Azerbaijani economist Farid Mehralizada has been arrested and charged with foreign currency smuggling in what appears to be part of a crackdown on dissent and free press. A court in Baku ruled over the weekend that Mehralizada must stay in pretrial detention for three months and 20 days. Investigators said Mehralizada's arrest was linked to the cases against several journalists from the Abzas Media independent investigative website who are under pretrial arrest on charges of illegally smuggling foreign currency, which they reject as politically motivated. Mehralizada maintains he had nothing to do with the media outlet. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service, click here.

A major Russian retailer says it has been unable to work with payment cards for three days following a hacking attack, the Kommersant daily reported on June 3. The Verny trade network's website and app have also been out of operation. Officials from the network confirmed that the problems arose after hackers attacked several of its systems. Last week, SDEK delivery service activities in Russia were paralyzed for three days after its online systems were attacked by a ransomware virus. A pro-Ukrainian Head Mare hacking group claimed responsibility for that attack. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Kyrgyz presidential spokesman Askar Alagozov told RFE/RL on June 3 that the Central Asian nation's Prosecutor-General Kurmankul Zulushev has stepped down. According to Alagozov, the move was made by Zulushev on his own accord. It is unclear who will replace Zulushev or when someone will be appointed. Zulushev served as the Prosecutor-General since October 2020, right after President Sadyr Japarov took over the country following antigovernment protests sparked by irregularities during parliamentary elections. Last month, Japarov publicly reprimanded Zulushev amid reports about the alleged involvement of some prosecutors into the activities of the Mineral Resources Ministry's license issuing agency. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

A 34-year-old foreign national was detained in Romania’s capital on June 3 after he allegedly attacked the entrance of the Israeli Embassy with a Molotov cocktail, resulting in a small fire but no casualties. The man was apprehended by antiterrorism officers from the Romanian Intelligence Service before police arrived at the scene. The man allegedly also tried to set himself on fire. The Israeli Embassy told RFE/RL's Romanian Service that "a person, apparently of Syrian origin, arrived in the vicinity of the building where the Embassy of Israel in Romania is located" and threw a lit Molotov cocktail. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Romanian Service, click here.

Kazakh tycoon Qairat Boranbaev, whose daughter is a widow of a grandson of former President Nursultan Nazarbaev, has retaken the post of the president of the Central Asian nation's Paralympics Committee after being release from prison in November.

Boranbaev wrote on Instagram over the weekend that he is "grateful to everyone who supported me."

Last week, the deputy chief of the Financial Monitoring Agency, Zhenis Elemesov, said a criminal case against Boranbaev had not been closed yet and Nazarbayev's former in-law is suspected of tax evasion and embezzlement.

Elemesov added that Boranbaev paid 134.5 billion tenges ($300 million) to the State Treasury to compensate for the damages caused by his crimes.

According to Elemesov, Boranbaev may be requested to pay more in compensation but would not require being incarcerated.

Boranbaev was granted an early release from prison in early November last year after being sentenced several months earlier by a court in Astana to six years in prison after a retrial procedure.

That came after Boranbaev and his two co-defenders were sentenced to eight years in prison each on embezzlement charges -- which the trio rejected at the time -- in March 2023.

The sentences, however, were canceled in June by a court in Astana with the judge citing the absence of key documents that the charges against the three men were based on.

Boranbaev subsequently changed his plea during a new hearing into the case and accepted that he embezzled 14.6 billion tenges (more than $32 million), which he returned to the State Treasury.

Boranbaev's daughter, Alima Boranbaeva, and Nazarbaev's grandson, Aisultan Nazarbaev, married in 2013.

In September 2020, Aisultan Nazarbaev, who reportedly suffered from a drug addiction and had run-ins with the law in the United Kingdom, died in London at the age of 29.

Boranbaev, 57, was arrested following unprecedented antigovernment protests in early January 2022 after which the Kazakh regime began to quietly target Nazarbaev, his family, and other allies -- many of whom held powerful or influential posts in government, security agencies, and profitable energy companies.

Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev said on June 3 that his country has taken the Taliban off of its terrorist list. Addressing a session of the parliament speakers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Almaty, Toqaev stressed the move was made to develop trade and economic ties with Taliban-led Afghanistan. Toqaev also called on the parliament speakers of Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan to support Kazakhstan’s proposal to establish a UN regional center for the stable development of Central Asia and Afghanistan. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.

