A declassified U.S. intelligence assessment says Russia is acquiring millions of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea for its six-month-old invasion of Ukraine, in an indication of the effect that Western sanctions are having on the Russian war effort.
The New York Times first published the findings of the intelligence assessment, but the newspaper said the specifics of the purchases, including their type and timing, were unclear.
RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, how Kyiv is fighting back, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
The paper quoted an unnamed U.S. official as saying such purchases were expected to continue and perhaps expand beyond short-range rockets and ammunition.
Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder acknowledged that the United States has seen signs of such purchases.
"We do have indications that Russia has approached North Korea to request ammunition," Ryder said on September 6 at a briefing.
Asked why the information was declassified, Ryder said it's relevant to illustrate the condition of Russia's ongoing military campaign in Ukraine.
“It does demonstrate and is indicative of the situation that Russia finds itself in in terms of its logistics and sustainment capabilities as it relates to Ukraine,” said Ryder, who provided the administration's first public comments on the intelligence assessment. “We assess that things are not going well on that front for Russia.” It also shows that Russia is "trying to reach out to international actors like Iran and North Korea that don’t have the best record when it comes to international stability," Ryder said.
A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the intelligence, said the purchase "indicates that the Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine, due in part to export controls and sanctions."
Neither Ryder nor the U.S. official were able to say how much weaponry Russia intends to purchase from North Korea.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said there were no indications that the arms purchase had actually occurred yet or that any North Korean munitions had made it onto the battlefield in Ukraine. But Kirby said the talks alone were another indication of how desperate Russian President Vladimir Putin is becoming. "It’s an indication of how much his defense industrial establishment is suffering as a result of this war and the degree of desperation that he’s reaching out to countries like Iran and North Korea for assistance,” Kirby told reporters.
The disclosure of the U.S. assessment follows reports last month originating from U.S. sources asserting that there were mechanical or technical problems among the first two types of military drone purchased recently from Russian ally Iran. Putin and his intelligence chiefs and war planners are thought to have believed that the main aims of their full-scale invasion after eight years of war mostly by proxy in eastern Ukraine could be achieved in a matter of days when they launched it in late February. But Ukrainians have mounted a fierce defense and, aided by Western weapons shipments, have recently launched a major counteroffensive to retake territory in southern Ukraine. Both sides' casualty figures are classified, but the consensus is that each side has lost tens of thousands of soldiers or, in Ukraine's case, troops along with civilian defense forces. Kyiv and Moscow have both pledged to fight as long as it takes to secure victory. Western governments and NATO members have supplied tens of billions of dollars in weapons and other military aid to Ukraine for a campaign that some regard as a potential Kremlin stepping stone to further wars of territorial expansion, particularly among former Soviet republics.
Russian classical pianist Polina Osetinskaya had another concert canceled in her home country after she spoke out against Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Osetinskaya did not perform as scheduled at a musical festival in Irkutsk in Eastern Siberia on September 9, her second concert canceled within a week.
Tatyana Mezentseva, who oversaw the Irkutsk musical festival, told media that the pianist did not perform for health reasons, a common excuse given by organizers to explain the cancelation of concerts by anti-war artists.
Osetinskaya immediately took to social media to publicly criticize Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine, saying in an Instagram post that it was a "dark day" in the nation’s history.
She said she felt "horror, shame, and disgust."
Russia has been pressuring concert organizers to cancel the performances of artists who have spoken out against the war, a move that harks back to the prohibitions of musicians during Soviet times.
Osetinskaya's September 2 concert in St. Petersburg was canceled after the organizer was given a stark choice between removing the pianist from the lineup or canceling the entire evening’s musical event, Kommersant reported.
Russian media in July reported the existence of an unofficial list of 37 “banned Russian artists” who had either spoken out against the war or refused to publicly support it.
According to MTS Entertainment, up to 30 percent of Russian artists have either stopped performing at home or emigrated since the invasion began.
Osetinskaya, 46, began to play the piano at the age of 5, while at the age of 6 she gave her first recital at the Vilnius Philharmonic and at the age of 8 she made her debut with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra under Saulius Sondeckis.
Her 2008 autobiography Farewell, Sadness! became a best seller in Russia.
Russia has decided to delay holding "referendums" in the occupied regions of Ukraine on their annexation by Moscow following military setbacks, Meduza reported, citing unnamed sources close to the Kremlin.
While Moscow had not announced a clear date for the so-called referendums, Andrei Turchak, a member of the ruling United Russia party, recommended holding them on November 4 to coincide with the Russian National Unity holiday.
Moscow had been moving ahead with plans to hold purported referendums on joining Russia in the occupied regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya.
Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in the northeast and southeast, driving Russian forces from most of Kharkiv while also regaining territory in Donetsk and Kherson.
The Kremlin has recalled its political strategists from Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions amid Ukraine's counteroffensive, Meduza reported, citing its sources.
Russia expected to capture Kyiv within days of launching its massive, unprovoked invasion on February 24 and initially expected to hold referendums in April, Meduza reported.
However, tough Ukrainian resistance pushed that target date back first to September and then to November. Now it has been pushed back again indefinitely.
Ukraine and its Western allies have said they will not recognize any referendums in the Russian-occupied regions.
French President Emmanuel Macron told his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to remove weapons and troops stationed next to a Ukrainian nuclear plant amid growing international concerns about a potential catastrophe.
During the September 11 call, Macron also urged the Russian leader to fulfill a UN-brokered deal on Ukrainian grain exports to ensure they reached nations most in need.
Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, the largest in Europe, following Putin’s decision to launch an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
They have used the plant to shell Ukrainian positions, leading some in the West to accuse Moscow of nuclear blackmail.
