Moldovan President Maia Sandu said in an interview published on October 6 that the Wagner mercenary group founded by the now-deceased Yevgeny Prigozhin had planned a coup in Moldova.

Sandu told the Financial Times that according to government information, the coup was planned this year by Prigozhin’s team.

She also said money had been smuggled from Russia into Moldova, partly by couriers and partly through bank accounts in Dubai, and said that pro-Russian forces in Moldova will continue to be financed by Moscow to destabilize the country.

"The situation is really dramatic, and we have to protect ourselves," Sandu said in the interview.

Sandu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy first commented publicly in February about an alleged coup plot to topple the pro-Western government in Chisinau. Zelenskiy said then that the plan had been intercepted by his country's intelligence services.

The Kremlin subsequently urged Moldova to exercise caution in its statements about Russian forces stationed in the breakaway Transdniester region, where an estimated 1,100 Russian troops remain deployed.

Sandu's interview appeared as EU leaders met in Granada, Spain, to discuss the prospects for the accession of Moldova and other Eastern European countries. Sandu said that welcoming Moldova into the EU would be the best way to ensure Moldova's security.

Prigozhin, 62, and several of his associates died in an unexplained plane crash in late August. He was buried on August 29 in a discreet ceremony.

Two months before his death, on June 23-24, Prigozhin sent thousands of his fighters in a short-lived rebellion against the military command fighting in Ukraine, imposing one of the biggest challenges to President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power.

The insurrection came on the heels of months of intense public infighting between Prigozhin and Russia’s military leadership over the war strategy in Ukraine and ammunition supplies.

Wagner troops moved to Belarus after the unsuccessful mutiny. Reports on Telegram channels linked to the mercenary group have indicated that some of the group's fighters left Belarus for Russia or for vacations, while some were transferred to operations in Africa.

With reporting by Financial Times and dpa

The United States said on October 6 it was expelling two Russian diplomats in a retaliatory step after Moscow kicked out two Americans last month. "In response to the Russian Federation's specious expulsion of two U.S. Embassy Moscow diplomats, the State Department reciprocated by declaring persona non grata two Russian Embassy officials operating in the United States," a State Department spokesperson said. The State Department "will not tolerate the Russian government's pattern of harassment of our diplomats," the spokesperson said.

The Bulgarian Parliament has started a debate on constitutional amendments aiming to cut the power of the prosecutor-general and limit the role of the president in forming caretaker governments.

The draft amendments proposed by lawmakers from three parties on October 6 gathered 161 votes in favor -- not enough to be adopted by a fast procedure but enough to start a slower process. It envisions a new vote in two to five months in which 160 votes would be enough for adoption of the changes.

The amendments, proposed by We Continue The Change – Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB), GERB, and Movement For Rights And Freedoms (DPS) -- which together support the government -- aim to curtail the power of the prosecutor-general to ensure the independence of judges.

“Key features of the rule of law are fair justice and an independent and fair court. These are the main objectives of the proposal for changes to the constitution,” Justice Minister Atanas Slavov, who defends the changes, told lawmakers.

But the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, There Is Such People, and the pro-Russian Vazrazhdane party criticized the amendments.

The draft amendments envisage the division of the Supreme Judicial Council, which appoints and dismisses judges and prosecutors, into two separate councils -- one for the judges, where members appointed by the judges themselves would have majority, and one for the prosecutors, where members nominated by the parliament would have a majority.

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After Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine, Bulgaria Is Rapidly Trying To Modernize Its Armed Forces

The aim is to ensure the independence of the judges while limiting the influence of the prosecutor-general, who is member of the prosecutors’ council.

The draft amendments also envisage changes to limit the prosecutor-general’s influence over prosecutors.

But the amendments have been met with criticism by the leadership of the prosecution, which expressed concern that they would allow political influence in the appointment of prosecutors.

Representatives of the judges have welcomed the idea for a majority of the judges on the Judicial Council but have criticized other provisions, including the idea to allow the heads of the two supreme courts and the prosecutor-general to be re-elected for a second five-year term instead of being in the post for only one seven-year term.

“Is this some kind of test? If they had fulfilled the necessary orders, they are elected again? And if they had not, they are not elected,” said Tatiana Zhilova, head of the biggest judges’ association, the Union Of The Judges In Bulgaria.

