A cache of weapons and ammunition was seized in northern Kosovo on May 14 that authorities believe had been left there since a deadly attack in September 2023. Police chief Gazmend Hoxha said a former officer had been detained and questioned after the seizure. The cache included rifles, bullets, stun grenades, and explosives. Hoxha said the weapons belonged to a Serbian armed group responsible for last year's attack on police officers in Banjska. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Balkan Service, click here.

Iran's judiciary chief said on May 14 that former Agriculture Minister Javad Sadatinejad was sentenced to three years in prison in connection with a corruption case involving the import of animal feed. Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei did not say when the verdict was issued or whether Sadatinejad was serving his sentence. Sadatinejad was appointed agriculture minister by President Ebrahim Raisi in September 2021 but was dismissed in April 2023 amid growing criticism over unfulfilled promises and corruption allegations. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.

An Astana court on May 14 fined activist Elvira Bekzadina of the unregistered Algha, Qazaqstan (Forward, Kazakhstan) opposition party 110,760 tenges ($250) on a charge of disobeying police. Police detained Bekzadina two days earlier when she was going to hold a public poll on the results of President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev's time in office since March 2019. Bekzadina rejected the charge, accusing the police of physically abusing her during her detention. In November, a court in Astana sentenced the chairman of Algha, Qazaqstan, Marat Zhylanbaev, to seven years in prison on extremism charges that he also rejects as politically motivated. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.

A Kyrgyz court on May 14 sentenced government critic and journalist Oljobai Shakir (aka Egemberdiev) to five years in prison on a charge of making calls online for mass unrest. Shakir was arrested in August 2023, days after he criticized the government's decision to hand four spa centers near Lake Issyk-Kul to Uzbekistan and called President Sadyr Japarov and the State Committee of National Security chief Kamchybek Tashiev to participate in public debates with him. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit China on May 16-17, according to the Kremlin's website. Putin is scheduled to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, and Prime Minister Li Qiang. Putin will also take part in several events devoted to Russian-Chinese relations. It will be Putin's first foreign trip since his reelection to a fifth term in office in March. Putin, for whom an international arrest warrant has been issued by the International Criminal Court, has rarely traveled abroad since launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Beijing has not condemned the attack. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Russian rapper Nikolai Vasilyev, who served 25 days in jail for attending the controversial "Almost Naked" party in Moscow wearing only a sock on his genitalia, has fled Russia, his colleague Yana Dzhalyu said on May 14. After serving his jail term, Vasilyev, known on stage as Vacio, was summoned to a military recruitment center. Pictures and videos taken at the party attended by many celebrities appeared online and caused a scandal among pro-Kremlin activists and lawmakers in late December 2023. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Russia's Emergencies Ministry said on May 14 that the number of people killed in a residential building collapse in the city of Belgorod two days before has risen to 17 after rescue teams found two more bodies. Russian authorities said the deaths occurred when a building collapsed in the border region of Belgorod after fragments from a Ukrainian-fired missile shot down by Russian air defenses hit it. The Conflict Intelligence Team investigative group has cast doubt on the Russian claim, saying the apartment building was most likely hit by either a Russian missile or bomb. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

A court in Siberia sentenced a resident of Novosibirsk on May 14 to 12 years in prison on charges of attempted sabotage in 2022 and having links with the Freedom of Russia legion, a group fighting alongside Ukrainian forces against occupying Russian troops. The court also ordered 48-year-old Dmitry Gurulyov to pay a 300,000 ruble ($3,265) fine. Gurulyov pleaded not guilty, insisting that he had contacted the Freedom of Russia legion before it was officially labelled as a "terrorist" organization by the state. His lawyers also say that their client had abandoned any plans of committing sabotage after failing in his attempts to make an explosive device. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities, click here.

Russia's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by jailed dissident and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza against his conviction and 25-year sentence, the longest prison term handed to a Kremlin opponent in post-Soviet Russia. Kara-Murza was convicted of treason and discrediting the military over his criticism of the invasion of Ukraine and other government actions in speeches outside Russia. Local media reported the court decision on May 14. Kara-Murza was arrested in 2022 upon his return to Russia following talks in the United States and Europe where he called President Vladimir Putin a war criminal for his decision to invade Ukraine. A month before his arrest, Putin signed legislation that essentially outlawed criticism of the war.

Lieutenant General Yury Kuznetsov, who heads the personnel directorate of Russia's Defense Ministry, has been arrested in a corruption case after more than $1 million in cash and valuables were found during a search at his residence amid an ongoing crackdown on top military officials in Russia.

Kuznetsov is suspected of receiving a bribe from a commercial entity in exchange for an unspecified favor, Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for the Investigative Committee wrote on social media on May 14.

