U.S. President Joe Biden on May 7 welcomed Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to the White House, praising him for allowing NATO troops to be stationed in his country and for Bucharest's support for Ukraine in that nation's battle against Russia's full-scale invasion.

The meeting, part of Iohannis’s three-day U.S. trip, was timed to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Romania joining the NATO military alliance.

“The United States is committed to standing with you,” Biden told Iohannis in the Oval Office.

As the meeting began, Biden joked that he had pressed for Romania’s NATO membership when he was a senator “180 years ago.” Some Biden critics have said that the 81-year-old president is too old to run for reelection in the November presidential race.

Biden said that the United States and Romanian fought and trained alongside each other during various deployments over the years and he thanked Romania for having “stepped up” efforts to aid Kyiv in its war against Russia's invasion.

Iohannis called the NATO alliance “a cornerstone of our democratic way of life” and said the most important issue of the day was “to find a way to reinstall peace” in Europe and ensure that Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t win in his invasion of Ukraine.

Following his talks with Biden, the Romanian leader said he was open to supplying Ukraine with U.S.-made Patriot air-defense missiles.

Germany and Spain have vowed to send additional Patriot systems to Ukraine.

Other NATO nations -- including Romania, Greece, the Netherlands, and Sweden -- also have systems, and Kyiv has appealed for additional weapons to bolster its air defenses.

"There has been a discussion about who can send Patriot systems to Ukraine," Iohannis told reporters. "President Biden mentioned it...in our meeting, and I said I was open to discussion."

"I must discuss it in the Supreme Defense Council to see what we can offer and what we can get in return, because it is unacceptable to leave Romania without air defenses."

Iohannis is also scheduled to receive the Distinguished International Leadership Award for 2024 at the Atlantic Council Distinguished Leadership Award gala.

In March, Iohannis -- whose presidential term ends in December -- expressed his desire to run for the post of NATO secretary-general to succeed Jens Stoltenberg.

Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is considered the favorite to replace Stoltenberg and reportedly has the support of most NATO members, including the United States.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby, when asked earlier about the NATO post, said, “Nothing’s changed about our support for Mr. Rutte to be the next secretary-general.”

The Romanian president is at the White House for the second time, after his visit during his first term in 2019, when Donald Trump was president.

With reporting by RFE/RL’s Romanian Service, AP, and Reuters

BELGRADE -- Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived late on May 7 in Belgrade for a two-day visit to Serbia as part of his drive to increase Beijing’s influence in Europe’s economic and political affairs.

Xi was traveling from France, where he met with President Emmanuel Macron, who pressed him to loosen China's trade restrictions and to use his influence with Russia to halt the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine.

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The Chinese leader is likely to receive less pushback in Belgrade from Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who has sought to maintain close ties with both China and Russia, even as he attempts to lead his country to eventual EU membership.

Xi was greeted at the airport by Vucic, Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, Speaker of the National Assembly Ana Brnabic, Foreign Minister Marko Duric, former President Tomislav Nikolic, and Ambassador to China Maja Stefanovic.

Following his stay in Serbia, Xi will travel on to Budapest, where he is also expected to receive a warm welcome from Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who also has kept close ties with Russia and China despite Hungary being an EU member.

Xi, in his second state visit to Serbia in the past eight years, is likely to discuss a wide range of topics -- from foreign policy, to economy, technology, and culture – with Vucic, whose nationalistic, Russia-friendly policies have raised alarms in the West.

Officials from both countries describe the visit as "strengthening the iron-clad friendship," reflected in infrastructure cooperation as well as alliance in political matters, and they announced that more than 30 agreements have already been negotiated by the two sides.

Serbian media reported that extensive security measures have been taken for the visit -- with some 3,400 security personnel securing Xi's delegation, which consists of 400 members.

Members of the Chinese delegation, ministers, and institutional representatives arrived in Belgrade before Xi, where they were welcomed at the airport by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Sinisa Mali and Trade Minister Tomislav Momirovic.

Ahead of the Chinese president's arrival, Belgrade was decorated with flags of Serbia and China, and welcome messages were set up along the route from the airport to the city center in Serbian and Chinese.

Xi's plane was escorted by MiG-29 fighters upon entering Serbian airspace, and a guard of the Serbian Army was organized at Belgrade Airport in his honor.

