VIDEO REPORTS
Saakashvili: Corrupt Officials "Only Playing Dead"
Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, recently appointed governor of Ukraine's Odesa region, spoke to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service about his pledge to stamp out corruption in his jurisdiction. Saakashvili has accused officials in Kyiv of sabotaging his reform efforts.
Moldovan Protesters Dig In
Protesters demonstrating against corruption vowed to occupy the Moldovan capital's main square until the country's president resigns. A tent city sprang up in Chisinau after 60,000 people rallied on September 6 to protest economic woes linked to $1 billion in bank fraud. (RFE/RL's Moldovan Service)
The Daily Vertical -- It's All So 1974
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced yesterday that President Vladimir Putin had put the Central Military District on full combat alert, last week Russia’s strategic rocket forces conducted two large-scale exercises, and reports have surfaced linking Moscow to a major military buildup in Syria, even as Russian officials call for a meeting between Putin and US President Obama to defuse escalating tensions.
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Briefing: Putin Plays The Syria Card
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed "concern" to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Moscow is moving toward a major military buildup in Syria.
Fugitive Former Tajik Deputy Defense Minister Charged
According to the prosecutor general's office, Abduhalim Nazarzoda has been charged with high treason, terrorism, sabotage, and creating an extremist group, and is to blame for the September 4 attacks on a police station and a weapons arsenal near the capital city, Dushanbe, which killed nine police officers and wounded six others.
Exiled Belarusian Opposition Politician Detained
Ales Mikhalevich, a former Belarusian presidential candidate, who has been living in exile in the Czech Republic, told RFE/RL that Belarusian border guards detained him on September 8 when he crossed the border on the Vilnius-Minsk train.
A Monument To Solzhenitsyn Is Defiled In Vladivostok
A local resident hung a plate with the inscription "Jude" around the neck of a recently unveiled statue of Alexander Solzhenitsyn. He complained that local authorities rejected a request to erect a statue of Stalin to mark the 70th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War, but approved a statue of Solzhenitsyn, whom he considers a traitor, an anti-Soviet, and a Russophobe. (Current Time TV)
In Ex-Soviet Union, Possible Future Currency Has Rich Past
A proposal to create a regional currency, the “altyn,” comes as the ruble and other currencies across the region falter, and follows months of discussion in Russia over the creation of a single currency for the Eurasian Economic Union, comprising Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.