MOSCOW -- Police have searched the Moscow office of Golos (Voice), a movement that monitors elections and defends voters' rights, as well as the homes of the group's members in Moscow and other parts of Russia.

Grigory Melkonyants, the movement's co-chairman, said on October 5 that Moscow police confiscated computers, flash memory cards, payment cards, and his passport during an early morning that was executed "on completely trumped-up reasons."

According to Melkonyants, police said the searches were conducted because the Golos members were "witnesses" in a probe launched against Mikhail Gusev, a member of the movement from the city of Ivanovo, who was charged with discrediting Russia's armed forces.

Police also searched the homes of leading Golos members Arkady Lyubarev and Vitaly Kovin in Perm, Irina Matlseva in Ivanovo, Natalya Guseva in the Chelyabinsk region, as well as journalist Denis Kamalyagin and two members of the Yabloko opposition party -- Nikolai Kuzmin and Katerina Novikova -- in the city of Pskov.

Golos member Vitaly Averin said the searches were held over the organization's "fight for fair and free elections, and for a humane state governed by the rule of law."

Earlier in the day, police in Moscow searched the home of noted mathematician and elections analyst Sergei Shpilkin.

Officially established in 2013, Golos has monitored elections in Russia and other countries since the early 2000s. Last year, the Justice Ministry declared the movement and its 20 regional coordinators "foreign agents," a tool critics say the government uses to harass and restrict dissenting voices.

The last native speaker of the Aleut language in Russia, Gennady Yakovlev, has died at the age of 86 in Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka region.

The chairwoman of the regional council of the Aleut district of the Kamchatka region, Galina Korolyova, said on October 5 that Yakovlev died in his native village of Nikolskoye on Bering Island.

Korolyov also spoke the so-called Medny dialect of Aleut.

Until recently there were only two known native speakers of the Aleut language in Russia -- Yakovlev and Vera Timoshenko. Timoshenko, who spoke the so-called Bering dialect of the Aleut language, died in March 2021 at the age of 93.

Yakovlev and Timoshenko were experts on the Aleut language, culture, and history who actively consulted Russian and foreign researchers and linguists.

Aleut, the sole language in the Aleut branch of the Eskimo-Aleut linguistic stem, used to be widely spoken by indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, Pribilof Islands, Commander Islands, and the Alaskan Peninsula.

According to experts, there are fewer than 100 to 150 remaining active Aleut speakers.

With reporting by Kam24

ASTANA -- Kazakh authorities have rejected a demand by Russia's Foreign Ministry to expel Ukraine's ambassador to Kazakhstan, Petro Vrublevskiy, over his comments in August about killing Russians.

Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Aibek Smadiyarov said on October 5 that the tone of Moscow's request to expel the Ukrainian ambassador, made the day before, was "dissonant to the character of the allied mutual ties between Kazakhstan and Russia as equal strategic partners."

Smadyarov also said that Russian Ambassador to Kazakhstan Aleksei Borodavkin was summoned to the Foreign Ministry later in the day over the situation.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on October 4 that Moscow was "outraged" by the fact that Vrublevskiy remained in Kazakhstan, adding that Kazakh Ambassador to Russia Ermek Kosherbaev had been summoned over the issue.

Smadyarov said that Astana and Kyiv had a "full understanding" of the situation and that a decision on the diplomat leaving Kazakhstan would be made solely by Kyiv.

Vrublevskiy found himself at the center of a scandal in August, after he said in an interview with noted Kazakh blogger Dias Kuzairov that "the more Russians we kill now, the fewer of them our children will have to kill in the future."

Moscow and Russian organizations in Kazakhstan demanded Astana expel the diplomat for his controversial statement, but Kazakh authorities refused, though they did ask Kyiv to replace him.

On October 4, a court in the northern city of Pavlodar sentenced Kuzairov to five days in jail on hooliganism charges after he asked Russian citizens who fled to Kazakhstan to evade a mobilization to fight for Russia in the war it launched against Ukraine if they supported the conflict.

Kazakhstan, which has aligned itself as Russia's economic ally, has not officially condemned Moscow's military aggression against Ukraine since it was launched in late February.

A group of French female films stars led by Oscar winners Juliette Binoche and Marion Cotillard have posted videos of themselves cutting their hair in support of women in Iran who are protesting the death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly.

In the videos, posted on an Instagram account named Support Women Iran and with the hashtag #hairforfreedom, the stars can be seen lopping off handfuls of hair while looking directly into the camera.

"For freedom!" Binoche says while shaking a fist full of hair at the camera.

Amini died on September 16, three days after Iran's notorious morality police detained her because of how she was wearing the hijab, a headscarf that is mandatory for women in Iran to wear while in public.

Officials have said the 22-year-old died of a heart attack, but that claim has been rejected by her family amid reports from eyewitnesses that Amini was beaten while in custody.

"She died for letting a few strands of hair show," a note accompanying the videos on Instagram says.

Since Amini's death, protests have erupted across Iran, with some women showing up at the demonstrations, removing their hijabs, and cutting their hair.

