Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 8 signed into law a bill allowing any foreign entity, including those established by state organs of third countries, to be declared "undesirable." The law does not affect international intergovernmental organizations of which Russia is a member or organizations incorporated into the government structures of foreign countries. In June, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia violated the European Convention on Human Rights when it labeled several foreign organizations operating in Russia, including RFE/RL, as "undesirable." To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, says her late husband should have been among those released from Russian jails and prisons last week in a major prisoner swap between Moscow and the West.

In a video statement released on YouTube on August 8, Navalnaya said she and Navalny's associates had said shortly after Navalny's death that a prisoner swap involving her husband was in the final stages before he died in a remote Arctic prison in February.

"My husband, Aleksei Navalny, should also have been aboard the plane that first flew in to Ankara and then to Cologne. We said about that half a year ago, right after he was murdered in the correctional colony in Kharp. It was he who was supposed to be exchanged for FSB killer [Vadim] Krasikov, who was serving a life term in Germany," Navalnaya said.

"Just a thought that Navalny could be out free seemed terrifying for [President Vladimir] Putin, and that is why he killed him," Navalnaya said, adding that, nevertheless, she was very happy to see many wrongfully imprisoned people released last week.

"It's been a long time since I felt such relief and happiness, but at the same time I felt bitter," Navalnaya said.

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She mentioned that many other Putin critics remain in Russian prisons, including Aleksei Gorinov; Daniel Kholodny; Navalny lawyers Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin, Antonina Favorskaya, and Aleksei Liptser; sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky; co-chairman of the Golos (Voice) movement Grigory Melkonyants; and other political prisoners.

On August 1, 16 people were released from prisons in Russia and Belarus, including three U.S. citizens -- Alsu Kurmasheva, Evan Gershkovich, and Paul Whelan -- in exchange for eight Russians, including Krasikov.

Krasikov was convicted in Germany in 2021 and sentenced to life in prison for killing a former Chechen separatist in a Berlin park two years earlier.

In March, shortly after securing a new six-year term, Putin said he agreed to swap Navalny on the condition that he not return to Russia.

Estonia's government said on August 8 that full customs controls have been introduced at the Baltic country's border with Russia, replacing random border checks. The measure was introduced with immediate effect at the road and rail border crossings in Narva, Koidula, and Luhamaa. For those crossing the border on foot, full control will mean checking each person and their luggage. For those traveling by car, both the vehicle and the items inside it will be checked. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said the move was aimed at preventing the transport and transit through Estonia of goods subjected to European Union sanctions. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

A Russian military court sentenced Ukrainian citizen Mykola Zabirko on August 8 to 6 1/2 years in a high-security prison for an alleged assassination attempt on Kostyantyn Ivashchenko, Mariupol’s former Russia-installed mayor. Zabirko was accused of attempted terrorism and illegally possessing explosives. Prosecutors alleged that Zabirko was tasked by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) with monitoring Ivashchenko and bombing his vehicle. Explosives and a grenade were reportedly found in Zabirko's possession. The attempted attack on Ivashchenko occurred in August 2022, but Ukraine has not commented on the incident. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

A Kazakh court ordered activist Baibaq Bilalov on August 8 to pay a 77,500 tenges ($162) fine over attending a rally in support of journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim who was sentenced to seven years in prison on August 2 for financing an extremist group and participating in a banned group's activities, charges he and his supporters reject as politically motivated. Bilalov was found guilty of violating regulations for attending public events. Nine other supporters of Mukhammedkarim were detained before and after his sentence was pronounced on August 2 and sentenced to jail terms of between 10 and 20 days on the same charge. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh story, click here.

Russia’s Defense Ministry has claimed that its forces have repelled Ukraine’s advance in the Sudzha and Korenevo districts in the Kursk region that borders Ukraine.

In a statement on August 8, the ministry said Russia’s Battlegroup North and border guard units had thwarted Ukrainian forces’ attempts to break through the districts.

Earlier, the ministry claimed to have downed six drones and five missiles over the Kursk region and 14 drones in the Belgorod region.

Belgorod regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov claimed that a man had died in Ukrainian shelling of Shebekino while one person was injured.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk, two civilians were killed on August 8 by Russian shelling of Kostyantynivka, regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram.