A majority of the members of the Supreme Judicial Council has also criticized the amendments, saying they show different treatment of judges on the one hand and prosecutors on the other.

The amendments also aim to limit the powers of the president in forming caretaker governments in the country that was governed by caretaker governments appointed by President Rumen Radev for most of the past two years.

Among the proposals is to limit the president’s choice for caretaker prime minister to the speaker of the parliament, the head of the Constitutional Court, and the head of the Bulgarian National Bank. The president currently can choose whomever he wants.

The proposition drew criticism from Radev and his advisers.

Bulgaria has long been considered one of the most corrupt European Union members, a dubious honor connected to the judiciary's lack of independence.

The prosecutor-general has long been viewed by both domestic and international critics as a blunt tool of the ruling elite to block investigations into their own members and target their opponents.

Washington and Brussels have for years been leaning on Bulgaria, which is also a NATO member, to reform the judiciary, including trimming the prosecutor-general's sweeping powers, and strengthening the judiciary’s independence.

Bulgaria's parliament in June adopted a mechanism for the independent investigation of the prosecutor-general, a move welcomed by international watchdogs. But it has not been put in practice, sparking debate over its effectiveness.

Jailed Azerbaijani activist Baxtiyar Haciyev’s has launched a new hunger strike to protest against the extension of his pretrial detention over charges of hooliganism and contempt of court.

Haciyev's lawyer, Elcin Sadyqov, said on October 6 that his client started the hunger strike four days earlier after a Baku court ruled in favor of prolonging his pretrial detention for at least three months.

On October 6, a court of appeals in Baku rejected Haciyev's appeal against the extension.

Haciyev held a 50-day hunger strike earlier this year to protest against his arrest and his lawyers said in February that his health had seriously deteriorated as he had lost 20 kilograms.

Haciyev, who was born in 1982, was arrested in early December last year. He rejects the charges.

In June, investigators added charges of illegal entrepreneurship, false entrepreneurship, forgery, use of forged documents, and smuggling. Haciyev has rejected these charges as well.

He previously was convicted on slander charges and had been detained during human rights protests in recent years.

In 2011, Haciyev was given a two-year prison sentence on charges of evading military duty but was released nine months early on the eve of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton scheduled visit to Baku.

He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

In February, the U.S. State Department expressed concerns over Haciyev's arrest and his state of health, stressing that the charges against him are "understood as politically motivated."

Critics of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's government say authorities in the oil-rich Caspian Sea state frequently seek to silence dissent by jailing opposition activists, journalists, and civil society advocates on trumped-up charges.

Aliyev has ruled Azerbaijan with an iron fist since 2003, taking over for his father, Heydar Aliyev, who served as president for a decade.

With reporting by Turan

The Russian-installed Supreme Court in Moscow-annexed Crimea said on October 6 that it sentenced Ukrainian national Serhiy Tsyhypa to 13 years in prison on a charge of spying for Ukraine's Security Service. The details of the case are not clear, and it is unknown how Tsyhypa pleaded as the trial was held behind closed doors. Tsyhypa, a journalist and activist from the Ukrainian city of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region, went missing in March 2022, less than three weeks after Russia launched its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in February. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

An opposition group called the Community of Railway Workers of Belarus said on October 6 that an explosion damaged a segment of a rail link close to the Azyaryshcha station -- a main hub for Russian military personnel, ammunition, and equipment. It remains unclear what caused the blast. Belarusian authorities have yet to confirm the group's statement. The authoritarian ruler of Belarus, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, has allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory as a staging area for its invasion of Ukraine. Minsk also agreed to station Russian tactical nuclear weapons in the country. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, click here.

Germany will send around 150 soldiers to Kosovo in April 2024, a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry said in Berlin on October 6, confirming a report by news magazine Der Spiegel. The planned Bundeswehr deployment comes after a deadly gun battle between Kosovo forces and armed Serbs last month fueled fears of an escalation in the ethnic Serbian-majority region 15 years after Pristina declared independence. The office of Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed this week to plans by the military to deploy a reinforced Bundeswehr company of around 150 soldiers to Pristina to support the NATO mission KFOR, Der Spiegel reported citing unnamed sources.

