Russian shelling in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region on September 20 killed two people and injured five, while a missile strike in Dnipro caused at least one injury, Ukrainian officials said.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

Russian forces used mortars to shell villages in the Kharkiv region, taking the lives of a 43-year-old man and a 53-year-old woman, said Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov. Two other women were injured. An earlier attack on other villages left two woman and a man injured, he said.

In Dnipro, one person was injured and a building was partially destroyed in an attack that occurred in the evening of September 20 after the air force warned of the threat of a strike with a ballistic weapon, the head of the regional military administration said.

"The building of an educational center was partially destroyed,” said Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration head Serhiy Lysak. He identified the injured person as a 19-year-old boy who suffered multiple wounds and a fracture.

Russian forces who occupy the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant accused Ukrainian forces on September 20 of launching a drone attack on a nearby electricity substation and posing a threat to the facility.

"A drone strike by the Ukrainian armed forces damaged a transformer at the Zarya substation located right next to the perimeter of the Zaporizhzhya station," the Russian management of the plant said on Telegram.

"This substation contributes to power supplies for the station's infrastructure. Attacking it creates a potential threat to the nuclear power station's safety," the message said.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

Russian forces seized the nuclear power plant in the early days of Moscow's full-scale invasion, and the two sides have regularly accused the other of staging attacks that endanger safety.

The UN nuclear watchdog has stationed monitors permanently at the plant and urged both sides to refrain from all attacks on it.

Meanwhile, a project to record the number of Russian servicemen killed in the war said on September 20 that the estimate now exceeds 70,000.

SEE ALSO:

'Everything Is Fine': Twin Russian Conscripts Killed Near Belgorod

Mediazona and the Russian service of the BBC have been tallying the number of Russian military deaths by conducting a name-by-name count of losses. Those counted are only the ones whose names could be established from open sources. The real number of Russian battlefield deaths is likely much higher.

According to the data, the average Russian fighter has recently changed. A typical serviceman whose death was confirmed in 2022 was about 21 years old, and he served in elite units such as special forces, airborne forces, or marines.

“Today men are increasingly going to the front aged 40, 50, and even 60 years, most often without combat experience and special training," according to the data.

Water levels on the Danube River are expected to slowly rise 50 centimeters by the evening of September 21 as Hungary and other Central European countries deal with the aftermath of a heavy rain storm that has drenched the region.

Istvan Lang, the director-general of water management in Hungary, announced on September 20 that the burden on flood protections already put in place will be very significant.

“This is a very big flood, it will cause a lot stress,” he said on Hungarian television.

Ferry services on the Danube in Hungary have been halted, and water has spilled over the city’s lower quays in Budapest, threatening to reach tram and metro lines.

Lang said the worst of the flooding from the heavy rain will last longer than expected. The Danube is receding slower than anticipated due to the significant amount of rain that fell in Germany after the outbreak of Cyclone Boris, he added.

• RFE/RL's Hungarian Service

After excessive heavy rains in Central Europe, floodwaters in the Danube are expected to peak in Budapest on September 20-21. RFE/RL has been documenting the situation in the Hungarian capital, where the Danube has already burst its banks in places. 

Lang said the area south of Budapest will largely be safe from flooding thanks to major infrastructure improvements made in the region over time following a catastrophic flood in 1956, and the country's dams are in very good condition. The embankments south of Budapest are stronger and higher following improvements and will be able to better protect against the flood waters, he said.

Zoltan Gora, Hungary's national director-general of disaster prevention, confirmed that Budapest is protected up to a 9-meter water level. Forecasts indicate that the water will reach 8.5 meters or lower.

The capital’s water authorities have also assured residents that the drinking water supply will be safe. The government water-management body has closed drinking water reservoirs that were flooded by the Danube and added extra protection to those that have not yet been flooded.

Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony added that the sewerage system is especially vulnerable, warning citizens of possible pipe breaks and inconveniences.

Embed share

Swelling Danube Breaches Banks In Hungary

Embed share

The code has been copied to your clipboard.

---

width px height px

---

The URL has been copied to your clipboard

No media source currently available

0:00 0:00:59 0:00

Flood protection has also been introduced along parts of the Danube in Serbia, the water-management authority in the Vojvodina region in the north of the country announced on September 20.

Regular flood defense measures have been implemented over 253 kilometers of the river, including on sections of the Danube embankment, from the state border with Hungary to the Kovilj area east of Novi Sad, as well as on structures of a hydroelectric power system and in rural parts.

The water-management authority in Vojvodina said that forecasts by the Hydrometeorological Institute of Serbia indicate that the Danube's water levels will rise in the coming days.

