European Union leaders have backed new sanctions on Belarus to pressure authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka to halt the flow of illegal migrants that the bloc says amounts to a hybrid attack.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after an EU leaders' summit on October 22 that the bloc will "keep up the pressure" on Lukashenka, accusing him of instrumentalizing migration to retaliate against the European Union.

Thousands of illegal migrants have crossed from Belarus -- mainly into neighboring Lithuania and Poland -- prompting the two EU members to declare a state of emergency and bolster their borders.

The EU accuses Lukashenka of funneling migrants across the bloc's borders to retaliate against sanctions on his government over a brutal crackdown on the opposition following last year's presidential election that is widely considered to have been rigged.

After nearly five hours of discussions, EU leaders agreed in a final statement to "continue countering the ongoing hybrid attack launched by the Belarusian regime, including by adopting further restrictive measures against persons and legal entities, in line with its gradual approach, as a matter of urgency."

Most of the migrants flew to Belarus from the Middle East and Africa, and were then helped across the border to Poland and Lithuania. Earlier this week, EU foreign ministers discussed possible measures against the Belarusian airline Belavia.

Von der Leyen, whose EU executive is responsible for drawing up sanctions, said Belarus is now looking at opening new routes to bring in migrants.

"It has offered further visa waivers to additional third countries. We will continue our engagement with these countries to limit this state-sponsored smuggling," she said.

EU leaders also called for the return and full implementation of readmission agreements with countries where the migrants are coming from, "using the necessary leverage."

Led by the EU’s Baltic members and Poland, about a dozen countries said before the summit that the bloc should fund the construction of physical barriers and use surveillance drones to stem migration.

But von der Leyen said the EU executive opposed such demands.

"I was very clear that there is a longstanding view in the European Commission and in the European Parliament that there will be no funding of barbed wire and walls," she said.

Kosovo has ordered the expulsion of two Russian diplomats, accusing Moscow of “destabilizing” activities.

President Vjosa Osmani said on October 22 that the two diplomats at Russia’s liaison office to Kosovo were declared personae non gratae and ordered to leave the country.

Osmani said that her country was committed to countering the malign influence of Russia and its "proxies in the region," which she accused of aiming to undermine the achievements of Kosovo, the United States, NATO, and the European Union.

"For this reason, we will continue to work closely with our American and European allies in order not to allow Kosovo and our region to fall prey to the destabilizing ambitions of the Russian Federation," she said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear what activities prompted the government to expel the two officials.

Russia opened a liaison office in Kosovo in 2005, three years before Kosovo declared independence from Serbia.

Serbia and its close ally Russia have not recognized Kosovo's independence.

The United States and most of the West recognize Kosovo's independence, which was declared in 2008 following the 1998-1999 war between Serb forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas that ended after a NATO air campaign against Serbia.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has welcomed plans for a more capable European defense saying it complements the NATO alliance.

Led by France, the European Union is pressing ahead with plans to jointly develop weapons and create an EU force that could intervene in crises.

Some European countries have said the chaotic U.S.-led withdrawal from Afghanistan highlighted the EU's need for greater "strategic autonomy," while others have argued any EU force would still need U.S. military capabilities.

Russia's expanding military presence has further heightened the need for synergy between the EU and NATO.

"What we'd like to see are initiatives that are complementary to the types of things that NATO is doing," Austin told a news conference at a NATO summit in Brussels on October 22.

He added that the alliance must create a "credible deterrence and defense."

Austin also said European and American strategy in the Indo-Pacific were in line to counter challenges posed by China's military rise.

French President Emmanuel Macron has used a new Indo-Pacific security alliance between Australia, the U.S. and the UK -- known as AUKUS -- that torpedoed a major French submarine deal to bolster his argument for greater EU defense efforts.

French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly told her NATO counterparts that the EU's defense plans will benefit the United States and strengthen the alliance.

"European defense isn't being built in opposition to NATO, quite the contrary: a stronger Europe will contribute to a strengthened and more resilient alliance," Parly said.

The EU aims to agree on a master military strategy document ahead of next year's NATO summit in Madrid, where the alliance is expected to agree on joint strategic objectives.

In an interview with Politico Europe, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said the parallel strategic reviews present a "unique opportunity" to bring EU and NATO policy into line.

"These processes must be linked," she said. "It makes no sense to conduct them separately and then look where there is common ground and where there are contradictions only afterward."

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also warned against duplicating NATO and EU efforts.

"What is needed are more capabilities, not new structures," he told a news conference.

Of the 27 EU states, 21 are also members of the 30-strong NATO.

Eastern European states are particularly wary of any shift away from NATO because of common concerns about Russia.

With reporting by Reuters and Politco Europe

CHISINAU -- Moldova's parliament has voted to approve a 30-day state of emergency in the energy sector to try to ease gas shortages after the government failed to agree on a new energy deal with Russia's Gazprom.

"We face a critical situation," Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita told lawmakers ahead of the vote on October 22, adding that the introduction of a state of emergency will "allow the purchase of the necessary volume of natural gas from alternative sources."

The measure will last until November 20 and allow the government in Europe's poorest country to buy gas under a simplified scheme with additional funds amid soaring world energy prices.

Moldova's contract with Russia's state-controlled Gazprom, the largest supplier of natural gas to Europe, expired at the end of last month.

