Miroslava Reginskaya, the wife of imprisoned Russian nationalist Igor Girkin (aka Strelkov), has rejected reports saying her husband was released and allowed to join the Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.

Reginskaya wrote on Telegram on September 11 that Girkin's request to be sent to fight in Ukraine had been rejected twice.

She cited a letter from her husband saying that in the rejection letters, officials wrote that "we do not need colonels."

Girkin was sentenced to four years in prison in January on a charge of making public calls for extremist activities.

In April, Reginskaya and Girkin's lawyers said the former leader of Kremlin-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine had received written consent from a Russian military unit that it would make him a commander of one of its platoons, adding that Girkin planned to join Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.

Russian law does not allow those convicted of extremism to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry, but several reports in recent weeks said Girkin might have been recruited from prison to the war in Ukraine.

The 53-year-old was arrested in July 2023 after strongly criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin online for his handling of the Ukraine invasion. He accused the Kremlin leader of "cowardly mediocrity" and described him as a "nonentity."

He also called out then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for making "mistakes" in the invasion and accused him and Putin of "incompetence."

Girkin last year even called on Putin to transfer power to "someone truly capable and responsible."

A former officer of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), Girkin has also argued for a total military mobilization to ensure Russian victory in the war.

Girkin was a key commander of the separatists in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region in 2014 and helped Russia occupy Ukraine's Crimea that year.

In November 2022, a court in the Netherlands sentenced Girkin and two other defendants to life in prison in absentia in the case of the 2014 shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine. All 298 people onboard died in the attack.

In February, international investigators said there were "strong indications" that Putin was personally involved in the incident.

The Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was blown out of the sky on July 17, 2014, over territory held by the separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The victims came from more than a dozen countries, although more than two-thirds were Dutch.

Russia has denied any involvement in the downing of the plane.

Iran's new president, Masud Pezeshkian, kicked off a three-day visit to neighboring Iraq on September 11 on what is his first foreign trip since taking office in late July.

Expanding relations with neighbors is Iran’s state policy, and Pezeshkian has vowed to deliver.

Pezeshkian, who speaks fluent Kurdish, will also make history by becoming the first Iranian president to visit Iraqi Kurdistan.

While the government in Tehran has had good relations with the authorities in Irbil, ties have often been tested over the semiautonomous Iraqi region's hosting of outlawed opposition Iranian Kurdish groups.

Baghdad and Irbil recently started implementing a security agreement signed last year with Tehran to move the groups away from the border with Iran and disarm them.

"It was a very good opportunity to visit the friend and brother country of Iraq in my first foreign trip as the president of Iran," Pezeshkian said in Baghdad.

"We need to implement security cooperation agreements between the two countries in order to deal with terrorists and enemies," he added.

The neighbors have strong economic relations, and Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani told reporters during a joint news conference with Pezeshkian that the two countries signed 14 memorandums of understanding to boost relations.

Pezeshkian will also visit Basra, Iraq's economic hub, which Iran hopes to link to the town of Shalamcheh just across the border via rail as part of a larger railway project connecting Iran to Syria.

Pezeshkian and Sudani also discussed the war in Gaza, with the latter telling reporters at a joint press conference that both leaders opposed any expansion of the war between Israel and Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union.

With reporting by AFP and AP

A Russian military court on September 11 sentenced former Russian opposition lawmaker Ilya Ponomaryov, who opposed the Kremlin's war in Ukraine, to 10 years in prison on charges of justifying terrorism and spreading false information about Russia's military. The 48-year-old Ponomaryov was the only deputy in the State Duma to vote against Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. He fled Russia for the United States in 2014 and later moved to Kyiv, where he has lived since obtaining citizenship. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

Kosovar authorities have indicted 45 people over their alleged roles in an attack last year by ethnic Serbs that left one police officer dead in the village of Banjska.

Prosecutor Naim Abazi said on September 11 that among those indicted is Milan Radoicic, the fugitive former vice president of the Serbian List party accused of leading and organizing the September 2023 attack. He is believed to be in Serbia.

The names of the others indicted in the case have not been released.