"The peak of the waves near Bezdan is expected on September 25, and near Novi Sad between September 27 and 28. Forecasts say the water level of the Danube near Novi Sad will be below the limits of emergency flood protection," the company points out.

In Romania, where the floodwaters have already wreaked havoc and dissipated, authorities said the latest tally shows six people died because of the flooding. In over 24 communities in the eastern region of Romania more than 20,000 inhabitants were affected by the floodwaters.

Residents in the worst-hit areas on the Danube in that country, Galati and Vaslui, have been cleaning up their mud-inundated homes.

With reporting by AP

Two Russians on September 20 set a record for the longest continuous stay on the International Space Station (ISS), according to Russian space agency Roskosmos.

Roskosmos said Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub broke the old record of 370 days, 21 hours and 22 minutes, which was set in September 2023 by Russians Sergei Prokopiev and Dmitry Petelin and American Francisco Rubio.

Chub and Kononenko will add several days to their total before their scheduled return to Earth on September 23.

Kononenko, 59, holds other space duration records, including the most cumulative time in space -- 1,110 days over the course of five missions by the time he lands later this month in Kazakhstan.

In comparison, the NASA astronaut with the longest cumulative days in space, Peggy Whitson, ranks eighth internationally. Whitson has been in space for a total of 675 days cumulatively in three long missions and one short term mission.

Two American astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who are currently on the ISS, have inadvertently been aboard the space station for much of the Russians' record-setting stay.

After NASA and Boeing identified helium leaks and issues with the reaction control thrusters in the astronauts’ Starliner space capsule, a decision was made to send the capsule back without Wilmore and Williams and keep them at the ISS for their own safety.

NASA said the return of the Starliner without a crew allowed it and its manufacturer, Boeing, to continue gathering testing data while at the same time not creating risk for its crew.

NASA has considered that the astronauts' extended stay means they will not be on Earth for the U.S. presidential election in November. The pair of astronauts told reporters during a press conference on September 13 that they will still have a chance to vote in the election and will use satellites to beam their votes down to Earth.

The two U.S. astronauts are set to return to Earth in February.

With reporting by AP

The Vilnius regional court has found Lithuanian lawyer Mantas Danielius guilty of spying for Belarus and sentenced him to nine years in prison.

Investigators say Danielius collected information on Belarusian opposition politicians, activists, and refugees residing in Lithuania and passed it to the Belarusian KGB via Belarusian propagandist Ksenia Lebedzeva.

The court ruling on September 20 also found Danielius guilty of attempting to intimidate a witness in his case. After he was released from pretrial detention and before his trial, Danielius sent a written message to the unspecified witness saying that he would "sharpen an ax." This court considered the message threatening to the witness and ordered his rearrest.

Danielius was initially arrested in September last year after Belarusian organizations operating in Lithuania informed law enforcement officials about his suspicious activities.

The case was jointly investigated by Lithuania’s State Security Department, Criminal Police Bureau, and the Vilnius District Prosecutor’s Office.

Prosecutors concluded that Lebedzeva had instructed Danielius on what information to collect, focusing on Belarusian organizations in Lithuania, activists who had fled Belarus to escape persecution, their evacuation routes, as well as the training and supply chains of the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment, a group of Belarusian volunteers who are fighting against invading Russian troops in Ukraine.

Investigators also say Belarusian intelligence was interested in information about top Belarusian opposition figures residing in Lithuania, including Vilnius-based opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya.

Danielius rejected all the charges, claiming that none of them had been proven during the trial and that there were no clear evidence proving that Lebedzeva was a KGB officer.

Danielius has several previous convictions for document forgery and fraud.

Tens of thousands of Belarusians have left Belarus, mostly to Lithuania and Poland, since Lukashenka claimed a sixth presidential mandate after a flawed presidential election in 2020 and unleashed a brutal crackdown on unprecedented pro-democracy demonstrations and on opposition leaders.

With reporting by DElfi and LRT

The European Union may consider the temporary cancellation of its visa-free regime with Georgia if upcoming parliamentary elections in the country are "not free and fair," the bloc's ambassador to Tbilisi said on September 20. Georgia's relations with the West have soured in recent months, with the United States and European countries accusing the government of authoritarian and pro-Russian tendencies. "If it is deemed that the elections were not free and fair, unfortunately, we will have to use the measures that we have in our toolbox," Pawel Herczynski told reporters, adding that one of those instruments is the "cancellation of the visa-free regime with the European Union." Georgian citizens have been able to visit Europe's Schengen zone of countries without a visa for up to 90 days since 2017. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Georgian Service, click here.

