DUSHANBE -- Prosecutors at the trial of noted Tajik journalist Abdullo Ghurbati have asked a court in Dushanbe to convict and sentence the defendant to the maximum allowed eight years in prison on charges he and his supporters say are unfounded.

Sources present at the hearing told RFE/RL that the request came as the Shohmansur district court resumed the trial behind closed doors on September 29.

Ghurbati is charged with publicly insulting an authority, the minor assault of an authority, and participating in the activities of an extremist group. The first two charges carry only fines, but the third charge carries a penalty of up to eight years in prison.

The latter charge is linked to Ghurbati's business relations with Tajik businessman Idibek Latipov, who has been living and working in Egypt since 2007.

Investigators say Ghurbati received money from Latipov for making a YouTube video advertising his company, while Latipov was included on the Tajikistan National Bank's registry of individuals involved in "terrorist or extremist activities."

According to the sources who talked to RFE/RL, Ghurbati told the court on September 29 that he was not aware that Latipov was on the registry and that his ties with the man were purely business-related.

Latipov told RFE/RL by phone that his inclusion on the National Bank’s registry was groundless.

Ghurbati and blogger Daleri Imomali, known for his articles critical of the government, were detained on June 15 and subsequently sent to pretrial detention for two months.

Imomali was charged with illegal entrepreneurship and premeditated false denunciation. His trial is pending.

In June, Human Rights Watch demanded that Tajik officials immediately release Ghurbati and Imomali, saying that the two men "are being targeted for their professional activities, despite being protected by Tajikistan’s laws and international obligations on freedom of expression and media freedom.”

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has been criticized by international human rights groups for years over his disregard for independent media, religious freedoms, civil society, and political pluralism in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic.

The Kremlin has announced it will formally annex four regions of Ukraine on September 30 as the West steps up preparations for fresh sanctions on Russia in the wake of what the international community has called "sham" referendums.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on September 29 that a signing ceremony involving President Vladimir Putin and Moscow-imposed leaders from the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya would take place at 3 p.m. Moscow time "on agreements on the accession of new territories into the Russian Federation."

Russian-backed officials in the four regions said voters overwhelmingly supported joining Russia, but the votes have been dismissed by Ukraine, Western governments, and the United Nations because they are illegal under international law.

The votes were held amid claims by some local officials that voters have been threatened and coerced to vote. Election officials brought ballot boxes house-to-house, in many cases accompanied by armed Russian forces.

SEE ALSO:

Kyiv Slams Results Of 'Sham' Vote In Russian-Occupied Lands As 'Null And Worthless'

The four regions form a crucial land connection for the Kremlin between Russia and the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014 and is otherwise only connected to the mainland by a bridge.

The Kremlin’s move was announced just hours after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said work was under way on a new package of measures designed "to make the Kremlin pay" for escalating the conflict in Ukraine.

"We do not accept the sham referenda nor any kind of annexation in Ukraine, and we are determined to make the Kremlin pay the price for this further escalation," she told reporters in Brussels.

The proposed eighth sanctions package includes further import bans on Russian products that are meant to deprive Moscow of an additional 7 billion euros ($6.7 billion) in revenues.

The White House, meanwhile, said the United States will "never" recognize Russian attempts to annex parts of Ukraine and is preparing new economic sanctions on Moscow that will impose a "severe economic cost on Russia when they move forward with annexation."

SEE ALSO:

Russia Using Annexations, Mobilization To 'Plug The Holes' And 'Hold The Line,' Says Analyst

"We will never recognize these illegal and illegitimate attempts at annexation," Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on September 28.

"We will work with our allies and partners to impose additional economic costs on Russia and individuals and entities inside and outside of Russia."

The EU will fully ban imports from Russia of steel and steel products, pulp and paper, machinery and appliances not yet covered by existing sanctions, intermediate chemicals, plastics, and cigarettes, according to an EU diplomat.

The sanctions would also ban the export of EU of goods used in aviation, such as tires and brakes, and electrical components including certain semiconductors and less sophisticated components than those already banned, the diplomat added.

In addition, the diplomat said the proposal also aims to ban the export of specific goods that can be used for torture.

The sanctions package will lay the legal basis for an oil price cap and ban EU citizens from sitting on governing bodies of Russian state-owned companies, von der Leyen said.

SEE ALSO:

Pro-Russian Officials Say Annexation Vote In Ukraine Delivers Expected Result: Overwhelming Approval

The new sanctions also would include restrictions on 37 individuals and companies that are engaged in organizing referendums.

This would include deputy ministers, celebrities, musicians, and people involved in spreading disinformation.

The proposal has been presented to the EU ambassadors of the 27 member countries, who are scheduled to discuss it on September 30. They will have to overcome differences in order to reach the required unanimity.

In Washington, two architects of the U.S. sanctions regime told lawmakers that future sanctions must focus on depriving Putin of what he needs to fund and fight the war.

This includes revenue from Russia’s oil and gas sales and access to global supply networks to replenish his military.

Elizabeth Rosenberg, an assistant Treasury secretary, stressed that the U.S. should be "laser-focused" on starving Russia of the energy profits.

Rosenberg testified on September 28 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee alongside James O'Brien, head of the State Department's sanctions coordination office, as senators complained that the first rounds of sanctions did not hit Moscow as hard or fast as the administration had forecast.

Rosenberg told lawmakers that Russia should be in a fiscal deficit by the end of the year but for now the ruble is managing far better than the United States projected and inflation and its stock market levels aren't out of line with those of other countries.

Rosenberg and O'Brien called for stronger action against Russia as U.S. and European officials prepare to impose a system of price caps on Russian maritime oil exports. The system would be designed to keep Russian oil on the world market. The architects of the plan say this would avoid driving up prices even higher, while forcing down the price that Russia gets for its exports.

The next step must be to double down on the global arms procurement networks Russia uses to replenish its weapons and technology for the war in Ukraine, Rosenberg and O’Brien said.

Russian opposition politician Leonid Gozman has left Russia after serving two consecutive 15-day jail terms on charges of "equating" Soviet-era Russia with Nazi Germany.