A ceremonial reception of the delegation in front of the Palace of Serbia will be organized the following day.

UN atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on May 7 that cooperation from Iran at present was "completely unsatisfactory" after returning from Tehran, where he urged the country to adopt "concrete" measures to address concerns on its nuclear program. "We have to be moving on.... The present state is completely unsatisfactory for me. We are almost at an impasse...and this needs to be changed," the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told reporters at the Vienna airport.

Russian officials said two U.S. nationals were arrested in separate cases, including a serving army member, raising renewed questions over whether Moscow is targeting Americans to detain and later use as bargaining chips in prisoner swaps.

The Pervomaisky district court in Russia's Far East city of Vladivostok ordered the arrest of U.S. Staff Sergeant Gordon Black and sent him to pretrial detention until at least July 2, court spokeswoman Yelena Oleneva said on May 7.

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U.S. authorities confirmed that Black had been arrested in Russia and had been accused of stealing from a woman after traveling from South Korea -- where he was stationed -- without informing his superiors. The Pentagon said the soldier traveled to Vladivostok through China without official clearance.

Russian authorities separately disclosed on May 7 that another American, identified by court officials as William Russell Nycum, had been detained 10 days ago in an unrelated case and was in custody in Moscow on "petty hooliganism" and alcohol charges.

Daniel Kanigan, deputy spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, told RFE/RL in an e-mail that “we can confirm that two U.S. citizens have been detained in Russia in the past week.” He did not confirm the name of either of the detained Americans.

The White House on May 7 also confirmed that two U.S. citizens had been detained in Russia and said the State Department was actively seeking consular access to both.

The detentions add to a list of U.S. citizens being held in Russia under various circumstances and comes as tensions between Moscow and Washington are at the highest levels since the Cold War.

Among those being held are journalists Alsu Kurmasheva of RFE/RL and Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal, who have been detained on charges they, their employers, and their supporters reject as politically motivated. Also being held is Paul Whelan, who in 2020 was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges that he and the U.S. government have repeatedly rejected.

Russia's Foreign Ministry, however, said the two news cases were not political and that neither is accused of espionage.

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Black was charged with "theft causing significant damage to a citizen," Kommersant cited Oleneva as saying. The maximum penalty for the charge is five years in prison.

Black’s mother told the ABC TV network that her 35-year-old son had been visiting his girlfriend in Russia at the time of his arrest.

Melody Jones said Black was on a two-week leave from his base in South Korea when he traveled to Russia. She said he was pulled aside as he arrived at the Vladivostok airport and questioned for nine hours by authorities.

U.S. Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith confirmed that Black was detained four days earlier in Vladivostok, a military and commercial port in Russia's Far East, on charges of criminal misconduct.

“The Russian Federation notified the U.S. Department of State of the criminal detention in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations,” Smith said in the statement. “The army notified his family and the U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia."

She gave no further details in the statement due to “the sensitivity of this matter.”

It wasn’t immediately clear if the detained soldier was being considered as absent without leave (AWOL) by the U.S. military.

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Officials confirmed that the soldier had been stationed in South Korea -- where the U.S. military has about 28,500 troops based -- and was in the process of returning home to Fort Cavazos, Texas, but traveled instead to Russia.

Smith added that there was no indication that “Black intended to remain in Russia” after his two-week leave time ended.

She said Black enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2008 and that he had served in Iraq for about 11 months ending in September 2010 and in Afghanistan from June 2013 to March 2014.

U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “I am deeply concerned by reports that a U.S. Army officer has been detained in Russia. Putin has a long history of holding American citizens hostage."

The State Department in September 2023 issued a "Do Not Travel" warning to U.S. citizens in the background of American support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia's full-scale invasion of that country. The note cited "the singling out of U.S. citizens for detention by Russian government security officials" in its warning.

Asked about the incident, a State Department spokesperson would only confirm that "a U.S. citizen has been detained in Russia."

"We reiterate our strong warnings about the danger posed to U.S. citizens inside the Russian Federation. U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Russia should depart immediately, as stated in our Travel Advisory for Russia," the spokesperson said.

The latest incident comes less than a year after U.S. soldier Travis King, also stationed in South Korea at the time, slipped into North Korea across the heavily fortified demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas.