During searches of Kuznetsov's home, funds in Russian and foreign currencies worth more than 100 million rubles ($1.09 million), gold coins, collectible watches, and luxury items were found and confiscated, Petrenko said.

"A court placed Kuznetsov in detention at the request of investigators," Petrenko added.

Kuznetsov’s arrest is another signal the Kremlin is battling to contain corruption as the war it initiated in Ukraine rages on.

Two days earlier, President Vladimir Putin relieved his close ally Sergei Shoigu of his duties as defense minister, while on April 23, police detained Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov on bribe-taking charges and a court later sent him to pretrial detention for at least two months.

SEE ALSO:

With Shake-Up, Putin Seeks The Upper Hand In Russia's Long, Costly War On Ukraine

Kuznetsov was appointed to his position in May last year. From 2010 until his appointment to his last post, he served as the chief of the eighth directorate of the Russian Armed Forces' General Staff which is responsible for the protection of classified information related to the Defense Ministry.

Media reports quoted unnamed sources as saying that Kuznetsov’s arrest is related to that period of his career.

The dramatic developments within the Russian Defense Ministry are taking place after pro-Kremlin bloggers and political observers criticized Shoigu and the Defense Ministry for poorly handling Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Some pro-Kremlin political observers have explained Russia’s failure to take over Ukraine in a short period of time by what they called widespread corruption among top military officials.

Putin replaced Shoigu with former First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov, 65, a politician who specializes in economic matters. The move is seen as part of a strategy to make the armed forces more streamlined with the war now in its third year.

Shoigu's future as defense minister had been closely watched over the past year following the struggles of the military in Ukraine and other issues.

With reporting by Baza and Kommersant

TBILISI -- Riot police and protesters briefly clashed outside parliament while inside lawmakers traded punches on the legislature floor, as tensions boiled over in Tbilisi after final approval was given to a contentious "foreign agent" bill that has triggered weeks of massive protests by Georgians who regard it as a threat to the country's European integration because it mirrors similar repressive legislation pushed through in Russia.

In the third and final reading on May 14, lawmakers voted 84 to 30 in favor of the law pushed forward by the ruling Georgian Dream party, which has used its control over security forces to violently crack down on protesters using water cannons, tear gas, and rubber bullets.

Ahead of the final vote, scuffles broke out in parliament between Georgian Dream and opposition lawmakers, with television footage showing deputies, men and women, pushing one another and exchanging blows as the angry debate rapidly degenerated.

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The brawl inside erupted as thousands of mostly young people pushed forward toward the parliament building. Riot police pushed the crowd back, with several arrests reported.

TV and social media footage showed activist Davit Katsarava being violently detained outside parliament. He was later pictured with serious injuries to his face. Doctors at a Tbilisi clinic said he had suffered a broken clavicle and fractured jaw and undergone surgery.

"I'm Georgian and therefore I'm European," one of the young protesters outside the parliament building told RFE/RL in English, adding, "and we want freedom, that's all. My name is Irakli Beradze, I am a student of Ilia State University, and I'm here protesting against the Russian law, against the Russian[-style] regime and I'm fighting for freedom."

The draft legislation has been condemned by the United States, the European Union, and rights watchdogs for emulating a similar Russian law used by President Vladimir Putin to crush dissent and stifle independent institutions.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James O'Brien, who is in Tbilisi, said Washington's relationship with the South Caucasus country would be at risk and U.S. aid for Georgia would come under review if the bill officially becomes law.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola praised the protesters, who she said were "dreaming of Europe," while German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also sent a message of solidarity and support to Georgian demonstrators.

"The rule of law, democratic standards, and media freedom are essential for accession to the European Union. And tens of thousands of people in Georgia show that Europe's heart beats not only between Warsaw and Lisbon," Baerbock wrote on Instagram.

The United Nations representative office in Tbilisi warned that the bill's adoption "threatens the freedom of expression" and urged the authorities to investigate the violent treatment of protesters.

RFE/RL’s Georgian Service said police started detaining protesters with no warning. The authorities say 13 demonstrators were arrested on May 14.

A photojournalist with the local news agency Interpress News told RFE/RL that he had been slapped and beaten with a baton by police officers.

A female protester who said her name was Irina Iramashvili said the legislation went against Georgia's fundamental law.

"We are here to protest the adoption of this totally anti-constitutional law," Iramashvili told RFE/RL in English.

"Adoption of this law is just an attempt to put Georgia again under full influence of Russia. And I'm sure that we will win...they must listen to the voices of Georgian people, and young, especially young generation. Because we, their parents, will not allow that they grow up in the same regime as us," she said, adding, "We will have no other way but to fight to the end and we should not get tired. Never."

Georgian police arrested 20 people as they violently dispersed a rally outside parliament on May 13.

Video footage shared on social media showed several masked riot police officers taking turns as they violently beat a fallen protester before they apparently detained him.