Gozman wrote on Facebook late on September 28 that he was at an airport along with his wife, Marina, adding "I am leaving now, and she will one day after me."

He did not say where he was headed.

Gozman's daughter, Olga, had said her father planned to leave Russia once he was released, emphasizing he needs surgery for gallbladder issues.

The 72-year-old Kremlin critic was sentenced to 15 days in prison twice in a row over his online articles written in 2013 and 2020 that said the Soviet regime was no better than the regime that ruled Nazi Germany.

The law criminalizing equating the Soviet and Nazi regimes was adopted in 2021.

Gozman also has openly protested Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

He was a co-chairman of the now defunct Union of Right Forces political party, and a top manager of OAO Unified Energy System of Russia and the Rusnano Group.

After Russia launched its war against Ukraine in late February, Gozman left Russia but returned to Moscow in mid-June.

He was previously investigated on a charge of not reporting his second citizenship. He holds both Russian and Israeli passports. Under Russian law citizens are required to report other citizenships immediately after obtaining them.

BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz Education Minister Almaz Beishenaliev has been detained on charges of taking bribes in connection with student admissions to the Central Asian nation's universities.

The Interior Ministry said on September 28 that Beishenaliev is suspected of accepting a total of $110,000 for arranging foreign students' acceptance to universities in Kyrgyzstan.

The ministry’s statement said detailed information on the case will be made public at a later date.

The 41-year-old Beishenaliev has initiated multiple reforms in the education system since his appointment to the post in November 2020.

Between June 2021 and February 2022, he worked as the Kyrgyz ambassador to Switzerland, after which he returned to the position of education minister.

Neither Beishenaliev nor his legal representative has commented on the situation.

BISHKEK -- Noted Kyrgyz investigative journalist Bolot Temirov has been acquitted of drug charges that he and his supporters called politically motivated.

The Sverdlov district court on September 28 found Temirov not guilty on charges of illegal drugs possession and illegal border crossing.

Judge Akylbek Adimov also ruled that Temirov is guilty of document forgery but cannot be sentenced for that due to a statute of limitations.

Temirov said in the courtroom before the court's ruling was pronounced that Kyrgyz law enforcement and security officers have been actively trying to curb freedom of expression in the country by imposing trumped-up charges against journalists, adding that the trend must be stopped.

Prosecutors had sought five years in prison for Temirov on the charges.

Temirov and traditional bard singer Bolot Nazarov, who performed his anticorruption songs on the YouTube channel Temirov LIVE, were arrested in January for allegedly possessing illegal drugs, which the two men say were planted by police.

SEE ALSO:

Kyrgyz Musician Back In Kazakhstan For Probe Into His Alleged Beating While In Police Custody

In April, Bishkek city police filed additional charges against Temirov, accusing him of forgery and illegally crossing the border with Russia.

Police said Temirov, who was born and raised in Russia and holds a Russian passport, used forged documents to obtain a Kyrgyz passport in 2008, which he then used to illegally exit and enter Kyrgyzstan.

Temirov rejected all of the charges, saying they were brought against him after he published the results of his investigation suggesting corruption among top officials of the Central Asian nation.

Kyrgyz authorities have denied that probes against Temirov are politically motivated.

Temirov was among 12 people recognized by the U.S. State Department last year as anticorruption champions.

An Iranian bombing campaign targeted Iraq's northern Kurdish region on September 28, killing least 13 people and wounding 58 others, Iraq's state news agency said.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) fired on targets in Iraq's northern Kurdish regional capital of Irbil and the eastern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah, the Iranian state news agency IRNA reported.

The strikes took place amid protests that erupted nearly two weeks ago in Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, who died on September 16 three days after being detained in Tehran by the morality police for allegedly breaching Iran's strict rules on head scarves.

The wave of protests and a crackdown that followed have left scores of demonstrators dead over the past 12 nights.

The IRGC has accused Iraq-based Kurdish groups of "attacking and infiltrating Iran to sow insecurity and riots and spread unrest."

SEE ALSO:

The Farda Briefing: Iranian Regime Rocked By 12 Nights Of Protests Despite Violent Crackdown

IRNA said the IRGC targeted bases of a separatist group in the north of Iraq with “precision missiles” and “suicide drones.”

The attacks targeted the political offices of Kurdish parties as well as the Iranian Kurdish refugee camp.

U.S. Central Command said it downed an Iranian drone while it was on its way to Irbil, adding that the drone appeared to pose a threat to U.S. personnel in the region.

"No U.S. forces were wounded or killed as a result of the strikes and there is no damage to U.S. equipment," it said in a statement.

A senior member of Komala, an exiled Iranian Kurdish opposition party, told Reuters that several of their offices were struck.

Tariq Haidari, the mayor of the Iraqi Kurdish city of Koye, told Reuters that two people, including a pregnant woman, were killed and 12 wounded. Some of the wounded were rushed in critical condition to hospital in Irbil, he said.

The United Nations refugee agency in Iraq said on Twitter that the attack "caused damage to the Iranian refugee camps in Koye," and Iranian refugees were among the casualties.

SEE ALSO:

Former Iranian President's Daughter Arrested For Supporting Protests Triggered By Death Of Woman In Custody Over Hijab

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry and the Kurdistan regional government condemned the strikes, and Iraq's federal government summoned the Iranian ambassador to protest.

The UN mission in Iraq deplored the attack, saying "rocket diplomacy is a reckless act with devastating consequences,” and the U.S. State Department called the Iranian attacks an “unjustified violation of Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

The IRGC in the last few days has repeatedly attacked areas in Iraqi Kurdistan. The IRGC said in a statement that it will continue to target "terrorists" in the region.

"This operation will continue with our full determination until the threat is effectively repelled, the bases of terrorist groups are dismantled, and the authorities of the Kurdistan Region assume their obligations and responsibilities," the IRGC said in its statement.

Widespread protests took place for a 12th straight night in Iran on September 27, according to opposition media based outside Iran.

The protests started in Amini’s hometown of Saghez in Iran’s Kurdistan region and spread to dozens of cities and towns across Iran.

The police command was quoted by the Fars news agency as saying that Iran’s enemies and some rioters “seek to disrupt the order, security, and comfort of the nation using any pretext."

