The U.S. government is investigating the leak of documents that include details of U.S. and NATO aid to Ukraine.

The handful of documents circulating on pro-Russian feeds on Twitter and Telegram resemble routine updates that the U.S. military produces daily but does not distribute publicly. They are dated from February 23 to March 1 and at least one of them was marked “top secret.” But they are not war plans and they provide no details on any planned Ukrainian counteroffensive.

U.S. Defense Department spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said late on April 6 that Washington is looking into the appearance on social media of leaked documents containing details of weapons deliveries to Ukraine, as well as battalion strengths and other sensitive information.

“We are aware of the reports of social-media posts, and the department is reviewing the matter,” Singh said.

The Pentagon has declined to comment on the authenticity of the documents. A leak of such sensitive documents is highly unusual and troubling for Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office released a statement on April 7 about a meeting he had with his senior military staff, noting that “the participants of the meeting focused on measures to prevent the leakage of information regarding the plans of the defense forces of Ukraine.”

Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak told Reuters the leak appeared to be a Russian disinformation effort aimed at undermining the planned counteroffensive. The leaked versions of the documents, Podolyak said, contain a large amount of fictitious information.

"Moscow is eager to disrupt a Ukrainian counteroffensive but it will see the real plans on the ground. Soon," Podolyak said on Twitter.

The documents include information about Ukraine’s use of munitions for U.S.-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and other advanced weaponry.

The New York Times, which first reported on the documents, called the leak “a big coup for Moscow” that could “harm intelligence sharing between Ukraine and the United States.”

Three U.S. officials told Reuters that Russia or pro-Russian elements are likely behind the leak.

The documents appear to have been altered to lower the number of casualties suffered by Russian forces, the U.S. officials said, adding their assessments were informal and separate from an investigation into the leak itself.

One of the leaked documents said 16,000 to 17,500 Russian forces had been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The United States and Britain have estimated that the number of Russian casualties -- dead and wounded -- was approaching 200,000.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter and declined to discuss the documents in detail, Reuters reported. It also said the Kremlin and the Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.

With reporting by the New York Times, Reuters, and AP

Russian legislators have proposed amendments to the Criminal Code to toughen sentences for people convicted of terrorism and high treason.

The amendments were announced on April 7 by Vasily Piskaryov, the chairman of the Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption of the State Duma.

If the draft amendments are accepted, the sentence for people convicted of treason would be life imprisonment, while the maximum prison term for committing a terrorist attack would rise from 15 years to 20 years. A terrorist act is defined as a deed which endangers lives and is aimed at destabilizing Russia.

The proposed amendments come a day after Russian prosecutors requested a 25-year prison sentence for opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, who is on trial on charges including treason. The prosecution of Kara-Murza, who was detained in April 2022 after returning to Russia from abroad, is the latest amid a Kremlin crackdown on dissent and civil society since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Piskaryov was quoted earlier this week by the state-controlled TASS news agency as saying the tougher measures were needed for protection against what he claimed were unprecedented threats that Russia faces from Ukraine and its Western backers amid Moscow's ongoing unprovoked invasion of its smaller neighbor.

Piskaryov said the deputies will not introduce a new bill but supplement another measure that has already passed the first reading and is being prepared for its second reading. According to Piskaryov, this will make it possible to consider the amendments promptly.

The changes would also raise the minimum sentences for assisting in promoting terrorist activities from five to seven years and for aiding in terrorist activities from 10 to 12 years. The maximum sentence for those crimes is 15 and 20 years respectively.

For the crime of organizing a terrorist community the sentence will rise from 10 to 15 years from the current five to 10 years, and for sabotage the sentence will rise to 20 years, up from the current 15 years.

With reporting by Reuters

The Pakistani Army claimed on April 7 that it arrested the leader of an armed group that has been responsible for numerous attacks as the country’s national security committee said it plans to launch a new nationwide operation to root out Islamist militants.

The public relations office of the army said it arrested Gulzar Imam, known as Shamba, in an operation but did not say where and when the arrest took place.

Gulzar Imam is the founder and leader of the illegal armed group called the Baloch National Army, which is responsible for "dozens of bloody attacks" in Pakistan, including assaults on law enforcement agencies, a statement from the army’s public relations office said.

The Baloch National Army was formed in the merger of two other armed groups -- the Baloch Republican Army and the United Baloch Army, it said.