In another video, a man whose face was bleeding was seen being violently detained by numerous masked men, who beat him and tore off his shirt.

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Human rights watchdogs had also urged Georgian Dream to immediately withdraw the bill.

"In advancing this damaging bill, the Georgian government openly supports the repression of human rights and civil society, which has reached alarming levels in recent days," Amnesty International said in a statement on May 14.

A day before the vote, U.S.-based advocacy group Freedom House warned that the bill's adoption would "align Georgia with repressive regimes such as those in Russia and Kyrgyzstan."

SEE ALSO:

'Rubber Bullets And Beatings': Victims, Eyewitnesses Talk Of Violence Against Georgian Protesters

Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has accused the protesters of "following the agenda of the political minority" and charged that they were showing a "great irresponsibility" toward their country.

The massive rallies against the bill are some of the largest protests since Georgia became independent in 1991.

President Salome Zurabishvili, who has come out in support of peaceful protests, has vowed to veto the legislation after it's approved. She has 10 days from when the bill is officially presented to exercise her veto powers.

However, the dominant position of Georgian Dream and its partners in parliament is enough to override the president's veto.

Zurabishvili told CNN on May 14 that given the "monolithic majority" she faces, her veto would be merely "symbolic." She insisted, however, that the only way to "reverse Russian laws" was for pro-European parties to win the general elections in October.

Under the terms of the proposed legislation, media outlets, NGOs, and other nonprofits would be required to register as "pursuing the interests of a foreign power" if more than 20 percent of their funding comes from abroad.

With reporting by Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in an unannounced visit to Kyiv, vowed Washington will take "tangible steps" to ensure Ukraine's accession to the NATO military alliance and that the United States will support the country to ensure its security and sovereignty as Russia's attacks in the east intensify.

In a televised address to students in the capital, Blinken said the United States had been by Ukraine's side since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and that it is still "with you today, and we will stay by your side.... You are not alone."

Blinken's speech focused mainly on enhancing Ukraine's security and building economic infrastructure as a means to pave the way for Kyiv's membership in NATO.

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.

"When we hold the Washington summit in July, we'll take tangible steps to increase NATO's role in building a resilient, capable Ukrainian force, supporting its ongoing reforms that are integrating Ukraine into the alliance," he said.

"We are bringing Ukraine closer to and then into NATO.... We will make sure Ukraine's bridge to NATO is strong," Blinken added.

Russia has claimed it was forced to launch the invasion because the West was escalating tensions after years of provocative NATO expansion eastward and that deeper ties between the alliance and Ukraine represented a red line.

The alliance's leaders reject the accusation saying NATO does not seek confrontation and poses no threat to Russia.

Blinken told the students Russia would be made to pay for Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction and added that Congress had empowered the administration of President Joe Biden to seize Russian assets in the United States.

"It's what international law demands. It's what the Ukrainian people deserve," Blinken said, adding that Washington would work with its G7 partners on the seizure of Russian assets abroad for that purpose.

Before his speech, Blinken met President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other senior Ukrainian officials and said badly needed weaponry had already arrived in Kyiv as part of a $61 billion military aid package recently passed by Congress.

Zelenskiy told the secretary of state that his country desperately needs Patriot air defense systems, particularly in the northeastern Kharkiv region, where Russia has ramped up its offensive in recent days.

Earlier on May 14, a Russian air strike hit a residential high-rise building in Kharkiv, killing nine people.

Russia has been pressing forward into the north of the Kharkiv region, with the Defense Ministry saying it had taken the border village of Buhruvatka. The claim could not be independently verified.

Blinken also met his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, and dined at a military-themed pizzeria founded by a war veteran, where he gave a ringing endorsement of the food, calling it "superb." He is due to also meet with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

On the ground in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine's General Staff said on May 14 that its forces had repelled a new attack in the direction of Vovchansk, a small town near the border with Russia that has been the focus of Moscow's offensive in recent days.

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However, the military later said it was moving troops to new positions in the north of Kharkiv in response to Russian advances.

"In certain sectors in the area of Lukyantsi and Vovchansk, units have moved to more advantageous positions as a consequence of enemy fire and storming action and in order to preserve the lives of our servicemen and avoid losses," the General Staff said in a statement.

Earlier, Kyrylo Budanov, the chief of Ukraine's military intelligence, told Ukrainian television that the situation was stable in the Kharkiv area but that Russia may send in more reinforcements in the coming days.

Separately, Oleksandr Lytvynenko, the chief of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, told AFP in an interview that Russia had concentrated some 50,000 troops near the border with the region of Kharkiv, and that more than 30,000 Russian soldiers were currently taking part in the operation there.

However, Lytvynenko said the scope of Russia's move appeared limited. "We can say that we do not see the threat of an assault on the city of Kharkiv," he said.

