Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on June 30 announced alongside allies from Austria and the Czech Republic the imminent launch of a new political alliance that he vowed would "quickly" dominate the European political right.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Since 2020, Czechia has renamed streets and landmarks around the Russian embassy in Prague after adversaries of the Kremlin. Then, in late September 2025 the Czech embassy in Moscow was vandalized, and Czechia banned entry for unaccredited Russian diplomats.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Czech President Petr Pavel says Russians in Western countries should be monitored by security services. Speaking to RFE/RL's Natalie Sedletska on June 14 in Prague, he said, "when World War II started, all Japanese population living in the United States was under a strict monitoring regime as well."| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Germany’s Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party in Hamburg has expelled local member Robert Risch from the city council after imagery analyzed by RFE/RL showed he attended a far-right forum in Russia that brought together extreme right-wing politicians.| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Internet watchdog NetBlocks has confirmed reports from inside Afghanistan that several major social media sites have been "intentionally restricted."| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Qarchak Prison, located southeast of Tehran, is Iran's largest women's detention center. Calls to close the facility have grown after multiple inmate deaths due to alleged neglect.| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Russian President Vladimir Putin last week signed a decree that appears to target the assets of foreign companies that continue to operate in Russia and currently have no connection to Russian federal property.| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Ukrainian forces are continuing to keep Russian forces from advancing into Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region. But the frontline city is under constant bombardment, which has cut off power supplies and left some neighborhoods in ruins.| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Some of the last remaining residents of Kostyantynivka live in bombed-out buildings and cook over open fires in the absence of gas or electricity. Ukrainian forces stationed here continue to repel Russian attacks with their own fleet of drones, which also provide a crucial supply line.| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
A European initiative that aims to give exiled opponents of the Kremlin and Russia’s war against Ukraine a stronger voice has accentuated rifts between some of Vladimir Putin’s most prominent foes. Former prisoner Vladimir Kara-Murza sought to ease the tension in an interview with Current Time.| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
In the Wider Europe newsletter this week, it's a Georgia double bill: Will the EU finally withdraw visa liberalization for Tbilisi, and can Brussels sanction Georgian TV stations?| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Videos of young Iranian women riding in Tehran have gone viral amid a heated debated over issuing motorcycle licenses to females. Currently, the law bans women from obtaining a license, leaving them without insurance or legal protections. A new bill aimed at addressing the issue is being debated.| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Hundreds of tons of nets protecting frontline roads and soldiers from Russian FPV drones were once used to haul herring and cod from the Baltic sea.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Ukrainian drones struck one of Russia’s largest oil refineries in Bashkortostan for the second time in a week, as Russian drone attacks on an energy facility in Kharkiv left tens of thousands without power.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
In a sudden shift, US President Donald Trump said Ukraine could win back all of its Russian-occupied territory. His remarks raise crucial questions: Could the US still impose new sanctions on Russia? Will it walk away from its efforts to end the war? Could this change Putin's calculus?| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Classmates of a 15-year-old Ukrainian killed along with three family members in the village of Lapayivka in western Ukraine expressed disbelief on October 6 over the loss. The massive attack a day earlier has been called one of the worst so far in western Ukraine.| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Ukraine's military says it hit a major oil terminal in an attack on Russian-occupied Crimea. Social media posts showed fires at the Feodosia oil facility, which supplies fuel to Russia's military.| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Russian forces struck several sites across Ukraine, including a medical facility in the Ukrainian city of Sumy, after Kyiv carried out a massive drone attack on Russia's Belgorod region, knocking out power to thousands of homes.| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
As Kazakhstan forges ahead with a plan to build up a state-of-the-art surveillance network, it's increasingly relying on Chinese hardware. That’s raising concerns among activists and experts that Astana will have new tools to track dissidents and enforce censorship.| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used his nightly video address to criticize the lack of international response as western Ukraine and other areas looked to recover following a series of Russian aerial strikes across the country killed at least five people.| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze threatened anti-government activists with further arrests as tensions remained high in the Caucasus nation following a weekend of mass protests in the country's capital, Tbilisi.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
A Czech-led initiative to supply Ukraine with ammo has delivered vital shells but faces criticism over costs, favoritism, and transparency. A Schemes report investigates what's working -- and what’s not.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
A new right-wing alliance announced recently by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been accredited in the European Parliament with French National Rally (RN) leader Jordan Bardella as its chairman, a spokesman for the Hungarian leader said via social media on July 8.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
When Czech voters head to the ballot boxes this weekend, many fear the country may turn away from its pro-European path, taking away one of Ukraine's staunchest supporters as its battle to repel invading Russian forces nears a fourth year.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Poland scrambled fighter jets after Russia launched massive missile and drone attacks on the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on October 5.| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