Baloch separatist groups mentioned in the statement have not responded to the army's claims, but in November a group called the Baloch Nationalist Army sent a statement to the media claiming that Gulzar Imam was in the custody of Pakistan's intelligence agencies.

Baloch separatists have been active in Pakistan's Balochistan Province for years and they demand the province's independence.

Pakistani Army and paramilitary forces have been stationed in Balochistan for almost two decades and have continued to carry out operations against armed groups there.

The separatists have claimed responsibility for attacks on Pakistani security forces, government officials, and on Chinese workers who are in Pakistan working on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects.

Baloch separatist groups allege that the Chinese are trying to capture equipment that belongs to Balochistan with the help of the Pakistani government, and that is why they are attacking them.

Beijing has invested billions of dollars in infrastructure projects in various areas of Pakistan under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor program.

The national security committee made its announcement about plans to launch an operation against the militants after a committee meeting on April 7 chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and attended by the country's military leadership.

"The meeting agreed to launch an all-out comprehensive operation with the entire nation and the government, which will rid the country of the menace of terrorism with renewed vigor and determination," the security committee said in a statement.

The security committee said it formed a commission to make recommendations regarding the details of the operation within two weeks.

Pakistan has seen a rise in attacks by Islamist militants in the last few months following the breakdown of negotiations last year with the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group.

The group and its factions have unleashed a wave of attacks this year. One suicide bombing at a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar killed more than 100 people, mostly policemen.

The January 30 attack on the Sunni mosque located inside a high-security police facility was one of the deadliest that targeted Pakistani security forces in recent years. Some 221 people were also wounded in the bombing.

With reporting by Reuters

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has formally charged an American journalist detained last week in Yekaterinburg with espionage, Russian news agencies reported on April 7.

Evan Gershkovich, Moscow correspondent for the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), denied the charges and said he was working as a journalist, Interfax and TASS reported, citing a law enforcement source.

The FSB said on March 30 that it had detained Gershkovich and had opened an espionage case against him for collecting what it said were state secrets about the military industrial complex. It alleged that Gershkovich was operating on instructions from the United States.

"FSB investigators charged Gershkovich with espionage in the interests of his country," Russian state-run agency TASS said, citing the source.

"He categorically denied all accusations and stated that he was engaged in journalistic activities in Russia," TASS said.

The state-run news agency added that according to its source, the journalist's case is marked top secret.

The Wall Street Journal has adamantly denied the allegations against Gershkovich and demanded that he be freed. U.S. President Joe Biden has also called for Gershkovich's release, and the White House called the accusations against him "ridiculous."

Russia said on April 6 that it was "pointless" to try to pressure Moscow over the case.

A Moscow court on March 30 agreed to a request from the FSB to hold Gershkovich under arrest for two months.

The case prompted a joint statement on April 7 from the U.S. Senate's top two leaders, who demanded that Russia immediately release Gershkovich and condemned his detention.

The statement from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (Democrat-New York) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican-Kentucky) comes as the United States works for the release of Gershkovich, the first journalist to be held for alleged espionage since the Cold War.

“We strongly condemn the wrongful detention of U.S. citizen and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and demand the immediate release of this internationally known and respected independent journalist,” Schumer and McConnell said.

They said Gershkovich was accredited by the Russian Foreign Ministry to work as a journalist in Russia, and “Russian authorities have failed to present any credible evidence to justify their fabricated charges.”

Schumer and McConnell added: "Let there be no mistake: journalism is not a crime."

Although his lawyers have been allowed to meet with him, he has been denied consular access “against standard diplomatic practice and likely in violation of international law,” the two senators said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on April 5 he has “no doubt” that Russia has wrongfully detained Gershkovich.

U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne T. Tracy and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov met on April 6 to discuss the situation.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters

Farmers in Romania and Bulgaria protested on April 7 against a glut of agricultural products from Ukraine that has flooded the market in those countries and lowered prices for local farmers.

About 100 farmers converged in Bucharest, while hundreds more protested across Romania in long convoys of tractors. In Bulgaria, grain producers blocked some border crossings with farm vehicles.

Farmers also gathered outside the office of the European Commission's representative in Bucharest holding posters that read: “Do not punish our solidarity,” while others urged European Union officials to "take responsibility, take action, take care.”

The EU waived customs duties and import quotas on Ukrainian agricultural products in May 2022 as a way of facilitating transport of the products to world markets amid Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The expectation was that Ukrainian grain would transit through the EU on its way to those traditional markets. But according to grain producers, it has flooded the internal markets of member countries, undercutting the prices local producers can charge for their goods.