SEE ALSO:

Extradition To Kosovo Of Monastery Attack Suspect 'Impossible,' Serbian FM Says

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

Abazi thanked the United States and the European Union for cooperating with Kosovar authorities, which he said helped bring strong indictments against the 45 individuals.

"Given that the Republic of Kosovo unfortunately did not have laboratories available to examine most of this evidence and required international legal assistance from various countries, it can be said that this indictment was filed in an extremely short time frame," Ehat Miftaraj, executive director of the nongovernmental Kosovo Law Institute, told RFE/RL.

Miftaraj added that details on the indictment are still needed "to know whether the indictment also addresses acts related to state aggression against the Republic of Kosovo, or if it is solely about a well-organized criminal group led by Radoicic that carried out the actions specified in the indictment."

During the attack, around 30 ethnic Serb gunmen ambushed a police patrol in Banjska, a village near the border with Serbia, killing Sergeant Afrim Bunjaku, an ethnic Albanian Kosovar police officer.

SEE ALSO:

Who Was Behind The Deadly Attack At The Orthodox Monastery In Kosovo?

The attackers then made a stand in an Orthodox monastery and exchanged fire with Kosovar forces. Three gunmen were ultimately killed.

Radoicic, who claimed the attack, stepped down from his position in the Serbian List party days after the incident.

The attack came months after talks backed by Washington and Brussels between Kosovo and Serbia collapsed, and relations between the bitter neighbors and rivals have only deteriorated further.

Belgrade and its ally Russia still refuse to recognize Kosovo's sovereignty since a 2008 declaration of independence that followed a decade of UN administration after a bloody ethnically fueled war.

A court in the Belarusian city of Brest on September 11 began the trial of seven men charged with "taking part in mass unrest" for their participation in rallies in 2020 over the official results of the presidential poll that pronounced authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka as the winner. Syarhey Filimonau, Ihar Varanovich, Alyaksandr Shtyk, Uladzislau Piskunovich, Vital Hira, Yauhen Melnichuk, and Dzmitry Posnikau face up to eight years in prison each if found guilty. Thousands have been detained over the protests against the election results, and rights groups have documented cases of torture and ill-treatment by security forces. Several people died during the crackdown. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, click here.

Asanali Suieubaev, a founding member of the unregistered Algha, Qazaqstan (Forward, Kazakhstan) political party, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on September 10 on a charge of distributing illegal drugs that he rejects as politically motivated. Suieubaev's lawyer, Meiirzhan Dosqaraev, told RFE/RL on September 11 that the case against his client had been "trumped up" after he publicly accused former President Nursultan Nazarbaev of corruption in November 2023. Also in November, the chairman of Algha, Qazaqstan, Marat Zhylanbaev, was sentenced to seven years in prison on extremism charges that he also rejected as politically motivated. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.

A court in Russia's southwestern region of Volgograd on September 11 sentenced a former Wagner mercenary group fighter to eight years in prison for beating his wife to death. Sergei Neverov was serving a prison term he was handed in 2019 for robbery and a series of thefts when he was recruited by Wagner to fight in Ukraine in 2022. He was pardoned after he returned from the war in March 2023. The number of crimes in Russia committed by former Wagner recruits and other ex-military personnel has been on the rise since early 2023 as soldiers returned from duty. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Caucasus.Realities, click here.

At least three people were killed in separate incidents in the Bajaur district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, the local police force has confirmed to RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal. Unidentified gunmen killed a police officer and a health worker after shooting at a group carrying out polio vaccinations before fleeing the scene. Earlier, a soldier was killed while sweeping for land mines near the village of Niman Khan. There has been a rise in armed attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the past two years and protests have been held to demand the authorities take action. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, click here.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A group of Kazakh activists has announced the creation of "a platform" to oppose a government plan for the construction of a nuclear power plant as a nationwide referendum on the issue next month nears.

Environmentalists Qaisha Atakhanova, Gulsim Kakimzhanova, and Vadim Ni, energy expert Aset Nauryzbaev, and political analyst Asel Iztaeva told journalists in the Central Asian country's largest city, Almaty, on September 10 that they had created a group called There is No Need for NNP.