Russia's Investigative Committee said on June 3 it had arrested a man suspected of being involved in a deadly hostage-taking in the southern Russian city of Budyonnovsk in 1995, a turning point in the first of the two post-Soviet separatist wars in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Chechnya.

According to the statement, Khamzat Zoyev faces charges of terrorism, banditry, hostage-taking, and murder. It is not known how Zoyev pleaded.

On June 14, 1995, a group of some 130 Chechen separatists led by Shamil Basayev attacked a local police station and government buildings in Budyonnovsk, taking some 1,500 people hostage while demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya.

After two attempts by Russian forces to free the hostages failed, resulting in the deaths of some 100 people, Basayev negotiated their release and his own safe passage back to Chechnya live on Russian television with Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, who was later criticized for allowing the Chechens to escape.

In all, about 130 people were killed during the hostage crisis.

The deal to resolve the crisis paved the way for an August 1996 agreement that ended the war until a second war erupted in 1999, with then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin playing a prominent role in the decision making after Basayev led militants in an incursion into neighboring Daghestan.

Basayev, who became the most wanted man in Russia, was killed in an explosion in 2006.

In recent years, several men were handed lengthy prison terms for their roles in the Budyonnovsk hostage seizure.

The latest man, whom Russian authorities found guilty of taking part in the hostage seizure, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in December 2020.

Aslan Daudov was then convicted of banditry, kidnapping, terrorism and premeditated murder.

The family of Cecile Kohler, a French teacher held by authorities in Iran for over two years, say they have not heard from her since late April.

Kohler and her partner, Jacques Paris, were arrested in Tehran in May 2022 as they were wrapping up a sightseeing holiday in Iran. They have been accused of fomenting unrest and spying.

"The last time we heard from her was on April 22, when she managed to call our mother for three to four minutes," Cecile’s sister Noemie Kohler told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda on June 2.

"We have been waiting to hear from her for over 1 1/2 months with little hope. It is extremely worrying not to have received any signs that she’s alive," she added.

She said Kohler and her partner "have been cut off from the outside world" and that their families were unable to send them anything.

In a statement on May 7 to mark two years since their arrest, the French Foreign Ministry condemned what it described as the Islamic republic’s "policy of state hostage-taking and ongoing blackmail by the Iranian authorities."

In October 2022, Kohler and Paris appeared in a televised video "confessing" to spying on Iran. Broadcasting what rights groups describe as “forced” televised confessions is a common practice in the Islamic republic and has been condemned.

The French couple are among at least 10 Western citizens held in Iran on security-related charges that include spying.

Iran has been accused by Western powers and rights groups of arbitrarily arresting citizens of Western countries to use as bargaining chips.

On May 27, the families of four French nationals jailed in Iran traveled to Geneva to ask relevant UN workgroups to investigate their arrests.

Noemie said the purpose is to highlight the “arbitrary nature” of the arrests through investigations.

“Our goal is to start a global struggle to bring the attention of international bodies to the arrests of our loved ones. We hope to be able to secure their release this way,” she said.

Written by Kian Sharifi based on an interview by Shahab Amoupour of RFE/RL’s Radio Farda

Russian media reports said prominent Russian polar explorer and lawmaker Artur Chilingarov has died at the age of 84. No cause of death was given. Chilingarov took part in several polar expeditions, including one to rescue a research vessel, for which he was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union in 1986. In 2007, Chilingarov captained a self-propelled vehicle to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean where he planted a titanium Russian flag. Chilingarov was under Western sanctions for his open support of Moscow’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and ongoing full-scale aggression against Ukraine. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Russian strikes on Ukraine's Kharkiv and Donetsk regions killed three civilians, including a 12-year-old boy, on June 3, regional officials reported, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy continued his Asian tour with an unannounced visit to the Philippines to urge enhanced participation in an upcoming peace conference later this month in Switzerland.

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

Russian forces early on June 3 shelled the village of Mykhailyivka in the Pokrovskiy district of the eastern Donetsk region, Governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram.

Filashkin said two people were killed and another person was wounded.

"Among the dead is a 12-year-old boy," Filashkin said. "In the morning, the Russians dropped a guided aerial bomb on the village, and an hour and a half later they repeated the attack. At least five houses were damaged."