North Korea later expelled King, who was returned to the United States and eventually charged with desertion.

With reporting by AP

All five Central Asian presidents are scheduled to attend a parade on Red Square on May 9 to commemorate the end of World War II in Europe in 1945, while the majority of the world's leaders continue to condemn Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022.

Yury Ushakov, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, on May 7 said Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, and Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhammedov will attend the event in the Russian capital’s Red Square.

Ushakov added that President Miguel Diaz-Canel of Cuba, President Thongloun Sisoulith of Laos, and President Umaro Sissoco Embalo of Guinea-Bissau will also be present.

The Kremlin said earlier that Putin will hold separate talks with leaders of Cuba, Laos, and Guinea-Bissau after the parade on May 9.

Armenian President Nikol Pashinian, who attended the celebrations last year, said earlier that he will not be able to take part in the event this year.

Under Putin, Russia has gone to great lengths to commemorate World War II -- which killed more than 20 million Soviet citizens -- including reviving the military parade on Red Square.

During his more than 20 years in power, Putin has increasingly tried to make the memory of what Russians call the Great Patriotic War an integral part of national identity.

Foreign attendance of the May 9 celebration has waned since Russia's illegal annexation in 2014 of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.

In 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Tajikistan's Rahmon was the only head of state to attend the Victory Day parade.

In 2022, a little over two months after Russia's unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, no foreign leaders came to the WWII celebrations in Moscow.

Putin and his officials traditionally hold meetings with foreign leaders and delegations around the May 9 celebration.

Pakistan’s military has again accused Kabul of providing sanctuary for militants, alleging on May 7 that a March 26 suicide bombing that killed five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani driver was planned in neighboring Afghanistan. Major General Ahmad Sharif, a Pakistani Army spokesman, said the bomber was an Afghan citizen. He said members of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) -- a radical Islamist group designated as a terrorist organization by Washington -- are based in Afghanistan and have been conducting regular attacks inside Pakistan. Sharif alleged that Pakistan has shared "concrete evidence" with the Taliban government on the issue but that it hasn't been acted upon. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal, click here.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry said on May 7 that it had started to check the preparedness of it tactical nuclear forces, a day after Russia announced a similar move.

First Deputy Defense Minister Viktar Hulevich said some Belarusian armed forces and aircraft will be redeployed to a reserve airfield during the exercises.

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.

Belarusian Defense Minister Viktar Khrenin said the checks for preparedness of the carriers of the tactical nuclear weapons started at the order of authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

"To carry out the task, a division of the operative-tactical Iskander missile complex and a utility squadron of SU-25 military planes have been allocated," Khrenin said.

Lukashenka supported Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022 and allowed Russian armed forces to use Belarusian territory, military infrastructure, and airspace during the invasion.

A day before the announcement from Minsk, Russia's Defense Ministry announced drills involving tactical nuclear weapons for the first time since it launched its aggression against Ukraine more than two years ago.

Russia said it was running the military exercises because of "unprecedented" and "provocative" statements from Britain and France that Moscow said showed their growing involvement in the war in Ukraine.

Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron repeated a statement that his country cannot rule out sending troops into Ukraine to help it in the war.

Meanwhile, officials in the United Kingdom last week appeared to give Kyiv the green light to use long-range weapons sent to Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia. So far in the conflict, the U.K. has given guidance to Ukraine implying that long-range weapons should only be used within sovereign Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine has been subjected to almost daily Russian missile and drone strikes that have caused huge damage to its civilian and energy infrastructure and killed and wounded numerous civilians, including children.

In response, Kyiv has targeted energy infrastructure inside Russia, especially oil refining installations.