The activists said the goal of their group is to show what they called the opinion of the majority in Kazakhstan, who are openly against the plant's construction.

They also stressed that if a plant is constructed in partnership with a foreign country -- four companies are currently on the shortlist -- Kazakhstan could lose some of its sovereignty.

"All companies that may be involved in the project are foreign state companies. There are no private companies among them, and the money will be allocated by the corresponding governments," Ni said.

"And it will not be us who will choose one of them. Other nations have been invited. Because of that, I would say, it is not just a political issue, it is about geopolitics.... This is the nature of nuclear energy issues. It is tied to powerful nations."

Talks of building a nuclear power station in Kazakhstan have been circulating for years, leading to questions regarding what countries would be involved in the project.

China's CNNC, South Korea's KHNP, France's EDF, and Russia's Rosatom have been named in media reports as possible constructors of a nuclear power plant.

Kazakh officials have avoided commenting directly, saying the decision would be made after the October 6 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.

Also on September 10, a court in Almaty fined activist Abzal Dostiyarov for a YouTube clip questioning the plan for a nationwide referendum on the plant's construction.

Dostiyarov was found guilty of violating the law on holding public polls and ordered to pay a 55,350-tenge ($115) fine.

Dostiyarov insisted he is innocent, saying the video clip in question from a week earlier was not a poll.

Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev last week announced plans for a nationwide referendum on October 6 to gauge public support for the construction of a nuclear power plant.

Many Kazakhs 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 such a project have been prevented from attending public debates on the matter.

Nuclear power-related projects have been a controversial issue in Kazakhstan, where the environment was severely impacted by operations at the Soviet-era Semipalatinsk nuclear test site from 1949 to 1991, and the Baikonur spaceport, which is still operated by Moscow.

Bashkir activist Zagir Mukhamedyarov has fled Russia and entered the United States via Mexico fearing arrest. The 27-year-old activist told RFE/RL on September 10 via a video link from an immigration center in the state of Louisiana, where he awaits a court decision regarding his application for political asylum, that he had to leave Russia amid a wave of arrests of Bashkir campaigners who had taken part in mass rallies protesting the imprisonment of noted Bashkir activist Fail Alsynov in mid-January. Mukhamedyarov was among the protesters. Several participants in the rallies have been handed lengthy prison terms on charges of mass unrest and assaulting police officers. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Idel.Realities, click here.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his British counterpart, David Lammy, have arrived in Kyiv to meet with senior Ukrainian officials in a show of support in the face of Russia’s aggression.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

The two arrived by train from Poland on September 11 as Ukraine pushes its Western allies to drop restrictions that are keeping it from using long-range weaponry deep inside Russia.

"I think it’s a critical moment for Ukraine in the midst of what is an intense fall fighting season with Russia continuing to escalate its aggression," Blinken told reporters in London on September 10 before he headed east.

For months, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been urging Western nations to lift the restrictions, telling military and defense leaders they should not restrain his country’s ability to battle the Kremlin’s forces.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on September 10 that his administration is "working out" a way to lift the restrictions, though he gave no specifics.

"Together we’re working to make sure that Ukraine can defend its territory against the ongoing aggression, that it will be able to stand strongly on its own two feet militarily, economically, democratically, and that it will remain on the path that the Ukrainian people so desire it to be on of closer integration with Europe, with transatlantic institutions," Blinken said before the trip.

"Ukraine is clearly on that path. Together we’re going to continue to help it move along that path."

Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 20 Shahed-type suicide drones launched by Russia in the early hours of September 11, according to the Ukrainian armed forces.

The military said Russia fired 25 Shahed drones, an Iskander ballistic missile, two S-300 antiaircraft guided missiles and six Kh-31p anti-radar missiles overnight.

The projectiles targeted the Kyiv, Kherson, Cherkasy, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk and Poltava regions. No reports of casualties or damage were immediately available.