"Since Mahsa's death, the Iranian people, women in the lead, have been demonstrating at the risk of their lives. These people only hope for access to the most essential freedoms," the note says.

The Instagram post comes a day after more than 1,000 people involved in the French film industry signed a petition "supporting the revolt by women in Iran."

An 85-year-old Iranian-American previously barred from leaving Iran has now left and arrived in Oman, state media report.

Baquer Namazi has left Iran, semiofficial Iranian website Khabaronline said on October 5, publishing a video showing him boarding a private plane accompanied by a man in Omani traditional dress.

Oman on October 4 thanked Iran for handing over U.S. citizen Namazi, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on its website.

Namazi, a former UNICEF official, holds both U.S. and Iranian citizenship and is one of four Iranian-Americans, including his son, Siamak, who had been detained in Iran or barred from leaving the country.

The United Nations said in a statement on October 1 that following appeals by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the Iranian president, Tehran had agreed to allow Namazi to leave the country for medical treatment and that his son had been granted a furlough.

Baquer Namazi suffers from a heart condition and was hospitalized several times while in prison.

SEE ALSO:

Top U.S., U.K. Diplomats Play Down Talk Of Deals With Iran On Prisoner Swaps

Siad and Baquer Namazi both received 10-year prison sentences in 2015 for "collaborating with the hostile American government" -- charges they both denied.

Washington also rejected the allegations and called for their immediate release.

Siamak Namazi was based in Dubai with Crescent Petroleum Co. and was detained while visiting family in Tehran in 2015.

Baquer Namazi was arrested at the Tehran airport. He served two years of his sentence before being placed on a medical furlough but was forced to remain in Iran until the latest announcement.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP

Iran has summoned the British ambassador to Tehran, accusing U.K. officials of trying to provoke further unrest in the country amid a wave of protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini after she was detained for Islamic dress-code violations over the way she was wearing a hijab.

Officials in Iran have tried to portray more than two weeks of anti-government demonstrations that have spread across the country as a foreign plot.

The Foreign Ministry in Tehran said in a statement that British officials were interfering in Iran's internal affairs and had made comments showing it is one of the countries involved in "anti-Iranian activities."

There was no immediate comment from the British ambassador or government officials in London on the matter.

After a summer of sporadic protests over poor living conditions, water shortages, and economic hardships, a new wave of unrest was unleashed in Iran following Amini's death on September 16.

Three days before she died, Amini was taken into custody by Iran's morality police for the alleged "improper wearing" of a hijab.

Officials say the 22-year-old died of a heart attack, but relatives said Amini had no history of illness and was healthy when detained.

Eyewitness accounts of the arrest say she was beaten by security officials.

Since then, anti-government protests have gained strength and broadened to include many parts of the country.

SEE ALSO:

Iranian Protests Broaden As Raisi Calls For National Unity

On October 3, President Ebrahim Raisi appealed for national unity while admitting "weaknesses and shortcomings" in the country.

But he also echoed other officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in blaming the United States, Israel, and the West for inciting the unrest.

Ukrainian forces continued to make advances into several areas that Russia has declared as its own, raising doubts about Moscow's capacity to control those territories even as the Kremlin vowed to reoccupy them, saying those regions will be Russian "forever."

"The given territories will be taken back," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on October 5 after President Vladimir Putin signed the decree incorporating them into Russia.

To add to Russia's woes, the United States pledged $625 million in additional military aid to Kyiv, drawing a stern response from Moscow, which warned that pouring more U.S. weapons into Ukraine fueled the danger of a direct military clash between Russia and the West.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly address on October 4 that his forces had made "rapid and powerful" gains in southern Ukraine and recaptured "dozens" of villages from Russia this week.

"The Ukrainian Army is quite rapidly and powerfully advancing in the south," Zelenskiy said.

He said some of the territory was taken back in the regions of Kherson, Luhansk, and Donetsk, which together with Zaporizhzhya make up the four regions of Ukraine where referendums that Kyiv and the West denounced as a "sham" were held last month on joining Russia.

The areas claimed by Russia account for about 18 percent of Ukraine's territory.

The liberation of Luhansk, which is almost completely under Russian control, is well under way, the region's Ukrainian governor, Serhiy Hayday, said in a post on Telegram on October 5.

"Several settlements have already been liberated from the Russian troops, and Ukrainian armed forces are raising Ukrainian flags there...Luhansk is Ukraine," Hayday said.

The purported advances in Luhansk, which could not be independently confirmed, came after maps revealed by Moscow on October 4 showed that Russian troops had left many areas in Kherson, including along the west bank of the Dnieper River.

In the northeastern Kharkiv region, the maps indicated that Russian forces had almost entirely abandoned the east bank of the Oskil River, where British intelligence said Ukraine had now "consolidated" a substantial area.

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.

"Ukrainian formations have advanced up to 20 km beyond the (Oskil) river into Russia's defensive zone towards the supply node of the town of Svatove," Britain's Ministry of Defense said in its daily intelligence bulletin.

"Russian leaders will highly likely be concerned that leading Ukrainian units are now approaching the borders of Luhansk Oblast, which Russia claimed to have formally annexed [on September 30]," British intelligence suggested.

Russia struck back on October 5, when one person was wounded in an attack with Iranian-made drones on the town of Bila Tserkva, southwest of Kyiv, the region's governor said.

"During the night, the enemy carried out strikes with Shahed-136-type kamikaze drones against Bila Tserkva," Oleksiy Kuleba said on social media, adding that the attack left one person wounded and damaged infrastructure.

The previous day, Russian troops again struck the energy infrastructure of Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. Russian forces are purposefully destroying transformers in order to cut off electricity and prevent people from having a normal life, he said.

In Moscow, Putin on October 5 signed laws absorbing into Russia the four regions that Moscow only partially controls, a move that finalizes the seizure carried out in defiance of international law, after earlier this week, both houses of the Russian parliament ratified the takeover.

Asked if there was a contradiction between Putin's gesture and the reality of retreat on the ground, Peskov said, "There is no contradiction whatsoever. They will be with Russia forever and they will be returned" to Russian control.

On October 4, U.S. President Joe Biden told Zelenskiy in a phone call that the United States will provide Kyiv with $625 million in new security assistance.

The assistance will include more high-mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), ammunition, and armored vehicles, a White House statement said.

Biden "pledged to continue supporting Ukraine as it defends itself from Russian aggression for as long as it takes," the statement said.

The U.S. president also affirmed that the United States is prepared “to impose severe costs on any individual, entity, or country that provides support to Russia’s purported annexation.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the $625 million in aid will bring the total U.S. military assistance for Ukraine to more than $17.5 billion since the beginning of the Biden administration.

Zelenskiy thanked Biden and the American people for "continued defense and financial support."

"I enjoyed hearing President Biden say that our military inspires the world, our people inspire the world," he added.

WATCH: Ukrainian volunteers check the corpses of Russian soldiers for booby traps as they clear the area after fighting around freshly liberated Lyman.

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Russia reacted furiously to the announcement of extra U.S. military aid.

On the Telegram messaging app, Ambassador Anatoly Antonov urged Washington to stop "provocative actions" that could lead to "serious consequences."

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, RFE/RL's Russian Service

The operator of the damaged Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline has said that it has been unable to conduct its own inspection of its pipeline more than a week after suspected sabotage triggered massive leaks.

Nord Stream AG, based in Switzerland, said it could not inspect the underwater Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea site due to a lack of permits, and Danish authorities say the process can take over 20 working days.

According to the statement, Nord Stream AG has contracted a company from Norway to investigate the leaks. The company's vessel also needs a permit from the Norwegian Foreign Ministry to be deployed.

The company said that according to the Swedish authorities, a ban on shipping, anchoring, diving, using underwater vehicles, and geophysical mapping has been introduced to allow the authorities to conduct a state investigation around the damage sites.

Nord Stream AG will do its examination once a police investigation of the "crime scene" is completed and the cordon is lifted, the company said.

Europe is investigating what caused the pipelines designed to deliver Russian natural gas to Germany to burst last week in an act of suspected sabotage.

Neither pipeline was in use at the time of the suspected blasts, but they were filled with gas that began spewing out and bubbling to the surface of the Baltic Sea. Pressure in the pipelines has since stabilized, their operators say.

The operators of Nord Stream 2, also based in Switzerland, said Copenhagen police were handling the investigation of the crime scene at the Nord Stream 2 leak in the Danish exclusive economic zone.

Based on reporting by Reuters and dpa

U.S. officials have said they have no information to corroborate media reports suggesting Russia is preparing to use a tactical nuclear weapon on or near the battlefield in Ukraine.

Laura Cooper, a deputy assistant secretary of defense, said she had seen only "open-source reports" suggesting Russia might be moving tactical nuclear weapons by rail.

She added that the U.S. military had not seen anything to change its own nuclear posture.

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.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, asked on October 4 about the reports, said the United States takes nuclear weapons and nuclear saber-rattling very seriously.

But she added, "We have not seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture, nor do we have any indication that Russia is preparing to imminently use nuclear weapons."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has escalated the seven-month war in Ukraine by ordering a "partial" military mobilization, pushing through an illegal annexation of four regions of Ukraine, and promising to defend Russian territory "with any means at our disposal," including nuclear weapons.

The U.S. officials' comments came after The Times newspaper reported on October 3 that Putin was set to carry out a nuclear test on Ukraine's border. The London-based newspaper said NATO had warned its members about the test.

NATO said it also had not observed changes in Russia's nuclear posture, according to an alliance official quoted by Reuters.

Asked about the reports, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Western media and politicians were "engaging in a lot of exercises in nuclear rhetoric right now," and Russia declined take part in it.

Cooper also said the Pentagon closely monitored Russia's nuclear forces, a core part of its mission since the Cold War, and was also closely monitoring the rate of munitions spent by Ukrainian forces.

"We're watching their ammunition consumption rates very closely to make sure they have what it takes to counterattack," she said.

Cooper expressed confidence that the additional HIMARS systems provided by Washington in a new aid package announced on October 4 will strengthen Ukraine's capabilities on the battlefield.

