Author: Mirits

Ukraine’s military said Thursday it shot down 20 of the 31 drones that Russian forces launched in overnight attacks. The intercepts took place over the Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Kyiv regions, Ukraine’s air force said. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday it destroyed five Ukrainian aerial drones over the Volgograd, Voronezh and Belgorod regions. Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram a drone attack damaged several apartment buildings and a house, but that no one was hurt. The latest round of aerial attacks between the two sides followed a more active than usual day of drone and missile assaults. U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday condemned a massive Russian attack that Ukraine’s military said included 106 drones and 78 missiles. “The purpose of this outrageous attack was to cut off the Ukrainian people’s access to heat and electricity during winter and to jeopardize the safety of its grid. Let me be clear: the Ukrainian people deserve to live in peace and safety,” Biden said in a statement. The United States, Biden said, “has provided Ukraine with hundreds of air defense missiles, and more are on the way. I have directed the Department of Defense to continue its surge of weapons deliveries to Ukraine.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia targeted energy infrastructure as part of an attempt to “fight for a blackout in Ukraine.” Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement it struck critical energy infrastructure facilities that support Ukraine’s military. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.  …

BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN — Experts say Kyrgyzstan’s efforts to enforce Western sanctions against companies supplying dual-use goods and equipment to Russia are constrained by opposition from business, limited bureaucratic resources, and unwillingness to antagonize the Kremlin. Since 2022, the U.S. and EU governments designated a dozen Kyrgyz companies as violators of international Russia sanctions. According to the U.S. Treasury Department website, “Entities based in the Kyrgyz Republic have been frequent exporters of controlled electronics components and other technology to Russia since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Some of these shipments have subsequently supplied sensitive dual-use goods to entities in Russia’s defense sector.” There has been a significant rise in trade between Kyrgyzstan and Russia since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with this year’s Kyrgyz exports to Russia through November up 47% from the same period last year, according to the Kyrgyz State Statistical Committee. Kyrgyzstan and Russia are both part of the Eurasian Economic Union, which also includes Armenia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. As some media reports have claimed, the Kremlin has relied on Kyrgyzstan’s membership in the bloc as a backdoor channel for sanctions evasion. Western actions targeting Kyrgyz companies have irked Kyrgyz officials, but they have taken a series of measures to avoid more sanctions. In October 2022, Kyrgyz banks stopped processing transactions with Russian MIR cards, the go-to payment system for Russian citizens. In August of this year, the Kyrgyz government set up a new government State Trading Company to engage in external trade and monitor private import and export transactions. A month later, a government decree obliged Kyrgyz banks to suspend monetary transactions of all local and foreign companies involved in reexporting goods from China, South Korea and the EU through Kyrgyzstan to Russia. The State Trading Company has been exempted from this requirement. Kyrgyz officials have portrayed the measures as effective, with Economy and Trade Minister Daniyar Amangeldiev saying in October, “We have obligations, and we are fulfilling them. Accordingly, such [sanctioned] goods never came to us, and they didn’t go through our territory.” However, regional experts paint a different picture. Bishkek political analyst Emil Juraev told VOA by email that Kyrgyzstan has limited capacity to enforce Western sanctions. “It is the purview of the [Kyrgyz] Customs Service, which must have full information about what kind of goods are being exported and imported. That way, it would be possible to see what is being shipped to … “Kyrgyzstan faces difficulties enforcing West’s Russia sanctions” →

LILLE, FRANCE — French authorities said they rescued 107 migrants trying to cross the Channel from France to England on Wednesday. Over the course of Christmas Day, 12 rescue operations were staged along the coast of northern France, including of a boat experiencing engine trouble, France’s Channel and North Sea maritime prefecture said in a statement. In the morning, 30 passengers were rescued from a boat near Dunkirk, while the others onboard wished to continue onward and were taken into British custody once they reached British waters, the maritime authorities said. Another boat experiencing engine damage was spotted later in the day, also near Dunkirk, and all 51 passengers were rescued. Later, 26 people were taken off a boat having trouble near Calais. The English Channel is “a particularly dangerous area, especially at the height of winter for precarious and overloaded boats,” the statement said. At least 73 migrants have died trying to cross the Channel to Britain in 2024, according to the Pas-de-Calais authorities, making it the deadliest year on record for the crossings. Tens of thousands more have reached Britain, where the government has vowed to crack down on people-smuggling gangs. In November, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for greater international cooperation against the gangs, which he described as a “global security threat similar to terrorism.”  …