During the call, Putin tried to put the blame on Ukraine, claiming it was firing on the plant, according to a Kremlin readout of their interaction.
Macron, however, told Putin that the main risk of a nuclear catastrophe emanates from the presence of Russian troops and weapons at the plant.
He called on the Russian leader to remove the troops along with heavy and light weapons stationed nearby, the French statement said.
The two leaders expressed readiness for a "nonpoliticized interaction" on the matter with the participation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Kremlin statement said.
Operations at the plant were fully stopped on September 11 as a safety measure.
Macron also called on Putin to fulfill the agreement between Moscow and Kyiv on Ukrainian grain exports brokered by the UN and Turkey in July.
Russian warships had been blocking exports from Ukraine, one of the world’s top suppliers of grain to foreign markets, causing a sharp spike in food prices that threatened millions of people in poor nations with starvation.
Putin hinted last week at backtracking on the deal, claiming the grain is failing to reach poorer countries as intended despite ample evidence to the contrary.
Grain prices have tumbled since the deal was reached, easing economic pressures on poor countries.
During the call with Macron, Putin also complained Western sanctions were hindering supplies of Russian food and fertilizers to Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, according to the Kremlin readout.
However, Europe and the United States did not target either Russian grain or fertilizers for sanctions.
James O'Brien, head of the State Department's Office of Sanctions Coordination, said last week that Washington sees "no disruption" in Russia's ability to send food to world markets.
"The fertilizer is still reaching markets at the same rate that it always has," he told reporters on September 9.
Assertions by Russian President Vladimir Putin that only a fraction of grain exported from Ukraine was going to poor countries are untrue, the British Defense Ministry says.
Without providing proof, Putin said on September 7 that only two of 87 ships, carrying 60,000 metric tons of products, had gone to poor countries.
The deal to allow grain exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, took effect last month.
Quoting UN figures, the British Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin on Twitter on September 11 that around 30 percent of grains exported under the deal has been supplied to low and middle-income countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
The ministry accused Russia of pursuing a deliberate misinformation strategy to deflect blame for food-insecurity issues, discredit Ukraine, and minimize opposition to its invasion.
In related news, France's transport minister said on September 11 he would sign an agreement with Romania to increase Ukrainian grain exports to developing countries including to the Mediterranean.
"Tomorrow, I will sign an accord with Romania that will allow Ukraine to get even more grains out...toward Europe and developing countries, notably in the Mediterranean (countries) which need it for food," Clement Beaune told LCI television, adding that the deal covered exports by land, sea, and river.
The editor in chief of a leading independent Azerbaijani news organization and a lawyer have been ordered to serve four months of pretrial detention in a case involving allegations of bribery that both deny.
A court in Baku on September 11 issued the decision in the case of Avaz Zeynalli, the chief editor of Xural TV (Parliament) and Elchin Sadigov, a well-known human rights lawyer.
The court action comes after Zeynalli was accused in pro-government media of accepting bribes from a top Azerbaijani businessman who is himself facing criminal charges, including embezzlement, to stop printing critical reports on that case. Sadigov, the businessman’s lawyer, was alleged to have acted as the intermediary.
Both Sadigov and Zeynalli deny the charges and their lawyer said he will file an appeal.
The businessman, Rasim Mammadov, is the head of the Baku Steel Company. In February 2021, Mammadov was detained on charges, including embezzlement of some 55 million manat (more than $32 million).
Mammadov, who is represented by Sadigov, denies the charges.
It's not the first time Zeynalli has been accused of bribery-related charges.
In 2011, he was detained on allegations of extorting and accepting a bribe from former parliament deputy Gulyar Ahmadova.
Zeynalli pleaded not guilty at his trial in 2013, saying the case against him was connected with his work as a journalist.
He was sentenced to nine years in prison but was released a year later in 2014.
Operations at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant have been "completely stopped" as a safety measure, Enerhoatom, the Ukrainian state agency in charge of the plant, announced on September 11.
It said the only operational reactor had been disconnected from the grid earlier in the morning, adding work was under way "for its cooling and transfer to a cold state."
RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, how Kyiv is fighting back, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
On September 7, Ukrainian authorities urged residents in areas around the plant controlled by invading Russian forces to evacuate for their own safety.
Fighting around the plant, Europe's largest nuclear station, has raised fears of a potential nuclear disaster.
Russia has accused Ukraine of attempting to recapture the plant by force, allegations Kyiv denies.
Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of deploying heavy weaponry at the site, knowing Ukraine likely would not fire on it. Moscow denies those allegations but has resisted efforts to demilitarize the area in order to avert an environmental catastrophe.
Enerhoatom said on September 11 that it restored to operational capacity a communications line to the power system, which it said had been damaged by Russian shelling, allowing the plant to be powered by Ukraine's energy system.
"Therefore, a decision was made to shut down power unit No. 6 and transfer it to the safest state: cold shutdown," it said.
Enerhoatom said the risk of further damage to the line "remains high," which would force the plant to be "powered by diesel generators, the duration of which is limited by the technological resource and the amount of available diesel fuel."
A day earlier on September 10, the UN nuclear safety agency, which has monitors at the plant, said the situation at the nuclear power plant was growing "increasingly unstable."
The facility no longer has an external power supply to cool reactor cores and nuclear waste after shelling destroyed an electricity substation in the nearby town of Enerhodar, said observers from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"This is an unsustainable situation and is becoming increasingly precarious," IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said in Vienna, reiterating his demand for an immediate end to hostilities and for the imposition of a demilitarized zone around the power station to prevent a nuclear disaster.
Meanwhile, Petro Kotin, the head of Enerhoatom, told the AFP news agency on September 10 that Russian forces had tortured staff at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power station and that at least two people had been killed.
