Hey, you're busy! We know rferl.org isn't the only website you read. And that it's just possible you may have missed some of our most compelling journalism this week. To make sure you're up-to-date, here are some of the highlights produced by RFE/RL's team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days.
'Damage Was Done': Belarus, Where Lukashenka Dismissed COVID-19, Now Struggles To Vaccinate
As the coronavirus spread fast last year, Alyaksandr Lukashenka dismissed the pandemic as “mass psychosis” and refused to institute lockdown measures in Belarus, sending infection rates up. And now the country is one of the worst in Europe in terms of vaccinations. By RFE/RL's Belarus Service and Tony Wesolowsky
Putin Had A Chance To Rev Up Russia's Sluggish Vaccination Drive. His Message Was Muddled
As Russia battled a big wave of COVID-19 infections and hospitals struggled with an influx of patients, President Vladimir Putin had a unique chance to rally the country around a vaccination drive championed by his government after months of equivocation. He urged people to get inoculated -- but stopped short of issuing an endorsement of vaccine mandates that could harm his popularity. By Matthew Luxmoore
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'Such Despair': Widows, Children Of Islamic State Fighters Given Second Chance In Kazakhstan
'Such Despair': Widows, Children Of Islamic State Fighters Given Second Chance In Kazakhstan
Since the military defeat of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group in 2019, Kazakhstan has repatriated more than 700 of its citizens from Syria and Iraq, most of them the wives and children of foreign fighters. While many European countries have been reluctant to take back their citizens, the Central Asian nation has been praised by UN officials for devoting substantial resources to deradicalize Kazakh widows of IS fighters and help them and their children adapt to their new lives back home. By RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, Shahida Tulaganova, Abduaziz Madyarov, Ainur Koskina, and Stuart Greer
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Pandemic Profits: Uzbek COVID Response Shown To Benefit Political Insiders
Pandemic Profits: Uzbek COVID Response Shown To Benefit Political Insiders
In March 2020, Uzbek President Shavkhat Mirziyoev launched a $1 billion fund to deal with the coronavirus crisis. By June 2021, the cost of fighting the pandemic had spiraled to $8 billion. An investigation by RFE/RL's Uzbek Service identified possible causes for some of the excess spending: no-bid government contracts for medical and quarantine facilities, granted to companies controlled by close allies of the president. By RFE/RL's Uzbek Service and Margot Buff
Serbia Shows Off Its Weaponry To Weary Balkan Public, Wary Europe
President Aleksandar Vucic caps two weeks of military exercises with surprising talk of making Serbia's Army "twice as strong as today." By Mila Djurdjevic and Predrag Urosevic
Hague Tribunal History: Decades Of Atrocities, Anguish, And Justice For Ex-Yugoslavia
As the UN prosecution issues its last verdicts for crimes and atrocities from the violent breakup of Yugoslavia, we look at some of the major moments in the history of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. By Andy Heil
Ukraine Seeks To Upgrade Trident Emblem
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hopes a proposed expansion of Ukraine’s famous blue-and-yellow national emblem -- the trident -- can be passed by parliament in time for the country’s 30th anniversary of independence. By Amos Chapple
Marking Communist Centenary, China Heralds Its Rising Influence
As the Chinese Communist Party celebrates its 100-year anniversary, concerns over Beijing exporting its autocratic model are rising, analysts say. By Reid Standish