Irene Khan, UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, expressed concerns over the rise in hate speech in Serbia following two mass-killing incidents in the Balkan nation. “Serbia must take immediate and effective measures against hateful and divisive rhetoric in public discourse which fuels violence in society,” a UN statement said. “The shootings have traumatized the entire country. It is unconscionable to use this tragedy as yet another occasion to stir up hatred, demonizing and vilifying independent media, human rights defenders, political opponents, and others critical of the government.” To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Balkan Service, click here.

Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen, one of the most damaging spies in U.S. history, was found dead in his prison cell in the U.S. state of Colorado on June 5, prison officials said. The 79-year-old Hanssen was arrested in 2001 and pleaded guilty to selling highly classified material to the Soviet Union and then Russia. He was serving a life sentence. Hanssen began spying in 1979.

Authorities in North Macedonia on June 5 said 10 men were arrested as suspected members of an international people smuggling ring following an investigation that lasted nearly two years. In a statement, police described the group as a sophisticated criminal organization that operated routes between Greece and Hungary as well as from Bulgaria and Serbia to various destinations in the European Union, charging each migrant $2,140-$4,280. Police raided 11 locations in three towns. The arrested suspects as well as their alleged associates were charged with people-smuggling offenses that carry a minimum prison sentence of five years. To read the original story by AP, click here.

U.S. President Joe Biden thanked Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on June 5 for Denmark’s role in a Western alliance "standing up" for Ukraine as it tries to fend off Russia’s 15-month-old invasion. The Oval Office visit kicked off the first of a pair of critical meetings Biden is holding with European allies this week that will focus heavily on what lies ahead in the war in Ukraine -- including the recently launched effort to train, and eventually equip, Ukraine with American-made F-16s fighter jets. Biden on June 7 will meet with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. To read the original story by AP, click here.

Iran has not sufficiently implemented commitments to more transparency regarding its nuclear program, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said in Vienna on June 5. In March, Grossi and the leadership in Tehran had agreed on increased surveillance of nuclear facilities and investigations into formerly secret nuclear sites. Since then only "a fraction of what we envisaged" has been implemented, Grossi said during an IAEA board meeting. The IAEA chief conceded that some surveillance cameras and devices had been installed. "Some progress has been made, but not as much as I had hoped," he said.

WASHINGTON -- The United States has sanctioned seven leading members of a Russian influence group with links to intelligence services for their role in Moscow's campaign to destabilize Moldova and instigate an insurrection.

In a statement issued on June 5, the Treasury Department accused the individuals of provoking, training, and overseeing protesters in Moldova with the aim to topple President Maia Sandu and a newly appointed Western-leaning government earlier this year.

The statement said Konstantin Sapozhnikov, one of the sanctioned individuals, led the group and also organized the plot to destabilize the Moldovan government. The other members designated were Yury Makolov, Gleb Khloponin, Svetlana Boyko, Aleksei Losev, Vasily Gromovikov, and Anna Travnikova.

In February and March, several thousand people took to the streets in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, against Sandu and the country’s pro-Western government with many in the crowd linked to the Russia-friendly Shor Party. The protesters demanded Sandu's resignation and called on the government to pay citizens' utility bills following a spike in energy prices caused by Russia's decision to slash natural gas exports to Europe.

Ilan Shor, the tycoon who founded the Shor Party, fled Moldova following Sandu's election in 2019.

“Russia’s attempted influence operations exploit the concerns of the citizens of these countries, to destabilize legitimately elected governments for Moscow’s own interests. The United States remains committed, along with the EU, to target individuals who engage in such activities against the government of Moldova,” Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in the statement.

Sandu and the government want Moldova, an impoverished former Soviet state, to join the European Union and escape Moscow's orbit. The Kremlin opposes Moldova's tilt to the West and has used its energy resources as a tool to punish Chisinau.

Russia has denied any involvement in a covert plot to destabilize Moldova.

Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu, in a Facebook post, said that “we welcome today's decision by the United States Treasury Department to sanction seven more individuals with foreign citizenship who tried to destabilize the internal situation in the Republic of Moldova. This measure is an important step in our joint efforts to maintain stability and public order in our country.”

It is not the first time the United States has sanctioned Russian individuals for undermining democracy in Moldova.