ISTANBUL — In a dim one-room apartment in one of Istanbul’s poorest neighborhoods, 11-year-old Atakan Sahin curls up on a threadbare sofa with his siblings to watch TV while their mother stirs a pot of pasta.  The simple meal is all the family of six can look forward to most evenings. Atakan, his two younger brothers and 5-year-old sister are among the one-third of Turkish children living in poverty.  “Look at the state of my children,” said Rukiye Sahin, 28. “I have four children. They don’t get to eat chicken, they don’t get to eat meat. I send them to school with torn shoes.”  Persistently high inflation, triggered by currency depreciation and unconventional economic policies that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pursued but later abandoned, has left many families struggling to pay for food and housing.  Experts say it’s creating a lost generation of children who have been forced to grow up too quickly to help their families eke out an existence.  According to a 2023 joint report by UNICEF and the Turkish Statistical Institute, about 7 million of Turkey’s roughly 22.2 million children live in poverty.  Look at neighborhoods such as Istanbul’s Tarlabasi, where the Sahin family lives.  The Sahins eat sitting on the floor of their room — the same floor Rukiye and her husband sleep on while their children occupy the sofas. In the chilly early December night, a stove burns scraps of wood to keep them warm. They sometimes fall asleep to the sound of rats scuttling through the building.  Atakan spends his days helping his father scour trash bins in search of recyclable material to earn the family a meager income.  Poor children in Istanbul also earn money for their families by selling small items such as pens, tissues or bracelets at the bars and cafes in the city’s entertainment districts, often working late into the night.  “I can’t go to school because I have no money,” Atakan said. “We have nothing. Can you tell me how I can go? On sunny days, when I don’t go to school, I collect plastic and other things with my father. We sell whatever we find.”  The cash helps buy basic foodstuffs and pay for his siblings to attend school. On the days Atakan can attend, he is ill-equipped to succeed, lacking proper shoes, a coat and textbooks for the English class he loves.  The Sahins struggle to scrape together … “Turkey’s soaring costs creating ‘lost generation’ of children” →

HELSINKI — An undersea power cable linking Finland and Estonia suffered an outage Wednesday, Finland’s prime minister said, the latest in a series of incidents involving telecom cables and energy pipelines in the Baltic Sea.  Arto Pahkin, the head of operations of the Finnish electricity grid, told public broadcaster Yle that “the possibility of sabotage cannot be ruled out.”  Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said the power outage “does not affect electricity supplies for Finns.”  “The authorities remain vigilant even during Christmas and are investigating the situation,” he added on X.  Operator Fingrid said current on the EstLink 2 cable sending electricity to Estonia was cut at 12:26 p.m. local time.  Last month two telecom cables in the Baltic linking neighboring Sweden and Denmark were cut.   Suspicions rapidly fell on the Chinese ship Yi Peng 3, which according to ship tracking sites had sailed over the cables around the time they were cut.  Sweden said Monday that China had denied a request for prosecutors to conduct an investigation on the vessel and that it had left the area.  European officials said they suspected several of the incidents were sabotage linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the Kremlin dismissing that as absurd.  Early on November 17, the Arelion cable running from the Swedish island of Gotland to Lithuania was damaged.  The next day, the C-Lion 1 submarine cable connecting Helsinki and the German port of Rostock was cut south of Sweden’s Oland island.  Tensions have mounted around the Baltic since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.  In September 2022, a series of underwater blasts ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines that carried Russian gas to Europe, the cause of which has yet to be determined.  In October 2023, an undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was shut down after it was damaged by the anchor of a Chinese cargo ship.  …

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo’s election appeals authority on Wednesday canceled a ban on the main party of the ethnic Serb minority, allowing it to field candidates in the upcoming parliamentary election.  The Electoral Panel for Complaints and Appeals decided that the party, Srpska Lista, or Serb List, has “fulfilled the political terms to be certified for registration.”  The panel overturned a decision Monday by the Central Election Commission, which declined to certify the Srpska Lista party because of its nationalist stance and close ties to neighboring Serbia.  The panel ruled that the commission’s decision was “contrary to the legal dispositions referring to the application and certification of the political subjects.”  Of the 10 seats reserved for the Serb minority in the 120-member parliament, Srspka Lista holds nine. It will put up 48 candidates for the parliamentary election on February 9, expected to be a key test for Prime Minister Albin Kurti, whose governing party won in a landslide in 2021.  Western powers also expressed concern about the commission’s decision, fearing it might further aggravate the tense ties between Kosovo and Serbia, despite their efforts to normalize them.  Kosovo was a Serbian province until NATO’s 78-day bombing campaign in 1999 ended a war between Serbian government forces and ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo. The war left about 11,400 dead, mainly ethnic Albanians, and pushed Serbian forces out. Kosovo proclaimed independence in 2008, which Serbia doesn’t recognize.  Belgrade still considers Kosovo as its province and has a major influence on the Serb minority there. …

