The Polish Foreign Ministry has joined Germany, the Czech Republic, and other countries in condemning alleged cyberattacks by the Russian APT28 group, saying it was also targeted. "Poland stands in solidarity with Germany and with [the Czech Republic] following the malicious cyber-campaign against their political parties and democratic institutions," a ministry statement said on May 4. "Given the continuous rise of the cyber-threats, Poland is committed to protecting national critical infrastructure, building resilience, and bolstering cyber-defenses." Berlin and Prague on May 3 accused Russia of conducting cyberattacks on their defense and aerospace industries and on political parties. Russia has denied involvement

Protesters who have been staging a sit-in at a key border-crossing point in southwestern Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan say that security forces have opened fire on them, killing one and injuring several more.

Sadiq Achakzai, a spokesman for the protests staged in Balochistan Province's Chaman district for months by traders and shopkeepers over new travel restrictions, told RFE/RL on May 4 that local security forces raided the demonstrators' camp and set fire to their tents while they were away.

Achakzai said that members of Pakistan's Frontier Corps "opened fire on peaceful protesters when they reentered their agitation camp."

Achakzai said one person was killed and more than a dozen were injured, and that victims were rushed to a local hospital for treatment.

Video purporting to show victims at a local hospital was posted on social media, but RFE/RL was unable to independently verify the claims.

When asked by RFE/RL about the alleged incident, Colonel Abdul Wahab, a spokesman for the Frontier Corps in Balochistan, said only that an investigation was under way.

WATCH: Unions and political parties launched the protest in the city of Chaman, near the border with Afghanistan, in October after Pakistan introduced visas between the two countries.

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Pakistani Protesters Demand Relaxed Afghan Travel Rules

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Traders have been protesting at Chaman, which borders the Afghan town of Spin Boldak, since October. They have demanded that the government rescind a new policy that requires them to present valid documents to cross the border.

In October, Pakistan unilaterally ended the century-old "Easement Rights," an arrangement that allowed members of some communities straddling the 19th-century Durand Line border to cross freely.

The policy has been heavily criticized by members of Pashtun communities on either side of the border who have complained that its has harmed their livelihoods and resulted in huge financial losses.

The Taliban's de facto government in Kabul has also criticized the policy, which has resulted in the Chaman border crossing -- the second-busiest between Pakistan and Afghanistan -- and others to be shut.

In January, talks between the Taliban and Pakistani officials to reopen the crossings broke down.

An Afghan diplomat in India, who was appointed before the Taliban seized power in 2021 and said she was the only woman in the country's diplomatic service, has resigned after being detained for allegedly smuggling gold. Zakia Wardak, the Afghan consul-general in Mumbai, announced her resignation on May 4 after Indian media reported she was briefly detained at the airport on allegations of smuggling 25 bricks of gold from Dubai. Reports said she wasn't arrested because of diplomatic immunity. Wardak said that "I am deeply sorry that as the only woman present in Afghanistan's diplomatic apparatus, instead of receiving constructive support to maintain this position, I faced waves of organized attacks aimed at destroying me."

Russia's Interior Ministry has opened a "criminal case" against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, ex-President Petro Poroshenko, and other government officials and placed them on its "wanted list," Russian state media reported on May 4. The specific charges were not identified. Zelenskiy, who has led his country through Russia's full-scale invasion that began in February 2022, and Poroshenko join a long list of foreign officials placed under various criminal warrants, including many others from Ukraine and leaders from Central and Eastern Europe. Poroshenko was president from 2014-19 and said he plans to run again. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on charges related to the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia -- a war crime under international legislation. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

An Iranian warship equipped with drones and missiles has crossed the equator into the Southern Hemisphere, Iran's IRIB state radio reported on May 4. The report did not reveal the exact location of the Shahid Mahdavi, a converted container ship operated by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) that was unveiled more than a year ago. This is reportedly the first time that the IRGC has sent a warship on a long-range mission. Iranian forces in February test-launched medium-range missiles capable of reaching targets at a distance of around 1,700 kilometers for the first time.

Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province plans to spend more than $25 million to boost security efforts in the restive region. Provincial government spokesman Muhammad Ali Saif told RFE/RL on May 3 that "the police need more weapons and equipment" to counter the rise of militant attacks in recent months. Residents have said that the security situation has worsened significantly, particularly in the province's south. Recently elected Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari expressed concern over the security situation in the province during his speech to a joint session of parliament on April 18. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, click here.

Pakistan experienced its "wettest April since 1961," receiving more than twice as much rain as usual for the month, the country's weather agency has said. April rainfall was recorded at 59.3 millimeters, "excessively above" the normal average of 22.5 millimeters, Pakistan's meteorology department said on May 3. Pakistan is increasingly vulnerable to unpredictable weather, as well as often destructive monsoon rains that usually arrive in July. In 2022, a third of Pakistan was submerged by unprecedented monsoon rains that displaced millions of people and cost the country $30 billion in damage and economic losses, according to the World Bank.

At least six people were injured in an overnight Russian drone attack on Ukraine's Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to local officials, while a Russian official said that at least five people were injured in an explosion in the city of Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border.

The Ukrainian Air Force said on May 4 that 13 drones launched by Russia had been shot down, but regional officials said that debris caused injuries and hit critical infrastructure and commercial and residential buildings.

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.

Kharkiv regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov, writing on Telegram, said a 13-year-old child and a woman had been hospitalized due to injuries sustained in the strikes.

Emergency services were bringing a fire at an office building hit by debris under control, Synyehubov added.

Two people were reported injured in the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to Governor Serhiy Lysak. He said infrastructure and three houses were damaged.

Russia has recently intensified its attacks on the Kharkiv region, whose capital lies just 30 kilometers from the Russian border. Ukrainian troops recaptured substantial amounts of territory in the region in the fall of 2022.

Kharkiv has been targeted by Russian drones and missiles nearly every day for months, raising fears that Moscow could be planning a renewed campaign to capture it.

Major General Vadym Skibitskiy said on May 3 that Russia, which launched the full-scale invasion against Ukraine in February 2022, is trying to exploit its current advantage in weapons and manpower.

"Our problem is very simple: We have no weapons," Skibitskiy was quoted as saying in an interview with The Economist.

In Russia, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram that at least five people were injured and some 30 residences damaged following an explosion in Belgorod, a city about 40 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

Some local Telegram channels suggested the explosion could have been caused by an errant Russian missile.

Kyiv did not comment on the report.

Belgorod has been hit repeatedly over the months by Ukrainian strikes. While casualties have been relatively low, the attacks have rattled local residents and caused many people to leave the city, which had a prewar population of about 333,000.

Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry said its forces shot down four U.S.-made long-range missiles fired by Ukraine over the Russian-occupied Crimea Peninsula.

The claim could not be verified, but Washington has reportedly begun shipping Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to Kyiv in recent weeks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has continued to press for the speedy delivery of promised Western military aid, singling out the need for armored vehicles, ammunition, and missiles.

SEE ALSO:

U.S. Weapons Are Coming To Ukraine. But Russian Forces Have The Momentum.

Zelenskiy has said he expects Russia to launch a major spring and summer offensive.

In April he claimed that Moscow aims to occupy the city of Chasiv Yar, a city in the eastern Donetsk region that has come under direct Russian assault, before May 9.

That is the day Russia celebrates Victory Day, in honor of the defeat of Germany in World War II.

TBILISI -- Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has urged a group of EU ambassadors to support the country on its "European path" at a time of high tensions, as protesters gathered at an Orthodox Easter vigil in central Tbilisi, site of mass anti-government rallies in recent days.

Zurabishvili -- who sides with the protesters against government plans to introduce a "provocative" Russian-style "foreign agents" law -- told the EU diplomats they can help show Georgians that the country "is not alone” in aspirations to move closer to the West and away from any Kremlin influence.