In October 2022, the Treasury Department designated Yury Gudilin, Olga Grak, and Leonid Gonin for their coordinated action in 2020 and 2021 to influence the outcome of Moldova’s elections. The EU has also sanctioned several Russian and Moldovan individuals for activities against the government in Chisinau.

In its June 5 statement, the Treasury Department said Sapozhnikov and his group did not limit their actions to Moldova. They also targeted Ukraine, Balkan countries, the EU, Britain, and the United States.

"These malign influence operatives analyze countries vulnerable to exploitation and stoke fears that undermine faith in democratic principles in the targeted countries," the statement said.

The treasury's decision to sanction Sapozhnikov and his cohorts freezes any U.S. assets in their possession, including U.S. dollar bank accounts at foreign institutions.

A wave of public demonstrations has swept across Iran on the anniversary of the death of Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic republic, with Iranians dancing in the streets in a display of defiance of authority amid a crackdown on unrest that has swept the country.

Videos posted online showed many Iranians demonstrating on June 3, the day Khomeni died in 1989, with some showing footage of the burning of the flag, as well as images of Iran's current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, amid chants of "Death to the dictator" and "Death to Khamenei, curse on Khomeini."

The public demonstrations follow a series of recent protests in Iran. Dancing, a form of expression often suppressed by the government, has emerged as a symbolic act of civil disobedience, challenging the values and rules put in place by the regime.

In recent months, the anger has focused on the mandatory hijab rule, which forces women to cover their heads while in public. Unrest erupted in September 2022 when a young woman in Tehran died while in police custody for an alleged hijab violation.

Since then, thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets to demand more freedoms and women's rights, with the judiciary, backed by lawmakers, responding to the biggest threat to the Islamic government since the 1979 revolution with a brutal crackdown.

Several thousand people have been arrested, including many protesters, as well as journalists, lawyers, activists, digital rights defenders, and others. At least seven protesters have been executed after what rights groups and several Western governments have called "sham" trials.

Several more remain on death row and senior judiciary officials have said they are determined to ensure those convicted and sentenced have their punishments meted out.

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

Pakistan’s prime minister said he is “very hopeful” of finalizing a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in June. “We are still very hopeful that the IMF program will materialize. Our ninth review by the IMF will match all terms and conditions and, Shehbaz Sharif told Anadolu in an interview conducted in Ankara, where he attended the inauguration of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s inauguration. An IMF agreement to release $1.1 billion -- out of a $6.5 billion package -- has been delayed since November as the IMF seeks more information about Pakistan's finances.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly to discuss the upcoming NATO summit, Ukraine’s formula for peace, and the scheduled London conference on reconstruction of the war-torn country. Zelenskiy thanked Cleverley for Britain’s support following the Russian invasion of February 2022. “We are very grateful for the support the U.K. has provided and continues to provide to Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said following the June 5 meeting in Kyiv. In a video on Zelenskiy's Facebook page, Cleverly said that Britain "will continue backing you and your country until you are victorious.”

Russian prosecutors asked a court in Rostov-on-Don to sentence Ukrainian activist Bohdan Zyza from Russian-annexed Crimea to 18 years in prison. Zyza was arrested and charged with terrorism in May 2022 after he splashed yellow and blue paint -- the colors of the Ukrainian flag -- on the building of the Russian-imposed administration of the Crimean city of Yevpatoria and threw a Molotov cocktail at it. At his trial, Zyza said he had started a hunger strike, demanding his Russian citizenship forcibly imposed on him by occupying Russian authorities to be annulled and all Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia be released. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Crimea.Realities, click here.

Andrei Vereshchak, the jailed former warden of Correctional Colony No. 15 in the Siberian city of Angarsk, was handed an additional 10 years in prison on charges of abuse of office and bribe-taking, Russia's Investigative Committee said on June 5. In March, Vereshchak was sentenced to four years in prison for abuse of office. Investigations into Vereshchak's activities were launched after dozens of inmates said they were tortured by guards to confess to organizing a violently quashed riot at the facility in April 2020. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities, click here.

Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate, said helping Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression is in the U.S. national interest, breaking with leading party candidates Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, who have voiced more ambiguous positions on the war. "This is bigger than Ukraine," Haley said. "This is a war about freedom, and it's one we have to win." Haley called Russian President Vladimir Putin a tyrant and refuted claims the conflict is purely a territorial dispute -- comments targeted at Trump's close relationship with Putin and DeSantis's initial comments about the war. To read the original story on CNN, click here.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on June 5 reiterated the U.S. administration's firm stance that Iran is Israel's top threat and will never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon. "If Iran rejects the path of diplomacy, then, as President [Joe] Biden has repeatedly made clear, all options are on the table to ensure that Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons," Blinken told the pro-Israel AIPAC lobby in Washington. Blinken also said Saudi-Israeli normalization is deeply important for Washington. "The United States has a real national-security interest in promoting normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia," he said.

Russia's Foreign Ministry on June 5 said it saw no prospects for extending the Black Sea grain export deal, which is set to expire in mid-July, Russian news agencies reported. TASS news agency quoted the ministry as saying that it was continuing consultations with the UN and that ship inspections had resumed. RIA news agency said a new round of Russia UN talks would take place in Geneva on June 9. Russia has repeatedly threatened to quit the deal, complaining that obstacles still remain to its own exports of food and fertilizer. To read the original story by Reuters, click here.

Ukrainian military chaplains on June 5 completed training with the British Army before heading back to the war-ravaged country to give frontline troops a "spiritual umbrella." The two-week program run by the Royal Army Chaplains' Department saw an initial group of 10 Ukrainians train at a camp in southwest England. The participants learned how to deliver pastoral care, spiritual support, and moral guidance to soldiers on the battlefield. Ukraine's army already has 160 chaplains who have joined the military's command structure since April, having previously worked as embedded civilians rather than officers.

The Kremlin says a radio address supposedly given by President Vladimir Putin about imposing martial law in Russia’s three regions bordering Ukraine and announcing "a full-scale mobilization" that was broadcast on several radio stations earlier in the day was "fake."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on June 5 that the audio statement with a voice similar to the Russian leader was the result of a "break-in" by hackers in some regions of the country that is now under investigation.

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"All of these messages are utterly fake," he said.

Peskov's statement came hours after several radio stations broadcast what was introduced as a statement by the president in which it was announced that Ukrainian forces "armed to their teeth by NATO and with support and approval of Washington" invaded the Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk regions, and as a result, "martial law" was being imposed in those areas.

"Also, today I will sign a decree on a full-scale mobilization because to prevail the dangerous and subtle enemy we need to unite all forces of the Russian Federation," the statement, read by a voice similar to Putin's, said in the broadcast.

Peskov said control over the situation "has already been restored," but not before several Internet users placed the recorded radio statement in question on Telegram.

Local authorities in the regions of Belgorod and another near the border, Voronezh, also have called the announcement fake.

Russia's regions bordering Ukraine, especially the Belgorod region, have been shelled and attacked with drones in recent days. However, neither martial law nor the mass evacuation of local residents was introduced there.

Ukraine has denied any involvement into the attacks, while the so-called Russian Volunteer Corps and the Free Russia Legion, mostly consisting of Russian citizens, have claimed responsibility for the attacks.

With reporting by TASS and RIA Novosti

The Turkish commando battalion requested by NATO arrived on June 5 in Kosovo to assist in quelling recent violent unrest in the Balkan country. The Turkish Defense Ministry shared a video on June 4 showing troops wearing the insignia of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force departing Turkey and arriving in Kosovo. Around 500 Turkish troops would be deployed, a Defense Ministry official said last week. Violent clashes with ethnic Serbs on May 29 left 30 international soldiers -- 11 Italians and 19 Hungarians -- wounded, including fractures and burns from improvised explosive incendiary devices. To read the original story by AP, click here.

Eight independent labor organizations in Iran have called for the expulsion of the country from the International Labor Organization (ILO) and its session in Switzerland that starts on June 5.

The organizations, including the Organizing Council of Oil Contract Workers' Protests and the Iran Retirees Council, urged representative delegations from countries around the world to kick Iran out of the conference being held in the Swiss city of Geneva, as well as from the ILO, to protest against the suppression of dissent in Iran, especially with regard to workers, teachers, and protesters who have been jailed for speaking out.

