Current Time

Aviation Expert Explains How Belarus Fighter Jet Could Have Forced Ryanair Plane To Land

In an interview with Current Time on May 24, Russian aviation expert Vadim Lukashevich spoke about how Minsk could have forced the plane to land and about the consequences Belarus could face if airlines decide not to fly over the country.

Pushed Out Of EU Air Market, A Defiant Belarus Still Tries To Justify Ryanair Debacle

No 'Hollywood Plot': Belarus' Diversion Of Ryanair Flight, Detention Of Journalist Prompt International Outcry

Belarusian Journalist Raman Pratasevich: Government's Criminal Charges Like 'A Special Award'

Prison Alphabet: An Inside Look At Russia's Penitentiary System

No introduction

Russia's 'Black Sky' Alert: Beware Of The Awful Air In Krasnoyarsk

The city of Krasnoyarsk is considered to have some of the most polluted air, not just in Russia, but on Earth. For several weeks each year, the city announces an environmental alert they call "Black Sky."

Big Sentences For Little Protests: Belarus Crackdown Targets Smallest Signs Of Dissent

A Belarusian man faces two years of forced labor after being accused of insulting a policeman in an online chat room, while a 19-year-old arrested for putting an opposition flag in his student dorm window could now go to prison for seven years on extremism charges.

Shutdown Of Belarus' Largest Independent News Site Part Of 'War Against Genuine Journalists', Critics Say

Moscow Refuses To Allow Sakharov Centenary Exhibition

City authorities have refused to approve a public exhibition marking the centenary of the late Russian human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov.

Boatless Fish Cop Fights Poaching On Kyrgyzstan's Lake Issyk-Kul

Inspector Adilet Imanbekov is a man with a mission: Warding off poachers from the 28 species of fish in Kyrgyzstan’s Lake Issyk-Kul, the world’s second-largest saline lake after the Caspian Sea. But he must rely on others for his boat. Asia 360° took to the water to witness his battles firsthand.

Kyrgyz Veterinarian Turns Home Into Sanctuary For Injured Wildlife

A snow leopard blinded by a shotgun, a fox that lost a paw in an attack by a jackal, a golden eagle hanging from a tree with its claws bound: These animals and others have all found sanctuary in the home of a golden-hearted veterinarian in Kyrgyzstan.

Living On The Edge: Open-Pit Mines In Siberian City Spark Fear

In the Siberian city of Kiselyovsk, locals live within a stone's throw of gaping open-pit coal mines. The operations within the city limits are technically forbidden, but residents say clever legal language has allowed the mining companies to keep digging close to their homes.

Russia Debates The Online Challenge Of 'Turning Off' Its 'Culture Of Violence'

'We Don’t Have Hope Anymore’: Afghans Grieve, Blame Government After Deadly Attack On Kabul Girls’ School

Fifteen-year-old Masuma, an Afghan schoolgirl, just wanted to learn. But her decision to attend classes on May 8, 2021 ultimately took her life. The bombing of Kabul’s all-female Sayed Al-Shuhada School, located in a predominantly ethnic Hazara neighborhood, killed 85 people and wounded some 150.

'Kids Started To Jump Out Of The Windows': Student Describes Attack On Kazan School

Over a thousand students up to high-school age attend School No. 175 in Kazan, Russia, the site of a gunman's attack on May 11, 2021 that killed nine people, seven of whom were children. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Tatar-Bashkir Service spoke with this 6th-grader eyewitness about the attack.

Deadly Shooting In Russian Public School Prompts Push For Tighter Gun Control

Roads And Water: What The Tajik Exclave Of Vorukh Wants After Tajikistan's Border Clashes With Kyrgyzstan

In the Tajik exclave of Vorukh, surrounded by Kyrgyzstan, residents have just one main road, a so-called “road of life,” that runs to Tajikistan. But, even with fighting with Kyrgyz over, most interviewed Tajik drivers say traveling it after sundown is "a big risk."

Roads And Water: What The Tajik Exclave Of Vorukh Wants After Tajikistan's Border Clashes With Kyrgyzstan

Just one main road connects the Tajik exclave of Vorukh, via Kyrgyz territory, with the rest of Tajikistan. But even after the end of the April 28-29, 2021 border fighting with Kyrgyzstan, Vorukh residents say traveling the road to the Tajik city of Isfara after sundown is "a big risk."

Another Hurdle For Aleksei Navalny? Russian MPs Propose Long-Term Ban On ‘Extremist’ Parliamentary Candidates

Latvian Prison, Farm Showcase Russian Films At ArtDocFest

Due to COVID-19 restrictions a women's prison in the Latvian capital, Riga, and a farm were among the unlikely venues for a Russian documentary film festival. ArtDocFest is held in Moscow every year, but amid growing repression and intimidation began holding events in Riga in 2014.