Ukraine's National Coordination Center for Cybersecurity on September 20 banned the use of the Telegram messenger app for state officials, military personnel, and employees of key infrastructure, citing security issues. The center quoted intelligence chief Kirill Budanov as saying that there was "grounded information" about Russian intelligence's ability to access correspondence by Telegram users and their personal data. Those who use Telegram as "part of their job duties" will not be affected by the move. Last month, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov, a native of Russia, was detained in Paris and later released on bail for alleged "complicity in the administration of an online platform to allow an illicit transaction, in an organized gang." To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

Russia's Supreme Court rejected appeals filed by four Crimean Tatars against the lengthy prison terms they were handed on extremism charges they have rejected, lawyer Emil Kurbedinov said on September 20. Seitumer Seitumerov, Osman Seitumerov, Amet Suleimanov, and Rustem Seitmemetov -- all residents of Ukraine's Russian-occupied Crimea region -- were sentenced to 17, 14, 12, and 13 years in prison respectively in October 2021 for being members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamic group that is banned in Russia and listed as an extremist organization but is allowed in Ukraine. The Memorial rights group has declared the four men political prisoners. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Crimea.Realities, click here.

Bashkir activist Zagir Mukhamedyarov, who fled Russia fearing arrest, has been allowed to stay in the United States. The 27-year-old activist told RFE/RL on September 20 that a court in the town of Jena, Louisiana, officially granted him the status of withholding of removal, which allows him to legally stay and work in the country. Mukhamedyarov told RFE/RL earlier that he had to leave Russia amid a wave of arrests of Bashkir campaigners who had taken part in mass rallies protesting the imprisonment of activist Fail Alsynov in mid-January. Mukhamedyarov was among the protesters. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Idel.Realities, click here.

The U.S. charge d'affaires at the embassy in Minsk on September 20 condemned a video broadcast on Belarusian state television that showed imprisoned U.S.-Belarusian citizen Yuras Zyankovich begging, likely under duress, for help from U.S. presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

"I resolutely condemn the Belarusian regime's reprehensible depiction of a detained U.S. citizen on state media for propaganda purposes and refute the baseless claims made in the program," Peter Kaufman said in a statement.

"The regime's history of using coercive tactics to produce content like this strongly calls into question the voluntary nature of the U.S. citizen's participation," he said, adding that U.S. citizens "should not travel to Belarus and those in Belarus should depart immediately."

Zyankovich was arrested in April 2021 and sentenced to 11 years in prison in September 2022 on charges of allegedly planning to assassinate authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka and his family and seize power in the country.

In January 2022, an additional six months were added to his sentence on a charge of insulting an official.

Late on September 19, Zyankovich, who looked to have lost a significant amount of weight, appeared in a propaganda film aired by state-run Belarus-1 TV where he "repents."

Under apparent duress, Zyankovich gave details of the alleged plan to overthrow Lukashenka's government.

At the end of the film, Zyankovich makes an appeal to U.S. presidential candidates Harris and Trump, asking them to help secure his release and reunite him with his family in Houston, Texas.

Analysts said that the appeal, orchestrated by Belarusian authorities amid the release of over 100 political prisoners in recent months, appears to be part of Minsk's attempt to engage in dialogue with the West.

Zyankovich is serving his term in a prison in the eastern region of Mahilyou, notorious for its harsh treatment of political detainees.

Rights defenders said earlier this year that Zyankovich was charged with violation of the penitentiary's internal regulations and may face an additional year in prison if tried and convicted on that charge.

Human rights organizations have declared Zyankovich a political prisoner.

At least six Pakistani soldiers were killed and 10 others wounded in the restive South Waziristan area when a group of heavily armed militants attacked an army checkpoint overnight, officials said on September 20. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the assault. The South Waziristan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province near the Afghan border is one of Pakistan's most volatile regions. The area was once controlled by Islamist militants linked to Al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban before they were pushed across the border in an offensive in 2014.

Polish authorities have arrested the former lawyer of late Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky in an investigation related to attacks on Russian opposition figures, Polish radio reported on September 20. The arrest of the lawyer, identified by prosecutors only as Anatoly B, had earlier been reported by independent Russian media, Polish private radio channel RMF FM said. A spokesperson for the National Prosecutors' Office confirmed the arrest but declined to give a reason. NATO member Poland has arrested several people in recent months in connection with acts of sabotage on its territory that it says were committed on Russian orders.