It said police officers will oppose “with all their might the conspiracies of counterrevolutionaries and hostile elements, and deal firmly with those who disrupt public order and security anywhere in the country."

The statement came only hours after the UN said its Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres called on Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi not to use "disproportionate force" against protesters.

Raisi planned a television address to talk about domestic and foreign issues facing the country later on September 28, ISNA said.

Raisi last week said the protests over Amini's death were unacceptable "acts of chaos."

Officials say 60 people have died during the protests, but the group Iran Human Rights says at least 76 people have been killed. As of September 26, more than 1,200 people had been arrested, including of activists, lawyers, and journalists.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Renewed fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces broke out on September 28, killing three Armenian troops, Yerevan said as the two sides again blamed each other for shooting first across their shared border.

The Armenian Defense Ministry’s press service said "Azerbaijani forces opened fire from mortars and large-caliber firearms at the eastern direction of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border."

Armenia's Defense Ministry said in a statement three died on the Armenian side as a result.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said in a tweet that three of his troops had been killed in "an attack against Armenian independence, sovereignty and democracy."

"Withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops and deployment of an international observer mission on the Armenian territories affected by Azerbaijani occupation and bordering areas is an absolute necessity," he wrote.

The Armenian side resorted to retaliatory actions after the shooting started, Defense Ministry spokesman Aram Torosyan said.

The Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan blamed the Armenian side, saying it violated the cease-fire. According to Baku, one Azerbaijani soldier was wounded.

SEE ALSO:

'Know Who The Traitors Are': Azerbaijanis Speaking Out Against The Karabakh War Are Being Targeted On Social Media

"All responsibility for the incident lies with the military and political leadership of Armenia," the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.

The ministry said despite the cease-fire agreement the Armenian armed forces opened fire on the units of the Azerbaijani Army around 6 p.m. local time in the Kalbajar region with different types of firearms.

The fighting threatens a fragile cease-fire agreement that ended the worst fighting between the two ex-Soviet Caucasus countries since a 2020 war over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

After a flare-up that killed more than 200 soldiers, the two sides on September 23 agreed to the Russia-brokered cease-fire to end the most recent hostilities.

Baku and Yerevan have been locked in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for years. Armenian-backed separatists seized the mainly Armenian-populated region from Azerbaijan during a war in the early 1990s that killed some 30,000 people.

The two sides fought another war in 2020 that lasted six weeks before a Russia-brokered cease-fire, resulting in Armenia losing control over parts of the region, which is part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent districts.

Under the cease-fire Armenia ceded swaths of territory it had controlled for decades and Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers.

With Moscow increasingly isolated following its invasion of Ukraine, the United States and the European Union have taken leading roles in mediating the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process.

Last week, the two countries' foreign ministers met in New York for talks arranged by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Earlier this year the EU led negotiations in Brussels between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Pashinian at which they agreed to "advance discussions" on a future peace treaty.

They last met in Brussels on August 31, for talks mediated by European Council President Charles Michel.

The issue of ensuring a land link between Azerbaijan and its ally Ankara via Armenian territory has emerged as the primary sticking point.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

The Swedish Coast Guard found a fourth gas leak on the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea earlier this week, a Coast Guard official said on September 29.

Three leaks -- two in the Danish zone and one in the Swedish zone -- were discovered in the two major Russian underwater pipelines designed to ship natural gas to Germany.

The unexplained incidents come amid rising tensions between Europe and Russia over the war in Ukraine.

NATO and the European Union said the leaks were caused by "sabotage" and vowed to take strong action to protect critical European infrastructure but stopped short of pointing the finger at Russia.

"There are two leaks on the Swedish side and two leaks on the Danish side," the coast guard official told the media.

Neither pipeline was in use at the time of the suspected blasts, but they were filled with gas that has been spewing out in the Baltic Sea since the September 26 breakages.

Seismologists from Sweden and Denmark said they had recorded powerful explosions in the area, prompting Swedish police to launch an investigation into possible sabotage.

The fourth leak was on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, in close proximity to a larger hole found on the nearby Nord Stream 1, the official said.

The incident has caused natural gas prices in Europe to spike.

CNN, citing two Western intelligence officials and one other source familiar with the matter, reported on September 29 that European security officials observed Russian Navy support ships early last week in the vicinity of the leaks at a time that is believed to coincide when the leaks may have started.

Danish officials, however, have noted it is not uncommon for Russian ships to be in the area, and Russia has vehemently rejected suggestions that it was behind the two incidents, with the Kremlin calling them "absurd and stupid."

On September 29, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the leaks occurred in territory that is "fully under the control" of U.S. intelligence agencies.

"It happened in the trade and economic zones of Denmark and Sweden. There are NATO-centric countries," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the pro-Kremlin Soloviev Live online broadcast.

"They are countries that are completely controlled by the U.S. intelligence services."

The UN Security Council will meet September 30 to discuss the incident.

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters

The United States and its allies are preparing to impose fresh sanctions on Russia in the wake of what the West and United Nations have called "sham" referendums in four Ukrainian regions, with the White House saying the measures would exact a "severe" economic price on Moscow.

On September 28, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen introduced a new package of measures, saying they are designed "to make the Kremlin pay" for escalating the conflict in Ukraine.

"We do not accept the sham referenda nor any kind of annexation in Ukraine, and we are determined to make the Kremlin pay the price for this further escalation," she told reporters in Brussels.

The proposed eighth sanctions package includes further import bans on Russian products that are meant to deprive Moscow of an additional 7 billion euros ($6.7 billion) in revenues.

The White House said the United States will "never" recognize Russian attempts to annex parts of Ukraine and is preparing new economic sanctions on Moscow that will impose a "severe economic cost on Russia when they move forward with annexation."

SEE ALSO:

Kyiv Slams Results Of 'Sham' Vote In Russian-Occupied Lands As 'Null And Worthless'

"We will never recognize these illegal and illegitimate attempts at annexation," Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on September 28.

"We will work with our allies and partners to impose additional economic costs on Russia and individuals and entities inside and outside of Russia."

The EU will fully ban imports from Russia of steel and steel products, pulp and paper, machinery and appliances, intermediate chemicals, plastics, and cigarettes, according to an EU diplomat.