Western leaders have blasted the ruling Georgian Dream party's plans to introduce the legislation, and the EU has said implementation will derail the country's hopes of joining the bloc. Polls have suggested overwhelming support for EU membership among Georgians, with figures last year indicating nearly 90 percent backing.

"I would like to thank your governments and officials for their support for Georgia and Georgia's European path," Zurabishvili told the EU ambassadors meeting at the Orbeliani Palace in Tbilisi.

"I adhere to the constitution and also represent and protect the voice of the public, the voice of young people who stand peacefully and very responsibly on the streets," she said.

"But [I also represent] the voices of the rest of the people who may not come out on the streets but who have shared a European perspective and plan for many years and who have expressed their will to join the European Union," she added.

Zurabishvili said that "we are following" the rallies but that "I am not the leader of any of these movements."

"I would like to say that the responsibility of what is happening today, what will happen tomorrow...lies with the government of the country, because the chain of these events has been triggered by them," she added.

She said that "the government from nowhere...reintroduced this very provocative 'foreign agents' law and other laws when the whole country was united around the European path."

Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in the capital, Tbilisi, over the past week to protest Georgian Dream's plan to introduce the "foreign agent" law that Western leaders say mirrors legislation used in Russia to silence opposition voices.

Zurabishvili, in a split with the government, has come out vocally against the proposed law, saying she will veto it should it pass its final reading, likely on May 17. However, she acknowledges that Georgian Dream has enough votes to override any veto.

She has described the bill as "a Russian law by essence," and said the government was "prone to making concessions to Russia" and was attempting to replicate "the way Russia has managed to really repress the civil society."

The draft law would, among other things, require civil-society organizations and media outlets to report foreign funding and subject them to government oversight.

The streets on the evening of May 4 appeared calmer amid rainy conditions.

However, crowds began gathering around 10 p.m. on central Rustaveli Avenue in front of the parliament building and near the Kashveti Church for the Easter vigil.

The official liturgy was to take place at another cathedral, but those who have participated in protest rallies have said they will return to Rustaveli Avenue.

Despite the rain, many people on social networks say they will spend the night there.

Many Georgians will also be closely watching the official ceremony, in which government officials usually attend, to hear what the leader of the Orthodox Church, the patriarch, will say in his Easter address, while the authorities will be bracing for signs of further protest.

Protesters have claimed that, in addition to water cannons and tear gas, police also used rubber bullets. RFE/RL gathered eyewitness accounts, photographic evidence of injuries, interviewed three of the injured, and filmed the rubber bullets at the scene where they were reportedly fired. The government has denied that rubber bullets have been used.

SEE ALSO:

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

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has continued to defend the legislation, saying it is necessary to achieve "depolarization," in keeping with recommendations by the EU.

SEE ALSO:

Georgian PM Slams U.S. Criticism Of Draft Law That Sparked Mass Protests

Kobakhidze said that in a May 3 a conversation with European Council President Charles Michel, he relayed his disappointment that Georgia's partners were "reluctant to engage in substantive discussions" on the bill and that "we have not yet heard any counterarguments against this proposed legislation."

Kobakhidze wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the proposed legislation "is solely aimed at promoting transparency and accountability of relevant organizations vis-a-vis Georgian society."

Kobakhidze also repeated allegations of "the active involvement of foreign-funded organizations in two attempted revolutions in Georgia between 2020 and 2023."

In an earlier tweet on May 3, Kobakhidze criticized the United States, one of Georgia's biggest backers, of making "false" statements about the legislation.

Kobakhidze also accused former U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan, who was serving in that position from 2020 to 2023, as well as foreign-funded nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) of allegedly supporting two attempted revolutions, without providing evidence.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Explainer: Why Are Mass Protests Shaking Tbilisi?

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Michel, in his own X post on May 3, said that in his telephone call with Kobakhidze he had reiterated the European Union's "full support to all Georgians who put [a] European future of their country first."

Georgia is a candidate to join the European Union and has also sought membership in the NATO defense alliance.