On August 7, the acting governor of Kursk, Aleksei Smirnov, declared a state of emergency on August 7 as a Ukrainian ground offensive continued that Russia says is supported by tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery.

Dmitry Medvedev, the former president who is now deputy chief of Russia's Security Council, has called for Russian troops to press deeper into Ukraine as Moscow claims to have intercepted Ukrainian drones and missiles targeting the Kursk region.

Commenting on the Ukrainian incursion in the Kursk region, Medvedev said Moscow should aim beyond securing the territories that Russia considers its own and urged further advance into Ukraine's Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Mykolayiv, and Kyiv regions.

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Russia Calls Cross-Border Incursion Into Kursk A 'Provocation' By Ukraine

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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.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier accused Kyiv of firing rockets at civilian and residential targets in the region amid reports by Russian pro-war bloggers that a number of villages have been captured by Ukrainian forces as they advance into Russian territory.

Speaking during the broadcast of a government meeting on August 7, Putin called the military operation "another large-scale provocation."

Ukrainian officials have not commented on the reported incursion into Kursk, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on August 7 said it was important to continue to destroy the enemy "just as accurately as our soldiers know how and just as effectively as it gives a result."

The more pressure on Russia, the closer peace will be, he said. "Just peace through just force. I thank everyone who ensures this."

EU spokesman Peter Stano told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that while the bloc does not comment on battlefield operations, it believes that "Ukraine has a legal right to defend itself, including striking an aggressor on its territory."

Meanwhile, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on August 7 said the White House had reached out to Ukraine to "get a little better understanding" of the situation in the Kursk region.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller confirmed on August 7 that Washington's policy on the use of U.S. weapons by Ukraine across the border or against Russian military facilities had not changed.

The actions taking place "are not a violation of our policy," Miller added.

With reporting by Reuters

DUSHANBE -- Tajikistan's First Deputy Interior Minister Abdurahmon Alamshozoda has confirmed reports by RFE/RL's Tajik Service that 27 residents of the Yazgulom community in the volatile Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) have been arrested.

Alamshozoda told journalists in Dushanbe on August 8 that the residents had been arrested on suspicion of being members of the Ansarullah Islamic group, which is banned in the Central Asian nation.

"Four more people have been added to the wanted list," Alamshozoda added.

It was the first official confirmation of the arrests.

Details of the investigation and the charges stemming from it remain unclear.

RFE/RL's Tajik Service has been reporting about the arrests of residents of Yazgulom for months, citing relatives of those arrested and sources close to law enforcement agencies in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic.

The majority of those arrested have been detained and held incommunicado for months after they were extradited from Russia earlier this year.

Residents of GBAO have been under pressure for years. A crackdown on the restive Tajik region intensified in 2022 after mass protests in May that year were violently dispersed by security forces.

Tajik authorities said at the time that 10 people were killed and 27 injured during the clashes between protesters and police.

Residents of the remote region's Rushon district have told RFE/RL that 21 bodies were found at the sites of the clashes.

Dozens of the region's residents have been jailed for lengthy terms on terrorism and extremism charges since then.

Deep tensions between the government and residents of the volatile region have simmered ever since a five-year civil war broke out shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Still, protests are rare in the tightly controlled state of 9.5 million where President Emomali Rahmon has ruled with an iron fist for nearly three decades.

The YouTube video-hosting site and app have stopped being accessible across Russia, thousands of Internet users in the country said online on August 8.

The Downdetector website registered the majority of complaints coming from Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Yekaterinburg.

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The Throttling Of YouTube: Kremlin Censorship Enters Uncharted Waters

Two weeks ago Russian lawmaker Aleksandr Khinshtein announced that in several days the speed of video uploads to YouTube in Russia will decrease by 70 percent, saying that YouTube "violates and ignores the law with impunity."

In early July, YouTube blocked the channels of several Russian singers and artists over their support of Russia's war in Ukraine.

To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

An imprisoned member of the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) has been transferred to a prison infirmary. An official of the Tajik Penitentiary Service told RFE/RL on August 8 that Zubaidulloh Roziq, 82, is being treated for heart problems. Roziq was arrested in 2015 along with 13 other members of the IRPT and later sentenced to 25 years in prison on a charge of involvement in a failed armed attempt to seize power. He and his supporters rejected this charge, saying it was politically motivated. Tajikistan outlawed the IRPT in 2015, branding it a terrorist organization, a claim the party denies. Two members of the IRPT have died in prison since January 2024. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Tajik Service, click here.