Vatican City — Pope Francis in his traditional Christmas message on Wednesday urged “all people of all nations” to find courage during this Holy Year “to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions” plaguing the world, from the Middle East to Ukraine, Africa to Asia. The pontiff’s “Urbi et Orbi” — “To the City and the World” — address serves as a summary of the woes facing the world this year. As Christmas coincided with the start of the 2025 Holy Year celebration that he dedicated to hope, Francis called for broad reconciliation, “even [with] our enemies.” “I invite every individual, and all people of all nations … to become pilgrims of hope, to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions,” the pope said from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to throngs of people below. The pope invoked the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, which he opened on Christmas Eve to launch the 2025 Jubilee, as representing God’s mercy, which “unties every knot; it tears down every wall of division; it dispels hatred and the spirit of revenge.” He called for arms to be silenced in war-torn Ukraine and in the Middle East, singling out Christian communities in Israel and the Palestinian territories, “particularly in Gaza where the humanitarian situation is extremely grave,” as well as Lebanon and Syria “at this most delicate time.” Francis repeated his calls for the release of hostages taken from Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. He cited a deadly outbreak of measles in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the suffering of the people of Myanmar, forced to flee their homes by “the ongoing clash of arms.” The pope likewise remembered children suffering from war and hunger, the elderly living in solitude, those fleeing their homelands, who have lost their jobs, and are persecuted for their faith. Pilgrims were lined up on Christmas Day to walk through the great Holy Door at the entrance of St. Peter’s Basilica, as the Jubilee is expected to bring some 32 million Catholic faithful to Rome. Traversing the Holy Door is one way that the faithful can obtain indulgences, or forgiveness for sins during a Jubilee, a once-every-quarter-century tradition that dates from 1300. Pilgrims submitted to security controls before entering the Holy Door, amid new security fears following a deadly Christmas market attack in Germany. Many paused to touch the door as they passed … “Pope urges ‘all people of all nations’ to silence arms and overcome divisions in Christmas address” →

Moscow — A Russian cargo ship called Ursa Major that sank in the Mediterranean Sea was the victim of “an act of terrorism,” state news agency RIA cited the vessel’s owner as saying on Wednesday.  The ship, built in 2009, sank after an explosion ripped through its engine room and two of its 16 crew were missing, the Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.  RIA cited Oboronlogistika, the ship’s ultimate owner and a company that is part of the Russian Defense Ministry’s military construction operations, as saying the vessel had been targeted in “a terrorist act.”  Oboronlogistika had previously said that the ship had been en route to the Russian far eastern port of Vladivostok with two giant port cranes lashed to its deck.    …

London — King Charles thanked the medics who have cared for him and his daughter-in-law Kate, after they both underwent treatment for cancer this year, in a Christmas Day message that touched on global conflicts and the summer’s riots in Britain. In his third Christmas TV broadcast since becoming king, Charles struck an unusually personal tone for the royal seasonal message, a tradition that dates back to a radio speech by George V in 1932. The year has been traumatic for the royals after Buckingham Palace said in February the 76-year-old had been diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer detected in tests after a corrective procedure for an enlarged prostate. A month later, Kate, the wife of his son and heir Prince William, said she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy for cancer that concluded in September. William has said the year has been brutal for the family. “All of us go through some form of suffering at some stage in our life, be it mental or physical,” Charles, who became king in 2022 after the death of Queen Elizabeth, said. His words were accompanied by footage of a visit he made to a cancer treatment center on returning to public duties in April and of one of Kate’s first engagements when she resumed working. “From a personal point of view, I offer special heartfelt thanks to the selfless doctors and nurses who this year have supported me and other members of my family through the uncertainties and anxieties of illness, and have helped provide the strength, care and comfort we have needed,” Charles said. “I am deeply grateful too to all those who have offered us their own kind words of sympathy and encouragement,” he said in the pre-recorded broadcast that was filmed at an ornate chapel of a former London hospital. Last week, a palace source said the king’s treatment was progressing well and would continue into next year. Earlier on Wednesday, Charles was joined by his family, including Kate, William and their children, for a traditional church service on his Sandringham estate in eastern England. Charles’ brother Prince Andrew, who was embroiled in another scandal this month when a close business associate was banned from Britain over government suspicions he was a Chinese agent, was a notable absentee from the royal get-together. Diversity a strength The king spoke about nationwide riots, which broke out following the murder in July … “King Charles thanks medics for his and Kate’s cancer care “ →