A court in Baku on October 5 sentenced Kenan Zeynalov, a bodyguard of opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (AXCP) leader Ali Karimli, to 25 days in jail after finding him guilty of "disobeying police orders." The AXCP called Zeynalov's arrest and sentencing politically motivated. In October 2021, another of Karimli's bodyguards, Niyamaddin Ahmadov, was sentenced to 13 years in prison on terrorism charges that Ahmadov and AXCP also called politically motivated. Critics of President Ilham Aliyev say Azerbaijan frequently jails opposition activists without grounds to silence dissent. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service, click here.

The bodies of 64 Ukrainian personnel killed in the war have been returned in an exchange with Russia, Ukraine's Coordinating Agency for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported on October 6. "Today, the Ukrainian side managed to bring back the bodies of 64 fallen defenders of Ukraine to the territory under the control of the government," the agency said in a message on Telegram. Ukraine handed over an unspecified number of bodies of dead Russian soldiers, it said. Last month, the bodies of 51 Ukrainian soldiers were returned. Since the beginning of the war, the agency says the bodies of almost 1,900 Ukrainian soldiers have been repatriated. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.

The Sota Telegram channel said on October 5 that Russian anti-war activist Natalya Narskaya, arrested in Kazakhstan in July at Moscow's request, will reportedly be extradited to Russia soon. It added that Narskaya has developed mental problems, as she has been held in solitary confinement for weeks. Russian journalist Yevgenia Baltatarova cited sources as saying that Narskaya will be extradited by October 25. Narskaya, who fled Moscow last year, is wanted for criticizing Russia for its aggression against Ukraine on YouTube. Kazakh rights defender Denis Zhivago told RFE/RL that the Kazakh Bureau for Human Rights is following Narskaya's case. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.

The chairman of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, wrote on Telegram on October 6 that the Russian parliament's lower chamber at its "nearest" session will discuss revoking Moscow's ratification of the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). A day earlier, President Vladimir Putin suggested that Russia could revoke its participation in the CTBT, a multilateral treaty to ban nuclear-weapons tests for civilian and military purposes. The United Nations adopted the treaty in September 1996, but it has not entered into force, as eight countries have not ratified the treaty. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Armenian troops are not taking part in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization's (CSTO) one-week military maneuvers that kicked off near Kyrgyzstan's northern town of Balykchy on October 6. The Kazakh Defense Ministry said troops from other CSTO members -- Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan -- are participating in the Indestructible Brotherhood drills. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said last month before joint Armenian-U.S. military exercises that Yerevan's "full reliance on Moscow on security matters was a mistake." He also said in September that Yerevan's involvement in the CSTO was "not effective" for Armenia's interests. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.

A day after pledging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy their unwavering support, EU leaders on October 6 will face one of their worst political headaches on a key commitment -- how and when to welcome debt-laden and battered Ukraine into the bloc. The bloc has said since Russia's invasion that at the end of the war it would work steadfastly on "lasting unity" that would eventually translate into Ukraine's EU membership. The leaders will assess "enlargement" at their informal summit in southern Spain's Granada. Beyond Ukraine, several Western Balkan countries and Moldova are also knocking with increasing impatience at the door.

Imprisoned Iranian women's rights activist Narges Mohammadi, who was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize on October 6, said the honor only strengthens her resolve to fight oppression even if it means spending the rest of her life behind bars.

In bestowing the award at an announcement ceremony in the Norwegian capital of Oslo, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said it was honoring the 51-year-old for "her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all."

"I will never stop striving for the realization of democracy, freedom and equality,” she said in a statement released through The New York Times after the Nobel announcement.

"Standing alongside the brave mothers of Iran...I will continue to fight against the relentless discrimination, tyranny, and gender-based oppression by the oppressive religious government until the liberation of women."

The award was widely applauded by the international community, while Iran denounced it as a "biased and political" action.

"We note that the Nobel Peace Committee awarded the Peace Prize to a person who was convicted of repeated violations of laws and criminal acts," Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement. "We condemn this biased and political move."

Mohammadi's campaign for freedom of expression and women's rights has prompted the Islamic regime to arrest her 13 times, convict her five times, and sentence her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes.

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In Or Out Of Jail, Veteran Iranian Human Rights Defender Narges Mohammadi Won't Be Silenced

Mohammadi is currently serving multiple sentences in Tehran's Evin prison amounting to about 12 years' imprisonment -- she has not seen her family in more than eight years -- on charges that include spreading propaganda against the state.

