European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has decried the latest Israeli air strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah that killed at least 45 Palestinians, including children and people living in tents after being forced from their homes.

Speaking after a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers on May 27, Borrell said that he condemned the attack "in the strongest terms."

"It proves that there is no safe place in Gaza. You can imagine how horrified we all are of these attacks," he said.

The strikes occurred late on May 26, when Israeli forces hitting what they called a Hamas -- designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU -- installation, killing two senior members of the group.

The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said around half of the dead were women, children and older adults.

Israeli Prime MInister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes were "a tragic mistake," which comes amid mounting criticism of Israel for its war against Hamas, which was sparked by a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 that killed more than 1,200 people, mainly civilians.

EU foreign ministers were meeting in Brussels and agreed in principle to press ahead with the reopening of the EU border mission in Rafah, which has not been operational since 2007, when Hamas seized full control of the territory.

When the mission was first deployed, it consisted of roughly 70 personnel monitoring crossings at the border between Gaza and Egypt with Borrell noting that the mission could "play a useful role to get people in and out of Gaza."

It is, however, unlikely that the mission will be fully operational before the hostilities in Gaza end and Egypt, Israel, and the Palestinian authorities have given their green light to it.

The Rafah crossing is the main entry point between Gaza and Egypt for aid but has been closed since Israeli forces took control of it earlier this month.

EU foreign ministers agreed on May 27 to immediately start preparations to relaunch the border mission.

There was also broad agreement to work toward an EU-sponsored international conference on how to implement a two-state solution, which according to Brussels can be merged with a previous call by the bloc to host an international peace conference.

The ministers also found consensus on calling for a so-called EU-Israel association council to discuss the situation in Gaza and to the need to respect human rights. The association council, which last met in 2022, is the formal political avenue between the EU and the Israeli government.

The meeting in Brussels comes shortly after several international developments in recent days relating to the conflict.

Last week, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) overwhelmingly ordered Israel to halt its Rafah offensive, while the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced recently that he was seeking the arrest of the Netanyahu, his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders.

SEE ALSO:

Israel Continues Gaza Attacks Despite UN Court Order To 'Immediately Halt' Rafah Offensive

Meanwhile, EU member states Ireland and Spain announced last week that they will recognize a Palestinian state as of May 28.

Borrell noted that the EU wants Israel to implement the ICJ ruling, as "all members of the United Nations have an obligation to comply with its decision."

He also urged Jerusalem to unblock funds for the Palestinian Authorities and to allow UNWRA to operate in the Palestinian territories.

The call comes amid reports that the Israeli Knesset is preparing a vote to brand the UN body providing aid for Palestinian refugees "a terrorist organization."

Seven Pakistani soldiers, including an army captain, were killed in separate clashes with the Pakistani Taliban on May 26 and 27, according to the military's media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations. It added that 23 Taliban fighters were killed in the clashes. A captain and a soldier were killed in an operation near Peshawar on May 26, during which six militants were shot dead. The next day, five Pakistani soldiers and seven militants were killed in clashes in the Bara region of the Khyber district. There were no military casualties in a third operation on May 27 near South Waziristan district, but 10 Taliban fighters were killed. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, click here.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he does not trust Putin amid reports that the European Union plans to organize peace talks with Russia.

Bloomberg on May 27 reported that the bloc is working on organizing a meeting in Saudi Arabia later this year with Russia's participation.

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The meeting would come after a June 15-16 Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland, where representatives of dozens of countries -- but not Russia -- are expected to attend.

"There is no faith in [Russian President Vladimir] Putin," Zelenskiy said during a press conference in Spain, where he signed a bilateral security deal with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez worth 1 billion euros on May 27.

The Ukrainian president said his country had held around 200 rounds of talks with the Kremlin, many of which were held long before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

"There were no results; the occupied territories remained occupied," Zelenskiy told reporters.

He said 90 countries had agreed to attend the summit near the city of Lucerne in Switzerland next month.

In a video message on May 26, Zelenskiy urged world leaders, particularly U.S. President Joe Biden, to "show leadership in advancing the peace" and attend the gathering.

However, Bloomberg said Biden will skip the gathering to attend a fundraiser for his presidential campaign, while Brazil and China are planning to organize their own initiative and will send junior officials.

Russia has not been invited to the Ukrainian-organized summit. Zelenskiy has said Russia's participation risked disrupting the summit.

Moscow has dismissed the significance of the summit in Switzerland, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying in April that peace talks without Russia "make no sense."

Similarly, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said decisions regarding the war in Ukraine that "ignore Russia's position" are "detached from reality."

European Union foreign ministers agreed to impose sanctions on 19 Russian officials and Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) over their involvement in the persecution of opposition politicians and activists. The decision, agreed in Brussels on May 27, targets investigators, prosecutors, and judges who were involved in politically motivated cases against a number of dissidents, including Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny, who died in February while serving a lengthy prison term in an Arctic prison, Memorial human rights center co-Chairman Oleg Orlov, and activist Aleksandra Skochilenko, who was imprisoned for her opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

Human Rights Watch said on May 27 that lawyers in Belarus have been under "unprecedented" pressure since mass unrest followed the official results of a 2020 presidential election that handed authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka victory. The report said more than 140 Belarusian lawyers have lost their licenses in politically motivated moves since the vote, while at least 23 lawyers have been arrested in what appears to be an attempt to force them to drop clients facing politically motivated charges. At least six Belarusian lawyers are currently serving politically motivated prison terms of between six and 10 years, the report said. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, click here.