"We see it [Russia] ramping up its attacks on cities, on people, in particular targeting the energy infrastructure – electricity – all in advance of the coldest months -- [This is President Vladimir] Putin’s winter playbook of weaponizing energy and electricity," Blinken added.

A freight train derailed in Russia’s Belgorod region, near the border with Ukraine, due to what the rail operator said was an “interference in operations.” The derailment happened late on September 10, the authorities said in a statement the next day. The Russian government-linked Baza Telegram channel alleged that the cause of the derailment was an explosion on the tracks. About 10 empty carriages and a locomotive went off the tracks but there were no casualties, Baza reported. The read the full story by Current Time, click here.

Iran has vowed to deliver a “symmetric and proportionate” response after Britain, France, and Germany canceled air services agreements with Tehran and pledged to sanction its flag carrier, Iran Air.

The European trio, known as the E3, said in a joint statement on September 10 that they were taking the measures after confirming that Iran had transferred ballistic missiles to Russia.

Separately, the United States designated 10 individuals and six entities based in Iran and Russia, including Iran Air, over the alleged delivery of the ballistic missiles.

In a statement late on September 10, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani called the allegation “completely baseless and false.”

“The actions of these three European countries is a continuation of the West’s hostile policy and imposition of economic terrorism against the people of Iran,” he said in a statement on Telegram.

“It will face a symmetrical and proportionate response.”

In their statement, the E3 said the suspected delivery of ballistic missiles “is a further escalation of Iran’s military support to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and will see Iranian missiles reaching European soil, increasing the suffering of the Ukrainian people.”

SEE ALSO:

Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine

Iran has been hit with several tranches of sanctions since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 over Moscow's use of Iranian-made Shahed and Mohajer drones in the war.

Iran still denies that its drones are being used in the war and insists it is not taking sides in the conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his British counterpart, David Lammy, officially accused Iran of the missile transfers earlier on September 10 in London.

"Russia has now received shipments of these [Iranian] ballistic missiles and will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine against Ukrainians," Blinken said.

The Kremlin has yet to comment on Blinken's statement.

A day earlier it declined to directly refute the accusation about Iranian-supplied missiles and instead highlighted its cooperation with Tehran, saying it was developing dialogue in all areas.

Tehran has denied supplying missiles to Moscow.

Experts agree that short-range ballistic missiles could be a boost to Moscow's war effort in neighboring Ukraine, which already benefits from Iranian drone supplies and technology.

SEE ALSO:

How Would Iran Benefit From Exporting Ballistic Missiles To Russia?

Peter Stano, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, said the transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia represents a further military escalation and will be met with a "strong response" from the European Union.

The EU's diplomatic service has already presented the bloc's members with "a substantial set of decisive and targeted measures" against Iran in response to the transfer, Stano said.

Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff, said on September 10 that new sanctions against Iran over the missile deliveries would be a "positive step" but said it was not enough.

"We also need authorization to use Western weapons against military targets on Russian territory, the provision of longer-range missiles, and the enhancement of our air-defense systems," Yermak said on X.

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump exchanged barbs over the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza in their first and likely only debate ahead of the November 5 election.

The debate got under way with a surprise handshake between the two opponents, who had never met before. Harris approached Trump at his lectern, introducing herself by name, in what was the first handshake at a presidential debate since 2016.

But then a fiery debate ensued.

Harris accused Trump of being willing to abandon U.S. support for Ukraine to curry favor with Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling Trump a "disgrace," while Trump claimed Harris "hates" Israel -- an assertion she rejected.

Neither offered specifics on how they would seek to end each conflict, but Trump insisted that he would end the Ukraine war even before taking office if elected.

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However, such a move conflicts with the doctrine historically in place that lays out that there is only one president at a time and that foreign policy decisions are reserved for the sitting president and not the president-elect. Any moves to negotiate an agreement between Putin and Zelenskiy is also a likely violation of the Logan Act, a 19th-century law that bars private citizens from conducting foreign policy.

“I want to get the war [in Ukraine] settled. I will get it settled even before I become president,” Trump said. “I want the war to stop. I want to save lives."