SARAJEVO — Lawmakers in Bosnia’s Serb Republic regional parliament on Wednesday ordered Serb representatives in state institutions to block decision-making and reform laws needed for the Balkan country’s integration into the European Union.  An emergency session of parliament was called on Tuesday evening to discuss a “degradation of a legal system” in relation to the ongoing trial of the region’s president Milorad Dodik at Bosnia’s state court.  Dodik, a Serb separatist leader, is being tried for defying decisions by the international High Representative which oversees peace in the country under the 1995 Dayton Accords which ended 3-1/2 years of ethnic war.  The MPs said the trial was “politically mounted,” based on the “illegal decisions” of current envoy Christian Schmidt and of the state court and prosecution which they regard as unconstitutional because they were set up by the peace envoy and not by the Dayton treaty.  Pro-Russian Dodik has tried hard to separate his Serb-dominated region from Bosnia in recent years but halted the process after the start of the war in Ukraine.   Under the Dayton treaty, Bosnia was split into two autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and a Federation dominated by Croats and Bosniaks linked via a weak central government. That secured peace but left Bosnia dysfunctional as a state.  After years of political obstructions to joining the EU, Bosnia received a boost last year when EU leaders agreed to open negotiations once it had reached the necessary compliance with membership criteria. …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Russian forces attacked his country with more than 70 missiles and that targets included Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian air defenses shot down 50 of the missiles, but that “there have been hits” and power outages in several regions of the country. “Today, Putin deliberately chose Christmas for an attack. What could be more inhumane?” Zelenskyy said. In northeastern Ukraine, Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said the city came under a “massive missile attack,” and was later hit with a Russian drone. Oleh Syniehubov, the regional governor, said the attacks damaged civilian infrastructure and injured at least six people. Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK said Russian missiles caused “serious damage” and forced power cuts in Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa and Kyiv. “In an attack aimed at millions of Ukrainians simply wanting to celebrate the holy day, Russia caused serious damage to DTEK thermal generation facilities,” the company said in a statement. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday its air defenses destroyed 58 Ukrainian aerial drones, a number that is higher than typical in the daily exchange of drone attacks between the two sides.  The ministry said 26 of the intercepts took place over the Belgorod region and 23 over Voronezh, with other drones being shot down over Kursk, Bryansk, Tambov and the Sea of Azov.  Voronezh Governor Aleksandr Gusev said on Telegram that the Ukrainian attacks damaged several houses and a power line.  Some information for this report was provided by Agence France-Presse and Reuters. …

Paris — France’s president and prime minister managed to form a new government just in time for the holidays. Now comes the hard part.  Crushing debt, intensifying pressure from the nationalist far right, wars in Europe and the Mideast — challenges abound for President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Francois Bayrou after an already tumultuous 2024.  The most urgent order of business is passing a 2025 budget. Financial markets, ratings agencies and the European Commission are pushing France to bring down its deficit, to comply with European Union rules limiting debt and keep France’s borrowing costs from spiraling. That would threaten the stability and prosperity of all countries that share the euro currency.  France’s debt is currently estimated at a staggering 112% of gross domestic product. It grew further after the government gave aid payments to businesses and workers during COVID-19 lockdowns even as the pandemic depressed growth, and capped household energy prices after Russia invaded Ukraine. The bill is now coming due.  But France’s previous government collapsed this month because Marine Le Pen’s far-right party and left-wing lawmakers opposed $62.4 billion (60 billion euros) in spending cuts and tax hikes in the original 2025 budget plan. Bayrou and new Finance Minister Eric Lombard are expected to scale back some of those promises, but the calculations are tough.  “The political situation is difficult. The international situation is dangerous, and the economic context is fragile,” Lombard, a low-profile banker who advised a Socialist government in the 1990s, said upon taking office.  “The environmental emergency, the social emergency, developing our businesses — these innumerable challenges require us to treat our endemic illness: the deficit,” he said. “The more we are indebted, the more the debt costs, and the more it suffocates the country.”  This is France’s fourth government in the past year. No party has a parliamentary majority, and the new Cabinet can only survive with the support of lawmakers on the center-right and center-left.  Le Pen — Macron’s fiercest rival — was instrumental in ousting the previous government by joining left-wing forces in a no-confidence vote. Bayrou consulted her when forming the new government and Le Pen remains a powerful force.  That angers left-wing groups, who had expected more influence in the new Cabinet, and who say promised spending cuts will hurt working-class families and small businesses hardest. Left-wing voters, meanwhile, feel betrayed ever since a coalition from the left won the … “France has new government, again. Politics and crushing debt complicate next steps” →

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis kicked off the 2025 Holy Year on Tuesday, inaugurating a celebration of the Catholic Church that is expected to draw some 32 million pilgrims to Rome in a test of the pope’s stamina and the ability of the Eternal City to welcome them.  From his wheelchair, Francis knocked a few times, and the great Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica swung open. He was wheeled across the threshold as bells tolled across Rome and the choir inside the basilica began Christmas Eve Mass.  In his homily, Francis said the Holy Year is an opportunity to relieve the debt of poor countries and commit to protecting the planet. The aim of the Jubilee, he said, is “to bring hope to the interminable, dreary days of prisoners, to the cold and dismal lodgings of the poor and to all those places desecrated by war and violence.”  The ceremony inaugurated the once-every-25-year tradition of a Jubilee, in which the Catholic faithful make pilgrimages to Rome.  Francis has dedicated the 2025 Jubilee to the theme of hope, and he will underscore that message when he opens a Holy Door on Thursday at Rome’s Rebibbia Prison in a bid to give inmates hope for a better future. Francis has long incorporated prison ministry into his priestly vocation and has made several visits to Rebibbia and other prisons during his travels.  Security around the Vatican was at its highest levels following the Christmas market attack last week in Germany, the Interior Ministry said.  Italian authorities were using extra police patrols and camera surveillance around Rome, while pilgrims faced metal detectors and other security checks to access St. Peter’s Square via a reinforced police barricade passage.  Francis, who turned 88 last week, went into the Christmas week and Jubilee launch with a cold that forced him to deliver his weekly Sunday blessing from indoors. But he appeared in fine form Tuesday night. His health and stamina, already compromised because of his tendency to get bronchitis, are a concern given the rigorous calendar of events during the Holy Year.  One of the highlights will be the canonization of the teenage internet whiz Carlo Acutis, considered the first millennial and digital-era saint, during the Jubilee dedicated to adolescents in April.  This week, Francis also delivers his annual “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) speech on Christmas Day from the loggia of St. … “Pope Francis kicks off year-long Jubilee that will test his stamina, Rome’s patience” →