SEE ALSO:

Zelenskiy Claims Gains In Southern Ukraine As Biden Pledges $625 Million In Military Aid

The United States is providing additional ammunition and investing in ammunition production as are allies and partners, while Russia is turning to North Korea and Iran for help, she said.

Commenting on whether Washington is considering providing long-range missiles to Ukraine, Cooper said the HIMARS currently allowed the Ukrainian forces to hit most targets on the battlefield.

"We think that [the HIMARS] can achieve most goals, including in Crimea," Cooper said.

With reporting by Reuters and RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service

The World Bank says countries in its Europe and Central Asia region will return to weak growth in 2023 "reflecting negative spillovers" from the war in Ukraine.

The World Bank said the collective GDP in its Europe and Central Asia region was now expected to grow by 0.3 percent in 2023.

That will follow contraction now forecast to be 0.2 percent this year, the World Bank said in an economic update for Europe and Central Asia released on October 4.

The bank noted that the 0.2 percent contraction forecast for 2022 was a marked improvement over the bank's forecast in June of a contraction of 2.9 percent.

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 forecasts for the 23-countriy region, including Ukraine and Russia, reflect better-than-expected resilience in some of the region's largest economies along with extensions of pandemic-era stimulus programs in some countries.

The report said the bank now expects the economy of Ukraine to shrink 35 percent this year, an improvement over the 45 percent contraction forecast earlier this year.

Ukraine's economy has been "scarred by the destruction of productive capacity, damage to agricultural land, and reduced labor supply," the report said. It also estimates more than 14 million people have been displaced by the war.

Recovery and reconstruction will require at least $349 billion, or more than 1 1/2 times the size of Ukraine's prewar economy, the report said.

The World Bank also said the ongoing war dampens prospects of a post-pandemic recovery for emerging and developing economies in the region.

"The overlapping crises of the war in Ukraine, the ongoing pandemic and the surge in food and fuel prices are painful reminders that governments need to be prepared to manage massive, unexpected shocks that unravel very quickly," Anna Bjerde, the World Bank's vice president for Europe and Central Asia, said in a statement.

"Ukraine continues to need enormous financial support as the war needlessly rages on as well as for recovery and reconstruction projects that could be quickly initiated," Bjerde added.

The World Bank said Russia's economy was now forecast to contract by 4.5 percent in 2022, compared with an 8.9 percent contraction estimated in June. Russia's economy is forecast to shrink by 3.6 percent in 2023, it said.

In a separate note on the impact of the global energy crisis, the World Bank said an extended cutoff of energy supplies to the European Union could trigger a recession for the European and Central Asian countries.

The impact will be greater on countries more dependent on Russian natural gas and less on countries with access to alternate gas supplies or more domestic energy production.

The report notes that global prices for oil, gas, and coal had been picking up since early 2021 but they "skyrocketed" after Russia's invasion and that helped inflation climb "to levels not seen for decades in the region."

This is especially painful for countries that rely on imported energy and "countries closely connected with EU energy markets," and the bank said countries should prepare for shortages.

The regional grouping includes Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Ukrainian central-bank Governor Kyrylo Shevchenko has submitted his resignation, saying he has decided to quit for health reasons.

"Due to health-related issues that can no longer be ignored, I have made a difficult decision for myself. I am leaving the post of chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine," he said.

The 49-year-old added that he had asked President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to accept his resignation.

Shevchenko said that he came to work at the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) primarily as an anti-crisis manager, and he is leaving with the bank "stronger than ever in its ability to meet challenges and overcome crises."

His successor will find that he is "handing over a strong, capitalized, sustainable banking system" that he believes "will remain so in the future," he said.

Until a successor is named, the board of the NBU will continue to perform its functions and manage the activities of the regulator with its current composition.

With reporting by Reuters

Billionaire Elon Musk has come under heavy criticism for asking his more than 107 million Twitter followers to weigh in on his proposal to end the war in Ukraine under which Ukraine would cede Crimea, allow new referendums on Russian-occupied land, and agree to neutrality.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO made his arguments in a series of tweets that in addition to proposing that Ukraine drop a bid to join NATO, said Russia should be allowed to keep the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized in 2014.

Musk also suggested that four regions Russia moved to illegally annex following Kremlin-orchestrated referendums denounced by the West as "sham" votes should repeat them under UN supervision.

As part of his proposal Musk launched a Twitter poll asking whether "the will of the people" should decide if seized regions remain part of Ukraine or become part of Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who has pledged to recover all the territory captured by Russia in the war and reclaim Crimea, responded by posting a Twitter poll of his own asking users to vote for "which @elonmusk do you like more?" "One who supports Ukraine" or "One who supports Russia."

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba denounced Musk's proposal as rewarding Russia for its invasion.

"Those who propose Ukraine to give up on its people and land -- presumably not to hurt [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's bruised ego or to save Ukraine from suffering -- must stop using word 'peace' as an euphemism to 'let Russians murder and rape thousands more innocent Ukrainians, and grab more land,'" Kuleba tweeted.

Musk replied to Zelenskiy that he still "very much" supported Ukraine, but said he was "convinced that massive escalation of the war will cause great harm to Ukraine and possibly the world."

The billionaire businessman said in another tweet that Russia would "go to full war mobilization if Crimea is at risk" and the "death on both sides will be devastating," noting that Russia has a population more than three times that of Ukraine, making victory for Ukraine unlikely.

"If you care about the people of Ukraine, seek peace," he said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded by saying it was "very positive that somebody like Elon Musk is looking for a peaceful way out of this situation" but warned that Russia will not backtrack on its move to absorb the Ukrainian regions.

Ukraine and the West have said that the hastily organized votes in four occupied or partially occupied regions last month were rigged and have condemned them as illegal.

SEE ALSO:

Turkey Joins Condemnation Of Russian Bid To Claim Ukrainian Territories

Many Twitter users, including Russian chess champion and anti-Putin political activist Garry Kasparov, bashed Musk's plan.

"This is moral idiocy, repetition of Kremlin propaganda, a betrayal of Ukrainian courage and sacrifice, and puts a few minutes browsing Crimea on Wikipedia over the current horrific reality of Putin's bloody war," Kasparov tweeted.

With reporting by AP and Reuters

Iranians have taken to the streets for a 17th consecutive day in anti-government protests triggered by the death in custody of a young woman as President Ebrahim Raisi appealed for unity.

Universities and high schools joined the protests on October 4, highlighting the broadening of demonstrations that have followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in custody for allegedly improperly wearing a hijab.

Videos posted on social media showed unrest in the cities of Tehran, Karaj, Shiraz, and Isfahan, with demonstrators shouting slogans such as "Death to the dictator."

During a session of parliament, Raisi acknowledged "weaknesses and shortcomings" in the country.

"Today the country's determination is aimed at cooperation to reduce people's problems," he told the session. "Unity and national integrity are necessities that render our enemy hopeless."

At the same time he echoed other officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in blaming the United States and Israel for inciting the unrest.

Iran has also blamed the unrest on Kurdish opposition groups in the country's northwest that operate along the border with Iraq.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on October 4 bombed three bases belonging to Kurdish militant groups in Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region using drones and artillery, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported. It was the latest in a series of bombardments carried out by the IRGC that killed at least nine people last month.

The scope of the ongoing unrest, the most sustained in over a decade, has been difficult to verify as the government blocks access to social media and the Internet.

Witnesses have reported spontaneous gatherings across the country featuring small acts of defiance -- such as protesters shouting slogans from rooftops, cutting their hair, and burning their state-mandated headscarves.

WATCH: Video has emerged of angry female students, some of them with their hair uncovered, allegedly confronting an Education Ministry official and forcing him out of their school in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran.

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The Tehranpars and Ekbatan neighborhoods have been among the centers of the protests in Tehran, with the sound of gunshots sometimes heard in the background.

Medical students at Gilan University on October 4 protested the use of ambulances by the security forces to suppress demonstrations.

Videos released on October 4 also the shops on Taleghani Street in the central Iranian city of Isfahan closed as part of a strike.

Reports from Amini's hometown of Saghez in Kurdistan Province indicate that teachers are on strike in schools as well as female students protesting in the street.

Schoolgirls in Saghez were shown chanting "Don't be afraid, we are all together" in the street.

The European Union says it is weighing tough new sanctions over the crackdown.

Foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc was considering "all the options at our disposal, including restrictive measures, to address the killing of Mahsa Amini and the way Iranian security forces have been responding to the demonstrations."

Borrell's comment came after France said it was pushing the bloc to target senior officials with punitive measures, including "freezing their assets and their right to travel."

U.S. President Joe Biden said earlier this week that the United States would impose "further costs" this week on "perpetrators of violence against peaceful protesters" in Iran.

Amini's death on September 16 has unleashed a wave of anger over the enforcement of a rule that women must cover their head in public, which they say highlights the lack of women's rights in Iran.

Officials say she died of a heart attack, while her relatives and supporters say eyewitness reports indicated she was beaten while being arrested.

Hundreds of people including artists, activists, and journalists have been arrested since the protests erupted.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda. With reporting by AFP and AP

A court in the western Russian city of Voronezh has sentenced a former U.S. Marine to 4 1/2 years in prison for attacking a police officer while drunk, Russian news agencies reported.

The American, named by TASS as Robert Gilman, 28, intends to file an appeal, his lawyer said, according to the agency.

Police pulled Gilman off a train in Voronezh in January after complaints from fellow passengers about his behavior, according to the prosecution.

While in custody, Gilman was accused of kicking a police officer, leaving him with bruises.

"This man, who disagreed with lawful actions taken by the authorities, used violence against a police officer who was on duty, kicking him several times," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

Gilman, who went to Russia to study and obtain citizenship, told the court in Voronezh that he did not remember the incident but "apologized to Russia" and to the police officer.

Russia has sentenced several U.S. citizens to lengthy prison terms in recent years. American basketball star Brittney Griner was sentenced in August to nine years in prison after being found in possession of cannabis oil in vape cartridges.

Paul Whelan, another former U.S. Marine, is serving 16 years in prison on espionage charges that he denies.

Russian officials have said they are in talks with Washington about possible prisoner exchanges. Media reports say they could involve convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year sentence in the United States.

In April, Russia and the United States swapped Trevor Reed for a Russian pilot convicted of drug smuggling. Reed, also a former U.S. Marine, was sentenced to nine years in prison after allegedly attacking police officers while drunk.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and Interfax

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog has said the director of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine, who was recently released after reports that he had been abducted by Russian forces, will not return to his job.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi said in a statement that Ihor Murashov was with his family in territory controlled by Ukraine "and will not be continuing with his duties" at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.

It is not yet clear who will replace him, Grossi said in the statement, which added that the absence of Murashov "had an immediate and serious impact on decision-making in ensuring the safety and security of the plant."

Grossi on October 3 welcomed the release of Murashov, who, according to Enerhoatom, the Ukrainian state company that oversees the plant, was taken out of a car on October 1, blindfolded, and driven in an unknown direction.

The IAEA said his detention had a "very significant impact" on him.

Grossi also said in his statement on October 4 that he plans to travel to Kyiv and then to Moscow later this week to continue his consultations aimed at agreeing and implementing a safety and security protection zone around the plant.

The IAEA has called for the creation of a the zone, but Russia has rejected the proposal.

SEE ALSO:

Director Of Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant Released After Detention That Raised 'Grave Concern' At UN Atomic Agency

The head of Enerhoatom earlier said it was considering restarting the Zaporizhzhya power plant, currently occupied by Russian troops, as a safety measure as winter nears.

In an interview with the AP published on October 4, Enerhoatom President Petro Kotin said the company could restart two of the reactors in a matter of days to protect safety installations as temperatures drop.

"If you have low temperature, you will just freeze everything inside. The safety equipment will be damaged," he said in his office at the company's Kyiv headquarters.

"So you need heating and the only heating is going to come from the working reactor," he added.

The last of the plant's six reactors was shut down on September 11 because Russian military activity had cut reliable external power supplies for cooling and other safety systems, threatening a potentially catastrophic meltdown that raised concern across the globe.

Russian troops occupy the plant and the surrounding area, including the nearby town of Enerhodar, where thousands of Ukrainian workers continue to maintain the facility.

The plant is also the only source of heat for the town, Kotin said, adding that a decision on a restart could be made as early as October 5.

"We at the moment are evaluating all the risks. And this depends on the weather. And actually, we don't have much time to do that," Kotin said.

With reporting by AP and Reuters

The team of jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny says it will resume operations across Russia despite being banned as "extremist" last year, after which many of the Kremlin critic's associates and supporters fled the country.

Navalny associates Leonid Volkov and Ivan Zhdanov said in a statement posted on YouTube on October 4 that after more than seven months of President Vladimir Putin's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the regime had "weakened" and it is time for a new network to operate like an "underground guerilla group."

In recent months, many of Navalny's associates and members of his teams across Russia fled the country fearing for their safety amid a broad crackdown on political and civil dissent in Russia.

Zhdanov said in the video that the "safety of the group's members is a priority" and that a system has been set up to ensure the anonymity of any data transmitted through the group.

Volkov added that former members of Navalny's networks will only be considered part of the new organizations if they choose to join. He also called on the coordinators of groups currently protesting Russia's war in Ukraine to contact Navalny's team operating abroad.

Navalny, who suffered a near-fatal poisoning in August 2020 that he blames on Russian security operatives acting at the behest of President Vladimir Putin, has been in prison since February 2021. His Anti-Corruption Foundation and his network of regional offices also have been designated "extremist" organizations.

The anti-corruption campaigner was handed a 2 1/2-year prison sentence for violating the terms of an earlier parole during of his convalescence abroad. The original conviction is widely regarded as trumped-up and politically motivated.

The Kremlin has denied any involvement in Navalny's poisoning.

DUSHANBE -- Noted Tajik journalist Abdullo Ghurbati has been sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison on charges he and his supporters have called unfounded.

The Dushanbe-based Independent Center to Defend Human Rights, which provided Ghurbati with a lawyer, told RFE/RL that the verdict and sentence were pronounced on October 4 at a trial held behind closed doors on the premises of a detention center in the Tajik capital.

The court found Ghurbati guilty of publicly insulting an authority, minor assault of an authority, and participating in the activities of an extremist group.

The latter charge, the most serious, was 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 Tajik National Bank's registry of individuals involved in "terrorist or extremist activities."

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Tajik Journalist Ghurbati Goes On Trial On Charges He Calls 'Unfounded'

Ghurbati has insisted 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.

Prosecutors sought eight years in prison for the journalist. Ghurbati's lawyer, Abdurahmon Sharipov, told RFE/RL that his client had continued to insist that he was not guilty during the trial.

Ghurbati and blogger Daleri Imomali, known for 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 daughter of the late Russian journalist Irina Slavina, who died two years ago after setting herself on fire in an apparent reaction to being under investigation, has been charged with discrediting Russia's armed forces.