The sanctions would also ban the export of EU of goods used in aviation, such as tires and brakes, and electrical components including certain semiconductors and less sophisticated components than those already banned, the diplomat added.

In addition, the diplomat said, the proposal also aims to ban the export of specific goods that can be used for torture.

The sanctions package will lay the legal basis for an oil price cap and ban EU citizens from sitting on governing bodies of Russian state-owned companies, von der Leyen said.

SEE ALSO:

U.S. Announces $1.1 Billion In Aid For Building Ukraine's Military

The new sanctions also would include restrictions on 37 individuals and companies that are engaged in organizing referendums.

This would include deputy ministers, celebrities, musicians, and people involved in spreading disinformation.

The proposal has been presented to the EU ambassadors of the 27 member countries, who are scheduled to discuss it on September 30. They will have to overcome differences in order to reach the required unanimity.

In Washington, two architects of the U.S. sanctions regime told lawmakers that future sanctions must focus on depriving Putin of what he needs to fund and fight the war.

This includes revenue from Russia's oil and gas sales and access to global supply networks to replenish his military.

Elizabeth Rosenberg, an assistant treasury secretary, stressed that the United States should be "laser-focused" on starving Russia of energy profits.

Rosenberg testified on September 28 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee alongside James O'Brien, head of the State Department's sanction coordination office, as senators complained that the first rounds of sanctions did not hit Moscow as hard or fast as the administration had forecast.

Rosenberg told lawmakers that Russia should be in a fiscal deficit by the end of the year but for now the ruble is managing far better than the United States projected and inflation and its stock market levels aren't out of line with those of other countries.

Rosenberg and O'Brien called for stronger action against Russia as U.S. and European officials prepare to impose a system of price caps on Russian maritime oil exports. The system would be designed to keep Russian oil on the world market. The architects of the plan say this would avoid driving up prices even higher, while forcing down the price that Russia gets for its exports.

The next step must be to double down on the global arms procurement networks Russia is using to replenish its weapons and technology for the war in Ukraine, Rosenberg and O'Brien said.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, and dpa

The United States will provide an additional $1.1 billion in military aid to Ukraine, including funding for about 18 more advanced rocket systems and other weapons to counter drones, the White House announced on September 28.

The package is aimed at helping Ukraine secure its longer-term defense needs under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which funds the purchase of weapons and equipment. This means it could take a year or more for Ukraine to get the systems.

Most of the other military aid packages announced by the United States have thus far used Pentagon drawdown authority to provide weapons more immediately.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

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

The new package "represents a multi-year investment in critical capabilities to build the enduring strength of Ukraine's Armed Forces" as they continue to battle the invading Russian Army, the Pentagon said in a statement.

The package includes funding for 18 units of the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS, and 12 Titan systems, which are used to counter drones.

The Pentagon and Ukrainian military leaders say HIMARS have been key to Ukraine's recent battlefield successes. Titan systems will be deployed against Iranian-made drones that Russian forces have started to use to target Ukrainian forces.

The announcement came after what Western countries say were “sham” referendums held in parts of Russian-occupied Ukraine on joining Russia.

“We will not be deterred from supporting Ukraine, we will continue to stand with the Ukrainian people, and provide them with the security assistance they need to defend themselves, for as long as it takes,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Also in the package is funding for about 150 armored vehicles, 150 tactical vehicles for towing weapons, trucks and trailers, and a variety of radars, communications, and surveillance equipment.

The United States has now committed approximately $16.9 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since January 2021.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP

Hundreds of professors and academic activists have signed an open letter urging international feminist communities to join them in building transnational solidarity with women and marginalized groups in Iran.

The letter is signed by academics from universities in Europe, Britain, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and other countries who say that the death of Mahsa Amini is "among many other state murders committed systemically and purposefully by the gender-apartheid regime of Iran."

The letter, titled Listen to the Voices of a Feminist Revolution in Iran, said that now more than ever "it is critical to show more potent transnational solidarity with women and other marginalized bodies in Iran.”

The letter comes amid anti-government protests over the death of Amini, 22, after she was taken into custody by morality police for the alleged improper wearing of a head scarf or hijab.

"This country-wide revolt is against not only the brutal murder of Mahsa but also the essence of the Islamic regime," the letter said. "The demand is loud and clear: an end to a theocratic regime whose multi-faceted violence against marginalized bodies is manifested in Mahsa’s death."

The country is "witnessing a feminist revolution...ignited by rage at the murder of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini," the letter added.

The protests have galvanized Iranians while also highlighting four decades of state violence and discrimination against women, who have been pushing back against state repression for years.

The government has recently arrested more than 1,200 protesters, including 20 journalists, four lawyers, and about 25 activists and students. According to official figures, more than 40 people have been killed, including several members of the security forces. Rights groups that monitor the country believe the real number of people killed is much higher.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

North Ossetia has imposed restrictions on cars arriving from other parts of Russia as an exodus of military-age men out of the country has resulted in a long line of vehicles at a remote border crossing with Georgia.

Sergei Menyailo, North Ossetia's governor, said on September 28 that the restrictions were being introduced in Russia's North Caucasus region because it “will not be physically able to ensure order and security if this flow continues to grow."

The restrictions apply to "citizens who are registered with the military not only in North Ossetia, but also in other regions of the country," Menyailo said on Telegram after imposing the restrictions by decree.

Menyailo calls the decision to restrict entry a "forced measure" associated with "a huge amount of transit traffic" and many kilometers of queues at the Upper Lars checkpoint on the Russian-Georgian border.

Exceptions will be made only for residents of North Ossetia, Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, and Georgia, and tourists who have the necessary documents.

Mobile operational groups are already working at the entrances to North Ossetia and at the entrance to the Upper Lars checkpoint to check whether those entering are subject to conscription.

Representatives of the military registration and enlistment offices in the operational groups have general lists of conscripts from the Ministry of Defense, Menyailo said.

North Ossetian authorities announced the creation of a temporary draft office at Upper Lars on September 27 to issue draft papers to reservists who are attempting to leave Russia in defiance of the mobilization order.