The Hague, Netherlands — An Amsterdam district court on Tuesday sentenced five men to up to six months in prison for violence that erupted around a UEFA Europa League football match between the Dutch club Ajax and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv in November. The riots, which caused an international outcry and accusations of deliberate antisemitic attacks, left five people in the hospital and 20 others with minor injuries. More than 60 people were detained. The court on Tuesday sentenced one man to 6 months in prison, another to 2 1/2 months and two to 1 month in jail. A fifth defendant received 100 hours of community service. A series of violent incidents took place between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soccer fans around the soccer match. Some of the violence was condemned as antisemitic, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offering to evacuate Maccabi supporters. The violence, which garnered headlines worldwide, damaged Amsterdam’s reputation as a beacon of tolerance and a haven for persecuted religions, including Jews. “It seems that the violence arose from strong pro-Palestine sentiments and dissatisfaction with the situation in Gaza, and related anger against the Israelis present,” the prosecutors’ office said in a statement at the conclusion of hearings two weeks ago. The five defendants, who are all Dutch residents and aged between 19 and 32, were accused of public violence, theft and assault. The November 8 game was allowed to go ahead after the Netherlands’ counterterror watchdog found there was no “concrete threat” to Israeli fans, and the match wasn’t considered a high risk. Even so, Amsterdam authorities banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the Johan Cruyff Arena. According to an investigation, the day before the game the authorities reported several incidents, including Israeli fans tearing a Palestinian flag from an Amsterdam building and attacking a taxi. Six more suspects will have their trials at a later date, including three minors. Under Dutch rules, proceedings for juveniles are held behind closed doors. Police are continuing to investigate the violence and have released images of several suspects they want to identify. …

Istanbul — An explosion at an ammunition factory in northwest Turkey left 11 dead and five injured Tuesday morning. The blast occurred in Balikesir province, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. The factory is in a rural area away from population centers. Balikesir Governor Ismail Ustaoglu said the explosion collapsed the capsule production building and the surrounding buildings had minor damage. “The explosion was due to a technical issue. There is no possibility of sabotage,” he added. Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc wrote on social media platform X that public prosecutors have been assigned to investigate the cause. …

Prague — The list of sacrifices that Alesya Marokhovskaya has made to keep reporting on Russia from exile runs long: her home, her country, family, friends, culture, safety. This month alone, Russian authorities searched the home of the journalist’s parents in the eastern port town of Magadan and opened a criminal case against Marokhovskaya for violating Russia’s foreign agent law. When she spoke with VOA in Prague this fall, Marokhovskaya searched for words to explain why the sacrifices are worth it. Eventually, she settled on the Russian people. “They’re poisoning Russians,” she said, explaining how she views Kremlin propaganda. “Information in our world is one of the most important things, and I am completely against manipulating people’s minds.” As editor-in-chief of the exiled Russian investigative outlet IStories, breaking through propaganda to bring ordinary Russians the truth is Marokhovskaya’s core focus. But in doing so, Marokhovskaya and her team face legal threats and surveillance, even while based in Prague. Marokhovskaya had not planned to leave Russia, even when Moscow declared the journalist a so-called foreign agent in 2021. Instead, the reporter followed the strict rules that accompany the designation. For months, she labeled all of her social media posts — even ones that were photos of her dog — as the work of a so-called foreign agent, and she submitted financial reports to the Justice Ministry. “It was really humiliating,” Marokhovskaya said. But she followed the rules because she wanted to keep reporting from inside Russia. “For me, it was important to stay in Russia as long as I could. Because I was thinking there is no way to be a Russian journalist not inside Russia,” Marokhovskaya said. But when Russia invaded Ukraine, Marokhovskaya said it became clear that Moscow would ramp up its persecution of independent journalists. Soon after, she and many of her colleagues at IStories fled for the Czech capital of Prague. At the time, Marokhovskaya worried the relationship between IStories and its primary audience inside Russia wouldn’t survive the distance. “It was our fear to become media for immigrants. We want to be media for Russians [inside Russia] in the first place,” Marokhovskaya said. But IStories survived. “I still have this fear, but now I see we can work in such circumstances.” Marokhovskaya has worked for IStories, or “Important Stories,” since it was founded in 2020. In September, at the age of 29, she became the outlet’s editor-in-chief. … “People in Russia ‘need the truth,’ says journalist who sacrificed home and security to keep reporting” →

