The small Donbas city of Bakhmut is currently the focus of a ferocious Russian assault, and some of the most intense fighting of the entire 10-month invasion. Experts can’t really figure out why.
As UN rights expert Mary Lawlor criticized “an intensifying climate of fear," Tajik courts continued to convict activists and lawyers on dubious grounds.
This week, I'm drilling down on two major issues: the content of the EU's ninth sanctions package on Russia and the future of the EU's Eastern Partnership program.
Izyum resident Inga describes how, under Russian occupation, there was no news of the outside world. That is, until she strung copper to her headphones and mobile phone and managed to access an RFE/RL radio station. "It gave us hope," she says.
President Vladimir Putin has called for the liquidation of Russia's disastrously substandard housing at least seven times in the past 15 years. Yet more than 1 million Russians still live in dilapidated buildings, battling problems like leaks, mold, rats, and collapsing walls every day.