Tens of thousands of draft-age men have been leaving Russia since President Vladimir Putin announced a partial military mobilization last week. Georgia, which allows Russians to stay without a visa for up to a year, has been one of the most popular destinations.

There are no direct flights between Russia and Georgia, and the Upper Lars crossing, which straddles a remote mountain pass, is the only operational crossing point between them.

The traffic jam at Upper Lars on September 28 stretched more than 20 kilometers, and the wait time was about two days. On September 27, the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that the number of trucks and cars waiting to cross the border had grown to 5,500.

In response to the huge traffic jam, Russian citizens have been allowed to cross the border at the Upper Lars on foot despite the border crossing not being intended for this.

Before Putin announced the military mobilization about 5,000 to 6,000 Russian citizens crossed into Georgia through Upper Lars every day. Now the daily influx of Russians is about twice that, said Georgian Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri. Georgia does not plan to impose restrictions on Russians.

Georgian authorities on September 28 also condemned the so-called referendums that took place from September 23 to September 27 in four territories of Ukraine occupied by Russia.

“These attempts to annex Ukrainian territories are unacceptable. Georgia strongly supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The statement described the referendums as “cynical violations of international law and the will of the Ukrainian people, who continue to fight heroically against the invasion.”

With reporting by Reuters

Russian missile strikes in Ukraine's second city Kharkiv hit a railway yard overnight and knocked out power to more than 18,000 households, officials said on September 28.

Kharkiv governor Oleh Synehubov said Russian forces had fired S-300 missiles, designed as an anti-aircraft weapon but now often re-purposed to hit civilian infrastructure in Ukrainian cities.

The Kharkiv regional emergency service said the blasts destroyed an electrical transformer and hit a workshop.

No casualties were reported, but the regional electricity company said 18,500 customers in the Shevchenkivsky, Kholodnogirsky, and Novobavarsky districts of the city had lost electricity.

The strike came exactly a week after a similar attack that hit a nearby rail freight yard as well as residential blocks.

Heavy fighting also continues in the Kherson region, Britain's Ministry of Defense said in its daily intelligence bulletin on September 28.

The ministry said the Russian military force in the area, located on the right bank of the Dnipro River, remains vulnerable to Ukrainian attacks.

British intelligence also said that Russia is using its forces to continue its "grinding" attempts to advance near Bakhmut in the Donbas despite facing severe pressure on its northern and southern flanks.

The latest fighting came as U.S. officials said Washington was preparing a new $1.1 billion weapons package for Ukraine that will be announced soon.

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters

NATO and the European Union said leaks in two major Russian underwater pipelines designed to ship natural gas to Germany were caused by "sabotage" and vowed to take strong action to protect critical European infrastructure.

However, their statements on September 28 stopped short of accusing anyone of being behind the incident, which caused natural gas prices in Europe to spike.

The Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, which are owned by Kremlin-controlled Gazprom, burst in several locations in the exclusive economic zones of Denmark and Sweden.

Neither of the pipelines is currently in operation amid a standoff between Moscow and Brussels over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

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

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on September 28 that he discussed the "sabotage" of the pipelines at a meeting with Danish Defense Minister Morten Bodskov in Brussels.

"We addressed the protection of critical infrastructure in NATO countries," the chief of the Western military alliance that also includes most EU countries said on Twitter.

The EU issued a strong warning the same day to anybody attempting to attack the energy backbones of the 27-nation bloc.

"Any deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure is utterly unacceptable and will be met with a robust and united response," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement, echoing a warning by European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.

Borrell announced that the bloc would step up the protection of its energy infrastructure following the incidents.

"We will support any investigation aimed at getting full clarity on what happened and why, and will take further steps to increase our resilience in energy security," he noted.

Borrell's statements came after seismologists from Sweden and Denmark said they had recorded powerful explosions in areas near where evidence of leaks from the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea had been found, prompting Swedish police to launch an investigation into possible sabotage.

"These incidents are not a coincidence and affect us all," Borrell said.

Neither NATO nor the EU accused anyone in particular of being behind the leaks, which come as Europe tries to fill up its natural gas storage ahead of winter amid the biggest energy crisis in decades.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhaylo Podolyak tweeted on September 27 that the reported gas leaks were likely the result of a "terrorist attack" carried out by Moscow.

Podolyak accused Russia of seeking to "destabilize the economic situation in Europe and cause pre-winter panic."

Western officials for months have been warning that Russia could cut natural gas exports to Europe to pressure Brussels over its support of Ukraine.

Russia accounted for about 40 percent of EU natural gas supplies last year, giving it enormous leverage over energy prices in the bloc. Much of the natural gas, which is used to heat homes in the winter, flows through the Nord Stream pipelines.

Nord Stream 1 accounted for more than one-third of Russian natural gas exports to the EU last year. Nord Stream 2 was set to start operation in 2022 but Germany blocked its launch in February in a failed attempt to deter Russia from invading Ukraine.

Moscow began reducing gas flows through Nord Stream 1 earlier this year, claiming Western sanctions had caused technical difficulties, driving prices to record highs and pushing the EU toward a recession.

It completely suspended exports along the pipeline in August as the EU imposed more sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia could face billion-dollar lawsuits from European customers if it doesn’t resume the gas flows along Nord Stream 1.

But analysts say Moscow can now try to use the explosions to declare force majeure -- circumstances beyond its control due to an unforeseen event -- and avoid penalties.

The Kremlin on September 28 vehemently rejected accusations it was behind the two incidents, calling them "absurd and stupid."

It pointed the finger at Washington, adding that the United States had opposed the pipelines and that U.S. energy companies are earning large profits supplying gas to Europe.

However, prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden declined to stop the completion of Nord Stream 2.

The Biden administration also wants to avoid a natural gas crunch in Europe this winter for fear it could weaken EU unity on Russia sanctions and support for Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the incident needed to be investigated and the timing for the repair of the damaged pipelines was not clear.

"This is a big problem for us because, firstly, both lines of Nord Stream 2 are filled with gas -- the entire system is ready to pump gas and the gas is very expensive.... Now the gas is flying off into the air."

"Are we interested in that? No, we are not. We have lost a route for gas supplies to Europe," Peskov said.