MOSCOW — An engine room explosion sank a Russian cargo ship in the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Algeria and two of its crew are missing, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.  The vessel, built in 2009 and called ‘’Ursa Major,’’ was controlled by Oboronlogistika, a company that is part of the Russian Defense Ministry’s military construction operations, which had previously said it was en route to the Russian far eastern port of Vladivostok with two giant port cranes lashed to its deck.  The Foreign Ministry’s crisis center said in a statement that 14 of the ship’s 16 crew members had been rescued and brought to Spain, but that two crew were still missing. It did not say what had caused the engine room explosion.  Unverified video footage of the ship heavily listing to its starboard side with its bow much lower down in the water than usual was filmed on Dec. 23 by a passing ship and published on Russia’s life.ru news outlet on Tuesday.  Oboronlogistika, the ship’s ultimate owner, said in a statement on Dec. 20 that the ship, which LSEG data showed was previously called Sparta III, had been carrying specialized port cranes due to be installed at the port of Vladivostok as well as parts for new ice-breakers.  Two giant cranes could be seen strapped to the deck in the unverified video footage.  LSEG ship tracking data shows the vessel departed from the Russian port of Saint Petersburg on Dec. 11 and was last seen sending a signal at 2204 GMT on Monday between Algeria and Spain.  On leaving Saint Petersburg it had indicated that its next port of call was the Russian port of Vladivostok, not the Syrian port of Tartous which it has called at previously.  The operator and owner is a company called SK-Yug, part of Oboronlogistika, according to LSEG data. Oboronlogistika and SK-Yug declined to comment on the ship’s sinking.  Spanish news outlet El Espanol said on its website that crew members had been evacuated to the Spanish port of Cartagena and that several vessels, including a Spanish Navy ship, had taken part in rescuing the crew.  It said the vessel had been due to arrive in Vladivostok on Jan. 22. …

Ukraine’s military said Tuesday it shot down 36 of the 60 drones that Russian forces deployed in overnight attacks. The intercepts took place in the Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Poltava, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia regions, Ukraine’s air force said. Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk, said on Telegram that the drone attacks and Russian shelling damaged several homes and a power line. In Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine, Governor Serhii Tiurin reported the Russian attack damaged several homes. Officials in the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine said a farm building was damaged there. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday its air defenses destroyed four Ukrainian aerial drones, including three over the Rostov region and one over Voronezh. Both Rostov and Voronezh are located along the Russia-Ukraine border and are frequent targets of Ukrainian drones. The governors of Rostov and Voronezh each said on Telegram there were no reports of damage or casualties as a result of the Ukrainian attacks.  …

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Tuesday formally inaugurates the 2025 Holy Year, reviving an ancient church tradition encouraging the faithful to make pilgrimages to Rome, amid new security fears following a Christmas market attack in Germany. At the start of Christmas Eve Mass, Francis will push open the Holy Door on St. Peter’s Basilica, which will stay open throughout the year to allow the estimated 32 million pilgrims projected to visit Rome to pass through. The first Holy Year was called in 1300, and in recent times they are generally celebrated every 25 to 50 years. Pilgrims who participate can obtain “indulgences” — the centuries-old feature of the Catholic Church related to the forgiveness of sins that roughly amounts to a “get out of Purgatory free” card. The last regular Jubilee was in 2000, when St. John Paul II ushered in the church’s third millennium. Francis declared a special Jubilee in 2015-2016 dedicated to mercy and the next one planned is in 2033, to commemorate the anniversary of the crucifixion of Christ. What are indulgences? According to church teaching, Catholics who confess their sins are forgiven and therefore released from the eternal or spiritual punishment of damnation. An indulgence is designed to remove the “temporal” punishment of sin that may remain — the consequence of the wrongdoing that might disrupt the sinner’s relationships with others. Martin Luther’s opposition to the church’s practice of selling indulgences inspired him to launch the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s. He was excommunicated, and the practice of buying and selling indulgences has been illegal since the 1562 Council of Trent. But the granting of them has continued and is an important element in Holy Year pilgrimages. According to the norms issued for the 2025 Jubilee, Catholics can obtain an indulgence if they:  Undertake a pious pilgrimage, participating in Masses and other sacraments, at any of the four papal basilicas in Rome or the Holy Land, or other sacred Jubilee sites “so as to manifest the great need for conversion and reconciliation.” Participate in works of charity, mercy or penance, such as visiting prisoners, sick people or elderly people or undertaking corporal works of mercy “to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the sick, visit the imprisoned and bury the dead.”  Abstain, in a spirit of penance, for at least one day of the week from “futile … “Holy Year about to start in Rome” →

Russia recently expanded punishment against independent journalists and activists that the Kremlin designated as “foreign agents,” with Moscow charging a prominent exiled reporter, Tatyana Felgengauer, on criminal counts in absentia. The State Duma passed the law severely limiting the ability of “foreign agents” to get income from inside Russia. VOA Russian spoke to several people named “foreign agents” who said they expected repressions to ramp up further. Click here for the full story in Russian. …

