Russian president Vladimir Putin just made it easier for people living in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions controlled by separatists to obtain Russian citizenship. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv called the move "absurd and destabilizing," while Ukrainian president-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy called for "increased diplomatic and sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation."

Oleksandr Turchynov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security Council, issued a statement saying that "Putin is creating legal conditions for an official application of armed forces against Ukraine."

https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-signs-decree-simplifying-russian-citizenship-for-ukraine-separatists-luhansk-donetsk/29901043.html

After a funnyman won Ukraine’s election, a telling meme showed Russian President Vladimir Putin warning a comedian: ‘Don’t even think about it!’

https://www.rferl.org/a/the-week-in-russia-passport-politics-in-the-donbas-a-power-play-in-vladivostok/29906061.html

Turkey is told it can't have both the Russian S-400 air-defense system and U.S. F-35 fighter jets. Who benefits from the confusion?

Most of the 45,000 children were born between 2013 and 2017, when IS controlled nearly one-third of Iraq. Without birth certificates and ID documents, many cannot go to school or receive vaccinations.

https://www.rferl.org/a/human-time-bomb-charity-warns-45-000-born-under-is-in-iraq-may-become-stateless/29912356.html

🇻🇪 🇷🇺 Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has called for a military uprising.

What could Russia, backing Maduro’s government, lose?

🛢️ Oil investments worth $9 billion 💸

🛡️ Military equipment sales

🌎 Reputation as global player


https://www.rferl.org/a/explainer-venezuela-coup-bad-news-moscow/29913164.html

Nik, a Jehovah's Witness who fled Russia, describes his 78 days in jail as filled with psychological torture.

He says the Russian government is "chopping off the branch it's sitting on" by persecuting worshippers like him.

https://www.rferl.org/a/exiled-jehovahs-witness-i-dont-know-what-the-russian-government-is-doing-/29917297.html

Is Putin’s citizenship offer an attempt at a "quiet annexation" of eastern Ukraine?

Is the way for Putin to retain power after leaving the Kremlin through Belarus?

This and other important developments in Russia this week:

https://www.rferl.org/a/the-week-in-russia-not-so-quiet-on-the-western-front/29919256.html

41 people lost their lives as a Sukhoi Superjet SSJ100, operated by Aeroflot, bust into flames during an emergency landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.

At least two children were among the dead.

A passenger who survived said there was "no way out" for people in the rear of the plane.

Investigators are looking into three main possible causes of the disaster:

- Insufficiently skilled pilots, air-traffic controllers, and technicians who examined the aircraft
- A faulty plane
- Bad weather

https://www.rferl.org/a/fourty-one-reported-killed-after-jet-makes-emergency-landing-at-moscow-airport/29922441.html

More than 80 years after Stalin's "Great Terror," about 70% of Russians believe he played a positive role in the country's history. He's not the only ruthless historical leader Russians admire today.

🎥 RFE/RL Documentary

40 years of Soviet nuclear bomb tests have left a toxic wasteland in Kazakhstan. And very real consequences for the locals:

“The test explosions in the atmosphere were conducted to measure their impact on the human body. That makes us guinea pigs.”

“It’s like we’re being shot and killed, but we don’t know who’s responsible. Is it radiation, politics, or something else?”

https://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-russia--nuclear-toxic-test-sites-missiles/29916023.html

Former Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbaev was present at today's Victory Day parade in Moscow, which was not attended by any foreign leaders.

Victory Day parades were held in a number of other former Soviet countries, including Georgia, where President Salome Zurabishvili was heckled and verbally harassed by anti-Russia demonstrators as she laid flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

https://www.rferl.org/a/end-of-wwii-commemorated-by-victory-parade-in-moscow-s-red-square/29930315.html

Was Mena Mangali’s ex-husband responsible for her death?

https://www.rferl.org/a/after-killing-of-female-afghan-journalist-suspicion-falls-closer-to-home/29938033.html

While U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, American officials have defended a military buildup in the Persian Gulf amid reports that the White House is reviewing plans that could see up to 120,000 troops deployed to the Middle East to counter Iran.

https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s-defends-gulf-military-buildup-says-inot-spoiling-for-fight-/29940124.html

What if the Holocaust was filmed on a smartphone and posted on Instagram?

Side-lined in a strategy job, Romania’s controversial anticorruption fighter Laura Koevesi has her eyes on a new, top job.

She enjoys backing by the EU, but her own country seems to be doing everything possible to stop her.

“Of course, I made mistakes, but I never broke the law intentionally and I didn’t commit disciplinary errors.”

https://www.rferl.org/a/interview-laura-codruta-koevesi-the-b%C3%AAte-noire-of-romanian-corruption/29944326.html