In the northeast, one Ukrainian civilian was killed and two others were wounded in at least five rocket attacks launched by Russia on the town of Slobozhanske, south of the city of Kharkiv, on June 3, regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov said on Telegram.

"A recreational complex was hit, one civilian was killed. Two civilians, a man and a woman, were wounded," Synyehubov said.

Russian forces over the past several weeks have intensified attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city and located some 34 kilometers from the border.

In a missile attack on May 31, on the city's Novobavar district, nine people were killed and several others were wounded.

Zelenskiy arrived in the Philippines on June 3 from Singapore, where he attended the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security summit, and met with Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos.

"We discussed the inaugural Global Peace Summit and the importance of Southeast Asian countries being represented there. I am pleased that the Philippines will participate in the summit," Zelenskiy wrote on X.

SEE ALSO:

What's It Like Going To School In Russian-Occupied Ukraine?

In Singapore, Zelenskiy met with foreign leaders on the final day of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security summit on June 2, where he sought to rally international support ahead of the Swiss peace conference.

Zelenskiy and Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov met in Singapore for more than an hour with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin following this week's U.S. easing of restrictions on the use of its weapons by Kyiv to publicly permit Ukraine to hit targets inside Russia.

Serhiy Nykyforov, Zelenskiy's press secretary, said on June 3 that a total of 107 countries and international organizations have confirmed their participation in the summit so far.

Nykyforov told Ukrainian television that in Singapore, Zelenskiy met with several foreign leaders who confirmed their participation in the summit.

Turkmenistan Airlines suspended flights from Ashgabat to Kazan, the capital of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, from June 2, without explanation. The company said that instead of flying to Kazan, it will fly to Moscow, about 800 kilometers to the west. Until June 17, special free buses will be arranged to ferry passengers who have tickets from the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, to Kazan. Since April, Tatarstan has faced several drone attacks blamed on Ukraine. In August last year, Turkmenistan Airlines started sending its planes to Kazan instead Moscow amid drone attacks on buildings in the Russian capital. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Idel.Realities, click here.

BELGRADE -- Serbia's ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) has declared victory in a repeat local election in the capital, Belgrade, and elsewhere in the country amid voter apathy, incidents, and claims of irregularities.

After the counting of more than 92 percent of the vote, the right-wing populist SNS backed by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic garnered 52.85 percent the vote, Belgrade's City Election Commission (GIK) announced on June 3.

That will give SNS 64 mandates in the 110-seat municipal assembly of the Serbian capital.

SNS's closest competitor -- the center-right Kreni-Promeni (Move-Change) led by Savo Manojlovic -- came a distant second at 17.61 percent, which will translate into 21 mandates, GIK said.

SNS won most of the other 88 cities, municipalities, and districts disputed on June 2, including Serbia's second-largest city, Novi Sad, in a vote that observers fro CRTA and CeSID NGOs said was marred by irregularities, including vote-buying or double registration of voters.

Scuffles and incidents between SNS activists and opposition supporters occurred in Belgrade and Novi Sad, where SNS had been accused of organizing illegal call centers to influence and bribe voters.

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Serbian Voters Skeptical About Repeated Belgrade Elections

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The repeat polls came after SNS had narrowly won the December vote with 49 seats in the city council but was unable to form a municipal government, prompting a new election, amid weeks of protests over what the opposition said was electoral theft by the SNS.

The opposition also complained of irregularities in Serbia's June 2 vote, leaving the political environment tense in the Balkan nation of 7.1 million people.

"This is...an incredible victory," a beaming Vucic said in a news conference late on June 2.

Manojlovic said his coalition would not recognize the results. "These were most irregular elections ever," he told supporters late on June 2.

SNS has dominated Serbia's politics for more than a decade, imposing its control at virtually all levels of power in the Balkan state.

Serbia has been a candidate to join the European Union since 2012 and started negotiations to join the bloc in 2014, but progress has been slow under populist Vucic, who has sought closer ties with Russia and China.

SEE ALSO:

Serbian Deals With China On Extradition, Media Cooperation Could Have Lasting Impact

Under Vucic, Belgrade has resisted EU calls to join sanctions on Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine since February 2022.

Opposition groups have accused Vucic's government of rampant corruption and the stifling of democratic rights.

A fragmented opposition has also contributed to what observers say was voter apathy.