NOTE: An earlier version of this article wrongly stated that Zubaidulloh Roziq had died in prison. The text has been amended to clarify that he is still alive, but has been transferred to a prison infirmary with health issues.

Ukraine's embassy in Mexico has asked the government to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he attends the October 1 inauguration of President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum. In a statement on August 7, the embassy said Kyiv was "confident that the Mexican government would comply" with an international arrest warrant for Putin, referring to a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in March 2023 for alleged war crimes. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.

A Bishkek court on August 8 handed a seven-year prison term with a one-year suspension to Maya Alieva, who is the mother of late criminal kingpin Kamchy Kolbaev, on a charge of money laundering. Alieva's lawyer said his client will not be imprisoned at all if she does not violate her parole-like restrictions during the one-year probation period. Kolbaev, who was killed during a police operation in Bishkek in October 2023, was a leader of the so-called Brothers' Circle, a Eurasian drug-trafficking network. In 2014, the U.S. State Department offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the disruption of Kolbaev’s financial mechanisms. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

Russian prosecutors on August 8 asked for a 15-year prison sentence for Ksenia Karelina, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen who has been held in Russia since January, Russian news agencies reported.

"The prosecution has demanded 15 years in a general penitentiary," lawyer Mikhail Mushailov was quoted by Russian media as telling reporters.

Mushailov on August 7 told the media that Karelina, 33, pleaded guilty to a charge of treason.

Karelina was not included in the major prisoner swap between Russia and the West on August 1 that saw three Americans released from Russian custody.

She has been on trial in the city of Yekaterinburg over a 2022 donation to a charity supporting Ukraine.

Karelina was detained by Russia's Federal Security Service in January in Yekaterinburg, where she had traveled to meet relatives.

A resident of Los Angeles and U.S. citizen since 2021, Karelina was initially charged with hooliganism, reportedly for cursing at police officers.

Security agents, however, searched her phone and said they discovered that prior to traveling to Russia she had made a $51 donation to a U.S-based organization that provides aid and assistance to Ukraine.

The August 1 prisoner swap involving the United States, Russia, and several European countries included three high-profile U.S. citizens, as well as five German citizens jailed in Russia and Belarus and eight Russian political activists held in Russia in connection with their opposition to President Vladimir Putin.

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

But Karelina and several other Americans whom Washington has designated as unjustly imprisoned and hundreds of Russian citizens seen as political prisoners remain behind bars in Russia, prompting calls for Western governments to vigorously pursue their release as well.

"They remain in torturous conditions. They are in grave danger. We simply must not forget about them, even against the euphoric backdrop that it was possible to pull someone out," Russian opposition politician in exile Dmitry Gudkov told Current Time after the prisoner swap, which saw eight Russians -- including a convicted assassin and spies -- returned to Moscow from Western custody.

With reporting by Interfax

Iran executed 36 people on August 6-7, including 26 in a group execution in one prison, a rights group said on August 7, a day after Tehran faced international condemnation for executing an Iranian activist arrested during the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests.

The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group said 26 men, including two Afghan nationals, were executed in a group hanging in Ghezelhesar prison in Karaj outside Tehran.

IHR said that a group execution on this scale in Iran was unprecedented, with the last comparable example dating back to 2009.

Those executed had been convicted of murder as well as drug-related and rape charges, according to both IHR and the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

Human rights groups have repeatedly accused Iran of making use of the death penalty to instill fear in society in the wake of the 2022 protests that swept the country after the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.

"Without an immediate response from the international community, hundreds of individuals could become victims of the Islamic republic's killing machine in the coming months," IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said.

In addition to the 26 men executed at Ghezelhesar prison, three other men were executed in Karaj's city prison, one man was executed in Sabsevar in Khorasan Razavi Province, three were executed in Shiraz in Fars Province, and three were executed in Badar Abbas in Hormozgan Province, according to the CHRI.

“These are only the known executions; there are often additional executions that take place without public knowledge,” the organization said in a news release.

Reza Rasaei, 34, was the 10th man executed by Iran in connection with the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests that erupted in September 2022 after the death of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who was arrested for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for women.

