PRAGUE -- The European Union’s special envoy for efforts to normalize relations between Serbia and its former province Kosovo has warned of the danger of “outbursts of instability” for years to come if those Balkan neighbors can’t overcome their current impasse and unilateral actions continue.

In an extended interview with RFE/RL’s Kosovo Service at the Globsec security conference in Prague on August 30, Miroslav Lajcak said the clear task for both sides is to implement their commitments from last year’s so-called Ohrid Agreement within the decade-old “dialogue” to avoid “hostile or even violent” actions and responses.

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He lamented a lack of momentum on EU enlargement in the past but also repeated Brussels’ stance that a lack of progress on normalization directly hinders Serbia’s and Kosovo’s respective EU membership bids.

“[W]e either have normalization, which will bring stabilization, open the way for regional cooperation, which is struggling right now," Lajcak said, "or we will continue with the actions which are not coordinated, with prompt reaction which is again not coordinated, and could become hostile or even violent, and we might be kept busy for years with this repetition of, I would say, outburst[s] of instability. And this obviously prevents the region from progressing on the European path.”

He suggested Serbian and Kosovar societies “are not ready for normalization” but said the unresolved problem of Serbian-Kosovar relations goes well beyond those two countries and is “very much a regional and European issue.”

Serbia does not acknowledge the independence of its predominantly ethnic Albanian former province since Pristina declared sovereignty in 2008, a move officially recognized by more than 100 countries but not by Russia, China, or a handful of EU member states. A bitter ethnic war punctuated by NATO intervention in 1999 preceded UN interim administration ahead of Kosovo’s independence.

During two leadership stints since 2020, Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s government has conducted a mounting campaign of “reciprocal” measures to pressure Belgrade to recognize Kosovo’s statehood and official institutions.

The Serbian and Kosovar sides reached agreement in the resort town of Ohrid on normalization steps in early 2023, but key elements of the deal remain unfulfilled, including Pristina’s pledge dating back to 2013 to establish a legal foundation for an association to represent majority-Serb municipalities in Kosovo.

But two subsequent flareups of violence in northern Kosovo – unrest that injured dozens of NATO KFOR peacekeepers in May 2023 and the killing of a Kosovar police officer by a group of commando-like Serbs at an Orthodox monastery in September 2023 -- alarmed the international community and lent urgency to the dialogue.

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More recently, Pristina has clamped down on the use of Serbian currency at banks and postal outlets, as well as other aspects of daily life for thousands of Serbs who resist Kosovar central authority, prompting the United States and the European Union to urge against “unilateral” and “uncoordinated” steps by either side.

Kurti says Kosovar authorities are establishing rule of law and public order.

Serbian President Aleksandr Vucic has accused Kosovo’s government of trying to terrorize and intimidate the local Serb population.

“If you ask me, the problem is that the two societies are not ready for normalization,” Lajcak told RFE/RL. He said his four-year term “has been probably more dedicated to crisis management than to promoting of normalization.”

In July, the EU Council extended Lajcak’s mandate by five months, to January 2025, at the request of outgoing EU foreign policy head Josep Borrell.

Lajcak downplayed suggestions that Borrell’s successor, former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, would do without such an envoy to the delicate Serbia-Kosovo dialogue.

“The job is not done and, therefore, the job must continue,” Lajcak said. “And I believe that there should be an [EU special representative] assisting the high representative until the Ohrid Agreement is implemented.

“But one important element that I will, of course, stress also to my successor and to the new high representative is that this process must be visibly and directly linked to the European integration.”

Serbia was awarded EU candidate status along with other hopefuls in 2012, while Kosovo remains a “potential candidate” with its participation in other multinational organizations, including the UN, blocked by its partial recognition.

Lajcak said the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine had sparked an “awakening” within the European Union of the risks of stalled enlargement since Croatia’s accession in 2013, and he insisted the “dynamic has changed already.”

“Paradoxically, this awakening came as a consequence of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's aggression against Ukraine when the European Union also decided to invite Ukraine and Moldova to join,” Lajcak said. “So this is a huge new opportunity for the Balkans. The door that has been closed for 10 years is now open.”

The Kremlin on August 30 said it is not concerned about President Vladimir Putin's visit to Mongolia on September 3, despite an arrest warrant that the International Criminal Court (ICC) says Mongolia is obligated to act on.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during his daily conference call on August 30 that the Kremlin has “no worries” about the upcoming trip, adding that Russia has “a wonderful dialogue with our friends from Mongolia.”

The trip will be Putin’s first to a country that is a member of the ICC since the arrest warrant was issued in March 2023 over suspected war crimes in Ukraine.

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ICC members are bound to detain suspects for whom the court has issued an arrest warrant if they set foot on their soil, but the court has no enforcement mechanism. Mongolia signed the Rome Statute, the court’s founding treaty, in 2000 and ratified it in 2002.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said earlier on August 30 that it hoped that the Mongolian government “will realize the fact that Vladimir Putin is a war criminal” and called on the Mongolian authorities to comply with the international arrest warrant and hand Putin over to the ICC.

ICC spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah underscored in a statement quoted by the AP on August 30 that Mongolia “is a State Party to the ICC Rome Statute” and thus has the obligation to cooperate with the court.

The ICC relies on its state parties and other partners to execute its decisions, including arrest warrants, El Abdallah said in the statement.

The ICC accused Putin in March 2023 of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. Maria Lvova-Belova, Moscow’s commissioner for children's rights, is also named in the warrant, which alleges they committed war crimes in connection with the deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children.

Russia is not a member of the ICC and refuses to hand over suspects. Russian officials have dismissed the warrants as “null and void.”

Putin will travel to Mongolia at the invitation of President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh to participate in ceremonies marking the 85th anniversary of the joint victory of the Soviet and Mongolian armies over Japan on the Khalkhin Gol River, a Kremlin statement said.

Putin will also hold talks with Khurelsukh and other top Mongolian officials, the statement said.

With reporting by AP

Ukraine needs "strong decisions" from its partners to stop the terror that Russia is perpetrating in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on August 30 after a Russian air strike on Kharkiv hit a high-rise residential building and playground, killing at least seven people, including a 14-year-old girl.

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Scores of people were injured, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said, accusing Russia of targeting "civilian objects, peaceful people, children."

Local authorities said five strikes hit the city in eastern Ukraine. The worst was on the 12-story apartment building, where Regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov said there were many victims whose limbs had to be amputated.

He raised the number of dead from six to seven late on August 30 after a woman's body was retrieved from the charred building.

"As of now, we have information on 59 victims -- among them 9 children aged 5 to 16 years. People continue to go to hospitals," he said on Telegram.

In his evening address, Zelenskiy identified the 14-year-old girl as Sofia and said she would have turned 15 in the fall.

He said the strike was carried out by a Russian guided aerial bomb and said it would not have happened if Ukraine's defense forces had the ability to target military sites on Russian territory.

"This strike was a Russian guided aerial bomb. A blow that would not have happened if our defense forces had the ability to destroy Russian military aircraft where they are based. We need strong solutions from our partners to stop this terror. This is an absolutely fair need. And there is no rational reason to limit Ukraine in defense. We need long-range capabilities," Zelenskiy said on Telegram.

The bombs that struck Kharkiv were fired from the Belgorod region, which lies to the north of Ukraine's Kharkiv region. Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, said late on August 30 that five people were killed and 37 were injured by Ukrainian rockets fired on the city of Belgorod.

"One woman and four men died on the spot from their wounds before the ambulance arrived," Gladkov said on Telegram. There are children among the wounded, and 10 people are in serious condition, he said.

In the village of Dubovoye, 13 cars were damaged, and two houses, another car, and a garage caught fire, he said, adding that firefighters quickly extinguished the flames.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who met with his Ukrainian counterpart, Rustem Umerov, at the Pentagon on August 30, condemned recent Russian attacks on civilian targets.

"Let me be clear: It is never acceptable to target civilians, and Ukraine's resilience will help it prevail over [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's aggression and atrocities," Austin said as he hosted Umerov and Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy's chief of staff, at the Pentagon.

Austin said the United States plans to advocate for a further expansion of the country's air defense at the Ukraine Contact Group meeting next week at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

Umerov and Yermak briefed Austin about the situation on the battlefield, according to a statement from the president's office.

"Russia hit Ukraine with more than 400 missiles of various types and drones this week," the statement said. "The Ukrainian side noted that Ukraine needs to strengthen air defense to protect people and critical infrastructure."

Umerov thanked the U.S. and its allies for their support and said he wanted to inform Austin about the situation on the battlefield and the current needs of the Ukrainian military.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Russian forces are conducting "two key tactical operations" as part of their offensive to capture the strategic city of Pokrovsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on August 29.

The first is along the Novogrodivka-Hrodivka line east of Pokrovsk with the aim of advancing to the outskirts of the city. The second is along the Selydove-Ukrayinsk-Hirnyk line to the southeast with the aim of "eliminating vulnerabilities to Ukrainian counterattacks."

The operations are seen by the Russian military as key to an "intensified offensive effort against Pokrovsk itself," ISW wrote.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian military said there had been 109 combat clashes during the day, and most of the fighting took place in the Pokrovsk area in the Donetsk region.

There was also fighting in the areas near Kupyansk and Lyman, the General Staff said in its late afternoon assessment on August 30. In total, Russian troops advanced in 11 directions, it said.

Zelenskiy in his evening address on August 30 named Pokrovsk as one of the most challenging areas.

"It is crucial that everyone, at all state levels, who is involved in this, really make their maximum efforts to ensure our resilience and that of our warriors," he said.

With reporting by Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on August 30 dismissed the commander of the country's air force one day after the crash of a U.S.-made F-16 fighter jet that had been recently deployed in the country's fight against Russia's full-scale invasion.

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The crash occurred on August 26 and killed pilot Oleksiy Mes, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

"I have decided to replace the commander of the air forces of the armed forces of Ukraine," Zelenskiy said in a video message, expressing gratitude to all military pilots, engineers, "warriors," and air-defense units.

Zelenskiy published a decree to remove Mykola Oleshchuk from his post earlier on August 30, saying the decision was in line with the goal of strengthening Ukraine's military leadership.

He reiterated the message in his video, saying, "We must strengthen ourselves. And take care of people. Take care of personnel -- take care of all our warriors."

Oleshchuk was appointed commander of the air force on August 9, 2021, replacing Serhiy Drozdov.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Mes died while repelling a massive Russian strike. During the air battle, three cruise missiles and one drone were destroyed, the air force said.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that an F-16 was destroyed in a crash on August 26. An unidentified U.S. official quoted by the newspaper on August 29 said that initial reports indicated that the jet wasn’t shot down by enemy fire and that it likely crashed as a result of pilot error.

The Ukrainian military said an investigation into the crash had already been launched and that international experts would be invited to participate.

Oleshchuk said earlier on August 30 that a “detailed analysis" was being conducted into why the F-16 went down.

“We must carefully understand what happened, what the circumstances are, and whose responsibility it is,” Oleshchuk said on Telegram.

Ukraine received the warplanes at the end of last month and at a ceremony on August 4 marking Air Force of Armed Forces Day, Zelenskiy said the air force had begun to use them.

Russia's Justice Ministry on August 30 added the founder of the Latvia-based Meduza news website, Galina Timchenko, to its list of "foreign agents." The website itself was added to the list in April 2021. In January 2023, the Prosecutor-General's Office added the media outlet to its list of "undesirable organizations." The Justice Ministry on August 30 also labeled as "foreign agents" a co-founder of the Moscow-based Free University, Yelena Lukyanova, and two NGOs: Coalition Novosibirsk 2020, which monitors elections, and the Civic Initiative Against Ecological Crimes, which is involved in environmental protection projects. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

A petition has been launched urging Azerbaijani authorities to immediately release political analyst Bahruz Samadov and other scholars arrested by the South Caucasus nation's authorities in recent months.

As of August 30, the online petition had been signed by almost 150 scholars from Azerbaijan and other nations. Samadov, a doctoral student at Charles University in Prague, was detained last week on a treason charge that he rejects.

"Samadov's doctoral research at Charles University focuses on authoritarianism and political discourses in Azerbaijan. He has been known for his critical and timely analyses of Azerbaijani current affairs, including developments surrounding the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, which have appeared on various international media outlets," the petition says, adding that Samadov has advocated for peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The petition also says that the tightly controlled former Soviet republic’s government has intensified a crackdown on media, activists, and scholars whose thoughts do not coincide with those of the authorities after Baku won the 44-day war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh in November 2020, and managed to regain control over the region last September.

Since last November, more than a dozen journalists working for independent media outlets -- including Abzas Media, Kanal 13, and Toplum TV -- have been arrested on charges that they, their employers, and rights groups have called politically motivated.

Among the arrested Azerbaijani scholars, the petition mentioned economists Qubad Ibadoglu, Fazil Qasimov, and Farid Mehralizade, and ethnographer Iqbal Abilov.

"The arbitrary arrest and detention of members of the academic community is incompatible with Azerbaijan’s international commitments and it is a durable stain on the country’s reputation," the petitions says.

"We believe in the value of producing independent research on Azerbaijan and do not want to see the country become a blank spot on the global knowledge map. We stand in solidarity with Bahruz Samadov and other Azerbaijani scholars who were unjustly detained simply in light of their academic activities."

The petition also calls on European Union officials, entities, and the academic community to raise awareness of the situation faced by Samadov and other Azerbaijani scholars and demand their release.

Critics of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's government say authorities in the oil-rich Caspian Sea state frequently seek to silence dissent by jailing opposition activists, journalists, and civil society advocates on trumped-up charges.

Aliyev has ruled Azerbaijan with an iron fist since 2003, taking over from his father, Heydar Aliyev, who served as president for a decade.

Judge Rizvan Yusupov of Tatarstan's Supreme Court, who upheld the extension of the pretrial arrest of RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva in June, may lose his position after he confirmed reports that his children have U.S. citizenship.

Yusupov confirmed to the Regnum news agency on August 30 that his children are dual Russian-American citizens, hours after the Mash Telegram channel, which is close to Russia's law enforcement structures, said the judge hid the information about his daughter and son, who were born in the United States after his wife traveled there to give birth.

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The couple reportedly claimed that the births were home deliveries in Kazan and then arranged for their citizenships through the U.S. Consulate, without informing Russian authorities.

Yusupov confirmed that a probe has been launched into his children's U.S. passports but insisted that he had provided Russian authorities with information about the dual citizenships.

"A criminal case was launched against [Yusupov's] wife, Elvira, and her 19-year-old son Gayaz on a charge of hiding the information about another country's passport. It is known that the judge's elder daughter Nailya resides in the Netherlands," Mash reported.

Kurmasheva, a dual Russian-U.S. citizen who was released in early August in a major prisoner swap between Russia and the West, was detained in June last year while waiting for her return flight to Prague from Kazan. Authorities confiscated both of her passports and her phone. She was released but barred from leaving the country.

After five months of waiting for a decision in her case, Kurmasheva was fined 10,000 rubles ($109) for failing to register her U.S. passport with Russian authorities.

Unable to leave Russia without her travel documents, Kurmasheva in October was arrested, jailed, and charged with being an undeclared "foreign agent." Two months later, she was charged with spreading falsehoods about the Russian military.

In July, a court in Tatarstan’s capital, Kazan, sentenced Kurmasheva to 6 1/2 years in prison.

On August 1, she was released along with two other U.S. citizens -- Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan.

PRAGUE -- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on August 30 for a greater European commitment to security and overcoming past unwillingness to provide for its own defense, repeatedly citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as evidence the bloc must shed “illusions” and “think about our union as intrinsically a security project.”

Speaking in the Czech capital to attendees of the annual Globsec security conference, the returning head of the European Union’s executive arm laid out a staunch case for European solidarity against Russian and other threats and a “systemic overhaul of European defense,” warning that the next half of the decade would be “high risk.”

“If we want true peace, we must fundamentally rethink the foundations of Europe’s security architecture,” von der Leyen said. “Russia’s invasion has been an eye-opener for Europe.”

The 65-year-old German von der Leyen, who was endorsed for a fresh five-year term in July, vowed to appoint the bloc’s first “full-fledged defense commissioner” to the incoming European Commission, whose respective nominations from each of the 27 member states are ongoing.

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Von der Leyen criticized outsiders arguing against arming Ukraine and warned against premature talks that neither Moscow nor Kyiv seem prepared to conduct two and a half years into the full-scale Russian invasion. The answer to when it’s time for talks, she said, is “first and foremost up to our Ukrainian friends.”

Russian forces currently control about one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, but Ukrainian troops now claim to control more than 1,200 square kilometers of Russian territory since a surprise Ukrainian incursion in Kursk began last month.

While she specifically cited “many outside Europe” for urging immediate talks, it also appeared to be a swipe at EU member Hungary, whose President Viktor Orban’s self-styled and uncoordinated “peace mission” to Kyiv, Moscow, and Beijing immediately after Budapest took up the rotating European Council Presidency in July infuriated Brussels.

“We want the war to stop as soon as possible,” von der Leyen said. But, she added, “My position is that peace is not simply the absence of war. Peace is a settlement that makes war impossible and unnecessary. Therefore, we must put Ukraine in the condition of negotiating such peace.”

Invoking bitter Cold War memories, von der Leyen warned against blaming Kyiv for Russia’s unprovoked invasion. She asked whether Hungary or then-Czechoslovakia could be blamed for invasions of those countries by Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops in 1956 and 1968.

“And the answer to this question is very clear,” she said. “The Kremlin’s behavior was illegal and atrocious back then, and the Kremlin’s behavior is illegal and atrocious today.”

Von der Leyen said that Europeans have many different histories and speak in many languages, “But in no language is peace synonymous with surrender; in no language is sovereignty synonymous with occupation.”

“So those who argue to stop support for Ukraine do not argue for peace,” she said, “they argue for appeasement and subjugation of Ukraine.”

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Von der Leyen said one of the lessons of Russia’s attack on Ukraine and its international response was that “Europe has overcome its long-standing unwillingness to spend enough on its own defense.”

She emphasized the strength and importance of U.S. support and transatlantic cooperation but said “protecting Europe is first and foremost Europe’s duty.”

Von der Leyen said EU member states’ collective defense spending had shot up “from just over 200 billion euros before the war to almost 300 billion [euros] this year.”

She said aim must be “to build a continent-sized defense output” and “a systemic overhaul of Europe’s defense.”

“We Europeans must be on guard,” von der Leyen said. “We must refocus our attention on the security dimension of everything we do. We must think about our union as intrinsically a security project."

At the same conference, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service that “we have a duty to remind people what is at stake…[and] what can happen if a just peace is not achieved, if the war ends with Russia’s victory not Ukraine’s.”

He noted Russia’s actions in its lightning war in Georgia in 2008, leaving it effectively occupying about one-fifth of Georgian territory, and the invasion of Crimea in 2014 that ushered in a slow-boiling war that exploded into full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Asked whether the European Union has learned from such past mistakes, Landsbergis said: “It can happen, yes. That chapter is not yet written.”

Von der Leyen welcomed the chance to speak in the Czech capital, praising Central Europe’s competitiveness and “impressive strength” and noting the region’s past concerns about Russian actions.

“Since Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, you have become the beating heart of solidarity,” von der Leyen said of the region.

The three-day Globsec security conference, which has been held in the Slovak capital, Bratislava, for the past 18 years, brings together European and global leaders and other senior officials and continues in Prague through September 1.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on August 29 condemned the decision by the Kyrgyz Supreme Court to reject an appeal by the independent investigative website Kloop of a lower court ruling to liquidate the media outlet.

The initial decision by a court in Bishkek ordering the closure of the Kloop Media Public Foundation was made in early February. The court said then that the group's website was distributing "false information aimed at damaging the reputation of Kyrgyz officials."

"The forced shuttering of international award-winning investigative outlet Kloop is a shameful episode in the history of modern Kyrgyzstan -- a country long viewed as a haven for press freedom in Central Asia -- and is a clear indication that under President [Sadyr] Japarov this reputation no longer holds," Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, said.

"Kyrgyz authorities should immediately reverse their repressive course against the media and allow Kloop and all other independent outlets to work freely."

The CPJ's statement came hours after Kloop reported that its staff learned last week that the Supreme Court on July 16 had upheld a lower court's ruling to shut down the outlet. Kloop has now exhausted its chance of appeal.

Kloop's co-founder, Rinat Tukhvatshin, said the investigative group will continue to publish "the deepest investigations, the most balanced news, and the sharpest analyses."

Since the initial court ruling in February, the case has wound its way through Kyrgyzstan's judicial circuit.

In March, the Bishkek Administrative Court canceled the ministry's move to block Kloop's Russian-language site, after which the ministry appealed the ruling to the Bishkek City Court.

In early June, the Bishkek City Court ruled that a move by Kyrgyzstan's Culture Ministry to shut down Kloop was legitimate.

Separately, Kloop's Kyrgyz-language website was blocked in November amid a government campaign to pressure the Kloop Media Public Foundation.

The ministry said it disrupted the sites after the State Committee for National Security (UKMK) claimed that Kloop had distributed false information.

The claim referred to a report that appeared on Kloop's website in September about jailed opposition politician Ravshan Jeenbekov and a statement he made about being tortured while in custody.

The ministry demanded Kloop remove an article about the alleged torture of Jeenbekov from its Russian-language website or face being blocked.

Kloop refused to remove the material, saying the story in question attributed all information about the situation faced by Jeenbekov while in custody to actual individuals and sources.

Kloop said at the time that it was officially informed of the lawsuit against it and that the move was taken after an audit by the UKMK determined its "published materials are aimed at sharply criticizing the policies of the current government" and that "most of the published materials are purely negative, aimed at discrediting representatives of state and municipal bodies."

Established in June 2007, Kloop is a Kyrgyz news website whose main contributors are students and graduates of the Kloop Media Public Foundation School of Journalism.

As an independent media entity, it is known for publishing reports on corruption within various governmental bodies and for providing training to Central Asian journalists in fact-checking and investigative techniques.

A court in Siberia on August 30 sentenced Sergei Mikhailov, a journalist and founder of the LIStok newspaper in the city of Gorno-Altaisk, to eight years in prison on a charge of distributing false information about the Russian military. The charge stems from coverage by LIStok in 2022 of alleged atrocities by Russian troops against Ukrainian civilians in the town of Bucha. Mikhailov insists the decision to publish the materials in question was made by his chief editor, Viktor Rau, and not him. Rau, who is currently outside of Russia, has confirmed it was his idea to publish the materials. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities, click here.

A court in Russia's Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk on August 30 sentenced activist Zigmund Khudyakov to 23 days in jail for publicly wearing in January a T-shirt with a picture of late opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead near the Kremlin in 2015. Khudyakov was found guilty of "violating regulations for holding public rallies." Last month, Khudyakov served 22 days in jail for wearing a similar T-shirt on another day in January. Khudyakov also is known for his support of another late opposition figure, Aleksei Navalny, and for making calls for an end to Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. To read the original story by RFEW/RL's Siberia.Realities, click here.

Police in Russia's Perm region on August 30 launched a manhunt to catch a former inmate, Artyom Buchin, who is suspected of killing a 28-year-old woman and her daughter after returning from the war in Ukraine. The victims’ bodies were found a day earlier. Local media published photos of the suspect and a physical description of him, according to which, the 28-year-old was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February 2023 on a murder charge. He was pardoned after he signed a contract with the Defense Ministry and joined Russian troops invading Ukraine. Buchin returned to his town of Chusovoi in November. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Idel.Realities, click here.

A court in the Russian city of Samara on August 29 placed activist Alina Lushavina in pretrial detention until at least October 29 on a charge of justifying terrorism by reposting an unspecified message online. A day earlier, police searched Lushavina's apartment. Her lawyers say the charge is politically motivated, stressing the original post in question is still available online and its author was not prosecuted. Lushavina, who refers to herself as a politician, blogger, and rights defender, is known for her open criticism of authorities. She has covered news and developments in Samara, including protest actions. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Idel.Realities, click here.

PRAGUE -- Czech President Petr Pavel on August 30 joined a growing EU chorus urging allies to lift all restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied weapons as Kyiv continues its defense against Russia’s full-scale invasion of its much smaller post-Soviet neighbor.

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Speaking to RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service after the opening of the three-day Globsec security conference in Prague, Pavel, a retired general who also held a senior NATO post, said Ukrainians deserved a freer hand to defend their country.

“I think that what we need is to enable Ukraine to use fully the potential of weapons that Western countries are providing,” Pavel said. “What I mean is not supposing any restrictions on the use of aircraft, missiles, and so on, because Ukraine needs to use them to be successful in self-defense.”

The 62-year-old Pavel, a former chairman of the Czech General Staff, has been among the most outspoken of EU member state leaders in favor of military and other support for Ukraine since becoming president of his country of around 10 million people in March 2023.

Pavel's statements echoed a similar and nearly simultaneous call by the EU’s outgoing foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, to an informal meeting of the bloc’s defense ministers in Brussels. Borrell said Kyiv has the right to target the places from which it is attacked.

"No one wants" a war with Russia, he said on August 30 as he headed into the second day of the meeting. "But put yourself in the shoes of the Ukrainians: The Russians are bombing you from a place you cannot reach. You would like to fight as equals," Borrell said, adding that it is "absurd" to say allowing targeting on the territory of Russia means waging war directly against Moscow.

Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, have repeatedly called on Ukraine's global allies to take "decisive action" and allow Ukraine to strike military targets deeper inside Russia with Western-provided weapons.

Earlier this month, Ukraine launched an incursion into Russian territory with Zelenskiy saying Russia "must feel what it has done." Russia has responded in recent days with some of its fiercest barrages of missile and drone attacks aimed at cities and critical civilian infrastructure across Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials say that despite deliveries of new weapons that are helping bolster the fight, their armed forces are still at a disadvantage because the West's restrictions keeping Ukraine from using long-range weapons to strike deep inside Russian territory.

"Long-term security for Europe begins with short-term, bold decisions for Ukraine," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told journalists in Brussels before a meeting of EU foreign ministers on August 29.

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The United States and other major suppliers of Ukraine’s war effort have been reluctant to allow the use of longer-range weapons, including portable rocket launchers, in situations that could provoke Russia into a major escalation.

Under growing pressure from other NATO countries that signaled openness to wider latitude for Kyiv, U.S. officials said in May that President Joe Biden had given Ukraine the go-ahead to use U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia for the limited purpose of defending the eastern city of Kharkiv.

Other similar moves have followed and coincided with the activation of Western-provided F-16s with Western-trained Ukrainian pilots.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a gathering of NATO foreign ministers on May 30 that allies should consider lifting restrictions on the use of NATO weapons by Ukraine to hit targets on Russian territory.

Earlier this year, with Kyiv complaining of delays in supplies of weapons and ammunition, the Czech Republic led an initiative with Pavel’s vocal support to supply up to 1.5 million pieces of artillery ammunition. Fifteen countries joined the ongoing initiative.

Pavel, who chaired the NATO Military Committee, a main policy and strategy advisory body to the alliance’s secretary-general, from 2015-18, said at Globsec that he believed Russia’s reportedly rapid recent advance near the strategic Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk was not linked to Ukraine's use of thousands of troops to launch an incursion last month into Russia’s southern Kursk region. He said any Russian success there was more likely a result of favorable weather.

Kyiv has suggested it controls more than 1,200 square kilometers of Russian territory and that it could be a bargaining chip in future peace negotiations.

Iran’s national police command said on August 30 that officers exhibited a "lack of anger control" while handling a man who died in custody earlier this week in the northern Gilan Province. The rights group Hengaw reported that Mohammad Mirmusavi was severely beaten by police in the city of Langarud following his arrest on August 24. The 36-year-old, who had been involved in a street brawl, died three days later. The allegations of police brutality prompted Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian to order an investigation. The national police command said "friction" between Musavi and officers led to his death. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, click here.

Germany has followed through on its announcement that it would deport "criminal" Afghan refugees and asylum seekers back to Afghanistan despite not having formal relations with the Taliban’s de-facto government.

A plane carrying 28 Afghan men convicted of crimes in Germany took off from Leipzig/Halle Airport for Kabul early on August 30, according to German officials. The men had been transported from across the country to Leipzig for the flight, which was arranged by the Interior Ministry.

A senior official from the Taliban's Transportation and Civil Aviation Ministry, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed to Radio Azadi that they had given approval for a plane flying from Leipzig to land at Kabul International Airport. The official declined to provide any details regarding the passengers onboard the aircraft, which was expected to arrive in Kabul in the evening.

All of the deportees aboard the chartered Qatar Airways flight were "convicted offenders who had no right to stay in Germany and against whom deportation orders had been issued," government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement.
Hebestreit said Berlin had "asked key regional partners for support in order to facilitate the deportations," without providing further details.

A spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry said on August 30 that Germany had no intention of normalizing its relations with the Taliban.

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"As long as the general conditions are as they are and the Taliban behave the way they do, there will be no effort to normalize relations with the Taliban," the spokesperson said. "There are contacts on a technical level, especially through our representative office in Doha."

Germany's Der Spiegel magazine said the operation followed two months of "secret negotiations" in which Qatar, which has sustainable contacts with the Taliban authorities, served as an intermediary between Germany and the Taliban-led government.

The controversial development comes after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced in June that Germany would restart deportations of dangerous criminals and terror suspects to Afghanistan and Syria.

Scholz's announcement came after an Afghan refugee was charged in a deadly knife attack in the city of Mannheim in May. This week, after a Syrian refugee suspected of killing three people in Solingen was taken into custody, Scholz vowed to speed up deportations.

The issue has also become a major topic of debate ahead of regional elections on September 1 in the Saxony and Thuringia regions, where anti-immigration parties are expected to do well.

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Germany emerged as a major destination for Afghans fleeing insecurity and poverty at home and, after the Taliban retook power after nearly 20 years of war against a U.S.-led coalition, the prospect of persecution by the hard-line Islamist group.

Following the Taliban takeover in 2021, Germany halted deportations to Afghanistan and, like all countries, has refused to recognize the Taliban-led government and has no formal relations with it.

Germany is also a major destination for Syrians seeking to escape that country's civil war and rule under leader Bashar al-Assad. Syrians are the largest refugee group in Germany, with hundreds of thousands allowed into the country since 2015.

In 2020, Germany allowed a ban on deportations to Syria that had been in place since 2012 to expire.

The backlash against refugees and asylum-seekers rose significantly among conservative and hard-right politicians after a 25-year-old Afghan was accused of stabbing a German police officer to death and injuring five others in May.

In June, Scholz met with leaders of Germany’s 16 states in Berlin to discuss restarting deportations of Afghan and Syrian immigrants convicted of serious crimes.

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Michael Stuebgen, the interior minister of the eastern state of Brandenburg, argued that Germany could engage in talks with the Taliban and that parts of Syria are secure enough to allow the returns of refugees.

In lieu of relations with the Taliban, Interior Ministry officials reportedly considered the possibility of routing Afghan deportees through third countries such as Uzbekistan and also discussed ways of conducting asylum proceedings in third countries.

Opponents argue that deportations of Afghans and Syrian refugees would go against the German Constitution and commitments under international law and that the outsourcing of asylum procedures would violate asylum-seekers' human rights.

Amnesty International Germany on August 30 harshly criticized the resumption of deportations.

"The rule of law also means adhering to international law," the rights watchdog said on X. "Extrajudicial executions, disappearances, and torture are the order of the day in Afghanistan. No one is safe there. If the German government deports people anyway it risks becoming an accomplice of the Taliban."

As the issue heated up in recent months, the Interior Ministry stressed that the deportations would affect only a small number of people.

The German government did not provide details on the crimes for which the 28 Afghans deported on August 30 had been convicted. However, AFP quoted the Justice Ministry of the Baden-Wuerttemberg state reportedly said one was convicted of participating in a gang rape of a 14-year old girl and another had more than 160 criminal convictions.