Zubaidulloh Roziq, an 80-year-old former member of Tajikistan's banned Islamic Renaissance Party (IRPT), has been moved from a prison hospital back to jail despite his ill-health and advanced age, relatives say. Roziq's son, Hisomiddin, said on September 20 that his father, who suffers from a heart condition, was hospitalized in August. Roziq was arrested in a government clampdown on the IRPT in 2015, when the main opposition party was banned and branded a "terrorist organization." Roziq was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his alleged connection to a failed anti-government coup attempt, a charge he denies. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Tajik Service, click here.

A court in Russia's western exclave of Kaliningrad sentenced a resident of the town of Svetlogorsk to six years in prison on September 19 for online posts criticizing Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The court found Andrei Lugovoi guilty of spreading false information about the Russian armed forces based on politically motivated hatred. He was also banned from administering websites for four years.

The charge stemmed from several posts by Lugovoi in 2022 on an online messenger about Russia's missile attacks on Ukrainian towns and cities that killed many civilians and alleged atrocities committed by occupying Russian soldiers against Ukrainian citizens.

Russia has denied targeting civilians in its attacks on Ukrainian cities and has repeatedly denied its forces have committed any war crimes even with mounting evidence that it has targeted hospitals, residential areas, cultural centers, and other nonmilitary installations.

Lugovoi was arrested in December 2023 after police searched his grandmother's apartment, where he was officially registered, and confiscated a laptop, two mobile phones and routers.

Lugovoi has maintained his innocence.

Dozens of Russian journalists, bloggers, and Internet users have been handed prison terms on the charge of distributing false information about Russian armed forces since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In the weeks following the invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law bills criminalizing any criticism of the Russian armed forces and the war in Ukraine.

In February, Putin signed a bill allowing for the confiscation of property and assets of individuals convicted of distributing "false" information about Russia's armed forces, calls to violate Russia's territorial integrity, calls for sanctions against Russia and its citizens, collaborating to implement decisions by international organizations Russia does not take part in, rehabilitating Nazism, and other charges related to laws adopted after Moscow launched its full-scale aggression against its neighbor.

Russell Bentley, a Texas man who as the "Donbas Cowboy" gained notoriety for joining Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine, was tortured before being killed in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Donetsk, Russian authorities said.

They also said that his alleged abductors tried to cover up the death by detonating a car containing his body.

In a statement released on September 20, the Investigative Committee said four members of the Russian armed forces -- Vitaly Vansyatsky, Vladislav Agaltsev, Vladimir Bazhin, and Andrei Iordanov -- had been charged in connection with Bentley’s death in April.

Bentley, 64, was a fixture in the low-level Russian incursion in Ukraine dating back to 2014. Calling himself the Donbas Cowboy, Bentley became a popular figure on Russian propaganda networks for his criticism of the U.S. government.

Bentley, whose military call sign was Texas, went missing in Donetsk in April.

Margarita Simonyan, Russia's leading pro-Kremlin journalist and editor in chief of the state-controlled broadcaster RT, wrote on X at the time that Bentley died for "our people" in Donetsk.

The commander of the Russia-backed separatists' Vostok Battalion, Aleksandr Khodakovsky, said on Telegram then that "those who killed Russell Bentley" will face "punishment." But the message was removed from Telegram shortly after it was posted.

Bentley’s wife, Lyudmila, then claimed that Russian soldiers from a tank battalion abducted him.

According to the Investigative Committee, Vansyatsky, Agaltsev, and Iordanov tortured Bentley on April 8, and he died shortly afterward.

Vansyatsky and Agaltsev are suspected of blowing up a car with Bentley’s body in it and ordering Bazhin to get rid of what was left of his remains.

The four men have been charged with abuse of power, torture that led to a death, desecration of a body, and conspiracy to hide a body.

The Investigative Committee did not specify why the four men tortured Bentley to death, but many of his friends in Donetsk have suggested that the Texan may have been mistaken for a spy.

Bentley fought for the Vostok battalion between 2014 and 2017 and obtained Russian citizenship in 2021.

The European Commission will provide Ukraine with a new loan of up to $39 billion, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced in Kyiv on September 20, calling it "another major EU contribution to Ukraine's recovery."

"Relentless Russian attacks means Ukraine needs continued EU support," von der Leyen said in a post on X.

Speaking in a joint press conference with von der Leyen, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his country's "victory plan" in the war against Russia depended on quick decisions being made by allies this year.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

Zelenskiy said Ukraine plans to use the funds for air defense, energy, and domestic weapons purchases.

The loan is part of a wider plan among the Group of Seven (G7) countries to raise funds to support Kyiv using proceeds from some $300 billion in Russian financial assets frozen as part of sanctions against Moscow for invading Ukraine.