The authors of the letter, which includes the names of 22 imprisoned labor activists and 19 imprisoned teachers, criticize the Iranian government's economic policies, saying they have led to widespread poverty and hardship, particularly for workers. They also highlighted "the government-sanctioned killing" of Mahsa Amini last September, which sparked public anger and spurred a movement against poverty, misery, and human rights suppression in Iran.

The letter says workers' and teachers' rights, particularly the right to form independent organizations and the right to hold gatherings and protests, are fundamental rights in any society.

The Iranian government delegation at the annual ILO conference "does not truly represent the workers, teachers, and people of Iran," it says, adding the ILO conference should make the "release of all imprisoned workers, teachers, and social activists and detainees of the movement of 'Women, Life, Freedom' and all political prisoners" and the immediate cancelation of executions in Iran as a "special agenda" for the meeting in Geneva.

The labor organizations have also demanded the "expulsion of the Islamic republic from the ILO and not allowing the delegation of this government to participate in the ILO conference in Geneva."

Iran's economy has been ravaged by U.S. sanctions, leading to a surge of protests in several cities. A report from the Labor Ministry indicated a significant increase in Iran's poverty rate, growing 50 percent in 2021 compared to the previous year.

Unrest has rattled Iran since last summer in response to declining living standards, wage arrears, and a lack of welfare support. Labor law in Iran does not recognize the right of workers to form independent unions.

Adding to the dissent, the death in September of the 22-year-old Amini while in police custody for allegedly wearing a head scarf improperly breathed new life into the demonstrations, which officials across the country have tried to quell with harsh measures, including the death penalty.

The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group said on June 1 at least 307 people -- including at least 142 people in May alone -- have been executed in 2023, a 76 percent rise compared with the same period last year.

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

Belarusian poet Dzmitry Sarokin, 37, has died in police custody in the country’s western city of Lida. Human rights defender Syarhey Sys quoted Sarokin's acquaintance in a tweet on June 5 as saying that Sarokin died a day earlier, adding that the poet will be buried on June 6. The Mediazona website also quoted sources, confirming Sarokin's death. It remains unclear why Sarokin was being held at a police station and what caused his death. Sarokin's friends have said that police had detained the poet in the past and recorded him on video "repenting" for unknown misdeeds. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, click here.

In a sign of rising tensions between Russia's Wagner mercenary group and the country's official armed forces, the private company led by Yevgeny Prigozhin has released a video of a captured Russian officer where he "confesses" to ordering an attack on the mercenaries.

The video, released by Wagner's press service on June 4, shows the apparent interrogation of a person who calls himself Colonel Roman Venevitin, the commander of the Russian Army's 72nd motorized rifle brigade. During the questioning, he says he ordered an attack on Wagner troops due to "personal enmity."

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Just prior to the publishing of the video, Wagner's press service released a military report about a shootout between the mercenary group's fighters and regular Russian armed forces that allegedly took place on May 17 near Ukraine's eastern city of Bakhmut, the epicenter of heavy fighting between Russian troops -- backed by Wagner forces -- and Ukrainian armed forces for months.

The report said a Ural military truck was damaged during the attack.

In the video published by Wagner on Telegram, the man who calls himself Venevitin says he ordered his troops to open fire at Wagner troops aboard the truck while being under influence of alcohol. The man, who appears to have an injured nose, apologizes to Wagner for the attack.

The veracity of the video could not be independently verified. It was unclear whether the man identified as Venevitin was speaking freely and without duress in the video.

Russia's Defense Ministry has yet to comment on the video or the report.

The report and the video appear to reveal deep ongoing problems between Wagner and Russia's Defense Ministry. Prigozhin has several times openly criticized the ministry's efforts during the war against Ukraine that has followed Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.

Wagner troops were seen as being instrumental in Russia's assault to take Bakhmut, and Prigozhin's stature as a major player in the war appeared to grow as his fighters took territory -- albeit with heavy losses -- regular forces seemed unable to grab.

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The city now appears to be controlled by Russia, though Kyiv says the battle continues.

International military experts also have stressed that military units involved in the invasion have regularly lacked a joint command and often conflict with one another.

Prigozhin, in an audio statement on June 5, called on Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the chief of the Russia's armed forces' General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, to come to Ukraine’s east and personally lead Russian units to defend positions near Berkhivka settlement.

