Features

• August 29, 2025

  Iran Weighs Response As 'Snapback' Sanctions Set in Motion

  Without a compromise with European powers, international sanctions will be reinstated against Iran in about a month. Tehran has 30 days to find a diplomatic breakthrough while also exploring options to retaliate, which include abandoning the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

• August 29, 2025

  Russian Strike On Kyiv Kills 22 People In A Single Building

  Survivors of Russia's large-scale missile and drone attack on Kyiv on August 28 speak to RFE/RL's Current Time about how they managed to escape, and the search for loved ones.

• August 29, 2025

  Iran's Fragile Economy Braces For More Instability After Sanctions Snapback

  This edition of the Farda Briefing looks at growing concerns in Iran over the fallout from the reinstatement of UN sanctions, even as officials seek to downplay their impact.

• August 29, 2025

  With Music Inspired By War, An Orchestra Shows 'You Cannot Silence Ukrainians'

  The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, an ensemble of musicians from across Ukraine, is touring Europe with new symphonic works that draw on the country’s recent history of tragedy and resilience.

• August 29, 2025

  Goodbye, Lenin Street: Kyrgyzstan Continues Drive To Dismantle Monuments To Soviet Legacy

  Kyrgyzstan has removed two more statues of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin and ditched his name from many streets and schools as the country continues to shed its Soviet legacy. A Russian lawmaker, meanwhile, urged Moscow to punish Kyrgyzstan for its “unfriendly action.”

• August 28, 2025

  An Arctic Test Of A 'Flying Nuclear Reactor' And Signs Russia Closer To A New Weapon

  Russia is pushing ahead full-steam to develop a nuclear-powered, nuclear-capable cruise missile called the Burevestnik. The latest evidence was a flurry of activity on the Arctic archipelago of Novaya Zemlya in July and August, suggesting yet another test.

• August 28, 2025

  'It Changed My Life': 10 Years On, Europe's Refugee Crisis Casts A Long Shadow

  A translator remembers babies kept in pizza boxes at a refugee camp in Serbia. Ten years after Europe’s refugee influx, RFE/RL caught up with three people it interviewed at the height of the crisis in 2015 to see how it had changed their lives.

• August 27, 2025

  US Citizen On Trial In Russia After Abrupt Arrest, Alleged Abuse

  Timur Kishukov, a US citizen who has lived near Chicago for years, was arrested last fall during a visit to his native Russian region of Kabardino-Balkaria. After alleged abuse and harsh conditions in jail, he's on trial on terrorism charges despite what supporters say is minimal evidence.

• August 27, 2025

  Nuclear Inspectors Return To Iran But Unlikely To Stop Snapback Sanctions

  IAEA inspectors are back in Iran after a two-month pause, but their limited mission is unlikely to halt the looming return of UN sanctions. With key sites still off-limits and enriched uranium unaccounted for, European powers demand that Tehran act fast or face deeper isolation.

• August 27, 2025

  Turkmenistan Orders Cultural Performers To Lose Weight -- Or Their Jobs

  Authorities in Turkmenistan’s Balkan region have ordered “overweight” actors, dancers, and everyone else who is employed in the culture sector to lose weight by September 27, the Independence Day. Officials have threatened that those who fail to get slim, will be “banished” from the sector.

• August 27, 2025

  Ukrainian Commander Says 'More Effort' Needed To Push Back Russian Advance In East

  The commander of a Ukrainian unit fighting near the town of Dobropillya in eastern Ukraine has told RFE/RL that it will not be easy to regain territory seized by Russian forces in a sudden advance earlier this month.

• August 26, 2025

  Putin's Bookcase: Kremlin Is Passing Off Old Footage As New, RFE/RL Finds

  At least five times this year, the Kremlin has published previously recorded footage of President Vladimir Putin and passed it off as fresh, RFE/RL’s Russian investigative unit has found. The giveaway: A rearrangement of the Russian constitution and other tomes in a bookcase behind Putin’s desk.

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