⚡Here’s two important developments to follow today

🇺🇦 Ex-comedian Volodymyr Zelensky was sworn in as President of Ukraine today.

He announced immediately that he will be dissolving the parliament.

He also called for dismissal of top security officials including the Prosecutor-General, the defense minister and the head of the state security service.

We will keep you updated on the latest in our live blog:

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-live-blog-election-events-as-they-happen/29467569.html

🇦🇲 Judiciary reform, Armenia-style? This is Judge Davit Balayan trying to get into his courthouse in Yerevan, only to be blocked by protesters who were following the call of PM Pashinian earlier for a "second phase" of revolution targeting the judiciary.

More Armenia updates here: https://www.rferl.org/a/armenians-heed-call-to-block-courts-pashinian-to-speak-on-second-phase-of-revolution/29952220.html

Ukraine will hold snap parliamentary elections on July 21. Newly-inaugurated President Volodymyr Zelenskiy cited low public trust in the Rada as the "main reason" for dissolving it.

https://www.rferl.org/a/zelenskiy-meets-with-leading-lawmakers-on-parliament-dissolution-plan/29954284.html

27% of Russians would not appreciate having gay neighbors.

The BBC will air a show in which a 3D animation of Vladimir Putin interviews human guests in real time, and the Kremlin doesn't seem to be amused.

https://www.rferl.org/a/bbc-has-no-permission-for-putin-image-in-new-3d-talk-show-kremlin-says/29958405.html

More Russians support equal rights for gay people now than at any time in the last 14 years, according to a new Levada poll.

"If unrest or demonstrations break out... will we use weapons against protesters if an order is given?"

https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-soldier-backtracks-on-claims-troops-were-tested-on-willingness-to-shoot-protesters/29966046.html

Critics say the proposed legislation falls in line with attempts to restrict access to information in the wake of several high-profile investigations into official corruption.


https://www.rferl.org/a/ngering-anti-corruption-crusaders-russia-proposes-banning-access-to-land-registry/29968557.html

Are you into bitcoin?

Just don’t black out your entire neighborhood.

https://www.rferl.org/a/outside-moscow-one-man-s-bitcoin-farm-has-saddled-dozens-with-electricity-blackouts-debt/29970682.html

"I don't want to give up my work and hobbies."

"I'm not willing to sacrifice my right to watch a football match at the stadium with my friends."

"I didn't have a chance to chase my dreams, but my daughter now has this opportunity. I don't want to sacrifice her future, her rights. That's my red line."

https://www.rferl.org/a/myredline-the-afghan-women-who-won-t-accept-taliban-peace-at-any-cost/29972913.html

Recognize these faces?

https://www.rferl.org/a/photos-of-world-leaders-when-they-were-young/29974554.html

Feeling sorry for your farm animals? Russian farmer Yury Shadrin, who faces charges under new legislation forbidding language that disrespects the state, names his after Russian officials: "when you give them such names, it's less of a shame to stick the knife in."

https://www.rferl.org/a/the-whole-hog-new-russian-law-aims-to-put-kremlin-s-critics-to-pasture/29981103.html

Will it take the tragic police shooting of a 5-year-old for Ukraine's powerful interior minister to finally step down? https://www.rferl.org/a/across-ukraine-calls-grow-for-powerful-interior-minister-s-exit-after-police-shooting-of-5-year-old/29983280.html

Did Zelenskiy steal Poroshenko's speech in Brussels?

https://www.rferl.org/a/zelenskiy-poroshenko-and-the-curious-case-of-the-plagiarism-in-brussels/29984859.html

Meduza journalist Ivan Golunov broke down in tears as he appeared in a Moscow court on drug-trafficking charges widely thought to be politically motivated. "This is just the beginning of the struggle," his lawyer says.

UPDATE: Golunov to be freed, could have faced up to 20 years in prison if he had been tried and convicted.

https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-investigative-journalist-golunov-appeals-house-arrest/29993261.html

Each year, more than 100,000 people are convicted under Russia's notorious Criminal Code Article 228, which activists say has become one of the authorities' preferred weapons in an ongoing war against political opponents, civil-society activists, and inconvenient journalists.

https://www.rferl.org/a/how-many-of-russia-s-opposition-activists-and-journalists-really-have-drug-problems-/29995775.html

“If you return to Ukraine, we will kill you. If you talk about what happened to you, remember that you have a family in Ukraine.”

https://www.rferl.org/a/more-than-500-torture-cases-documented-by-un-in-ukraine-conflict/29997804.html

A Russian journalist's release reflects a "fiercer" confrontation between the people and those in power. An unsanctioned protest in Moscow the day after the release of Ivan Golunov, an investigative journalist detained on bogus drug charges, saw more people arrested than at the Bolotnaya Square protest back in 2012, on the day before Putin returned to the Kremlin for his current presidential term.

https://www.rferl.org/a/the-week-in-russia-one-step-forward-at-least-530-steps-back/29999771.html