A Moscow court on May 7 sent noted Russian journalist Nadezhda Kevorkova to pretrial detention until at least July 6 on a charge of "justifying terrorism." The 65-year-old journalist's son, Vasily Polonsky, said the charge is related to two of Kevorkova's posts on Telegram in 2018 and 2021. Kevorkova, who was detained late on May 6 after police searched her home, pleaded not guilty. Kevorkova is known for focusing on conflicts in the Caucasus and the Middle East and on Muslims' rights in Russia and abroad. Kevorkova's former husband, Maksim Shevchenko, is a well-known political observer and politician. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Russian prosecutors on May 7 declared the Washington-based Freedom House human rights watchdog an "undesirable organization." Freedom House was established in 1941 and has been known for political advocacy surrounding issues of democracy, political freedom, and human rights. The "undesirable organization" law, adopted in 2015, targets NGOs that receive funding from foreign sources. Russian officials have used the designation, whose underlying legislation was expanded in 2021, to marginalize dozens of foreign organizations. Russia in February labeled Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty an "undesirable organization." To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

A prosecutor asked a Bishkek court on May 7 to sentence government critic and journalist Oljobai Shakir (aka Egemberdiev) to seven years in prison on a charge of online calls for mass unrest. Days before his arrest in August last year, Shakir 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. Shakir rejects the charge, calling it ungrounded. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

KYIV – Ukraine’s SBU security service said it “thwarted” an assassination attempt against President Volodymyr Zelenskiy by a network of five Ukrainian agents linked to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor agency to the Soviet-era KGB.

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.

Kyiv on May 7 said the alleged agents, members of Ukraine’s state guard service, also had targeted SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk, military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov, and other high-ranking Ukrainian officials.

The developments come on the heels of an announcement on May 4 by Russia's Interior Ministry that it had opened a “criminal investigation” against Zelenskiy, ex-President Petro Poroshenko, and other Ukrainian government officials and placed them on its wanted list.

Poroshenko and Zelenskiy, who has led his country through Russia's full-scale invasion that began in February 2022, joined a long list of foreign officials placed under various criminal warrants, including many others from Ukraine and leaders from Central and Eastern Europe.

It was not immediately clear if the developments were directly linked.

According to the SBU, two colonels from the administration of the State Guard of Ukraine (UDO), whose names were not disclosed, were charged with high treason committed during wartime and preparing a terrorist act.

The two men were arrested after their homes were searched. If found guilty, they face life in prison.

"Counterintelligence and SBU investigators thwarted the FSB's plans to eliminate the president of Ukraine and other representatives of the top military and political leadership," SBU said on Telegram.

“One of the tasks of the FSB agent network was to find performers among the military close to the president's protection who could take the head of state hostage and then kill him,” it said.

Separately, Russia and Ukraine accused each other of using banned toxins on the battlefield, according to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

However, the OPCW said the accusations were "insufficiently substantiated." It added, though, that "the situation remains volatile and extremely concerning regarding the possible reemergence of use of toxic chemicals as weapons."

The Chemical Weapons Convention states that any toxic chemical used with the intention of causing harm is considered a chemical weapon.

Moscow and Kyiv have not formally asked the OPCW to investigate the allegations, it said.

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Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Russian shelling killed one civilian and wounded eight in several Ukrainian regions, officials reported early on May 7.

One man was killed in Petrivka in the Donetsk region, local administration head Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram, adding that four people were wounded in Kostyantynivka.

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov said three people -- including a 16-year-old girl -- were wounded when a guided aerial bomb struck the village of Borova in the Izyum district.

Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported one wounded in his region, while in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian troops shelled the city of Nikopol four times overnight, damaging a gas pipeline, according to regional head Serhiy Lysak.

Early on May 8, Kremlin-installed leader Leonid Pasechnik said an oil depot had caught fire in the Russia-occupied eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk, blaming the attack on Ukrainian shells.

Another Russia-installed official claimed without providing evidence that Ukraine had used a U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, in the attack. Further information was not available, and Kyiv did not immediately comment.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service

Residents of two remote districts in the northeastern Afghan province of Badakhshan have demanded more accountability and better treatment from the authorities after a Taliban crackdown on protests killed at least two people.

Protests broke on May 3 and 4 in the Darayim and Argo districts when the Taliban attempted to forcefully eradicate the poppy crop. The hard-line Islamist group banned poppy cultivation in April 2022 after returning to power in August 2021.

"People are willing to cooperate in eradicating their opium crops peacefully," Shamsuddin Mubarez, a young activist in Argo, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi on May 6.

"People responsible for destroying the poppy crops should be locals from Badakhshan," he added while outlining their demands.

A resolution adopted by the residents of Argo also demands that Taliban authorities arrest and punish the perpetrators of the shooting that killed Abdul Basit, 23, a local farmer.

