Georgia’s Irakli Kobakhidze has vowed to prevent attempts to topple his government through street protests
Anti-government protests in Georgia are being financed by foreign intelligence services seeking to stage a coup similar to Ukraine’s 2014 uprising, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze claimed on Monday.
Tbilisi has faced pressure from Western governments and domestic demonstrations over its perceived drift from the post-Soviet republic’s European Union integration path. At a press conference, Kobakhidze compared the situation to the Euromaidan protests in Kiev as he criticized opposition parties.
“Foreign agents won’t stage a revolution in Georgia, we won’t allow that,” the prime minister said.
“All this is financed by foreign special services, as with the Maidan. Recall how the Maidan protests were financed and how it ended for Ukraine. Ukrainian statehood has collapsed. Ukraine endured two wars after that revolution financed by foreign special services,” he added.
The 2014 events in Kiev were marked by shooting attacks against police and protesters believed to be conducted by radical elements of the opposition and ultimately led to the overthrow of Ukraine’s elected government. The new authorities, who adopted an anti-Russian stance, used military force in an attempt to suppress an ethnic Russian revolt in the east.
Years of failed reconciliation – later acknowledged by Kiev and its Western backers as a tactic to buy time and build up Ukraine’s military – led to the full-scale hostilities with Russia in 2022.
Kobakhidze’s government has accused Western nations of trying to draw Georgia into the Ukraine conflict. Officials in Tbilisi say the country is being targeted for refusing to open a “second front” against Moscow or fully align with Western policy.
The prime minister dismissed Georgia’s “radical opposition” as “essentially one power” with a single funding source and only minor tactical differences among its factions.
Former US Senate staffer and RT contributor Tara Reade applied for asylum in the country two years ago
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree granting citizenship to RT contributor and former US Senate aide Tara Reade. The political commentator has been living in the country for the last two years.
Reade worked as a Senate aide for Joe Biden in the early 1990s before accusing him in 2020 of sexually assaulting her in a Capitol office building in 1993. Biden has denied the allegations. Reade moved to Moscow in 2023, citing safety concerns that she said increased after she repeated her accusations during Biden’s re-election campaign.
In a statement following the granting of her citizenship, Reade expressed her gratitude to “many heroes along the way with my story,” and personally to RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan.
“I teared up, I was so joyful, and I immediately talked to some of the people at RT,” she told the news channel, commenting on the announcement of her citizenship.
Reade recounted how her “family was under threat by the US government, by the Biden regime” when Representative Matt Gaetz told her that it would be safer to stay in Russia and to apply for asylum in the country.
Reade is not the first foreign public figure to be granted Russian citizenship by presidential decree. Among the most high-profile is NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who in 2013 revealed illegal mass US surveillance of American citizens. After his passport was cancelled by the US State Department under President Barack Obama, Snowden sought and was granted asylum in Russia, and later Russian citizenship.
Others include American actor Steven Seagal, who received citizenship in 2016 and has since been active in Russian cultural diplomacy, French actor Gerard Depardieu, and mixed martial artist Jeff Monson.
The Ukrainian drone strike left at least three people dead and 16 injured, according to local officials
Russian forces have carried out a series of targeted strikes on Ukrainian military targets in response to Kiev’s latest terrorist attack in Crimea, the Defense Ministry in Moscow reported on Tuesday.
Ukrainian drones struck a wellness complex in the Russian peninsula on Sunday and also damaged a school building. Three civilians were killed and sixteen were injured. Moscow has stressed that there were no military facilities in the resort area.
On Tuesday, the Defense Ministry stated that overnight, the Russian military carried out strikes against temporary deployment points of Kiev’s special operations forces and foreign mercenaries of the “Ghosts” unit, which it said were responsible for preparing and executing the attack on Crimea.
Moscow also claimed to have struck UAV storage facilities at the Shkolny airfield in Odessa Region, from which the attack on the Russian peninsula was allegedly launched. The ministry said it also carried out strikes against workshops where Ukrainian drones were assembled.
Ukraine has increasingly turned to long-range drone attacks for strikes inside Russia as its forces have been consistently beaten back on the battlefield.
The attacks, targeting Russian energy and civilian infrastructure, have killed and injured dozens of innocent people. Moscow has long accused Kiev of deliberately targeting Russian citizens and often children. Russia has repeatedly responded to Kiev’s attacks by launching its own long-range drone and missile strikes. The Defense Ministry has stressed that it exclusively targets Ukrainian military sites such as troop positions, weapons depots and fuel storage facilities, and never attacks innocent people or civilian infrastructure.