Gazprom has extended the contract to the end of October, while raising the price to $790 per cubic meters from $550 last month.

Some experts say Moscow has boosted prices as a reprisal against Moldova for electing pro-Western President Maia Sandu last year.

Gavrilita said Moldovagaz, whose main shareholder is Gazprom, "is not keeping its word" and failed to supply the required volume of gas -- an accusation rejected by the company.

The prime minister thanked neighbors Romania and Ukraine for supplying some gas, and said her country will be seeking supplies from EU countries.

The country of 2.6 million people, sandwiched between EU member Romania and Ukraine, consumes 2.8 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

Moldova’s gas crisis come as gas prices across Europe and other parts of the world have soared to record levels in recent weeks.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

A U.S. jury will begin deliberations on October 22 in the case of Lev Parnas, who stands accused of funneling money from a Russian financier into U.S. elections in violation of campaign finance laws.

Manhattan prosecutors say Parnas, a Ukrainian-born U.S. citizen, used funds from Russian businessman Andrey Muraviev to contribute to candidates while lying about the source of money.

"It is plain as day that these defendants agreed to donate Muraviev's money to U.S. political campaigns," Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagan Scotten said in closing arguments.

Another Muraviev associate, Ukrainian-born U.S. citizen Andrey Kukushkin, is on trial alongside Parnas.

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Lev Parnas's South Florida Stomping Ground A Mecca For Financial Scams

The defendants' attorneys argued in the trial that the two men were not involved in campaign contributions but rather conducting business, including an energy company and legal marijuana industry startups.

The trial has drawn attention because Parnas and another Soviet-born Florida businessman, Igor Fruman, helped Rudy Giuliani investigate Democrat Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election campaign.

At the time, Giuliani was former President Donald Trump's personal attorney.

Fruman pleaded guilty in September to one count of soliciting a campaign contribution from a foreigner.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters

PODGORICA -- Montenegro's prosecutors have released the former head of the National Security Agency (ANB) from custody after interrogating him over the illegal wiretapping of the Special State Prosecutor's Office.

Dejan Perunic was set free on the morning of October 22 to allow him to defend himself following a two-hour interrogation at the Special State Prosecutor's Office.

Perunic was detained by special police the previous day as part of an investigation into the wiretapping of Chief Special Prosecutor (SDT) Milivoje Katnic after an illegal surveillance bug was recently found in his office.

He was appointed to the helm of the ANB in 2015 by the government, then led by the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS). He was dismissed in December 2020 by the government that was formed by three opposition coalitions following elections last August.

In a separate case, Perunicic has been on trial since May at the High Court for the illegal surveillance of political figures and journalists.

The criminal complaint was filed by his successor, Dejana Vuksic, soon after his appointment 10 months ago.

The ANB has long been accused of having links with criminal groups and of acting under the political influence of the former ruling DPS.

Six officials at the Moscow regional prosecutor's office have reportedly been fired for liking social media posts by jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), which is banned in the country as extremist.

The Baza Telegram channel cited sources in the prosecutor’s office on October 21 as saying that a deputy prosecutor for the town of Lytkarino is among the officials who were fired.

According to the sources, the officials were relieved of their duties after a campaign was held to check the online history of all employees to see if they had any ties to "organizations hostile to Russia."

Earlier this year, dozens of workers at the Moscow Metropolitan Company were fired for joining an online campaign to support Navalny. Some of them managed to get their jobs back via courts later.

In August, Moscow police used leaked online personal data from projects linked to Navalny and visited almost 500 residents of the Russian capital demanding explanations as to how their names were included in the leaked data.

In some cases, police tried to force people to file legal complaints against Navalny to accuse him of sharing personal data.

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5 Things To Know About Russian Opposition Leader Aleksei Navalny

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Navalny associates said earlier in April that a former FBK worker had stolen the personal data of those who registered at the pro-Navalny site.

In June, a court in Moscow labeled FBK and Navalny's other projects and groups extremist and banned them. Under Russian law, cooperation with such groups is considered illegal and may lead to criminal prosecution.

Navalny was arrested on January 17 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he went through a life-saving treatment for poisoning with a Novichok-type nerve agent that he says was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin has denied any role in the incident, which was the latest of numerous attacks on Navalny.

More than 10,000 people were rounded up during nationwide rallies protesting Navalny's arrest organized in more than 100 Russian towns and cities on January 23 and January 31.

On February 2, Navalny was convicted of violating the terms of his suspended sentence related to an embezzlement case that he has called politically motivated. The remainder of Navalny's suspended sentence, 2 1/2 years, was then replaced by a real prison term.

That ruling sparked new protests that were also forcibly dispersed by police.

More than 1,400 people were detained by police in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other Russian cities during those demonstrations.

Russia has notched yet another daily record for coronavirus infections and deaths as authorities prepare to reintroduce lockdown restrictions.

The government's coronavirus crisis center on October 22 reported 37,141 new COVID-19 cases with 1,064 people dying over the past 24 hours in what is the second successive daily case record and the fourth straight day of record deaths.

President Vladimir Putin has ordered a nationwide "nonworking" week, starting on October 30, in a bid to stem the rise in infections, which has been attributed to vaccine hesitancy, virus variants, and lax health measures.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reintroduced lockdown measures between October 28 and November 7 -- with all shops, bars, and restaurants due to close, except those selling essential goods.

