Deep in the Czech Republic’s Ore Mountains, radiation meters still crackle in tunnels sealed since the Cold War.

Soviet uranium fever once fueled these mines — and condemned thousands of prisoners to dig radioactive ore in deadly conditions.
🧵1/5 After WWII, Stalin made uranium the USSR's "most important strategic raw material."
By 1948, Czechoslovakia's Jáchymov became a gulag colony. Tens of thousands of political prisoners were forced underground without masks or ventilation.

📷 Soviet labor camp sign: “Work will set you free.”
2/5

China just tightened export controls on rare-earth metals — again.

These minerals power everything from iPhones to fighter jets, and Beijing’s move could ripple far beyond the US trade war. It may hit Ukraine’s defense supply chains and Europe’s rearmament plans. 🧵1/4 China now restricts 12 rare-earth metals, forcing foreign buyers to seek special approval, especially those linked to the US military. Analysts say it’s China’s most direct strike yet at the defense sector, and a reminder on who dominates 90% of global rare-earth processing. 2/4

Serbia plans a major Huawei surveillance expansion, leaked files show. It's designed to boost a police-only network to handle 3,500 more cameras, an RFE/RL investigation has found.
By @ReidStan & @RSE_Balkan
🧵1/5
rferl.org/a/exclusive-sa… A March 2024 contract shows plans to expand the police-only eLTE network.

Huawei offered massive discounts, including 92% off key software, slashing a $1.1M package to just ~$71K. Experts say such camera density would be rare outside China.
🧵2/5

After Serbia Halts Arms Exports, Israeli Cargo Plane Lands And Departs From Belgrade

🧵Amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East and as major global airlines suspend flights to Israel, a cargo plane from Tel Aviv landed in Belgrade on June 23.

1/5 The Boeing 747-412F aircraft, registered for transporting hazardous materials such as weapons, departed Serbia the following day — bound for the Nevatim military airbase near Beersheba in southern Israel.

2/5

It’s been three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Follow our live blog for the latest updates, expert analysis, and reports from our correspondents.

🔴Make sure to save this thread and follow our live coverage here ⬇️

rferl.org/a/33323245.html It’s a busy news day ahead. @rayfurlong put together a brief list of what to expect: ⬇️

Influential X account Europe Invasion, now under the name of @UpdateNews724, has created fake personas and companies to push xenophobic narratives to its hundreds of thousands of followers, our investigation has found.
rferl.org/a/europe-invas… While called Europe Invasion, it built a 600,000-strong following by posting content portraying Muslims and Africans as dangers to society. It frequently posted outright falsehoods about immigrants in Europe.

Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny was found dead, according to Russian media reports citing the federal penitentiary service. Navalny reportedly died at the IK-3 prison, known as "Polar Wolf", above the Arctic Circle.

In September 2022, four Russian fighters with the “Wolves”’ battalion became trapped in the Ukrainian city of Balaklia.

They were two weeks into their mission when, fearing they had been abandoned by the retreating Russian military, they recorded this video:

🧵1/9 They were captured by Ukrainian forces and convicted of torturing civilians.
The Wolves battalion is one of at least 20 units operating in Ukraine under the Redut network, according to an RFE/RL analysis of open-source records and interviews with recruiters and fighters.

🧵2/9

Footage from @radiosvoboda shows the flooding in the Hydropark and Naftohavan neighborhoods of Kherson.

742 people in the Kherson region have already been evacuated, but the rescue efforts are complicated by flooding on the roads. Ukraine says tens of thousands of people were being evacuated from areas under threat. Within hours, water levels had already risen by 10 meters.

In July 2022, as Ukraine was fighting back invading Russian forces, a fire and a chain of explosions destroyed this warehouse in eastern Bulgaria.

It belonged to Bulgarian munitions manufacturer EMCO.

Bulgaria has been a crucial supplier of weapons for Ukraine.

🧵1/5 In April 2015, Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev fell into a coma.

An unidentified phosphorus-organic substance was placed on the door handle of his car by a Russian agent, prosecutors ultimately concluded.

But, for years, they blamed a bad salad.

🧵2/5

Today's 🇺🇦 updates at a glance:

⚡Ukrainian forces continued to hold their ground in Bakhmut, the military said on March 8, as the European Union readies plans to supply much-needed ammunition to Ukraine.

rferl.org/a/ukraine-bakh… ⚡Ukraine has again said it was not involved in the sabotaging of the Nord Stream gas pipeline amid media reports that intelligence reviewed by U.S. officials indicates that a pro-Ukrainian group was behind last year's attacks.

rferl.org/a/ukraine-role…

Today's 🇺🇦 updates at a glance:

⚡ Ukraine's military reported ongoing Russian attacks in and around Bakhmut early on March 6 in the intense battle for the Donetsk city, as Russia's defense minister kept up a morale-building effort in the war zone.

rferl.org/a/ukraine-russ… ⚡ The Ukrainian government has named a new director of the country's National Anti-Corruption Bureau.

rferl.org/a/ukraine-appo…

How does a Russian Internet censorship agency work? @svobodaradio’s investigative unit Systema analyzed a massive trove of leaked internal correspondence from a central censorship agency to find out. 1/9🧵

rferl.org/a/russia-agenc… That agency is called the Main Radio Frequency Center (GRFC).

Its correspondence was leaked to international media by a Belarusian hacker organization that calls itself Cyberpartisans. 2/9🧵

Join us for The Week Ahead In Russia podcast today on @TwitterSpaces, where @sgutterman and @ILagunina will discuss why the Kremlin was so eager to bring Viktor Bout home, prospects for further releases, and what's behind @IlyaYashin's long prison term.

twitter.com/i/spaces/1YqJD… More on Bout, the arms dealer that the U.S. traded to free Brittney Griner:

rferl.org/a/viktor-bour-…

Iranian Mohajer-6 drones, used by Russia to attack Ukrainian cities, are not as homemade as Iranian officials and media claim.

They contain components produced by companies from the U.S. and the EU, a new @cxemu investigation has found.

1/6 🧵
rferl.org/a/ukraine-russ… Both the U.S. and EU have sanctions restricting the export of such technology to Iran.

However, the presence of these components in the Mohajer-6 doesn’t mean their producers are violating sanctions.

2/6 🧵

On October 8, Putin appointed a new overall commander of Russian forces in Ukraine: General Sergei Surovikin.

Who is the general now in charge of Russia’s invasion?

rferl.org/a/russia-bruta… In 1991, when a group of Communist Party hard-liners blocked Gorbachev in an estate in Crimea and tried to take over the government by force to stop the Soviet Union from collapsing, Surovikin was an army captain.

Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are being used as redeployment stations for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.

In Kyrgyzstan, they are deployed from the base in Kant.

One local, whose name is not disclosed for security reasons, said around 300 were deployed from there.
🧵 1/4 Novaya Tyva, an NGO that supports people from Russia's Tyva region refusing to fight in Ukraine, told @Azattyk_Radiosu that contractors had been sent from Kant to Ukraine, with several of them also being killed in the fighting.🧵 2/4
rferl.org/a/russia-kyrgy…

It’s been 30 years since iconic Iranian dissident Fereydoun Farrokhzad was brutally murdered in exile.

The case remains unsolved, but a @RadioFarda_ investigation revealed German police thought it looked like an Iranian state assassination:

1/8🧵

rferl.org/a/iran-farrokh… Farrokhzad, a popular singer and TV host, is among the most famous victims of the “chain murders” of Iranian dissidents abroad.

He fled Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and lived in exile in several countries, becoming a fierce opponent of Iran’s hard-line regime. 2/8🧵

🎙️Join us on @TwitterSpaces tomorrow for a conversation with @ser_ou_parecer & @niginakhon_

twitter.com/i/spaces/1PlJQ… 🧵Read our previous coverage ⬇️

Most of Kazakhstan’s 130 colleges and universities are owned either by high-level officials or their relatives, a 2021 investigation by @AzattyqRadiosy revealed.
rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-u…

✈️ How is the tourism industry in 🇰🇬🇹🇯 recovering?

🎙️Join us on @TwitterSpaces tomorrow for a conversation with @ser_ou_parecer, @presidentbekzo, @JavohirTravel

twitter.com/i/spaces/1mnGe… 🧵 Read our previous coverage in English ⬇️

Earlier this year, Turkmen then-president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov ordered to extinguish the flaming Darvaza gas crater, one of Turkmenistan's most famous tourist destinations.
rferl.org/a/turkmenistan…

Looking to make a nuclear weapon or a stealth aircraft? In the 1990s, a company backed by Vladimir Putin might have tried to sell you a substance called ‘Red Mercury.’

rferl.org/a/putin-scam-r… Priced at up to $300,000 per kilogram, shady figures from the former Soviet Union tried to trade the supposed substance to clients like terrorists and rogue states.