"Vibrant debate is a cornerstone, and genuine dialogue is now needed," Michel said. "Georgia's future belongs with the EU. Don't miss this historic chance."

U.S. State Department policy adviser Derek Chollet, who has urged Khobakhidze to withdraw the "foreign agent" bill, said on May 3 that Georgia was at an inflection point, with its Euro-Atlantic aspirations now hanging in the balance.

"There is still room to return to the path the Georgian people want and deserve," Chollet wrote on X.

A wave of anger has washed across Georgia since the ruling Georgian Dream party said it was reintroducing a slightly modified version of the "foreign agent" legislation, which protests forced it to back away from last year.

Since the second reading of the revised legislation was passed on May 1, tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in Tbilisi, leading to dozens of detentions and injuries among demonstrators.

SEE ALSO:

Georgian Protesters Describe Injuries, Beatings Amid Police Crackdown

Georgia submitted its application to join the European Union in March 2022, shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which like Georgia is a former Soviet republic.

The European Union in December officially granted Georgia candidate status to join the bloc. Polls have suggested that support for EU membership among Georgians last year stood at nearly 90 percent.

Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 in support of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two breakaway Georgian regions that Moscow subsequently recognized as independent states.

Ukraine’s central bank (NBU) on May 3 introduced a package of measures easing currency restrictions for enterprises, the largest such move since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. The NBU said the purpose of the changes is "to improve the conditions for doing business in Ukraine and the entry of domestic business into new markets, as well as to support economic recovery and promote the inflow of new investments into the country." Among the moves, the NBU set the abolition of all currency restrictions on the import of works and services and the easing of restrictions on the transfer of foreign currency from representative offices in favor of their parent companies. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.

Democratic U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas and his wife were indicted on conspiracy and bribery charges on May 3 in connection with a U.S. Department of Justice probe into ties between American business leaders and the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. According to the indictments, Cuellar and his wife between 2014 and 2021 accepted nearly $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijan-controlled energy company and a bank in Mexico. In exchange, Cuellar agreed to advance the interests of the country and the bank in the United States. Among other things, the indictments allege Cuellar agreed to influence legislation favorable to Azerbaijan and deliver a pro-Azerbaijan speech on the floor of the U.S. House. "I want to be clear that both my wife and I are innocent of these allegations," Cuellar said in a statement.

The Russian Justice Ministry on May 3 added the Turkey-based Committee for Ingush Independence to its registry of "undesirable organizations." The committee -- established in January 2023 -- has stated as its goal the independence from Russia of the North Caucasus region of Ingushetia. In January 2024, the ministry labeled the group a "foreign agent." The committee’s activists participated in sessions of the Forum of the Post-Russia's Free Peoples, a group established by activists from Russia's ethnic republics. In March 2023, the forum was also recognized as an "undesirable organization" in Russia. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

KYIV -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy marked the 800th day since Russia’s full-scale invasion, saying “all Ukrainians" and Ukraine’s allies must do everything possible to block the Kremlin’s plans, as authorities said Russian shelling killed at least three people in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.

“Today is the 800th day of the war,” Zelenskiy said on May 3 in an address to Ukraine’s border guard personnel.

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.

“This is an extremely difficult and tough path that our country had to go through, and the path that still needs to be passed to end the war on fair terms, on Ukraine's terms.

“Now we are facing a new stage of the war. The occupier is preparing to try to expand offensive operations," Zelenskiy said.

"Today, all Ukrainians, as well as Ukraine's allies, must do everything possible to thwart Russia's plans," he added.

The Ukrainian leader said that it was important to “prove that the enemy will not achieve its goals under any circumstances and no matter how despicable it acts.”

In Moscow, meanwhile, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed the Kremlin was ready to consider "serious" proposals to settle the conflict based on existing "realities" and keeping in mind Russia’s security concerns, including a pledge by Kyiv to remain militarily neutral in the future.

The conditions appear to be identical to those repeatedly rejected by Kyiv in the past.

On the battlefield on May 3, authorities in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region said three people were killed and five injured as a result of Russian shelling in the Pokrovsk and Bakhmut districts.