Russia has by far the largest official death toll in Europe -- 228,453 -- and the fourth-highest in the world.

Although Russia was the first country to announce the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, only about a third of its nearly 146 million people are fully vaccinated.

A European Union report said on October 21 that a systematic disinformation campaign by Russia to promote COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the West has backfired.

The EU study said Russian state broadcaster RT and other media outlets had sown mistrust about the efficacy and safety of vaccines in several European languages, including in Russian.

"Disinformation can kill. That should be kept in mind when we see Kremlin media continue spreading lies on COVID-19 and the vaccines, even as the death tolls in Russia are surging," said the EU study, entitled "Disinformation Review."

The Kremlin denies it conducts disinformation about vaccines.

Countries across Eastern Europe have experienced a surge of infections in recent weeks, prompting authorities to announce a raft of restrictions.

In Ukraine, government data showed a record 614 new COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, up from 546 the day before. Ukraine's number of infections in the pandemic stands at 2.72 million, with 63,003 deaths.

Schools were shut in high-infection areas on October 22, including the capital, Kyiv, where a two-week holiday was announced.

The government also announced a requirement for vaccine certificates or negative tests to access public transport in the capital, adding new measures on the unvaccinated, whose access to restaurants, sports, and other public events is restricted.

Only 6.8 million in a population of 41 million are fully vaccinated.

Latvia has begun a monthlong lockdown as the number of new coronavirus cases reached an all-time high in the country, while hospitals in Bulgaria and Romania feel the strain of a surge in COVID-19 cases.

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Coronavirus hospitalizations in Bulgaria have risen 30 percent over the last month and hospitals in the capital have suspended nonessential surgeries.

Just one adult in four is fully vaccinated in Bulgaria, and many still resist getting the shot. Hundreds protested in Sofia and other cities against vaccination certificates that limit access to many indoor public spaces to those who have been vaccinated.

In Romania, where new daily cases have soared toward 19,000 this week, about one adult in three has been vaccinated, the second-lowest rate in the European Union.

With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters

USSURIISK, Russia -- A court in Russia's Far East has sentenced a woman to three months in prison after she played the role of an Interior Ministry spokeswoman in an online satirical series about a fictional official.

Police in the Primorye region said on October 21 that 43-year-old Larisa Krivonosova, who has a criminal record, was sent to prison for a parole violation.

Last month, Krivonosova was sentenced to 10 days in jail after she performed the role of Interior Ministry spokeswoman Marina Vulf ("Vulf" is a Russified variant of the German surname Wolf) in the YouTube series about Vitaly Nalivkin, a fictional chairman of the executive committee of the city of Ussuriisk.

SEE ALSO:

Russian Actors Jailed In Latest Clampdown On Political Parody

Many in Russia saw the parallel between Krivonosova's character and the real Interior Ministry spokeswoman, Irina Volk. Volk means wolf in Russian.

Police said at the time that Krivonosova was jailed for illegally wearing a police uniform, but later changed their statement to say that she was jailed for a parole violation.

According to police, Krivonosova was released on parole in 2017 after she served an unspecified amount of time for the "premeditated infliction of injury." There were no further details given concerning the charge.

In 2020, police said her parole restrictions were toughened after Krivonosova "started committing violations endangering social order and public security."

The satirical online show about Nalivkin mocks the everyday life of ordinary people and the behavior of local authorities in Russian provinces.

Earlier in the year, Andrei Neretin, who plays the role of Nalivkin in the show, was sentenced to five days in prison and fined for "minor hooliganism" after an episode about a corrupt police officer was placed on YouTube.

Russian opposition politician Lyubov Sobol says she doesn't feel "fully safe" after recently fleeing Russia in the summer, but she insists she will continue to fight against President Vladimir Putin's "criminal regime" and widespread corruption in her country.

Speaking in an October 21 interview with Current Time via a video link from an unknown location, Sobol declined to reveal her whereabouts.

Sobol, a close associate of Aleksei Navalny, fled Russia in August after she was handed a parole-like sentence amid an intensifying crackdown on groups and individual linked to the jailed opposition leader and anti-corruption campaigner. Media reports last month placed the 34-year-old lawyer, who was recently added to Russia's wanted list, in neighboring Estonia.

Asked about possible concerns regarding her safety, Sobol said she had switched from a "more dangerous" location to a "little less dangerous" one.

"But do I feel fully safe? Of course not. I think that no one who fights against Putin's criminal regime can feel fully safe," she told the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA..

"The key issue is whether I will continue to engage in political activities and fight against corruption, speak the truth, and be the voice of ordinary people -- and I will continue doing all that," she added.

SEE ALSO:

Navalny Urges Associates Who Have Fled Russia To Continue Anti-Corruption Work From Abroad

The opposition politician and lawyer for Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) fled Russia days after a Moscow court found her guilty of publicly calling for people to attend rallies supporting Navalny after he was jailed upon his return to Russia from Germany where he was receiving treatment for a poisoning he blames on the Kremlin.

The court ruled Sobol's actions violated measures aimed at curbing the coronavirus pandemic and sentenced her to 18 months of parole-like limits on her freedom.

