Apple notified Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) on Friday that it has removed the broadcaster’s app Svoboda (“Liberty”) from the Russian version of its App Store at the demand of the country’s Russia’s federal censorship agency, Roskomnadzor. The agency reportedly warned Apple that the app contained “the materials of an organization whose a…

Opposition leader Levan Mikaa claimed on Saturday that Aslan Bzhania, the president of Georgia’s Russian-backed separatist region of Abkhazia, has fled to a Russian military base. Mikaa said negotiations between the government and demonstrators have ceased, and he vowed to initiate Aslan Bzhania’s impeachment through the Abkhazian parliament if he …

Russia’s justice system has reportedly suspended criminal proceedings against pro-war blogger Yegor Guzenko, the author of the Telegram channel “Thirteenth,” following his enlistment with the military. Guzenko traded felony prosecution for an express ticket to the front lines in Ukraine as part of an assault unit. Last month, police arrested Guzenk…

A fire at a women’s shelter outside Moscow put five people in the hospital on Friday. According to the local authorities, two women and three children suffered carbon monoxide poisoning and are currently in serious condition. When the fire broke out, 26 people were in the building, including 18 children. The shelter’s other residents were relocated…

Aslan Bzhania, the president of Georgia’s Russian-backed separatist region of Abkhazia, rejected protesters’ demands that he step down. On Friday, he announced that he, the vice president, the prime minister, and other government officials “remain in Abkhazia and will continue to work.” In response, demonstrators issued an ultimatum, telling Bzhani…

Volodymyr Zelensky said this week that he expects Russia’s invasion to end more quickly now that Donald Trump is returning to the White House. In a new interview with the news outlet Suspilne Media, Ukraine’s president said, “Without a doubt, with the policies of the team now set to lead the White House, the war will end more quickly.” At the same …

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a phone conversation on Friday, according to the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. It was the first time the two leaders have spoken directly since December 2, 2022. The conversation lasted for about an hour, according to Reuters. In a statement released after the call, Ge…

Russia and the U.S. could conduct another prisoner exchange in February 2025, according to a lawyer representing Ksenia Karelina, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen serving a 12-year prison sentence in Russia for donating $51 to a Ukrainian aid organization. The lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, confirmed in a video published by Ponyatno Media that Karelina is o…

Putin’s recent speech about the “new world order” at the Valdai International Discussion Club has led the Russian Education Ministry to make last-minute changes to the curriculum for the patriotic “Important Conversations” lesson series in schools. According to Agentstvo Media, Monday’s lesson will focus specifically on Putin’s statements about AI.…

Federal Security Service (FSB) officers in Russia’s Kirov region have arrested a 16-year-old boy suspected of attempting to sabotage the Trans-Siberian Railway, according to a statement on the FSB’s website. The FSB claims the teenager received instructions via Telegram from Ukrainian intelligence to carry out a “sabotage operation” on railway infr…

The Ukrainian authorities are developing a “resilience plan” to guide the country through wartime, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in his evening address on November 14. His office has released some details of the plan. Described as a “plan for what Ukraine needs to survive,” it will comprise ten points. One key aspect will focus on cultural…

Boris Kagarlitsky, a Russian sociologist serving a five-year prison sentence on charges of “justifying terrorism” for an online post about the 2022 Crimean Bridge explosion, has asked not to be included in any future prison exchanges between Moscow and the West. The online magazine that Kagarlitsky runs, Rabkor, posted his message on Telegram: Rece…

Russia’s federal censorship agency, Roskomnadzor, will conduct tests this December to disconnect the RuNet from the global Internet, according to a letter from the Central Bank to its affiliated companies. The tests will involve disabling access to the foreign segment of the Internet “in certain regions.” Roskomnadzor’s press service told Kommersan…

Russians’ YouTube access was miraculously restored on Thursday, a day after Vladimir Putin reportedly promised filmmaker Karen Shakhnazarov that he would “look into” reports of throttled download speeds on the streaming service. The GlobalCheck monitoring platform again shows YouTube to be fully accessible in Russia, though various Telegram media o…

Two city administrators in Russia’s borderland Belgorod region are back at their desk jobs just a month after enlisting with the Armed Forces as volunteers. Mikhail Lobaznov and Galina Rudenko, the heads of the Gubkin City and Krasnogvardeysky districts, respectively, scored an early troop rotation that brought them home, according to the region’s …

Apple users registered in Russia suddenly cannot access certain podcasts produced by independent journalists at The Insider, Echo of Moscow, and BBC Russian. On Thursday, Mediazona reported that Russian Apple users can now play the affected podcasts only if they previously downloaded and listened to its episodes. Russian users who never listened to…

Roman Starovoit, the former governor of Russia’s Kursk region, acknowledged in a video published Thursday that Russian soldiers looted homes abandoned by residents of the region’s Glushkovsky District who fled Ukraine’s ongoing cross-border incursion. “As for the looting. This was discussed yesterday at a meeting with law enforcement agencies. Ther…

South Korea is rethinking whether it will send weapons to Ukraine following Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing officials in the country. One official told the outlet that Seoul will look to see how other countries adjust their military support for Ukraine in response to Trump’s approach …

Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Wednesday instructing the Russian government to set compensation payment amounts for injured military personnel based on the severity of the injury. According to a government resolution (.pdf) published shortly after the president’s decree, soldiers will receive three million rubles ($30,240) for “light or severe” …

A new Russian draft law on the “activities of individuals under foreign influence” would prevent people designated as “foreign agents” from accessing money earned in Russia until their status is lifted, announced State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin. The draft law, set to be introduced to the State Duma on November 14, requires “foreign agents” to…