After months of discussions, the European Union in May struck a deal among its member states under which 90 percent of the proceeds would go into an EU-run fund for military aid for Ukraine, with the other 10 percent going to support Kyiv in other ways.

Von der Leyen's visit to the Ukrainian capital comes a day after she announced the EU will provide an additional $178 million to help Ukraine repair damaged energy infrastructure, expand renewable energy, and finance shelters.

Ahead of the meeting with Zelenskiy, the EU chief said she was in Kyiv to discuss Europe's support to Ukraine "from winter preparedness to defense, to accession and progress on the G7 loans."

"My 8th visit to Kyiv comes as the heating season starts soon, and Russia keeps targeting energy infrastructure," von der Leyen said in a post on X early on September 20.

Zelenskiy met with top military leaders later on September 20 to discuss the deployment of Patriot missile systems to protect Ukraine's energy infrastructure in the winter.

He said the meeting covered the level of protection for energy infrastructure, the schedule for the completion of fortifications, and the placement of air defense systems, including U.S.-made Patriot systems, which are expected to be delivered "in the near future."

Earlier this week, the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that the coming winter could be the hardest yet for Ukraine, as the country's energy infrastructure is under significant pressure amid Russian strikes on its power plants, heating plants, and transmission networks.

"Strains that are bearable in the summer months may become unbearable when temperatures start to fall and supplies of heat and water falter, triggering further displacement of affected populations across the country and abroad," the IEA said.

Ukraine's air force said on September 20 that air defenses destroyed 61 out of 70 Russian drones and one out of four missiles launched overnight.

"The air defense system operated in Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, Vinnytsya, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Sumy, Poltava, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Khmelnytskiy, Mykolayiv, Odesa, and Kherson regions," the air force said on Telegram.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties in the latest nighttime attacks.

Officials in the Lviv region reported that falling debris caused a fire in a village and also damaged three vehicles and shattered windows in residential buildings.

"The premises of the former collective farm caught fire, which firefighters promptly extinguished," the head of the regional military administration Maksym Kozytskiy wrote on Telegram.

With reporting by dpa, AFP, and Reuters

Alsu Kurmasheva, an RFE/RL journalist who was released in August in a major prisoner swap between Russia and the West, is among four reporters to be honored with the prestigious 2024 International Press Freedom Award, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has announced.

"CPJ's International Press Freedom Awardees symbolize the vital work carried out by reporters everywhere to report facts in the face of fierce attempts to suppress truth," CPJ chief executive Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement on September 19.

"In what has been a devastating year for journalists and for press freedom, it is an honor to stand with them," Ginsberg said.

Kurmasheva, 47, will receive the award in November along with the other three honorees -- Palestinian journalist Shrouq al-Aila, Guatemalan reporter Quimy de Leon, and Samira Sabou from Niger, the CPJ statement said.

Shortly after the CPJ announcement, Kurmasheva said the recognition from the media watchdog “is deeply meaningful” to her.

“CPJ played a pivotal role in advocating for my release, and for that, I am eternally grateful. I’m honored to stand alongside three remarkable journalists whose stories of courage and resilience continue to inspire me,” Kurmasheva said on September 20.

Kurmasheva, a dual Russian-U.S. citizen, was detained in June 2023 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.

WASHINGTON -- Armenian activists urged members of the U.S. Congress to use the upcoming COP29 climate change conference in Baku to draw attention to alleged human rights abuses in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

SEE ALSO:

Church, Entire Village 'Erased' In Azerbaijan's Recaptured Nagorno-Karabakh

Six Armenian activists testified on September 19 before a congressional human rights commission, outlining numerous alleged human rights abuses by Azerbaijan, as well as steps the United States can take to further support Armenia and its people.

The hearing before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission aimed to explore “how the United States, Congress and the Executive Branch can do more to protect Armenia,” according to Representative Chris Smith (Republican-New Jersey), co-chairman of the commission, previously known as the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

COP29, the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference, is set to be held in the capital of Azerbaijan in November. The event, which draws national leaders from across the globe, has garnered criticism for being held in an oil-rich nation with an ever-growing list of alleged human rights violations.

During the hearing, Gegham Stepanian, a human rights defender from Nagorno-Karabakh, said Azerbaijan "is not being held accountable,” complaining that the United Nations is allowing Baku to host COP29 even with what he called “ethnic cleansing through forced displacement.”

Smith reiterated that message, expressing frustration and disappointment that the United States didn’t object to Azerbaijan hosting COP29. He said far more needs to be done regarding “clear and unmistakable human rights abuses.”