“Although the years of her absence can never be compensated for us, the reality is that the honor of recognizing Narges's efforts for peace is a source of solace for our indescribable suffering," a family statement said.

"For us, who know that the Nobel Peace Prize will aid her in achieving her goals, this day is a blessed day," it added.

Mohammadi is the 19th woman to win the 122-year-old prize and the second Iranian woman, after human rights activist Shirin Ebadi won it in 2003.

"This prize means that the world is paying attention to the activities that is being done in Iran for the rights of women, the world sees how the establishment represses women," Ebadi told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda after the announcement.

"As I have repeatedly said, democracy will enter Iran through the gate of women's rights."

Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, who announced the prize in Oslo, said it remains to be seen whether Mohammadi will be able to receive the award in Norway at a ceremony on December 10.

"If the Iranian authorities make the right decision, they will release her. So she can be present to receive this honor, which is what we primarily hope for," Reiss-Andersen said.

The Nobel Committee, the United Nations, and rights organizations, including Amnesty International, called for Mohammadi’s immediate release.

Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnes Callamard said Mohammadi's recognition "sends a clear message to the Iranian authorities that their crackdown on peaceful critics and human rights defenders will not go unchallenged."

The Nobel Committee said the 2023 prize also recognizes the hundreds of thousands of people who "have demonstrated against Iran's theocratic regime's policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in making the announcement on October 6.

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'Naked' And Defiant: Diary Of An Iranian Protester

The anti-government protests in Iran were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody for an alleged head-scarf violation.

The authorities responded to the unrest with a crackdown on demonstrations that has left hundreds dead.

More recently, 16-year-old high-school student Armita Garavand was reportedly assaulted by the city's notorious morality police on the Tehran subway on October 1 for not wearing a head scarf.

A source at the Fajr Air Force Hospital, who spoke to RFE/RL’s Radio Farda on condition of anonymity due to security reasons, said Garavand had suffered internal bleeding in the brain and was in critical condition.

Mohammadi's husband, Taghi Rahmani, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that the Nobel announcement "opens a window for the fight for democracy, for human rights, civil equality and it also makes Narges's responsibility heavy and as she's said, 'Any prize makes me stronger for the human rights goals that I have.'"

"I think this is important, it's not just a prize for Narges, it brings attention to the resistance that is ongoing in Iran for freedom, democracy, and civil equality," he added.

First arrested 22 years ago, Mohammadi has spent much of the past two decades in and out of jail over her unstinting campaigning for human rights in Iran. She has most recently been incarcerated since November 2021.

Still, the Nobel laureate has managed to remain an activist even while imprisoned, winning the 2018 Andrei Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Though she was behind bars for the anti-government protests over the past year that highlighted the Women, Life, Freedom movement triggered by Amini's death, Mohammadi and fellow inmates staged a symbolic protest in the yard of Evin by burning their head scarves on the anniversary of the 22-year-old's death.

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Iranian Girl's Hospitalization After Subway Incident Draws Parallels With Mahsa Amini's Case

From behind bars, Mohammadi still contributed an opinion piece for The New York Times in September where she called the dissent a testament to the resilience of protesters and the waning authority of the "theocratic authoritarian regime."

"What the government may not understand is that the more of us they lock up, the stronger we become," she wrote.

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Special Report: The Protests That Shook Iran's Clerical System

Last year, in a letter addressed to Javaid Rehman, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Mohammadi described the "assault on women during arrest and in detention centers" as part of the Islamic republic's "suppression program" against activist women.

The Nobel Peace Prize, awarded by experts appointed by the Norwegian parliament, comes with an award of 11 million Swedish crowns (about $1 million).

Last year, the prize was awarded to human rights activists in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine amid harsh crackdowns by Minsk and Moscow on dissent and the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine.

This year the Norwegian Nobel Committee received 351 nominations -- 259 for individuals and 92 for organizations. The full list is kept secret for 50 years.

