Photo: Архив Международного Мемориала (Courtesy Photo)
Hey, you’re busy! We know rferl.org isn’t the only website you read. And that it’s just possible you may have missed some of our most compelling journalism this week. To make sure you’re up-to-date, here are some of the highlights produced by RFE/RL’s team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days.
We are also including content here from Gandhara, an RFE/RL website focusing on developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Memorial File: Voices From The Past That Putin’s Government Threatens To Silence
Last month, the Russian government initiated legal proceedings aimed at shutting down Memorial International and the Memorial Human Rights Center, venerable nongovernmental organizations devoted to researching and memorializing the crimes of the Soviet Union, as well as to promoting human rights in former Soviet republics today. For more than a decade, the group has been devoted to gathering oral histories of the darkest times in the country’s history, when the state security organizations preyed with impunity on millions of Soviet citizens. By Bogdan Orlov and Robert Coalson
‘A Broken Phone And A Broken Heart’: Afghan Refugees Recount Robberies On Their Journey To Serbia
Thousands of migrants from war-torn countries including Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq are being temporarily housed in centers in Serbia. Most left home with little more than money, documents, a phone, and some prized personal possessions. RFE/RL spoke to Afghan refugees at the Krnjaca asylum center near Belgrade. They told stories of being robbed by police during their perilous journey of what little they had. By RFE/RL’s Balkan Service and Neil Bowdler
How Long Could Ukraine Hold Out Against A New Russian Invasion?
By all accounts, Ukraine’s armed forces are qualitatively better than they were seven years ago, when the military’s sorry shape, battered by years of neglect, underfunding, and corruption, was on display against Russia-backed fighters in the Donbas. So how would they fare in the event of a major offensive by the Russian forces massing across the border? By Mike Eckel