The military bloc’s forces are being concentrated near the border with the post-Soviet state, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service has claimed
European NATO countries are preparing for a military intervention in Moldova, according to Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). The agency warned that “eurocrats” in Brussels intend to ensure that Chisinau continues to pursue anti-Russian policies, and will go as far as to “occupy” Moldova after upcoming parliamentary elections.
In a press release on Monday, the SVR stated it had observed European NATO forces being concentrated in Romania near the border with Moldova, and further claimed that they are preparing to deploy to Odessa Region in Ukraine to intimidate Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria. It added that military servicemen from France and the UK have already arrived in Odessa.
According to the SVR, forces from European countries intend to intervene following the upcoming Moldovan parliamentary elections, where Brussels and Chisinau will allegedly falsify the results in the hope of driving Moldovan citizens to the streets to defend their rights. After that, at the request of Moldovan President Maia Sandu, European NATO forces will enter the country and compel Moldovans to “accept dictatorship under the guise of European democracy,” the agency said.
The SVR also alleged that even if there is no public unrest following the election, European nations still intend to occupy Moldova, but at a later date under the pretext of armed provocations against Transnistria and Russian peacekeeping troops stationed in the region. The service said that the possible timeframe for the operation is between the upcoming parliamentary elections and November 30.
In its press release, the SVR argued that the alleged plot to occupy Moldova was motivated by the desire of European “totalitarian-liberal regimes” to “demonstrate their courage and determination” as plans to send Western troops to Ukraine have stalled.
“Fearing a direct confrontation with big Russia, Europeans intend to take it out on small Moldova. Self-affirmation at the expense of the weak has always been an integral part of European colonialism,” the service said.
The SVR similarly warned in July that European NATO nations were molding Moldova into a military “battering ram” against Russia.
Former Moldovan President Igor Dodon recently claimed that the bloc intends to use Moldova as “cannon fodder” in a possible future conflict with Russia.
Three recruits reportedly escaped the site in western Ivano-Frankivsk Region after a group of unidentified attackers broke in
A group of unidentified attackers raided a conscription center in western Ukraine on Monday, allowing three potential recruits to escape, local officials have said.
The incident occurred in the Kalush municipality of Ivano-Frankivsk Region, according to statements from regional draft officials and police. The attackers reportedly broke windows and doors to enter the facility.
Ukrainian media, citing unnamed sources, said around ten assailants took part in the raid. It remains unclear whether freeing the recruits was their goal or an unintended consequence of the attack.
Kiev relies on mandatory conscription to replenish battlefield losses. Draft officers have faced growing hostility from the public following multiple incidents in which force was used against resisting recruits.
Ukrainian enlistment centers and personnel have been attacked repeatedly. In February, a man fatally shot a service member escorting several recruits in Priyatin, Poltava Region, and fled with one of them. Both were later caught in a manhunt.
In July, Andrey Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, alleged that some Ukrainians are tipping off the Russian military about the locations of enlistment centers in hopes they will be targeted by long-range strikes.
Debris damaged several cars in the Russian capital’s suburbs, local media have reported
Air defenses around Russia’s capital, Moscow, have destroyed or intercepted 32 Ukrainian drones targeting the megapolis, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin has reported.
In a series of Telegram posts beginning around 8pm on Monday, Sobyanin described several waves of attacks that allegedly stretched into the early hours of Tuesday. He did not provide details on injuries, damage details, or the exact crash sites, saying only that emergency services were working where debris had fallen.
However, the Telegram channel Mash reported that drone wreckage landed in Solntsevo, a residential district in western Moscow, and in Reutov, a town just east of the capital, where drone fragments reportedly damaged parked cars.
Temporary restrictions on takeoffs and landings at Sheremetyevo Airport were also introduced amid the drone attacks, although the measures were later lifted.
On Tuesday morning, the Russian Defense Ministry said that from midnight to 7am on Tuesday, a total of 69 Ukrainian drones had been neutralized over the regions of Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga, Kursk, Moscow, Rostov, Ryazan, Samara, and Saratov, as well as Crimea.
Ukraine has routinely launched drone attacks deep into Russia, often targeting residential buildings and critical infrastructure, with Moscow denouncing the raids as “terrorism.”
Russian fighter jets have never crossed into the Baltic nation’s skies, deputy UN envoy Dmitry Polyansky told the Security Council
Russian fighter jets have never crossed into Estonian airspace, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, has told an emergency UN Security Council meeting called upon Tallinn’s request. The Baltic nation and NATO member previously claimed that three military aircraft violated its airspace for 12 minutes in what it called an “unprecedented brazen” incursion.
“Our neighbors have now imagined that Russia is at fault for an incursion into Estonian airspace,” Polyansky said on Monday, referring to last week’s incident. “There is no proof except the Russophobic hysteria coming from Tallinn.”
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, who represented his nation at the meeting, maintained that Tallinn possesses “hard evidence” of the alleged violation while demonstrating what he stated was radar data showing the flight trajectory of the Russian jets.
According to Polyansky, the Russian jets conducted a planned flight and “did not stray from the agreed route, nor did they cross into Estonian airspace” as they flew over “the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea, over three kilometers from the island of Vaindloo.”
Estonia could have established these facts on its own but doing so was not on Tallinn’s agenda, the Russian diplomat said. “Its goal is different: to stir up hysteria and accuse Russia of provocations despite any facts and common sense,” he added.
The Russian Defense Ministry had also earlier denied the accusation, saying that its jets flew over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea “without violating Estonian airspace.”
Tallinn requested urgent consultations with fellow NATO members under Article 4 of the bloc’s treaty in the wake of the incident, prompting several other members of the bloc to point fingers at Russia as well.
The alleged incident took place just weeks after Poland accused Russia of sending at least 19 drones into its airspace, a claim Moscow denied. The bloc responded by increasing air patrols over the Eastern European nation.
As long as the hostilities continue, the conflict could spill over, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said
Ending the Ukraine conflict would entirely diffuse the risk of escalation between NATO and Russia, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in an interview with TASS on Monday.
Moscow has long characterized the conflict as a proxy war led by the US-led military bloc against Russia using Ukrainian manpower.
Speaking to the Russian news agency on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Szijjarto suggested peace in Ukraine as a way to prevent a dangerous escalation between Russia and NATO.
“If there is peace, if this [Ukraine] war ends, then we can reduce the risk of escalation to zero. But as long as this war continues, I fear that events will occur that carry the risk of escalation, and that is truly bad news,” he said.
Earlier this month, the top diplomat said that Ukraine and the EU were attempting to “drag” Hungary into the conflict. Despite pressure from Brussels, Budapest has resisted providing military support to Kiev and opposed the bloc’s sanctions against Russia, instead calling for a diplomatic solution.
In recent weeks, EU and NATO members Poland and Estonia have both accused Russia of violating their airspace – claims Moscow has denied as baseless.
In response to Russian drones allegedly crossing into Polish territory earlier this month, NATO launched its Eastern Sentry operation to increase the US-led military bloc’s presence near its eastward flank.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has stated that the drone allegations were fabricated for the purpose of derailing the Ukraine peace talks. Russia has long accused European NATO members of working to prolong and escalate the conflict.
According to Moscow, the US-led military bloc is already “de facto” fighting a war against Russia.
“NATO provides both indirect and direct support to the Kiev regime,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week. Despite this, Moscow remains “ready and willing” to work towards diplomatically settling the Ukraine crisis, he added.
From Kupiansk to Dnepropetrovsk, Russia exploits thin defenses as Ukraine struggles to plug the gaps
As August gave way to September, the rhythm of the war shifted. The main fronts around Pokrovsk and Konstantinovka fell eerily quiet, while new fires broke out on the edges – Kupiansk in the north, Liman in the forests, and the flatlands of Zaporozhye and Dnepropetrovsk.
The reason was clear enough: Ukraine’s commanders had stripped secondary sectors to feed counterattacks where the pressure was greatest. Around Konstantinovka the offensive ground to a halt, and on the Pokrovsk front Kiev’s forces even clawed back a little ground.
But that gamble came at a price. With the line stretched too thin, cracks began to open. On three fronts at once, crises flared – warning signs that Ukraine can no longer hold the line everywhere at once. Russia, regrouping and readying fresh offensives, now has the chance to exploit those gaps and turn them into breakthroughs.
What follows is a tour down the front from north to south – where the quiet lulls, the sudden shocks, and the looming sense of collapse set the stage for what may come next.
Kupiansk: An unexpected assault
For months, the Kupiansk sector looked like a dead end. Last year, Russian forces crossed the Oskol River, setting the stage for an assault on the city from the northwest. Then, in July 2025, they captured Kondrashovka and Moskovka – key strongholds in the area.
For a while, Ukraine treated the Kupiansk defense zone the way it did the Serebrianskiye forests farther south: as a reserve pool to pull reinforcements from. But now Kiev’s resources here are starting to run thin.