Several Navalny associates have been found guilty on similar charges, which justice officials have been using as a thinly veiled pretense for rounding up those around the Kremlin's most vocal critic.

Separately, another court in the Russian capital in April handed Sobol a one-year suspended sentence of correctional labor after finding her guilty of trespassing in what she described as a ruling designed to silence her.

Sobol was added recently to Russia's database of wanted persons at the Interior Ministry with the designation that she is "wanted under an article of the Criminal Code."

Sobol told Current Time that she learned about the move through the media and that she still had not received an official notice of the designation, nor the reason behind it.

She said, however, she assumed the decision is linked to the April court verdict.

"I personally did not receive any warnings from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. And as far as I understand, my lawyer [Vladimir] Voronin, who represents my interests in criminal cases, also didn't," she said.

Navalny was arrested in January after returning to Russia from Germany, where he was treated for a near-fatal poisoning with a Novichok-type nerve agent that he says was ordered by Putin.

In February, Navalny was convicted of violating the terms of a suspended sentence related to an embezzlement case that he has called politically motivated. Due to the violation, which occurred because he needed life-saving treatment in Germany, his suspended sentence of 2 1/2 years was changed to real prison time.

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Profile: Aleksei Navalny, Winner Of The Sakharov Prize

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Navalny was awarded the European Union's top human rights honor -- the Sakharov prize -- earlier this week, which the opposition politician said was a "great honor and responsibility" that sends a signal of support to anti-corruption crusaders around the globe.

Commenting on Navalny’s award, Sobol said the prize "is very important and fully deserved."

Putin "is seriously upset that Navalny hasn't been forgotten -- especially given that they are trying to isolate him in a prison, to make his life hard in detention," she said.

SEE ALSO:

Navalny Dedicates Top European Rights Award To World's Anti-Corruption Fighters

She said she didn't expect "any immediate effect" from Navalny receiving the award, but that it will "definitely contribute to the struggle for Navalny's release from prison."

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins has been killed, and a movie director injured, after Hollywood star Alec Baldwin discharged a prop firearm on the set of a Western they were filming in New Mexico.

Local police said Hutchins, 42, died from a gunshot wound late on October 21 after being flown to a nearby hospital , while director Joel Souza was taken to a hospital but his condition was not immediately known.

Police questioned Baldwin and others on the set of the movie, titled Rust, but no charges have been laid. They added that deputies were still trying to determine whether what happened was an accident.

In a series of messages on Twitter, Baldwin said that his heart was broken by the tragic incident.

"There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours. I'm fully cooperating with the police investigation," he wrote on Twitter. "My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna."

Hutchins' website says she was born in Ukraine and grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle "surrounded by reindeer and nuclear submarines."

She held a graduate degree in international journalism from Kyiv National University and had previously worked as an investigative journalist with British documentary productions in Europe.

She was also the director of photography of the art-house superhero action film Archenemy. Her other movie credits include the racially charged police drama Blindfire and Darlin', a horror feature film.

"The entire cast and crew has been absolutely devastated by today's tragedy, and we send our deepest condolences to Halyna's family and loved ones," production company Rust Movie Productions said in a statement.

"We have halted production on the film for an undetermined period of time and are fully cooperating with the Santa Fe Police Department's investigation," it added.

The 63-year-old Baldwin, who has won several acting awards, is one of the film's stars as well as a producer.

The incident evoked memories of the 1993 death of 28-year-old actor Brandon Lee, son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, who was fatally wounded by a prop gun while filming The Crow.

Lee's sister, Shannon, decried the incident in a tweet, while also calling for better protection measures on film sets.

“Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on ‘Rust’. No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period,” she wrote.

With reporting by NBC News, Variety, and Reuters

A fire caused by an explosion at a gunpowder workshop has killed at least 16 people in Russia's Ryazan region.

Local media reports, citing sources at regional law enforcement and emergency services, said that the explosion at a gunpowder workshop of the Elastik synthetic-fibers plant occurred early in the morning on October 22.

According to the local authorities, there were 17 people in the workshop when the blast hit the building.

Firefighters and rescue teams are working at the site.

The deputy governor of the Ryazan region, Dmitry Filippov, and acting Emergency Situations Minister Aleksandr Chuprian have also arrived at the scene, local media reported.

The Emergency Situations Ministry said that a "violation of the technology process" may have caused the explosion.

The Investigative Committee said it had launched a probe into the deadly explosion and fire.

Based on reporting by RIA Novosti, TASS, and Interfax

ORAL, Kazakhstan -- Activists in the western Kazakh city of Oral are under pressure ahead of planned opposition protest rallies scheduled for October 23.

On October 22, a court in Oral sentenced Amangeldy Orazbaev to 20 days in jail for "violating the law on peaceful demonstrations" by organizing an unsanctioned rally last month.

Orazbaev rejected the charge, saying that "every Kazakh citizen has a constitutional right to hold public events and publicly express opinions."

Another activist in Oral, Bekbolat Otebekov, told RFE/RL that during a recent regular health check-up, doctors tried to "persuade" him to check in to the hospital even though his state of health is "very good."

Another rights activist and Orazbaev associate, Marua Eskendirova, told RFE/RL that she had been under surveillance, adding that a car had been parked next to her house in Oral for hours as men in civilian clothing watched her house.

