshly cooked traditional Norouz dish as she takes part in event during preparations for the celebration of the spring festival in Bishkek. (epa/Igor Kovalenko)
16
Rebel fighters and their families who had evacuated the besieged Waer district in the central Syrian city of Homs arrive on the southern outskirts of the Syrian city of Al-Bab. (Reuters/Khalil Ashawi)
17
Pakistanis take bath a day ahead of World Water Day 2017, in Karachi on March 21. (epa Shahzaib Akber)
18
A Kurdish woman dances in front of a fire as Turkish Kurds gather for Norouz celebrations for the new year in Diyarbakir. (AFP/Bulent Kilic)
19
Iraqi Kurds holding lit torches walk up a mountain in the town of Akra, 500 kilometers north of Baghdad, as they celebrate the Norouz spring festival. (AFP/Safin Hamed)
20
An Afghan vendor sells cotton candy in Kabul during Norouz festivities as devotees mark the Afghan New Year on March 21. (AFP/Shah Marai)
21
Participants wearing traditional costumes dance as they celebrate the national rite Gukanne Vyasny (Spring Welcoming) near the village of Aziarco in the Minsk region. (epa/Tatyana Zenkovich)
22
An Afghan man sells national flags ahead of the Persian New Year, known as Norouz, in Kandahar on March 20. (epa/Muhammad Sadiq)
23
Civilians and rescue workers carry children at a damaged site following an air strike on the rebel-held city of Idlib in Syria. (Reuters/Ammar Abdullah)
24
Martin Schulz reacts after he was elected the new leader of Germany's Social Democratic Party in Berlin on March 19. (Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch)