Margot Buff is a multimedia editor for RFE/RL.
In March 2020, Uzbek President Shavkhat Mirziyoev launched a $1 billion fund to deal with the coronavirus crisis, a number that soon swelled to $8 billion. RFE/RL's Uzbek Service identified possible causes for some of the excess spending: no-bid government contracts for costly medical facilities.
On June 30, Russia's president is holding his annual televised call-in show. In previous years, he's used the program to lay out plans for the country's future. Here's a look back at some of the promises Putin has made to the Russian public but which he has failed to deliver on.
Taliban militants have seized dozens of districts across Afghanistan as fighting has surged in recent weeks. Civilians in some parts of the country have begun mobilizing into armed militias, vowing to fight alongside troops to keep the Taliban from taking more territory.
A newly released video shows police breaking into a safe house in Daghestan, southern Russia, and seizing Khalima Taramova. The Chechen woman had fled there with a person said to be her girlfriend after what she described as beatings and threats at home.
Moscow authorities announced this week that COVID-19 vaccinations will be compulsory for public-facing workers, including teachers, taxi drivers, and salespeople. The mandate is a response to surging case numbers in Russia and low vaccination rates.
Tajik rider Malika Rajabova is used to being the only woman on the field when she plays buzkashi, a Central Asian sport in which competitors on horseback fight to grab a goat carcass. She says some men have told her she shouldn't play, but that has only heightened her motivation to win.
On June 16, Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with Vladimir Putin for the first U.S.-Russian summit of Biden's presidency. The talks in Switzerland are not expected to produce a diplomatic breakthrough, but they allow Biden to take a firm stance toward Russia in a period of icy relations.
On North Macedonia's side of Lake Ohrid, new hotels, apartment buildings, and restaurants have been built quickly, and sometimes illegally, with little regard for the region's historical character. The boom has taken an environmental toll and driven UNESCO to threaten to revise Ohrid's status.
Talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban have halted in recent weeks as extremists launched a new wave of attacks. But two former combatants say they're still holding out hope for the peace process and an eventual end to the conflict.
Fighting in Kyrgyz-Tajik border areas has died down after deadly clashes in late April, but residents of the Tajik region of Vorukh say tensions remain high. They're set apart from the rest of their country, surrounded by Kyrgyz territory, and some fear losing their freedom of movement.
Hasan Akbarov, a 31-year-old Tajik border guard, was shot dead the day before he was set to celebrate his sister's wedding. In Kyrgyzstan, border officer Isfana Bekzod Yuldashev died in the same conflict days before his 31st birthday.
Wolves, foxes, lynx, porcupines, and badgers all get starring roles on a network of cameras set up by conservationists in Georgia's Chachuna protected area. The project helps monitor the numbers and behavior of wildlife and provides clues about the overall health of the ecosystem.
RFE/RL correspondent Mohammad Ilyas Dayee was known for his intrepid reporting in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. In November 2020, he was killed by a bomb attached to his car. It was just one of many targeted attacks in the past year that have silenced vital voices in Afghanistan's embattled media.
Women living in Iranian cities say they face frequent sexual harassment, catcalls, and verbal abuse -- and many fear that those incidents mean they're not safe from violent crimes. Though street harassment is illegal, the law is rarely enforced.
Farit Zakiyev, the head of an organization that promotes Tatar language and culture, was sentenced to community service for taking part in Tatarstan's Commemoration Day. The crackdown on Zakiyev's group appears to be part of a larger pressure campaign against minority activists in Russia.
Thousands of people demonstrated in Moscow and other Russian cities on April 21 in support of Aleksei Navalny, a government critic who has been jailed since January. Navalny's health is reported to be deteriorating as he continues a hunger strike to protest the lack of medical care in prison.
One of Armenia's medieval Christian sites hides an acoustic marvel that attracts pilgrims from across the Caucasus. For those who know where to find it, a chapel carved into the cliffs of the Geghard monastery rewards singers with extraordinary sounds.
Mohammad Khan's family fled Pakistan's Waziristan region during anti-Taliban military operations and endured the hardships of life as displaced people. Determined to help other struggling families, Khan founded his own school in a poor neighborhood for kids with no other access to education.
Demonstrations have broken out in Kyrgyzstan after the bodies of a young woman and her suspected abductor were discovered after a two-day search. The woman was abducted on a city street by several people in an apparent instance of "bride kidnapping," in which victims can be forced into marriage.
Igor Krainov was detained on drug charges in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod in 2019. But CCTV footage helped him get the charges dropped and turn the tables on the police, who appeared to plant evidence in his pocket. Three officers lost their jobs and are facing a criminal investigation.
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