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Iran Executes Protester After Conviction In 'Grossly Unfair' Trial

Rasaei, a member of the Kurdish ethnic minority and follower of the Yarsan faith, was convicted in connection with the death of an officer for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) during unrest in the Kurdish city of Sahneh. He denied the charges.

Amnesty International said he was executed in secret with neither his family nor his lawyer being given prior notice. It said his family was then forced to bury his body in a remote area far from his home.

"Iranian authorities have carried out the abhorrent arbitrary execution in secret of a young man who was subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in detention...and then sentenced to death after a sham trial," said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.

She said the execution was another instance of Iran using the death penalty as a "tool of political repression to instill fear among the population."

France's Foreign Ministry on August 7 condemned Rasaei's execution and reiterated its "unchanging opposition to the death penalty in all places and circumstances," calling it an "unfair and inhumane punishment."

IHR said Iran has now executed at least 345 people this year and there has been no let-up in the use of the death penalty since reformist President Masud Pezeshkian was sworn in last week.

With reporting by AFP

The Bulgarian parliament passed an amendment on August 7 to ban LGBT "propaganda" in schools and voted to pass a separate change that defines the concept of "nontraditional sexual orientation."

The amendment to the Law on Preschool and School Education -- proposed by the pro-Russian Revival (Vazrazhdane) party -- passed 159-20 with 10 abstentions.

It bans the "propaganda, promotion, or incitement in any way, directly or indirectly, in the education system of ideas and views related to nontraditional sexual orientation and/or gender identity other than the biological one."

Lawmakers also voted on a separate text that defines "nontraditional sexual orientation" as "different from the generally accepted and established notions in the Bulgarian legal tradition of emotional, romantic, sexual, or sensual attraction between persons of opposite sexes."

The text also passed but with a smaller majority.

The main arguments for the changes were that they reflect the spirit of Bulgaria’s constitution, which stipulates that marriage is only between a man and a woman, and Orthodox values.

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Most of the criticism of the changes centered on the term "nontraditional sexual orientation," which matches part of the definition of sexual orientation in Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia.

"When we take texts from Wikipedia to make laws, it is not right-wing-oriented, it is not conservatively oriented, and it is not protection of Bulgarian children, it is cheap populism," said Elisaveta Belobradova of the reformist We Continue the Change/Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB).

Her colleague from the center-right GERB party, Georgi Georgiev, said that by adopting a definition of "nontraditional sexual orientation," the deputies set an "unheard-of precedent" in the legal system of an EU member state. The text is discriminatory and contradicts the European Convention on Human Rights, he said.

Demonstrators took to the streets of Sofia after the amendment and text were adopted. People chanted "Shame on you" and "Stop chasing people out of Bulgaria."

LevFem, the left-wing feminist group that organized the rally, said the amendment would make it impossible to combat the harassment in school of young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, a rights NGO, had urged lawmakers not to pass the changes, saying they "breach basic human rights," including those enshrined in the Bulgarian Constitution as well as EU laws and international conventions.

Denitsa Lyubenova, a lawyer for Deystvie, an LGBT rights group in Bulgaria, said in a statement that the amendment "implicitly foreshadows a witch-hunt and sanctions any educational efforts related to LGBTQ people in school."

With reporting by AFP

The Moscow City Court on August 7 upheld a lower court's decision last month to issue an arrest warrant for Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, on a charge of taking part in an extremist group’s activities. Navalnaya was also added to Russia's wanted list in July. The arrest warrant was issued on July 9, less than two weeks after Navalnaya was elected to head the Human Rights Foundation (HRF). Navalnaya replaced Garry Kasparov, another Russian opposition member living abroad. HRF is a New York-based nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and protecting human rights around the world.

A court in Russia's Urals city of Yekaterinburg sentenced Rustam Fararitdinov -- the half-brother of self-exiled Bashkir activist and Kremlin critic Ruslan Gabbasov -- to 5 1/2 years in prison on terrorism charges on August 7. Fararitdinov, who was arrested in November, rejects the charges. Gabbasov, who currently resides in Lithuania, said earlier that investigators had openly told Fararitdinov that he was under arrest because of him. Gabbasov fled Russia in 2021 amid a crackdown on dissent. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service, click here.

Azerbaijan has withdrawn its military from one section of the recently demarcated border with Armenia, according to the mayor of a local Armenian village who spoke to RFE/RL on August 7.

