Amos Chapple is a New Zealand-born writer and visual journalist with a particular interest in the former U.S.S.R.
Arrests and confiscated terminals are being reported in Turkmenistan as locals set up secret Starlink connections to access the internet in the authoritarian country.
Why a sprawling war memorial that was opened on April 26 commemorates only a fraction of the estimated thousands of troops Pyongyang lost in Russia.
Satellite imagery sourced by RFE/RL shows two major Christian monuments have been demolished in recent weeks inside Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has touted the creation of 175 “museums” inside schools in the Russian capital dedicated to the invasion of Ukraine.
First-person-view (FPV) drones controlled via fiber-optic cables have proved nearly impossible to counter since emerging in 2024 in the war in Ukraine. But recent battlefield images suggest both Russia and Ukraine have developed systems that may offer an answer to the threat.
As Russia returns to the Venice Biennale for the first time since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the event is embroiled in a defunding feud with the EU. Ukrainian artist Zhanna Kadyrova says her team will not protest Russia's participation, but focus on its own message.
The US military said it would begin a blockade of ships traveling to and from Iranian ports following the failure of peace talks with Iran on the weekend. Former sailors who navigated tankers through the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s say today’s crisis echoes that conflict.
Despite a fragile US-Iranian cease-fire, only a few ships carrying oil and gas are making it through the Strait of Hormuz as hundreds of vessels remain stuck in the Persian Gulf. Former sailors who navigated tankers during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s say the current crisis echoes that conflict.
Sailors who survived the 1980s tanker war in the Persian Gulf in which scores of merchant sailors were killed say the current crisis over the Strait of Hormuz risks a descent into another all-out maritime conflict.
Amid reports Iran and the US are considering charging vessels a “toll” to transit the Strait of Hormuz, maritime insiders says such a move could backfire if other countries decide to charge ships for passing through natural maritime chokepoints.
Images chart the transformation of a desolate coral island in the Persian Gulf into Tehran’s primary oil export hub. Kharg Island has become a key target in the US-Israeli war with Iran.
Despite powerful resistance and lengthy delays, a monument projected to become the “world’s largest” Jesus statue is taking shape near Yerevan with a newly scheduled completion date.
A photojournalist gained access to a mountain stronghold in Iraq where exiled Iranian Kurds are preparing for conflict against the Iranian regime.
A symbol with its origins in a 1954 convention on protecting cultural sites during war has been spotted on the rooftops of buildings in Iran.
Just months ago, weddings were celebrated around a statue to young lovers in Ukraine’s eastern city of Druzhkivka. Today the monument is surrounded by ever-increasing destruction as Russian forces use long-range first-person-view drones and aerial bombs on the industrial city.
Futuristic laser weapons are now deployed with some militaries and are being demonstrated by Ukrainian startups. Industry insiders say the technology can counter the threat of cheap kamikaze drones, but there are significant caveats.
America's ongoing Epic Fury is the latest military operation with its own name. Here's how that title differs from previous operation names, and where the tradition comes from.
Yaroslav Amosov walked away from a stellar mixed martial arts career to fight against Russian forces occupying his home town of Irpin. Four years on, he has just been signed to the world's premiere MMA promotion.
Ukrainian mixed martial arts (MMA) champion Yaroslav Amosov left a stellar MMA career to fight Russian forces occupying his home town of Irpin. In 2022, the former Bellator MMA champion recovered his belt from his mother’s home. Now he has returned to the octagon after signing with the UFC.
They call themselves "military penguins" and belong to a small group from Ukraine's Antarctic research facility who have returned home to fight against Russia's invasion. RFE/RL speaks to Yuriy Lyshenko, whose journey spans 15,000 kilometers from the South Pole to the battlefields of his country.
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