"Two people were beaten to death. We do not know where about 10 people are now, they were taken (by the Russians) and after that we have no information about their whereabouts," he said.
Russians are voting in regional and local elections in a scattering of locations across the country, choosing governors or legislators in the first vote to be held since the Ukraine invasion nearly seven months ago.
The balloting on September 11 is not expected to yield major political shifts on either the national or local level, and the war in Ukraine featured only in isolated cases in pre-election campaigns. Rather, local issues such as public transit investments or environmental concerns, or decrepit housing stock, topped the list of campaign issues in many places holding votes.
In all, 15 regions -- scattered from the Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad to Buryatia, in southern Siberia -- will choose new governors or top executives for their regions. Voters in six regions were also choosing new members of local legislatures.
In Moscow, voters were allowed to cast ballots as early as September 9 to choose members of 125 district councils: local legislative councils that mostly decide on extremely local issues such as new playground equipment, trash removal, or other quality-of-life concerns.
With voting under way, Russia's Central Election Commission Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova said she had sent a letter to regional election commissions recommending they submit vote tallies no sooner than September 14.
Usually, election results in Russia are announced either immediately after polls close or the next day.
Pamfilova said this extra time would allow her commission to "carefully" consider any filed voter complaints, although she also noted so far only 10 of the 82 regions holding elections had registered any such reports.
People interviewed on the streets of Moscow this week by RFE/RL’s Russian Service had mixed feelings about whether to vote and whether it served any purpose.
"If you personally feel like voting, why not go ahead and participate?" one man, who did not provide his name, said standing out the Universitet subway station. "Personally, I’m not going to bother."
"There are rules and we live in this system, we work here, so we need to live by the rules of the system," said another man, who also did not provide his name. "Therefore, if they tell me I should go, I'll go and vote."
Since before the Ukraine invasion, the Kremlin has slowly squeezed independent opposition parties and good-governance civil society groups. The result has been a tightly controlled electoral process dominated by United Russia, the Kremlin-linked political party, and roughly three other so-called systemic political parties -- the Communists, the Liberal Democratic Party, and A Just Russia. All routinely vote in favor of Kremlin initiatives. United Russia candidates were expected to win handily in most of the races in the September 11 voting.
The main independent opposition force remains the network set up by Aleksei Navalny, the anti-corruption crusader who nearly died after being poisoned with a toxic nerve agent and who is now serving a prison sentence in central Russia on charges widely considered to be politically motivated.
Prior to last September's national parliamentary vote, Navalny's group set up a system called Smart Vote, which aimed to undermine United Russia's chokehold on politics by directing voters to alternatives with the biggest chance of causing an upset.
The group rolled out a Smart Vote program for the September 11 election; however, Leonid Volkov, a leading Navalny deputy who now lives outside of Russia, said it was only targeting Moscow, where voters tend to be more liberal and often more politically engaged.
The reason, he said in an interview with the online newspaper Novaya gazeta, is that many of the would-be candidates endorsed by Smart Vote support the ongoing war in Ukraine.
"Any action aimed at weakening the Putin system is correct and is the duty of a citizen," Navalny's supporters said in a statement on his YouTube channel. "Participation in elections is although not the most effective today, but the easiest way to fight."
Ukraine's military counteroffensive continued in the east of the country as Russia's invasion entered its 200th day on September 11, a day after Russia admitted its invading forces had abandoned key northeastern areas.
The Ukrainian military said its forces had entered Kupyansk and that operations to liberate villages and towns in that district and nearby Izyum were ongoing.
RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, how Kyiv is fighting back, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
"The de-occupation of Ukraine continues. In general, in recent days, about 2,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory have been freed from Russian occupation," it said in a battlefield update.
Later, Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhniy said Ukrainian forces had advanced north from Kharkiv to within 50 kilometers of the border with Russia and are also pressing to the south and east in the same region.
His troops have retaken more than 3,000 square kilometers of territory this month, he said in a post on Telegram, adding: "Ukraine continue to liberate territories occupied by Russia."
On September 10, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed Russia's retreat from Izyum as a breakthrough in the conflict.
"I believe that this winter is a turning point, and it can lead to the rapid de-occupation of Ukraine," Zelenskiy said in comments to a political forum published on his website late on September 10. "We see how they (occupiers) are fleeing in some directions. If we were a little stronger with weapons, we would de-occupy faster."
In his late-night address, Zelenskiy said the Russian Army was "demonstrating the best it can do -- showing its back" and that "they made a good choice to run."
WATCH: 'Many Russian Soldiers Flee': How Ukrainian Forces Liberated 20 Towns
No media source currently available
Earlier on September 10, the Ukrainian military announced that the Ukrainian flag had been raised in Balaklia and its troops had entered Kupyansk, while Ukrainian forces were located on the outskirts of Lysychansk and fighting continued outside Lyman.
That came after the Russian Defense Ministry for the first time since the start of the counteroffensive announced the withdrawal of its forces from two areas.
Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the troops would be regrouped from the Balaklia and Izyum areas to the Donetsk region.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) earlier confirmed that its forces had entered the strategically important town of Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region.
The SBU posted images on Telegram of a group of Ukrainian soldiers with the caption: "Specialists of the SBU's special operations center 'A' in Kupyansk, which was and always will be Ukrainian!"
An adviser to the head of the regional council in the Kharkiv region, Natalia Popova, posted a different picture on Facebook purportedly showing Ukrainian troops holding a Ukrainian flag in the town center with what appears to be a crumpled and burnt Russian flag at their feet. Ukrainian media have also published the report.
Kupyansk, located about 120 kilometers southeast of Kharkiv, is a transportation hub in eastern Ukraine and strategically important for supplying Russian troops in the Donbas region.
The region -- anchored by Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv -- was occupied shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February and has been one of the focal points of a major, two-pronged Ukrainian counteroffensive.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has pledged Germany's help to remove anti-personnel mines left in Ukraine by retreating Russian troops but declined to say whether Germany would fulfill Ukraine's request for battle tanks.
During a visit on September 10 to a minefield in Velyka Dymerka near Kyiv, Baerbock accused the Russian army of "contaminating" the suburbs of Kyiv with mines, which she said had been found in children's toys in private houses.
Baerbock also held talks with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and other officials during the visit, her second to the country since the Russian invasion began in February.
At a press conference, Kuleba raised the issue of battle tanks, saying Kyiv saw "no obstacles" to its request. Until Berlin decides to send them, Germany should continue to supply artillery ammunition, he said.
WATCH: Exclusive: German Foreign Minister On Arms, Gas, Russia, And Ukraine
No media source currently available
"That noticeably increases our offensive capabilities and that helps us liberate new areas," Kuleba said, referring to ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and south.
Baerbock reacted cautiously, saying Germany has been supplying heavy weapons for some time.
Specifically, Baerbock mentioned multiple-rocket launchers, self-propelled howitzers, and Gepard anti-aircraft systems, also known as the Cheetah system. She added that Germany would supply 10 more of the latter as quickly as possible.
Baerbock did not directly address the battle tanks mentioned by Kuleba but said as the situation on the ground changes Germany would assess its support and discuss further steps with its partners.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin last week and pressed the need for additional weapons, including Leopard 2 battle tanks.
Shmyhal told reporters he was optimistic about the eventual delivery of the tanks, but Scholz has expressed skepticism about sending them.
Baerbock said earlier that her presence in the country was intended to show "that we will continue to stand by Ukraine as long as it takes -- with the delivery of weapons, as well as humanitarian and financial support."
Baerbock said it was clear to her that Russian President Vladimir Putin "is counting on us getting tired of sympathizing with Ukraine's suffering."
Putin "believes he can divide our societies with lies and blackmail us with energy supplies, and that he can take away our energy to defend ourselves against this brutal attack on all our values," Baerbock said. The tactic won't work "because all of Europe knows that Ukraine is defending our peaceful order."
She also addressed energy prices that have soared in Europe due to Russia's restrictions of oil and natural gas supplies, an action the West has said Moscow is taking in retaliation for punitive sanctions the European Union imposed due to the war.
Municipal deputies in the Moscow district of Lomonosovsky have appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to resign, saying "everything went wrong" since the start of his second term and they believe a change of power is necessary for the sake of the country.
The deputies posted their protocol decision on the Lomonosovsky district's website, including a 30-minute video of their meeting on September 8.
In their appeal, the deputies emphasize that the aggressive rhetoric of Putin and his subordinates has thrown Russia back into the Cold War era. They disputed economic data showing a doubling of the country's GDP and said the minimum wage did not increase to the level declared by the government.
They also said smart and hard-working people have left Russia en masse, and there is no trace of the promised stability.
Addressing Putin directly, they said: "Your views, your management model are hopelessly outdated and impede the development of Russia and its human potential."
The deputies also appealed to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, saying that the system of local self-government does not actually work in Moscow, and dual power has developed at the district level, which hinders any initiatives of local residents and their representatives.
A similar protest earlier this week by local lawmakers in St. Petersburg resulted in authorities summoning them to the police department.
Seven lawmakers demanded parliament's lower chamber, the State Duma, charge Putin with high treason over his decision to launch his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The seven lawmakers from St. Petersburg's Smolny municipal district received subpoenas on September 8, ordering them to come to the police the next day to fill out protocols on a charge of discrediting Russia's armed forces.
Authorities in the Kalat district of Pakistan's Balochistan Province arrested two protesters after vehicles carrying imported tomatoes from Iran were stopped and looted.
The Kalat district Commissioner Daud Khaliji told Mashaal Radio on September 10 that authorities investigating the incident had arrested two people so far.
Protesters intercepted a vehicle loaded with tomatoes from Iran and started looting the trucks, throwing boxes of tomatoes on the road. The arrests occurred after a video of the protest went viral on social media.
The protesters, chanting slogans against the government, said they would not allow tomato imports from Iran. They said their own crop was ready for shipment to the market.
Several farmers and growers also gathered in the town of Mangochar and blocked the Quetta-Karachi national highway with boulders and barricades, suspending traffic.
The Balochistan Farmers Association head Haji Abdul Rehman told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal that local growers would face significant financial losses amid imports of tomatoes and other vegetables from Iran and Afghanistan as their crop would not fetch the right price.
He demanded that government open the roads for farmers so they can bring their products to the market. The farmers say they can meet the demand for vegetables in the country if roads and facilities are provided to them.
Businessmen who trade with Iran and Afghanistan on the other hand expressed their sadness over the incident and said it should have been prevented.
Several trucks loaded with tomatoes and onions reached Pakistan through the Taftan and Chaman border crossing from Iran and Afghanistan, helping to lower the prices of both vegetables in the local market.
The government had arranged for the import of onions and tomatoes from Afghanistan and Iran to meet a shortage. Onion and tomato prices went through the roof after flash floods washed away large swaths of crops, prompting the government to allow imports from neighboring countries to lower costs.
Albania has suffered a new cyberattack, the Interior Ministry said on September 10, blaming Iran just days after Tirana broke diplomatic relations with Tehran over the first cyberattack.
The Interior Ministry said the computers of the Albanian national police were the target of the latest attack, which was discovered on September 9.