Tigran Harutiunian, the administrative leader of Berkaber, a village in Armenia’s northeastern Tavush Province, said the withdrawal of the Azerbaijani military from the vicinity of Qizilhacili -- one of four former Azerbaijani villages that Armenia ceded control of as part of the border demarcation earlier this year -- occurred about a month ago.

“They left quite a while ago. I believe it was in early July. They vacated their position, and now our border guards are stationed there,” Harutiunian said.

For over 30 years, the Azerbaijani side has controlled about 900 hectares of land belonging to Berkaber. It was decided that this area would not be demarcated during the process that took place in April and May.

The government released a map in April highlighting the sections where adjustments would be made, and the Azerbaijani military remained at one such section after the completion of the demarcation.

It had been agreed that “within a short but reasonable period of time,” Armenia and Azerbaijan would withdraw their forces and allow the deployment of border guards.

Residents of Berkaber have reported hearing explosions near their village and assumed they were caused by Armenian sappers working in the area.

The Armenian Defense Ministry said earlier that controlled explosions would take place on August 7 near Berkaber and Kirants, another village where the border demarcation took place, and advised local residents not to panic. It said there would be a total of 10 explosions to the northeast of the villages but did not specify their purpose.

Harutiunian told RFE/RL that the area from which the Azerbaijani military had been withdrawn might be undergoing demining.

“They left one post, but that gap is quite extensive and is currently being cleared,” Harutiunian said.

Residents of Kirants, however, informed RFE/RL that the explosions near their village appeared to be part of some engineering work.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian faced intense criticism earlier this year for agreeing to the first-ever border demarcation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which involved a limited section. This demarcation resulted in Armenia ceding control of the four villages as well as certain territories of Armenian villages based on 1970s maps used in the process.

The move sparked large-scale protests in Yerevan, with opposition groups also arguing that Armenia would be more vulnerable in the Tavush region if another war with Azerbaijan occurred, given that Armenian armed forces had to withdraw from strategically important areas.

Pashinian has dismissed this criticism, contending that the alternative to the border demarcation would have been another war for which Azerbaijan would have had a legitimate pretext. He has also maintained that local Armenian communities are now better protected from a legal standpoint than they were before the demarcation.

The Vienna-based rights group Freedom for Eurasia has urged Uzbek authorities to transfer imprisoned Karakalpak activist Dauletmurat Tajimuratov to a less restrictive special correctional facility for convicted former state officials, citing his deteriorated health condition. Freedom for Eurasia said on August 6 that Tajimuratov had served in various state positions in Uzbekistan's Karakalpak Autonomous Republic in different years and therefore is eligible to serve his sentence in such penitentiaries. Tajimuratov is serving a 16-year prison term he was handed over his role in mass anti-government protests in Karakalpakstan in 2022. Freedom for Eurasia said earlier that at least 70 people were killed during the unrest.

Ksenia Karelina, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen who has been held in Russia since January, has pleaded guilty to a charge of treason, according to Russian state media.

Karelina, 33, was not included in the major prisoner swap between Russia and the West on August 1 that saw three Americans released from Russian custody.

She is currently on trial in the city of Yekaterinburg over a 2022 donation to a charity supporting Ukraine.

"[She] has pleaded guilty," her lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, told reporters after a court hearing, according to TASS.

Karelina was detained by Russia's Federal Security Service in January in Yekaterinburg, where she had traveled to meet relatives.

A resident of Los Angeles and U.S. citizen since 2021, Karelina was initially charged with hooliganism, reportedly for cursing at police officers.

Security agents, however, searched her phone and said they discovered that prior to traveling to Russia she had made a $51 donation to a U.S-based organization that provides aid and assistance to Ukraine.

The Sverdlovsk regional court is expected to announce a verdict at its next hearing on August 8.

Karelina faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted.

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'They Remain In Torturous Conditions': The Prisoners Left Behind In Russia After Historic Exchange 

The August 1 prisoner swap involving the United States, Russia, and several European countries included three high-profile U.S. citizens, as well as five German citizens jailed in Russia and Belarus and eight Russian political activists held in Russia in connection with their opposition to President Vladimir Putin.

But Karelina and several other Americans whom Washington has designated as unjustly imprisoned and hundreds of Russian citizens seen as political prisoners remain behind bars in Russia, prompting calls for Western governments to vigorously pursue their release as well.