SEE ALSO:

Rights Group Demands Azerbaijan Release Samadov, Other Critics

The hearing came as Armenia marked the one-year anniversary of Azerbaijan’s lightning military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, which led to the displacement of over 100,000 ethnic Armenians. At the time, Azerbaijan pledged equal treatment for those who fled. It has also denied accusations of ethnic cleansing.

Since then, Azerbaijan and Armenia have held negotiations on a peace treaty that the two sides earlier this month said was 80 percent complete.

Adam Smith, co-director of the Caucasus Heritage Watch, told the commission that other alleged abuses have taken place in Nagorno-Karabakh, accusing Azerbaijan of undertaking “one of the most expansive and intense examples of cultural erasures.”

According to Adam Smith, in the past year alone 14 culturally significant sites including cemeteries and churches have been destroyed, with 12 others having suffered significant damage.

Alleged human rights abuses in Nagorno-Karabakh make up only some of the violations that have led to condemnation of COP29 being held in Baku. According to Kate Watters, co-founder and executive director of Crude Accountability, an environmental and social justice organization, there are 303 political prisoners currently being held in Azerbaijan, many of whom are journalists.

Watters called on Congress to “demand the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners” in Azerbaijan.

With COP29 looming, Van Krikorian, co-chair of the Armenian Assembly of America, called on the United States to use the platform and location to highlight points that the Armenian activists have raised. He asked that the name of every political prisoner in Azerbaijan be read aloud when the U.S. delegate takes the floor at the climate conference. He also implored delegates not to stay in any hotel or other accommodation on land that had previously belonged to ethnic Armenians.

In his closing remarks to the commission, Chris Smith promised he would do everything in his power to bolster support for Armenia. He added that the international community should “pursue a war crimes tribunal” to pursue the alleged actions taken by top Azerbaijan officials in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The European Parliament on September 19 passed a resolution on political prisoners in Belarus that called on Serbia not to extradite Belarusian activist and journalist Andrey Hnyot (aka Andrew Gnyot).

The resolution, which was adopted 565-8 with 43 abstentions, also called on political prisoners in Belarus to be released, for the regime in Minsk to be held accountable, and for an end to the persecution of Belarusian citizens in exile.

The resolution noted the "abuse of Interpol arrest warrants to achieve extradition of political opponents from non-EU countries."

Hnyot was arrested at Belgrade's airport in late October 2023 on an Interpol warrant issued by Belarus, which has since been revoked. The arrest warrant accused Hnyot of tax evasion, a charge he denies. He has been under house arrest while awaiting Serbia's final decision on his extradition.

The European Parliament’s resolution calls on Serbia to refrain from extraditing Hnyot and for the EU and member states to monitor his case.

SEE ALSO:

Belarusian Activist Submits Appeal Of Public Figures To Serbian President Calling For His Release

Hnyot says all accusations against him are false and part of the Belarusian regime’s “horrific repression against political dissidents, journalists, and activists.” He says he would be tortured if he were returned to Belarus.

He is one of hundreds of thousands of Belarusian citizens who took part in mass demonstrations in 2020 challenging the victory claimed by authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka that gave him a sixth consecutive term.

Western countries do not recognize the results of those elections, and the European Union imposed sanctions on Minsk over the repression of participants in the demonstrations.

There are more than 1,500 political prisoners in Belarusian prisons. Among them are journalists, human rights activists, and politicians.

The European Parliament resolution urged the Belarusian authorities to supply information about their situation and allow them access to lawyers, family members, and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

"The Belarusian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release all of them," members of the parliament added.

The resolution also expressed concern over the estimated 300,000 Belarusians who have been forced to leave Belarus since 2020 and now face political persecution abroad.

The resolution called on the EU and its member states to strengthen sanctions against the individuals and entities responsible for repression in Belarus and work toward holding the Lukashenka regime accountable for its crimes.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic party's presidential nominee, will hold separate meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on September 26, the White House said in a statement on September 19. "The leaders will discuss the state of the war between Russia and Ukraine, including Ukraine's strategic planning and U.S. support for Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression," White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said in the statement. "The president and vice president will emphasize their unshakeable commitment to stand with Ukraine until it prevails in this war," she added. The Ukrainian presidency announced separately that Zelenskiy also will meet former U.S. President Donald Trump, the Republican party's presidential nominee.

The United States on September 19 imposed sanctions on a network of five entities and one individual for allegedly enabling payments between Russia and North Korea, the Treasury Department said.

The entities and the individual are based in Russia and the Georgian region of South Ossetia, the department said in a news release. They are accused of actions that “supported ongoing efforts to establish illicit payment mechanisms” between Russia and the North Korea.