However, Russia has been burning large amounts of natural gas, a process known as flaring, for months amid much lower sales to Europe, analysts said.

Russia also has enough spare capacity along pipelines that cross Ukraine to supply Europe.

The explosions came on the same day of the inauguration of a long-awaited pipeline that will bring Norwegian gas to Poland, which used to rely heavily on Russia for supplies.

The new system will bring Norway's gas across Denmark and the Baltic Sea to Poland.

Anders Puck Nielsen, a researcher with the Center for Maritime Operations at the Royal Danish Defense College, was quoted by Reuters as saying the timing of the leaks was "conspicuous" given the ceremony for the Baltic Pipe.

He said it appeared someone may have sought "to send a signal that something could happen to the Norwegian gas."

"The arrow points in the direction of Russia," Puck Nielsen said.

"No one in the West is interested in having any kind of instability in the energy market."

With reporting by SVT, Reuters, AFP, BBC, and TASS

Kyiv said on September 28 that Moscow-orchestrated votes on becoming part of Russia held in four Ukrainian regions partially controlled by Moscow were "null and worthless," and called on the West to "significantly" increase its military aid to Ukraine.

Russian-backed officials had announced the final results earlier, saying voters had "overwhelmingly" supported becoming part of Russia. Two Moscow-appointed regional heads sent "requests" to join Russia shortly after

Referendums that the West and United Nations have called “sham” votes took place between September 23- and September 27 in the parts of the Zaporizhzhya, Luhansk, Donetsk, and Kherson regions that are under Moscow's military occupation. The territories account for about 15 percent of Ukraine's territory.

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The move has been dismissed by Ukraine, Western governments, and the United Nations because the vote is illegal under international law.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Russian-staged votes were "null and worthless" and urged its international partners to impose tough new sanctions on Moscow and provide Kyiv with more military aid.

"Ukraine will never agree to any ultimatums," the ministry said.

"Ukraine calls on the EU, NATO, and the Group of Seven to immediately and significantly increase pressure on Russia, including by imposing tough sanctions and significantly increase their military aid to Ukraine," it said.

The White House called the referendums "illegal and illegitimate" and said that the United States will not recognize Russian-annexed areas in Ukraine. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at a briefing that the referendums were manipulated by Moscow and would be challenged internationally.

"Based on our information, every aspect of this referanda process was pre-staged and orchestrated by the Kremlin," Jean-Pierre said.

"Regardless of Russia's claims, this remains Ukrainian territory," she added.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on September 28 slammed the "illegal annexation" votes and their "falsified" results.

"EU denounces holding of illegal 'referenda' and their falsified outcome," Borrell said on Twitter.

"This is another violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, amidst systematic abuses of human rights," he said.

The sham referendum was held amid claims by some local officials that voters have been threatened and coerced into voting. Election officials brought ballot boxes house-to-house in many cases accompanied by armed Russian forces.

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In eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, 99.23 percent of those who came to the polls voted for its entry into Russia, prompting Moscow-backed separatist leader Denis Pushilin to hail the result as "colossal."

In another eastern region, Luhansk, Russia-appointed election officials said the final result was 98.42 percent in favor of the annexation

After the announcement of the final results, the Moscow-backed administrator of the Luhansk region, Leonid Pasechnik, sent Russian President Vladimir Putin a request for the territory under his control to join Russia, citing alleged Ukrainian crimes and the threat of genocide as the reason.

"Taking into account the decision of the republic's population at the referendum, I am asking you to consider making the Luhansk People's Republic a subject of the Russian Federation," Pasechnik said in a statement.

The head of the Russian-controlled part of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, later followed suit.

"Our residents made a historic choice and decided to become part of the multinational population of the Russian Federation, in which all people are equal before each other and before the law," Saldo said in a statement published on social media.

The requests are seen as a prelude to Putin declaring their annexation in the coming days.

Valentina Matviyenko, the chairman of the Russian parliament's upper house, said Putin was scheduled to address the parliament about the referendums on September 30 and said lawmakers could consider annexation legislation on October 4 -- three days before Putin celebrates his 70th birthday.

With reporting by AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa, and TASS

German police have searched the superyacht Dilbar, the world's biggest yacht by tonnage, believed to be owned by Alisher Usmanov -- an Uzbek-born billionaire and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The search conducted on September 27 was part of investigations of Usmanov's alleged tax evasion, money-laundering, and violations of European Union sanctions imposed on him and Russia over Putin's ongoing invasion of Ukraine launched in late February, public prosecutors in Frankfurt told reporters.

German authorities in March said they had seized the Dilbar, a 156-meter superyacht worth $600 million, and Forbes magazine subsequently reported that the vessel belonged to Usmanov.

Prosecutors did not mention Usmanov’s name or provide the names of any suspects. They specified only that the search was conducted in “northern Germany” and did not say why nearly six months passed before they searched the vessel.

Last week, German police searched dozens of houses and apartments belonging to Usmanov and discovered four rare Faberge eggs.

Usmanov, 69, is currently believed to be residing in Uzbekistan, according to Der Spiegel, which said he is accused of evading at least 555 million euros ($534 million) in German taxes since 2014.

With reporting by Reuters, dpa, and Der Spiegel

Iranian oil industry contract workers have warned the government to end its crackdown on protesters or they will strike, a move that could cripple a key sector of the economy.

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"We support the people's struggles against organized and everyday violence against women and against the poverty and hell that dominates the society,” the Organizing Council of Oil Contract Workers said on September 26.

Iran has been roiled by unrest that has spread to more than 80 cities and towns, including in the northwest, where 22-year-old Mahsa Amini lived before eyewitnesses and family said she was beaten -- and later died -- after being seized by the morality police in Tehran on September 13.

Labor protests in Iran also have been on the rise in recent months in response to declining living standards and state support as crippling Western sanctions wrack the economy.

The outrage over Amini's death also has reignited decades-old resentment at the treatment of women by Iran's religious leadership, including laws forcing women to wear Islamic scarves to cover their heads in public.

The Iran Human Rights Organization said on September 27 that at least 76 people have been killed in anti-government protests across Iran.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

BISHKEK -- A well-known Kyrgyz jazz musician who was arrested in Kazakhstan during deadly anti-government protests in January says he is in Almaty, where investigations into his alleged beating and torture by Kazakh police officers have started.

Vikram Ruzakhunov told RFE/RL on September 27 that he arrived in the Almaty region a day earlier and has met with a Kazakh investigator involved in the probe.

"The meeting [with the investigator] was fruitful. Today, we will visit the crime site, where I was detained and tortured. We will hold face-to-face confrontations with identified individuals," Ruzakhunov said.

Ruzakhunov said earlier that he had suffered a chest injury, broken ribs, a concussion, and multiple bruises while in Kazakh custody.

Anti-government protests sparked by a fuel-price hike erupted in Kazakhstan in early January. President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev has publicly blamed what he said were “extremists” trained abroad for attacking Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, during the unrest. He has not produced any evidence to back up the claim.

Ruzakhunov's situation was amplified when a Kazakh television channel showed a video in which he said he was recruited by an unspecified group to take part in the unrest for $200. In the video, severe bruises can be seen on Ruzakhunov's face, leading to speculation he was forced to make the statement.

The video sparked protests in Kyrgyzstan, where Ruzakhunov was immediately recognized by his fans. He was freed several days after his arrest and allowed to go to Bishkek after the Kyrgyz government demanded his release.

Kazakh officials said earlier that six people were tortured to death after being arrested for taking part in the protests and 238 people died during or after the unrest, which was violently dispersed by law enforcement and the armed forces.

The Kazakh Prosecutor-General's Office has said 25 people were officially considered victims of torture as investigators used hot irons during their interrogations.

Human rights groups insist that the number of killed during the unrest may be much bigger, presenting proof that many peaceful demonstrators and persons who had nothing to do with the protesters were killed by police and military personnel following an order by Toqaev to "shoot to kill without warning."

In July, police in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, concluded that Kazakh authorities had inflicted severe injuries on Ruzakhunov's body during his illegal arrest in January.

ASHGABAT -- Relatives of inmates in Turkmenistan say they were forced to pay up to $2,000 to secure the inclusion of their loved ones on lists of inmates affected by a recent mass amnesty by President Serdar Berdymukhammedov.

According to several men and women who spoke to RFE/RL on condition of anonymity on September 26, they had to pay bribes to police officers who investigated the cases of their relatives and to prosecutors involved in the cases to make sure that their incarcerated relatives would be included in the clemency.

Representatives from prosecutors' offices and law enforcement structures in Ashgabat were not immediately available for comment.

According to the decree on the mass amnesty signed by Berdymukhammedov, 834 inmates, including four foreign nationals, will be released from prisons.

One of the world's most isolated and repressive countries, Turkmenistan marks its independence on September 27.

Serdar Berdymukhammedov took over the tightly controlled former Soviet republic in March from his authoritarian father, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, who ruled the nation with an iron fist from 2006.

Russian poet and activist Artyom Kamardin, who was reportedly beaten and raped during his arrest, has been charged with inciting hatred over the presentation of his verses critical of the Kremlin's ongoing invasion of Ukraine

Kamardin's lawyer, Leonid Solovyov, said on September 27 that his client was hospitalized with symptoms of a concussion, bruises on his body, scratches on his face, and chest wounds and remains in custody. A court is to decide his pretrial restrictions.

Kamardin, 31, was detained on September 26 along with his girlfriend, Anna Popova, and friend Aleksandr Menyukov after police broke into their apartment in Moscow. The Novaya gazeta.Europe newspaper cited Popova as saying that police severely beat Kamardin and raped him with a dumbbell.

Popova and Menyukov were released hours later.

Doctors diagnosed Popova with a concussion, head wounds, hip and legs wounds, and graze wounds on her left hand. The Sota online newspaper says it obtained a medical report on Popova conducted after her release.

The detainments came a day after Kamardin presented his verses at an annual poetry event at a monument to Soviet poet Vladimir Mayakovsky in Moscow. The verses criticized the Russian government for its war in Ukraine.

Police in Moscow also detained poets Nikolai Daineko and Yegor Shtovba, who also presented their verses at the Mayakovsky readings on September 25.

The two were also charged with inciting hatred and are waiting for the court's decisions on their pretrial restrictions.

With reporting by Novaya gazeta.Europe, Sota, and OVD-Inform

Iranians on September 27 staged a 12th straight night of protests over the death of Mahsa Amini despite a growing death toll and a fierce crackdown by security forces.

Widespread protests continued in various cities, including Tehran, Tabriz, Karaj, Qom, Yazd, and many other Iranian towns and villages more than a week after Amini, 22, died while she was in the custody of the morality police for allegedly wearing an Islamic head scarf, or hijab, improperly.

Scenes showing street clashes with security have been posted on social media, but activists said an Internet blackout was making it increasingly tough to share videos.

"Iran remains under Internet/mobile blackouts but some videos are still getting out," said the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran.

The semiofficial Fars news agency said that "around 60" people had been killed since Amini's death on September 16, up from the 41 reported on September 24, but the Iran Human Rights group says at least 76 people have been killed.

State TV reported that a police officer died on September 27 in a hospital after being injured by rioters in the town of Robatkarim in Tehran Province.

Officials said they had made more than 1,200 arrests across the country, including the detention of activists, lawyers, and journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said at least 20 journalists are among those arrested.

WATCH: A funeral has been held for a 20-year-old woman who was said to have been shot dead by Iranian security forces in the city of Karaj, near Tehran. Hadis Najafi was shot six times on September 21 during ongoing nationwide protests following the death of Mahsa Amini.

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Many students, high-profile activists, rights advocates, and intellectuals have also been arrested in recent days, including Majid Tavakoli and Mohammad Reza Jalaeipour.

The daughter of former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was arrested for inciting protests, the Tasnim news agency reported.

Students in Tehran and other Iranian cities have often chanted the slogan, "The streets are covered in blood; our professors are silent," during rallies in recent days.

Several Iranian university professors responded by refusing to participate in classes or by resigning.

Lily Galehadaran, a member of the academic faculty of the Shiraz Art University, was one of the first.

