Ron Synovitz is a senior correspondent for RFE/RL.
Reforms in Uzbekistan that force farmers to work through "clusters" is a new form of "hidden privatization" -- a scheme used during the 1990s by corrupt officials and their private-sector cronies in Eastern Europe to plunder assets.
Mostar is in a state of limbo over its debilitated "eternal mayor." But he can't be legally replaced until fresh local elections, but court rulings and a political impasse have prevented a vote there since 2008.
A joint investigation by Swedish TV4 and RFE/RL reveals a loophole that unlocks Sweden's job market for migrants who don't have work permits.
A court in Dushanbe has convicted two private business owners of defrauding more than 200 impoverished Tajiks through a fake job recruitment scheme that falsely guaranteed them employment at an auto plant in the Czech Republic.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis is the front-runner in Romania's November 10 presidential election, with 13 other candidates hoping to advance to a second round vote on November 24. But only three are thought to have a viable chance of making it to an expected second round vote.
Council of Europe investigators say "torture and other forms of physical ill-treatment by the police and other law enforcement agencies" is "systemic and endemic" in Azerbaijan.
Black-clad, masked men in Kazakhstan are blocking media coverage of opposition events by opening umbrellas in front of video cameras.
A court ruling says the Trump administration used a "tortured" interpretation of the law to justify life-threatening delays on visa applications from Afghans and Iraqis who helped the U.S. military.
Bulgaria supports the start of North Macedonia's EU membership talks but wants tools to block its entry into the bloc unless arguments about Balkan history are resolved to Sofia's satisfaction.
A "GONGO" army of trolls has been created by repressive regimes in former Soviet republics to deflect criticism of their poor human rights records.
A Turkmen activist who disappeared in the country’s prison system last year has resurfaced in a YouTube video that claims he merely joined the army.
He survived the Srebrenica massacre, but the school in his Bosniak village follows a Bosnian Serb curriculum that denies the genocide happened.
The partner of Serbia's lesbian prime minister recently gave birth via artificial insemination. Now its Health Ministry won't let same-sex couples undergo medical procedures in Serbia that would allow them to have children.
Turkmenistan’s president resurfaced, but many of his political opponents have not been seen since they were locked up in a Turkmen jail.
Much has been written about Afghan girls who are forced to become child brides. But a painful story that few Afghans talk about is how boys also are being pushed into marriage at a young age.
Thirty years after the collapse of communism, Bulgarian high-school students are finally getting history textbooks that cover the totalitarian era in their country. But critics say the proposed textbooks contain "candid propaganda cliches" and ignore the fear and oppression of daily life.
State investigators elected by Bulgaria's ruling GERB party say they're unable to find any conflict of interest involving GERB officials who got lucrative luxury apartment deals after helping a Sofia real-estate developer.
The hit TV show is bolstering demand for related Soviet memorabilia
Overwhelmed doctors at Kabul’s Emergency Hospital refused to operate on Salema until her mother could prove her injuries were from a battle, and not domestic violence.
An Afghan woman who secretly studied literature in Herat under the Taliban's rule fears the ongoing peace process with the militant group could open a floodgate for "radical Islamists."
Load more