Orleans, France — Nabil Attar sprinkles sesame and pomegranate over creamy mutabal, a roasted eggplant dip from his native Syria — one of his mother’s many recipes now featured at his restaurant, Narenj. A plate of stuffed grape leaves sits nearby, ready for the swelling lunchtime crowd. The tiny kitchen where he works seems an unlikely place for Attar, once a successful Damascus businessman specializing in electronic fund transfers. That was before Bashar al-Assad’s regime kidnapped one of his sons, nearly a decade ago. “It was so complicated,” recalled Attar, describing extortive practices wielded by the state to fill its coffers. “I paid a lot of money to get my son back.” In 2015, Attar and his family joined the hundreds of thousands of Syrians fleeing their war-torn country for Europe. He settled in the Loire Valley city of Orleans, an hour’s train ride from Paris and best known for its historical ties to France’s patron saint Joan of Arc. Then came news earlier in December that the Assad era was over. “I never imagined in my lifetime it could happen,” Attar said, scrolling through videos of himself and fellow Syrians in Orleans, rejoicing in the dictator’s downfall. “Now Syria is free.” For a growing number of European Union countries, Assad’s ouster is triggering more than celebrations. Amid growing anti-immigration sentiment across the region, several have suspended Syrian asylum claims on grounds that the reasons that triggered them no longer exist. That’s the case of Germany, which took in nearly a million Syrian asylum-seekers at the peak of the refugee influx, in 2015-16. While Chancellor Olaf Scholz says those “integrated” were welcome, one opposition Christian Democratic Union lawmaker suggested paying Syrians roughly $1,040 apiece to go home — a position already adopted by neighboring Austria. Hardening attitudes are also evident in France, despite its having only about 30,000 Syrian refugees. A CSA poll this month found 70% of French supported suspending new asylum claims. French authorities say they are studying the matter. “Since we hear that Syrian refugees are rejoicing in the fall of dictator Assad, let’s engage in sending them home,” Jordan Bardella, president of France’s far-right National Rally, told a cheering crowd recently. “And let’s hope Europe shuts the door after they leave.” For Syria’s diaspora in Europe and rights advocates, the vanishing welcome mat is triggering alarm. In interviews across the region, many refugees say they fear returning. … “Going home? Syrians in Europe are not so sure” →

Berlin — Germany searched for answers on Monday on possible security lapses after a man drove his car into a Christmas market, killing at least five people and casting a renewed spotlight on security and immigration ahead of a snap election. The possible motive of the arrested suspect, a 50-year-old psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia with a history of anti-Islamic rhetoric and a sympathy for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, remains unknown. As a nation mourned, with citizens leaving flowers and lighting candles in Magdeburg where the incident took place on Friday, questions swirled about whether more could have been done and whether the authorities could have acted on warnings. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called for tougher internal security laws to be adopted, including a new act to strengthen police forces as well as the introduction of biometric surveillance. “It is clear that we must do everything to protect the people of Germany from such horrific acts of violence. To do this, our security authorities need all the necessary powers and more personnel,” Faeser told Spiegel newsmagazine. The deputy head of a security committee in the Bundestag (parliament) announced he would convene a special session asking why previous warnings about the danger posed by the suspect, identified only as Taleb A., were not acted on. The arrested man has lived in Germany since 2006. The main opposition Christian Democratic Union, which is on course to form the next government after an election in February, called for the strengthening of intelligence services. “We can no longer be satisfied with the fact that information about violent criminals and terrorists often only comes from foreign services,” Guenter Krings, justice spokesperson for the CDU, told the Handelsblatt newspaper. “That is why our German security authorities need more powers of their own in order to gain more of their own knowledge, especially in the digital area.” The security services also must be able to remove dangerous people from circulation based on such knowledge, he said. “The authority and obligation for official cooperation and data exchange must also be improved,” he said. Germany’s data protection rules are among the strictest in the European Union, which federal police say has prevented them from resorting to biometric surveillance to date. Police in the northwestern city of Bremerhaven said on Monday they had arrested a man who had threatened in a TikTok video to commit “serious crimes” at … “Germany looking into possible security lapses after Christmas market attack “ →

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday there are indications that North Korea is preparing to send more troops and weapons to support Russia’s war effort in Ukraine. The additional weapons being readied include suicide drones, and North Korea has already sent 240mm rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled artillery to Russia, the JCS said in a statement. North Korea has also sent about 12,000 troops already to Russia, according to South Korea, the United States and Ukraine.   The JCS said Monday that at least 1,100 of the North Koreans have been killed or wounded. Ukraine’s military said Monday it shot down 47 aerial drones that Russian forces launched in attacks overnight targeting multiple areas of the country. The Ukrainian air force said Russia used a total of 72 drones in its latest round of daily aerial assaults. Ukrainian air defenses shot down drones over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy and Zhytomyr regions, the military said. Khmelnytskyi Governor Serhii Tiurin said on Telegram that the drone attacks damaged a business and some homes, while injuring one person. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday it destroyed a Ukrainian aerial drone over the Bryansk region, which is located along the Russia-Ukraine border. Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram there were no reports of damage or casualties from the Ukrainian attack. Some information for this story was provided by Agence France-Presse and Reuters.  …

