Espanola, a military unit within the Redut network, is hiring women as fighters in its assault detachments, the media outlet iStories reported on November 28. The outlet said its correspondent phoned Espanola asking to join an assault detachment, whereupon an official explained procedures for getting a contract and details of the agreement. A recent RFE/RL investigation revealed that Redut is a recruitment system for combat units that is coordinated and funded by the Russian military and its intelligence agency, the GRU. The iStories report appeared to be the first confirmation that women are being hired for assault operations in Russia’s war on Ukraine. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Turkey has told Sweden that it expects to ratify its long-delayed accession to the NATO military alliance within weeks, Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on November 29. Sweden and Finland asked to join NATO last year after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country is a NATO member, raised objections over what he said was the two countries' protection of groups that Ankara deems terrorists. Turkey endorsed Finland's membership bid in April, but has kept Sweden waiting. There was no immediate confirmation or comment by Turkey.

The chief of the Public Monitoring Group in Russia's Far East said on November 29 that the former mayor of Vladivostok, Oleg Gumenyuk, who is serving a 12-year prison term for bribe-taking, was not allowed to join Russian armed forces involved in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine for unspecified reasons. Thousands of inmates in Russia have been allowed to fight in Ukraine in exchange for clemency after serving six months in the war. According to Vladimir Naidin, Gumenyuk was ordered to return to a penal colony as he tried to board a plane to fly to Ukraine last week. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities, click here.

Police in Moldova say they have identified one of the perpetrators of a series of spray-painted Stars of David that appeared last month on buildings in Paris as being a Moldovan citizen who was acting on orders from fugitive businessman Ilan Shor in order to "denigrate the Republic of Moldova."

Some 60 blue Stars of David resembling those on the flag of Israel were painted on buildings in Paris and several suburbs on October 31, triggering alarm about surging anti-Semitism in France during the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

CCTV footage purportedly showed a man and a woman spray-painting the stars on walls while a third person was taking pictures, French prosecutors said at the time, adding that the couple fled France on November 1.

French prosecutors said that four days earlier, on October 27, a Moldovan couple who were staying in France illegally were arrested after being caught spray-painting a Star of David on a wall in Paris.

“They declared they were acting under orders from a third person and for remuneration,” the French prosecutors said in a statement, adding that it was suspected that both couples were being coordinated by the same third person or party.

Responding to a request from RFE/RL, Moldovan police issued a statement saying that they identified an unnamed individual who had previously been involved in "hooliganism and actions meant to destabilize" Moldova that had been "directed by the Shor crime group."

Shor, a fugitive Moldovan oligarch implicated in a $1 billion bank fraud and other illicit schemes, organized months of anti-government protests in Moldova's capital, Chisinau, with the aim of toppling pro-Western President Maia Sandu and a new reformist government appointed in February.

"Based on our analysis, the French action was organized and directed from abroad and was meant as an attempt at staining Moldova's image abroad," said the Moldovan police statement, which included a photo of the alleged perpetrator.

French journalists have reported that the man behind the painting of the Stars of David was Anatoli Prizenco, a 48-year-old businessman from Moldova's Moscow-backed Transdniester separatist region.

Prizrenco admitted in a call with RFE/RL that he recruited the Moldovans who painted the stars, but said he did so at the request of a Jewish group and that the goal of the action was not an anti-Semitic manifestation, but one of support for the Jewish community amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

RFE/RL has also requested information about the Moldovan citizens involved in the Paris incidents from the country's Security and Intelligence Service but it has not yet received a response.

Russian academic Sergei Abramov, a noted scientist, mathematician, and a leading expert on supercomputers who is charged with financing an unspecified extremist group, will be sent to a psychiatric clinic for three weeks for an examination, the T-invariant website said on November 28. According to the website, Abramov will be placed in a psychiatric clinic on November 30. The probe against Abramov was launched in April after the Federal Security Service (FSB) searched his home. He has been under house arrest since then. Abramov told T-invariant that his case is indicative of "an enormous systemic mistake" in governing the country. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Russia's Interior Ministry has outlined a bill that would oblige foreigners visiting the country to sign what it called a "loyalty agreement," the state news agency TASS said on November 29, adding that it has the draft bill in its possession. According to the document, TASS said, the agreement would not allow foreigners to "discredit" Russian policies, "distort" the contribution of the Soviet people to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, and deny "traditional values," the latter targeting "LGBT relations." The bill is expected be sent to parliament soon. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Moscow's Khoroshevsky District Court has fined computer science teacher Sergei Averyanov 40,000 rubles ($450) for writing on the blackboard during class a slogan "aimed at discrediting" Russia's military, the court's press service reported on November 28. Pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Mash reported that Averyanov allegedly wrote “Glory to Ukraine! Death to Russian idiots” on the blackboard and drew a swastika. Mash said that after publishing its report, Averyanov was taken away by police for interrogation. Averyanov has been suspended from his position at Gymnasium No. 1619 in Moscow's Strogino district, the school's headmaster told the media. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

