Democracy tested in Eastern Europe amid accusations of Russian meddling
Voice of America
FILE - Protesters gather outside the parliament building in Tbilisi, Georgia, on April 15, 2024, to protest the "the Russian law," similar to a law that Russia uses to stigmatize independent news media and organizations seen as being at odds with the Kremlin.
This year saw a battle for influence in eastern Europe between the West and Russia as elections were held in several states that were once under Soviet rule. Moscow is widely accused of meddling in European democracy amid tensions that have run high since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Taliban Minister of Refugees Khalil-Ur-Rahman Haqqani, left, sits with his nephew, Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, in this undated image. A bomb blast, Dec. 11, 2024, in Kabul killed Haqqani and at least four associates.
Marina Terishvili, whose son Giorgi was arrested following recent Georgian opposition protests against the government's decision to suspend talks on joining the European Union, poses for a picture in her house in Tbilisi, Georgia December 10, 2024. FILE - A firework explodes near police officers during a rally of opposition parties' supporters, who protest against the new government's decision to suspend the European Union accession talks and refuse budgetary grants until 2028, in Tbilisi, Georgia November 30, 2024. FILE - Police officers escort a demonstrator during a rally of opposition parties' supporters, who protest against the new government's decision to suspend the European Union accession talks and refuse budgetary grants until 2028, in Tbilisi, Georgia November 30, 2024. Member of Georgia's opposition party Coalition for Change and participant of pro-EU protests Koba Khabazi, who was injured during a recent attack of a group of masked people near the party’s office, speaks during a meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia December 10, 2024.
A man breaks the lock of a cell in the infamous Saydnaya military prison, just north of Damascus, Syria, Dec. 9, 2024. A woman examines the cells at the infamous Saydnaya military prison, just north of Damascus, Syria, on Dec. 9, 2024. Crowds are gathering to enter the prison after thousands of inmates were released following rebels' overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's regime. Men released from prison dance at the entrance of Aleppo city, on Dec. 9, 2024, as people wait for the return of relatives after the release of detainees from Syrian government prisons following the ousting of Syria's president.
This photo taken on October 15, 2024 shows two Indonesian men, who previously fell victims of human trafficking syndicates and were forced to work as scammers in Cambodia, posing at a window as they speak to AFP in Jakarta.
Former Lieutenant General Faiz Hamid, right, shown here in an undated photo provided by Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations, was charged with several criminal offenses, the Pakistani military announced on Dec. 10, 2024.
This handout photograph published on December 10, 2024, on the official Telegram channel of the head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration Ivan Fedorov, shows rescuers at the site of a strike in the city of Zaporizhzhia, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
FILE - Volunteers ride a boat through a flooded area, searching for stranded people following the impact of Typhoon Yagi in Taungnoo city, Myanmar, September 17, 2024.
People walk past a destroyed vehicle, following shelling by the Rapid Support Forces, in Omdurman, Sudan, December 10, 2024. Khartoum State Government/Handout via REUTERS
FILE - White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby speaks at the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Oct. 23, 2024.
FILE - Delegates attend the U.N.'s International Court of Justice public hearings in an advisory opinion case that may become a reference point in defining countries' legal obligations to fight climate change, in The Hague, Netherlands, Dec. 2 2024.