By mid-August, fighting had spilled into Kupiansk itself. By September 10, Russian troops had taken the central square, the main administrative building, several high-rises, and a sugar factory on the city’s eastern edge.
The last viable supply route for Ukraine’s garrison – through the village of Blagodatovka – was cut off as the front line crept closer. A dirt road running south through Osinovo along the railway is also effectively unusable, under constant drone strikes.
So what’s the situation now? A month earlier in Pokrovsk, a new pattern had emerged in the battle for a major city: neither side held steady ground, with most of the fighting carried out remotely using FPV drones. Kupiansk seems to be following the same script.
Reports suggest Russian troops are also making heavy use of pipelines for covert infiltration behind Ukrainian lines. On September 19–20, intense clashes broke out in Yubileyny – the last remaining high-rise district not yet under Russian control.
Liman and the Serebrianskiye Forests: From quantity to quality
The offensive toward Liman has continued to gather momentum. One of September’s most significant developments was the capture of the Serebrianskiye forests, where battles had dragged on for more than two years, dating back to the fall of 2023. This victory opens the way to the settlement of Yampol and gives Russian forces fire control over a web of roads and crossings linking Liman with Seversk on the southern bank of the Seversky Donets River.
To the west, fighting stretches from Shandrigolovo to Novoselovka. Over the past month, Russian troops have advanced as much as seven kilometers along a 10–11 kilometer front, seizing key strongholds and severing the road running northwest from Liman toward Izyum.
What’s the picture now? The Ukrainian garrison in Liman has only one supply route left – through the damaged bridge over the Seversky Donets and on to Slaviansk. In May 2022, a similar bottleneck sparked fierce battles for the city that lasted less than a week before Ukrainian forces pulled out – though they later retook it in October of that year.
This time, a lightning-fast assault seems less likely. Still, the longer the encirclement tightens, the more precarious the situation becomes for Ukraine’s troops inside Liman.
Pokrovsk and the Northern front: Calm before the storm
After Russia’s breakthrough north of Pokrovsk in August, Ukraine threw everything it had into counterattacks to keep the front from collapsing. By most Ukrainian accounts, nearly all available reserves were committed to these operations.
On the other side, Russian forces focused on consolidating their new foothold and widening it. The strategy paid off to a degree: they took Vladimirovka to the east and Rubezhnoye to the west. But to avoid encirclement, Russian units had to pull back from the Dobropolye–Kramatorsk highway, which they had briefly controlled.
In this sector, the map shifts almost daily. Even with extra reserves, Ukrainian forces have been unable to establish a continuous defensive line around the breach. For their part, Russian troops face difficulties massing forces in the narrow, exposed lowlands.
So what’s happening now? In recent days, fighting has flared again around Pokrovsk and Mirnograd. If Moscow’s goal is to push farther north while threatening Kramatorsk from the flank, it will first need to deal with the sizable Ukrainian pocket around Pokrovsk and Mirnograd – straightening the front and freeing up manpower for the next phase.
As in the summer, this stretch of the front is likely to see major developments in the weeks and months ahead.
Dnepropetrovsk Region: Go West
The most significant Russian gains this month have come along the Zaporozhye and Pokrovskoye axes. Here, Russian forces have pushed as far as 15 kilometers on a front roughly 40 kilometers wide. Daily reports note the capture of settlements not only in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Zaporozhye region, but also in Dnepropetrovsk.
For Ukraine, the problem is structural: its defenses were built to face south, while the current offensive is coming from the east, along those very lines. Combined with the broader exhaustion of Ukraine’s forces, this leaves too little manpower to hold open terrain effectively.
The only real Ukrainian progress in this area has been a series of counterattacks near Zeleny Gay, but these appear more an extension of the defensive fight around Pokrovsk and Dobropolye than independent operations.
So where do things stand now? On September 20, Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced the capture of Berezovoe – the largest Ukrainian stronghold in the Dnepropetrovsk region so far. If Russian forces keep advancing, they could reach the Pokrovskoye–Gulaipole road on the border of Zaporozhye and Dnepropetrovsk and potentially encircle the city of Gulaipole.
While Moscow is ready to respond to any threats, it continues to prioritize diplomacy, the Russian president has said
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow will continue to adhere to a key nuclear arms control treaty signed with the US for one year after its expiration, provided Washington agrees to do the same.
Speaking ahead of a Security Council meeting on Monday, Putin said global strategic stability has been increasingly threatened by what he described as the destructive actions of Western nations.
He stressed that while Moscow is ready to meet any threat, it is and always has been interested in political and diplomatic methods of resolving conflicts.