"They remain in torturous conditions. They are in grave danger. We simply must not forget about them, even against the euphoric backdrop that it was possible to pull someone out," Russian opposition politician in exile Dmitry Gudkov told Current Time after the prisoner swap, which saw eight Russians -- including a convicted assassin and spies -- returned to Moscow from Western custody.

With reporting by RIA Novosti and TASS

Russia's sustained assault on domestic civic freedoms has seen a massive escalation since the start of Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with hundreds of dissenters, journalists, and political activists being prosecuted and imprisoned under new draconian laws, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report published on August 7.

The government of President Vladimir Putin's more-than-a-decade-old, systematic break-up of Russians' fundamental rights went into overdrive over the past two years, making not only dissent, but even openly critical discussion in Russian society a punishable offense and forcing many people to leave the country while hundreds others have been thrown behind bars for long prison terms after arbitrary sentences, the report said.

“The Russian government is forcing civic activists and journalists to tread dangerously on a legislative minefield, and their resilience is being tested like never before,” said Rachel Denber, the deputy director of HRW's Europe and Central Asia Division, at the launching of the report titled “Russia’s Legislative Minefield: Tripwires for Civil Society since 2020.”

“Yet independent groups and media are persisting, and they provide hope for the eventual transformation of Russia into a country committed to protecting and promoting fundamental rights,” Denber said.

The 205-page report touches upon the numerous pieces of repressive legislation and policies that Putin's government has adopted over the past four years and how the Kremlin has employed them to stifle any trace of dissent and emasculate Russia's civil society.

The paper looks at the repressive measures adopted by Moscow in 8 areas: “foreign agents,” public assembly, electoral rights, freedom of expression, sexual orientation and gender identity, treason and similar concepts, historical truth, and education.

HRW looks at how these laws severely restrict the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, while forcing state-approved historical, social, and political narratives on public life.

The report says all Russian and foreign activists and journalists freed by the Kremlin in a prisoner swap with the West on August 1 -- including RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and activists Vladimir Kara-Murza, Andrei Pivovarov, and Ilya Yashin -- were charged under laws described in the report.

At the same time, the report notes that hundreds more activists and journalists remain jailed or imprisoned under these laws.

HRW singles out the "foreign agents" legislation, first adopted in 2012, as the most draconian tool in the Kremlin's legal arsenal used to crack down on civic freedoms, and describes how it gradually evolved from first targeting NGOs, then unregistered groups, media organizations, reporters and, by 2022, anyone the state considered to be “under foreign influence.”

"The law seeks to smear any person or entity that is independently critical of the government as 'foreign,' and therefore suspicious or even traitorous," HRW said, noting that penalties have also been increased over the years and now include fines, imprisonment, and revocation of citizenship for naturalized citizens.

Those branded as "foreign agents" have also been barred from holding jobs in the public sector, including the civil service and teaching, with authorities effectively seeking to create “a caste of untouchables,” it said.

“The Kremlin keeps turning the clock back toward past tyranny,” Denber said. “Russia’s laws should be expanding respect for rights, not destroying them.

"Russia’s government should repeal its draconian provisions, bring laws into line with its international obligations, and foster an environment in which civil society can thrive," Denber said.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Members of the unregistered Naghyz Atazhurt (Real Fatherland) party in Kazakhstan said on August 7 that authorities had recently increased pressure on the party's activists by leveling fines and arresting the party's leaders.

Party member Nazigul Maqsutkhan said at a press conference in Almaty that in the last 12 months the party's activists had been ordered to pay fines estimated at 5 million tenges (about $10,500), which is a significant sum for Kazakhs.

"Among other things, our colleagues were found guilty of leading, being a member of, and financing an unregistered party. By that, the authorities impose more obstacles for our efforts to register the party," Maqsutkhan said, adding that one person had been ordered to pay 780,400 tenges (about $1,630) for wiring 2,000 tenges ($4) to the Naghyz Atazhurt party.

Among other examples of pressure imposed on the unregistered party, Maqsutkhan mentioned the arrest last week of party leader Bekzat Maqsutkhan, who was sentenced to 10 days in jail on a charge of violating regulations for holding public events.