What does Donald Trump's election mean for the war in Ukraine? Author and analyst Mark Galeotti joins host Steve Gutterman to discuss the ramifications of the U.S. vote and examine Russia's sabotage campaign in Europe.Di Steve Gutterman

Tajik opposition activist Dilmurod Ergashev arrived in Tajikistan on November 7, after he was deported from Germany, where he had been seeking asylum since 2011. Ergashev was immediately arrested on his return by Tajik authorities; he hasn't been heard from since. Ergashev is one of several Central Asian opposition activists sent back to their home…

The Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs just released a detailed report on military and security forces in Tajikistan. The comprehensive work examines the 30-year history of the Tajik defense forces, their mission and composition, how they are deployed, and the role of foreign countries in training and equipping Tajik forces. Joining host Bruce …

As it focuses on its war against Ukraine, Russia is also seeking to leverage violence in the Middle East to improve its global standing and condemn the West. The Kremlin is reaping rewards, but it also faces risks posed by its footprint in the volatile region. Hanna Notte, director for Eurasia at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies…

As Moscow's forces press forward and Ukraine holds onto part of Russia's Kursk region, there are new "mutterings" in the West about the prospects for an end to the fighting. Ruth Deyermond, senior lecturer in the Department of War Studies at King's College London, joins host Steve Gutterman to discuss the situation on the battlefield and the latest…

Russian officials and celebrities have become increasingly critical of the countries and peoples of Central Asia since the Kremlin launched its full-scale war on Ukraine in February 2022 -- and patience is wearing thin in the region. CentralAsians are pushing back against Russian lecturing, racist comments, and mistreatment of migrant laborers. Joi…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy took his "victory plan" to Biden, Harris, and Trump in a U.S. visit that also included UN speeches. In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued yet another nuclear threat. Analyst and author Mark Galeotti joins host Steve Gutterman to discuss what it all means for the war in Ukraine.…

Kazakhs will vote on October 6 in a national referendum to authorize construction of a nuclear power plant. In recent winters, Kazakhstan has experienced severe power shortages, and Kazakh officials assert that nuclear power could help fill the gap. People remember, however, that 456 nuclear weapons were detonated in northeastern Kazakhstan between…

Russia’s longtime influence in Central Asia seemed to fade after the launch of its full-scale war on Ukraine in February 2022, as other countries pursued stronger relations with Central Asian states and active roles in lucrative projects. The Kremlin noticed and has countered with its own initiatives, of which the most binding may be a series of re…

Racialization is the process of viewing a specific people with preconceived notions about them. In Russia, non-Russians -- particularly people from Asia or the South Caucasus -- have long been targets of racialization. The problem is especially acute in today’s Russia, where many Russians openly express negative or derogatory views of these peoples…

Russia’s historical legacy in Central Asia has come under increased scrutiny in the region since Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine. Many Russians, including officials, claim -- in some cases insist -- that Russia’s colonization of Central Asia was beneficial to the region. A growing number of people in Central Asia are coming to a diffe…

How big a deal is Kyiv's incursion into the Kursk region? What are Ukraine's goals? And what are the ramifications for Russia? This week, host Steve Gutterman discusses these issues with Oleg Ignatov, a senior analyst for Russia at the International Crisis Group.Di Steve Gutterman

In late June, Tajikistan passed a law on "alien clothing" that bans certain types of Islamic attire, particularly from Arab countries, and some types of Western clothing. Wardrobe violators run the risk of stiff financial penalties. Similar fashion mandates exist throughout Central Asia, focused more on women than men. Joining host Bruce Pannier to…

Russian forces press forward in eastern Ukraine but also suffer setbacks. Dara Massicot, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and an expert on Russian military issues, joins host Steve Gutterman to discuss the battlefield situation, manpower problems, and the talk about efforts to end the fighting.…

President Joe Biden has withdrawn from the U.S. presidential race and Donald Trump has picked J.D. Vance as his running mate. Sam Greene, director of Democratic Resilience at CEPA and a professor at the King's Russia Institute, discusses what these developments could mean for Ukraine and its defense against the Russian invasion.…

Nearly three years have passed since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, to the dismay of much of the world. While the Central Asian states were among the countries that didn’t welcome the return of the Taliban, most of them took a different approach to the Afghan militant group than they did when the Taliban first ruled Afghanistan in th…

July 17 marks 10 years since a Russian missile shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over the war zone in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 passengers and crew. Christopher Miller, Ukraine correspondent for the Financial Times and author of The War Came To Us: Life And Death In Ukraine, joins host Steve Gutterman to discuss.…

NATO leaders meet after a Russian strike on a children's hospital underscores the horrors of Russia's war on Ukraine. And the U.S. election looms after votes in Britain and France. Nigel Gould-Davies, the senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, joins host Steve Gutterman to discuss.…

Two years have passed since violence erupted in western Uzbekistan’s Karakalpakstan Sovereign Republic. In early July 2022, Uzbek law enforcement personnel used stun grenades and tear gas to disperse thousands of Karakalpaks gathered in a peaceful protest in the Karakalpak capital, Nukus, over proposed changes to Uzbekistan’s constitution that woul…

What do Western elections and new support deals mean for Ukraine's defense against Russia? And a year later, how is the Wagner mutiny still reverberating across Russia and beyond? Mark Galeotti, author of Downfall: Prigozhin, Putin, And The New Fight For The Future Of Russia, joins host Steve Gutterman discuss.…