SEE ALSO:

By Helping War-Torn Ukraine Get Its Grain To Market, The EU Is Accused Of Abandoning Its Own

Bulgarian grain producers are calling for the European Union to cancel the regulation.

"Bulgarian farmers' warehouses are full of stagnant produce. There is no market for Bulgarian grain. The harvest is coming in two months," said the National Association of Bulgarian Grain Producers. According to their data, 40 percent of last year's grain and sunflower harvest remains unsold.

Liliana Piron, executive director of the League of Romanian Agriculture Producers' Associations, said at the Bucharest protest that his country's farmers have “reached a point where they feel they can no longer face the costs” of "unfair competition” from Ukraine.

“We are less than three months away from the new harvest and the danger is real, that the goods we will have ready this season will not be able to be sold at prices above production costs,” she said. “We will witness a chain of bankruptcies of Romanian farmers.’’

Polish farmers have also held protests in recent weeks. Poland's agriculture minister, Henryk Kowalczyk, resigned on April 5 after he became the focus of farmers' anger.

Brussels last month pledged to help grain and cereal farmers in Romania, Bulgaria, and Poland with a total compensation package of 56.3 million euros ($61 million) -- 16.7 million for Bulgaria; nearly 30 million for Poland, and 10 million for Romania. Farmers and national governments said the offer wasn't good enough.

“If today’s protest is not heard in Brussels, we will consider larger actions with the participation of other countries that share the same view,” said Iliya Prodanov, head of the grain producers’ association in Bulgaria.

With reporting by AP and RFE/RL’s Bulgarian Service

A court in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, sentenced opposition politician Valer Tsapkala on April 7 to 17 years in prison in absentia on charges of violating national security, financing terrorism, and slandering longtime leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Tsapkala tried to run against Lukashenka in the country’s disputed 2020 presidential election, but was refused registration. He and his family fled the country in July 2020 and are now in Latvia. Lukashenka’s declared victory in the election, which was widely seen as rigged, set off massive protests that were met by an often-brutal crackdown.

Russia has threatened to scupper a UN-brokered grain-export deal with Ukraine because of what it calls Western “obstacles” to the export of Russian food and fertilizers.

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 counteroffensives, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

During a visit to Turkey on April 7, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that, if the West does not remove banking and insurance restrictions that hamper the export of Russian goods, it will renounce the July 2022 agreement under which Ukraine has been exporting its grain through Black Sea ports.

“If they do not have the desire to honestly approach what [UN Secretary General Antonio] Guterres proposed and so persistently promoted, well, let them continue to ship the relevant products from Ukraine by land, by rail, and by river,” Lavrov said.

He added that Russia would work “outside the framework of this initiative” to export its own products.

The agreement, which was originally to last 120 days, has been extended twice. The second extension, in March, was for only 60 days and expires in the middle of May.

Lavrov said that, since there has been “no further progress in removing obstacles to the export of Russian fertilizers and grain, we will think whether this agreement is necessary.”

Moscow has said that extending the deal would require a number of concessions from the West, including the reconnection of Russia’s state Rosselkhozbank to the international SWIFT payment system.

Ukraine and Russia are leading exporters of grain and the deal was brokered in a bid to ease a global food crisis sparked by Russia’s February 2022 unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Lavrov also repeated Moscow’s calls for “a new world order, which we all need in place of the unilateral world order.” Without evidence, he accused the West of violating the principles of the United Nations Charter.

Russia has assumed the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council for the month of April, and Lavrov is expected to attend its sessions in New York on April 24 and 25.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, TASS, and AFP

Aleksei Moskalyov, who was sentenced in absentia to two years in prison by Russia and deprived of his parental rights after his 13-year-old daughter drew an anti-war picture, is being held in a jail in Belarus, Russia’s Foreign Ministry reported on April 7. According to the statement, Moskalyov, 54, was detained in the city of Zhodzina on April 4 and is being held pending an extradition hearing. His daughter, Maria, was briefly held in a Russian orphanage before being handed over to her mother, who has long been separated from Moskalyov. Rights groups have urged Belarus not to extradite Moskalyov. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Russian Service, click here.