The charge stemmed from Bekzat Maqsutkhan's participation in rallies supporting journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim, who was sentenced to seven years in prison on August 2 for financing an extremist group and participating in a banned group's activities, charges he and his supporters reject as politically motivated.

Naghyz Atazhurt's leaders and activists have been trying to register as a political party since May 2022.

Initially, the party was involved in defending the rights of ethnic Kazakhs in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang.

In 2022, its activists announced a plan to become a political party "to contribute to the process of the democratic political system while taking into account the Kazakh people's traditions, language, and national characteristics."

Naghyz Atazhurt, formerly known as Atazhurt Eriktileri (Volunteers of the Fatherland), has campaigned for the release of ethnic Kazakhs held in so-called reeducation camps in Xinjiang.

The United Nations has said an estimated 1 million ethnic Uyghurs and other mostly Turkic-speaking Muslim indigenous people of Xinjiang, including Kazakhs, are being held in what it described as "counterextremism centers" in Xinjiang.

The UN also said millions more had been forced into internment camps.

China maintains that the facilities are "centers for vocational education and training."

The United States, the European Union, and other Western states have reiterated their support for Georgia's sovereign and territorial integrity as the country marks the 16th anniversary of a brief war with Russia even as its ruling party appears to be turning back toward Moscow.

Late on August 7, 2008, Georgian troops rolled into the Russian-backed breakaway region of South Ossetia in an attempt to reclaim the territory from what Tbilisi said was growing Russian militarization.

The conflict erupted into a five-day war in which Russian forces drove deep into Georgia before pulling back in the wake of a European Union-brokered peace agreement.

The conflict, which Tbilisi and Moscow accuse one another of starting, left hundreds dead and drove thousands from their homes.

After the war, Russia left thousands of troops in South Ossetia and another breakaway region in Georgia, Abkhazia, and recognized both as independent countries.

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Abkhaz Separatists Say Work Set To Begin On Russian Naval Base In Georgian Region

Marking the anniversary of the conflict, the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi issued a statement on Facebook saying that the August 2008 events "continue to have an impact on Georgians."

"Russia's ongoing violations of the 2008 ceasefire agreement highlight the continued struggle for peace and stability in the region. The United States continues to advocate for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity in its internationally recognized borders," the U.S. Embassy's statement said.

The British Embassy in the Georgian capital also expressed London's support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, adding that the U.K. remembered "those killed, injured and displaced by Russia’s brutal and illegal actions."

Pursuit of EU and NATO membership remains embedded in the post-Soviet Caucasus nation's constitution, but the current Georgian government's passage of a perceived Russian-style law to curb media and NGOs has dealt a blow to both efforts.

The ruling party Georgian Dream is perceived by many in the West of a recent turn toward anti-Western rhetoric and authoritarian practices since the passing of a controversial "foreign agent" law, which imposes tight controls on foreign-funded media and NGOs that get more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad. Russia has used that same designation to clamp down on opposition and independent media.

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The EU ambassador to Georgia said that Georgia's accession has been halted as a result of the Georgian Dream government's actions and that he hoped Georgians would make "the right choice" in the upcoming elections.

In noting the August 7 anniversary, the 27-nation bloc voiced its "condemnation of Russia's continued military presence in the occupied breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in violation of both international law and of Russia's commitments under the 12 August 2008 six-point agreement."

"The human rights of conflict-affected communities in Georgia continue to be violated, including through 'borderization' policies, closures of crossing points and illegal detentions by the Russian military and de facto authorities," the EU said in a statement.

"Restrictions on freedom of movement must end, violations of human rights must be investigated, and justice must be ensured for all victims," it added while expressing its "unwavering support to the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders."

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, the Foreign Ministry of Norway, foreign ministers of Estonia and Lithuania -- Margus Tsahkna and Ingrida Simonyte, were among other foreign entities and politicians who expressed their support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity on August 7.

A court in Prague sentenced Czech citizen Filip Siman to seven years in prison for looting during military unrest in the suburbs of Kyiv in April 2022 following the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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Siman, 27, is a former soldier in the Czech Army who fought in Ukraine's 49th Assault Battalion, Carpathian Sich. In April 2022, he took part in the cleanup of Irpin and Bucha after the retreat of Russian forces.

The court charged Siman with stealing the property of soldiers and civilians who died during the battles. He filmed the robberies and posted them on social media and claims he was following orders from his command unit.