With reporting by AP, AFP and Reuters

Sweden will send Ukraine a new military support package worth 2.2 billion crowns ($199 million), consisting mainly of ammunition and spare parts to earlier donated systems, Defense Minister Pal Jonson said on October 6. The new military aid package will be Sweden's 14th to Ukraine since the start of the war, taking the total value of the Nordic country's aid to just over 22 billion crowns ($1.99 billion). Jonson told a news conference the government had also formally tasked the armed forces with analyzing whether Sweden would be able to send Jas Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned Russia will try in the coming winter to destroy Ukraine's power grid as it did during the last cold season, leaving thousands of Ukrainian civilians to face freezing temperatures.

Zelenskiy said on October 6 that he discussed preparations to protect heating facilities and the provision of electricity to the population during a meeting with the staff of the supreme commander in chief.

During the previous cold season Russia targeted Ukraine's power grid and energy facilities, knocking out electrical power to tens of thousands of people at a time.

"Such crazy logic, but we have to take this into account. This winter, Russian terrorists will again try to destroy our power system. We are fully aware of the danger," he said.

Representatives of the military and all officials responsible for the protection of Ukraine's energy industry and winter tactics reported during the meeting, Zelenskiy said.

"Winning this winter, going through all the difficulties, and giving protection to our people is very important," he said.

Earlier on October 6, Russia launched a fresh attack on Kharkiv, killing at least two people, including one child, regional officials said as the northeastern Ukrainian region mourned dozens of people killed in a Russian strike on the village of Hroza the previous day.

One 10-year-old boy and his 68-year-old grandmother were killed while 28 people were wounded in the city of Kharkiv overnight, Mayor Ihor Terekhov and regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov said on October 6.

The boy's 11-month-old brother is among those wounded, Synyehubov added.

"The child was found under the rubble of a residential building. Unfortunately dead. Condolences to the parents and relatives," Terekhov wrote on Telegram.

Synyehubov said on Telegram that according to preliminary findings, two Iskander missiles hit the Kyiv and Osnovyan districts of Kharkiv, a city of 1.4 million people. His claim could not be independently verified.

• RFE/RL
• Reuters

A residential building in the city center of Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, was struck by a Russian missile, killing a 10-year-old boy and injuring 16, Ukraine's interior minister said on October 6.

The latest attack came as the Kharkiv region observed a three-day mourning period after the Russian missile strike the previous day that ripped through a cafe in Hroza, a village some 85 kilometers southeast of Kharkiv, killing at least 51 people, including a child, in what was this year's deadliest attack by Moscow forces on Ukrainian civilians.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on October 6 said it had sent a field team to probe the attack on Hroza.

"The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, who saw for himself the horrific impact of such strikes, is profoundly shocked and condemns these killings," OHCHR spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell told reporters in Geneva.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the strike was a "deliberate terrorist attack," while the White House called the assault "incredibly horrifying for the people of Ukraine" and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demanded that such attacks be halted immediately.

Separately, Russian shelling killed two civilians over the 24-hour period ending early on October 6 in the southern region of Kherson, regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.

Ukraine's air defense said early on October 6 that it shot down 25 out of the 33 Iranian-made drones launched by Russia overnight on the Odesa, Mykolayiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Zhytomyr regions.

Oleh Kiper, the governor of the Odesa region, said on Telegram that Izmayil, one of the two Danube ports that Ukraine uses to export grain, was targeted by Russian drones that caused damage to port installations.

"The enemy once again targeted the port infrastructure of the Izmayil district," Kiper wrote on Telegram, adding, "a granary and nine trucks were damaged." Kiper said three Iranian-made drones were shot down by the Ukrainian air defenses. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The attack prompted authorities in NATO-member Romania to shut down the Isaccea border crossing with Ukraine. Isaccea is located some 50 kilometers away from Izmayil.

On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces fought 37 close-quarter battles with Russian troops over the past day as they continue to conduct both offensive and defensive operations in eastern and southern Ukraine, the General Staff said in its daily report on October 6.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP

President Vladimir Putin on October 5 said Russia had successfully tested the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile that he has long boasted was under development. The missile, known under NATO standards as Skyfall and believed to have a potential range of thousands of miles, had reportedly suffered several failures during previous testing and Western sources have remained skeptical of its viability. Putin also suggested that Russia could revoke its ratification of the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban. “Theoretically, we may revoke the ratification.” he said, arguing it would mirror U.S. actions. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Russian Service, click here.