But Harris charged that the reason Trump would be able to end the conflict quickly “is because he would just give it up.”

The Democratic vice president said Washington’s European and NATO allies were “thankful” that Trump was not in office and talked up the “importance of the greatest military the world has known, which is NATO.”

Trump twice refused to say he believed it was in the United State’s interest for Ukraine, which bipartisan majorities in Congress have backed, to win the war.

SEE ALSO:

Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine

The candidates also clashed on domestic policy, taking each other to task on key issues including the economy, immigration, and abortion.

Harris promised tax cuts aimed at the middle class and said she would push to restore a federally guaranteed right to abortion overturned by the Supreme Court two years ago. Trump said his proposed tariffs would help the United States stop being cheated by allies on trade.

The vice president attacked Trump's intention to impose high tariffs on foreign goods - a proposal she has likened to a sales tax on the middle class -- while touting her plan to offer tax benefits to families and small businesses.

Trump criticized Harris for the persistent inflation under President Joe Biden, though he overstated the level of price increases. Inflation, he said, "has been a disaster for people, for the middle class, for every class."

With reporting by AP and Reuters

U.S. President Joe Biden said on September 10 that his administration is "working out" a way to lift restrictions on Ukraine's use of long range weapons in its war against Russia. Biden responded that his administration is "working that out now" when asked if the United States would make the change. The United States has been reluctant to allow the use of weapons that it has supplied to strike targets deep inside in Russia over concern that it would escalate the conflict. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week urged Western nations to lift the restrictions, telling military and defense leaders gathered in Germany they should not restrain his country’s ability to battle the Kremlin’s forces. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said lifting the restriction would not be a game-changer in the war.

Members of several of Russia's ethnic groups held a demonstration on September 10 in Warsaw to remember ethnic Udmurt scholar and activist Albert Razin on the anniversary of his death by self-immolation in 2019.

Participants, including representatives of Tatarstan, Buryatia, Yakutia, and Circassia, held posters made by political refugee Nafis Kashapov, who refers to himself as a representative of "the government of Tatarstan in exile."

"Only after the collapse of Russia can peoples speak their native language," read one of the posters. The slogan was written in Russian, English, and Tatar.

Razin died after he lit himself on fire on September 10, 2019, outside the regional parliament in Izhevsk, capital of the Volga region of Udmurtia.

He was holding a placard reading: "If my language disappears tomorrow, I'm ready to breath my last today."

SEE ALSO:

Man Dies After Self-Immolation Protest Over Language Policies In Russia's Udmurtia

At the time of his death he was an associate professor, an honored scholar of Udmurtia, and an active participant in the national movement Udmurt Kenesh.

Razin, 79, was among a group of local experts who signed an open letter in June 2018 calling on the Udmurt parliament not to support a bill that canceled the mandatory teaching of indigenous languages in regions and republics where non-Russian ethnic groups are well-represented.

Officials insisted the change was not aimed at destroying linguistic diversity but would help save some languages from extinction by speeding up the process for approving orthography norms.

But activists considered it an existential threat to their cultures.

The demonstrators in Warsaw aimed to draw attention to the controversial language policy, which banned students from taking final exams in any language other than Russian.

In 2019, a commissioner with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe assessed that the opportunities for Tatars in Tatarstan to access the study of their language and culture remain quite limited despite Tatar also being an official language of Tatarstan. The commissioner told RFE/RL at the time that he was surprised that the Unified State Exam in Tatarstan was only offered in Russian.

Against this backdrop, a provision enshrined in 2020 in the Russian Constitution made Russian the language of the "state-forming people" of Russia. This amendment, proposed by President Vladimir Putin, was seen by experts and activists as reinforcement of the dominant position of both the Russian language and Russian identity.

SEE ALSO:

Russia's State Duma OKs Controversial Bill Allowing Government To Standardize Indigenous Languages

A member of the Belarusian opposition who took part in the demonstration in Warsaw told RFE/RL that Razin's suicide was a protest against Russian "imperialism."

