With a sweeping Russia sanctions bill headed to President Donald Trump’s desk, US Senator Jeanne Shaheen tells RFE/RL the legislation is intended to squeeze Moscow’s energy revenues and pressure countries buying Russian oil and gas.

Jeanne Shaheen, the senior senator from New Hampshire, spoke to RFE/RL shortly after the passage of sanctions legislation intended to target Russia’s energy revenues. Shaheen said the sanctions will force other countries, notably China, to wean themselves off of Russian oil and gas.

John Coale, the US special envoy to Belarus, spoke to Current Time shortly after the release of 25 Belarusian political prisoners in exchange for the easing of sanctions. Coale said his negotiation efforts are also meant to eventually help Belarus normalize its relations with other countries.

After brokering the release of 25 prisoners from Belarus, US envoy John Coale tells RFE/RL discuss the deal, sanctions relief, Washington’s tentative thaw with Minsk -- and where Russia fits in.

Billions of dollars in oil revenue are missing from Iran’s coffers. At the center of the scandal are shadowy middlemen known as "trustees" who help Tehran sell oil, steel, petrochemicals, and other goods abroad while bypassing international sanctions.

A web of contractors, suppliers, and others with links to Russian state giant Rosneft’s big Arctic oil project includes a billionaire associate of Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin and the father of President Vladimir Putin’s purported partner, Alina Kabayeva, among others. Systema investigates.

A military airfield in Russia's Rostov-on-Don and the Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery in Yaroslavl were reportedly hit during a major overnight drone attack. Ukraine’s Security Service says three military transport planes and three helicopters were hit.

Russia resumed its missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities on September 17, hours after the US Congress passed a sanctions package that supporters say will increase pressure on Moscow and countries that help finance its war against Ukraine.

Iranian cinema has a long history of confronting censorship. But the Women, Life, Freedom protests changed the terms of that confrontation. Where filmmakers once worked within, or carefully around, an elaborate approval system to tell their stories, many now bypass it entirely at great risk.

The US Congress on September 16 passed sweeping legislation targeting Russia and Iran, sending to President Donald Trump a sanctions package supporters say will increase pressure on Moscow and countries that help finance its war against Ukraine.