Russians banned from traveling abroad must hand in their passports within five days of the date when they were notified of the travel ban, according to a government decree from November 22 published on the official portal of legal documents. The measure is due to come into force on December 11. Authorities can impose foreign travel bans on conscripts, Federal Security Service employees, people with access to state secrets and “information of special importance” as well as on convicted persons. A conscript will get their passport back only upon producing proof that they completed their military duty or alternative service, the decree says. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

Latvian Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins has staked his claim to the top job at NATO, saying that the alliance needs a consensus builder who is committed to higher defense spending and has a clear vision of how to deal with Russia. Karins told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels on November 28 that the alliance needs a leader who "can work with any and all allies, to move everyone forward in the same direction.” NATO is likely to name a new secretary-general at its next summit in Washington in July.

A former chief executive of Russian state oil company Rosneft has claimed ownership of a yacht seized by U.S. authorities last year as part of a crackdown on alleged sanctions violations. Eduard Khudainatov's lawyers said on November 28 in a filing with federal court in New York that he has always been the ultimate owner of the yacht and is not sanctioned by the U.S. government. The filing says the yacht therefore is “not forfeitable, as it neither constitutes nor is derived from any unlawful activity." The Justice Department says the yacht is owned by sanctioned Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov.

Russian shelling of Ukraine's Donetsk and Kharkiv regions caused casualties among civilians and damage to infrastructure, regional officials said on November 29, despite Ukrainian air defenses repelling a large drone attack on several parts of Ukraine.

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Seven civilians were wounded in Donetsk overnight, the acting head of the region, Ihor Moroz, said on November 29. Five residents were wounded in the industrial city of Toretsk and two in Severniy, Moroz said on Telegram.

In the Kharkiv region, Russian shelling caused extensive damage overnight to infrastructure, residential areas, administrative buildings, businesses, and educational facilities, Governor Oleh Synyehubov said. The cities of Kharkiv, Chuhuyiv, and Kupyansk bore the brunt of the Russian bombardment, Synyehubov said. No casualties were immediately reported, he added.

Russia also unleashed a fresh wave of drones on Ukraine overnight, launching 21 Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles and three Kh-59 guided missiles, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement early on November 29.

"All the enemy's attack drones were destroyed above the Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, and Khmelnytskiy regions. Also, two guided missiles were destroyed in the Mykolaiyv region. A third one did not reach its target," the air force said. No casualties or damage was immediately reported.

On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces were engaged in 87 close-quarter battles over the past 24 hours, the General Staff of Ukraine's Military said in its daily report on November 29.

Heavy fighting continued in Kharkiv and in the Donetsk region, where Russian forces have been incessantly attacking Ukrainian positions in the industrial city of Avdiyivka, which Moscow's troops have been unsuccessfully trying to encircle for several weeks, at the cost of heavy losses of manpower and equipment.

The military said that Ukrainian marines continue to hold bridgeheads on the left bank of Dnieper River after landing there earlier this month. The report could not be independently confirmed.

Russian troops one year ago withdrew eastwards from Kherson city in the face of Ukrainian advances, crossing the Dnieper, but continuing to shell the city and its surroundings from the left bank.

On November 19, the Ukrainian military said it had pushed Russian forces some “3 to 8 kilometers” eastwards from the bank of the Dnieper River as its forces secured bridgeheads on the eastern side of the waterway.

Meanwhile, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on November 29 that Russia's air defenses shot down a Ukrainian drone heading toward the Russian capital, adding that the drone was downed over Podolsk, some 45 kilometers south of Moscow. No damage or casualties were immediately reported at the site where the debris fell, Sobyanin said.

The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed Sobyanin's announcement, but the information could not be independently verified.

A court in Kazakhstan’s northern city of Petropavl handed prison terms to four residents on November 28 on charges of separatism and calls to change the country's constitutional order. Vyacheslav Zuderman was sentenced to nine years, while three co-defendants -- Yelena Boldyreva, Madina Qaparova, and Olga Berezhnova -- received seven years each. The four were arrested in March after they called themselves People's Council and publicly announced that they promote "our independence and sovereignty" and "the territorial integrity of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic" -- Kazakhstan’s name when it was part of the Soviet Union. To read the original story of RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.

David O'Sullivan, the European Union's special envoy for the implementation of sanctions, met with Kazakh officials in Astana on November 28 and said the Central Asian nation had significantly reduced the reexport of dual-purpose goods to Russia but increased other exports to its northern neighbor. O'Sullivan stressed that the EU believes the sanctions imposed on Russia by the West over its ongoing invasion of Ukraine will not stand in the way of its cooperation with Kazakhstan. O'Sullivan is expected to visit Uzbekistan on November 29 to focus on the same issue. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.

Afghan women's rights activists are demanding the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecute Afghanistan's Taliban rulers for systemic violations of human rights.

In an open letter sent to the ICC on November 27, they accused the Taliban, who seized power in August 2021 as international troops withdrew from the country, of consistently violating the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

"They must be prosecuted," said one activist who requested anonymity because of security fears.

"The Taliban has imposed a gender apartheid in Afghanistan by excluding women from the society through employment and education bans while also persecuting rights activists," she added.

She is one of dozens of signatories to the letter.

The letter argues that the treatment of Afghan women under the Taliban constitutes a gender apartheid because "they are systematically deprived of basic freedoms and human and citizenship rights."

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The letter also highlights the persecution of Afghan women's rights activists.

Since the Taliban returned to power, the Taliban has put down, often violently, protests by Afghan women over their lack of rights. Hundreds of women have been imprisoned after their protests were declared illegal.

"Such letters can help the international community to fulfill its obligation toward the Afghan women," Maryam Maarouf Arvin, an Afghan women's rights activist, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi.

Five women's rights activists -- Neda Parwani, Zholya Parsi, Manijeh Sediqi, Bahare Karimi, and Parisa Azadeh -- are currently in Taliban custody.

Since returning to power, the hard-line Islamist Taliban has banned women and teenage girls from education in Afghanistan. It has also banned them from employment in most sectors and discouraged them from leaving their homes.

On November 26, global rights watchdog Amnesty International launched an online petition saying the Taliban has started "a new era of human rights abuse and violations" that has put the country "at the brink of irreversible ruin."

"Not only [have] the Taliban de-facto authorities...broken their promise of protecting Afghan people's rights, especially women's rights, they have resumed the cycle of violence and committed a litany of human rights abuses and violations with full impunity," the petition says.

"Human rights are under attack on all fronts. It must be stopped," it added.

The families of 13 Iranian political and civil activists detained in East Azerbaijan Province have accused Iranian authorities of failing to grant access to lawyers for their relatives while charges remain unclear.

In an interview with RFE/RL's Radio Farda, Ayoub Shiri, brother of detained activist Davoud Shiri, said that since his brother's arrest outside his Tabriz home on September 22, the family has only received three brief phone calls.

Shiri expressed frustration over the lack of clarity regarding his brother's charges.

"We have no news. They did not tell us the subject of the accusation, and every time we go to follow up, they say the same thing. Then the authorities provide a different explanation each time they are in contact," he said.

Yilmaz Mehr Ali Biglu, whose brother Ayat (Yurosh) was arrested in Jolfa on November 7, said his family is experiencing a similar situation.

He said his brother managed only a brief call with his wife after being arrested and the family suspects he is being held at the Tabriz Intelligence Detention Center.

"The judiciary is not independent enough for us to follow up. When we approached the Tabriz judiciary, they didn't respond and said,'Your brother is our guest for four months,'" Yilmaz Mehr Ali Biglu told Radio Farda.

Some of the families say their concerns extend beyond the lack of information on the legal aspects of the situation and on to the health and well-being of the detainees.

Reports have emerged about the deteriorating physical condition of Hamed Yeganepor, who was arrested in Maragheh. Despite a heart condition requiring medical attention, Yeganepor is reportedly receiving insufficient care and was returned to the detention center after a brief hospital visit.

The situation highlights growing anxiety among the families of detainees, who fear for their loved ones, especially those feared being held in solitary confinement.

The government has yet to provide any official explanation or comment on the arrests of these activists, further deepening the concerns of their families and human rights observers.

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

The Qaraghandy regional court in central Kazakhstan told RFE/RL on November 28 that a local resident, Aleksei Shompolov, had been sentenced to six years and eight months for joining Russia's Wagner mercenary group and fighting against Ukrainian forces in May in Bakhmut, where he was injured. The 34-year-old, who pleaded guilty, was arrested after arriving back in Kazakhstan, which makes it a crime to serve as a mercenary abroad. Shompolov's sentence was upheld on November 15, the court said, adding that his payment from Wagner -- 205,590 rubles ($2,300) -- was confiscated. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.

Finland will close its entire border with Russia to travelers for the next two weeks in a bid to halt a flow of asylum seekers that Helsinki says are being funneled to the border by Russia to sow instability in the Nordic nation.

Finland last week shut all but one of its border crossings to travelers from Russia, keeping open only the Raja-Jooseppi crossing (Lotta on the Russian side) -- the northernmost crossing on Finland's 1,340-kilometer border with Russia, which is also the European Union's external border.

The Finnish government announced in a statement on November 28 that this crossing will close overnight on November 29, joining all the others in allowing only the transport of goods.

The closures will remain in effect until December 13, the statement said, adding that it will not be possible to submit applications for asylum at any border crossing points on the land border between Finland and Russia.

Finland has seen a recent influx of asylum seekers arriving at its eastern border and blames a change in Russian border protocol that Moscow made subsequent to Finland's entry into NATO. Moscow denies the charge.

According to the Finnish Border Guard, some 900 asylum seekers entered Finland from Russia in November, an increase from less than one per day previously. The countries of origin include Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen, the Border Guard said.

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said on November 27 that Finland if necessary would take further measures to stem the flow. He warned Russia again on November 28.

"Russia is enabling the instrumentalization of people and guiding them to the Finnish border in harsh winter conditions. Finland is determined to put an end to this phenomenon," Orpo said in the statement.

He told reporters that Finland has reason to suspect that "Russia's influencing operations" are behind the increase in the number of asylum seekers.

"We don't accept any attempt to undermine our national security. Russia has caused this situation, and it can also stop it," Orpo said.

Interior Minister Mari Rantanen said in the statement that it is necessary to close the entire eastern border "to protect Finland's national security against this Russian hybrid operation."

The government said it concluded that "these are very exceptional circumstances" that require the short-term total closure of the eastern border "to put an end to this phenomenon and to limit the serious consequences that it has for national security and public order."

With reporting by Reuters

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said on November 28 it summoned the U.S., French, and German envoys to protest what it called "illegal financial operations" by organizations located in the three countries to support the independent Abzas news website -- an investigative outlet whose leaders were arrested on suspicion of foreign currency smuggling, a charge the journalists reject. Abzas's director, Ulvi Hasanli, and chief editor Sevinc Vaqifqizi were arrested last week after police claimed they found 40,000 euros ($43,800) in cash in Abzas's offices. The journalists insist the case against them is trumped up in retaliation for reports about corruption among officials.

Police in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk detained an LGBT activist, Aleksandra Sinko, while she was holding a single-person picket, which does not require advance permission from the authorities. She was protesting a request filed by the Justice Ministry earlier this month to recognize the international LGBT rights movement as an extremist group. Sinko, who is an openly trans woman, was holding a poster on November 28 with text saying LGBT persons are not extremists. She was charged with "propagating untraditional sexual relations" -- a charge that carries a fine or up to 15 days in jail. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities, click here.

The U.S. Senate will begin considering a package including aid for Israel and Ukraine as soon as next week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (Democrat-New York) told reporters on November 28.

"I'm gonna put them on the floor next week, hopefully with bipartisan support, because that's the only way you can get it done," Schumer said at his weekly news conference. "We hope to have a vote next week. Yes, that's the plan."

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Schumer said the aid bill is needed even if there is no agreement on funding for border security measures that Republican lawmakers have demanded.

President Joe Biden last month submitted to Congress a request for more than $105 billion in defense aid, which included $61.4 billion in aid to Ukraine and $14.3 billion in aid to Israel, but the measure remains blocked, raising concerns that funds for Ukraine might never pass, especially after the Republican-led House of Representatives recently passed a bill including assistance for Israel but not Ukraine.

The combined aid request is likely to face more difficulty in the House, but Speaker Mike Johnson (Republican-Louisiana) said he remains "confident and optimistic" Congress will be able to pass aid for Israel and Ukraine before the holiday season.

"I think all of that will come together in the coming days. I’m confident and optimistic that we’ll be able to get that done -- get that over the line," he said on November 27 at an event in Florida, according to Politico. He added that in Congress there is "a sense of urgency" to provide aid to both Ukraine and Israel.

"Of course, we can't allow [Russian President] Vladimir Putin to march through Europe, and we understand the necessity of assisting there," he said. "What we've said is that if there is to be additional assistance to Ukraine -- which most members of Congress believe is important -- we have to also work on changing our own border policy."