Authorities said a 12-year-old child was among those killed.

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'No Time For Fear': Ukraine's Frontline Quad Bikes Dash To Evacuate Wounded

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Authorities in Ukraine’s Kirovohrad region said housing an infrastructure sites were hit by a Russian missile strike on May 3, severely injuring one person.

Battlefield claims cannot immediately be verified because of the intense violence in the regions.

Russia has intensified missile attacks on Ukrainian civilian and infrastructure sites in recent months as Ukrainian leaders have pleaded with Western allies to speed up deliveries of air-defense systems and other weapons.

Russia denies that it targets civilian sites, despite widespread evidence of such attacks.

With reporting by Reuters

The United States has "strongly" condemned a series of cyberattacks it says were conducted by a unit of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) on several countries in Europe, including Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, and the Czech Republic. The State Department in Washington said in a statement on May 3 that APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, was behind the attacks on a variety of targets from defense and aerospace firms to infrastructure operators and political parties. "We call on Russia to stop this malicious activity and abide by its international commitments and obligations," it said.

A military court in Moscow on May 3 extended the pretrial detention until at least October 22 for theater director Yevgenia Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriichuk, who were arrested in May last year on charges of justifying terrorism through the production of the play Finist -- The Brave Falcon. The play is about Russian women who married Muslim men and moved to Syria. Berkovich and Petriichuk maintain their innocence. If convicted, they face up to five years in prison. Their play, first performed in December 2022, won Russia's Golden Mask national theater award. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

Three international human rights organizations have expressed concern over the fate of Suhrob Zafar, the leader of the outlawed opposition Group 24 movement whose whereabouts have been unknown since early March.

Human Rights Watch, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, and the International Partnership for Human Rights on May 3 called on Tajik authorities in a joint statement to "immediately confirm the detention and whereabouts of and release" Zafar, who was "forcibly disappeared” while in Turkey despite holding official UNHCR asylum seeker status there.

The statement cited unnamed sources as saying the Tajik State Committee for National Security is holding Zafar in its detention center in Dushanbe, "periodically torturing him, and [denying] him medical assistance."

The Tajik government has not confirmed whether he is in state custody or if it knows of his whereabouts.

SEE ALSO:

Tajikistan Advises Citizens To Avoid Traveling To Russia

"There are devastating reports that Suhrob Zafar may already have lost his ability to walk as a result of torture, so prompt action could be a matter of life and death," said Syinat Sultanalieva, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch.

"Tajik authorities should immediately verify Zafar’s detention status and whereabouts and urgently investigate allegations that he has been tortured."

Authorities should also ensure and confirm that Zafar's legal rights are respected, the rights groups said, including contact with his family, access to a lawyer of his own choosing, and necessary medical treatment.

Another member of the Group 24, Nasimjon Sharifov, went missing in late February while residing in Turkey.

Dozens of Tajik activists have been imprisoned for being members of the Group 24 movement in recent years.

Group 24 was labeled as terrorist and extremist and banned in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic in 2014. In March 2015, the movement's founder, businessman Umarali Quvatov, was assassinated in Istanbul.

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, who has run the Central Asian nation for almost 30 years, has been criticized by international human rights groups over his administration's alleged disregard for independent media, religious freedoms, civil society, and political pluralism.

The Kazakh Prosecutor-General's Office said on May 3 that a court in Astana had ruled that former Interior Minister Erlan Turghymbaev, who was detained this week on a charge of abuse of office and power, must stay in pretrial detention for at least two months. Turghymbaev's detention is linked to nationwide anti-government demonstrations in 2022 that turned deadly after police and security forces opened fire at protesters. Several former top officials in the tightly controlled Central Asian nation were sentenced to lengthy prison terms following the protests that left at least 238 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, dead. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.