OSH, Kyrgyzstan -- The Osh regional court in Kyrgyzstan's south told RFE/RL on May 27 that it had registered a criminal case against Tilek Matraimov, a brother of Raimbek Matraimov, the former deputy chief of Kyrgyzstan’s Customs Service who was at the center of a high-profile corruption scandal involving the funneling of close to $1 billion out of the country.

Tilek Matraimov, the ex-governor of the Kara-Suu district, was charged with abuse of office, his lawyer Mamat Shaiev said.

SEE ALSO:

How A Kyrgyz Customs Chief Enabled A Secretive Smuggling Empire

Tilek Matraimov and his brothers -- Raimbek, Ruslan, and Islambek -- were extradited to Kyrgyzstan in March from Azerbaijan, where they were in hiding.

Raimbek Matraimov, the most notorious of the brothers, was charged with money laundering and the abduction and illegal incarceration of unnamed individuals as part of the 2020-21 corruption scandal.

In February 2021, a Bishkek court ordered pretrial custody for Matraimov in connection with the corruption charges. He received a mitigated sentence that involved fines amounting to just a few thousand dollars but no jail time.

The court justified the move by saying that Matraimov had paid back around $24 million that disappeared through corruption schemes that he oversaw.

In November last year, the chairman of the state security service, Kamchybek Tashiev, accused Matraimov and crime boss Kamchy Kolbaev (aka Kamchybek Asanbek), who was added by Washington to a list of major global drug-trafficking suspects in 2011, of "forming a mafia in Kyrgyzstan."

Matraimov left Kyrgyzstan in October after Kolbaev was killed in a special security operation in Bishkek. In January, the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry said Matraimov was added to the wanted list of Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security.

In 2019, an investigation by RFE/RL, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and Kloop implicated Matraimov in a corruption scheme involving the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars out of Kyrgyzstan.

Also in March, a court in neighboring Uzbekistan sentenced late Kolbaev's close associate, influential Uzbek crime boss Salim Abduvaliev, to six years in prison on charges of illegal possession and transportation of arms and explosives.

Abduvaliev is believed to have ties with top Uzbek officials and leaders of the so-called Brothers' Circle, a Eurasian drug-trafficking network that included Kolbaev.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez have signed a bilateral security agreement that provides for Madrid to provide Ukraine with 1 billion euros ($1.08 billion) in military aid this year.

The announcement was made at a joint news conference in Madrid, where Zelenskiy arrived on May 27 for talks with the head of the Spanish government and King Felipe VI.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

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"For the period up to 2027, Ukraine will get 5 billion euros from Spain through the European Peace Fund," Zelenskiy told the news conference.

Ahead of the visit, the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that Madrid plans to send missiles for Patriot air-defense systems and Leopard tanks to Ukraine as part of the weapons package.

The bilateral security agreement was the 10th signed by Ukraine with Western allies, following similar pacts with Britain, Germany, France, Denmark, Canada, Italy, Netherlands, Finland, and Latvia.

Zelenskiy's office has said that bilateral security agreements are also in the works with the United States, Japan, Romania, Norway, Greece, and the European Union.

Zelenskiy will travel to Portugal on a working visit on May 28, according to a statement by Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa's office.

The statement said the leaders will seek to enhance relations, with a "special emphasis" on strengthening security and defense cooperation.

Zelenskiy was forced to postpone his visit to Spain and other countries earlier this month after Russian troops launched a cross-border offensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

Outmanned and outgunned Ukrainian forces have been grappling with a severe lack of modern air-defense systems and ammunition as they struggle to stave off the Russian offensive amid a slowdown in deliveries of weapons, despite the U.S. Congress finally approving a $61 billion military aid package for Kyiv after several months of delay.

Highlighting Ukraine's increasing difficulties in protecting its skies against Russia's indiscriminate strikes on civilian targets, at least 14 people were killed and 43 wounded when Russia bombed a DYI store in the country's second-largest city, Kharkiv, located just some 35 kilometers from the Russian border.

Following the Kharkiv attack, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called on May 27 on Ukraine's Western allies to step up their military aid to Kyiv.

Speaking at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Bulgaria's capital, Sofia, Stoltenberg said Ukraine had the right to use Western weapons against military targets on Russian territory and called on Western countries to reconsider forbidding Ukraine to launch such attacks.

"The time has come to consider whether it will be right to lift some of the restrictions which have been imposed because we see now that especially in the Kharkiv region the front line and the border line is more or less the same," Stoltenberg said.

"If Kyiv cannot attack military targets on Russian territory then it ties one hand of the Ukrainians on their back and makes it very hard for them to conduct defense."

The Jalal-Abad City Court in southern Kyrgyzstan told RFE/RL on May 27 that independent journalist Ali Ergeshev was fined 70,000 soms ($795) on a hooliganism charge three days earlier. Ergeshev was detained on February 13 and placed under house arrest. His detention came just before Kyrgyz lawmakers approved a controversial bill allowing authorities to register media outlets and NGOs as "foreign representatives" in a way that critics say mirrors repressive Russian legislation that the authorities there have used to discredit its critics and stifle civil society. Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov signed the bill into law in early April. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

KYIV -- A Ukrainian military intelligence official claimed to RFE/RL that one of its drones targeted a Russian Voronezh-M early warning radar system, in one of Kyiv's deepest attacks inside Russian territory since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor more than two years ago.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

According to the official on May 27, the drone covered a distance of 1,800 kilometers to hit a radar station in the city of Orsk near the Russian-Kazakh border.

There was no immediate confirmation from Russian officials concerning the attack claim.

Last week, a Ukrainian drone attack targeted a similar radar installation in Russia's southwestern region of Krasnodar. Satellite images showed that the Armavir radar station, which has two Voronezh-type radars, had suffered serious damage to the buildings housing the radar installations.

The Ukrainian attack on the Armavir station came shortly after Russia began exercises with its tactical nuclear weapons forces in the Southern Military District.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the exercises were held “in response to provocative statements and threats from certain Western officials.”

Separately on May 27, Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said several Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian air defenses overnight in areas close to a giant luxury complex on the Black Sea coast near the city of Gelendzhik.

The late Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny’s investigative group said in 2021 that the palace complex had been built for President Vladimir Putin, which he denied at the time.

After the report by Navalny’s team sparked debate across Russia, Putin’s close associate, businessman Arkady Rotenberg, publicly said he is the owner of the property in question.

Another Ukrainian drone attack on May 27 targeted a gasoline station in the western Russian region of Oryol, killing one person, the region's governor, Andrei Klychkov, wrote on Telegram.

Later on May 27, Moscow region Governor Andrei Vorobyov said air defenses had downed a drone in Balashikha, just east of Moscow. He said drone fragments had landed on a house but nobody was injured.

In recent months, Ukraine has stepped up strikes on Russian territory and off its shores, targeting, in particular, oil production and refining facilities, air defense installations, and naval vessels.

U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Gordon Black, who was arrested in the Far East city of Vladivostok in early May on suspicion of theft, has been additionally charged with threatening to kill his partner, a Russian woman, according to Russian media.

A district prosecutor's office in Vladivostok said in a statement on May 27 that the final accusation papers for "a U.S. citizen" had been submitted and the case sent to court.

"The man, born in 1989, was handed accusation papers saying that in May 2024, while he was in an apartment on Sakhalin street in Vladivostok that is owned by a woman with whom he is acquainted, and where he was residing with her since April, forcibly grabbed the young woman's neck during a quarrel, which she considered as a threat to her life," a statement of the prosecutor's office said.

"The suspect then stole 10,000 rubles [$110] from the victim's purse, which he spent for his own needs, including paying for a room in a hotel, where he was detained," it added.

If found guilty on both charges, Black faces up to seven years in prison.

U.S. authorities said earlier that Black had been arrested in Russia and accused of stealing from a woman after traveling via China from South Korea -- where he had been assigned before returning home to Texas -- without informing his superiors.

Weeks later, Russian authorities also said that another U.S. citizen, identified as William Russell Nycum, had been detained in late April on "petty hooliganism" and alcohol charges in a separate case, adding that Nycum was held in a detention center in Moscow.

The two arrests again raised questions over whether Russian authorities are targeting Americans for potential prisoner swaps amid sharp disagreements between Moscow and Washington over the war in Ukraine and other international security issues.

The detentions of Black and Nycum added to a list of U.S. citizens being held in Russia under various circumstances and came as tensions between Moscow and Washington are at the highest levels since the Cold War.

Among those being held are journalists Alsu Kurmasheva of RFE/RL and Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal. Both have been detained on charges they, their employers, and their supporters reject as politically motivated.

American Paul Whelan in 2020 was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in Russian prison on espionage charges that he and the U.S. government have repeatedly rejected.

Russia's Foreign Ministry has said Black's and Nycum's cases are not political and neither is accused of espionage.

The State Department in September 2023 issued a "do not travel" warning to U.S. citizens and cited "the singling out of U.S. citizens for detention by Russian government security officials."

With reporting by Kommersant and TASS

A German former soldier was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in jail on May 27 for sharing secret military information with Russia in the wake of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A court in Dusseldorf found the defendant, named only as Thomas H., guilty of passing on information on his own initiative from his post in the military procurement service. The 54-year-old had admitted to the crime during his trial, claiming he was hoping to obtain information in return that would help him get his family to safety in time in the event of the conflict escalating into a nuclear war.

YEREVAN -- Armenian police detained dozens of people in the capital, Yerevan, early on May 27 as demonstrators demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian resumed their anti-government protests over a border demarcation deal with Azerbaijan.

Members and supporters of the Tavush For The Homeland movement opposed to a recent controversial border deal blocked traffic in several streets in the center of Yerevan following a call by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian, the 53-year-old head of the Tavush Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, to ratchet up pressure on the government.

Police moved in and made arrests as they tried to unblock some of the streets. Interior Ministry spokesman Narek Sargsian told journalists that a total of 137 people were detained early on May 27.

Among the protesters were opposition lawmakers.

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Galstanian is also taking part in “civil disobedience” actions on May 27, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported.

The outspoken cleric, who has led anti-government protests in Armenia over the border deal, announced his intention on May 26 to challenge Pashinian for the premiership as he addressed tens of thousands of supporters who had gathered in central Yerevan.

SEE ALSO:

As Land In Northern Armenia Ceded To Azerbaijan, Protests Spread In Yerevan

Galstanian said at the rally in Republic Square that he had asked Catholicos Karekin II to suspend his “spiritual service” so that he could challenge the prime minister.

SEE ALSO:

Bagrat Galstanian: The Armenian Archbishop Taking On The Government

Rally participants cheered and applauded Galstanian as he said that he was ready to accept the “nomination” as a candidate for prime minister in the opposition’s possible impeachment bid against Pashinian.

Under Armenia’s constitution, at least one-third of lawmakers can initiate a no-confidence vote against the prime minister in parliament, provided they also name a candidate who will replace him or her.

Earlier, Hayastan and Pativ Unem -- opposition factions in parliament associated with the former presidents of Armenia, Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian -- said they would support the bid.

They will need the support of the only nonaligned lawmaker to initiate the process, which, in order to succeed, will require a majority vote in the legislature dominated by Pashinian’s Civil Contract party.

Pashinian -- who remains largely popular with the population despite some dissatisfaction with recent events -- has rejected Galstanian’s resignation demand, and his allies in parliament so far have ruled out a break in ranks to support the protest leader’s possible bid to head the government.

The Armenian Constitution bars dual citizens from serving as prime minister, creating another obstacle for Galstanian, who is a dual citizen of Armenia and Canada.

He has said he would not violate the constitution but didn't explain how he would remedy the situation.

WATCH: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian met with residents in the village of Kirants on May 25 as part of his trip to several border communities involved in a controversial demarcation process that will see Azerbaijan regain control over the area.

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Border Village Residents Challenge Armenian PM Over Demarcation With Azerbaijan

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Both the United States and the European Union have hailed the border demarcation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, stressing that the deal announced by the two bitter South Caucasus rivals in April contains a reference to the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration, a document by which a dozen former Soviet countries, including Armenia and Azerbaijan, pledged to recognize each other’s territorial integrity within existing administrative borders.

In the process, which was formally completed on May 15, Baku regained control over four abandoned villages near the Armenian border that had been under Yerevan’s military control since the first Armenian-Azerbaijani war in the early 1990s.

Armenia and Azerbaijan announced on May 24 that their border guards were deployed at the sections where the demarcation was completed.

Azerbaijan retook the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in a blitz offensive in September from ethnic Armenian forces who had controlled it for three decades.

The offensive forced more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee the region, leaving it nearly deserted.

TBILISI -- A key Georgian parliamentary committee has overruled pro-Western President Salome Zurabishvili's veto of the so-called "foreign agent" law, opening the path for lawmakers to put the legislation into effect despite weeks of domestic protests and criticism from the West that the measure is harming Georgia's drive to join the Euro-Atlantic community.

Following the move by the Legal Affairs Committee, parliament, dominated by the ruling Georgian Dream party that has pressed ahead with the law while cracking down harshly on protesters, is to consider overriding Zurabishvili's veto at a plenary session on May 28.

Georgian Dream has a comfortable majority in parliament, with a successful override vote seen as a mere formality.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on May 27 said the bloc had started weighing options should Georgia enact the law. He said a decision will be made next month.

The move came despite a massive peaceful protest in Tbilisi on May 26 and a last-minute warning by Georgian Ombudsman Levan Ioseliani that the law, also referred to as the "Russian law" because of its resemblance to legislation introduced by the Kremlin to stifle opposition and free speech, needs changes to limit the damage it will bring to civil society.

"Accepting this law in this form, in my opinion, has already brought significant damage to the [democratic] process as a whole," Ioseliani told a news conference in Tbilisi on May 27, as he warned of the law's effects.

"Therefore, it would be possible that parliament will refuse to override this veto and...there will be space for making changes in other legislative acts.... In my opinion, retreat is often not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength," Ioseliani added.

Thousands of mostly young people marched in Tbilisi on Georgia's Independence Day on May 26, calling on the ruling Georgian Dream party to scrap the law.

WATCH: On Independence Day, thousands of demonstrators called on the ruling Georgian Dream party to withdraw the law, which is seen as mirroring legislation used in Russia to silence critics and crush opposition.

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"Our fight is tireless, although they thought that we would get exhausted," writer Lasha Bugadze told the crowds of young Georgians who marched peacefully in downtown Tbilisi, waving Georgian and European Union flags. "Neither will we get tired in the coming days, not until the Russian law is withdrawn and Georgia becomes part of Europe," Bugadze said.

The participants raised the flashlights on their cell phones and chanted, “No to the Russian law!” and “No to the Russian regime!”

Earlier on May 26, Zurabishvili, in an Independence Day speech, said integration in the European Union and strong ties to the United States were paramount for the Caucasus nation to preserve its freedom.

"This is the cornerstone of the solution,” she told a crowd on May 26 in Tbilisi’s Freedom Square.

“Today -- when the ghost of Russia stands before us -- partnership and rapprochement with Europe and America is a true way to maintain our independence, peace, and strength,” she said, as she cited the desire of a vast majority of citizens to join the European Union.

SEE ALSO:

U.S. To Review Relations With Georgia, Slaps Visa Bans On Officials Over 'Foreign Agent' Law

Georgia obtained the coveted status of EU candidate country in December, but it has yet to start actual accession talks, which could last for years. There had been hope such talks could start later this year, but Brussels has warned that the "foreign agent" law could endanger the path toward Europe.

Russia still maintains thousands of troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two breakaway Georgian regions that Moscow recognized as independent states following a five-day war with Georgia in 2008.

"No war has been started by [members of the] European Union since its inception,” Zurabishvili said. “Instead, the real war party is one and only one that we see today in our occupied territories: Russian imperialism."

The United States on May 26 marked the Georgian holiday, saying in a statement that it "will continue to strongly support the aspirations of the Georgian people for a Euro-Atlantic future."

"We urge Georgia’s leaders to take the steps necessary to move Georgia forward in the right direction," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Last week, Blinken announced visa restrictions on Georgian government officials and a comprehensive review of bilateral relations with Tbilisi over the "foreign agent" legislation.

"Anyone who undermines democratic processes or institutions in Georgia -- including in the lead up to, during, and following Georgia’s October 2024 elections -- may be found ineligible for U.S. visas under this policy and precluded from travel to the United States. Immediate family members of such persons may also be subject to these restrictions," Blinken said while announcing the sanctions on May 24.

The "foreign agent" law would require civil society and media organizations that get more than 20 percent of funding from foreign sources to report that fact to local authorities and submit to oversight that could encompass sanctions for as-yet-undefined criminal offenses.

Critics have said the legislation was introduced by Georgian Dream, founded by Russia-friendly Georgian tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili, in order to cement the party's grip on power ahead of elections later this year seen as crucial for Georgia's Euro-Atlantic path.

Thirteen Moldovan political entities, including the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) party and the mayor of Chisinau, signed a Pact For Europe on May 26 to signify the small southeastern European nation’s commitment to "contribute fully to the objective of Moldova's integration into the European Union." The signing ceremony at the National Museum of History was also attended by representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Chisinau and the Romanian and Ukrainian ambassadors. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service, click here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived on May 26 in Uzbekistan, where he was met at the Tashkent airport by President Shavkat Mirziyoev amid reports some Western nations are trying to pull Central Asian nations away from Russia’s sphere of influence. Tashkent, the capital of the former Soviet republic, is decorated with flags of the two countries for the two-day visit. The Uzbek presidential press service said their meeting discussed strengthening a "comprehensive strategic partnership and alliance" and the "development of trade and economic cooperation.” International investigations have identified Uzbekistan as one of the main entry points into Russia for goods that are subject to sanctions. Putin has traveled sparingly since he launched Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Lithuania's Gitanas Nauseda was set to secure a second term in a presidential election runoff on May 26 after his opponent conceded following a campaign dominated by security concerns in the EU and NATO member state neighboring Russia. The Baltic nation of 2.8 million people has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Russia's 2022 invasion. Like other countries in the region, it worries it could be Moscow's next target. Nauseda, 60, a former senior economist with Swedish banking group SEB who is not affiliated with any party, won the first round on May 12. Nauseda had a commanding lead in the runoff, gaining more than 80 percent of the vote after the initial vote count, followed by Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, 49, from the ruling center-right Homeland Union party, which has been trailing in opinion polls. Simonyte later conceded.

YEREVAN -- Bagrat Galstanian, an outspoken archbishop who has led anti-government protests in Armenia over a controversial border deal with Azerbaijan, on May 26 announced his intention to challenge Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian for the premiership as he addressed tens of thousands of supporters who gathered in central Yerevan.

Galstanian, a 53-year-old head of the Tavush Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, said at the rally in the capital’s main Republic Square that he had asked Catholicos Karekin II to suspend his “spiritual service” so that he could challenge Pashinian.

Rally participants cheered and applauded Galstanian’s remarks that he was ready to accept the “nomination” as a candidate for prime minister in the opposition’s possible impeachment bid against Pashinian.

SEE ALSO:

Bagrat Galstanian: The Armenian Archbishop Taking On The Government

Under Armenia’s constitution, at least one-third of lawmakers can initiate a no-confidence vote against the prime minister in parliament, provided they also name a candidate who will replace him or her.

Earlier, Hayastan and Pativ Unem -- opposition factions in parliament associated with the former presidents of Armenia, Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian -- said they would support the bid.

They will need the support of the only nonaligned lawmaker to initiate the process, which, in order to succeed, will require a majority vote in the legislature dominated by Pashinian’s Civil Contract party.

Pashinian -- who remains largely popular with the population despite some dissatisfaction with recent events -- has rejected Galstanian’s resignation demand and his allies in parliament have ruled out that any of them would break ranks to support the protest leader’s possible bid.

The Armenian Constitution bars dual citizens from serving as prime minister. Galstanian, who is a dual citizen of Armenia and Canada, said he would not violate the constitution but did not explain how he was going to surmount the legal obstacle.

Earlier, his supporters did not rule out that it would have to require an amendment to the constitution.

At the end of the rally, Galstanian told participants he would go to Pashinian’s residence to meet him and press his resignation demand.

But after waiting for some time near the prime minister’s residence with no response, Galstanian told supports he would return to Republic Square to discuss plans for the start of “civil disobedience” actions to begin on the morning of May 27.

"We will make the government reckon with the demand of the people,” he said.

Pashinian was out of Yerevan during the afternoon hours, visiting the Lori and Tavush regions, where at least three people had been killed in severe flooding.

Armenian police urged protesters to preserve public order during the day.

The anti-government movement started in the northeastern province of Tavush in April as Armenia and Azerbaijan began the demarcation process of their heavily militarized border following an agreement announced by Yerevan and Baku on April 19.

The demarcation, which was formally completed on May 15, alters the boundary in a way that affects the infrastructure of a number of Armenian border villages.

Local populations have expressed fears of possible further Azerbaijani attacks after the Armenian military withdrawal from four abandoned villages that used to be part of Soviet Azerbaijan but have been controlled by Armenia since the first Armenian-Azerbaijani war in the early 1990s.

WATCH: Border Village Residents Challenge Armenian PM Over Demarcation With Azerbaijan

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The Pashinian government has pledged to solve infrastructure-related problems of the border villages within a few months, including the construction of a new road and payment of compensations to those who are losing property and land as a result of the demarcation.

The prime minister has also stressed that having a demarcated and recognized border with Azerbaijan is in itself assurance against Azerbaijan’s possible aggression.

Both the United States and the European Union have hailed the border demarcation between the two bitter Caucasus rivals.

TBILISI – Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, who has come out in support of anti-government protesters angered by a planned “foreign agent” law, pressed in an Independence Day speech the importance for closer ties to Europe and the United States for her South Caucasus nation.

"This is the cornerstone of the solution,” she told a crowd on May 26 in Tbilisi’s Freedom Square.

“Today -- when the ghost of Russia stands before us -- partnership and rapprochement with Europe and America is a true way to maintain our independence, peace, and strength,” she said, as she cited the desire of a vast majority of citizens to join the European Union.

"No war has been started by [members of the] European Union since its inception. Instead, the real war party is one and only one that we see today in our occupied territories: Russian imperialism,” she added.

Russia maintains thousands of troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two breakaway Georgian regions that Moscow recognized as independent states following a five-day war with Georgia in 2008.

The EU in December granted candidate status to Georgia, and there had been some hope that the bloc would agree to the next stage of accession talks as early as this year.

However, EU leaders have said Georgia’s hopes of joining the bloc will be severely damaged if the government, led by the Georgian Dream party, enacts what critics call the “Russian law.”

The law would require civil society and media organizations that get more than 20 percent of funding from foreign sources to report that fact to local authorities and submit to oversight that could encompass sanctions for as-yet-undefined criminal offenses.

Many critics have claimed that the law is similar to one used by the Kremlin to crack down on independent voices in Russia.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and other leaders of the Georgian Dream party have blasted U.S. and EU comments regarding the legislation -- formally called the Law On Transparency Of Foreign Influence -- and have insisted it is essential to maintaining transparency in civil and political matters.

Also speaking at the Independence Day ceremony, Kobakhidze hit back at Zurabishvili and her remarks about the controversial bill.

"It was the unity and reasonable steps of the people and their elected government that gave us the opportunity to maintain peace in the country for the past two years despite existential threats and multiple betrayals, including the betrayal by the president of Georgia,” he said.

A bill recently unveiled by U.S. lawmakers is aimed at persuading Georgia's government to repeal the contentious law.

Under the proposed Mobilizing and Enhancing Georgia's Options for Building Accountability, Resilience, and Independence (MEGOBARI) Act, the United States would give Georgia more economic aid, lower trade barriers, and grant more access to U.S. visas if the law were to be repealed.

SEE ALSO:

Interview: Georgian Dream Is 'Isolated' And The 'Foreign Agent' Law Is Just 'A Way To Maintain Power'

But if the "foreign agent" bill becomes law, the MEGOBARI Act would require the U.S. administration to impose sanctions on Georgian officials responsible for the legislation.

Zurabishvili has vetoed the bill, but the Georgia Dream has enough seats in parliament to override the move. The parliament announced that discussions to override the veto would begin on May 27, with a vote likely on May 28.

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly on May 26 said the alliance "remains firmly committed Georgia's sovereignty, territorial integrity, democracy, and aspiration to join NATO. "

SEE ALSO:

Georgians March Against 'Foreign Agent' Law As Parliament Set To Consider President's Veto

However, it added, "the law on the so-called 'transparency of foreign influence' is a step backwards for Georgia’s democracy and runs counter to its NATO as well as EU aspirations and values."

"If this bill becomes law, it will severely damage freedom of speech and association and undermine Georgia’s vibrant civil society and media landscape," it said in its statement.

Parliament's passing of the law has led to massive street demonstrations in Tbilisi and elsewhere, with protesters holding Georgian and EU flags and shouting anti-Russian slogans.

Organizers have called for further protests on the eve of parliament's planned actions on the president's veto.

Kobakhidze has accused the protesters of "following the agenda of the political minority" and charged that they were showing a "great irresponsibility" toward their country.

The United States on May 26 marked the Georgian holiday, saying in a statement that it "will continue to strongly support the aspirations of the Georgian people for a Euro-Atlantic future."

"We urge Georgia’s leaders to take the steps necessary to move Georgia forward in the right direction."

Iranian film director Mohammad Rasoulof, who fled a prison and flogging sentence in his home country, was awarded a special jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his tale of a court investigator whose family life is torn apart during anti-government protests.

In accepting the award in the French resort town, the 51-year-old Rasoulof said his heart was with his film crew, who were "still under the pressure of the secret services back in Iran."

The special jury prize was given to Rasoulof for "drawing attention to unsustainable injustice" in Iran, organizers said after a screening of the film, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, led to a 12-minute ovation.

The festival's top prize, meanwhile, went to the film Anora, a sensual drama and comedy about an exotic dancer who becomes involved with a Russian oligarch's son.

Earlier at a news conference, Rasoulof recalled how he had to decide within hours whether to go into exile or serve a prison sentence, saying it was still difficult to talk about.

"I had to say to myself, well, do I want to be in prison, or should I leave Iran, geographic Iran, and join the cultural Iran that exists beyond its borders?" said Rasoulof, who is an outspoken critic of repression in Iran and has twice served prison terms.

Iran’s judiciary sentenced Rasoulof to flogging and eight years in prison after he was convicted of "collusion against national security," his lawyer, Babak Paknia, said on May 8.

Details of his escape from Iran are not totally known. He said the action was plotted by using contacts he had made during his prison stays.

"The more you spend time with interrogators, the secret police, the more you learn how to thwart them," he told the AFP news agency at Cannes.

"They show you your emails, so you learn how to write them. They show you your bank statements, so you learn when you should not have used your credit card."

Rasoulof said he also came up with the idea for The Seed Of The Sacred Fig while in prison.

Western rights advocates and film-industry groups had condemned Iran’s actions against Rasoulof and demanded his release.

Rasoulof won the Berlin Film Festival’s top prize in 2020 for his film There Is No Evil, which tells four stories loosely connected to the themes of the death penalty in Iran and personal freedoms under oppression.

"I am also very sad, deeply sad, to see the disaster experienced by my people every day...the Iranian people live under a totalitarian regime," he said in Cannes.

With reporting by AFP and Variety

CANNES, France -- Self-exiled Iranian film director Mohammad Rasoulof -- who had to escape his home country to be able to appear at the Cannes Film Festival -- told RFE/RL that he has “mixed feelings” about the screening of his film and the attention he received during the famed event in France.

The May 25 screening of his film, titled The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, was greeted by a 12-minute ovation. He later received a special jury prize for "drawing attention to unsustainable injustice" in Iran, festival organizers said.

"It's interesting for me that I'm [in Cannes] after seven years in which I was banned from traveling,” he told RFE/RL in an interview prior to receiving the jury prize.

“I have mixed feelings. There were members of my team...who wanted to be here but didn’t have that possibility. So, there is a heavy sadness within me.”

“On the other hand, I'm glad that the movie is [being screened] here. It can be heard; the voices of those who wanted this movie to be made are being heard.

“Therefore, it is all a paradoxical situation."

In accepting the special jury prize, the 51-year-old Rasoulof had told the audience that his heart was with his film crew, who were "still under the pressure of the secret services back in Iran."

Iran’s judiciary had sentenced Rasoulof to flogging and eight years in prison after he was convicted of "collusion against national security," his lawyer, Babak Paknia, said on May 8.

Prior to Rasoulof's flight from Iran, Western rights advocates and film-industry groups had condemned Iran’s actions against the outspoken film director and demanded his release.

SEE ALSO:

Award-Winning Filmmaker Flees Iran After Flogging, Prison Sentence

Details of his escape are not totally known. On May 13, he posted a short video to Instagram of an undisclosed mountainous location and wrote that he would talk about his journey out of Iran later.

In a Cannes news conference, he said the action was plotted by using contacts he had made during his prison stays.

"A few days after Norouz (the Persian New Year) -- I think it was around April 12 -- I learned from my lawyers that my prison sentence had been confirmed and then the case would be sent for enforcement and I would have to go to prison.”

Rasoulof said he felt that Iranian authorities wanted to send him to prison “for a long time.”

“I had to decide whether I wanted to go to prison…wait to see what happens, or leave and keep telling the story. I chose the second option."

The film by Rasoulof -- a longtime activist for human rights in his home country -- tells the tale of a court investigator whose family life is torn apart during anti-government protests.

Rasoulof, an outspoken critic of the Iranian government, has served two terms over previous films. His passport was revoked in 2017.

KHARKIV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the battle-scarred northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on May 26 and issued a fresh plea for additional aid. His comments came as rescuers searched the charred wreckage of a shopping center in the city for the bodies of people killed in a Russian missile attack the previous day, which has so far claimed at least 16 lives.

Nearly four dozen people were wounded in the May 25 attack, which hit the store as scores of shoppers were visiting the Epicentr hardware supply store.

Oleh Synyehubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, said the toll stood at 16 as of the late afternoon on May 26 amid fears it would climb higher as emergency workers used heavy equipment to pick through the debris.

At least 43 people were wounded, said Ihor Terekhov, Kharkiv’s mayor.

"The attack targeted the shopping center, where there were many people," Terekhov said in a post to Telegram. This is clearly terrorism."

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Russia Hits Hypermarket In Ukraine's Second-Biggest City

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Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, meanwhile, said 16 people were still missing after the strike.

“This blow to Kharkiv is another manifestation of Russian madness,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram on May 25 moments after the attack.

While in Kharkiv, the Ukrainian leader urged U.S. President Joe Biden and China's Xi Jinping to attend a planned peace summit in Switzerland starting on June 15.

"There is no nation that is able to stop such a war only through its own efforts. The participation of world leaders is needed,” he said in a Telegram posting.

"The efforts of the world's majority are the best guarantee of the fulfillment of obligations. Please support the peace summit with your personal leadership and involvement," Zelenskiy said in comments directed in English to Biden and Xi.

SEE ALSO:

Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine

The Russian state news agency TASS cited an unnamed security official as saying, without providing evidence, that there was a "military store and command post" inside the shopping center.

A video released by Ukraine’s national police depicted the moment of the attack on the hypermarket, showing what appeared to be workers and shoppers standing in a home-goods section of a large store.

A woman who identified herself as Svitlana told RFE/RL that she rushed to the site “because my son works here. He is an assistant in the paint department.”

When asked if she had any word from him, she responded: “No.”

Lyubov, who also only gave her first name, said: “So many colleagues [remain inside]. We looked for them. There were other people who needed help, too. But it was impossible to reach them due to the fire.”

Oleksandr Filchakov, Kharkiv's regional prosecutor, showed RFE/RL what he said was “shrapnel from the D-30 versatile intermediate gliding ammunition.”

“The Russian Federation has used it to bomb this supermarket.”

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Kharkiv Residents Deal With Aftermath Of Deadly Russian Strike On Supermarket

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Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, has come under intensified missile and rocket attacks over the past month as Russia opened a new front in its offensive operations, crossing the border into Ukraine from the north.

Experts say the offensive is aimed at stretching Ukrainian forces to the breaking point and possibly putting Kharkiv within artillery range.

Overnight on May 26, Russia fired dozens of missiles and kamikaze drones at various targets in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Air Force said 12 missiles, and 31 drones had been downed by air defenses.

Also on May 25, Synyehubov said at least five people were injured in the village of Kupyansk-Vuzloviy and that an emergency vehicle had been damaged in a Russian missile strike.

Zelenskiy and other Ukrainian officials have pleaded with Western allies to step up deliveries of air defense weapons and other armaments to aid their outmanned and outgunned forces, especially in the country's northeast.

Ukrainian officials have also stepped up their calls for the United States to relax its restrictions preventing Ukrainian forces from using U.S.-supplied weaponry to more aggressively hit targets inside of Russia.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview published on May 24 in The Economist that Ukraine should be allowed to use Western-supplied weapons in strikes against military targets inside Russia.

With reporting by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service

Flooding from heavy rainfall swept through a remote village in northeast Afghanistan, killing 10 members of a single family. Local Taliban officials in Badakhshan Province told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi that four bodies had been recovered, and rescuers were searching for more after the May 26 flooding overnight. Mohammad Akram Akbari, the head of the provincial Anti-Disaster Department said a number of villages were hit by the flooding. In Baghlan, about 300 kilometers north of Kabul, Taliban officials said that 40 houses had been destroyed by flooding. The impoverished country has suffered a series of catastrophic floods this year. To see the original article by RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, click here.

A top Sudanese general, Yasser al-Atta, said on May 25 that Russia had asked for a fueling station on the Red Sea in exchange for weapons and ammunition, and that agreements with Russia would be signed soon. The two countries signed a naval base deal under former President Omar Al-Bashir, but army leaders later said that plan was under review and it never materialized. Russia has previously developed ties with the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, which is the army’s foe in a year-old war and which Western diplomats say has also had ties with Russia's Wagner private military group.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is set to travel to Portugal on May 28, after his planned visit to Spain, CNN Portugal reported on May 25. CNN Portugal said that the "Ukrainian president's arrival in the Iberian Peninsula is scheduled for the beginning of next week but will always depend on the course of the war in Ukraine in the coming hours." Representatives for the Portuguese prime minister and president did not comment. Spanish radio station Cadena SER reported that Zelenskiy will travel to Spain on May 26. Earlier this month, Zelenskiy postponed his trip to Madrid and Lisbon amid intense fighting in the Kharkiv region.

The Russian and Iranian foreign ministers reaffirmed their ties and “strategic partnership” in a phone call on May 25, less than a week after Iran’s president, foreign minister, and others died in a helicopter crash in northern Iran. Both Russia and Iran are bitter rivals of the West, and Tehran has supplied the Kremlin with deadly drones used in Moscow’s war with Ukraine. Following the call between Russia's Sergei Lavrov and Iran's new acting foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, Russia's Foreign Ministry said the “parties reaffirmed their firm commitment to the unconditional continuation of the course chosen by the leaders of the two countries on the formation of a strategic partnership between Russia and Iran and their readiness to implement all available agreements and projects in various fields.”