In Darayim, a resident speaking on condition of anonymity said that residents refused to talk to a Taliban delegation made up of provincial officials on May 5.

Nizamuddin, a farmer in Darayim's Qarlaq village, was killed. Three more protesters were injured after the Taliban fighters attempted to quell the protest that erupted after they began destroying the poppy crop on May 3.

"People want the Taliban government to hear our voice," a resident of Darayim told Radio Azadi. "But they acted dictatorially and didn’t listen to us."

Abdul Matin Qane, the spokesman for the Taliban-led Interior Ministry, told the BBC that local demands for prosecuting the Taliban security forces responsible for the killings in Badakhshan were "completely justified."

The Taliban government has appointed its army's chief of staff, Fasihuddin Fitrat, a native of Badakhshan, to head a delegation to negotiate with the protesting farmers in the province.

In a purported audio message on May 6, he urged locals to "urgently" end their protests because their agitation would be seen as a rebellion, which could prompt the Taliban to send security forces to quell any unrest.

At least one person was killed in similar protests in Badakhshan last year.

The Taliban ban has pushed the price of illicit opium in Afghanistan to $1,000. But it has pushed tens of thousands of impoverished farmers to extreme poverty because poppies were the best cash crop in the arid, mountainous country.

The Talibans internationally isolated government has so far failed to attract any significant international aid or investments to help Afghan poppy farmers.

The Supreme Court of Uzbekistan has exonerated posthumously 198 individuals convicted by the Soviet regime in the 1920s-1930s for "counter-revolutionary actions, armed uprisings, terrorism, banditry and espionage, and anti-Soviet activities."

The Supreme Court announced on May 6 its decision to exonerate the men, many of whom were sentenced to death and others who were incarcerated for many years.

The exonerated were from Uzbekistan's Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan, the regions of Bukhara, Namangan, Xorazm, and Jizzax, as well as from Tashkent, the capital.

"At this moment, justice was decided. The truth that had been kept veiled for years was celebrated. The holy names of the repressions' victims, who selflessly fought for independence and sacrificed their own lives, will live forever in the hearts of our people," the court statement said.

In August 2023, the Supreme Court exonerated 240 people convicted in the 1920s-1930s by the Soviet regime for taking part in the Basmachi (Raiders) movement, which fiercely fought against Russian and Soviet forces.

In August 2021, the court exonerated 115 people convicted in the 1920s-1930s by the Soviet regime.

The Supreme Court said at the time that those exonerated had been recognized as victims of Soviet repression by a special commission established in accordance with a 2020 order by President Shavkat Mirziyoev. The case materials revealed that the men were sentenced by troikas of the Soviet OGPU (Joint State Political Directorate), the predecessor of the Soviet KGB.

The Basmachi movement, which started during World War I in Central Asia, was eradicated by the Soviets by the late 1920s. However, clashes between Soviet forces and remaining Basmachi rebels along the border with Afghanistan continued until the early 1930s.

According to the Supreme Court, it has exonerated 1,031 individuals who were repressed during the Soviet era on the territory of what is now Uzbekistan.

A court in the Siberian city of Omsk has sentenced psychologist Olga Belova to six years in prison in absentia on a charge of distributing "deliberately false" information about Russia's armed forces motivated by political hatred.

The press service of the Omsk region's courts said on May 7 that the decision was made by the Lenin district court.

Belova, who is the former head of the Alliance of Doctors independent union branch in Omsk, was fired from the city's cardiology center in April 2022 over her open criticism of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine launched in February of that year.

Belova was fined by a local court twice in 2022 on a charge of discrediting Russia's armed forces.

In December last year, Russian authorities added Belova to their wanted list. Her current location is unknown.

Separately on May 7, a court in Moscow issued an arrest warrant for blogger Dmitry Ivanov (aka Kamikadze Di) on a charge of distributing false information about the Russian military.

Ivanov left Russia in 2017. The probe against him was launched in 2022 after he condemned online Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine and criticized Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

In December 2022, Russian authorities added Ivanov to their wanted list.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, accusations of discrediting the Russian military or distributing false information about Russia's armed forces have been filed almost daily across the country.