A Pakistani journalist and two other people were killed in car-bomb blast on May 2 in the Khuzdar district of southwestern Balochistan Province, 400 kilometers west of the provincial capital, Quetta. A police official told Radio Mashaal that the attack targeted Maulana Sediqullah Mengal, president of Khuzdar Press Club and member of a religious political party. CCTV footage showed a man riding a motorcycle alongside Mengal's car and attaching something to it then speeding off before the car explodes. No group has claimed responsibility. Reporters Without Borders once ranked Khuzdar as one of the world's top 10 most dangerous places for journalists. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, click here.

TBILISI -- Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has come out swinging against one of his nation’s biggest backers, accusing the United States of making "false" statements over the controversial "foreign agent" law being pushed through parliament.

In his May 3 tweet, Kobakhidze also accused the former U.S. ambassador to Georgia from 2020-23, Kelly Degnan, as well as foreign-funded NGOs of supporting two attempted revolutions.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"It requires a special effort to restart [bilateral] relations against this background, which is impossible without a fair and honest approach," said Kobakhidze, a member of Georgian Dream, the ruling party accused by opponents of being partial to Russia.

SEE ALSO:

Georgian Protesters Describe Injuries, Beatings Amid Police Crackdown

The United States has stood up for Georgian independence and territorial integrity since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, allocating more than $6 billion in aid over that period -- from helping small business and diversifying the economy to strengthening the rule of law and democracy. It has also fervently backed Georgia's integration into Western institutions, including the EU.

William Courtney, the U.S. ambassador to Georgia from 1995-97, said that what he called the "hijacking" of Georgia's government by Georgian Dream, a party founded by a billionaire who made his money in Russia, is straining Tbilisi's relations with the United States and the West in general.

"Georgian Dream is trying to take Georgia in the direction of being a Russian satellite like Belarus," he said. "Kobakhidze has been and seems to remain one of the most ardent Georgian proponents of an autocratic future for the country."

Courtney said Kobakhidze's accusation against Degnan and NGOs is a page of the book of authoritarian leaders Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

• RFE/RL's Georgian Service

The European Union and the United States have condemned the controversial "foreign agent" legislation making its way through Georgia's parliament as peaceful protests against the bill continued on May 2 in Tbilisi following violent clashes that shook the country.

Kobakhidze published his tweet following talks with Derek Chollet, the State Department's policy adviser, on May 2. The United States and the EU have been calling on Georgia to withdraw its "foreign agent" law, which is seen mimicking the repressive legislation pushed through by Putin.

The law requires civil-society organizations and media outlets that get foreign funding to report that fact to local authorities and submit to oversight that could encompass sanctions for as-yet-undefined criminal offenses. The debate over the bill comes ahead of elections in October.

The legislation advanced this week through parliament to a third and final reading expected on May 17, sparking tens of thousands of people to take to the streets in protest. Dozens have been detained and many have been injured.

"Georgian Dream may fear defeat in any free and fair election, hence it likely views the foreign agent law as a way to eliminate independent civil society organizations which it believes oppose it prior to the election," said Courtney, an adjunct senior fellow at the Washington-based Rand Corporation think tank.

Nicholas Lokker, an analyst at the Center for a New American Security, says the introduction of the bill is a sign the Georgian Dream government is trying to maintain good ties with the Kremlin.

"I'm sure there's some element of not wanting to antagonize Moscow very much at the moment. They are worried about the potential security implications" of integrating with the EU, he said.

Russia maintains thousands of troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two breakaway Georgian regions that Moscow recognized as independent states following a five-day war with Georgia in 2008.

The EU in December granted candidate status to Georgia and there had been some hope that the bloc would agree to the next stage of accession talks as early as this year. Lokker says the passage of the bill could stall further progress on EU accession.

"If this law passes, it severely jeopardizes the chances of [accession] occurring, given that it does require unanimity within the European Union, and a lot of EU member states, I think, would be hesitant to do that after this bill," Lokker said.

Courtney says passage of the bill could lead to a cut in U.S. aid, saying some of the civil society organizations currently supported by Washington could be shut down.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which funds about three dozen programs in Georgia, rejected accusations that it was somehow involved in supporting revolutions in the country. USAID, which began supporting Georgia in 1992, currently allocates more than $70 million a year for the various projects.

