Ray Furlong is a multimedia editor for RFE/RL.
Ballot boxes will sit for five nights, unsupervised, amid early voting which has begun in the Belarusian presidential election. It's just one part of the process ringing alarm bells about election rigging in a country where previous elections have not been deemed free or fair by Western observers.
Two protest movements are 9,000 kilometers apart: one in Russia and one in Belarus -- but they're united by their desire for basic democratic norms. Current Time reporters tracked down the protesters in Khabarovsk, in Russia's Far East, who reached out to their counterparts in Belarus.
Belarusian authorities have released dramatic video of a raid in which dozens of alleged Russian mercenaries were detained by security forces. The Belarusian government announced they were suspected terrorists, and state media said the men were seeking to "destabilize" the country.
Unit 3214 of the Belarusian Interior Ministry forces was shown on TV violently dispersing a crowd during a training exercise. A former officer says the men are "zombies" who swore loyalty to President Alyaksandr Lukashenka but they're just one of many options he has for suppressing dissent.
Protests in Russia's Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk have continued for more than two weeks, with some 50,000 people on the streets on July 25, according to organizers, despite the appointment of a new regional governor.
An acid leak from an abandoned mine has turned a local river red, devastating local flora and marine life in Russia's Ural Mountains.
Meet the three women striving to put an end to 26 years of rule by authoritarian Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka -- at great personal risk.
A wave of large protests in Russia's Far East shows no sign of letting up after nine continuous days of rallies and marches.
Kyrgyz authorities have warned people not to use an ancient Islamic practice of bloodletting known as Hijama to treat COVID-19.
Running for president in Belarus is a dangerous business. Candidates in previous elections have been imprisoned and beaten up.
Desperate relatives are waiting in line for hours for an overwhelmed Kazakh morgue to release the bodies of their loved ones, raising questions about the country's COVID-19 data. Official statistics show hundreds of deaths related to COVID-19 and more than 1,000 dead from "pneumonia." But Chinese news reports about a form of pneumonia in Kazakhstan that is deadlier than the coronavirus have been dismissed by the Kazakh Health Ministry as "fake news."
A former Russian journalist who has been arrested on treason charges is alleged to have handed secrets to the United States via the Czech intelligence service, according to his lawyer. Ivan Safronov was detained on July 7.
Russians are going to the polls to vote on constitutional changes that would allow President Vladimir Putin to stay in office for two more terms. Putin supports the amendment, but over his many years in power, he's repeatedly denied that he would change the constitution to extend his rule. Here’s a look back at his previous statements that are at odds with what he is saying now.
Authorities in Ukraine said lockdowns may be reimposed at a regional level after days of record new coronavirus cases. One badly hit region in western Ukraine quickly announced a return of preventive measures, including restricting road travel beyond the region, a ban on gatherings of more than 20 people, and closures of indoor cafes and restaurants.
A woman held hostage by Chechen separatists has spoken about it on camera for the first time, 25 years after a five-day siege that left some 150 people dead in the southern Russian city of Budyonnovsk.
Belarusian authorities have charged opposition leader Syarhey Tsikhanouski with planning mass violations of public order, but what really happened when he was arrested? Video on his YouTube channel shows him being hounded by a mysterious woman in a denim jacket, before he is seized by riot police.
Salamat Baktybek-Kyzy, 21, had been saving the profits from her florist business in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to buy herself a prosthetic leg. But when orders collapsed amid the COVID-19 lockdown, she decided to start donating flowers for free.
The Russian Army has set up field hospitals in a remote Siberian village, where more than 1,200 people have been infected with COVID-19 at the country's largest gold mine.
Detainees at Kyiv's notoriously overcrowded Lukyanivska prison, parts of which are 160 years old, have been offered a way out of overcrowded cells with up to a dozen inmates and poor sanitation. But there's a catch. More spacious, refurbished cells, with fewer prisoners and modern bathrooms, come at a price.
Russia has suspended the use of a model of domestically-made ventilators after they were linked to hospital fires that killed COVID-19 patients in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The Aventa-M ventilators were also included in a high-profile delivery of Russian medical equipment sold to the United States last month but have not been used there.
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