A court in Russia’s Far Eastern region of Kamchatka has ordered the deportation of a German citizen for allegedly violating Russia’s law on promoting homosexuality, often called the "gay propaganda" law. The court announced on April 6 that the unnamed foreigner was also fined 150,000 rubles. According to the report, the defendant pleaded guilty. Earlier in the month, a court in Kazan, the capital of the Tatarstan region, ordered the deportation of a Chinese citizen for similar alleged violations. To read the original article by RFE/RL’s Siberia.Realities, click here.

The Russian ruble continued to fall relative to major Western currencies on April 7, reaching more than 90 rubles to the dollar for the first time since April 14, 2022. The ruble has fallen by 5 percent against the dollar and by 13 percent against the euro. Analysts say the decline has been caused by the end of the tax period, during which major economic players were selling Western currencies to pay their tax bills. Bloomberg also connected the decline to news this week that Britain’s Shell Oil has withdrawn from the massive Sakhalin-2 oil-and-gas project. To read the original story from RFE/RL’s Russian Service, click here.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says a “powerful” new sanctions package is being prepared by the Ukrainian government that will include people who “work for aggression.”

Speaking in his evening address on April 7, Zelenskiy said all those on the list “will be blocked,” but he provided no further details.

Zelenskiy also said a meeting of the staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian military was held on April 7.

"The main focus is on the battles for Avdiyivka and Bakhmut, for the Luhansk region [and] for each of those directions where the enemy is trying to break the defense of the whole of Ukraine,” he said.

A General Staff statement on April 7 said Russia was concentrating the bulk of its offensive operations in Ukraine’s industrial east, including Bakhmut and Avdiyivka, but also Lyman and Maryinka in the Donetsk region.

Russian forces used ground- and air-fired missiles, rocket launchers, and weaponized drones to bombard the parts of the Russia-annexed regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson that it does not control. Russia illegally annexed parts of those four regions in September.

The Ukrainian military said Russian forces launched 18 airstrikes, five missile strikes, and 53 attacks from multiple rocket launchers between the evening of April 6 and the morning of April 7.

Eight people, including two emergency medical workers, were wounded in the Kherson region, said Yuriy Sobolevskiy, the head of the Kherson regional council.

RFE/RL was not able to independently verify the battlefield claims.

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 counteroffensives, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, previously commented on Ukraine’s increased use of sanctions against Russia and countries that are providing military equipment to Moscow.

He told RFE/RL that further sanctions should limit Russia's use of modern technologies.

"It's not just about trading capacity. It is also about other things. It is about the use of modern technologies, modern means of transportation in Russia, above all," he said in response to a question about expectations over the upcoming package of sanctions against Russia.

Zelenskiy on April 1 signed a decree on sanctions against more than 200 legal entities and more than 270 individuals.

Among those designated was the former head of Motor Sich, Vyacheslav Bohuslayev, who is accused of treason in Ukraine, was on the list. A Ukrainian court seized the assets and all shares of the aerospace company two years ago. Late last year its assets were nationalized along with those of four other companies to guarantee sufficient military supplies as Ukraine fights to repel an invasion by Russian forces.

Sanctions were also introduced against the Federation Council -- the upper house of the Russian Parliament -- the Russian Finance Ministry, the Federal Security Service (FSB), and the Federal Guard Service, as well as defense contractors and manufactures of radio electronics.

Last month, Ukraine introduced sanctions against 400 individuals, including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and other Syrian officials, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and Iranians associated with the production of Shahed drones. Russia has used the Iranian-made kamikaze drones to attack critical Ukrainian infrastructure.

That round of sanctions also listed 141 legal entities, including companies from Russia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.

With reporting by AP

Ukrainian and Russian forces battled on April 6 in the eastern city of Bakhmut, while in the Kherson region Russian strikes injured seven people.

According to Oleksandr Prokudin, the Kherson region’s military governor, Russian troops are attacking the Kherson region with guided aerial bombs.

“Currently, it is known [that] seven residents of the Kherson region…were injured as a result of an enemy attack,” Prokudin said on Telegram.

Kherson was liberated by Ukrainian forces in November, but Kyiv says Russian forces continue to shell the city and the region from across the Dnieper River.

Prokudin added that six people were injured as a result of strikes on Zmiyiivka and one person was wounded in the village of Kozatskiy. In the evening, three strikes by enemy aircraft were recorded in Berislav, two in Novoberislav, and one in Kozatskiy.

Detailed information about the victims and the extent of damage caused is being clarified, he said.

The monthslong battle for Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region has turned into one of the bloodiest of Russia's invasion, while serving as a symbol of Kyiv’s defiance.

• RFE/RL

The brutal fight for control of the eastern city of Bakhmut is being called the bloodiest infantry battle since World War II, with severe losses on both sides.

“[Battles] are under way in the streets, enemy attempts to encircle the city are failing. Our command fully controls the situation," said Andriy Yermak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The leader of Russia's private Wagner militia, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said fighting was continuing in the west of the city.

"It must be said clearly that the enemy is not going anywhere," he said on his Telegram channel. Even if Ukrainian forces did start to abandon the city, he said he would need more support from the regular Russian military before trying to advance.

TASS reported that four civilians died in Russian-controlled Donetsk when shells hit a fleet of vehicles. Six people were injured, the news agency added. Other Russian media reports said the attack was carried out with U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).

The RIA news agency said three people died in blasts at a bus stop in Lysychansk, to the northeast of Donetsk.

Denis Pushilin, the administrator of Russian-controlled parts of Donetsk Province, said on Russian TV that Ukrainian forces were seeking to relocate to the city of Avdiyivka near Donetsk, adding that Russian forces were advancing through Avdiyivka “as we speak.”

None of the battlefield claims could be independently verified.

With reporting by Reuters and dpa

U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy and a top Russian diplomat met on April 6 to discuss a Wall Street Journal reporter who was arrested last week on espionage charges, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov emphasized during the meeting that American journalist Evan Gershkovich "was caught red-handed while trying to obtain secret information, using his journalistic status as a cover for illegal actions," the ministry said in a statement. The Wall Street Journal has denied the accusations and the White House said the espionage charges are "ridiculous." To read the original story by AP, click here.

The ruble fell against the U.S. dollar in trading on April 6 to the value it held just before Russia's invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago. The rate of 81.375 to the dollar at the end of the day continued a steady decline that began in mid-January. It reflected concerns about Russia's long-term economic prospects amid international sanctions, a European Union ban on seaborne oil exports, and the departure of Western companies from Russia. The ruble lost about half its value in the early days of the Ukraine conflict but recovered after Russia enacted capital controls.

French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Beijing to talk sense into Russia over the war in Ukraine, telling his Chinese counterpart that Russia's aggression had dealt a blow to international stability.

Macron met on April 6 with President Xi Jinping in Beijing on a state visit, telling Xi he believes he can "count on you to bring back Russia to reason and everyone back to the negotiating table."

Macron, accompanied by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said the West must engage China to help end the crisis and prevent "spiraling" tensions that could split global powers into warring blocs.

Xi responded by saying China "advocates for peace talks and seeks a political solution" and expressed hopes that Moscow and Kyiv could hold peace negotiations as soon as possible.

Von der Leyen said Xi expressed willingness to speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, but Xi did not mention a possible conversation with Zelenskiy in his own comments.

"It was interesting to hear that President Xi reiterated his willingness to speak" to Zelenskiy, Von der Leyen said. Xi said a conversation could happen when the "conditions and time are right," she added.

China has sought to position itself as a potential mediator in the conflict but its actions, including Xi's visit to Moscow in March, have been seen by the West as favoring Russia.

Putin and Xi professed friendship and pledged closer ties during their summit last month, and Putin tried to portray Russia and China as close allies united against U.S. hegemony and NATO expansion.

The United States remains concerned that China might provide lethal weapons to Russia and is skeptical along with other Western countries about a Chinese proposal for a political settlement in Ukraine.

The plan has been largely dismissed by the West due to China's refusal to condemn Russia for invading its sovereign neighbor and because it echoes Russian talking points, including blaming the West for the unprovoked invasion.

After meeting with Macron for 90 minutes, France said the discussions between the leaders were "frank and constructive," while China described them as "friendly" and "in-depth."

Macron also asked Xi to press Russia to comply with international rules on nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. The request comes after Putin said he would station tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine's neighbor Belarus.

Xi said all countries should respect commitments on not using nuclear weapons and "nuclear war shouldn't be waged." He also called on the international community to "refrain from any action that would lead to further deterioration of the crisis or even to it getting out of control."

Putin discussed expanding economic cooperation and bolstering defense ties with his Belarusian counterpart on April 6. The Kremlin talks involving senior officials from both countries and followed Putin's one-on-one meeting with President Alyaksandr Lukashenka on April 5.

Putin said there would be "close work on boosting cooperation under a union agreement that envisions close political, economic, and military ties between Belarus and Russia.

Russia used Belarusian territory as a staging ground for invading Ukraine and, in addition to his plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in the country, has maintained a contingent of troops and weapons there.

With reporting by Reuters

An interagency review led by the National Security Council of the chaotic 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan largely lays the blame on former President Donald Trump, saying President Joe Biden was "severely constrained by conditions created by his predecessor." A White House summary of the review on April 6 noted that when Biden entered office, "the Taliban were in the strongest military position that they had been in since 2001." The report does fault overly optimistic intelligence assessments about the Afghan National Army's willingness to fight, and says Biden followed military commanders' recommendations for the pace of the drawdown. To read the original story by AP, click here.

A former high-ranking officer in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) appeared on April 6 in a court in Serbia to face money-laundering charges.

Andriy Naumov, the former head of the Main Department of Internal Security of the SBU, has been detained in Serbia since June, when he taken into custody at the Serbian border attempting to cross into North Macedonia.

Naumov, who was led into the courtroom in handcuffs, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of money laundering. He has denied the charges.

He told a preliminary hearing at the High Court in Nis on March 17 that 608,000 euros and $125,000 found in his car during the arrest was "family money" and intended to pay for a move to Istanbul.

During the hearing on April 6 before the same court, Naumov's father also described the money found during the arrest as "family money."

Oleg Naumov said that on February 16 last year, he borrowed money from his business partner to open a TV channel.

"I wanted to open a new channel and sell it to cable operators throughout Ukraine, so I needed money. I borrowed the money from a business partner, promising to return it by the end of 2023," Oleg Naumov said.

Oleg Naumov said he abandoned the idea of opening a TV channel due to the full-scale invasion of Russia and transferred the money to Europe and then to his daughter-in-law, Anna Revenko, "so that she would buy a house in Turkey, where the whole family would move."

The court did not make any decisions after the hearing, which was closed to reporters. The case is expected to continue in May.

Naumov has been at the center of a number of investigations by news outlets into contraband imports and corruption. He appeared in an investigation by Skhemy (Schemes), a joint investigative project run by RFE/RL and UA: Pershy television, into the acquisition of property considered not comparable with the income of a civil servant.

The investigation found that on the day before Russia's invasion in February 2022, Andriy Naumov went abroad.

Naumov has also been charged in Ukraine with embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, fraud, and other charges related to the handling of state funds. Serbia is considering extraditing him to Ukraine.

The Lithuanian parliament on April 6 unanimously approved a resolution proposing an invitation to Ukraine to join NATO at the alliance's summit in July. Of the parliament's 141 deputies, 129 participated in the vote and all favored the resolution. "We believe that Ukraine will contribute to our security and make NATO stronger," Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Zygimantas Pavilionis said. Lithuania will host the two-day NATO summit beginning on July 11. Ukraine applied in September for accelerated accession to the alliance. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Turkmenistan plans to demolish a historic 1,200-meter iron bridge and sell the metal used in its construction as raw material, sources close to the matter told RFE/RL on April 6. The bridge was built over the Amu Darya River in the Lebap region in 1898-1901, when Turkmenistan was part of the Russian Empire. It was closed off in 2014. Iron was typically used in bridges that were built before the 20th century. To read the original story from RFE/RL's Turkmen Service, click here.

Prosecutors have requested a 25-year prison sentence for Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza, his lawyer said, adding that the case against the Russian opposition activist on several charges including treason for comments critical of Russia's invasion of Ukraine is proceeding quickly.

Kara-Murza, who was detained in April 2022 after returning to Russia from abroad, is the latest in a string of opposition activists, reporters, and others who have been arrested and prosecuted amid a growing Kremlin crackdown on civil society.

His lawyer, Maria Eismont, told journalists that the prosecutor's request for the 25-year sentence came at a closed hearing on April 6.

Eismont added that the 41-year-old Kara-Murza, who twice nearly died after what he says were deliberate poisoning attacks, has lost 17 kilograms during his detention.

The trial of the prominent activist was expected to open on March 16 but was delayed until March 20 after his lawyer told the court his health had "significantly deteriorated."

A certificate from the medical unit of Kara-Murza's detention facility read by the judge during a hearing last month said that he could not participate in the trial "until the end of the current course of treatment" being prescribed.

It added that he was being treated for polyneuropathy, which he says is a result of the poisonings.