"All of our assistance throughout these 32 years has been to advance our mutually shared goals of advancing Georgia's security, stability, prosperity, and Euro-Atlantic integration," it said in a statement to RFE/RL, adding that farmers, teachers, and small-business owners had been helped by programs is supports.

"USAID is in regular contact with our government of Georgia counterparts about our programs. Everything that we've done in Georgia has been in partnership with its people, and we will continue to stand in support of their vision for the future."

With reporting by Todd Prince in Washington

A global human rights coalition has urged Uzbek authorities to thoroughly investigate an attempt to intimidate noted activist Umida Niyazova and her associate.

In a May 2 statement, the Cotton Campaign said Niyazova, the founder and director of the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights, and journalist Sharifa Madrahimova had to cut short a planned tour around the Ferghana region to meet with cotton-producing farmers and companies after two men intimidated them on April 18 near Madrahimova's house, accusing Niyazova of "organizing information attacks against Uzbekistan."

"Niyazova and Madrahimova got in their car to avoid further interaction and one of the men held the door to prevent them from closing it and driving away... Fearing for their own safety and that of the farmers and local human rights activists they were planning to meet, Niyazova cut her trip short," the statement said.

One of the men was later identified as a Ferghana resident, Shuhrat Esanov, and it remains unclear how he knew Madrahimova's home address and that Niyazova would be there that morning.

Allison Gill, legal director at Global Labor Justice, which hosts the Cotton Campaign, said that as an independent monitor the forum plays a critical role in ending the systemic state-imposed forced labor of children and adults in the Uzbek cotton sector, a vital sector in the country that accounts for around 17 percent of its total economy.

"Their work is vital to further Uzbekistan's progress toward meeting international standards in its cotton and textile industry," Gill said.

"If Uzbekistan wants to demonstrate its readiness to participate in global supply chains that pay increasing attention to labor rights, it is essential that labor rights monitors and workers can monitor and report on conditions without fear of intimidation, harassment, or surveillance," Gill added.

The Cotton Campaign and the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights ended their campaign to boycott Uzbek cotton and textiles in March 2022, citing progress in eliminating forced labor during crop harvesting in 2021.

The boycott, launched in 2006, was followed by more than 260 apparel manufacturers and retailers globally.

For many years rights groups called on Uzbekistan to eradicate a long-running state-controlled system forcing millions of citizens, including children, to pick cotton to meet harvest quotas.

Kyrgyzstan has advised its citizens to refrain from traveling to Russia in the face of rising scrutiny of Central Asians in the country following the deadly Crocus City Hall attack near Moscow in late March.

The Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry issued the travel advisory on May 2, warning Kyrgyz citizens of intensified checks and controls at borders by Russian authorities.

The advisory comes as human rights watchdogs report rising levels of xenophobia against Central Asians in Russia following the terrorist attack on the concert venue, which left 144 people dead and hundreds more injured. Eleven Tajik men and a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the attack.

The Tajik president's website said on May 3 that the Central Asian nation's leader, Emomali Rahmon, held phone talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed, among other things, "issues of cooperation in the field of labor migration."

"The heads of the two states also emphasized the close coordination of law enforcement structures and special services in the fight against terrorism, extremism and transnational organized crime, [as well as] the importance of further strengthening of their cooperation," the presidential website said.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said in its statement about the phone talks that the two leaders "expressed hope that recent intensified attempts by certain forces to artificially escalate the situation around work migrants coming to Russia -- including Tajikistan -- be jointly suppressed and will not be able to damage the time-tested brotherly ties between the two nations' peoples."

Earlier this week, the Tajik Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to Dushanbe and handed him a note of protest against the "unfair" treatment of Tajik nationals in Russia since the deadly incident.