"The national police's computer systems were hit Friday by a cyberattack which, according to initial information, was committed by the same actors who in July attacked the country's public and government service systems," the ministry said in a statement.
Authorities shut down computer control systems at seaports, airports, and border posts "in order to neutralize the criminal act and secure the systems," the statement said.
Local media reported long lines at more than two border crossings in the south.
Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Twitter on September 10 that another cyberattack committed by "the same aggressors already condemned by Albania's friendly and allied countries" had been detected the night before.
Work continues "around the clock with our allies to make our digital systems impenetrable," he said.
Albania ordered Iranian officials out of the country on September 7 and severed diplomatic relations with Tehran following an investigation into the earlier cyberattack, which targeted the NATO member's digital infrastructure.
Tirana described "irrefutable" evidence that Tehran was behind the cyberattack.
The United States subsequently announced new sanctions against Iranian Intelligence and Security Minister Esmail Khatib and the ministry as a whole.
Iran on September 10 strongly condemned the U.S. sanctions.
"America's immediate support for the false accusation of the Albanian government...shows that the designer of this scenario is not the latter, but the American government," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement on September 10.
In addition to condemning the new sanctions, Kanani accused Washington of "giving full support to a terrorist sect," a reference to the banned opposition Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO).
At the request of the United States and the United Nations, Albania agreed in 2013 to take in members of the MKO from Iraq, and thousands have since settled in the Balkan country.
"This criminal organization continues to play a role as one of America's tools in perpetrating terrorist acts, cyberattacks" against Iran, Kanani said, without providing evidence.
The MKO is an exiled political-militant organization that has advocated the overthrow of Iran's clerical regime and which Tehran regards as a terrorist organization.
The United States has called on Russia to immediately release imprisoned opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, who was recently sent to solitary confinement.
"The United States is deeply concerned by the Russian government's escalating, arbitrary interference with Aleksei Navalny's rights," U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on September 9.
Navalny said in a string of tweets on September 8 that prison authorities had said he had "communicated with accomplices" and accused him of engaging in criminal activity from prison, revoking his attorney-client privilege as a result.
Navalny, who is serving two sentences for violating parole and embezzlement at a prison 260 kilometers east of Moscow, said prison authorities had taken him out of his cell to inform him of the decision.
Navalny added that when he asked what crimes he had committed from prison, he was told that "you are not allowed to know."
Navalny wrote on Instagram on September 7 that he had been ordered to spend 15 days in solitary confinement, the fourth time he has been placed in isolation at the prison in the town of Melekhovo.
Two days prior, the Kovrov City Court in the Vladimir region said it registered a lawsuit filed by Navalny against the prison's warden, Yury Korobov.
Navalny claims in the lawsuit that he was unnecessarily placed in punitive confinement for a partially unbuttoned prison suit.
Navalny's other incarcerations in a punitive cell were for failing to carry out a guard's command to put his hand behind his back in a timely manner, and for "wrongly identifying himself" to a guard.
In his statement, Price criticized Russia for revoking Navalny's attorney-client privilege, saying that "this interference, along with his repeated diversion to solitary confinement for minor alleged infractions, is further evidence of politically motivated harassment."
According to Navalny, he was informed by prison authorities on September 8 that employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service would investigate all documents exchanged between him and his lawyer, a process that was expected to take three days.
Navalny was arrested in January of 2021 upon his return to Moscow from Germany, where he was treated for a poison attack in Siberia in 2020 with what European labs defined as a Soviet-style nerve agent.
Navalny, Vladimir Putin's most vocal critic, has blamed the Russian president for the poison attack, a charge that the Kremlin has denied.
The corruption crusader was then handed a 2.5-year prison sentence for violating the terms of an earlier parole during of his convalescence abroad. The original conviction is widely regarded as a trumped-up, politically motivated case.
In March, Navalny was sentenced in a separate case to nine years in prison on embezzlement and contempt charges that he and his supporters have repeatedly rejected as politically motivated.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on September 9 met with the head of Turkish defense firm Baykar and praised the company’s contributions to the Ukrainian armed forces.
Zelenskiy met with Haluk Bayraktar, the CEO of Baykar, whose Bayraktar TB2 drones have been used to destroy Russian artillery systems and armored vehicles since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February.
The focus of the meeting was Ukraine's further cooperation with the company to strengthen the defense capabilities of the Ukrainian Army, the president's press service said.
Zelenskiy and Bayraktar also discussed the details of the construction of a Baykar factory in Ukraine, Zelenskiy said in an online post after the meeting.
Zelenskiy's press service said the president presented Bayraktar with the Order of Merit, first degree.
In return, Zelenskiy received a traditional embroidered Ukrainian shirt featuring a drone.
"Everyone in Ukraine knows what Bayraktar is, knows your company," Zelenskiy said, according to his press service. "Thank you, to President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan for your support and the support of the citizens of Turkey in this war against Russian aggression," he added.
Bayraktar drones have been in service with the Ukrainian Army since 2021. After the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian military used them to destroy Russian equipment, and the deliveries of Turkish drones have caused displeasure in Moscow.
The United States is working to address Russian complaints that sanctions are hindering its food and fertilizer shipments, a senior U.S. official said on September 9.
James O'Brien, head of the State Department's Office of Sanctions Coordination, told reporters at the United Nations that the United States is working with the UN to address the complaints even though there has been no disruption to Moscow's exports of the commodities.
"We're seeing no disruption in Russia's ability to send food to market," O’Brien said. "The fertilizer is still reaching markets at the same rate that it always has."
The United States has stressed that Russian food and fertilizer is not subject to sanctions imposed over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
But Russia says logistical sanctions and restrictions on Russian ships entering Western ports or securing insurance have restricted Russia's access to world markets.