“I was interrogated many times in the Intelligence Department of Shiraz and Tehran, but I continued to teach because of the love of my students. But today I am resigning from my job because of the love I have for them,” Galehadaran wrote in her resignation letter.

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Ammar Ashuri, a professor who resigned from Tehran Azad University’s faculty of art and architecture, said he had been pressured and threatened by university security officers because of the posts and stories he has posted on Instagram.

Nasrollah Hekmat, a prominent Iranian philosopher and philosophy professor at the Beheshti University, also joined the protesting students.

"Today, I consider myself your student and you are my teacher. Only God knows that in these few days, I have learned more from you than in my entire life," Hekmat wrote in a letter, adding that “as long as students are protesting, I will not hold any classes.”

During a demonstration in the city of Qamishli on September 27, several women cut off their hair, threw it to the ground along with their head scarves, and set the pile on fire.

“Long live freedom. Women demand free life. Revolution is in our hands," the marchers chanted. “Women, life, freedom!"

State media branded the protesters "hypocrites, rioters, thugs, and seditionists," while state television said police clashed with "rioters" in some cities and fired tear gas to disperse them.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Iran to "end its use of violence against women for exercising what should be a fundamental freedom."

He told reporters in Washington that the United States stands with “all those who are exercising the universal right to peaceful protest."

Germany summoned the Iranian ambassador over the crackdown, Canada announced sanctions, and Tehran called in the British and Norwegian envoys.

A hard-line lawmaker slammed female protesters who have taken off their head scarves.

“These rioters are out to prostitute themselves,” Mahmud Nabavian was quoted as saying by Fararu, a news website. He suggested that taking off the head scarf was akin to being naked in public to attract male attention.

Senior cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamadani used more conciliatory language.

“It is necessary for officials to listen to people’s demands and solve their problems and be sensitive to their rights,” Hamadani said, according to IRNA.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP; Ardeshir Tayebi contributed based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

RFE/RL freelance correspondent Yulia Vishnevetskaya has been sentenced to five days in jail after being detained along with dozens of others by police in Daghestan, her lawyer, Aida Kasimova, announced on September 28.

Vishnevetskaya was covering an unsanctioned rally against the Kremlin's partial military mobilization to support troop levels in the war against Ukraine.

Kasimova said Vishnevetskaya was charged with participating in an unsanctioned rally.

RFE/RL President Jamie Fly called for Vishnevetskaya's immediate release.

“Yulia was only doing her job reporting the truth for the Russian people,” Fly said. “She should be released immediately.”

Idris Yusupov and Sergei Ainbinder, two journalists who were also held, said police confiscated mobile phones from most of the detained journalists and have been keeping them in custody without access to lawyers since.

Yusupov and Ainbinder said they were released about 17 hours after being detained.

Yusupov told RFE/RL that more than 100 men and women remain in the police custody, adding that they all were charged with administrative misdemeanors and will face court hearings.

The arrests came after hundreds rallied in Makhachkala on September 26, a day after another rally, attended mostly by women, ended with the detainment of about 120 people. Eight of the demonstrators detained on that day face criminal charges.

Protests against the partial mobilization announced by President Vladimir Putin on September 21 have taken place in several towns and cities across Russia in recent days, including Moscow and St. Petersburg.

According to OVD-Info, a human rights group that monitors political arrests in Russia, at least 2,398 people have been detained for protesting the mobilization since September 21. All public criticism of Russia's "special military operation" is banned.

DUSHANBE -- One of Tajikistan's largest banks, Dushanbe City Bank, has suspended operations of Russia's Mir payment cards in the country, citing technical issues.

Dushanbe City Bank said on September 27 that the "problems with using Mir payment cards" started four days earlier. It gave no further details.

The statement comes amid repeated warnings from the United States and other countries that those who fail to adhere to international sanctions against Moscow for its ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine may themselves face penalties.

On September 23, another Central Asian country, Uzbekistan, said Mir payment cards issued outside the country would no longer work, though those issued locally were still functioning.

Earlier last week, several banks in Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Vietnam suspended the use of Mir payment cards amid warnings by the U.S. Treasury about possible sanctions on institutions supporting Russia's payment system outside of Russia.

Moscow has vowed to expand its Mir payments system in so-called "friendly countries" as Western sanctions attempt to shut it out of international finance over its war against Ukraine.

Last week Reuters quoted a senior U.S. administration official as saying that steps by Turkey's Isbank and Denizbank to suspend the use of Russian payment system Mir "make a lot of sense."

"Cutting off Mir is one of the best ways to protect a bank from the sanctions risk that comes from doing business with Russia. We expect more banks to cut off Mir because they don’t want to risk being on the wrong side of the coalition's sanctions," the official said.

With reporting by RBK and Reuters

The European Union plans to follow suit with the United Kingdom and others and impose sanctions on the organizers of "illegal, illegitimate referendums" that are being conducted in four regions of Ukraine that are at least partially controlled by Moscow.

"There would be consequences for all people who participate in the illegal, illegitimate referendums," Peter Stano, a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, told journalists on September 27, the fifth and final day of voting in the referendums, which many Western governments have called "sham" votes.

The vote in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya regions is being held in the midst of the largest conflict in Europe since the end of World War II and amid claims by some local officials that voters have been threatened and intimidated.

On September 26, the United Kingdom announced new sanctions in response to the referendums, calling them "a clear violation of international law, including the UN Charter."

The new sanctions hit many top Russian officials involved in enforcing the votes, as well as dozens of individuals from state-linked organizations that the U.K. said continued to "bankroll the Russian war machine, serving as a stark reminder of the cost of supporting [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's operation."

Kazakhstan has signed a deal to become the first Central Asian country to host a race in the premier category of the motorcycle world championship.

MotoGP promoter Dorna said on September 27 in a statement that a five-year deal had been reached for the Sokol International Racetrack -- located just outside the city of Almaty -- to hold a race starting in 2023 as part of the FIM MotoGP World Championship.

"The region will be a new pitstop for MotoGP as the sport continues to expand around the world, engaging with new markets and fan bases," Dorna said in the statement.

Kazakhstan will be the 30th country to host a MotoGP race since the championship started in 1949.