oland and NATO allies mobilized fighter planes and put ground forces on high alert early on October 5, as Kyiv said Russia launched a new wave of aerial attacks across Ukraine, including on the Lviv region, near the Polish border, killing at least five people.| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
A 15-year-old girl was forced into marriage with a 28-year-old man in the Surkhandarya region of Uzbekistan, her father says. Social services officials tried to prevent the wedding but it proceeded in August, garnering viral social media coverage.| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Twenty-five years ago, she was a young Serbian student protesting against Slobodan Milosevic. Now, Anja Mijovic is back on the streets as mass demonstrations rock the nation again.| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, after scoring a dramatic political comeback in the October 4 parliamentary elections, looked to reassure the West over his commitment to the EU and NATO, but he may be forced to partner with even-more Eurosceptic partners to form a government.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has made a dramatic political comeback, winning parliamentary elections four years after losing power, but now faces tough talks on forming a governing majority in a vote that’s being watched internationally for its impact on Prague’s policy on Ukraine.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
A Russian drone has hit a passenger train, killing a 71-year-old man and injuring dozens of others, including children, in the latest strike against a civilian target in the Kremlin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Ukraine is set to rename the smallest unit of its national currency – dropping the Russian-derived term “kopiyka” in favor of “shah,” a historical Ukrainian term.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Iran has confirmed that approximately 120 of its citizens will be deported from the United States and returned home this week.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Lawmakers in Georgia have recognized the mass deportation and killings of ethnic Circassians by Tsarist Russia in the 19th century as genocide| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Immigration lawyer Ali Herischi warns that US deportations of Iranian migrants are “very dangerous,” separating families and sending low-priority cases back in shackles. Critics say the policy risks returning dissidents and religious converts to persecution in Iran.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Insights and analysis about life in Iran| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Drones attacked another Russian oil refinery as Moscow continued to carry out its combined air strikes across Ukrainian regions, targeting the country's civilian and critical infrastructure.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
This edition of the Farda Briefing looks at how hard-line media in Iran view US President Donald Trump's plan to end the Gaza war.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
The European Union believes that leaks from two Russia-Germany undersea gas pipelines this week "are not a coincidence," and there are indications they were "a deliberate act," the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said September 28.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
An undersea data cable between Latvia and Sweden was damaged early on January 26, the latest in a series of similar incidents in the Baltic Sea in which critical seabed energy and communications lines are believed to have been severed by ships traveling to or from Russian ports.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Three years on, the Ukrainian city of Kupyansk is on the verge of being seized by Russia once again. This time, it reflects Ukrainian struggles as much as it does Russian determination -- and the Kremlin’s willingness to absorb mind-numbing casualties.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Polish authorities have detained a Ukrainian man suspected of involvement in the 2022 explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, prosecutors in Warsaw said on September 30.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
RFE/RL has more than 700 full-time journalists and 1,300 freelancers reporting the news in 27 languages in 23 countries. We operate where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established and provide what many people cannot get locally.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Iran has approved harsher penalties for espionage and collaboration with Israel and the United States, just days after UN experts warned of a dramatic surge in executions. Experts say the move aims to instill fear in the public and deter unrest.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Kian Sharifi is a feature writer specializing in Iranian affairs in RFE/RL's Central Newsroom in Prague. He got his start in journalism at the Financial Tribune, an English-language newspaper published in Tehran, where he worked as an editor. He then moved to BBC Monitoring, where he led a team...| www.rferl.org
Russian soprano Anna Netrebko on August 4 sued the Metropolitan Opera in New York and general manager Peter Gelb, alleging defamation, breach of contract, and other violations related to the opera’s decision to drop her following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says 24 civilians were killed in a "frankly brutal" Russian air strike on a village in eastern Ukraine and called on the international community to respond with an "appropriate reaction."| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
She has not yet taken the stage, but upcoming performances by Russian soprano Anna Netrebko at Britain’s Royal Opera House have drawn angry criticism from Kyiv and prompted protests in London as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine rages on.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Russian forces broke through Ukrainian defenses north of Pokrovsk, a serious setback for Ukrainian effort to hold back Russia’s push for the embattled Donbas city. It’s another blow to morale as Ukrainians nervously await the upcoming Trump-Putin summit in Alaska.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
The war in Ukraine has ushered in a radically different era of drone warfare -- one built not around a few elite systems but around millions of small, cheap, and expendable drones deployed by soldiers at the front. And the U.S. is scrambling to catch up.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Frank Sobchak, a retired US Army colonel and professor at the US Naval War College, says that the use of drones in the Ukraine war has created a stalemate reminiscent of World War I.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