Johnson said a lot of "thoughtful negotiation" has taken place on providing assistance to Ukraine and changing U.S. policy regarding its southern border but acknowledged this is an approach that links Ukraine’s military assistance to one of the most divisive domestic political issues.

"I think most of our Senate colleagues recognize that those two things need to move together because we owe that to the American people," he said.

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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier on November 28 he expects the United States to continue its support of Ukraine in its fight to repel invading Russian forces despite opposition from some Republican lawmakers who have cast doubt on Washington's aid to Kyiv.

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Speaking at a meeting of foreign ministers from the alliance's 31 members, Stoltenberg said that the allies have provided Ukraine with an unprecedented level of military support since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

That support has allowed Ukraine "to inflict heavy losses on Russian forces," he said. "Therefore, we must continue to support them."

Commenting on whether U.S. support will continue despite a political impasse in Washington, Stoltenberg voiced confidence aid from the United States -- which so far has topped $40 billion -- will continue to flow.

"I am confident that the United States will continue to provide support because it is in the security interest of the United States to do so," Stoltenberg said.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and Politico

A court in Russia's western city of Kursk on November 28 sentenced a native of St. Petersburg, Yevgeny Kazantsev, to 12 years in prison on a charge of joining the Right Sector, a Ukrainian far-right group. Kazantsev was found guilty of extremism, illegally joining an armed group abroad, and illegal weapons possession. Investigators say Kazantsev joined Right Sector in 2015 and fought against Moscow-backed separatists in Ukraine's east. In March 2022, Russian forces reportedly captured Kazantsev while armed in Ukraine's Chernihiv region. Kazantsev pleaded not guilty. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

Stickers demanding Russian husbands be returned from fighting in the Kremlin's war against Ukraine appeared on cars across Russia on November 28. The stickers, which used Latin letters "Z" and "V" -- signs of support for Russia's aggression against Ukraine -- translated into English as "Return my husband. I am f**ked up," and "Return my son-in-law." The pictures of the cars appeared on the Way Home Telegram channel. A day earlier, hundreds of women in Russia signed a petition calling President Vladimir Putin's September 2022 partial mobilization "a big mistake." To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

Slovak truckers are threatening to block the country's main border crossing with Ukraine from December 1 unless steps are taken to limit competition from Ukrainian hauliers, the head of the country's truckers association UNAS said. The threat on November 28 comes after action by Polish truckers who have been blocking several crossings with Ukraine for three weeks to demand tougher conditions for Ukrainian peers. Polish and Slovak truckers complain they offer cheaper prices for their services and also transport goods within the European Union, rather than just between the bloc and Ukraine.

Police in Belarus searched the homes of several self-exiled opposition figures on November 28 amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent. A leading member of the People's Anti-Crisis Directorate based abroad, Paval Latushka, wrote on Telegram that the searches were held simultaneously at homes and apartments of several self-exiled members of the group, but that they will not affect the group's activities "to bring to justice" the representatives of authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka's regime. Police also searched homes of self-exiled members of the opposition Coordination Council of Belarus. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, click here.

KYIV -- Ukrainian officials say they have confirmed reports that Marianna Budanova, the wife of the chief of the country's military intelligence service, had been poisoned with "heavy metals" and is in hospital for treatment, in what appears to represent the most serious targeting of a family member of Ukraine's leadership since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Andriy Yusov, an official at the GUR military intelligence agency, confirmed earlier media reports on November 28 that Budanova, the wife of Kyrylo Budanov, had fallen ill and is under treatment for poisoning.

"Marianna Budanova was indeed poisoned by heavy metals. She is now undergoing a course of treatment, which is already coming to an end," Yusov told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.

Local media, quoting unnamed military intelligence officials, reported that several intelligence officials also appear to have been poisoned with "substances" that "are not used in everyday life or for military purposes and their presence may indicate a premeditated attempt to poison a concrete person."

Budanov has been one of the more high-profile Ukrainian officials for his efforts to design and enact plans by operatives to carry out strikes against Russian targets.

A Moscow court on April 21 issued an arrest warrant for Budanov on the charge of creating a terrorist group, a terrorist act, and illegal possession of explosives and firearms. Media reports cited sources close to law enforcement as saying the arrest warrant was linked to an explosion that damaged a Russian-built bridge that connects Russia to Ukraine's Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula in October 2022.

Budanov has said that his wife lives with him at his office, although she does not work at the GUR. Since June 2021, however, she has been working as an adviser to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

According to reports, there have been at least 10 attempts on Budanov's life since 2014, including one during the full-scale invasion by Russia into Ukraine when a rocket attack was carried out on the building of the State Administration of Ukraine in Kyiv.