It may have seemed unremarkable at the time. But Gordon Sondland’s brief July visit to Kyiv is making waves now, ahead of his scheduled public testimony in the U.S. impeachment inquiry.

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-impeachment-sondland-lunch-july-kyiv/30280998.html

Protests in dozens of places thoughout Iran have led to the deaths of as many as 200 or more people. The protest wave erupted after the government announced on November 15 that it was rationing gasoline purchases and cutting subsidies.

https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-claims-victory-over-enemy-conspiracy-as-death-toll-from-protests-rises/30282613.html

Images of destroyed buildings in the capital, Tehran, have emerged despite an internet blackout:

https://www.rferl.org/a/photos-from-iran-show-extent-of-damage-after-protests/30282801.html

How to massively plunder one of the poorest countries on Earth? We spent months with OCCRP and its Kyrgyz center Kloop following leads provided by a self-confessed money launderer, who was shot dead before publication.

His name was Aierken Saimaiti. He moved more than $700 million out of Kyrgyzstan. That’s around 8% of the country’s GDP.

When we were working on this story, Kyrgyz journalists received credible threats to their safety. They were also being watched. Saimaiti’s killing only made the threat more urgent.

This investigative project will stand as Saimaiti’s final word, showing in unprecedented detail how a small clique enriched itself at the expense of the Kyrgyz people. This is how: https://www.rferl.org/a/30284703.html

Serbia says it has uncovered a major Russian spy network on its territory, but that ties with Moscow are still strong and that Russian President Vladimir Putin didn't know about it.

bit.ly/33csmf4

Police officers in Turkmenistan have been given about a month to get their weight under 100kg or lose their jobs. The new Interior Minister "doesn't like fat cops."

https://www.rferl.org/a/fat-cops-in-turkmenistan-told-lose-weight-or-lose-job-/30291506.html

🇦🇹 🇧🇾 🇧🇴 🇧🇬 🇨🇲 🇨🇱 🇫🇷 🇩🇪 🇮🇱 🇮🇹 🇨🇮 🇱🇾 🇲🇬 🇲🇩 🇲🇪 🇲🇿 🇳🇱 🇲🇰 🇿🇦 🇸🇩 🇪🇸 🇨🇫 🇨🇩 🇺🇸

All of these countries have accused Russia of trying to meddle in their elections. What is going on?

"You are mine and I am responsible for you." A phone recording between a Kremlin-linked oligarch and a cryptocurrency operator hints at deeper FSB involvement in the Russian bitcoin universe.
https://www.rferl.org/a/how-much-did-russian-spy-agencies-rely-on-bitcoin-new-hints-in-leaked-recordings-/30297083.html

💸 🇪🇺 Need to keep selling wine or operating hotels or ferries, but EU sanctions over territorial integrity are in the way?

Our joint investigation with Current Time shows how EU companies sidestep Crimea sanctions:

https://www.rferl.org/a/crimea-how-eu-firms-sidestepping-sanctions-making-money-on-peninsula/30303687.html

Belarus’s economic stability has been predicated on billions of dollars in de facto subsidies from Moscow, amounting to some 3% of the country’s GDP. Russia is increasingly angling for compensation.

https://www.rferl.org/a/day-of-reckoning-as-pressure-mounts-belarusians-balk-at-prospect-of-russia-merger/30309691.html

Today's Russia news:

The World Anti-Doping Agency has banned Russian athletes and officials from the Olympics and world championships in a range for sports for four years after concluding that Moscow tampered with laboratory data.
https://bit.ly/2P6lCvx

Putin and Zelenskiy meet for the first time, along with their German and French counterparts, to discuss the war in eastern Ukraine. Russia has said the two will also meet one-on-one. Ukraine says such a meeting is being considered.
https://bit.ly/344Yp0X

Yakut shaman Aleksandr Gabyshev is on the march again after being detained and transferred to a psychiatric clinic in September. Gabyshev's stated aim is to reach Moscow and drive "Putin out of the Kremlin." The shaman said "God told me Putin is not a human, but instead a demon and has ordered me to drive him out." He made it about 2,000 kilometers on his last attempt to walk from his native Yakutia, in Russia's far east, to the capital.
https://bit.ly/2YvIYh4

No perceptible progress on the thorniest issues stoking the war in eastern Ukraine, but a Paris summit produced an agreement on a prisoner swap and a renewed commitment to adhere to a frequently violated cease-fire.

Five takeaways from the talks:

https://www.rferl.org/a/five-takeaways-from-the-paris-summit-on-ukraine-war/30318186.html

The shaman who wants to walk from Russia's Far East and "drive Putin out" has been fined for damaging a policeman's uniform with a traditional Yakut sword.

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-yakut-shaman-fined-march-to-moscow-putin-out-fined/30320227.html

Uzbek farmers are becoming victims of shadowy private monopolies introduced under the guise of "reform." "I prefer to be unemployed," one farmer told us.

https://www.rferl.org/a/uzbek-farmers-get-cluster-bombed-by-reforms/30328781.html

A Russian military surveillance plane flew over one of President Trump's New Jersey golf courses while he was vacationing there in 2017. Now, the U.S. might withdraw from the treaty that allows the flights.

A former police officer says a death squad operated in Belarus when Lukashenka was consolidating power 20 years ago. People close to the cases find the man making the claims credible, but others see a potential Russian ploy as Moscow pushes for more power over Minsk.

https://www.rferl.org/a/belarus-death-squad-chilling-claims-a-shock-but-no-surprise-some-see-kremlin-hand/30332590.html

An exclusive London mansion, Dubai high-rises, and a "haunted house": See how a shadowy Central Asian cargo tycoon poured millions into real estate abroad. Part three of our joint investigation with OCCRP and Kloop:

https://www.rferl.org/a/a-real-estate-empire-built-on-dark-money/30340563.html

🎥Mini-doc: Operation Storm-333

40 years ago today, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. The events of December 27, 1979, were out of a Cold War spy thriller: poisonings, assassinations, and a bloody coup.

The Soviet Union launched a secret mission to assassinate the Afghan president and seize control of Kabul.

Our correspondent Frud Bezhan traveled to Kabul and found key eyewitnesses who were willing to recount what they saw, felt, and did during those momentous days.

https://www.rferl.org/a/operation-storm-333-the-secret-soviet-plot-to-assassinate-the-afghan-president-/30340616.html