US President Donald Trump appeared to play down the likelihood of a quick meeting of the Russian and Ukrainian leaders and again raised the possibility of new sanctions on Moscow, although he also said the Ukrainian side is not without blame.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Amid an approaching August 8 cease-fire deadline in Ukraine and ongoing US-China trade talks, the White House is looking to pressure China to stop buying Russian oil. But is Beijing willing to hurt Russia's economy?| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
The EU has approved a new sanctions package targeting Russia and Belarus, overcoming a two-month-long impasse caused by a Slovak veto. Significantly, the bloc independently agreed to lower the Russian oil price cap, signaling a shift toward greater autonomy in global economic policies.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
The arrest of two Chinese nationals in Ukraine on espionage charges this month has punctuated a shift in Kyiv’s tone toward Beijing, whose support for Russia’s war is becoming harder to ignore.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
US President Donald Trump's decision to impose a 50 percent tariff on Indian goods over its Russian oil imports has escalated tensions between Washington and one of its key Indo-Pacific allies.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Georgians in the Black Sea resort of Batumi complain their native tongue is being silenced as the Russian language grows louder with the opening of new businesses, most owned by Russians who fled here following the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Ukraine is seeking to more weapons from the West amid concerns that, even after a pair of summits in the United States, Russia is “not interested” in peace, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Mykhaylo Podolyak, told Current Time.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Ukrainian drone operators have equipped small UAVs with net launchers that can intercept Russian drones flying above the battlefield. Soldiers who spoke to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service say the unorthodox defense has helped neutralize Russian attacks and offers infantry life-saving protection.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
The Russian government, facing mounting losses in Ukraine, appears to be intensifying its coercive recruitment tactics, targeting prisoners, conscripts, and ethnic minorities from remote regions and Central Asian migrant communities to bolster its depleted forces.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Russia has been enlisting Central Asian prisoners to fight in Ukraine, throwing them on the frontline with limited military training. Some were lured with enticements, but many others faced torture and unbearable prison conditions before signing to fight.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Migrant workers in Moscow face rising police violence amid intensified crackdowns targeting Central Asians. Despite no violations, raids are increasing, fueling fear and mass deportations after recent terrorist-linked arrests and new powers granted to police.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Russia continues to recruit Central Asian migrants and convicts to fill the ranks of its depleting armed forces in Ukraine. Russian authorities use various methods -- from enticements to coercion -- to enlist Central Asians to the Kremlin's ongoing war.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
As an August 8 deadline set by US President Donald Trump to stop Russia’s war on Ukraine approaches, Moscow’s forces are pressing forward on the battlefield and killing civilians in relentless air attacks. Here’s what to watch for signs of whether US pressure will change the course of the war.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s White House visit was supposed to produce a minerals deal and send positive signals about the potential for Washington and Kyiv to work together on peace in Ukraine. Instead, it went horribly wrong, raising stark questions about what could happen next. Here are four takeaways.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
The head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, has spoken out against the Islamic State (IS) group, saying that the extremist militants are "devils" and were assisted by Western intelligence services. Kadyrov also accused IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of being a CIA operative.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
US President Donald Trump phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin to begin making arrangements for a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after a day of extraordinary meetings at the White House on August 18 as part of a push to end the war in Ukraine.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
The United States and Europe may offer Ukraine “Article 5-like” protections -- security promises modeled on NATO’s defense pact. But without full NATO membership, can such guarantees really stop Russia from striking again?| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
US President Donald Trump has written that it's going to be "a big day in the White House" as his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and European leaders arrived for talks on ending the fighting in Ukraine.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, bolstered by the presence of key European allies, will meet President Donald Trump on August 18 in a session that could help decide his embattled nation's future, even as Trump appeared to shift the burden to Zelenskyy to end the war with Russia.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
In 2023, Bosnia was shaken by the brutal live-streamed murder of Nizama Hecimovic by her ex-partner. Her killing was part of a wider global trend where technology is weaponized to promote and spread violence against women.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
More than 340 people have been killed in northwestern Pakistan, where thousands of rescuers struggled through rain and mud following deadly landslides and flooding that buried villages.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
European leaders are set to join Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s planned meeting with US President Donald Trump to discuss steps toward ending the war in Ukraine, as Moscow and Kyiv continue to exchange air strikes.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Russian officials have spent years laying the groundwork for a “managed” Internet that authorities could control and surveil. Pushing Russians away from hugely popular YouTube is key.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
A single app that can be used for everything from social media and instant messaging to government services like paying taxes. It’s a “dream scenario” for the Russian authorities, a way to dramatically expand surveillance -- and manipulate public opinion. And it’s getting close to reality.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed battlefield gains on its eastern front against Russian forces on August 16 as both sides sought military advantages ahead of Zelenskyy’s planned White House meeting with President Donald Trump.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
US President Donald Trump called his Alaska trip “great and very successful” after meeting Putin and speaking with Zelenskyy and European leaders. In Ukraine, reactions were mixed -- some criticized Putin’s warm welcome, while others remained cautiously hopeful despite no cease-fire agreement.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
No breakthrough to halt the Ukraine war was announced. Putin showed no signs of letting up. Trump showed no signs of hammering Russia with new sanctions. It could have gone worse. It could have gone better.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he will travel to Washington on August 18 to meet with US President Donald Trump to discuss ways to end the war in Ukraine.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
A much-anticipated summit between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has broken up without a deal on a cease-fire in Ukraine and with neither man taking questions from journalists at a news conference.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Russian regulators moved to restrict the popular messaging apps WhatsApp and Telegram, the latest in a major step to push Russians onto a newly launched government-managed "super app."| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
A woman dies from pregnancy related complications in Afghanistan every two hours due to a lack of access to health care and qualified medics. The situation has got even worse under the Taliban.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
As Russia presses its offensive, Ukraine faces a crisis that experts say is as critical as its shortages of ammunition and weapons: a dwindling supply of infantry.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Military officials have kept a low profile as they plan an international military mission to ensure Black Sea security as part of a Ukraine cease-fire at the headquarters of the Turkish Navy in Ankara.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Will the US recognize Crimea as Russian? Is NATO membership out of the question for Kyiv? Will Ukraine’s largest nuclear plant end up in American hands? And what about those Ukrainian valuable rare earths that Washington is laser focused on?| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
The landing ship that purportedly sank off Crimea last week is one of nearly two dozen Russian warships that Ukraine has seriously damaged or sunk since the full-scale invasion two years ago. It’s an extraordinary set of naval losses inflicted by a country that currently doesn’t even have a navy.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Despite official insistence that presidential elections cannot be held during wartime, authorities are quietly moving forward with initial preparations. If the vote does go forward, will Ukrainians continue rallying to Volodymyr Zelenskyy? Or will they seek someone else?| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
On March 16, 2014, an illegal referendum was held in Crimea as unmarked Russian soldiers, supported by some of the peninsula’s ethnic Russian population, seized public buildings and military facilities as part of Russia's occupation of the peninsula.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Attacks targeting security forces are increasing in frequency and lethality in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan, where a separatist militant group has adopted new tactics.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Pakistan appears to be implementing an Internet firewall to monitor and regulate content and social media platforms. Activists say the aim is to stifle dissent in the South Asian country. The Internet disruptions caused by the imposition of the firewall are already having an impact on businesses.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Amid soaring electricity prices, Pakistanis are switching to affordable Chinese solar panels to power their homes, small businesses, and factories. But the solar influx is leaving Islamabad with a lingering budget hole that could spark a new crisis.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day, high-stakes visit to Moscow highlighted the fine line New Delhi treads as it bolsters relations with Russia while courting closer ties with the West.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
In the parts of Ukraine that it occupies, Russia is using a militaristic youth movement to foster the loyalty of minors and prepare them to fight in Moscow’s war against their native country.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Moscow is making it easier to send children taken from Ukraine to orphanages and families in Russia -- and harder for their real families to bring them home. An RFE/RL investigation reveals details about the process that has earned President Vladimir Putin an arrest warrant for war crimes.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Belarus's vacations for children from Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine promise fun without the dangers of war -- but there's plenty of propaganda promoting the views of the Kremlin and the Belarusian state. The trips sparked Western sanctions for what a recent study called "systematic deportation."| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
April frosts and a lack of rain have harmed crops in Ukraine’s Kherson region this spring. Deadly drones and land mines don’t help, either. Russia’s war against Ukraine compounds the challenges facing farmers near the front lines.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
In Ukraine's Kherson region, north of Crimea, farmers have had to run from cover as Russian drones patrol the skies over their fields.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Ongoing global conflicts such as those in Ukraine and the Middle East, and shifting international priorities are exacerbating the dire situation for women's rights in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Afghanistan’s Taliban recently suspended chess over concerns that it encourages gambling, which is banned in Islam, a move that takes away yet another activity from the country's population.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
What will be the impact of a second Donald Trump presidency? That depends a lot on who you speak to -- with Trump backers saying he will restore U.S. might and detractors saying it will spell the end of U.S. democracy.| RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