A day earlier, Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev publicly warned about legal repercussions of "illegal mass gatherings" in the country.

The anti-government rallies scheduled to be held across the country were planned by Mukhtar Ablyazov, the exiled former head of BTA Bank and an outspoken critic of the Kazakh government who resides in France.

The authorities declared Ablyazov's Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) and the associated, unregistered Koshe (Street) party "extremist" organizations in March 2018.

Human Rights Watch earlier this year criticized the Kazakh government for using anti-extremism laws as a tool to persecute critics and civic activists. Several hundred people have been prosecuted for supporting or being members of the DVK or Koshe.

The Kazakh authorities have insisted there are no political prisoners in the Central Asian country.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is urging authorities in Uzbekistan to swiftly investigate the numerous online death threats received by staff members of RFE/RL's Uzbek Service ahead of next week's presidential election, and to ensure that the journalists can work safely.

The "unprecedented and repugnant" threats made to the RFE/RL employees in recent days should trigger a "clear response" from the authorities, the New York-based media-freedom watchdog said in a statement on October 21.

"No journalist should have to work in the face of such threats, and the Uzbek government should take immediate steps to investigate these threats’ origins and hold those responsible to account," said Gulnoza Said, CPJ's Europe and Central Asia program coordinator.

On a single day, October 16, mostly anonymous users of the Telegram messaging app sent dozens of death threats to staff members of RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, known in Uzbekistan as Ozodlik.

Over the course of 30 minutes, the service's Telegram channel received posts hurling insults at staff members and their mothers, and carrying threats of beheadings and sexual assaults. The posts were accompanied by images with pornographic elements.

Many of the images appeared to have been created by the same person or group, as they featured an identical caption reading, "Ozodlik's real goal is to marshal a mutiny in Uzbekistan, to disrupt peace, to discredit our president."

The service's Telegram communication managers found out that at least two threats came from accounts associated with users promoting the Uzbek government's policies related to the armed forces.

RFE/RL President Jamie Fly called the online threats "disgusting," and urged the government in Tashkent to immediately end its intimidation tactics against independent media.

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Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev has positioned himself as a democratic reformer after he took over Central Asia's most populous state following the death of authoritarian predecessor Islam Karimov in September 2016.

However, arrests and attacks on bloggers and journalists have been on the rise across Uzbekistan ahead of a presidential election scheduled for October 24.

The website of RFE/RL's Uzbek Service was blocked several times, and RFE/RL's requests for official accreditation of its correspondents in the country have remained unanswered.

Uzbekistan ranked 157th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' 2021 World Press Freedom Index.

Imprisoned RFE/RL freelance correspondent Vladyslav Yesypenko has appealed to U.S. President Joe Biden and U.S. lawmakers to do more to free the more than 100 political prisoners detained by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) over their activities in Crimea.

Yesypenko, who has been in detention in Russian-occupied Crimea since March, made the appeal in a letter read publicly for the first time on October 21 at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington.

"There can be no greater hell than being trapped in these four walls day after day, month after month, for half a year now, only allowed outside on command for a few breaths of fresh air and then back to your cell, helpless to change a thing," Yesypenko said.

He called on Biden and members of Congress to send a "clear signal" to Russian President Vladimir Putin that "America stands with Ukraine, which has demanded time and again that the occupying power put a stop to violations of human rights in Crimea and release all political prisoners."

The letter was carried by hand to the United States by Yesypenko's wife, Kateryna Yesypenko, who is currently visiting the United States to meet with members of Congress and U.S. State Department officials as part of an effort to raise awareness of the situation in Crimea. Kateryna Yesypenko read the letter during a briefing at the Ukrainian Embassy.

In the letter, Yesypenko tells Biden and the U.S. lawmakers that the only thing that keeps him and the other prisoners going "is your profound understanding of Ukraine's situation and your stated intent to unite the democratic world against Russia's aggression and secure the release of Kremlin's political prisoners."

Yesypenko's letter details how he was "abducted" by the FSB and graphically describes torture by electric shock that was "melting" his brain and making it feel like his heart would burst out of his chest unless he waived his right to a lawyer and testified against himself.

He has previously said in court that he was tortured for two days from the moment he was detained until his transfer to a detention center in Simferopol in Crimea.

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'My Brain Was Boiling': RFE/RL Freelancer Describes Agonizing Torture By Russian Jailers

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The journalist names several other people, including Oleksiy Bessarabov and Volodymyr Dudka -- two Ukrainian men sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2019 for plotting sabotage in Crimea -- who are among more than 100 others who were "unlawfully detained and thrown behind bars" and now await sentencing.

Many, he says, were coerced into confessing after being tortured and threatened with death, and after enduring threats against their families and loved ones.

"We are doing all we can to resist, renouncing what we said under torture, speaking out in courts, writing letters to the outside world, to let you all know we are not giving up," he said.

Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova told the briefing that Yesypenko was arrested just for doing his job and that he is one of 115 prisoners from Crimea who are currently held on political charges.

She appealed for urgent action, saying every life put on hold "must lead to immediate response from all of us, not only from Ukraine, but from all around the world who believe in the same values and principles and who believe this is not the way to behave in the 21st century."

Yesypenko, a dual Russian-Ukrainian citizen who contributes to Crimea.Realities, was detained on suspicion of collecting information for Ukrainian intelligence. The father of one had worked in Crimea for five years, reporting on the social and environmental situation on the peninsula, before being detained.

A court in Simferopol on July 15 formally charged him with possession and transport of explosives. He pleaded not guilty and faces up to 18 years in prison if convicted.

RFE/RL President Jamie Fly has described the case as the latest example of the Kremlin's campaign to target independent media outlets and called it "a mockery of justice."

Press-freedom advocates, including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, along with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and the U.S. State Department, are among those who have called for Yesypenko's immediate release in the absence of any evidence of wrongdoing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow is considering removing the Taliban from its list of extremist organizations as it expands engagement with the new rulers in Kabul.

The comments during a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club on October 21 come a day after Russia hosted a high-level Taliban delegation for talks attended by officials from China, Pakistan, and eight other countries.

Moscow has hosted Taliban representatives several times in recent years, but has stopped short of recognizing the group, which it considers a terrorist organization.

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Moscow Hosts Taliban For International Talks On Afghanistan

In a final statement, the 10 countries in Moscow noted that "further practical engagement with Afghanistan needed to take into account the new reality, that is the Taliban coming to power in the country, irrespective of the official recognition of the new Afghan government by the international community."

Russia called for the mobilization of international aid to support Afghanistan and one of the aims of the meeting was to consolidate the "efforts of the international community to prevent a humanitarian crisis" in the aftermath of the Taliban's takeover in August.

Putin said Afghanistan should receive economic support and get its financial assets unfrozen as stability in the war-torn country was in the interest of all its neighbors.

Washington has said it has no intention of releasing nearly $9 billion in Afghan central-bank reserves held in the United States that it froze after the Taliban seized power, despite warnings from humanitarian groups and the UN about the collapse of Afghanistan's economy and deepening humanitarian crisis.

With reporting by Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Ukraine's military development with Western support represents a genuine threat to Moscow.

"Formal membership [of Ukraine] in NATO may not take place, but military development of the territory is already under way," Putin said during a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Relations between NATO and Russia have been tense recently and official contacts have been limited since Moscow occupied Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

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The 30-member Western alliance is also concerned over Russia's nuclear missile development, aerial intrusions into NATO airspace, and the buzzing of allied ships by Russian fighter planes.

"This really poses a threat to Russia. We are aware of that," Putin said, adding that U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's visit to Kyiv this week had effectively paved the way for Ukraine to join NATO.

Ukraine has expressed a desire to join NATO to protect itself against further Russian aggression. Moscow has warned that Ukraine's membership in NATO would represent a "red line."

Austin reiterated Washington's "unwavering" support for Ukraine's territorial integrity during his visit to Kyiv on October 19, and said Russia had no right to veto Kyiv's aspirations to join NATO.

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Austin, who was on a three-country tour of the Black Sea region aimed at underlining Washington's support for allies and partner states, added that Russia continued to be an "obstacle" to the peaceful resolution of the deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Austin's visit to Kyiv came amid continued fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Kremlin-backed separatists in a conflict that has claimed more than 13,200 lives since April 2014.

Austin also visited Georgia and fellow NATO-member Romania.

On October 21, NATO defense ministers agreed a new master plan to defend against any potential Russian attack on multiple fronts.

With reporting by Reuters and TASS

Azerbaijan has released two Iranian truck drivers whose arrest last month on charges of illegally entering the country strained ties between the two neighbors.

The release of the Iranian citizens on October 21 comes a week after Azerbaijan and Iran's foreign ministers agreed to dial back heated rhetoric and engage in dialogue to defuse diplomatic crises.

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Azerbaijan's customs department said it had handed over the drivers to the Iranian Embassy in Baku in a decision "guided by principles of humanitarianism, mutual respect, and good neighborliness."

The truck drivers were arrested on September 12 as Iran threatened unspecified action over what it alleged was the presence of archenemy Israel in Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani regime, which buys weapons from Israel, denied the allegations.

Relations also deteriorated following joint military drills that Azerbaijani troops conducted alongside Turkish and Pakistani forces, prompting Iran to stage rare military drills along its 700-kilometer border with Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan and Iran have long been at loggerheads over Tehran's backing of Armenia, an issue that gained greater importance during last year's war between Baku and Armenian forces over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The six-week war ended in November 2020 following a Russian-brokered cease-fire, which saw Azerbaijan regain control over a chunk of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

Some of the territory recaptured by Azerbaijan is along the border with Iran, including a road Iranian trucks had previously used to ship goods to Armenia.

Baku said the drivers entered Azerbaijan through that territory, bypassing border controls to avoid customs duties on cargo transiting to Armenia.

Iran stressed that it respected the territorial integrity of its neighbors but demanded the immediate release of the drivers.

Meanwhile, the Iranian Ministry of Roads and Transport this week ordered transport companies to avoid using the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin region, an area recaptured by Azerbaijan and monitored by Russian peacekeepers.

According to the directive, which reportedly came due to protests from Azerbaijan, Iranian transport companies were told that entry into Azerbaijan using any route but official border crossings was a violation of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

The order also prohibits any trade agreement with Armenian forces in Karabakh and the issuance of shipping documents to the region still partially controlled by Armenian separatists.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Azerbaijan Service and Radio Farda

A court in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg has sent three suspects in a deadly mass alcohol poisoning case to pretrial detention as the death toll in the incident rose to 24.

The Chkalov district court ruled on October 21 that Armen Avetisian, Nadir Mamedov, and Anar Ayvazov must remain in custody until at least December 15.

During the hearing, it was revealed that 24 people died after they consumed the tainted alcohol. Previously, officials had only said there were "about" 18 deaths.

Avetisian, Mamedov, and Ayvazov were arrested last week. One more suspect was apprehended afterward, authorities have said.

The judge at the hearing said that more people might have been involved in the illegal activities that led to the mass poisoning and police in Yekaterinburg said on October 21 they had launched a preliminary investigation into a divisional police inspector whose suspected negligence may have helped lead to the tragedy.

Investigators have focused on the sale of alcohol that had been bottled at a city market and did not meet safety standards.

Investigators are looking into the sale of substandard goods and death by negligence, which could result in prison sentences of up to 10 years, the committee said in a statement.

Several individuals sold "an alcoholic liquid that was dangerous for their health" over the past two weeks in Yekaterinburg, the investigators said.

The incident followed the opening of an inquiry earlier this month into a suspected poisoning linked to illegal alcohol in the neighboring Orenburg region. More than 30 people died after drinking beverages containing methanol, a toxic type of industrial alcohol.

On October 19, authorities in another Urals region, Kurgan, said they had launched a probe into bootleg alcohol poisoning that left three people dead.

Poisonings involving homemade or bootleg alcohol occur regularly in Russia as people seek out cheaper options than store-bought vodka.

In December 2016, 78 people died in and around the Siberian city of Irkutsk after drinking a scented herbal bath lotion that contained methanol.

With reporting by TASS and Interfax

A reactor at a nuclear power plant in Russia's southwestern Rostov region was taken offline after the detection of a steam leak, but the operator said radiation levels were normal.

"The second power unit was disconnected from the network for routine maintenance of thermal and mechanical equipment," Rosenergoatom, a subsidiary of the state nuclear agency Rosatom, said on October 21.

Earlier in the day, workers at the Rostov nuclear power plant found an 18-millimeter crack in a welded joint on a pipe used to control humidity and steam levels.

Rosenergoatom said the pipe carries nonradioactive water.

Russia's public-health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said in statement that the level of radiation at the site was normal.

The four-unit nuclear power plant is located on the bank of the Tsimlyansk water-storage basin, 250 kilometers from the regional capital, Rostov-on-Don.

Based on reporting by RIA Novosti, TASS, and Interfax

A court in Moscow has sentenced a man to three years and three months in prison for setting the wheel of a police car on fire during the January 31 rally in support of jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny.

The Presnensky district court on October 20 found 26-year-old Sergei Vasilenko guilty of damaging police property, and sentenced him the same day.

Vasilenko was arrested and charged in February. It is unknown how he pled.

He is one of several people who have been given prison terms or suspended sentences in recent months for attacking police or police equipment during the nationwide demonstrations held on January 23 and January 31 to protest against Navalny's arrest.

The Kremlin critic was detained at a Moscow airport on January 17 upon his arrival from Germany, where he was recovering from a poison attack in Siberia in August 2020 with what several European laboratories concluded was a military-grade chemical nerve agent.

Navalny has claimed his poisoning was ordered directly by President Vladimir Putin, which the Kremlin denies.

In February, a Moscow court ruled that while in Germany, Navalny had violated the terms of parole from an old embezzlement case that is widely considered politically motivated. His 3 1/2-year suspended sentence from the case was converted to a jail term, though the court said he will serve 2 1/2 years in prison, given time he had been held in detention.

More than 10,000 Navalny supporters were detained across Russia during and after the January rallies. Many of the detained men and women were either fined or given several-day jail terms At least 90 were charged with criminal misdeeds and several have been fired by their employers.

On October 20, European lawmakers awarded Navalny the Sakharov Prize, the European Union's highest human rights honor.

With reporting by Novaya gazeta, TASS, Interfax, and Mediazona

BUCHAREST -- Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has nominated acting Defense Minister Nicolae Ciuca as prime minister in a second bid to end a political stalemate that has hampered efforts to tackle an huge surge of COVID-19 infections and deaths.

Iohannis on October 21 tasked Ciuca, a retired general, to form a minority center-right government -- a day after his first choice, centrist Dacian Ciolos, failed to win a parliamentary vote of confidence for his cabinet.

The crisis began more than two weeks ago, after liberal Prime Minister Florin Citu's government was crushed by a no-confidence vote in parliament that brought together virtually all forces of the political spectrum.

Even though he enjoyed the political backing of Iohannis, Citu had been subjected to a barrage of scathing criticism for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the looming economic crisis prompted by rising energy prices.

"Now the political crisis must end. We need a government that can solve the problems," Iohannis said following consultations with parliamentary parties.

Ciuca, a 54-year-old member of Citu's National Liberal Party (PNL), has 10 days to pick his cabinet members and seek a parliamentary vote of confidence.

Analysts say that Ciuca's PNL and its ethnic Hungarian allies UDMR will need the backing of the leftist Social Democratic Party (PSD) to win the confirmation of parliament, since Ciolos's Save Romania Union (USR), PNL's former coalition partner until Citu's fall, has been ruled out as a partner by the both the Liberals and Iohannis.