He was detained by the Ukrainian military, after which he returned to his homeland.

The sentence handed down was more lenient because the court ruled that in peacetime in the Czech Republic, a soldier would not have committed such a crime.

Among the things he stole were gold, a ring, cash, household electronics, and an aviation oxygen mask from an An-225 Mria aircraft.

In addition to looting, Simana was accused of serving in foreign armed forces. He was acquitted on that charge.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and former President Milos Zeman promised not to prosecute citizens who joined the Ukrainian Army.

Siman said he regretted his actions.

"I did what I was told. The commander told me that war trophies are war trophies. We did nothing that others didn't do," he said.

The Carpathian Sich battalion denies it gave Simon an order to break the law.

The sentence has not entered into legal force and can be appealed.

With reporting by Czech Radio and iDnes

Serbs from northern Kosovo protested on August 7 against the opening of the main bridge in Mitrovica that divides the city into the Albanian-majority south and the Serb-majority north.

Protesters gathered near the bridge held up banners with messages including, "On the bridge we defended survival, now we defend extinction" and "While the EU and the U.S.A. are writing statements, they are expelling us."

Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti last week informed Western diplomats in Pristina of his plans to open the bridge to traffic, a move that was opposed by both NATO and Quint nations -- an informal decision-making group consisting of the United States, France, Germany, Italy, and Britain.

"The bridge must be opened. It is in the service of all, and is against no one. Freedom of movement and the rule of law do not endanger peace and security -- on the contrary," said Kurti's cabinet after meeting with foreign diplomats in Kosovo.

During the protest, a former judge from North Mitrovica, Nikola Kabasic, said that the Serb community does not support the opening of the bridge. He also disputed claims by Kosovar authorities that it would foster peace and coexistence.

"We don't feel safe here," he said, adding that there has been freedom of movement even though the bridge was not previously open to traffic.

Kabasic said the bridge should be opened only when relations between the parties are normalized and dialogue can be agreed on in Brussels.

He asked for a consensus among all representatives of Serbs in Kosovo to identify and protect the fundamental interests of the Serb community.

"Misery is our collective problem. We are attacked as a people; we are under pressure to leave Kosovo," Kabasic said.

For years, Serb political parties in Kosovo were divided in their politics, and only the Serb List enjoyed the support of official Belgrade.

Members of the Serb community mentioned the efforts of Kurti’s government to establish authority in the north of Kosovo, as well as the presence of members of special units of the Kosovo police.

Kabasic emphasized that the protest was not against the ethnic Albanians living in Kosovo but against Kurti and his government.

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He said members of the special units of the Kosovo police should withdraw from the north of Kosovo and that Serb representatives should lead the local government.

In the post-war period, the bridge over the Ibar River was a symbol of the riots and barricades erected by Kosovo Serbs to oppose Pristina's efforts to establish authority in the north.

The bridge is currently open solely for pedestrians, although in the framework of the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia it has been agreed that it will also be opened to vehicles.

The Quint countries said in a statement that they oppose opening the bridge to traffic at this time.

The NATO mission in Kosovo, KFOR, has stated that any decision on the opening of the main bridge over the Ibar River must be made within the framework of EU-mediated talks between Kosovo and Serbia.

KFOR soldiers from Italy are currently stationed on the bridge, while members of the Kosovo police patrol nearby.

KFOR also said it would not hesitate to react to any risk to regional security and stability.

The EU repeated its stance that the issue of opening of the bridge in North Mitrovica should be resolved within the framework of official dialogue, citing a 2014 agreement.

Kosovo and Serbia reached an agreement on the bridge in Brussels in 2014 and the EU funded its revitalization worth 1.5 million euros. The bridge was supposed to open in 2017.

Protests against the bridge opening took place two days after Kosovar authorities closed down nine branches of the Serbian post office in the north, after concluding that they had been operating illegally and with no license from the Kosovo authorities.

In the past two years, Kurti's government has worked intensively to establish power in the north of Kosovo, which has been met with resistance from the local population and sometimes even criticism from the international community.

Some of the decisions that have been implemented are the re-registration of vehicles from Serbian license plates to those of Kosovo, updating driver's licenses, discontinuing the use of the Serbian dinar, and the closure of certain institutions that work in the Serbian system.