German police and customs officers searched several properties in southern Germany, which a source familiar with the matter said belonged to a Russian national targeted by European Union sanctions over Ukraine. The source told Reuters that Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov was the target of the operation, a Russian-Uzbek businessman who was sanctioned in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "There can be no reason for suspicion against Mr. Usmanov, who has always duly declared the personal property that was lawfully acquired by him, in addition to disclosing the funds with which he acquired these assets," said a spokesperson for Usmanov.

Bangladesh on October 5 received the first uranium shipment from Russia to fuel the country's only nuclear power plant, which is still under construction by Moscow. Once finished, the plant is expected to boost Bangladesh’s national grid and help the South Asian nation's growing economy. The Rooppur power plant will produce 2,400 megawatts of electricity -- powering about 15 million households — when the twin-unit facility goes fully online. The plant is being constructed by Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear energy corporation. Moscow has funded the construction with a $11.38 billion loan, to be repaid over two decades, starting from 2027.

Slovak President Zuzana Caputova said on October 5 that she is against a new package of military aid for Ukrainian armed forces that are fighting Russia's full-scale aggression. Caputova said the results of last weekend's parliamentary elections in Slovakia, in which pro-Russian leftist politician Robert Fico's party placed first, should be respected. Fico campaigned on rhetoric that would shift Slovakia closer to that of Hungary as European Union countries challenging the consensus on how to approach the war in Ukraine. Previously, Caputova repeatedly stated that Ukraine needs aid and she has criticized Russia for its invasion.

The leaders of France, Germany, and the EU expressed their “unwavering support” to Armenia as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian stepped up his diplomatic push at a European summit in Spain, even as Yerevan and Baku traded accusations of attacks on each other's forces near border regions.

The European leaders on October 5 "underlined their unwavering support to the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and inviolability of the borders of Armenia," French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and European Council President Charles Michel said in a joint statement.

"They also expressed their support to the strengthening of EU-Armenia relations, in all its dimensions, based on the needs of the Republic of Armenia," the statement added.

Michel told reporters he will invite Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders to Brussels for a meeting by the end of October.

Pashinian traveled to Spain to press his country’s needs on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Granada.

The move comes in the wake of Azerbaijan’s lightning military offensive last month that allowed Baku to retake Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region controlled by ethnic Armenian leaders for the past three decades.

More than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled the region to Armenia, putting pressure on authorities in Yerevan seeking to handle the flood.

Scholz, Macron, and Michel said they are prepared to provide additional humanitarian aid to Armenian and that they "remain committed to all efforts directed toward the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan."

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev called off his planned trip to Granada for meetings with Pashinian, complaining about the presence of France and demanding that close ally Turkey be allowed to participate in talks.

Baku on October 5 said it “stands ready for tripartite meetings in Brussels soon in the format of the European Union, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.”

Macron insisted that the positon of France -- which has a large ethnic Armenian population itself -- was correctly balanced, despite Baku’s claims that it favors Armenia.

"France has no problem with Azerbaijan, but Azerbaijan seems to have a problem with international law," said Macron, who added, though, that sanctions against Baku at this time would be counterproductive.

Separately, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Azerbaijan's takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh was "inevitable."

"It was only a matter of time before Azerbaijan started to restore constitutional order there…. It was inevitable after [Armenia's] recognition of Azerbaijan's sovereignty over Karabakh," Putin said.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought two wars over Nagorno-Karabakh, which was a predominantly Armenian-populated mountainous enclave but internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

As part of efforts to reach an overall peace agreement in the region, Pashinian in recent months had said he was willing to recognize Karabakh’s status within Azerbaijan if Baku would guarantee the rights of ethnic Armenian living there.

Russia has long been a close ally of Armenia, but those ties have frayed over what Yerevan sees as a betrayal by the Kremlin after Russian peacekeepers failed to prevent Azerbaijan’s successful military drive against ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Back in the South Caucasus region, the defense ministries of Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other on October 5 of opening fire at the other's positions.

Yerevan said Azerbaijani forces opened fire at a vehicle transporting food for personnel stationed at Armenian combat outposts in the eastern province of Gegharkunik.