"Today's action holds accountable parties that have assisted [North Korea] and Russian sanctions evasion," the Treasury Department said.

Western powers have accused cash-strapped North Korea of selling ammunition to Russia in defiance of sanctions over the more than 30-month-old war in Ukraine, and North Korea has recently bolstered military ties with Russia.

SEE ALSO:

North Korea Pledges Deeper Ties With Russia As Security Chief Visits

President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to Pyongyang in June and signed a "comprehensive strategic partnership" that calls for mutual assistance in the event of an attack by a third country.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who met with Putin, said the agreement opened a new era of cooperation. Kim made further pledges to deepen ties with Russia after meeting last week with visiting Russian security chief Sergei Shoigu.

The new sanctions announced on September 19 expose how Putin's government uses illegal financial schemes to help North Korea access the international banking system in violation of UN Security Council sanctions, the Treasury Department said.

The announcement also “underscores our significant concern” over efforts by Russia and North Korea to deepen financial cooperation in violation of UN resolutions, said Acting Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith.

The United States has previously sanctioned many of the entities and individuals providing assistance to North Korea's ballistic missile program. International sanctions against North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear program were imposed after its first nuclear test in 2006.

In his farewell after leading NATO for a decade, Jens Stoltenberg warned against “isolationism” among members of the military alliance, saying its 32 members must be "willing to pay the price for peace" in the face of an emboldened Russia.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

Speaking from NATO headquarters in Brussels on September 19, Stoltenberg highlighted the achievements since he assumed office in 2014, as well as ongoing challenges at a time when its relevance is "more important than ever."

“The good news is that we have delivered on the pledge we made 10 years ago [for individual members to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense], but the bad news is that this is no longer enough to keep us safe,” Stoltenberg said, suggesting that the spending target will not be enough to protect the alliance in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia.

"We have to be willing to pay the price for peace. The more money, the stronger our defenses, the more effective our deterrence, the greater our security," he said.

The 65-year-old Norwegian warned alliance members not to “trade short-term economic interests for long-term security needs,” saying that “protectionism against allies does not protect our security.”

Turning to Russia's war against Ukraine, which has become a contentious issue among some members who have questioned NATO’s strong support for Kyiv, Stoltenberg said that “Ukraine has to engage with Russia from a position of strength.”

Any future peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, he said, “must be backed by strong and sustained military support, not just pieces of paper.”

He also warned that “military power has its limits,” saying that “the purpose of any future military operation outside NATO territory must be clearly defined.”

“We need to be honest about what we can and cannot achieve,” he said of the grouping of two North American and 30 European states.

Addressing “voices” on both sides of the Atlantic calling for a parting of ways, he said that “investing in the transatlantic relationship is the only winning way forward” and that “isolationism will not keep anyone safe.”

Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway who will return to his homeland to become central bank chief, will hand the reins over to former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on October 1.

Embed share

Exclusive: Ukrainians Use Captured Russian Artillery To Defend Donbas Town

Embed share

The code has been copied to your clipboard.

---

width px height px

---

The URL has been copied to your clipboard

No media source currently available

0:00 0:01:46 0:00

In his last months in office, Stoltenberg has tried to unify NATO members, with member Hungary presenting obstacles to the alliance’s support for Ukraine and Prime Minister Viktor Orban saying it would not provide funds or military equipment to aid Kyiv.

Stoltenberg has also tried to calm nerves over suggestions that former U.S. President Donald Trump would attempt -- if reelected in November -- to withdraw Washington from NATO.

At the NATO summit in Washington in July, he stressed that it was in the interests of all members to remain united and downplayed Trump’s desire to leave, saying that his main concern during his first term was to get members to reach their defense-spending targets.

Stoltenberg has also said that NATO could have done more to prevent the war in Ukraine had its members provided military equipment to Kyiv before Russia’s all-out invasion in February 2022.

He lamented that NATO had not provided the weaponry that Kyiv requested because of fears that doing so would escalate tensions with Moscow.

During the July summit, he strongly backed Ukraine’s irreversible path to NATO membership, saying that its “future is in NATO.”

With Ukraine strongly lobbying its partners to permit its military to use donated weapons to strike deeper into Russia, Stoltenberg weighed in on the controversial subject by saying in an interview with The Times this weak that granting permission would not be a red line for Moscow.

The Kremlin on September 18 called the comments by the outgoing NATO secretary-general “dangerous."

