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Russia has redeployed troops from its bases in Central Asia to fight in Ukraine, multiple sources told RFE/RL. It comes as the Russian Army is reported to have suffered tremendous casualties in Moscow’s unprovoked war in Ukraine.

Families of prisoners on death row stage protest amid soaring execution rates, Ukraine claims to have downed an Iranian drone used by Russia, and jailed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi is awarded a special prize at the Venice film festival.

Ukraine has deployed Western weapons with great success in reversing Russian gains in the east. Will the successes change the West's calculus on providing such assistance going forward?

An Iranian vice president has been a vocal supporter of intensifying online censorship and clamping down on the use of virtual private networks (VPNs). But she has attracted criticism after it was revealed that her son emigrated to Canada and created a company that sells VPNs.

An Iran Air Cargo plane, thought to be carrying Iranian drones to Moscow, recently flew over Georgian airspace. With the Iranian company under U.S. sanctions, the case has raised questions about so-called sanctions "black holes."

An investigation by RFE/RL indicates that Russia has redeployed troops from a base in Kyrgyzstan to the front line in Ukraine. Locals say some 300-500 contract soldiers were based there in late 2021, but have since been sent to Ukraine, a claim confirmed by activists and a soldier's family.

Tens of billions of dollars' worth of gas lies right beneath CA Rosetti and a handful of other Romanian villages. But for now at least, they and more than 90 percent of the country's other rural households are stuck burning firewood.

RFE/RL's Russian Service recently spoke to a lawyer who helps Russian soldiers and their families fight for their rights. Soldiers' complaints testify to the depletion of human resources in the army and the inability of the Russian authorities to provide manpower in the "special military operation."

A look at what's behind the Chinese leader's first trip abroad since the start of the pandemic as he goes to Kazakhstan, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan, and meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Over the past week, Ukrainian forces have plowed through Russian defenses in the eastern Kharkiv region, forcing a major retreat by Russian troops. Has the war tipped in Ukraine’s favor?