British intelligence, meanwhile, said that, rather than attempting to take Ukraine's second-largest city, the Russian move was aimed at stretching Kyiv's depleted forces by forcing their reallocation from other battlefields.

"Russia is almost certainly attempting to divert Ukrainian resources from other parts of the front line and to threaten Kharkiv," the British defense ministry said in its daily intelligence update on May 14.

"It is unlikely that Russia has built up sufficient combat power to take the city without diverting additional forces into the area," it added.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and Reuters

The Russian government on May 13 approved a bill allowing it to label any foreign organization, including those established by a government, as an "undesirable organization." Russian lawmakers in the State Duma brought the bill forward in February. The current iteration of the so-called "undesirable organizations" law, which has been in effect since 2015, only allows foreign nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations to be labeled as "undesirable" and shut down. So far this year, Moscow has designated RFE/RL and the U.S.-based NGO Freedom House as "undesirable" organizations. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Russian Service, click here.

Ukrainian media reports say the commander responsible for the defense of the northeastern Kharkiv front, General Yuriy Halushkin, has been replaced by General Mykhaylo Drapatiy. The change, as reported by Ukraine's RBK news site and Suspilne, which cited sources in the Khortytsia operational-strategic group, occurred on May 11 as Russian forces pressed on with a large-scale attack in the Kharkiv region bordering Russia. The reports said Drapatiy will also keep his current position as deputy chief of the General Staff. Before his appointment to the General Staff, Drapatiy led the operations in the Kherson region. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof on May 13 said he had left Iran in secret after being informed that he had been sentenced to flogging and eight years in prison on security-related charges.

Rasoulof, who has been convicted of "collusion to act against national security," said in a statement that he had left for Europe days earlier.

His statement was released by Films Boutique and Parallel45, who are distributing his latest film, The Seed Of The Sacred Fig.

The director has been under pressure from the Iranian authorities to pull the film from the Cannes Film Festival, which will kick off this week.

News of his recent sentence was made public last week but he said he knew about it a month ago.

"I didn't have much time to make a decision. I had to choose between prison and leaving Iran. With a heavy heart, I chose exile," Rasoulof wrote.

SEE ALSO:

Iran Sentences Renowned Filmmaker To Flogging, Prison Sentence

Separately, he posted a short video to Instagram of an undisclosed mountainous location and wrote that he would talk about his journey out of Iran later.

The filmmaker's passport was confiscated in 2017 and he was barred from leaving the country. He was jailed in June 2022 and was released in February 2023 as part of a mass amnesty.

The cast and crew of The Seed Of The Sacred Fig have been under pressure, and Rasoulof said many had been "put through lengthy interrogations" and are potentially facing prosecution.

"During the interrogations of the film crew, the intelligence forces asked them to pressure me to withdraw the film from the Cannes Festival," he said.

The plot of The Seed Of The Sacred Fig had been kept under wraps until earlier this month it was reported that it tells the story of an Iranian judge struggling with paranoia.

His mistrust intensifies after his gun goes missing amid growing nationwide protests. He suspects his wife and daughters of stealing his weapon and imposes heavy restrictions at home.

Rasoulof won the Berlin Film Festival’s top prize in 2020 for his film There Is No Evil, which tells four stories loosely connected to the themes of the death penalty in Iran and personal freedoms under oppression.

"We are very happy and much relieved that Mohammad has safely arrived in Europe after a dangerous journey," wrote Jean-Christophe Simon, CEO of Films Boutique and Parallel45.

"We hope he will be able to attend the Cannes premiere of The Seed Of The Sacred Fig in spite of all attempts to prevent him from being there in person."

Kharkiv's governor on May 13 said Russian forces had begun attacking new areas in small groups to widen their assault in the northeastern region and stretch Ukrainian defenses.

The governor, Oleh Synyehubov, said on May 13 that evacuations were ongoing and that 1,600 people were expected to have been evacuated by the end of the day.

Earlier, Ukraine's military said Russian forces had stepped up the large-scale assault on the border region of Kharkiv and the situation in the area of the town of Vovchansk had become difficult, prompting the evacuation of the inhabitants of the small town.

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Moscow's troops entered Ukraine's Kharkiv region on May 10, opening a new, northeastern front in a war that has for almost two years been largely fought in the east and south. The advance could draw some of Kyiv's depleted forces away from the east, where Russia has been slowly advancing.

The Ukraine's General Staff said in its evening report on May 13 that its forces had begun to push back against Russian troops in Vovchansk, where they were carrying out "clearance operations."

Russian forces are thought to be aiming to gain as much momentum on the battlefield as possible before a new wave of military aid for Kyiv from the U.S. and Kyiv's European allies arrives in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin appears poised for a longer-term war, analysts say, with his replacement of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on May 12. Shoigu will be replaced by Andrei Belousov, a former economy minister with no military experience.