Following news that the deportation of Afghans had resumed, Green party co-leader Omid Nouripour was quoted as saying he welcomed the effort to expel serious criminals but said it did not signal the start of large-scale deportations.

"Law-abiding people, especially families and children who have fled from radical Islamists," are protected in Germany, he said.

With reporting by AP and AFP

A mudslide triggered by heavy monsoon rain hit a house in a remote part of northwestern Pakistan, killing 12 people, mostly children, a rescue official said on August 30. The state-run emergency service said the mudslide happened overnight in Upper Dir in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province. Rescuers retrieved the bodies of nine children, two women and a man. Authorities have warned that ongoing heavy rain, which began last month, could cause landslides and flash floods across Pakistan. Since July 1, more than 275 people have died in rain-related incidents in various parts of the country.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on August 29 that he stands fully behind the decision to grant citizenship to Pavel Durov, a day after the Telegram co-founder and CEO was indicted in Paris on charges of failing to control illegal content on the popular messaging app.

Macron, speaking in Belgrade at the start of a two-day state visit, said granting Durov citizenship was part of a strategy to enable star athletes, performers, and other foreigners who learned French to become French citizens.

“I granted citizenship to Durov, who learned French, just as I did for some athletes and artists, and I think that's something good for our country. I will continue to do that every time,” Macron said.

Durov, 39, was detained at Le Bourget airport outside Paris over the weekend and he was charged on August 28 with several crimes related to alleged illicit activity on the messaging app.

French prosecutors accuse Durov of complicity in allowing drug trafficking and the sharing of sexual images of children on Telegram, and of refusing to share documents demanded by authorities investigating illegal activity on the app.

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The Russian-born Durov, who also has citizenship in Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and the Caribbean archipelago of St. Kitts and Nevis, was granted conditional release on a bail of 5 million euros ($5.5 million) and on the condition that he report to a police station twice a week as well as remain in France, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.

The French president said he didn’t know Durov was coming to France and that he didn’t invite him to visit.

“I don't know anything more about it, and it's normal that I don't know because we are a state governed by the rule of law, where state institutions are independent," Macron said at a press conference in Belgrade after meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

The question arose after French media reports said that Durov told police upon his arrest on August 24 that he was planning to meet with Macron.

Durov's lawyer said it was "absurd" to suggest his client could be implicated in any crime committed on the app.

"Telegram complies in all respects with European rules concerning digital technology," lawyer David-Olivier Kaminski said.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned France against turning the case into "political persecution," emphasizing that Durov is a "Russian citizen" and "we will be watching what happens next."

That is likely to be that the case will be sent to trial. The charge of "complicity in the administration of an online platform to enable an illicit transaction" alone carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years and a fine of 500,000 euros ($550,000).

With reporting by AFP

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed that an F-16 fighter jet crashed while repelling a missile and drone strike by the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine.

The General Staff said in a Facebook post on August 29 that Ukrainian F-16s engaged in an air battle against the Russian barrage and shot down four enemy cruise missiles.

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"During the approach to the next target, contact was lost with one of the planes. As it turned out later, the plane crashed, the pilot died," the military said on August 29 on Facebook.

A special commission of the Defense Ministry has been appointed to determine the causes of the accident, the General Staff said.

Sabrina Singh, deputy spokeswoman for the Pentagon, said she had seen the reports about the crash of the F-16, adding that she was not aware of any request for assistance since the incident. She told a briefing that she had no further information, but added that pilots have been training in the United States and referred to the difficulties they face once in battle.

"I will say, broadly speaking, combat aviation is very complex," Singh said. "We are very proud to train pilots here in the United States, and our allies are also training pilots for Ukraine. Everyday they fly these aircraft. There are brave men and women who defend the skies."

The Ukrainian Air Force reported that the pilot was Oleksiy Mes and said he died while repelling a massive Russian strike. During the air battle, three cruise missiles and one drone were destroyed, the air force said.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that an F-16 was destroyed in a crash on August 26. An unidentified U.S. official quoted by the newspaper said that, although the incident occurred during a massive Russian missile barrage, initial reports indicated that the jet wasn’t shot down by enemy fire, and it was likely crashed as a result of pilot error.

CNN reported, however, that according to sources, the Ukrainian military does not believe that pilot error was the cause of the incident. The investigation into the crash is ongoing, and international experts will be invited to participate in it.

Earlier on August, the Netherlands said it allowed the use of F-16s it donated to Ukraine to be used on Russian territory.

"We have not imposed any restrictions on the use and range of the F-16s, provided that the laws of war are observed," General Onno Eichelsheim, the commander of the Dutch armed forces, told public broadcaster NOS.

Speaking from the United States, Eichelsheim said his American colleagues "partly" agreed with his position. The Netherlands has pledged 24 F-16s to Ukraine, with the first due to arrive soon. Eichelsheim declined to say if any are currently in operation.

Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels in defiance of international demands, a confidential report by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said on August 29. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in the report, seen by Reuters and the Associated Press, that as of August 17 Iran had increased its stockpile of uranium enriched up to 60 percent by 22.6 kilograms, totaling 164.7 kilograms. Uranium enriched up to 60 percent purity is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent. The IAEA report says Tehran has also not reconsidered its September 2023 decision to ban the most experienced nuclear inspectors from monitoring its nuclear program and that IAEA surveillance cameras remain disrupted.

Sweden's Migration Agency says it will revise asylum applications filed by Belarusian citizens amid criticism that it had made decisions based on erroneous information and ignored an ongoing crackdown on dissent and democratic institutions in Belarus.