Turnout was some 10 percent lower compared to the vote in December. In the capital turnout was 46.5 percent and 49.3 percent in Novi Sad, according to the Center for Free Elections and Democracy and IPSOS.

Observers and opposition parties in the June 2 election reported what they said were irregularities during the day.

CRTA said it had filed seven criminal complaints over alleged irregularities at polling stations, claiming its members had recorded incidents of the organized transporting of voters to the polls and money being exchanged for votes.

Police in the northwestern Serbian city of Novi Sad claimed some officers had been attacked, although law enforcement officials added that "there have been no serious incidents."

Following voting in December, no party was able to form a majority in the Belgrade City Assembly in an election that was highly criticized by international observers who cited "irregularities" in the local and national votes.

An amendment to Serbia's local-election laws allowed for the voting in Belgrade to coincide with previously scheduled elections in Novi Sad, Nis, and other cities and municipalities.

In Belgrade, voters elected representatives to four-year terms in the 110-member City Assembly who in turn vote on a mayor.

"I'm not particularly involved in politics, but I'm aware that we should go to the elections and vote for the one whose ideology suits us most," Nina, a voter in the capital, told RFE/RL's Balkan Service on election day.

She said she didn't expect "anything special" from the vote.

Another Belgrade voter said politicians are "full of promises" that they forget just as soon as they're elected. "You know, in my lifetime, that's happened four times, so people should come to their senses."

Georgia's divisive "foreign agent" piece of legislation has become law despite weeks of mass protests and warnings from the United States and the European Union that the move jeopardizes the Caucasus country's path toward North-Atlantic integration.

The law was published in Georgia's Legislative Gazette on June 3 shortly after being signed by parliamentary Speaker Shalva Papuashvil. Prior to that, Georgia's pro-Western President President Salome Zurabishvili had refused to endorse the measure after it was returned to her. On May 28, a parliamentary vote overrode her veto of the bill from May 18.

According to Georgia's constitution, if the president doesn't endorse the law after an override by lawmakers, parliament's speaker then has the right to promulgate it.

The law, which has been widely criticized as being modeled on a similar Russian law used by the Kremlin to repress dissent and stifle democratic opposition, requires civil-society and media organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from foreign sources to submit to oversight that could encompass sanctions for as-yet-undefined criminal offenses.

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Georgian Woman Confronts Man Who Helped Forcibly Detain Her At Protest Against 'Russian Law'

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"Emotions have subsided and many of the citizens who joined the protest of the radical opposition have already seen that, in fact, the law of transparency will increase the responsibility and accountability of nongovernmental organizations and their financiers, will improve the political system, weaken disinformation, reduce radicalism and polarization," Papuashvili said on June 3 as he announced the move at a briefing in parliament.

The law came into force partially after its publication. It will come into force in full within 60 days, after government agencies have carried out the necessary preparatory work.

In a first sign that Georgian Dream intends to use the law as a coercive tool, Georgian Dream General Secretary Kakha Kaladze, who is also the mayor of the capital, Tbilisi, said after the law was published in the Legislative Gazette that the organizations that receive funding from abroad and do not register in a database that the law provides for will be fined and their assets will be seized.

"If they don't comply, there are financial penalties and then confiscation," Kaladze said. "They will not be able to function and receive funds."

Critics say the legislation was introduced by the dominant Georgian Dream, founded by Russian-friendly Georgian tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili, in order to cement the party's grip on power ahead of elections in October seen as crucial for Georgia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

Zurabishvili, whose veto was overridden 84-4 in parliament, has urged Georgians to mobilize to win the upcoming elections in October.

SEE ALSO:

The Next Front In The Battle Over Georgia's 'Foreign Agent' Law 

Georgia's civil society has for years sought to move the country away from the influence of Russia, which still maintains thousands of troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two breakaway Georgian regions that Moscow recognized as independent states following a five-day war with Tbilisi in 2008.

Georgia obtained the coveted EU candidate status in December, but it has yet to start actual accession talks, which could last for years. There had been hope such talks could start later this year, but Brussels has warned that the "foreign agent" law could endanger the path toward Europe.

Georgian Dream has insisted it remains committed to joining Western institutions and the law was only meant to increase transparency on NGO funding.

Western governments and organizations have issued stark statements, warning the Georgian Dream government that the Tbilisi's EU path will be blocked if the law comes into force.

Prime Minister and Georgian Dream Chairman Irakli Kobakhidze, who along with Ivanishvili and other allies has blamed opposition to the bill in part on a vague "global party of war," said on May 31 he had called for a review of relations with the United States, Tbilisi's main Western backer.

SEE ALSO:

After 'Foreign Agent' Law Defeat, Georgian Protesters Set Sights on Elections

Hundreds of people have been arrested during weeks of protests against the piece of legislation. Some of the protesters detained during demonstrations countered by tear gas, water cannons, and allegedly rubber bullets that injured opponents and journalists could face years in prison on criminal charges.

Late on June 2, thousands gathered in Tbilisi for a concert designed to air their grievances and raise funds for those detained in earlier protests.

Demonstrators at the Georgian Musicians for a European Future event, which began at 10 p.m. local time in Meidani Square, called for unity and "ultimate victory" as they denounced the widely criticized legislation, which threatens to stall Georgia's EU drive and dampen relations with the United States.

"Our undefeated unity was born in the battle for a common goal," a video shown at the concert in central Tbilisi stated.

The money raised at the event is designed to "help our comrades" who were "punished for their love of Georgia," the video statement said.

The previous day, Georgia's opposition United National Movement said its offices in Tbilisi were attacked overnight by dozens of masked men, with glass broken and equipment damaged.

It alleged that the damage was inflicted by 30-40 "titushky," a term for the frequently masked thugs who have beaten and harassed protesters since Georgian Dream announced in March that it was reintroducing the bill.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is in the Philippines on June 3 on a previously unannounced visit to promote a peace summit to be held later this month in Switzerland. Zelenskiy, who arrived in Manila from Singapore, where he attended the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security summit, met with Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos. "We discussed the inaugural Global Peace Summit and the importance of Southeast Asian countries being represented there. I am pleased that the Philippines will participate in the summit," Zelenskiy wrote on X. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.

Armenian Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian, who has become the face of anti-government protests, has called on supporters to gather early on June 3 in the capital, Yerevan, to continue demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. The 53-year-old cleric, backed by the opposition, began rallies in Yerevan on May 9 after leading protests in the northern Tavush Province against Pashinian's decision to cede several border areas to Azerbaijan. Pashinian has said the territorial concessions are necessary to prevent Azerbaijani military aggression against Armenia. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, click here.

Hundreds of people gathered in Kyiv on June 2 to honor the memory of Ukrainian journalist Iryna Tsybukh, who was killed in action while serving as a volunteer combat medic just days before her birthday. Tsybukh was killed on May 29 in the Kharkiv area, where Russian forces two months ago launched a major offensive against Ukrainian troops. She would have turned 26 on June. 1. The memorial service took place in St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral, followed by a procession to Independence Square in the capital. To see the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.

A 29-year-old police officer died on June 2 after being repeatedly stabbed during an attack at an anti-Islam rally in Germany. A knife-wielding man attacked and wounded several people on May 31 on the market square in the city of Mannheim in southwest Germany. Five people taking part in a rally organized by Pax Europa, a campaign group against radical Islam, were wounded in the attack. The motive of the 25-year-old perpetrator, who was born in Afghanistan, remains unclear. He underwent surgery after sustaining gunshot wounds during his capture, police said. The movement's treasurer, Stefanie Kizina, said the attack was aimed at Pax Europa board member Michael Stuerzenberger, who sustained serious injuries.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on June 2 that it should be clear to Moscow that NATO will be ready to defend itself if necessary. Speaking at the Eastern German Economic Forum also attended by Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, Scholz said Germany has played a leading role in NATO's presence in the Baltics on Russia's border. "And because the threat from Russia will continue, we and other allies decided last year to deploy additional units to the Baltic states and to station an entire brigade there permanently in future," Scholz said, according to a speech manuscript. "But this turnaround in security policy is necessary to show Russia: We are prepared to defend every square inch of NATO territory against attacks."

Two workers were killed in a fire at a LUKoil-owned refinery in the city of Ukhta, in the Komi region, during what Russia's Emergencies Ministry said on June 2 was scheduled technical work. An unknown number of people were also injured in the fire, which started in a storage tank, media reports said. Russian oil refineries have become a frequent target of Ukrainian drone attacks, but Vladimir Uyba, head of the region, said the fire was not related to drones. Local authorities said a commission had been established to investigate the cause of the blaze. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

TBILISI -- Georgian opponents of the recently passed "foreign agent" law increasing official scrutiny on outside funding of NGOs and online media gathered late on June 2 for a concert designed to air their grievances and raise funds for those detained in earlier protests.