The Investigative Committee has said that between March 2022 and January 2024, 273 cases were filed on "false information about Russia's military," while 81 cases were filed on "discrediting Russia's armed forces."

According to the OVD-Info rights group, 282 people have been charged with distributing false information about the armed forces and 177 were charged with discrediting the military during that period.

With reporting by Mediazona

Two Belarusian activists went on trial in Minsk on May 7 in separate cases amid a continuing crackdown on dissent. Natallya Kruk, who was arrested in early 2023 after she returned from Poland, is accused of calling for actions aimed at damaging state security and organizing activities that violate public order. Ruslan Badamshyn was charged with organizing activities that violate public order. The charges against the two activists are related to the unprecedented nationwide protests in 2020 against the official results of a presidential election that declared authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka the winner, while activists and opposition politicians say the poll was rigged. To read the original stories by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, click here and here.

Norway and Moldova on May 7 signed an agreement to strengthen their cooperation in the energy sector and step up the Southeastern European country's energy security.

The memorandum of understanding was signed in Oslo by Norwegian Energy Minister Terje Aasland and his Moldovan counterpart, Victor Parlicov, on the sidelines of a two-day state visit to Norway by Moldovan President Maia Sandu.

Moldova's energy sector has been reliant on Russia ever since the former Soviet republic declared independence in 1991, and Russia, through its state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom, has used Chisinau's dependence on Russian supplies as a tool for political pressure.

With the pro-Western Sandu's accession to the presidency following the defeat of Moscow-backed incumbent Igor Dodon in 2020, Moldova has embarked on a path to limit Russia's influence, especially since the Kremlin's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, with which it shares a 1,2220-kilometer border.

Gas- and oil-rich Norway has become Europe's top gas supplier since the invasion, with Russian exports falling under Western sanctions.

Since the start of the war, Chisinau has also benefited from a $6.8 billion financial aid program launched by Oslo to support Ukraine that includes funding for Moldova as a country affected by the war. Under the program, Chisinau was given some $36.87 million to purchase gas last year.

To reduce its dependence on Russian gas, Chisinau has also been moving aggressively toward renewable energy sources, managing to increase the share of solar- and wind-generated electricity threefold from 2021 until last year, when it amounted to 10.5 percent of the total, official figures show.

In line with this trend, the memorandum signed in Oslo on May 7, while mentioning the need of secure gas supplies, is centered on the further development of "energy efficiency, renewable energy, and smart digital solutions for the green energy transition as areas of cooperation," the Norwegian government said in a statement.

Furthermore, the Norwegian government announced in a separate statement an extra $32.2 million in assistance to Moldova under the Ukraine aid program.

"I am both proud and humbled that Moldova seeks a closer partnership with Norway in the energy sector. I believe Norway and Norwegian companies have something significant to offer Moldova for their challenges within energy," Aasland said after the signing of the memorandum.

Vladimir Putin was sworn in as president of Russia for a fifth time on May 7, in a ceremony to kick off a new six-year term that was boycotted by most Western countries over his war in Ukraine and an election victory they rejected as being orchestrated to provide him a landslide result.

The 71-year-old Putin took the presidential oath of office in an ornate ceremony in Moscow's Grand Kremlin Palace attended by senior Russian politicians other dignitaries, though noticeably absent were representatives from the United States, Britain, Canada and most European Union members.

Putin -- who has ruled as either president or prime minister since 2000 -- is set to surpass Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's nearly 30-year reign by the end of his new term to become the longest-serving Russian leader in more than two centuries.

He was able to contest the March election, where he won over 87 percent of the vote, by taking advantage of a raft of 2020 constitutional reforms that gave him the right to seek two more six-year terms, meaning he could stay in office until 2036.

Russian elections are tightly controlled by the Kremlin and are neither free nor fair but are viewed by the government as necessary to convey a sense of legitimacy. They are marred by the exclusion of opposition candidates, voter intimidation, ballot stuffing, and other means of manipulation.

"We certainly did not consider that election free and fair but he is the president of Russia and he is going to continue in that capacity," U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said ahead of the inauguration.

The election was the first since Putin launched his war against neighboring Ukraine in February 2022, and two anti-war candidates were barred from running against him on technicalities.