BUCHAREST — Romania’s outgoing president Klaus Iohannis is expected Monday to designate leftist Social Democrat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu to form a new government after three pro-European parties agreed to the details of a parliamentary majority.  The Social Democrat Party (PSD) will hold eight cabinet posts including justice, transport, labor and defense, and most of its current ministers will stay on in their posts.  The centrist Liberal Party (PNL) will have six cabinet jobs, including energy and interior and foreign ministries. The ethnic Hungarian party UDMR will have two posts, including finance.  Together with representatives of local ethnic minorities, the three parties will have a slim majority in the legislative in which three ultranationalist and hard-right parties won over a third of seats in a Dec. 1 parliamentary election.  The new government will need to approve a calendar for a new two-round presidential election. The three parties in the coalition have agreed to back a single presidential candidate in an attempt to prevent a representative from the radical right from winning.  The original three rounds of votes to elect a new president and parliament in the European Union and NATO state, which shares the longest land border with Ukraine, descended into chaos when a little-known far-right pro-Russian politician won the first presidential round on Nov. 24.  His shocking win prompted Romania’s top court to annul the election on suspicion of Russian meddling and order that it be re-run, likely in the first part of 2025.  Romania’s new cabinet will also have the daunting task of lowering the budget deficit from an expected 8.6% of economic output this year – the EU’s largest – to around 7% in 2025 and ratings agencies and analysts expect tax hikes. …

Madrid — For weeks, Spaniards had anticipated the arrival of “El Gordo” or “The Fat One.” But unlike Santa Claus, El Gordo arrived three days before Christmas, before noon on Sunday. El Gordo is the first prize of Spain’s hugely popular national Christmas lottery, which is said to be the world’s largest based on the total prize money involved, even though other lotteries have larger single prizes. This year’s draw will spread riches of around $2.8 billion, much of it in small winnings. Several ticket holders with the number 72480 won the top prize, worth about $417,000 before taxes. The winning tickets were sold in Logrono, a city in northern Spain’s La Rioja region that is known for its wines. Multiple tickets with the same number can be sold to different groups and full tickets are divisible into 10 parts. Buying and sharing these fractions, known in Spanish as “décimos” or tenths, is a popular tradition in the run-up to Christmas. Families, friends, and co-workers often take part, usually spending $21 each. On Sunday, young students from Madrid’s San Ildefonso school selected the numbers from two revolving orbs in the capital’s Teatro Real opera house and sang them out in turn for nearly five hours in a cadence familiar to Spaniards. After “El Gordo” was announced, audience members — some dressed in costume as Don Quijote, Christmas elves, Biblical wise men and the lottery itself — began streaming out of the venue, from which the event was televised nationally. María Angeles, a teacher from the southwestern province of Badajoz, said she waited for hours in line to get a seat inside the opera house to watch the event with a group of 14 friends and family members that she traveled with to Madrid. “The point of coming to see the lottery is the hope,” Angeles said. She reckoned no one in her group won more than $146. The lottery works on the premise of distributing the most winning numbers to the largest number of people possible. There are hundreds of small prizes and 13 major ones, including the “El Gordo” winner. In the weeks leading up to the draw, lines form outside lottery offices, especially those with a history of selling prize-winning tickets in previous years. Spain’s Dec. 22 Christmas lottery began during the Napoleonic wars in 1812 and has continued largely without interruption since then, even during the Spanish Civil … “‘El Gordo’ lottery in Spain spreads Christmas riches worth $2.8 billion” →

Russian forces captured two villages in Ukraine, one in Kharkiv region in the northeast and one in eastern Donetsk region, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday. Donetsk region is where Moscow is concentrating most of its efforts to seize two cities. Russian forces, making steady progress across Donetsk region, are moving on the towns of Pokrovsk, a logistics center and site of an important coking colliery, and appear to be closing in on Kurakhove, farther south. The Defense Ministry statement said troops had taken control of Lozova, near the town of Kupiansk, in an area north of Donetsk region also under Russian pressure in recent weeks. The village of Sontsivka, north of Kurakhove, was also captured. The ministry on Saturday announced the capture of another village near Kurakhove, Kostiantynopolske. The Ukraine military’s general staff made no mention of those villages falling into Russian hands, but said Sontsivka was in a sector subject to 26 Russian attacks in the past 24 hours. The general staff also reported heavy fighting near Pokrovsk, with 34 Russian attempts to pierce defenses. The popular Ukrainian military blog DeepState said Sontsivka was under Russian control. Russian reports have described intensified pressure on Kurakhove. The Moscow-appointed governor of areas of Donetsk region occupied by Russian forces, Denis Pushilin, said on Telegram that Russian troops now controlled the town center. He also said troops were advancing on Pokrovsk from the south. Russian troops have been moving through eastern Ukraine in the past two months at the fastest rate since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Ukrainian military said on Friday its forces had pulled back from the area around two villages — one near Pokrovsk, the other near Kurakhove — to avoid being encircled by advancing Russian troops. …