Media Coverage

Italy on March 24 marked the 80th anniversary of one of the most horrific World War II massacres in German-occupied Italy with solemn commemorations and a performance of a symphony honoring the dead. There, on March 24, 1944, 335 people were shot to death as a reprisal for an attack by partisans...

President Vladimir Putin won a record post-Soviet landslide in Russia's election on March 17, cementing his already tight grip on power in a victory he said showed Moscow had been right to stand up to the West and send its troops into Ukraine. Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel who first rose to...

The UN Human Rights Council released a report on March 15 on the human rights situation in Belarus during and after the country’s presidential election in 2020. It concludes that the crime against humanity of persecution may have been committed in Belarus. The report, which is the advance unedited...

A senior U.S. official on March 13 urged Kosovo and Serbia to make tough decisions to restart talks and “move forward” on normalizing ties. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Gabriel Escobar met with officials in Kosovo in the latest American effort to restart the talks between the two countries...

The European Union’s executive arm will recommend that member countries open membership negotiations with Bosnia-Herzegovina, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on March 12, despite lingering ethnic divisions in the Western Balkan country. Bosnia-Herzegovina is among six nations...

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, has called for people to join mass election day protests against President Vladimir Putin. In a video on YouTube, Navalnaya on Wednesday urged Russians to gather at polling stations on March 17 and spoil their ballots or vote...

Europe risked any credibility to speak on Russia’s actions in Ukraine if it remained silent on Gaza, according to a Belgian member of parliament, who is among the more than 200 lawmakers who have signed a letter calling for an arms embargo on Israel. More than 200 legislators from countries, which...

The Czech lower house on February 28 agreed to give more rights to same-sex couples in a civil partnership, but disappointed campaigners by stopping short of calling their union a marriage or allowing joint adoption. The Czech Republic allows same-sex couples to register their unions, but this...

The United States on February 23 unleashed its most extensive package of sanctions on Russia since the invasion of Ukraine two years ago, targeting Russia’s financial sector and military-industrial complex in a broad effort to degrade the Kremlin’s war machine. The sweeping sanctions come as the war...

The European Union summoned Russia's representative to the EU and called for an independent international investigation into the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the EU's diplomatic service said on February 20. "The EU side conveyed the EU's outrage over the death of the Russian opposition...