Baku, in turn, said the Armenian side opened fire at Azerbaijani positions in the western district of Kalbacar. No casualties were reported from either side.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Armenian and Azerbaijani Services, Reuters, AFP, and dpa

Prominent jailed Russian opposition figures -- including Aleksei Navalny, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and Ilya Yashin -- called on fellow political prisoners and backers to conduct a one-day hunger strike to protest oppression in the country. In a statement published on Navalny’s website on October 5, the Kremlin critics said the action would take place on October 30, a day traditionally set since 1991 to remember victims of political repression during the Soviet era. “Russia's authorities are returning to their roots: arrests, repression, closed trials,” the jailed activists said. The Kremlin has intensified its crackdown on civil society in Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Russian Service, click here.

Bosnia says it's trying to verify allegations that weapons used in a deadly clash at an Orthodox monastery in northern Kosovo were purchased in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Vahidin Munjic, the acting police chief of the Bosniak-Croat Federation, one of the country's two entities, told RFE/RL on October 5 that authorities are looking into reports that the guns used in the attack came from Tuzla in Bosnia. Munjic said Bosnian police requested help from the Interpol in the case. Three attackers and one Kosovar policeman were killed in the September 24 incident. A top ethnic-Serb politician from Kosovo has admitted to orchestrating the clash. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Balkan Service, click here.

TBILISI -- Georgia's Foreign Ministry has condemned reports that Russia plans to establish a naval base in the breakaway region of Abkhazia, calling it a "blatant violation" of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The de facto president of Abkhazia, Aslan Bzhania, was quoted by the Izvestia newspaper on October 5 as saying that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had signed an agreement in late September, according to which "a permanent base of the Russian Navy will appear in the nearest future in [Abkhazia’s] Ochamchira district."

"We call on the Russian Federation to comply with its international obligations, implement the cease-fire agreement concluded on August 12, 2008, through the mediation of the European Union, and end the illegal occupation of integral regions of Georgia," Georgia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement after the interview was published, adding that the international community supports the South Caucasus nation’s territorial integrity.

In August 2008, Russia recognized the independence of Abkhazia and Georgia's other breakaway region, South Ossetia, following a five-day Russian-Georgian war. Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia in 1992, a move which led to all-out war with Tbilisi.

The West has called the move effectively an annexation of the two regions by Russia. Only Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Syria have recognized Abkhazia as independent.

Moscow keeps thousands of its troops in the breakaway regions and in 2009 talk of a similar naval base was quickly criticized by NATO, which has three members -- Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania -- that are Black Sea littoral states.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on Bzhania's statement.

"I cannot comment this. The issues related to our troops' location, our vessels, our units are the competence of the Defense Ministry," Peskov said.

Bzhania's comments come the same day that The Wall Street Journal reported Moscow has withdrawn most of its Black Sea fleet from Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula it illegally annexed in 2014, because of constant attacks by Ukraine.

Peskov said the Kremlin had no comment on the WSJ report as it was a matter for the Defense Ministry.

Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in February last year, the Georgian government has strived to maintain a balanced relationship with Moscow.

It has stated support for Ukraine and condemned Russia's invasion but hasn't joined economic sanctions imposed on Moscow by many Western countries.

With reporting by TASS and Izvestia

A court in Dushanbe has sentenced Nizomiddin Nasriddinov, a former activist of the Group 24 opposition movement, to 8 1/2 years in prison on a charge of making public calls to forcibly change Tajikistan's constitutional order.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a person involved in the trial told RFE/RL on October 5 that the Ismoili Somoni district court pronounced the verdict and sentence of Nasriddinov on September 29, adding that the former activist pleaded not guilty.

Court officials and Nasriddinov’s relatives refused to comment, while the court asked RFE/RL to send an official letter asking for comment.

Last month, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Human Rights Watch, Freedom for Eurasia, and Freedom Now demanded that Tajik authorities drop the "trumped-up" charges against Nasriddinov and immediately release the former activist.

Belarusian authorities detained Nasriddinov at Dushanbe's request in January when he entered Belarus from Lithuania. They then extradited him to Tajikistan in July. Nasriddinov has refugee status in Germany.

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

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

Last year, Tajik courts sentenced seven journalists and bloggers to prison terms ranging from seven years to 21 years on charges of spreading false information, involvement into activities of extremist groups, and cooperation with banned organizations. The journalists, their supporters, and human rights groups have called the charges trumped-up and politically motivated.