SEE ALSO:

New FBI Documents Shed Light On Probe Into Russian Activist's Near-Fatal Illnesses

Prosecutors initially charged him with disobeying a police officer but later added a new allegation of discrediting the Russian military, a charge stemming from Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine and a Kremlin push to stamp out criticism or dissent on the subject.

State treason charges were later added, with prosecutors citing remarks he made in speeches outside of Russia that criticized Kremlin policies.

Аt a preliminary hearing in Moscow City Court on March 13, which was ordered held behind closed doors, Kara-Murza entered a not-guilty plea, according to his lawyers.

A top deputy to former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down near the Kremlin in 2015, Kara-Murza had cultivated ties and support with Western lawmakers and policymakers, particularly in the United States.

The late U.S. Senator John McCain was a proponent of Kara-Murza's efforts, and he served as a pallbearer at McCain's funeral in 2018.

Kara-Murza fell ill twice while traveling in Russia in two different situations, first in 2015 and then again in 2017. In both cases, he was hospitalized in critical condition but eventually recovered.

His family members brought tissue samples out of Russia for independent testing to try and determine what was behind the sudden illnesses.

The FBI investigated the case as "intentional poisoning" and enlisted its crime laboratories and some of the federal government's elite scientific laboratories to examine the samples.

The effort was also unusual in that it drew the attention and involvement of FBI Director Christopher Wray and members of the White House National Security Council.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry has expelled four Iranian Embassy employees amid escalating tensions between the two neighbors.

The ministry said it summoned Iranian Ambassador Seyyed Abbas Musavi on April 6 and informed him that "four employees of the Iranian Embassy were declared persona non grata" by Baku "due to their activities...incompatible with diplomatic status."

The four were given 48 hours to leave Azerbaijan, the ministry said in a statement.

"During the meeting, strong dissatisfaction was expressed to the Iranian ambassador due to the recent provocative actions demonstrated by his country in relation to Azerbaijan," the statement added.

Earlier on April 6, Azerbaijan arrested six men who it said were linked to Iran's secret services.

Azerbaijan claimed that the men were plotting to "set up a 'resistance squad' aimed at establishing a Shari'a state in Azerbaijan through armed unrest and violent overthrow of Azerbaijan's constitutional order."

The evictions come a day after Iranian lawmakers issued a statement strongly criticizing Azerbaijan for opening an embassy in Israel, an archenemy of Iran. Tehran called it an action against the Palestinian people and their rights.

The strongly worded statement threatened Baku with "many negative political consequences." It urged other Muslim countries to "strongly condemn" Azerbaijan's action.

In January, Azerbaijan halted the operation of its embassy in Iran after a security guard was killed and two others were wounded when a gunman opened fire on its grounds. Baku blamed the January 27 attack on the Iranian secret services.

Azerbaijan has accused Iran of backing Armenia in the long-standing conflict over Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Iran has long accused Azerbaijan of fueling separatist sentiments among its sizeable ethnic Azeri minority.

With reporting by AFP

Ihar Losik, a journalist with RFE/RL's Belarus Service who has been imprisoned since the summer of 2020 and has not been heard from in six weeks amid reports he attempted to commit suicide, has been returned to solitary confinement.

A source familiar with the circumstances of Losik's imprisonment in the northeastern Belarusian city of Navapolatsk informed RFE/RL's Belarus Service on April 5 that the journalist is again in solitary confinement.

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RFE/RL is not revealing the identity of the source out of concerns for their safety and has been unable to determine from prison officials their reasons for placing Losik in solitary confinement.

Last month, when Losik was last in solitary confinement, he allegedly went on a hunger strike to protest an order and attempted to commit suicide on March 15 by cutting his wrist and neck. He was then transferred to a medical facility, where he received 68 stitches.

Losik was sentenced to 15 years in prison in December 2021 on several charges, including "organizing mass riots, incitement to social hatred," and several other charges that remain unclear.

The journalist has maintained his innocence and calls all charges against him politically motivated.

The husband of exiled opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Syarhey Tsikhanouski, as well as four other bloggers and opposition politicians and activists, were sentenced to lengthy prison terms along with Losik.

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Jailed Belarusian Activist Syarhey Tsikhanouski Begins New Trial, Faces Longer Prison Term

The arrests came amid the Belarusian authorities' brutal crackdown on political opposition and dissent following months of mass protests against the results of the 2020 presidential election that kept authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka in power. There have been credible reports of torture and ill-treatment of detainees by security forces, and several people died during the crackdown.

Prison officials have not commented on Losik's status, and his family and lawyers have been unable to gain information about him or communicate with him since February.

His lawyer, Artsyom Syamyanau, was detained on March 20 and sentenced to 15 days in jail for allegedly disobeying police orders. On April 4, Syamyanau was re-arrested and sentenced to an additional 15 days in jail.

Losik's new lawyer, whose name is being withheld due to concerns for their safety, visited the Navapolatsk prison on April 3, but was not allowed to meet with Losik. The reason provided by a prison administrator was that Losik had not made a written request to meet with his legal representation.

The lawyer provided a request on behalf of her client, but that request was denied. A previous attempt by Losik's legal representation to meet with him on March 10 was similarly denied.

The new lawyer is Losik's fourth, the previous three all having been subjected to pressure from the authorities, including detentions. Losik's family has also been pressured.

In October 2022, his wife, Darya, was arrested and accused of providing an interview with the Poland-based Belsat TV channel, which has been officially labeled an extremist group by Minsk. On March 21, the Supreme Court rejected her appeal of the sentence.

She has been transferred to the women's prison in Homel.

SEE ALSO:

Belarusian Supreme Court Rejects Darya Losik's Appeal Against Her Two-Year Prison Term

In February 2023, Ihar Losik was denied a scheduled visit in March with his parents, who currently have custody of Losik's 4-year-old daughter. The last known letter from Losik was received by his parents in February.

The United States has called for the immediate and unconditional release of Ihar and Darya Losik, while RFE/RL President Jamie Fly has also demanded the couple's immediate release and condemned their imprisonment.

A rights group has reiterated calls for the release of popular Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, who was arrested during Tehran's clampdown on nationwide anti-government protests in October, due to his deteriorating state of health.

Salehi, 33, needs urgent medical treatment that cannot be provided in the prison, the New-York based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement on April 6, citing sources close to the rapper.

In November, Iran's judiciary charged Salehi with spreading "corruption on Earth," a charge that could see him to sentenced to death.

Other charges against him include "propaganda activity against the establishment, forming an illegal group with the intention of disrupting the security of the country, cooperating with hostile governments, and spreading lies and inciting others to commit violence."

The prominent rapper strongly supported the nationwide protests sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained in September for allegedly violating the strict Islamic dress code for women.

"He is in urgent need of intense and coordinated international pressure for his freedom, as are the many other detainees and political prisoners in Iran," CHRI executive director Hadi Ghaemi said.

The CHRI says Salehi is being held in solitary confinement in the Dastgerd prison in central Iran.

Salehi's family expressed concern for his health after footage released by state media purportedly showed the rapper -- blindfolded, with bruises on his face, apologizing for his support of the protests.

The CHRI quoted a source close to Salehi as saying that he was "severely tortured" during the first days of his detention. The source, whose name was withheld over security concerns, said his left eye was badly damaged due to blows to the head and his right ankle was broken.

"We are very concerned about the severity and extent of his injuries," the source said.

Some 100 musicians, poets, artists, and activists called for Salehi release in November.

The rights group said Salehi has been denied a lawyer of his choice, leaving him unable to prepare a proper defense.

Thousands of people, including protesters, journalists, lawyers, athletes, and artists have been arrested and at least 537 people killed in Iran's brutal crackdown on the protests.

With reporting by AFP

Uzbek-born journalist and documentary filmmaker Shahida Yakub says she was prevented from entering Uzbekistan when she arrived in Tashkent for a private visit on April 3. Yakub, a British citizen, said passport control officials did not explain why they were refusing her entrance to Uzbekistan. Yakub, a former correspondent for the BBC and Current Time, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA, links the incident to her work as a journalist, including her coverage of Tashkent’s clampdown on anti-government protests in the city Andijon in 2005. To read the original story from RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service, click here.

Fast-tracking Moldova's accession to the European Union could be possible, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on April 6, as Chisinau seeks to join the bloc amid fears it could be drawn into the conflict in neighboring Ukraine. Moldova became an EU membership candidate in 2022 along with Ukraine in a boost to the pro-Western ambitions of its government, which has repeatedly accused Russia of trying to destabilize the country. The former Soviet republic of 2.5 million people borders Ukraine and has Russian peacekeepers stationed in the pro-Moscow breakaway region of Transdniester. To read the original story by Reuters, click here.