Oleg Rodin, the chief of the opposition Yabloko party branch in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, tweeted that Margarita Murakhtayeva was charged on October 4 and faces a 50,000-ruble ($855) fine.

Two days earlier, Murakhtayeva staged a single-person picket to protest against Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, launched by President Vladimir Putin in late February.

Murakhtayeva stood at the site where her mother burned herself to death on October 2, 2020, with a poster saying, "My mother would say 'Putin, go to hell with your war,' but Putin already killed her.

Before setting herself on fire in front of police headquarters in Nizhny Novgorod, Slavina wrote on Facebook, "Blame the Russian Federation for my death."

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Slavina killed herself the day after a group of law enforcement officers searched her apartment in an attempt to find evidence linking her with the opposition Open Russia group. The officers confiscated Slavina's computers and mobile phones.

Slavina said at the time that she was left without the tools needed to do her job as a journalist, adding that she had never had any links with Open Russia.

Slavina's suicide caused a public outcry, with many people demanding justice for the journalist. However, the authorities refused to launch a probe into her death, saying there were no elements of a crime to investigate.

Slavina's Koza.Press online newspaper focused on shortcomings in the work of local authorities, cases of political persecution, and the illegal removal of historic buildings in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

The newspaper was shut down by her daughter after her death.

Several days after Russia launched its full-scale aggression against Ukraine, Putin signed a law that criminalized the dissemination of "fake" reports that purportedly "discredit the armed forces."

With reporting by SOTA

Iranian director Mostafa al-Ahmad, one of three prominent filmmakers detained as part of a broad crackdown against dissent, has been sentenced to more than six years in prison.

The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran handed Ahmad three cumulative prison sentences: three years and eight months for illegal assembly and collusion, eight months for propaganda against Iran, and two years for publishing falsehoods.

The court also ordered him to pay a fine of 150 million rials ($450), banned him from leaving the country for two years, and forbade him to take part in social or political groups.

Ahmad, 52, was arrested in July as the authorities cracked down on dissent in response to growing anti-establishment sentiment and near-daily protests across the Islamic republic.

Fellow filmmakers Mohammad Rasulof and Jafar Panahi were arrested around the same time.

The arrests have prompted international criticism.

Just days prior to his arrest, Ahmad had joined a group of more than 300 Iranian filmmakers in publishing an open letter calling on the security forces to "lay down arms" in the face of public outrage over "corruption, theft, inefficiency, and repression" following the violent crackdown against those protesting a building collapse in May in the southwestern city of Abadan, which killed 41 people.

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Ahmad's lawyers said they would appeal the sentence, which comes amid anti-government protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, after she was taken into custody by morality police for the alleged improper wearing of a headscarf or hijab.

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

An Italian woman has been arrested in Iran amid a wave of protests triggered by the death in custody of a young woman detained by morality police for "improperly" wearing a mandatory headscarf, or hijab.

Anger over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on September 16 has swept Iran, with demonstrations in cities across the country.

Alessia Piperno's parents told the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero on October 3 that the previous day their daughter informed the family she had been detained after having been out of reach for four days.

The parents said Alessia told them during a short phone call that "they arrested me, and I am in Tehran prison. Please help."

Piperno, 30, is a solo world traveler who has been in Iran for 2 1/2 months.

She told her parents that she was unharmed, but added, "there are people in prison who have been detained for months without any reason." She told her parents she was worried that she will suffer the same fate.

According to her Instagram page, she was impressed by the courage of the Iranian people. "This land welcomed me with open arms, and it went straight into my heart," Il Messaggero quoted Piperno as saying in her latest post.

Iran has repeatedly accused outside forces of stoking the protests and last week said nine foreign nationals -- including from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland -- had been arrested.

Piperno is one of more than a dozen foreign nationals or people with dual Iranian citizenship being held in Iran.

Two French nationals -- 37-year-old Cecile Kohler and her 69-year-old partner, Jacques Paris -- were also recently detained in Iran, accused of seeking to foment labor unrest in the country.

Western countries have repeatedly charged that Iran is trying to take advantage of foreign countries by taking dual and foreign nationals hostage.

The arrest also comes as Iran and world powers negotiations over a revamped version of the 2015 nuclear deal have hit a dead end.

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

In a tit-for-tat move, Tokyo has ordered a senior Russian official stationed in the country to leave following Russia's decision last week to expel a Japanese diplomat over alleged spying.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said on October 4 that a Russian consul in the northern city of Sapporo will be expelled "as a corresponding measure to Russia's actions."

The statement comes after Russia said on September 26 that a Japanese diplomat in the eastern city of Vladivostok was detained and ordered to leave the country for suspected espionage, claiming that the consul allegedly sought "restricted" information.

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It said the diplomat, identified as Motoki Tatsunori, was caught receiving information on the economic effects of Western sanctions on Russia in exchange for a "monetary reward."

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Tatsunori had been declared persona non grata and given 48 hours to leave Russia.