Demonstrators at the "Georgian Musicians for a European Future" event, which began at 10 p.m. local time in Meidani Square, called for "unity" and "ultimate victory" as they denounced the widely criticized legislation, which threatens to stall Georgia's EU drive and dampen relations with the United States.

"Our undefeated unity was born in the battle for a common goal," a video shown at the concert in central Tbilisi stated.

"This unity is the path to the ultimate victory, the future. The authorities illegally seize young people fighting for freedom and impose fines."

The money raised at the event is designed to "help our comrades" who were "punished for their love of Georgia," the video statement said.

Hundreds of people have been arrested during weeks of protests at the ruling Georgian Dream party's reintroduction of what critics call "the Russian law."

The action comes as the clock ticks down toward enactment of the law following a parliamentary override last week of President Salome Zurabishvili's veto.

SEE ALSO:

The Next Front In The Battle Over Georgia's 'Foreign Agent' Law 

Some of the protesters detained during demonstrations countered by tear gas, water cannon, and allegedly rubber bullets that injured opponents and journalists could face years in prison under criminal charges.

Billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream party has argued the legislation will increase transparency.

But critics including international rights groups and Western leaders see a threat of the law being used to suppress dissent and target political enemies the way a similar law has been used to jail and muzzle Russian detractors of President Vladimir Putin.

Georgia's opposition United National Movement said on June 1 that its offices in Tbilisi were attacked overnight by dozens of masked men, with glass broken and equipment damaged.

SEE ALSO:

Georgian Opposition Party Reports Attack On Tbilisi Offices

It alleged that the damage was inflicted by 30-40 "titushky," a term for the frequently masked thugs who have beaten and harassed protesters since Georgian Dream announced in March that it was reintroducing the bill.

The law requires any media outlet or NGO that gets more than 20 percent of its funding from abroad to register or face fines, although such groups must already disclose their funding to the state.

Domestic and international critics say the law leaves Georgians more vulnerable to Russian influence as Georgian Dream seemingly rebuffs democratic reforms and increasingly finds common cause with Moscow.

Georgia was granted EU candidate status in December but EU officials have repeatedly warned the "foreign influence" law threatens its path toward the 27-member bloc and said they are "considering all options to react."

Washington has announced targeted sanctions and a reassessment of bilateral relations over a law that Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested is aimed at "undermining democracy in Georgia."

Prime Minister and Georgian Dream Chairman Irakli Kobakhidze, who along with Ivanishvili and other allies has blamed opposition to the bill in part on a vague "global party of war," said on May 31 he had called for a review of relations with the United States.

Zurabishvili and other opponents have called on Georgians to direct their anger toward Georgian Dream in looming October elections.

SEE ALSO:

After 'Foreign Agent' Law Defeat, Georgian Protesters Set Sights on Elections

Some NGOs have vowed not to register and say they will pursue legal challenges to the law as it is implemented.

Iran's Foreign Ministry has summoned the Chinese ambassador in Tehran to protest about a China-U.A.E. statement related to Iran's sovereignty over three Islands also claimed by the U.A.E., Iranian state media reported on June 2. The islands - Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb -- are claimed by both countries but have been held by Iran since 1971, shortly before the seven Gulf emirates gained full independence from Britain and formed the U.A.E., which is now allied with Washington. "Iran's objection to the Chinese support of baseless claims in a shared U.A.E.-China statement has been expressed to the Chinese ambassador in Tehran," state media said. China has been one of Iran's biggest trading partners for the past decade.

The governor of Russia's southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine said on June 2 that a deputy district leader and Security Council secretary was killed and three other local officials suffered minor injuries when ammunition "detonated" in the Korochansky district, without elaborating. Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov also said via Telegram that six civilians were injured by shelling while most of them were traveling by bus in the city of Shebekino, which lies about 6 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. RFE/RL could not confirm the reports. The Russian Defense Ministry said two Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over Belgorod and the neighboring Kursk region, and another over the Sea of Azov. Belgorod and nearby regions have been subjected to nearly daily shelling and drone strikes in recent months that Russia blames on Ukraine. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

BELGRADE – The ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) appears headed for victory in a repeat election in the capital, Belgrade, and elsewhere after an earlier round did not produce a clear winner and led to opposition protests over what many critics saw as illegal election interference by the SNS.

The opposition also complained of irregularities in Serbia's June 2 vote, leaving the political environment tense in the Balkan nation of 7.1 million people.

Based on 51 percent of processed samples in Belgrade, polling firm CeSID projected that the SNS, backed by President Aleksandar Vucic, was leading at 53 percent, with the closest competitor -- center-right Kreni-Promeni (Move-Change) led by Savo Manojlovic -- second at 17.2 percent.

"This is...an incredible victory," Vucic said, adding in a news conference that his party would have a majority in the 110-seat Belgrade City Assembly and also in the northern city of Novi Sad.

However, Manojlovic said his coalition would not recognize the results. "These were most irregular elections ever," he told supporters late on June 2.

Turnout was lower than in the December 2023 elections, as some opposition parties decided not to participate, alleging that conditions for democratic and fair elections had not been met.

Opposition coalitions Serbia Against Violence and NADA (Hope) accused the coalition led by the SNS of electoral theft in the December 17 vote, and numerous irregularities were identified by both international and domestic observer missions.

Serbian authorities have repeatedly denied that there were any serious electoral irregularities.

Observers and opposition parties in the June 2 election again reported what they said were irregularities during the day.

The nongovernmental CRTA observer organization said it had filed seven criminal complaints over alleged irregularities at polling stations, claiming its members had recorded incidents of the organized transporting of voters to the polls and money being exchanged for votes.

Opposition representatives also reported that so-called "call centers" run by the SNS were attempting to influence voting in Belgrade and Novi Sad.

The opposition says the call centers are being used by the SNS to bribe voters and that they contain alternative voting lists, reflecting allegations made during the earlier round of balloting.

WATCH: Belgrade voters speaking to RFE/RL expressed lukewarm enthusiasm and low expectations for the repeat vote.

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Serbian Voters Skeptical About Repeated Belgrade Elections

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Ana Brnabic, a former SNS prime minister and current parliament speaker, denied that any improper activities were being carried out at the call centers.

"We have a call center. We have members who, on Election Day, invite other members and sympathizers, family members, neighbors, and friends to ask them to go to the polls and vote," she wrote on social media.

"What's the problem? Apparently in that instead of sitting in their call centers and working, they're sitting in ours wondering why parties have call centers," she added.

Police in the northwestern Serbian city of Novi Sad claimed that some officers had been attacked, although law enforcement officials added that "there have been no serious incidents."

Following voting in December, no party was able to form a majority in the Belgrade City Assembly in an election that was highly criticized by international observers who cited "irregularities" in the local and national votes.

Those concerns echoed opposition accusations that President Aleksandar Vucic's ruling SNS party and its allies had improperly bused in voters and otherwise compromised the election, particularly in Belgrade.

Despite the alleged infractions and a strong showing in the nationwide vote by Vucic's party, SNS opponents including the Serbia Against Violence coalition formed after twin mass shootings last year garnered enough support in the capital to fuel large street protests and mobilize anti-Vucic sentiment.

An amendment to Serbia's local-election laws allowed for the voting in Belgrade to coincide with previously scheduled elections in Novi Sad, Nis, and other cities and municipalities.

But some opposition groups said they would still boycott the voting because problems including with the voter registry, undue influence by local power brokers, intimidation, and other problematic aspects had not been fixed.

A working group comprising ruling and opposition representatives was formed in late April to address some of the 25 recommendations from the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to improve the vote process. ODIHR observers are in Serbia for the June 2 voting.

Representatives of the SNS and coalition partners denied accusations of election fraud and promised they would implement all 25 recommendations from the ODIHR.

In Belgrade, voters elected representatives to four-year terms in the 110-member City Assembly who in turn vote on a mayor.

"I'm not particularly involved in politics, but I'm aware that we should go to the elections and vote for the one whose ideology suits us most," Nina, a voter in the capital, told RFE/RL's Balkan Service on election day.

She said she didn't expect "anything special" from the vote.

Another Belgrade voter, said politicians are "full of promises" that they forget just as soon as they're elected. "You know, in my lifetime, that's happened four times, so people should come to their senses."

The unified, pro-European opposition campaigned fiercely in Belgrade ahead of the voting in December on the message that taking the capital could be the first step toward ousting Vucic and his allies, who have governed since 2012.