The political crisis came as Romania, one of the European Union's poorest states, struggles with a huge spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths, a sputtering economy, and rising energy prices.

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On October 21, Romania reported 16,110 new coronavirus cases and 448 COVID-19-related deaths over the previous day.

Nearly 20,000 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, putting the country's hospitals under strain.

"It is inadmissible to continue in this style. We have a pandemic crisis, a dramatic situation in hospitals, winter is knocking at the door, energy prices are rising. We need a government with full powers," Iohannis said.

However, critics say that Iohannis and Citu's lack of firm action to stave off the pandemic during the summer amid political bickering has been one of the main causes behind the huge number of infections and deaths that have overwhelmed Romania's underfunded, obsolete, and corruption-ridden health-care system.

Moldova has reached a provisional loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) worth about $564 million over 40 months.

Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita said on October 21 that a first tranche of $81 million could be received from the Washington-based lender by the end of this year once IMF management and its board of directors meet in December.

Europe’s poorest country is recovering from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, with economic growth forecast at 4.5 percent in 2021, according to the IMF.

But new waves of COVID-19 infections threaten the outlook, as does the slow recovery in Moldova’s key trading partners, rising energy prices, and potential political instability, the IMF said.

President Maia Sandu, a U.S. trained economist who worked at the World Bank, was elected last year on a pro-Western and reformist agenda, including tackling endemic corruption and poor governance.

Based on reporting by Reuters and Jurnal de Chisinau

Turkish authorities have arrested four Russian citizens, one Ukrainian citizen, and one Uzbek national on charges of "military and political espionage" linked to alleged plans to attack Chechen opposition activists residing in Turkey.

The Turkish Prosecutor-General's Office said on October 20 that the men arrested in the cities of Antalya and Istanbul on October 8 are Abdula Abdulayev, Ravshan Akhmedov, Beslan Rasayev, and Aslanbek Abdulmuslimov of Russia; Ihor Yefrim of Ukraine; and Amir Yusupov of Uzbekistan.

The men are also suspected of buying weapons to use against Turkish-based critics of the Kremlin-backed leader of Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov.

If convicted, the men face up to 20 years in prison.

Russian officials have yet to comment on the situation.

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The Untouchable: How Kadyrov Maintains His Tight Grip On Chechnya

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There have been several attacks outside Russia against Kadyrov's critics in recent years.

In January, a court in Sweden sentenced two Russian citizens from Chechnya to lengthy prison terms for their roles in the attempted killing last year of Tumso Abdurakhmanov, an exiled Chechen blogger and outspoken critic of Kadyrov.

A year before that, Imran Aliyev, another Chechen blogger known for his criticism of Kadyrov, was found stabbed to death in a hotel room in the northern French city of Lille.

Austria arrested two Chechen asylum seekers as part of an investigation into the killing in a Vienna suburb of another Kadyrov critic, Mamikhan Umarov, in July 2020.

Human rights groups have accused Kadyrov of widespread rights and other abuses in the region, allegations he denies.

Critics say Kadyrov is ultimately responsible for the violence and intimidation of his political opponents by Chechen authorities, including kidnappings, forced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings.

Defenders claim Kadyrov has brought relative calm to the volatile region following two wars between Moscow and separatists after the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.

With reporting by Sabah, Hurriyet, Artigercek, and Beyazgazete

NUR-SULTAN -- Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev has warned of repercussions for what he called "illegal public gatherings" ahead of protest rallies planned by exiled opposition politician Mukhtar Ablyazov.

Domestic and international human rights groups have criticized Kazakhstan's new law on mass gatherings adopted last year, saying it allows the government to maintain its tight control over peaceful assembly.

Speaking at a session of parliament on October 21, Toqaev downplayed those concerns while saying that "those who take part in illegal demonstrations will be prosecuted."

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"The law on peaceful public gatherings we adopted is an important step for democratization, no matter what people say about it. Nobody is against peaceful gatherings, demonstrations. There is no need to obtain permission for that. Just informing authorities about that is enough. But some people do not follow even that requirement," he said.

"I want to warn the ones who commit such a violation of law that such activities will be legally assessed. The duty of the Prosecutor-General's Office is to explain the law to citizens, while law enforcement must provide safety and security in the society," Toqaev added.

Toqaev also took aim at women who have frequently rallied in front of the government buildings and banks to demand social allowances and other benefits for single mothers and lower-income families.

"We must honor mothers in our society. But mothers also must understand they have obligations. Some mothers with many children are disrupting the social order," Toqaev said.

Toqaev's statements come two days before rallies planned by Ablyazov, an exiled former head of BTA Bank and an outspoken critic of the Kazakh authorities who has fought multiple extradition battles over accusations that he embezzled billions.

Kazakh authorities designated Ablyazov's Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) and the group's associate, the unregistered Koshe (Street) party, as “extremist” organizations in March 2018.

Human Rights Watch earlier this year criticized the Kazakh government for using anti-extremism laws as a tool to persecute critics and civic activists. Several hundred people have been prosecuted for supporting or being members of the DVK or Koshe parties.

The Kazakh authorities have insisted there are no political prisoners in the Central Asian country.