With reporting by Kyodo and AFP

USSURIISK, Russia -- A court in the Far East has again extended the forced detention in a psychiatric clinic of a Yakut shaman who became known across Russia for his attempts to march to Moscow to drive President Vladimir Putin out of the Kremlin.

Aleksandr Gabyshev's lawyer, Aleksei Pryanishnikov, said on October 4 that the Ussuriisk district court rejected his client's request to be medically examined in Moscow's Serbsky clinic.

Pryanishnikov said he will appeal the ruling.

The day before, Gabyshev's doctor was suddenly replaced, which Pryanishnikov and the shaman's supporters called a move to falsify his medical assessment before the court hearing.

In early September, the Primorye regional court ruled in favor of Gabyshev's appeal against the extension of his forced treatment and sent the case back to the Ussuriisk district court for a new hearing, citing inconsistences in medical conclusions regarding the case.

In early August, the Ussuriisk district court ruled that Gabyshev must continue psychiatric treatment even though a month earlier, a team of psychiatrists concluded that Gabyshev could be transferred from a psychiatric clinic to a regular hospital because his "condition had improved."

However, several days later, a new medical commission concluded that the shaman's mental health "had worsened" and he must be transferred back to a psychiatric clinic.

Gabyshev, who has been stopped several times by the Russian authorities since 2019, when he tried to march from his native Siberian region of Yakutia to Moscow with the stated goal of driving Putin out of office, was sent to a psychiatric clinic against his will in July after a court found him "mentally unfit."

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During the hearing, the court accused him of committing a "violent act against a police officer" when he was being forcibly removed from his home to be taken to a psychiatric clinic in late January.

The ruling was challenged by Gabyshev's lawyers and supporters who say his detention is an attempt to silence dissent.

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The Memorial Human Rights Center in Russia has recognized Gabyshev as a political prisoner and Amnesty International has launched a campaign calling for his release.

ASTANA -- Kazakh Interior Minister Marat Akhmetzhanov says 200,000 Russian citizens have entered the country since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization on September 21 amid Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Akhmetzhanov also said on October 4 that 147,000 Russian citizens left Kazakhstan in the same period of time. He did not mention where the Russians were heading but last week Kazakh authorities said that tens of thousands of those Russians who entered Kazakhstan in recent days, moved further to neighboring Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Akhmetzhanov said that the number of Russians entering Kazakhstan has started decreasing since the weekend. Media reports said earlier that Russian authorities had placed mobile conscription stations at Russian-Kazakh border checkpoints.

Akhmetzhanov said last week that Kazakhstan will extradite Russian citizens to Russia only if they are officially added to international wanted lists.

Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev said earlier that he plans to hold talks with the Russian government regarding the influx of Russians, mostly males, to the country after the start of Russia's mobilization.

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Kazakhstan's Digital Development Ministry said on October 4 that since September 21, more than 70,000 Russian citizens had applied and received personal identification numbers that allows them to set up bank accounts and work in Kazakhstan.

RFE/RL's correspondents from many towns and cities in Kazakhstan report that long lines of mostly Russian citizens continue to stand next to Public Service Centers seeking to receive such numbers.

Russian citizens do not need travel passports or visas to enter Kazakhstan for 30 days.

A court in Moscow has fined the interactive livestreaming application Twitch and the TikTok video hosting service for failing to delete content from its platform that the Russian government deems illegal as the Kremlin continues to ramp up pressure on social media networks.

The Magistrate Court of the Taganka district ruled on October 4 that Twitch must pay 4 million rubles ($68,400) for failing to take down materials related to Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

The court also ordered the TikTok company to pay 3 million rubles ($51,300) for failing to delete content that Russian authorities consider as LGBT propaganda among minors.

Two weeks earlier, the court ordered Twitch to pay a 2-million-ruble ($32,800) fine for its failure to remove materials related to the war in Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin has accused social media platforms and other foreign-based tech companies of flouting the country's Internet laws. He has been pushing ways to force foreign firms to open offices in Russia and to store users' personal data locally.

In recent months, Russian courts have fined Twitch, TikTok, Google, Facebook, and Twitter over the personal-data issue, as well as for refusing to delete content deemed to be banned by Russian laws.

Many critics have accused the Russian authorities of trying to quell dissent by imposing stricter regulations on Internet companies.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax

Bulgaria's center-right GERB party, the winner of the country's October 2 snap election, will initiate negotiations with other parties to try to form a government, GERB leader Boyko Borisov, the former long-serving prime minister, said on October 4.

Borisov said he was ready to give up the prime minister position if that was what was needed to agree to a functioning coalition, and added that a new early election -- following four already in the last two years -- would not produce different results.

GERB won the election with 25.3 percent of the votes, but faces a challenge to forge a ruling coalition in a hung parliament.

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The early election came after a fragile coalition led by Kiril Petkov of the reformist anti-corruption We Continue the Change party lost a no-confidence vote in June. We Continue the Change came in second, with 20.2 percent.

The southeastern EU member country of nearly 7 million people has been plagued by political gridlock since 2020 when it was rocked by nationwide protests, as public anger over years of corruption boiled over. Much of the ire was directed at Borisov and his GERB party.

With reporting by Reuters