SEE ALSO:

Putin Fires Longtime Ally Shoigu As Defense Minister In Cabinet Shake-Up

An RFE/RL correspondent on the ground said people were being evacuated from the area under constant shelling Vovchansk, which had a prewar population of some 17,500.

Vovchansk, a town located at some 5 kilometers from the Russian border, has become the focal point of Russia’s latest offensive as the Kremlin’s forces attempt to take settlements just east of Kharkiv -- Ukraine’s second-largest city with a pre-war population of some 1.4 million people.

• Maryan Kushnir

Russia began shelling the border of the Kharkiv region on May 10 and launched a ground offensive in the north. The commander in chief of the armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskiy, said that attempts by Russian troops to break through Ukrainian defenses have been stopped for now.

Kharkiv is also one of Ukraine's most important economic and industrial centers and was one of the initial targets of Russia's invasion, experiencing heavy fighting in the spring of 2022.

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.

A successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in September 2022 liberated most of the Kharkiv region, throwing Russian forces back and allowing the return of a large part of the city's population.

But in recent months, Russian artillery, drone, and missile strikes on the region and its capital have intensified massively as Ukrainian forces' shortage of ammunition and air defenses became more and more acute.

Russian forces have also stepped up their attacks in the south, where Ukraine's Southern Defense Forces said they attacked in the direction of Orihiv, in the Zaporizhzhya region. The situation there was difficult but stable, according to military spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk.

Separately, Russia's Defense Ministry said on May 13 that its air defenses shot down 31 Ukrainian drones and 16 missiles overnight over the regions of Belgorod, Kursk, Lipetsk, and Moscow-occupied Crimea.

An informed source told RFE/RL that Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) carried out drone strikes early on May 13 on two infrastructure targets in Russia's Lipetsk and Belgorod regions.

The targets of the attacks were the Oskolnaft oil depot near the city of Stary Oskol in Belgorod and the power substation Yeletska, in the Lipetsk region, with a capacity of 500 kilovolts, the source said.

The information could not be independently verified immediately.

On May 12, Russian authorities said 15 people were killed when a building collapsed in the border region of Belgorod after fragments from a Ukrainian-fired missile fell on an apartment building after being shot down by Russian air defenses. The claim could not be independently verified immediately.

With reporting by Reuters

A court in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, on May 13 fined journalist Zhamila Maricheva for an online article she wrote supporting RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, known locally as Radio Azattyq.

The court ordered Maricheva to pay 73,840 tenges ($167) for "distributing false information."

The charge stems from an article she posted on her ProTenge Telegram channel in January where she raised the issue of problems faced by Radio Azattyq in obtaining official accreditation from the Foreign Ministry, which had sparked fears the government was trying to stifle independent media.

Maricheva praised Radio Azattyq for what she called its professionalism, stressing the importance of the broadcaster's programs in Kazakhstan.

Another Kazakh journalist, Askhat Niyazov, reposted Maricheva's article at the time and was charged with slander.

A court in late April acquitted Niyazov and closed the case, stressing that there was nothing criminal in Niyazov's actions.

Maricheva reiterated her innocence as her trial began on May 2 and stated that the police violated her rights on April 24 by detaining her for questioning while she was jogging instead of officially summoning her to a police station.

Maricheva's lawyer, Asel Toqaeva, asked the court to dismiss the case against her client, saying that Maricheva's constitutional rights were violated by the police during her detention and questioning.

In January 2023, the Foreign Ministry denied accreditation to 36 Radio Azattyq journalists. Some of the correspondents had not been able to extend their accreditation since late 2022.

The situation was exacerbated when a group of Kazakh lawmakers approved a draft bill that would allow the tightly controlled former Soviet republic's authorities to refuse accreditation to foreign media outlets and their reporters on grounds of national security.

RFE/RL reached an agreement with the Kazakh Foreign Ministry over the accreditations on April 23.

With reporting by KazTAG

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on May 13 that the Moscow-installed Supreme Court of Ukraine's Crimea region sentenced five Ukrainian citizens to prison terms of between 11 and 16 years on espionage charges. According to the FSB, the five collected materials related to the location and movements of Russian armed forces on the peninsula -- which Russia illegally occupied in 2014 -- for Ukrainian military intelligence. Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, dozens of cases have been launched against Ukrainians and citizens of several other former Soviet republics on espionage charges. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

ASTANA -- Former Kazakh Economy Minister Quandyq Bishimbaev has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for the "violent beating" to death of his wife, Saltanat Nukenova, in November 2023, disappointing activists and her family, who wanted the court to send a message for women's rights with a life sentence.

