KATIE MARIE DAVIES

In this photo taken from a video released by the administration of Mangystau region, the wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 lies on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (The Administration of Mangystau Region via AP)
Azerbaijani airliner crashes in Kazakhstan, killing 38 with 29 survivors, officials say
An Azerbaijani airliner with 67 people onboard has crashed near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau and an official says 38 people were killed and 29 survived.
 
Investigators stand at the site where Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia's Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense Forces, and his assistant, Ilya Polikarpov, were killed by an explosive device planted close to a residential apartment's block in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo)
The killing of a Russian general is one of several that Moscow blames on Ukraine
Ukraine’s Security Service has claimed responsibility for killing Lt. General Igor Kirillov, head of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, in a bombing in Moscow.
 
Honor guards shoot into the air during the funeral ceremony of six Ukrainian servicemen killed in a Russian rocket attack at a Ukrainian military academy, during their funeral ceremony in Poltava, Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukraine mourns dead from major Russian strike, vows response with underground weapons production
Funeral services have been held in the eastern Ukrainian city of Poltava for the victims of one of the deadliest Russian airstrikes since the invasion began, which killed over 50 people at a military training facility.
 
In this photo taken from video released by the National Antiterrorism Committee on Monday, June 24, 2024, FSB officers conduct a counter-terrorist operation in republic of Dagestan, Russia. Multiple police officers and several civilians, including an Orthodox priest, were killed by armed militants in Russia's southern republic of Dagestan on Sunday, its governor Sergei Melikov said in a video statement early Monday. (The National Antiterrorism Committee via AP)
Dagestan, in southern Russia, has a history of violence. Why does it keep happening?
Over the years, Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan, located in the North Caucasus region, has been beset by extremist violence. This weekend, there was more bloodshed.
 
This photo released by Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov's telegram channel on Saturday, March 16, 2024, shows broken and burned cars after shelling from the Ukrainian side, in Belgorod, Russia. A Russian regional governor says two people have been killed in Ukrainian shelling of the city of Belgorod, close to the border with Ukraine. Three others were wounded. (Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov telegram channel via AP)
Russia says Ukraine launched far-ranging drone attacks on final day of Russia’s presidential vote
Russia says Ukraine has launched a new wave of attacks as Russians cast ballots on the final day of a presidential vote set to extend President Vladimir Putin’s rule for another six years.
 
FILE - Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, center, attends a rally in Moscow on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018. During his 24-year rule, Russian President Vladimir Putin has gone from tolerating dissent to suppressing any challenger. Most Russian opposition politicians are in prison or exile. (AP Photo/Evgeny Feldman, File)
Who are the Russian dissidents still serving time after Alexei Navalny died behind bars?
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to secure his fifth term in power this month on the heels of opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s death in prison. The death demoralized Kremlin critics.
 
FILE -In this photo provided by South Korea Defense Ministry, a Taurus missile flies during a drill off the country's western coast in South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017. The German government on Monday vehemently rejected allegations that Russia's leak of a conversation by high-ranking German military officers was an indication that Germany was preparing a war against Russia, while at the same time it sought to contain the domestic fallout from the leak and promised a quick investigation into how it was possible that a conversation by top German military personnel could be intercepted and published. (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP, File)
Germany and Russia spar over a leaked audio on missiles for Ukraine. Berlin promises to investigate
The German government has vehemently rejected allegations that Russia’s leak of a conversation by high-ranking German military officers was an indication Berlin was preparing for war against Russia.
 
FILE - In this handout photo taken from video provided by the Moscow City Court on Feb. 2, 2021, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny shows a heart symbol while standing in a defendants’ cage during a hearing in the Moscow City Court in Moscow, Russia. Navalny, who died in an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16, spent months in punishment cells for infractions like not buttoning his uniform properly or not putting his hands behind his back when required. (Moscow City Court via AP, File)
Russians embrace hope amid despair as Alexei Navalny says his final goodbye
The final images of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny are tinged with deep despair for many of his compatrios. Navalny was in an open casket with red and white flowers heaped around him.
 
Relatives and friends pay their last respects at the coffin of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God Soothe My Sorrows, in Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
Putin foe Alexei Navalny is buried in Moscow as thousands attend under a heavy police presence
Under a heavy police presence, thousands of people bade farewell to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at his funeral in Moscow. It came two weeks after his still-unexplained death in an Arctic penal colony.
 
A policeman guards as a young man lay flowers paying the last respect to Alexei Navalny at the monument, a large boulder from the Solovetsky islands, where the first camp of the Gulag political prison system was established, near the historical the Federal Security Service (FSB, Soviet KGB successor) building, in Moscow, Russia, on Saturday morning, Feb. 17, 2024. Russian authorities say that Alexei Navalny, the fiercest foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests, died in prison. He was 47. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
In Russia’s Arctic, Alexei Navalny’s mother searches for her son’s body
For the mother of Alexei Navalny — the Russian opposition leader who died at age 47 in an Arctic penal colony — the journey to recover her son’s body was an odyssey with no clear destination. In the end, she didn’t get what she came for.