Sveriges Radio quoted Anna Lindblad of the Migration Agency on August 29 as saying "we are aware of the information and criticism directed at us."

Swedish Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told RFE/RL in a message sent by her press service that the her ministry "will conduct a legal review this autumn regarding the handling of cases from asylum seekers from Belarus."

"I will refrain from further comments on the matter until I have reviewed the results," the minister said.

"Questions regarding the Swedish government’s foreign policy is kindly directed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," the minister's response to RFE/RL's query said.

A day earlier, RFE/RL's Belarusian Service reported that a Belarusian man was arrested last week at the Lithuanian-Belarusian border after Swedish authorities rejected his asylum application and deported him to Belarus. His current whereabouts are unknown.

Zmitser Vaserman, who represents a Belarusian group in exile known as the People's Embassy of Belarus, told RFE/RL on August 29 that the Migration Agency's decision to revise Belarusians' asylum applications this autumn was made before the news about the Belarusian man's arrest following his deportation by Sweden broke a day earlier.

According to Vaserman, his group revived its talks with the Migration Agency in July after noted Belarusian opposition activist Kanstantsin Syarohin's asylum application was rejected again.

"[Syarohin's] case confirmed that despite the information on the current situation in Belarus updated in February to properly reflect the reality of mass terror in the country, the Migration Agency continues to support its previously made rulings in courts," Vaserman said.

Vaserman added that it was important that Sweden update the information but stressed that the process of decision-making on asylum applications filed by Belarusian citizens must be held with a moratorium in place on the deportation of Belarusian citizens. This would prevent the deportation of those whose applications have been denied, he said.

Earlier in August, Vaserman said at the New Belarus conference that more than 100 Belarusians applied for political asylum in Sweden and only three received it. Vaserman said then that many filed appeals against denials, while some moved to other countries to seek asylum there.

Following the disputed August 2020 presidential election in Belarus that gave authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth presidential term, mass pro-democracy demonstrations broke out across the country.

The demonstrations were brutally suppressed. In the ensuing years, officials have imprisoned hundreds of demonstration participants, often holding leading activists in near-complete isolation and denying many prisoners adequate medical care.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Mongolia, which is a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), next week, the Kremlin said on August 29. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023, accusing the president of being responsible for the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine, which constitutes a war crime. "On the invitation of the President of Mongolia Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, on September 3, 2024 Russian President Vladimir Putin will make an official visit to Mongolia to participate in ceremonial events dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the joint victory of Soviet and Mongolian forces over Japanese militarists on the Khalkhin Gol River," the Kremlin said.

A Baku court ruled that partially paralyzed Azerbaijani activist Famil Xalilov must remain in detention as preliminary hearings into his case began on August 29. Xalilov was arrested in early May on a charge of possessing a large amount of illegal drugs with a goal to sell them. Xalilov rejects the charge as politically motivated. The activist, who has been known for criticism of the South Caucasus nation's government, has been on hunger strike since August 15, protesting his arrest. His lawyers have insisted that their client must be transferred to house arrest due to his medical condition. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service, click here.

The Specialized Inter-District Court in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, on August 29 sentenced the already imprisoned ex-wife of a convicted nephew of the Central Asian nation's former authoritarian president, Nursultan Nazarbaev, to 12 years in prison.

Gulmira Satybaldy was found guilty of forcibly holding her relative and former business partner Abai Zhunusov in isolation against his will for 165 days in 2019 to force him to give up his stakes in several businesses.

Her former driver Madi Batyrshaev was convicted of assisting to forcibly hold a person in isolation and sentenced to nine years in prison.

Satybaldy is concurrently serving two sentences -- eight years for embezzlement and the illegal appropriation of shares and assets of several enterprises, and seven years for abduction and actions aiding the commission of a crime.

The sentences were handed down by a court in May and June last year.

The court ruled that Satybaldy must serve the new 12-year sentence concurrently, meaning that the total time to be spent in prison by Satybaldy would be 12 years.

Gulmira Satybaldy was arrested along with her ex-husband Qairat Satybaldy in March 2022. He was tried separately in September 2023 and sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty of fraud and embezzlement.

On August 16, a court in Kazakhstan's eastern city of Oskemen replaced Qairat Satybaldy's six-year prison sentence with a suspended sentence.

Court No. 2 in the capital of the East Kazakhstan region ruled on August 16 that Qairat Satybaldy must be released with a suspended 40-month sentence, saying the once powerful businessman and politician had returned all the money he was accused of embezzling to the State Treasury.

The probes launched against the couple were part of a series of investigations targeting relatives and allies of Nazarbaev following unprecedented anti-government protests that turned into deadly mass disorders in early January 2022.

After the deadly events, the Kazakh regime began to quietly target Nazarbaev, his family, and other allies, many of whom held powerful or influential posts in government, security agencies, and profitable energy companies.

With reporting by Vlast.kz

Georgian national Viktor Kipritidi was killed last week in Ukraine while fighting alongside Ukrainian armed forces against Russia's ongoing invasion, his son told RFE/RL on August 29. The body of the 49-year-old Kipritidi is expected to be repatriated to Georgia on August 30. Kipritidi, a native of Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia, joined Kyiv's armed forces right after Russia launched its full-scale aggression against Ukraine in February 2022. He initially joined the Georgian Legion and later became a soldier of the Ukrainian armed forces. Kipritidi is the 70th Georgian national known to have been killed in the war. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Georgian Service, click here.