In a high-profile case watched by millions around the country amid government pledges to strengthen women's rights, Judge Aizhan Kolbaeva of the Inter-District Criminal Court in Astana on May 13 also sentenced Bishimbaev's cousin Baqytzhan Baizhanov to four years in prison for not reporting the crime, which he witnessed while in progress.

Bishimbaev and Baizhanov, as well as the victim's relatives and prosecutors, have 15 days to appeal the court's ruling.

The victim's father, Amangeldi Nukenov, told journalists hours before the court pronounced its decision that "any ruling other than life in prison will be considered as unjust by us."

The jury found Bishimbaev guilty of torture, murder with extreme violence, and repeatedly committing serious crimes.

Bishimbaev, 44, showed no emotion while the judge handed down her ruling and said he had no questions after the judge asked him if everything was clear to him. Baizhanov seemed shaken and stated that the court "incarcerated an innocent person."

Shortly after the judge pronounced the court's ruling, the Feminita women's rights group held a march in the center of Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, rejecting the court's decision and demanding a harsher sentence for Bishimbaev.

"We do not accept the court's ruling, [Bishimbaev] must stay in prison for life. He will use all of his means to get an early release. We call on everyone to protest the ruling," Zhanar Sekerbaeva, one of Feminita's leading activists, said.

For millions of Kazakhs the courtroom proceedings streamed live by the Supreme Court and picked up by some of Kazakhstan's largest online media outlets has made for compulsive, if often harrowing, viewing.

Bishimbaev was arrested in November and accused of viciously beating his 31-year-old wife for hours in a restaurant that belonged to a relative. Nukenova's body was later found in the restaurant.

During the trial, security camera footage showed the former cabinet minister kicking and punching Nukenova repeatedly before he grabbed her by her hair and dragged her into a nearby room.

Video from his phone showed him insulting and yelling at Nukenova in the room for hours before she died after losing consciousness.

The case has highlighted growing outrage over domestic violence in Kazakhstan, where one in six women say they have faced some form of physical violence at the hands of their male partner.

Domestic violence has historically gone unpunished in the former Soviet republic, where it is not considered a stand-alone criminal offense.

Amid the public outcry over the brutal death of Nukenova, Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev publicly called on the Interior Ministry to take the case under its "special control" during the investigation.

SEE ALSO:

Does Kazakhstan Want To Stop Violence Against Women Or Just Control The Message?

Bishimbaev served as economy minister from May 2016 until late December of the same year. Before that, he held different managerial posts at government agencies.

In 2018, Bishimbaev and 22 others faced a high-profile corruption trial that ended with his conviction on charges of bribery and embezzlement while leading a state-controlled holding company.

A court in Astana sentenced him to 10 years in prison, but Bishimbaev, who comes from an influential family, was granted an early release through a mass amnesty issued by the government. He had served only 18 months of his term.

The Interior Ministry has said that more than 100,000 cases of domestic violence are officially registered each year, though the number of unregistered cases is much higher, analysts say.

International rights watchdogs have urged Kazakh officials to curb the spread of domestic violence for years.

Around 400 women die from domestic violence every year in Kazakhstan, according to UN Women, the United Nations agency for gender equality and the empowerment of women.

However, the actual number of cases and deaths, analysts say, is likely much higher.

With reporting by Vlast.kz

Lilia Chanysheva, a former leader of late opposition politician Aleksei Navalny's team in Ufa who is serving 9 1/2 years in prison on extremism charges, has asked President Vladimir Putin to pardon her.

Sources showed RFE/RL a letter from Chanysheva addressed to Putin in which the 42-year-old activist stresses that she has served 3 1/2 years of her prison term and fully paid off the 400,000 ruble ($4,330) fine she was ordered to pay by a court in her native Republic of Bashkortostan. She concludes the letter, dated April 19, by asking the president to release her.

Russia's state-owned RT news agency first reported about Chanysheva's letter to Putin on May 13, stressing that her parents, both 70 years old, also plan to ask Putin to pardon their daughter.

Chanysheva was initially sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison in June 2023 after a court in Ufa, the capital of Bashkortostan, found her guilty of creating an extremist community, inciting extremism, and establishing an organization that violates citizens' rights.

Last month, the Supreme Court of Bashkortostan extended Chanysheva's prison sentence by two years after prosecutors said her initial sentence for extremism was too lenient.

Chanysheva headed the local unit of Navalny's network of regional campaign groups until his team disbanded them after a Moscow prosecutor went to court to have them branded "extremist."

The request was accepted, effectively outlawing the group.

Chanysheva's defense team have said the charges appeared to be retroactive to the period of time before the organization she worked for had been legally classified as extremist.

Navalny died on February 16 in an Arctic prison while serving a 19-year term on extremism and other charges he and his supporters said were trumped up and politically motivated.

Several opposition leaders and associates of Navalny have since been charged with establishing an extremist group.

Since Russia launched its full-scale unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, several of Navalny's former associates have been charged with discrediting the Russian armed forces, distributing "fake" news about the military, and extremism.

The former leader of Navalny’s team in the region of Altai Krai, Vadim Ostanin, was sentenced last year to nine years in prison on an extremism charge.

With reporting by RT

The Memorial human rights group says the father of Konstantin Konoplyanko, a member of the group living abroad, was detained in Moscow on May 12 on unspecified charges. According to Memorial, Sergei Konoplyanko was taken to the city of Tver, 180 kilometers northwest of Moscow. Memorial continues its activities despite a decision by the Russian Supreme Court in 2021 to liquidate it and its umbrella organization -- International Memorial. In late February, Memorial’s co-chairman, 70-year-old Oleg Orlov, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for "repeatedly discrediting" the Russian armed forces involved in the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

A state of emergency was introduced in the Siberian region of Yakutia on May 13 after four local villages were inundated with floodwaters. Residents of four other Siberian villages in the Omsk region were evacuated on May 12 as water levels in the Irtysh River jumped. Authorities in Kazakhstan's western town of Inderbor said the water level in the Ural River now threatens the area. In recent weeks, several Russian and Kazakh regions have faced devastating floods caused by abrupt warm weather that led to a massive snowmelt. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service and Siberia.Realities, click here and here.

A protest leader in Armenia has called for more anti-government protests against a controversial border demarcation agreement with Azerbaijan.

Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian, the leader of the Tavush Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, said during a gathering in Yerevan in the evening of May 13 that "the pressure should increase" on the government.

The gathering was held at the end of a day of "civil disobedience" campaigns called for by the archbishop in the Armenian capital that resulted in the detention of 171 protesters. They were all released later.

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Armenian Archbishop Leads Fresh Protests Pressing For PM's Resignation

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Law enforcement authorities told RFE/RL that those detained had failed to comply with police orders.

The protesters blocked several streets and demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.

Rallies against the government have been held for weeks in protest against the border deal.

Under the border-demarcation deal with Baku, Armenia cedes control of four villages that were part of Azerbaijan during the Soviet era, but which have been controlled by Armenia since the 1990s.

The United States and the European Union have hailed the deal, but the Pashinian government has been accused by opposition politicians of giving up territory to Azerbaijan with no guarantees.

Pashinian has said the unilateral concessions are necessary to prevent Azerbaijani military aggression against Armenia. The Armenian opposition maintains he is encouraging Baku to demand more territory from Armenia and to use force for that purpose.

Armenia agreed to the handover as the initial step in defining the frontier between the two rival South Caucasus countries.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars in the last three decades over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which had been a majority ethnic Armenian enclave since the Soviet collapse and is internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory.

The region initially came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces, backed by the Armenian military, in separatist fighting that ended in 1994.

In 2020, Azerbaijan took back parts of Nagorno-Karabakh along with seven surrounding districts that Armenian forces had claimed during the earlier conflict.

After Baku took full control over the region as the result of a one-day military operation in September last year, nearly 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

TBILISI -- Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has backed the parliament to pass a controversial "foreign agent" bill, which is seen by many as a threat to free speech and the country's drive toward membership in the European Union.

Georgian police arrested 20 people as they violently dispersed a rally outside parliament on May 13 as lawmakers from the ruling Georgian Dream party rushed the approval of the bill through the Legal Committee.

Kobakhidze said in a press conference after the bill cleared the committee that lawmakers will "act in accordance with the rational will of the majority of the population" and pass the bill in its final reading on May 14.

He accused the protesters of "following the agenda of the political minority" and charged that they were showing a "great irresponsibility" toward their country.

Two U.S. citizens and a Russian national reportedly were among those arrested outside parliament, although no details about their identities were immediately made public.

Security personnel used force to disperse protesters who had staged a nightlong protest outside parliament as lawmakers arrived to debate the bill in a third and final reading. The draft legislation has been condemned by the United States, the European Union, and others as mirroring a similar Russian law.

Video footage shared on social media shows several masked riot police officers taking turns as they violently beat a fallen protester before they apparently detain him.

In another video, a man whose face is bleeding is being violently detained by numerous masked men who are beating him and tearing off his shirt.

Despite the earlier violence, students during the day on May 13 held protests on central Tbilisi streets where they chanted that they would "protect the worthy future of Georgia, its independence and the country's European future."

"We will not give up the freedom of our country, the European future and the rights guaranteed by the constitution," they said while swearing an oath during the gatherings.

More students from various universities were marching toward the parliament building to continue the protests, according to RFE/RL's Georgian Service.

EU spokesman Peter Stano on May 13 praised the "loyalty" of the Georgian public "toward the European path" and criticized the government's treatment of protesters.

