The Week's Best: 10 RFE/RL Stories You Need To Read (Or Watch)

Hey, you’re busy! We know rferl.org isn’t the only website you read. And that it’s just possible you may have missed some of our most compelling journalism this week. To make sure you’re up-to-date, here are some of the highlights produced by RFE/RL’s team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days.

Three fighters — two of them wounded in the fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan for Nagorno-Karabakh — tell RFE/RL what they witnessed in battle. By Amos Chapple

One year ago, a Chinese-born Uyghur whistle-blower was gunned down in a cafe in Istanbul after providing RFE/RL with documents exposing how he funneled hundreds of millions of dollars out of Kyrgyzstan. Newly obtained documents show his widow’s police testimony implicated a former senior Kyrgyz official central to the smuggling scheme in his assassination. By RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service

As the smoke clears in Nagorno-Karabakh and the guns fall silent, there’s one winner in the conflict, and it might not be who you might expect. By Mike Eckel

The new Serbian government is notable for its exclusion of two powerful former ministers with extensive dealings with Russia. Does that suggest that President Aleksandar Vucic has turned a corner? By Andy Heil

Russian TV coverage of the U.S. election has focused strongly on claims by President Donald Trump and his supporters that there has been massive fraud and irregularities, without mentioning the lack of solid evidence to back up those sweeping charges. By Ray Furlong and Current Time

As congratulations came in from around the world for Joe Biden, Russian President Vladimir Putin remained silent on the result of the U.S. election, and the Kremlin said he’ll wait for the “official result.” Here are some of the likely motives for his hesitation. By Steve Gutterman

Scores of people were seen leaving the war-torn Nagorno-Karabakh region for Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, on November 11. The road they were taking passes through Kalbacar, a corridor formerly held by Armenia but now controlled by Azerbaijan under a new cease-fire deal brokered by Russia. Most of the people interviewed by RFE/RL said they were leaving Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia. While disappointment prevailed, some hoped that Yerevan would restore the territorial control it had before the deal. By RFE/RL’s Armenian Service

On November 5, a tree-trunk-sized rocket roared over the hills of Nagorno-Karabakh and slammed into a house in Stepanakert, the de facto capital of the breakaway Azerbaijani region. Three people were reportedly killed. It was the latest, deadly use of what local authorities say was a Smerch rocket. By Amos Chapple

Liberal opposition candidates fared well at elections in St. Petersburg in 2019, winning numerous seats on district councils in President Vladimir Putin’s hometown. Now, many say they are facing financial checks, ostracism, and other tactics designed to prevent them from doing their jobs. By Yelena Vladykina and Robert Coalson

Iran has been reporting daily records of COVID-19 deaths and infections in past weeks amid what critics say is mismanagement by officials reluctant to impose strict lockdowns due to the struggling economy. By Golnaz Esfandiari