Meanwhile, his greatest political foe, Aleksei Navalny, died while in a Siberian prison a month before Russians took to the polls.

"War, political assassinations, impoverishment of Russians. There is no prosperity for Russia, no peace and freedom for our citizens," Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said in a social media post on May 7.

"Our country is being led by a liar, a thief, and a murderer. But this will definitely come to an end."

Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine was launched, relations between Moscow and the West have deteriorated to their lowest level since the end of the Cold War, with Kyiv's Western allies throwing their support behind Ukraine's struggle to repel overwhelmingly superior Russian forces.

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Speaking after he took the oath of office, Putin said he wouldn't rule out dialogue with the West, but it needed to be on equal terms and in the meantime, Russia was open to developing relations with other countries he called "the world's majority."

"We believe that the isolation of Russia, and especially of its criminal leader, must be continued," Lithuania's foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, said in explaining his country's decision to boycott the ceremony.

"Participation in Putin's inauguration is not acceptable for Lithuania. Our priority remains support for Ukraine and its people fighting against Russian aggression."

A military court in the Russian city of Samara on May 7 sentenced anti-war activist Andrei Boyarshinov from the Tatarstan region to five years in prison on charges of justifying terrorism and calls for terrorism. The charges stem from online posts Boyarshinov made in 2022 supporting rallies in the city of Kazan to protest against Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The court also banned Boyarshinov from administering websites for two years after his release. Boyarshinov was arrested more than two years ago. Last year, the Memorial human rights group recognized him as a political prisoner. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Idel.Realities, click here.

Russian shelling killed one civilian and wounded eight in several Ukrainian regions, officials reported early on May 7. One man was killed in Petrivka in the Donetsk region, local administration head Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram, adding that four people were wounded in Kostyantynivka. Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov said three people -- including a 16-year-old girl -- were wounded when a guided aerial bomb struck the village of Borova in the Izyum district. Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported one wounded in his region while in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian troops shelled the city of Nikopol four times overnight, damaging a gas pipeline, according to regional head Serhiy Lysak. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.

Jailed Russian dissident and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza was awarded the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for commentaries for his articles that appeared in The Washington Post. Kara-Murza "won for passionate columns written at great personal risk from his prison cell, warning of the consequences of dissent in Vladimir Putin's Russia and insisting on a democratic future for his country," the Pulitzer Committee said in a statement on May 6. Kara-Murza is currently serving a 25-year sentence -- the longest jail term handed to a Kremlin opponent in post-Soviet Russia -- for discrediting the Russian military and treason over remarks he made in speeches outside Russia that criticized Kremlin policies.

The United States and European Union have said they will not be sending representatives to the swearing-in of Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 7 for a new six-year term. "We will not have a representative at his inauguration," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. An EU spokesperson said that "our ambassador will not be attending, most of the member states will not be attending." Britain and Canada also said they would not attend. Putin won a landslide reelection in March, weeks after his most prominent opponent, Aleksei Navalny, died under mysterious circumstances in a remote prison. Western leaders condemned the election as unfair and undemocratic.

France and the European Commission on May 6 told Chinese President Xi Jingping that they wanted him to use his influence on Russia to end its war in Ukraine, while underscoring that the EU wouldn't waver in its support for Kyiv. President Emmanuel Macron is hosting the Chinese leader in his first visit to Europe in five years and held talks with him and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Paris as they sought to show a united front on issues ranging from trade to Ukraine. China has strengthened trade and military ties with Russia in recent years. "We count on China to use all its influence on Russia to end Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine," von der Leyen told reporters. Macron said coordination with China on Ukraine was "absolutely decisive."

BELGRADE -- The Serbian capital has been adorned with Chinese flags and banners ahead of President Xi Jinping's May 7-8 visit to the country, as the Chinese leader seeks to gain economic and political influence during a rare European trip.

Xi, who is meeting with French leaders in Paris on May 6, is scheduled to hold talks with nationalist President Aleksandar Vucic, who has kept close ties to Beijing and Moscow while also seeking to maintain relations with the West amid the country’s hopes of eventual EU membership.

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Xi is later scheduled to travel to Budapest to meet with right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who also has kept close ties with Russia and China despite Hungary being an EU member.