According to Prigozhin, Ukrainian armed forces have retaken parts of Berkhivka, north of Bakhmut.

"Shoigu, Gerasimov, I call on you to come to the front line, take out your guns to lead the armed forces, to make them go forward. Go for it, you can do it! If you can't, you'll die like heroes," Prigozhin said.

Prigozhin, considered to be a close ally of Rusian President Vladimir Putin, has accused Shoigu and Gerasimov of corruption, unprofessionalism, and high treason for months.

Iran will reopen its embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital on June 6, Iranian sources told the semiofficial Fars news agency, months after Tehran and Riyadh agreed to end years of hostility. In March, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to reestablish relations after years of hostility between the regional rivals that had threatened stability and security in the Middle East and helped fuel regional conflicts from Yemen to Syria. To read the original story by Reuters, click here.

Russia's Investigative Committee said on June 5 that eight people have died and several others have been hospitalized in the Ulyanovsk and Samara regions in the Volga federal district after they drank cider bought in local shops. Poisonings with surrogate alcohol are common in Russia as people look to save money on cheaper drinks. In 2021, 34 people were killed by surrogate alcohol in the Urals region of Orenburg. In December 2016, 78 people died in the Siberian region of Irkutsk after drinking a scented herbal bath oil, which contained methanol, a highly poisonous type of industrial alcohol. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Idel.Realities, click here.

Several sources in Kyrgyz law enforcement entities told RFE/RL on June 5 that people suspected of allegedly preparing to seize power are being detained across the Central Asian nation. According to the sources, at least 10 suspects have been detained by the State Committee of National Security (UKMK). The UKMK has yet to comment on the reports. Internet users placed videos online showing security forces entering an unspecified private house and an unidentified man being handcuffed. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

The United Nations and humanitarian agencies have revised the budget for Afghanistan's aid plan for 2023 to $3.2 billion, down from $4.6 billion earlier in the year, the UN humanitarian office said on June 5.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement that a "changing operating context" in the wake of Taliban administration restrictions on female aid workers had contributed to the revised plan.

Taliban authorities have issued several orders barring many Afghan female NGO and United Nations employees from work, which aid agencies have warned would severely hamper delivery in the religiously conservative nation.

To read the original story by Reuters, click here.

Zarema Musayeva, the jailed mother of three self-exiled outspoken Chechen opposition activists, has been hospitalized as her health state has dramatically worsened since her arrest.

Abubakar Yangulbayev, who along with his brothers, Ibragim and Baisangur, now lives abroad, said on June 5 that his mother’s diabetes has progressed, her eyesight has worsened, and she has started having pains in her back, since being detained after Chechen police snatched her in January last year from her apartment in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, some 1,800 kilometers (1,080 miles) from Chechnya.

She has since been transferred to Chechnya, where she is currently on trial on charges of fraud and the assault of a law enforcement officer. Critics insist that the charges are politically motivated.

Abubakar Yangulbayev added that his mother is unable to walk, with jail guards now taking her for daily one-hour walks in a wheelchair.

Abubakar and Ibragim have been known for their online criticism of Kremlin-backed Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov. Musayeva's youngest son, Baisangur, was added to Russia's federal wanted list on unspecified charges last month.

In November, Russian authorities added him to the list of extremists and terrorists without explanation.

All three brothers are currently out of Russia. The activists' father, retired federal judge Saidi Yangulbayev, and a sister also fled Russia following threats.

Kadyrov, other Chechen officials, and a member of the Russian Duma from Chechnya have publicly vowed to kill all members of the Yangulbayev family, calling them "terrorists."

Journalists, rights activists, and other Russians have urged the government to punish those who issued the threats.

Ibragim and Abubakar Yangulbayev say they faced years of pressure from Chechen authorities over their criticism of Kadyrov and the rights situation in Chechnya.

Russian and international human rights groups have for years accused Kadyrov of overseeing grave human rights abuses, including abductions, torture, extrajudicial killings, and the persecution of the LGBT community.

Kremlin critics say Putin has turned a blind eye to the abuses because he relies on the former rebel commander to control separatist sentiment and violence in Chechnya.