"What we have seen over the past few days in Georgia in terms of the response of the authorities, especially from the police, was violence," Stano said.

"We strongly condemn acts of intimidation, threats, and physical assaults against the protesters, against civil society activists, against politicians and against journalists and media workers."

For several weeks, tens of thousands of Georgians have protested against the "foreign agent" bill pushed forward by the ruling Georgian Dream party. The demonstrations have been repressed violently many times with water cannons, tear gas, rubber bullets, while being also attacked by gangs of thugs at night.

Protesters and journalists have shown injuries consistent with the use of rubber bullets, despite denials from officials that such methods have been employed against people on the streets.

SEE ALSO:

'Rubber Bullets And Beatings': Victims, Eyewitnesses Talk Of Violence Against Georgian Protesters

The massive rallies against the bill are some of the largest protests since Georgia became independent in 1991.

As Georgian Dream lawmakers arrived by car at parliament on May 13, protesters who were being pushed away shouted in their direction, “Slaves! Slaves!

Shortly after gathering in the parliament building following the violent dispersal of protesters, lawmakers in the Legal Committee took only 67 seconds to review and approve the bill, allowing it to move on to the full assembly.

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Georgian 'Foreign Agent' Law Advances In 67 Seconds Amid Violent Clashes Outside

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After the bill cleared the committee, Ivliane Khaindrava, an adviser to State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality Tea Akhvlediani, resigned from his post in protest.

"I resigned because I do not agree with the course that leads to civil strife," he told RFE/RL's Georgian Service in an interview.

Opposition lawmakers, who have not been allowed access to the parliament building for some time, did not attend the committee meeting.

Committee Chairman Anri Okhanashvili said the third reading only provides for editorial amendments, and none of the ruling party members proposed such amendments.

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Georgian Protesters Hold Overnight Rally Ahead Of Final Reading Of Controversial Bill

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In a briefing on May 12, President Salome Zurabishvili, who has come out in support of peaceful protests, strongly criticized the government and Georgian Dream leaders for not taking into account the views of the throngs of citizens on the streets.

"It's very funny when politicians pretend to be able to count with high IQs and they can't count how many people there were,” she said, adding that the government “has lost the confidence of the people."

The bill is expected to pass its final reading -- which could come as early as May 14 -- but Zurabishvili has vowed to veto it. However, a simple majority in parliament is enough to override the president's veto.

Under the terms of the proposed legislation, media outlets, NGOs, and other nonprofits would be required to register as "pursuing the interests of a foreign power" if more than 20 percent of their funding comes from abroad.

Critics say it is modeled after decade-old "foreign agent" legislation that Russian President Vladimir Putin has used to crush dissent and punish independent institutions, and EU officials have said the bill could be a significant setback to Tbilisi's membership bid.

YEREVAN -- An outspoken archbishop challenging the government of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian told a rally in Yerevan on May 12 that he would not avoid taking on new responsibilities -- including as a candidate for the premier’s post -- if his movement is able to bring about Pashinian’s impeachment in parliament.

Addressing a cheering crowd of thousands of supporters, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian, head of the Tavush Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church -- who has emerged as the leader of protests against a controversial border demarcation deal with Azerbaijan in recent weeks -- reiterated his demand for Pashinian to step down.

He claimed that he has been in consultations with a parliamentarian not aligned with either the pro-government or opposition factions, on whose one vote the issue of launching the impeachment process in parliament hinges.

Galstanian said that the nonaligned lawmaker, Ishkhan Zakharian, at least did not refuse to support the bid by the two opposition factions that the archbishop said have earlier agreed to start the impeachment process.

Galstanian also said he would be holding meetings with different political forces and public figures, including unions of artists, writers, and intelligentsia to discuss matters.

Pashinian and his political team -- who hold a comfortable majority in the country’s legislative body -- have dismissed the resignation demand presented by the movement led by the archbishop.

Any impeachment move would need the support of at least 18 members of the pro-Pashinian Civil Contract faction in parliament to succeed.

Under Armenian law, any vote of no-confidence in the incumbent prime minister should come with the name of a premier candidate who could replace him or her immediately if the move succeeds.

SEE ALSO:

'Differences' Remain As Azerbaijan, Armenia Conclude Peace Talks In Kazakhstan

Galstanian said on May 12 he would assume that role “with the supreme patriarch’s blessing” and “if God wills.”

“We need a new government, a people’s government, a government that cares, a government of reconciliation,” the archbishop said.

He called for more actions of civil disobedience on May 13, urging students and workers to boycott classes and jobs.

“Tomorrow morning, beginning at 8 a.m., we will try to organize total strikes, paralyze the entire city, and express our disagreement with lies and evil in different regions of Armenia,” Galstanian said.