O'Brien called the complaints "just an example of misinformation" but said the United States would still do everything it can to address specific complaints.
"Russia and the UN are just now engaged on some specific requests that it has under the UN agreement, and I think we'll see progress in that over the next few weeks," he said.
The agreement reached on July 22 by the United Nations, Turkey, Ukraine, and Russia restarted Ukraine's grain and fertilizer exports from Black Sea ports and facilitated Russian commodity shipments.
O'Brien said the United Nations had brokered a way for the United States to speak with some of the Russian companies about concerns over sanctions implications.
"We will do what's needed to make clear to every commercial player that they are allowed to buy Russian food and fertilizer," he told reporters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the grain shipping agreement on September 7, saying Ukraine was exporting food and fertilizer to the European Union and Turkey rather than to poor countries.
Putin suggested Moscow will "have to think about changing routes" for Ukrainian grain shipments, raising doubt about the fate of a six-week-old deal.
The national soccer team of Bosnia-Herzegovina has been criticized for announcing plans to play a friendly match against Russia in November.
The Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced on September 9 that the game had been scheduled to take place in St. Petersburg on November 19, one day before the World Cup is scheduled to start in Qatar.
Russia's national soccer team was barred from the World Cup because of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Bosnia failed to qualify.
The decision to schedule the friendly is not the best option for Bosnia, said Irfan Duric, vice president of the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Duric told RFE/RL that the association received an inquiry from Russia and another country, and it asked UEFA, European soccer's governing body, about the inquiries.
"We were told that they do not prohibit the playing of friendly matches," Duric said.
He said he opposed the decision to schedule the match, which was made by the association's Emergency Committee. He had requested the entire executive committee be consulted.
"In addition to all the benefits, I think we should respect where we live and how we live. In my opinion…it is not the best option for [Bosnia],” he said.
Zvjezdan Misimovic, an adviser to the president of Bosnia, said the offer to play the friendly came from Russia and neither UEFA nor FIFA, soccer's world-governing body, found reason not to hold the match. Athletes should not be involved in politics, he added.
"We measure our strengths on the field, while others deal with politics and other things," said the former national team player.
One of the team’s current players, midfielder Miralem Pjanic, however, along with the mayor of Sarajevo criticized the decision.
"The decision is not good. I am speechless,” Bosnian media quoted Pjanic as saying. "In the national soccer association, they know what I think."
The 32-year-old former Juventus and Barcelona player has made 107 international appearances since his debut in 2008. He now plays for Sharjah FC in the United Arab Emirates.
Sarajevo Major Benjamina Karic, also reacted negatively to the decision, recalling the violence of the 1992-95 Bosnian War and its effect on her city.
"Sarajevo, as the city that was under siege by the aggressors for the longest time, and I, as the mayor, strongly condemn the decision of the soccer association to play a friendly match with Russia," she said on Twitter.
If the decision is not changed, the city will stop cooperating with the association, she said.
The Russian team said on Instagram the opponent in its November match was still a surprise. It posted a partial schedule for September and November indicating it would hold friendly matches against Kyrgyzstan, Iran, and another team yet to be revealed.
Hungary's media watchdog has concluded that an animated Netflix series broke a Hungarian anti-LGBT law at the heart of a bitter rights dispute with the European Union when it showed "two girls profess their love and kiss each other."
The National Media and Communications Authority (NMHH) said its Media Council had concluded that the kiss in an episode of the series Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, "as well as the depiction of the scary creatures chasing the characters, could be harmful to the moral development of minors."
It announced its investigation last month based on "several complaints."
The NMHH said in a statement e-mailed to RFE/RL on September 9 that "under Hungarian law, the cartoon should have been made available with a rating of 'not recommended for children under 12.'"
Netflix, whose European headquarters is in the Netherlands, had streamed the episode on a channel for children aged 7 and up.
The NMHH said its Media Council "is going to notify the Dutch audiovisual regulator (CVDM), asking it to investigate the case."
The Dutch authority has not responded publicly to any referral.
The Hungarian amendments to child-protection, media, education, and other laws were overwhelmingly approved in mid-2021 with backing from Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party amid street protests against their passage.
They enshrine a "sex-at-birth" approach and ban certain language regarding gender and sexual preference, among other things.
They effectively bar images of homosexuality to anyone under 18 in a way that critics compare to Russia's notorious gay "propaganda" ban passed in 2013.
The EU objections to the Hungarian laws are among a handful of bitter disputes between Brussels and Orban's national populist leadership.
The European Commission has referred Hungary to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over the 2021 laws for "discriminat[ing] against people on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity."
In announcing its decision in the Jurassic World/Netflix case, the Hungarian regulator said the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) had "previously made a similar finding...when the entire fifth season was rated as 'not recommended for children under 12.'"
The British regulator assigned "parental guidance" ratings to the Jurassic World series' first four seasons but attached a 12-and-up rating to season five, which includes the episode at issue in the Hungarian case.
The BBFC's website on the series cites "dangerous behavior."
According to Politico.eu in August, none of the 12 previous complaints the NMHH received in 2022 was found to have broken the law.
TASHKENT -- Uzbekistan's president, Shavkat Mirziyoev, has signed a decree appointing Vladimir Norov as the the Central Asian nation's new foreign minister.
Mirziyoev signed the decree on September 9, hours after lawmakers approved the move.
Norov had served as acting foreign minister since April after his predecessor, Abdulaziz Komilov, left the post several weeks after he told lawmakers that Uzbekistan does not recognize the pro-Russian, separatist-controlled districts in Ukraine's Donbas region.
He also called for a "peaceful solution" to the unprovoked attack against Ukraine by Russia, considered an ally of Uzbekistan.
Komilov also said that the Uzbek government was working on ways to prevent any possible local impact on the Uzbek economy from international sanctions imposed on Russia over its aggression against Ukraine.
Four days later, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Mirziyoev discussed among, other things, the situation in Ukraine. The Kremlin said the Uzbek president expressed his "understanding of the Russian side's position and activities" in Ukraine.
Uzbek authorities said at the time that Komilov disappeared after making the comments and that he was being treated for an unspecified illness.
Komilov was later appointed deputy chief of the Security Council.
The United States on September 9 announced sanctions on Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security and its minister, Esmail Khatib, accusing them of being linked to a cyberattack in July on NATO ally Albania.
The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement that the Iranian ministry directs several networks of cyberthreat actors, including those involved in cyberespionage and ransomware attacks.
"Iran's cyberattack against Albania disregards norms of responsible peacetime state behavior in cyberspace, which includes a norm on refraining from damaging critical infrastructure that provides services to the public," said Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson.
Albania on September 7 ordered Iranian officials out of the country and severed diplomatic relations with Tehran following an investigation into the cyberattack.
Tirana described "irrefutable" evidence that Tehran had backed "the act of serious cyberattack against the digital infrastructure of the government of the Republic of Albania."
The Iranian Foreign Ministry denied Tehran was behind any cyberattack on Albanian government websites.
It called the decision to sever diplomatic relations "ill-considered and hasty” and said it was “based on unfounded insinuations."
BELGRADE -- Serbian national Vlado Stanic has been sentenced to one year in prison by a court in Belgrade for participating alongside Russia-backed separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine in 2015.
In handing down her verdict and sentence on September 9, the judge said she was giving Stanic the minimum penalty for the offense of participating in a war or armed conflict in a foreign country, if the offense was committed as part of a group.
Stanic was arrested in July 2022 at Belgrade's Nikola Tesla airport and admitted he had join pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine as part of the Hussar Regiment paramilitary formation.
Katarina Ninkovic, Stanic's lawyer, told RFE/RL after the court made its ruling that her client will file an appeal.
"We believe that there is no real crime here because, at the time the crime was committed, my client did not even know that it was prescribed as a criminal offense. This crime of participation in war or armed conflict is prescribed in our legislation in 2014. He committed the crime in 2015, six months after we introduced it in the first place," Ninkovic said.
Stanic helped man a checkpoint in the eastern Ukrainian town of Snezno, which was under the control of pro-Russian forces.
The parents of jailed Iranian activist Behnam Mousivand have held a demonstration in front of the Rajaei-Shahr prison to protest against the lack of attention being given to their son’s health following hunger strikes.
Behnam Mousivand’s sister said in a tweet on September 8 that on the orders of the prison authorities, the police tried to arrest her parents, but they faced resistance from several family members at the site. A video of Mousivand's parents was published on social media showing them standing in front of the Rajaei-Shahr prison.
The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) also warned about Mousaviand’s state of health. The CHRI on September 7 expressed concern about Mousivand's "precarious health situation," which is "raising fears of another preventable death in Iranian state custody due to the authorities’ denial of proper medical treatment."
“Iranian authorities are subjecting Behnam Mousivand to a slow and deliberate death to silence his criticism of state policies,” said CHRI Executive Director Hadi Ghaemi.
“If the international community does not publicly condemn Iranian authorities’ killing of political prisoners, this will give them a green light to continue to pick them off, one by one, as just another means of silencing dissent,” he said.
According to reports from human rights groups, Mousivand launched the hunger strike after authorities at the notorious Evin prison prevented him from being transferred to an offsite medical center despite his deteriorating health condition, with the warden even threatening to transfer him to another prison. He previously went on a hunger strike in April after being beaten by prison guards for refusing to wear handcuffs and shackles while he was heading to receive medical treatment outside of the prison, where he is serving six years on convictions for "assembly and collusion against national security" and "propaganda against the system.” At that time, instead of transferring Mousivand to a health center for treatment, he was moved to a quarantine ward at Evin, on the northern edge of Tehran. Mousivand, 35, has been arrested several times for his political activism.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says shelling has caused a near blackout in the town near the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine where the plant’s operators live, adding to the increasingly precarious situation at the plant.
Rafael Grossi said in a statement on September 9 that he learned from IAEA staff on-site about the blackout, which developed the night before at the plant.
The power infrastructure feeding the town of Enerhodar has been destroyed by shelling of the switchyard at the town’s thermal power plant, leading to a complete power blackout, the statement said.
Grossi says, given the situation, there is significant risk of an impact on the availability of essential staff at the site to continue to safely operate Zaporizhzhya.
RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, how Kyiv is fighting back, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
"I therefore urgently call for the immediate cessation of all shelling in the entire area," Grossi said. "Only this will ensure the safety and security of operating staff and allow the durable restoration of power to Enerhodar and to the power plant."
Russia's ambassador to the IAEA said Moscow backed Grossi's call.
"We fully support the appeal and demand of the #IAEA Director General that shelling of the town of Enerhodar and the #ZNPP must stop immediately," Mikhail Ulyanov said on Twitter.
Grossi added that the IAEA understands that as a result of the development the operator is considering shutting down the only reactor still in operation. The plant would then be fully reliant on emergency diesel generators for ensuring nuclear safety and security functions, he said.
"This is an unsustainable situation and is becoming increasingly precarious. Enerhodar has gone dark. The power plant has no offsite power. And we have seen that once infrastructure is repaired, it is damaged once again," Grossi said.
Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for shelling near and inside the perimeter of the nuclear power plant, Europe's largest.