Russia is prepared to follow the 2010 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) treaty for one year after its expiration next February, provided the US reciprocates and refrains from actions that could break the nuclear status quo, such as deploying interceptor systems in space, Putin offered.
The Russia-US treaty establishes limits on the numbers of intercontinental-range nuclear weapons both sides can deploy.
Below is the full text of Putin’s speech, as published on the Kremlin website:
Good afternoon, colleagues,
We have several topics to discuss today, including matters related to migration policy. However, I would like to begin with an issue of prime importance, one that is critical to safeguarding our national interests, Russia’s sovereignty, and without exaggeration, international security as a whole. I am referring to the situation in the realm of strategic stability, which, regrettably, continues to deteriorate. This is driven by a combination of factors, which are negative, compounding existing strategic risks and generating new ones.
As a result of the destructive actions previously taken by Western countries, the foundations of constructive relations and practical cooperation between nuclear powers have been significantly undermined. The basis for dialogue within relevant bilateral and multilateral frameworks has been eroded. Gradually, the system of Soviet-American and Russian-American agreements on nuclear missile and strategic defense arms control – long relied upon to stabilize relations between the two largest nuclear powers and to enhance global security – has been nearly dismantled.
Let me reiterate: We have repeatedly examined the causes and potential consequences of this situation. We attribute the numerous challenges that have accumulated in the strategic sphere since the beginning of the 21st century to the destructive actions of the West, their destabilizing doctrines and military-technical programs designed to undermine global parity and pursue absolute, overwhelming superiority.
We have consistently and thoroughly addressed these issues, criticized this approach, and not only highlighted the extreme dangers of further deterioration but also repeatedly proposed concrete ideas for joint solutions. However, our warnings and initiatives have not received a clear response.
Let me emphasize and let there be no doubt: Russia is fully capable of responding to any current or emerging threat, not with words, but through concrete military-technical measures. A clear example is our decision to end the unilateral moratorium on the deployment of ground-based short- and intermediate-range missiles. This was a forced move needed for ensuring an adequate response to the deployment of similar US and other Western-made weapons in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, which poses a direct threat to Russia’s security.
Our plans to strengthen the country’s defense capability are being developed with full regard to the evolving international situation, and they are being implemented in a comprehensive and timely manner. We are confident in the reliability and effectiveness of our national deterrent forces. At the same time, we are not seeking to further escalate tensions or fuel an arms race. Russia has consistently upheld the primacy of political and diplomatic methods for maintaining global peace, based on the principles of equality, the indivisibility of security, and mutual respect for interests.
Let me remind you that the last major political and diplomatic achievement in the field of strategic stability was the conclusion of the Russian-American New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) in 2010. However, owing to the profoundly hostile policies of the Biden administration, which undermined the fundamental principles on which this treaty was built, its full implementation was suspended in 2023.
Nevertheless, both parties have declared their intention to continue voluntarily observing the central quantitative limits of the strategic offensive arms treaty until its expiry.
For nearly 15 years, this agreement has played a constructive role in maintaining balance and predictability in the sphere of strategic offensive weapons.
The New START Treaty will expire on February 5, 2026, signaling the imminent end of the last international accord directly limiting nuclear missile capabilities. A complete renunciation of this treaty’s legacy would, from many points, be a grave and short-sighted mistake. It would also have adverse implications for the objectives of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
In order to prevent the emergence of a new strategic arms race and to preserve an acceptable degree of predictability and restraint, we consider it reasonable to maintain at this turbulent time the status quo established under New START. Accordingly, Russia is prepared to continue observing the treaty’s central quantitative restrictions for one year after February 5, 2026.
Following that date, based on a careful assessment of the situation, we will make a definite decision on whether to uphold these voluntary self-limitations. We believe that this measure is only feasible if the United States acts in a similar spirit and refrains from steps that would undermine or disrupt the existing balance of deterrence.
In this connection, I would like to ask the relevant agencies to maintain close oversight of American activities related to the START arsenal in the first place. Particular attention must be directed towards US plans to expand strategic components of its missile defense system, including preparations for the deployment of interceptors in outer space. We believe that the practical implementation of such destabilizing measures could nullify our efforts to maintain the status quo in the field of strategic offensive arms. We will respond appropriately in this case.
I believe that Russia’s initiative, if implemented, could make a substantial contribution to creating the conditions necessary for a substantive strategic dialogue with the United States – provided, of course, that the grounds for its full resumption are secured and that broader steps are taken to normalize bilateral relations and remove core security contradictions.
