Take iodine? Close the windows? Can you eat fish? Berries? Mushrooms? Lack of information worries some and angers others after mysterious blast in Russia's Far North.

https://www.rferl.org/a/information-vacuum-around-north-russia-blast-riles-locals/30113448.html

The Kremlin aims to offset Russia’s declining population with measures that include bringing in up to 10 million Russian-speaking migrants in the coming years.

Kyiv fears Gazprom will completely stop gas transit through Ukraine next year when the Nord Stream 2 pipeline network goes online.

The replacement fuel would come from Romania via Ukraine's shared border with Moldova.

There is just one problem: that alternative gas pipeline would cross Transdniester, Moldova's pro-Russian breakaway region..

https://www.rferl.org/a/kyiv-pursues-additional-reverse-gas-flows-in-preparation-for-potential-russian-gas-transit-cutoff/30118706.html

🇪🇪 🔗 🇱🇻 🔗 🇱🇹


How the fluke of a lifetime got one photographer into the air on the day when over a million Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians formed a 675-kilometer human chain:


https://www.rferl.org/a/how-a-photographer-captured-the-1989-baltic-way-protest-from-above/30119472.html

🇷🇺 ⁉️ 🇫🇷

Macron's statements during the meeting with Putin got lost in translation in the Russian version:

"Yellow Vests were able to take part in the elections" became "Yellow Vests were unable to take part in the European elections," among other things.

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-kremlin-macron-translation-criticism/30123615.html

80 years ago today, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union changed Europe's borders in secret.

Not all Russians are much aware of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact though: https://www.rferl.org/a/molotov-ribbentrop-what-do-russians-know-of-key-wwii-pact/30123950.html

Put your paws together for the 48 canine astronauts in celebration of today's International Dog Day! (Yep, that's a thing. Put it in your calendar).

"The presence of decay products like barium and strontium is coming from a nuclear chain reaction. It is proof that it was a nuclear reactor that exploded." bit.ly/2HpHLQX

🛡️ Two important updates on political games over arms deals and military business:

Ukrainian defense company Motor Sich, the world’s largest producer of helicopter and airplane engines, will be sold – but to whom?

At stake for Ukraine are billions of dollars of investment from China, thousands of jobs, and eventual NATO membership.

Washington does not want to see it sold to China.

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukrainian-aircraft-motor-sich-u-s--china-rivalry/30132082.html

Russia and Turkey are exploring the possibility of another deal that could cause further tensions with Ankara’s NATO allies.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Russia’s MAKS-2019 air show and reportedly expressed interest in buying the Russian Sukhoi Su-57 stealth fighter jets and Su-35 aircraft.

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-turkey-discuss-sale-of-stealth-fighter-su-35-jet/30133297.html

RFE/RL uncovered rare photos of an anti-Soviet propaganda exhibition held in Nazi-occupied Prague.

https://www.rferl.org/a/nazi-exhibition-in-occupied-prague-paints-grotesque-image-of-life-under-bolshevism/30132846.html

Soviet scientists didn't want to wait tens of thousands of years to keep foxes as pets. So they decided to speed up the evolutionary process.

For some, the first day of school is a horrific anniversary: 15 years ago, Chechen militants took over a thousand teachers, students and their relatives hostage in a school in Beslan, a town in North Ossetia, Russia.

The tragedy, lasting for days, reached a tipping point when Russian security forces stormed the building. In the battle, 330 hostages died, including 186 children.

And some victims are still waiting for “a worthy investigation.”

https://www.rferl.org/a/beslan-fifteen-years-on/30139504.html

One protester recieved a two-year prison sentence for grabbing a police officer by the arm.

https://www.rferl.org/a/prison-russian-activists-rally/30144344.html

More than 40% of Russians believe the police used an unjustifiable amount of force in suppressing protests in Moscow. Several protesters have now been handed lengthy jail sentences.

Cosmonauts, screws and "strolls:" unless you're paying close attention, Moscow protests can be a bit confusing. Here is the lingo behind the city's summer of protests.

After Moscow's summer of weekly protests, the ruling United Russia party lost a third of its support in the capital's city council. It now has 25 out of 45 — enough to retain its majority, but still a significant gain for the opposition.

https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-s-party-takes-hit-in-moscow-municipal-election-after-protest-filled-summer/30154032.html

🇩🇪 🛂 🇭🇺

Thirty years ago today, Hungary tore a big hole in the Iron Curtain. Still a socialist republic, the government decided to open its border with Austria and allow East German "tourists" to pass through, disregarding Soviet leadership. The result: about 70,000 East Germans escaped through Hungary and Austria to West Germany -- within days! Some celebrated with champagne, others waved flags triumphantly, some just ran for it quickly.

https://www.rferl.org/a/hungary-1989-east-germany/30156892.html

A Russian election observer who suspected officials were carrying out voter fraud paid for his diligence with a sucker punch to the body. And police indifference.

https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-police-stand-idly-by-as-election-observer-sucker-punched/30160427.html