Russian forces took over the plant soon after launching their invasion of Ukraine in February, but Ukrainian technicians still operate the power station.
The IAEA reported earlier this week that its recent inspection of Zaporizhzhya demonstrated an "untenable" situation at the plant and "an urgent need for interim measures" to avoid a nuclear accident.
The agency urged Russia and Ukraine to establish a “nuclear safety and security protection zone” around the plant and said shelling at the site and its vicinity should stop immediately.
Meanwhile, in Vienna, the UN watchdog's board of governors is expected to call on Russia to cease all actions at Ukraine's nuclear facilities, according to a draft resolution that diplomats say Poland and Canada have prepared ahead of next week's meeting of the board.
The draft, obtained by Reuters, is being circulated among the 35 countries on the board and is a follow-up to a resolution that was passed by an emergency board meeting in March and that only Russia and China opposed.
Diplomats quoted by Reuters say the aim is to show Russia is isolated diplomatically and to pressure it to end its occupation of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.
The draft text says the board "deplores the Russian Federation's persistent violent actions against nuclear facilities in Ukraine, including the ongoing presence of Russian forces and [Russian nuclear agency] personnel at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant."
A court in Moscow has rejected an appeal by Google against an order to pay a fine of more than 21.7 billion rubles ($352 million) over information distributed about Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on its YouTube video-sharing platform.
The Taganka district court in the Russian capital ruled against the appeal on September 9, court spokeswoman Zulfia Gurinchuk told the Interfax news agency.
Earlier in July, the Magistrate Court of the Taganka district ordered Google to pay the fine for what it called the company’s failure to delete, as instructed, what authorities had determined to be banned content.
It was the second conviction for Google, and the fine was set at one-tenth of all the profit the U.S. Internet giant and groups associated with it earn in Russia in a year, the court said at the time.
Russia's media regulator Roskomnadzor filed a lawsuit against Google in June, accusing it of repeated failure to comply with Russian authorities' demands.
Roskomnadzor’s complaints about YouTube date back to March when it demanded that Google stop the spread of videos on YouTube that it said were "threatening Russian citizens."
In April, Roskomnadzor issued the first fine, a considerably lower 11 million rubles ($188,500), saying YouTube "turned into one of the key platforms spreading fake news" about the war.
Days after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Roskomnadzor ordered media across the country to publish information about the war in Ukraine only if it is provided by official sources.
It also has forbidden describing the attack against Ukraine as an invasion or a war, instead insisting it be called a "special military operation."
PRAGUE -- EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn has asked EU member states to step up their financial support to Kyiv next year because Russia's war in Ukraine “is very likely" to continue.
Speaking to RFE/RL in Prague ahead of an informal meeting of EU finance ministers, Hahn confirmed that a 5 billion euro ($5.02 billion) loan tranche to Ukraine will be formally agreed upon in the coming days and that he hoped an additional 3 billion euros, possibly in grants, would be provided to Kyiv before the end of the year.
"There has to be more in the pipeline, because the financial needs of Ukraine until the end [of the year] is another 3 billion [euros]," Hahn said.
Hahn added that the additional funds had already been proposed to the European Commission and expressed confidence that they would be approved by EU member states.
No media source currently available
A first tranche of 1 billion euros was already disbursed this summer, meaning that a total of 9 billion euros of financial aid from Brussels could go to Kyiv before the end of this year.
The bigger question is about the provision of long-term financial aid to Ukraine as it continues to fight a devastating war with Russia after Moscow launched a full-scale invasion in February.
The vast majority of the EU budget has already been set aside for other commitments, with Hahn hinting that, in the future, funds must come from the coffers of individual member states.
“The real question indeed is how to finance Ukraine in case -- and it's very likely the case -- that the war is ongoing in the new year," Hahn said. "We have to support Ukraine because Ukraine is defending not only themselves but also us, our values.”
Hahn said that the needed funding for Ukraine cannot be provided from the current EU budget and will require "an extraordinary effort."
The budget commissioner also acknowledged that skyrocketing energy prices and inflation in the EU could have an impact on how willing the bloc would be when it comes to providing additional financial support to Kyiv.
"Of course, people are very much focused on how to serve their electricity bills," he said. "But nevertheless, we have to think about Ukraine.”
“I think this is exactly what we have to discuss with the finance ministers, because there have been commitments also from the G7 leaders that they will also support Ukraine," Hahn added. "So, we have to fulfill our commitments. And, again, it's in our own interest. It's in our own interest because it's about peace in Europe, stability in Europe.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Tehran's latest response in negotiations on reviving a 2015 nuclear pact has pushed the talks a step back.
Speaking to reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels on September 9, Blinken said Washington still hopes for a deal to keep Iran's nuclear program in check, but that it was not looking for an agreement at any cost.
After 16 months of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington, the EU last month put forward a final offer to overcome an impasse for the revival of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA).
Iran responded to the proposal, which the United States then replied to, prompting a further response from Tehran, bolstering hopes a deal may be near.
"In past weeks, we've closed some gaps. Iran has moved away from some extraneous demands -- demands unrelated to the JCPOA itself," Blinken said. "However, the latest response takes us backwards. And we're not about to agree to a deal that doesn't meet our bottom-line requirements.... If we conclude a deal, it's only because it will advance our national security."
The agreement collapsed when former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States unilaterally in 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran.
Since then, Tehran has progressively rolled back its own commitments to the deal, which was designed to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb. Tehran insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only.
In its most recent response to the EU proposal, Iran said that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should drop its "politically motivated probes" of Tehran's nuclear work.
The IAEA has been probing the origins of nuclear material found at three undeclared Iranian sites.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty © 2022 RFE/RL, Inc. All Rights Reserved.