A focus of Xi’s European trip will be on China's economic ties to Europe and escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Brussels. But China's position on Russia's war in Ukraine will also take center stage.

China has sought to carve out a larger diplomatic role around the Ukraine war, although EU officials have expressed doubts about the role Beijing can play in any future peace process given its close ties to Russia.

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Xi Heads To Europe Looking For A Larger Chinese Role In Ukraine

Serbia and Hungary have both pushed back on sanctions against Russia and have stood against weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

The date chosen for Xi's visit to Serbia is symbolic, as it marks the 25th anniversary of the destruction of the Chinese Embassy building during the 1999 NATO bombing campaign.

A large Chinese cultural center has been built at the former site of the embassy, and Xi is expected to visit a memorial there in honor of Chinese diplomats killed during the accidental strike.

Xi and Vucic are expected to discuss a wide range of topics, from political, economic, and technological issues to cooperation in the field of culture.

The Chinese president is coming to Belgrade six months after Vucic visited Beijing, during which Serbia and Chinese officials signed a free-trade agreement in the presence of the two leaders at the international "Belt and Road" forum.

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The free-trade agreement between Serbia and China is set to enter into force in July, although it has been under scrutiny in Brussels.

Ahead of Xi's visit, Vucic said Serbia will accelerate projects in several spheres, including "robotics, satellite technology, flying cars, among many other things."

Xi previously traveled to Serbia in June 2016, which marked the first visit of a Chinese president to Belgrade in 30 years.

Former Kazakh Economy Minister Quandyq Bishimbaev, who is on trial for violently killing his 31-year-old wife in an Astana restaurant in November, says he had no intention of killing her.

In his final statement on May 6 at his high-profile trial in the Kazakh capital, which has been followed online by tens of millions in the Central Asian country and abroad since late March, Bishimbaev called on the jury to be "objective" in the face of what he called an ongoing campaign on social media that had been organized "to incite hatred toward me."

"I had never wished Saltanat's death. I had never expected such a result for her. I am guilty, but not of premeditated murder. I had all means to flee and escape the trial, but I did not do that. However, the investigation has been influenced by social networks and media.... Saltanat's death was unintentional," Bishimbaev said.

Bishimbaev is charged with torture, murder with extreme violence, and repeatedly committing serious crimes. Bishimbaev's cousin, Baqytzhan Baizhanov, is a co-defendant, charged with failure to report a crime in progress.

The case has attracted nationwide attention amid 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.

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Millions Of Kazakhs Watch As Ex-Minister Goes On Trial For Wife's Brutal Death

Bishimbaev's last statement at the trial coincided with the statement by Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Aibek Smadiyarov, who said on May 6 that adviser Saken Mamash to the Kazakh ambassador in the United Arab Emirates will be dismissed, after his wife complained to an online feminist group that her husband had regularly beat her during 10 years of their marriage.

"We urgently called that employee back to Kazakhstan. Law enforcement organs will take care of his case further. He will be fired from the ministry," Smadiyarov said.

Domestic violence has historically gone unpunished in the Central Asian nation, where it is not considered a stand-alone criminal offense. The Kazakh parliament has been dragging its feet for years on a bill that would criminalize domestic violence. Women account for about one-quarter of Kazakh lawmakers.

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.

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

The 43-year-old Bishimbaev served as economy minister from May 2016 to late December the same year. Before that, he occupied different managerial posts in government agencies.

In 2018, Bishimbaev and 22 others faced a high-profile corruption trial that ended with Bishimbaev’s 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 said earlier that more than 100,000 cases of domestic violence are officially registered each year, though the number of unregistered cases, analysts say, is likely much larger.

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

According to the United Nations, about 400 women die in Kazakhstan as a result of domestic violence every year.

With reporting by Tengrinews

Russia says it warned Britain that if British weapons are used by Kyiv to strike inside its territory, Moscow was entitled to retaliate by striking back at British military targets both inside and outside Ukraine. The Russian ministry said it summoned British Ambassador Nigel Casey on May 6 over what it called "hostile" remarks by Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who said Ukraine "has the right" to launch attacks inside Russia with British-made weapons. "Casey was warned that the response to Ukrainian strikes using British weapons on Russian territory could be any British military facilities and equipment on the territory of Ukraine and beyond," the Russian ministry said.