Aliona Ciurca

Feb 16, 2024 | tol.org | Aliona Ciurca

In the public sphere and the courtroom, a Moldovan activist group has brought the issues facing queer people out of the shadows and won milestone victories. In 2010, M., a young gay man, fell victim to a brutal attackin Chisinau after connecting with someone online. Left unconscious in sub-zero temperatures, clad only in his underwear, his fate took a fortunate turn when a compassionate couple stumbled upon him. Later, he decided to turn to the only institution he trusted to ask for help.

Jan 20, 2024 | rferl.org | Aliona Ciurca

A fire has broken out at a natural gas terminal in the Russian Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, the regional governor said early on January 21. The terminal, 110 kilometers west of St. Petersburg near the Estonian border, is operated by Novatek, Russia's largest independent natural gas producer. The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry and local fire service were involved in fighting the blaze, in which no casualties were reported.

Jan 20, 2024 | globalsecurity.org | Aliona Ciurca |Cristina Popusoi |John Pike

By Aliona Ciurca, Cristina Popusoi, RFE/RL's Moldovan Service January 19, 2024 CHISINAU -- Moldova has paused a recruitment effort to funnel construction workers to Israel, alleging that Israelis have put Moldovans in "high-risk conflict zones," withheld passports, and committed other abuses while plugging gaps in their workforce brought on by the current war in the Gaza Strip.

Jan 20, 2024 | rferl.org | Russian Group |Aliona Ciurca

Microsoft said on January 19 that a Russian state-sponsored group hacked into its corporate systems on January 12 and stole some e-mails and documents from its staffs' accounts. A Russian hacking group known in the cybersecurity industry as Nobelium, or Midnight Blizzard, used a "password spray attack" starting in November 2023 to breach a Microsoft platform, the company said.

Jan 19, 2024 | rferl.org | Aliona Ciurca

At least 42,284 Russian military personnel have been killed since the start of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, according to research by journalists from Mediazona and the BBC Russian Service who have established the deceased soldiers' identities. The number includes 5,089 mobilized soldiers and 7,810 inmates recruited from Russian prisons, the two media organizations said.