Vucic has embraced Russian and Chinese trade and diplomatic ties and resisted EU calls for Belgrade to join sanctions on Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine since February 2022.

Iran has summoned the Swedish acting charge d'affaires in Tehran over what it alleges were "baseless and malicious" remarks, Tehran said on June 2, after Sweden's Sapo intelligence service accused Iran of "using criminal networks" in Sweden to attack Israeli embassies in Europe since October 7 and otherwise threaten the Scandinavian country's security. Iranian Press TV quoted the Foreign Ministry as telling the Swedish diplomat that the claims by Swedish counterintelligence head Daniel Stenling of Iranian recruitment "to target the Israeli [government's] interests" were "based on incorrect information." Israel's Mossad intelligence agency publicly accused Iran of carrying out attacks on Israeli embassies since the attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians and troops ignited the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. Hamas has been declared a terrorist group by the United States and European Union.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with foreign leaders in Singapore on the final day of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security summit on June 2, where he sought to rally international support ahead of a Swiss peace conference later this month despite what he said were Chinese efforts to undermine it.

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Zelenskiy said more than 100 countries and international organizations had committed to attending the mid-June peace gathering in Switzerland.

Russia hasn't been at the event in Singapore since it launched its two-year-old full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Zelenskiy and Ukraine's defense minister, Rustem Umerov, met in Singapore for more than an hour with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin following this week's U.S. easing of restrictions on the use of its weapons by Kyiv to publicly permit Ukraine to hit targets inside Russia.

A Pentagon official said Austin "reaffirmed the U.S. commitment" to "strong support" for Ukraine and both sides vowed to "further strengthen [their] strategic defense partnership."

Earlier, Zelenskiy met with a bipartisan delegation from the U.S. House of Representatives on the sidelines of the conference and said both sides "noted the importance of allowing Ukraine to use American weapons to strike military targets on the territory of Russia in the areas bordering the Kharkiv region."

Zelenskiy said that "The issue of further strengthening of sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation was also raised."

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Zelenskiy Meets With U.S. Lawmakers Ahead Of Speech At Shangri-La Dialogue

The Ukrainian president also met with Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto, who at the same summit last year proposed an Indonesian plan for ending the war in Ukraine.

After meeting with Jose Ramos-Horta, the president of Timor-Leste, Zelenskiy said Ramos-Horta would also attend the peace summit planned for June 15-16 in Switzerland.

"It is very important for us to begin the process of establishing a just peace," Zelenskiy said. "Russia does not want to end the war. Therefore, we must work together with the entire world to bring peace closer."

Zelenskiy said recently amid reports that the European Union was trying to organize peace talks with Russian participation in Saudi Arabia for later this year that he had "no faith" in Russian President Vladimir Putin and around 200 rounds of talks dating back to Russia's occupation of Crimea in 2014 had gone nowhere.

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Zelenskiy Sees 'No Faith' In Putin As EU Mulls Russia Peace Talks

China, which has said it wants peace in Ukraine but has tightened relations with Moscow since the invasion began, has said it will not participate in the Swiss talks.

Zelenskiy told journalists that he regretted he couldn't meet the Chinese delegation in Singapore and that Beijing wouldn't be represented in Switzerland.

He added that "China, unfortunately...is working hard today for countries not to come to the peace summit." He also said Chinese support for Russia would prolong the war.

U.S. Pentagon chief Austin met with his Chinese counterpart, Defense Minister Dong Jun, in Singapore in their first face-to-face meeting since those contacts broke down in 2022 with tensions ratcheted up over bilateral issues, Taiwan, and Beijing's refusal to condemn and punish Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Also on June 2, Ukraine's military said its air defenses had intercepted 24 of 25 Russian attack drones overnight as the country sought to rebound from one of the biggest overnight attacks in weeks on Ukraine's power infrastructure a day earlier.

That attack killed at least eight people in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, police said, where a Russian offensive began last month.

As a result of those and other damaging attacks, state energy provider Ukrenerho said it was reintroducing blackouts for households and industrial users "in all regions of Ukraine" in the early morning and evening hours on June 2.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on May 31 that President Joe Biden had given Ukraine the go-ahead to use U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia for the limited purpose of defending Kharkiv as it tries to defeat Russian troops that began a full-scale invasion in February 2022.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP