Putin Says Russia Will Not Attack NATO, But Air Bases Hosting F ...

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"We have no aggressive intentions toward [NATO] states," Putin told air force pilots at a facility in the Tver region northwest of Moscow, according to a Kremlin transcript.

He said it would be "complete nonsense" to suggest that Russia would attack countries such as Poland, the Baltic states, and the Czech Republic, adding: "Just nonsense, another way to cheat their population and force them to allocate additional resources."

Ukraine is awaiting the delivery of F-16s from Western countries that have promised to send Kyiv at least 42 F-16s. Ukrainian pilots have been training in the West for months on how to fly the warplanes.

Asked whether Russian pilots would be "allowed" to attack F-16 warplanes deployed at airfields in NATO countries if they were used against Russia, Putin indicated that Moscow would consider them fair game if F-16s based there flew combat sorties in Ukraine.

"Of course, if they are used from airfields of third countries, they become a legitimate target for us, no matter where they are located," he said.

In Ukraine, Putin said, Russia would seek to destroy F-16s "the same way we destroy their tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment today, including multiple-launch rocket systems." He asserted that the delivery of the warplanes to Ukraine "will not change the situation on the battlefield."

Putin also said that when conducting military planning, Russia would take into account that F-16s can carry nuclear weapons. Ukraine renounced nuclear arms in the 1990s and there is no talk of equipping the jets with any such weapons.

Putin's assurance that Russia has "no aggressive intentions" against NATO may ring hollow in the alliance, because he has made many false claims about various aspects of Russia's war against Ukraine, among other things. Before Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian officials including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed U.S. and other Western countries' warnings that an invasion was imminent.

The White House has again dismissed Russia's allegation that Ukraine was involved in the attack on the Crocus City concert hall and said that the United States had passed clear and detailed information to Russian security services about an extremist attack in Moscow in advance of the attack.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on March 28 that Russia's charge of Ukrainian involvement in the attack was “nonsense and propaganda."

Kirby spoke shortly after Russia's Investigative Committee said it had uncovered evidence that the four gunmen who carried out the attack on March 22, which killed more than 140 people were linked to Ukraine.

"It is abundantly clear that [Islamic State] was solely responsible for the horrific attack in Moscow last week," Kirby said, reiterating the U.S. position, which is shared by France. "In fact, the United States tried to help prevent this terrorist attack and the Kremlin knows this."

The written message to Russia's security services was passed on March 7 at 11:15 a.m. and was one of multiple advance warnings that the United States provided to Russian authorities about the potential for extremist attacks on concerts and large gatherings in Moscow, Kirby said.

The messages were passed "following normal procedures and through established channels that have been employed many times previously,” he said, emphasizing his rebuke of Russian officials by comparing them to "manure salesmen" who "carry their samples in their mouths."

Islamic State has said several times that it was responsible for the attack, and IS-affiliated media channels have published graphic videos of the gunmen inside the venue.

Despite the IS claim of responsibility and the information released by the United States, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have persisted in trying to implicate Ukraine. Russia's Investigative Committee claimed on March 28 that suspects in the attack had "links with Ukrainian nationalists."

"As a result of work with the detained terrorists, an examination of technical devices seized from them and analysis of financial transactions, evidence of their links with Ukrainian nationalists has been obtained," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

It alleged that the suspects had received "significant amounts of money and cryptocurrency from Ukraine" and said another man "involved in financing the terrorists" had been identified and detained and investigators would ask the court to remand him in custody. No other details were provided.

Amnesty International has urged Pakistan to halt expelling hundreds of thousands of Afghan girls and women to neighboring Afghanistan.

“The deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan will put women and girls at unique risk,” Amnesty's South Asia Office wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on March 27.

The global rights watchdog's plea comes ahead of the beginning of a new phase of the expulsion of Afghan refugees from neighboring Pakistan. Islamabad plans to force some 850,000 documented Afghan refugees back to their country next month if they don't leave voluntarily.

Since October, Pakistan has already expelled more than 500,000 Afghans who lacked proper documents to stay in the country.

“Forced returns seriously curtail their rights to education, work, movement, and in some cases, expose them to imminent threat of violence,” Amnesty said.

“The Government of Pakistan must halt all deportations and take affirmative measures to ensure the safety of refugee women and girls,” it added.

After returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban’s ultraconservative Islamist government n Afghanistan has banned teenage girls and women from education. It also prohibited women from employment in most sectors.

Afghan women must also wear a niqab -- a strict head-to-toe veil -- in public. Taliban restrictions have severely curtailed women’s mobility by requiring them to be accompanied by a male chaperone outside their homes. Women are also banned from leisure activities, including visits to parks.

“Women and girls will experience serious repression of their rights to education, work, freedom of movement and more if deported,” Amnesty said.

The new warning comes two days after Amnesty called in a new report on Islamabad to reverse forced expulsions of all Afghans.

The report, Pakistan: Human Rights Charter, issued on March 25, asked Islamabad to protect all at-risk "refugees in compliance with Pakistan obligations under the principle of non-refoulement."

Non-refoulement is a fundamental principle of international law that prohibits a state from returning asylum seekers to a country where they would face persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.

Pakistan lacks a domestic law that offers a path to refugee status. It is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or the 1967 protocol intended to remove constraints on who can be considered a refugee.

The military court in Astana on March 28 annulled serviceman Arman Zhuman's acquittal from November and sentenced him after finding him guilty of abuse of power.

Aikorkem Meldekhan was shot dead in the Central Asian nation's largest city, Almaty, by what the court concluded was military personnel, when she and other members of her family were in a car on their way to a grocery store on January 7, 2022.

The vehicle was sprayed with at least 20 bullets, also wounding Aikorkem's 15-year-old sister.

Zhuman's lawyer, Oksana Musokhranova, said the court's decision will be appealed.

Aikorkem's father, Aidos Meldekhan, said he is not satisfied with the court's decision, insisting that the charge should have been changed from abuse of power to murder of a minor and attempted murder.

At least 238 people are believed to have been killed by Kazakh security forces during a brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters in January 2022.

With the country in the throes of unrest, President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev gave police and military troops the controversial order to "shoot to kill without warning." He justified the move by saying "20,000 extremists trained in foreign terrorist camps" had seized Almaty airport and other buildings.

No evidence of foreign-trained terrorists was ever presented.

The order sparked an outcry and Aikorkem's picture turned into an image symbolizing the victims of the crackdown, many of whom were killed -- some under torture -- by police, security forces and military personnel, including troops of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, whom Toqaev invited into the country "to restore law and order."

The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said in a statement on Telegram that 120 trucks were expected to cross the Uhryniv-Dolhobichuv checkpoint into Poland. It said the crossing would remain open until April 2.

The announcement was made as the Polish and Ukrainian governments met for more than six hours in Warsaw to discuss a row over Ukrainian grain imports, but a breakthrough appears unlikely.

Border crossings with Ukraine have been blocked for weeks as farmers in Poland demand the reimposition of customs duties on agricultural imports from Ukraine, which were waived following Russian’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

They argue that Ukraine is flooding Europe with cheap grain, making it impossible to compete.

"It is difficult to expect any breakthrough after these talks, any specific agreement, for example, on agricultural issues," said Jan Grabiec, head of the prime minister's office. "We are still in dialogue and both sides -- at least for today -- are not fully satisfied."

Ukraine’s Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the talks were “difficult but frank.” He said solutions had been discussed, which would be “announced soon.”

The Team Against Torture human rights group in Russia said on March 28 that Musayeva, who is serving a five-year term in a colony settlement -- a dormitory-like penitentiary located near an industrial facility where convicts work alongside regular employees -- was hospitalized after her eyesight deteriorated sharply and swellings appeared on her body.

The rights group quoted Musayeva's lawyer Aleksandr Savin as saying that his client has an acute form of diabetes, cataracts, and constant pain in her knee.

According to Savin, Musayeva needs proper medical assistance. Earlier in March, Musayeva's lawyer said the penitentiary authorities in the city of Argun had refused to let Musayeva see a doctor for two months, although a medical examination could have resulted in her early release.

Musayeva's initial request for early release was rejected by a court in Chechnya in December.

Musayeva is the mother of Ibragim, Abubakar, and Baisangur Yangulbayev, all of whom have fled the country citing harassment from Chechen authorities over their online criticism of Kremlin-backed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

Chechen police and security officers detained Musayeva in January 2022 in her apartment in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, some 1,800 kilometers from Chechnya, and forcibly returned her to the North Caucasus region's capital, Grozny.

In July, a court in Chechnya sentenced Musayeva to 5 1/2 years in prison on charges of fraud and attacking a police officer, which Musayeva and her supporters have denied.

In September, the Supreme Court of Chechnya shortened Musayeva's prison term by six months and said Musayeva must serve her term in a colony settlement instead of a penitentiary colony.

Kadyrov, other Chechen officials, and a member of the Russian Duma have publicly vowed to kill all members of the Yangulbayev family, calling them "terrorists."

Journalists, rights activists, and other Russians have urged the government to punish those who issued the threats.

Abubakar Yangulbayev has accused Kadyrov's law enforcement and security officers of "lawlessness on a daily basis in Chechnya" and said the case against his mother is Kadyrov's retaliation for his activities.

Ibragim and Abubakar have said they faced years of pressure from Chechen authorities over their online criticism of Kadyrov and the rights situation in Chechnya.

Many of their relatives have been similarly harassed in Chechnya and even deprived of their homes since Kadyrov and his people vowed to kill them and their families.

The activists' father, retired federal Judge Saidi Yangulbayev, and a sister fled Russia in January 2022 following the threats.

Russian and international human rights groups have for years accused Kadyrov of overseeing grave human rights abuses, including abductions, torture, extrajudicial killings, and the persecution of the LGBT community.

Kremlin critics say Putin has turned a blind eye to the abuses because he relies on the former rebel commander to control separatist sentiment and violence in Chechnya.

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Investigators say the Tajik citizen, who was not named by authorities, posted comments justifying terrorism under a video taken from last week's attack on the Crocus City Hall entertainment center in the city of Krasnogorsk, near Moscow, that was claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.

In an online statement, the Investigative Committee posted a video that purportedly showed the detained man apologizing.

The independent Astra Telegram channel identified the man as Bahodur Zuhurov.

A court decision on the suspect's possible pretrial arrest is pending. If convicted, the man may face up to five years in prison.

Earlier, a spokeswoman for the St. Petersburg court, Darya Lebedeva, said another Tajik national, Ahmad Faizulokhonzoda, will be deported from Russia for violating registration regulations and for being a member of a Telegram chat group allegedly used to recruit the suspects who were arrested over the March 22 attack.

Russian officials said earlier that 11 suspects, including four men who allegedly attacked the entertainment center, were detained. The four men, all ethnic Tajiks, on March 24 were sent to pretrial detention until at least May 22.

On March 25, three Tajik men residing in Russia and a Kyrgyzstan-born Russian citizen were sent to pretrial detention for at least two months.

Neighbors of one of the suspects arrested in Russia, Dalerjon Mirzoev, told RFE/RL on March 28 that his brother, Ravshanjon Mirzoev, had joined the Islamic state group in Syria in 2016.

RFE/RL correspondents found Ravshanjon Mirzoev's name on a list of people wanted in Tajikistan on unspecified charges. A source close to the Central Asian nation's law enforcement told RFE/RL that Ravshanjon Mirzoev died four years ago in the Middle East.

The Crocus City Hall attack sparked a wave of anti-migrant and xenophobic manifestations across Russia after authorities detained 11 suspects, eight of whom -- mostly ethnic Tajiks -- were sent to pretrial detention.

This week, a banner saying "Visa-Free Regime Kills" appeared at a makeshift memorial near what was left of the Crocus City Hall.

Russian lawmaker Mikhail Sheremet proposed restrictions on foreigners' visits to the country during the "special military operation" -- the official term for Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Another lawmaker, former presidential candidate Vladislav Davankov, said migrant laborers should be placed under digital monitoring and should be deported after committing even minor violations.

Some comments under the Russian lawmakers' online statements call for the closure of all mosques in Russia and keeping migrant workers in special dwellings without the right to freely move about in the country.

Members of indigenous ethnic groups from Russia's ethnic republics have also faced harassment, aggression, and violence in public places in Moscow and other Russian cities in recent days.

Human rights defender Valentina Chupik told Current Time that during the week in just one court in Moscow's Cheryomushki district, police brought about 25 labor workers, mostly Tajiks, each hour for deportation.

"I have not slept for five nights. I receive about 1,000 complaints each day, of which some 700 are linked to migrants' detainments. In all, I have now 3,500 complaints from [migrant workers] detained by police. Some 150 complaints a day are about the beating of migrants by police," Chupik said.

Other complaints include migrants' statements accusing police officers of robbing them during questioning and falsely accusing them of disobeying police orders, she said.

According to Chupik, authorities intentionally incite anti-migrant sentiments "to distract people's attention" from the "fact that the terrorist attack was overlooked" after Russian authorities received warnings from the United States that an attack was imminent.

"The goal is to deflect people's anger from the authorities to a known weak group of people who can be easily subdued and is clearly 'alien,'" Chupik said.

ITN's move paves the way for President Rumen Radev to appoint a caretaker government and schedule elections in two months.

Bulgaria will vote for the European Parliament on June 9, so the two polls could be held on the same day, but that depends on Radev's ability to quickly appoint a caretaker government.

Following the elections in April last year, Bulgaria had a joint government supported by the reformist CCDB and GERB. They had agreed on an 18-month government with a rotation of the prime ministers -- first Nikolay Denkov from CCDB and, after nine months, Maria Gabriel from GERB.

Denkov stepped down on March 5 to let GERB lead the government for the following nine months, as agreed. But Gabriel failed to form a government, and on March 27 Denkov also rejected Radev's invitation to try to put together a cabinet.

Bulgaria is the poorest of the 27 members of the European Union and has been wrestling with widespread corruption.

The Balkan country has been grappling with political instability since major anti-corruption protests in 2020.

Before the elections in April last year, the country was run by caretaker governments appointed by Radev in the absence of a stable elected coalition.

Radev on March 28 said he would start consultations with all potential caretaker prime ministers on March 30.

Following constitutional amendments, the president can choose between the chairman of the National Assembly, the governor or deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, the chairman or deputy chairman of the Audit Chamber, and the ombudsman or his deputy.

Jelve Javaheri was sentenced to one year for "propaganda against the system."

Other activists, including Zahra Dadras, Sara Jahani, Matin Yazdani, Yasmin Hashdari, Shiva Shahsiah, Negin Rezai, and Azadeh Chavoshian, faced similar charges, receiving sentences ranging from one to six years for charges including "assembly and collusion" and "forming an illegal group."

Following their arrest, sources close to the activists told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that after being arrested, the activists were subjected to pressure to confess to "fabricated deeds."

One source said some of the women have faced "intense interrogation and physical abuse."

At least 500 people have been killed since protests broke out following the death of Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman who was arrested while visiting Tehran by Iran's notorious morality police for allegedly wearing a hijab scarf improperly.

The Women, Life, Freedom protests and civil disobedience against the compulsory hijab that swept the country following Amini's death involved tens of thousands of Iranians, many of whom were already upset over the country's deteriorating living standards. Campaigns were also launched against the discriminatory hijab regulation.

In the face of the unrest, some religious and government figures have repeatedly advocated for a tougher stance by the government against offenders, even going as far as encouraging a "fire-at-will" approach against noncompliant women.

The UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding committee has categorized such actions against women as a crime against humanity.

Zelenskiy said he briefed Johnson on the battlefield situation, specifically the "dramatic increase in Russia's air terror" in a phone call on March 28. He told Johnson that in the past week Ukrainian cities and communities had been hit by 190 rockets, 140 Shahed drones, and 700 anti-aircraft missiles.

The attacks saw power cut to more than a million homes and took the country's largest hydroelectric power plant offline.

"In this situation, quick passage of U.S. aid to Ukraine by Congress is vital," he said in a readout of the call posted on Telegram.

A massive military aid package has been stalled in Congress for more than six months, delaying the delivery of crucial weapons and ammunition to Ukrainian troops on the front lines.

The U.S. Senate last month passed a supplementary spending bill that allocates some $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, mainly for weapons and military equipment. But Johnson has not brought the bill up for a vote in the House of Representatives, where his party holds only a slim majority, and includes right-wing Republicans who want to force Congress to prioritize border security.

The delay is having significant consequences on the battlefield as Ukrainian forces run low on ammunition and air defense materiel.

Ukrainian authorities said earlier on March 28 that Russia used kamikaze drones and heavy artillery to strike regions in the center and east of the country in the early hours of March 28.

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Local authorities in Zaporizhzhya said homes had been struck and at least two people wounded. Acting Mayor Anatoliy Kurtev said five houses had been partially destroyed while 40 had sustained damage.

The central Dnipropetrovsk region’s governor, Serhiy Lysak, said Nikopol was targeted by heavy artillery and drones. Two people were injured by shrapnel while four homes and a power line were damaged, Lysak added.

In Odesa, regional Governor Oleh Kiper said Russia initially launched drones before targeting the region with missiles. He added that there were no casualties in Odesa.

Offices, a shop, and a restaurant were damaged in Kharkiv, but there were no casualties, according to regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov.

Ukrainian authorities said Russia may have used a new type of guided bomb in air strikes on Kharkiv on March 27, in an attack described by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as “Russian terror.”

Volodymyr Tymoshko, head of the Kharkiv regional police, said Moscow may have used a new type of guided bomb, which he described as the UMPB D-30.

"It seems that the Russians decided to test their modified bombs on the residents of the houses," Synyehubov said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba landed in New Delhi on March 28 for a two-day trip to enhance relations and cooperation with India, a longtime ally of Russia.

The Ukrainian chief diplomat will meet his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and hold talks with the deputy national security adviser.

The National Press Club is sponsoring the event to mark one full year in jail for Gershkovich, 32, whose detention was extended to June 30 earlier this week by the Moscow City Court.

Wall Street Journal Associate Editor Paul Beckett, who is leading the newspaper’s efforts to free him, will take part in the Washington event along with Gershkovich's sister, Danielle Gershkovich.

The Wall Street Journal and the U.S. government have vehemently rejected the espionage charges against Gershkovich, saying he was merely doing his job as an accredited reporter when he was arrested on March 29, 2023, in Yekaterinburg.

Gershkovich is one of two U.S. reporters currently being held by Russian authorities. The other is Alsu Kurmasheva, an RFE/RL journalist who holds dual Russian-American citizenship.

Kurmasheva was arrested in Kazan in October and charged with failing to register as a "foreign agent" under a punitive Russian law that targets journalists, civil society activists, and others. She’s also been charged with spreading falsehoods about the Russian military and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

RFE/RL and the U.S. government say the charges are reprisals for her work. She had traveled to Russia for a family emergency and was initially detained while waiting for her return flight on June 2 at Kazan airport, where her U.S. and Russian passports were confiscated.

Gershkovich has been designated as wrongfully detained by the U.S. government, a designation that provides more dedicated resources in the effort to secure their release.

Kurmasheva, however, has not been designated as wrongfully detained, despite pleas from RFE/RL and from Kurmasheva’s family.

Representatives of RFE/RL and Voice of America will join Wall Street Journal employees and family members at the gathering in Washington on March 28. The Washington Post Press Freedom Partnership also plans to take part.

Beckett said other events to mark the anniversary of Gershkovich’s detention include a 24-hour read-a-thon of his work by his Wall Street Journal colleagues at the newspaper’s headquarters in New York and swimming events at Brighton Beaches in New Zealand, South African, Canada, the United States and Britain.

The beaches were chosen in recognition of his family’s connection to Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, New York, which is home to a large Russian immigrant community. Gershkovich's parents emigrated from the Soviet Union, separately, in 1979.

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The death of the civilian in Kharkiv was among at least three people killed by Russian attacks across eastern and southern Ukraine on March 27.

The attack in Kharkiv hit apartment buildings, Terekhov said on Telegram, describing it as “another act of bloody terror against Ukrainians."

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov said there were two strikes on a district of Kharkiv city that damaged residential infrastructure.

Five-story buildings where people lived were heavily damaged, and the Institute of Emergency Surgery was also affected, Synyehubov said.

Russian forces have escalated aerial attacks on Ukraine in the past few weeks, targeting key infrastructure, including power stations, in retaliation for fatal bombardments of Russia's border regions.

In the southern region of Kherson, a 61-year-old woman was killed in her home in a drone attack on a village; four children were among the wounded.

In the southeastern city of Nikopol, officials said artillery fire killed a 55-year-old man, while a ballistic missile strike on the coastal territory of Mykolayiv left eight wounded.

The Ukrainian armed forces said they shot down 10 out of 13 Shahed drones launched by Russia in the early hours of March 27. The drones were launched from Russia’s Kursk region and targeted the Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Sumy regions, the military said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, speaking on March 27 in an online briefing, again called for urgent deliveries of air-defense systems.

"The peculiarity of the current Russian attacks is the intensive use of ballistic missiles that can reach targets at extremely high speeds, leaving little time for people to take cover and causing significant destruction," Kuleba said.

"Patriot and other similar systems are defensive by definition. They are designed to protect lives, not take them," he said, referring to the U.S.-made missiles.

Ukrainian President Volodymry Zelenskiy also called for the West to deliver air-defense systems, saying the protection is "required in Ukraine now" and urging Ukraine's partners to "demonstrate sufficient political will."

Ukraine has become more and more frustrated over the inability of the U.S. Congress to pass a massive military aid package because of partisan disagreements. The bill remains stalled as lawmakers are in the middle of a two-week break for the Easter holiday.

Zelenskiy was in the Sumy region on March 27 to inspect the construction of defensive fortifications such as trenches, dugouts, and observation posts.

He also visited troops in a hospital and presented awards to soldiers with the 117th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade.

Bishimbaev is charged with torture, murder with extreme violence, and repeatedly committing serious crimes. Bishimbaev's cousin Baqytzhan Baizhanov is his co-defendant in the high-profile case. Baizhanov is charged with failure to report a crime in process.

Judge Aizhan Kulbaeva warned journalists that filming or taking pictures of the jury members are banned.

Prosecutor Aizhan Aimaghanova introduced the jury to the charges against Bishimbaev, accusing him of viciously beating his wife, Saltanat Nukenova, for hours in a restaurant that belonged to a relative. The body of the 31-year-old Nukenova was later found in the restaurant. Bishimbaev faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The case has attracted nationwide attention amid growing outrage over domestic violence in Kazakhstan, where 1 -in-6 women say they have faced some form of physical violence at the hands of their male partner.

Domestic violence has historically gone unpunished in the Central Asian nation, where it is not considered a stand-alone criminal offense. The Kazakh parliament has been dragging its feet for years on a bill that would criminalize domestic violence. Women account for about one-quarter of Kazakh lawmakers.

Amid the public outcry over the brutal death of Nukenova, Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev publicly called on the Interior Ministry to take the case under its "special control."

The 43-year-old Bishimbaev served as economy minister from May 2016 to late December the same year. Before that, he occupied different managerial posts in government agencies.

In 2018, Bishimbaev and 22 others faced a high-profile corruption trial that ended with Bishimbaev’s conviction on charges of bribery and embezzlement while leading a state-controlled holding company.

A court in Astana sentenced him to 10 years in prison, but Bishimbaev, who comes from an influential family, was granted an early release through a mass amnesty issued by the government. He had served only 18 months of his term.

The Interior Ministry said earlier that more than 100,000 cases of domestic violence are officially registered each year, though the number of unregistered cases, analysts say, is likely much larger.

International rights watchdogs have urged Kazakh officials to curb the spreading of domestic violence for years.

According to the United Nation's experts, about 400 women die in Kazakhstan as a result of domestic violence every year.