Russian media reports on September 19 said the Investigative Committee has launched a probe against Kirill Martynov, the chief editor of the Latvia-based Novaya Gazeta Europe on a charge of "conducting activities of an undesirable organization." In June 2023, the Prosecutor-General's Office labeled the media outlet "undesirable," saying that the newspaper publishes "false information" about Russian armed forces involved in Moscow's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Novaya Gazeta Europe was established by Russian journalists after the Kremlin launched its full-scale aggression against Ukraine in February 2023. Martynov vowed then that his periodical will continue its operations. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

Vladislav Bakalchuk, the husband of Russia's richest woman, Tatyana Bakalchuk, has been detained for 48 hours after a deadly shoot-out at the offices of Wildberries, the country's largest online retailer, founded and led by his estranged wife.

Bakalchuk's lawyers said on September 19 that their client was charged with murder, attempted murder, attacking a law enforcement officer, and the "forcible assertion of private right" as a result of the violence a day earlier.

The lawyers added that Bakalchuk had rejected all of the charges and considers them "absurd."

According to the lawyers, Bakalchuk insists that he and his people, including a lawyer, came to the Wildberries offices on September 18 for talks with his wife and her team to resolve business-related differences.

The Bakalchuks, who have seven children, are currently in the process of a divorce.

The Investigative Committee said hours after the incident that left two security guards dead and seven people, including two police officers, wounded, that it had launched an investigation into the "elements of crimes" -- including murder, the attempted murder of two or more people, illegal weapons possession, the attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, and the "forcible assertion of private right."

The press service of Wildberries said Vladislav Bakalchuk and several other men tried to "illegally break into" the offices of the company at two locations at the same time.

Tatyana Bakalchuk said on Telegram on September 19 that her company was mourning the deaths "of our guys," adding that the families of the deceased men will receive "necessary support."

Media reports identified the two men killed in the incident as Islambek Elmurziyev, 28, and Adam Almazov, 41. Both were from the North Caucasus region of Ingushetia.

The Ostorozhno, Moskva Telegram channel reported on September 18 that 10 people allegedly involved in the standoff -- some of whom are thought to be ethnic Chechens -- were detained at the site.

The RIA Novosti news agency quoted law enforcement officials as saying that a total of around 30 people were detained and taken in for questioning after the incident.

Tatyana Bakalchuk, 48, is the richest woman in Russia. She was born to an ethnic Korean family in October 1975 in Grozny, then the capital of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Forbes estimates her worth at more than $4 billion.

Wildberries has benefited from sanctions imposed following Russia's invasion of Ukraine as Western e-commerce firms pulled out of the country.

Company revenue jumped 70 percent last year to 539 billion rubles ($5.8 billion) while its net profit rose to 19 billion rubles ($205 million).

Tatyana Bakalchuk filed for divorce after her husband asked the Kremlin-backed authoritarian leader of the North Caucasus region of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, for help in a conflict with his wife in July, claiming plans to merge Wildberries with Russ Group were harmful for the company and amounted to a hostile takeover.

Tatyana Bakalchuk was the sole owner of her empire until December 2019, when she transferred 1 percent of her business to her husband.

She is believed to have ties to powerful political figures in the Russian government, including Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and his first deputy, Denis Manturov.

Russia experienced a wave of armed business raids in the turbulent decade immediately following the collapse of communism as groups fought over valuable former state assets. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there has been a reversal, with the state seizing ownership of not only former state assets but private businesses launched after 1991.

With reporting by Izvestia, TASS, Ostorozhno, Moskva and RIA Novosti

Iran has evacuated its ambassador from Lebanon and 95 other patients following injuries sustained in pager explosions, officials said. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi visited the injured diplomat, Mojtaba Amani, at a hospital in Tehran on September 19. State media initially reported that Amani suffered a "slight injury" after hundreds of pagers exploded on September 17. The Lebanese Hezbollah militia, a U.S.-designated terrorist group that was the target of the explosions, is Iran's most important nonstate ally. A second wave of communication devices -- this time walkie-talkies -- blew up on September 18. Israel has not publicly admitted responsibility, but the country is widely assumed to be behind the coordinated blasts.

Bosnia-Herzegovina has missed the deadline to file a reform agenda necessary to receive EU Growth Plan funds. The funds slated for Western Balkan countries are earmarked by Brussels to boost the rule of law, democracy, institutional reforms, and anti-corruption efforts. Bosnia sent a document to the European Commission on September 17, but it did not adequately address the commission's reform recommendations, according to sources in Brussels familiar with the issue. The Instrument for Preaccession Assistance, which supports reforms for EU-candidate countries, has postponed its meeting to discuss the reform agendas until October due to Sarajevo's failure to meet the deadline. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Balkan Service, click here.