"People learned about the tragedy that the Udmurt people and all other peoples who have the misfortune of being under the rule of imperial Moscow are experiencing," said Vyachaslau Siuchyk of the Belarusian opposition movement Together.

"That is why I considered it my duty to come to the action announced by the League of Free Nations. Moscow has long ago severed all ties between peoples who should unite," he said. "There should be no place for this evil empire in human civilization."

Kashapov said the Tatars, Bashkirs, Chuvashes and other non-Russian people inhabiting Russia are in the same tragic situation as the Udmurt people with respect to language.

"Russia is destroying their languages and culture. But the collapse of the Putin regime is inevitable. Streets, institutes, educational institutions will be named after Albert Razin," Kashapov predicted.

Ibragim Yaganov, a representative of the Circassian National Movement, told RFE/RL that language is "the storehouse" of any nation.

"When a nation loses its language…[it] loses its identity, he said.

Raisa Zubareva, an activist for the independence of Sakha in Yakutia, said she understood Razin's actions and how much he realized the full depth of the tragedy while at the same time feeling hopeless and great pain for the Udmurt people.

"Now we understand that only dismantling, only disintegration, and only independence will save our nations from this monster that swallows nations whole," she said.

Based on data from the Education Ministry, from 2016 to 2023, the proportion of schoolchildren who learn entirely in their native languages fell from 1.98 percent to 0.96 percent.

At the same time, the number of pupils who learn entirely in their native languages fell from 292,000 to 173,500, although the number of children in schools increased by 3.2 million over those seven years.

TBILISI -- The ruling Georgian Dream party on September 10 selected Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire and former prime minister, as its lead candidate for a parliamentary election on October 26.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, a close Ivanishvili ally, was designated the party's No. 2 candidate while Irakli Gharibashvili, chairman of the party and former prime minister, is third.

The list's top 10 also includes other party leaders, including party chairman Irakli Gharibashvili, who previously served as prime minister, and Olympic athletes Lasha Talakhadze, a weightlifter, and Geno Petriashvili, a freestyle wrestler.

Ivanishvili, who served as prime minister from 2012-2013, has been honorary chairman of the Georgian Dream party since December. He has played a major role in a political crisis surrounding Georgia's law on "foreign agents," which was pushed through by the government earlier this year despite large-scale protests.

In a speech in April, Ivanishvili lashed out against the West, saying the foreign agent law was necessary to defend Georgian sovereignty against attempts by a "global war party" to drag Georgia into confrontation with Russia.

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Defying Controversial 'Foreign-Agent' Law, Georgian NGOs Are Ready To Fight

The United States and other Western nations expressed concern about the law, which requires organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as "agents of foreign influence."

Tens of thousands of Georgians demonstrated against the bill despite a brutal crackdown and violent retaliation. Most protesters referred to the bill as "the Russian law" because of its similarity to decade-old legislation in Russia that has contributed to a fierce clampdown on independent media and public dissent there.

The European Union reacted to the enactment of the bill by pausing EU accession negotiations, while the United States opted to launch a "comprehensive review" of relations with Georgia.

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili last month signed a decree announcing October 26 as the day for the parliamentary polls, calling the elections a choice between "being Russia's slave or cooperation with Europe."

Polls show that Georgian Dream remains the country's single most popular party ahead of the October election.

The Russian Investigative Committee said on September 10 that a court in the Perm region sentenced a man to 12 years for committing numerous violent crimes against his wife, including rape, robbery, and axing off her right hand. The man, whose identity was not disclosed, was found guilty of inflicting serious bodily harm for axing off her hand. A similar high-profile crime near Moscow in 2017 shocked Russians after a man axed off both his wife's hands. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Russia has been criticized for adopting a law in 2017 that decriminalized some forms of domestic violence, one of the country's most challenging decades-long problems. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Idel.Realities, click here.

The Tajik Embassy in Moscow on September 10 warned citizens against traveling to Russia for the time being, citing beefed-up security measures and increased document checks by Russian border guards. Last week, the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry put out a similar statement to its citizens citing the same reasons. 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 Tajik Service, click here.

The Minsk City Court on September 10 started the trial of Belarusian historian Ihar Melnikau on a charge of facilitating extremist activities. It is unclear what the charge stems from. The 44-year-old historian was arrested in January. If convicted, Melnikau would face up to seven years in prison. Former Belarusian presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich told RFE/RL that Melnikau's case appears to be connected to his work on historical ties between Belarus and Poland contradicting the stance of pro-Moscow historians and the concept formed during the Soviet era and promoted by authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka's government. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, click here.

Foreign nationals serving terms in Russian prisons have been asked to write requests to serve the remainder of their terms in their homeland following two recent hostage-taking crises at Russian penitentiaries, IStories said on September 10.

The news website cited rights defender Ivan Astashin and a source close to correctional colony No. 17 in Russia's Mordovia region as saying foreign nationals have been advised to officially request a transfer to their home country as prison administrators seek to avoid dramatic hostage-taking events similar to those in Rostov-on-Don and correctional colony No. 19 in the Volgograd region.

According to the sources one Belarusian, three Kyrgyz, one Polish, and two U.S. citizens who are serving terms on different charges at the penal colony in Mordovia are currently awaiting transfers to their homelands.

Also, a Ukrainian citizen serving a term at correctional colony No. 8 in the Russian region of Voronezh told Astashin he had been approached by a penitentiary official who recommended he request a transfer to Ukraine. The man has been in jail in Russia since before Russia launched its ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov told IStories that the transfers would most likely be made as deportations and not as extraditions as those would require special requests from other countries.

In late August, several inmates from Central Asia at correctional colony No.19 in the southwestern region of Volgograd took guards hostage, killing four of them. Officials said at the time that all the hostage-takers were liquidated.

The violence took place after six inmates at a detention center in the city of Rostov-on-Don took two guards hostage in June. Several hours later, Russian officials said the hostages were released and the hostage-takers killed.

In both cases, the hostage-takers claimed they were members of the Islamic State extremist group.

A court in Uzbekistan's southeastern city of Samarkand on September 10 sentenced local blogger Bahodur Hasanov to 10 days in jail on charges of hooliganism and insulting a person. Hasanov's father told RFE/RL that the court also ordered Hasanov to pay a fine of 2,500 soms (about $200). Hasanov rejects the charges. His relatives say the case against him is retaliation by local officials for his reports about social and economic challenges faced by local residents and corruption among the authorities. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Tajik Service, click here.

Nine Pakistan MPs from jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan's party were among more than 30 people remanded in custody on September 10 under a new law restricting protests. It comes two days after thousands of supporters of Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf (PTI) party gathered in the capital, Islamabad, on September 8 for a rally that was broken up with tear gas. The party has faced a sweeping crackdown since Khan was jailed in August 2023 on a series of charges that he says are politically motivated and designed to keep him from power. The MPs appeared at an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad where a judge remanded them in custody for eight days, AFP reported. They are accused of violating the recently passed Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act 2024, according to a charge sheet seen by AFP in court.

The United States on September 10 issued new sanctions on Iran in response to Tehran's military support to Russia, including the alleged recent delivery of ballistic missiles, for use in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The U.S. Treasury Department designated 10 individuals and six entities based in Iran and Russia for sanctions and identified four vessels as blocked property that the Treasury Department said are enabling Iran’s delivery of weapons components and weapons systems to Russia. The weapons that the United States said were transferred include drones and close-range ballistic missiles (CRBMs).

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"In late 2023, Iran and Russia signed a contract for the supply of hundreds of missiles. In the summer of 2024, Russian military personnel were trained on the use of Iran’s Project 360 CBRMs by Iranian personnel," the Treasury Department said in a statement, adding that Russia received the first shipment of CBRMs from Iran earlier this month.

The announcement came after the United States and key European allies accused Iran of a dangerous escalation in a pattern of malign activity that threatens European security by supplying the short-range ballistic missiles to Russia.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his British counterpart, David Lammy, officially accused Iran of the missile transfers earlier on September 10 in London.

"Russia has now received shipments of these [Iranian] ballistic missiles and will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine against Ukrainians," Blinken said.

The Kremlin has yet to comment on Blinken's statement. A day earlier it declined to directly refute the accusation about Iranian-supplied missiles and instead highlighted its cooperation with Tehran, saying it was developing dialogue in all areas. Tehran has denied supplying missiles to Moscow.

After Blinken and Lammy's statements, the German Foreign Ministry called out Iran for its support of Russia's "war of aggression," noting that Iranian missiles could as a result be striking European soil.

It shared a joint German, French, and British statement condemning the transfers, calling them "an escalation by both Iran and Russia" and "a direct threat to European security."

Experts agree that short-range ballistic missiles could be a boost to Moscow's war effort in neighboring Ukraine, which already benefits from Iranian drone supplies and technology.

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The U.S. Treasury Department's statement said Iran Air -- the country's flagship airline -- was one of the entities designated for sanctions. It said its actions against the airline and other entities, individuals, and vessels were "concurrent" with actions announced by international partners.

"Iran Air has a history of transporting goods on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics," the department said. "Iran has also provided freight shipping services to Russia, including shipments of electronics and aircraft parts."

Iran-based Azadegan Transportation Co., another IRGC-affiliated company critical to the logistics operations of the IRGC, is another of the entities hit by U.S. sanctions, which freeze any assets the individuals and entities hold in U.S. jurisdiction and bar any transactions with U.S. persons.

Peter Stano, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, said the transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia represents a further military escalation and will be met with a "strong response" from the European Union.

The EU's diplomatic service has already presented EU members with "a substantial set of decisive and targeted measures" against Iran in response to the transfer, Stano said.

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How Would Iran Benefit From Exporting Ballistic Missiles To Russia?

"A delivery of ballistic missiles will likely assist Russia's escalatory bombing campaign against Ukrainian civilians, cities and civilian infrastructure, further increasing civilian casualties and destruction," Stano said.

Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff, said new sanctions against Iran over the missile deliveries would be a "positive step" but said it was not enough.

"We also need authorization to use Western weapons against military targets on Russian territory, the provision of longer-range missiles, and the enhancement of our air-defense systems," Yermak said on X.

The Wall Street Journal and other U.S. media have quoted anonymous sources asserting that the Iranian missiles have come at a crucial juncture in the 36-month-old full-scale invasion.

Support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia's invasion is one of the main agenda items during Blinken's London visit, which was to include a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Reiterating ongoing U.S. and U.K. support for Kyiv, Blinken and Lammy announced their plans to travel this week to Ukraine in what Lammy called "the first joint visit of this kind for well over a decade."

"This is a troubling action that we're seeing from Iran," Lammy said. "It is definitely a significant escalation and we are coordinating."

The Blinken-Lammy meeting came with the secretary of Iran's Security Council, Ali Akbar Ahmadian, in Russia for a meeting later this week of security officials from countries in the BRICS grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and other major emerging economies.

Lammy said the United States and the United Kingdom are "completely aligned on the need to tackle Iran's malign activity in the region and beyond."

"We're seeing a disturbing pattern of greater Iranian support for the Kremlin's illegal group, and we discussed today our shared commitment to holding Tehran to account for their undermining of global stability," Lammy said.

Blinken said the alleged Iranian supply of short-range ballistic missiles gives Russia added capability and flexibility, and would free up Moscow to devote other resources to longer-range targets in the ongoing war on Ukraine.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP

Hungary's government on September 10 welcomed a deal reached by energy company MOL aimed at guaranteeing the supply of Russian oil through Ukraine after Kyiv restricted transit. In July, Hungary and Slovakia accused Kyiv of endangering their energy security by barring Russian energy giant LUKoil from using the Ukrainian section of the Druzhba pipeline. But MOL announced on September 9 that it had reached a "sustainable solution" securing the transportation of oil to the two countries by concluding agreements with suppliers and pipeline operators. As part of the deal, MOL said it would "take over ownership of the affected volumes of crude oil at the Belarus-Ukraine border" from September 9. It added that the updated arrangements complies with EU sanctions.