Last weekend, the Tajik Foreign Ministry said hundreds of Tajik citizens trying to enter Russia had been stranded in several Moscow airports, including the Vnukovo airport, where, according to the ministry, almost 1,000 Tajik nationals, including students attending Moscow universities, had been held "without proper sanitary conditions."

According to the ministry, the situation was caused by tightened passport and custom controls in the wake of the March 22 attack.

Russian investigators say the assault -- Russia's worst terrorist attack in two decades -- was carried out by four men, all Tajik nationals. The other detainees are being held for aiding and abetting the attackers.

An offshoot of the Islamic State extremist group, the Islamic State-Khorasan group active in Afghanistan and Central Asia, claimed responsibility for the attack. Tajikistan has also detained nine people suspected of having links to the attack.

Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on April 29 that the measures to prevent terrorism that had been tightened in recent weeks do not target citizens of certain nations.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz and Tajik Services

At least 20 people were killed when a bus plunged into a ravine in Pakistan's northern Gilgit-Baltistan region early on May 3, officials said. The bus was on its way from Rawalpindi to Gilgit when the accident occurred. No cause for the accident was immediately established. Gilgit-Baltistan is a remote mountainous region that links the rest of Pakistan with China through the Karakoram Highway. Serious road accidents are common in Pakistan, mainly due to speeding, poor road infrastructure, and use of unfit vehicles. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, click here.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Joe Biden has called for the release of all imprisoned journalists, including RFE/RL's Alsu Kurmasheva and Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal, who have been detained in Russia on charges they, their employers, and their supporters reject as politically motivated.

"Journalism should not be a crime anywhere on Earth," Biden said in a statement marking World Press Freedom Day on May 3.

"In Russia, American journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva have been imprisoned in connection with their work for The Wall Street Journal and for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty," Biden said.

Kurmasheva, a Prague-based journalist with RFE/RL who holds dual U.S. and Russian citizenships, has been held in Russian custody since October 18 on a charge of violating the so-called "foreign agent" law, which critics and rights groups say is used by the Kremlin to crack down on any dissent.

Kurmasheva, who is 47, has also been charged with spreading falsehoods about the Russian military and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

RFE/RL and the U.S. government say the charges are a reprisal for her work as journalist for RFE/RL.

Gershkovich has been held in detention since March last year on spying charges both he and the newspaper vehemently deny, saying the 32-year-old was merely doing his job as an accredited reporter when he was arrested.

Moscow has been accused of detaining Americans to use as bargaining chips to exchange for Russians jailed in the United States.

"On World Press Freedom Day, the United States calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all journalists who have been put behind bars for simply doing their jobs," Biden said, also mentioning Austin Tice, an American freelance journalist kidnapped and held in Syria since 2012.

Biden said the U.S. administration will soon announce concrete steps in response to the wrongful detention of journalists worldwide, calling the repression of press freedom a "grave threat" to America's national security.

"I will authorize measures, including sanctions and visa bans, against those who take abusive actions to silence the press," he said. "Today and every day, we recognize their courage, support their right to do their jobs, and stand with them for press freedom."

Russian military intelligence officer Eduard Ulman, who was sentenced in absentia to 14 years in prison for shooting to death six Chechen civilians in 2002, has been killed in the war in Ukraine. The Novaya Buryatia website quoted Ulman's mother and a former leader of a military veterans' group in Siberia on May 3 as saying the 50-year-old was killed fighting against Ukrainian forces. Ulman and two former subordinates have been on Russia's wanted list since 2007 after prosecutors asked a court to convict them of killing civilians during the second Russia-Chechen war and sentenced them to lengthy prison terms. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Caucasus.Realities, click here.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on May 3 that its officers had "liquidated" an agent from Ukraine's military intelligence who had allegedly arrived from Lithuania to carry out "terrorist acts" against military and energy objects in the Moscow and Leningrad regions. The FSB did not disclose the identity of the "saboteur" but said he was a Russian citizen born in 1976. According to the FSB, "during arrest, he offered armed resistance with firearms and was liquidated." Ukraine has yet to comment on the report. To read the original statement from the FSB, click here.