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Afghan Flights Delayed as Snow Blankets Kabul Airport

A man cycles through Kabul as the first snow of the winter descends on the Afghan capital (AFP/Mohd RASFAN)
A man cycles through Kabul as the first snow of the winter descends on the Afghan capital (AFP/Mohd RASFAN)
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Afghan Flights Delayed as Snow Blankets Kabul Airport

A man cycles through Kabul as the first snow of the winter descends on the Afghan capital (AFP/Mohd RASFAN)
A man cycles through Kabul as the first snow of the winter descends on the Afghan capital (AFP/Mohd RASFAN)

Flights to and from the Afghan capital were delayed or cancelled Thursday after the city was blanketed by overnight snow.

Kabul's streets were also largely empty as shop owners, government employees and workers stayed indoors to seek shelter from the freezing weather, AFP said.

The cold snap has added to Afghanistan's woes, with the United Nations and other organizations warning millions will need food and shelter from the country's harsh winter.

On Thursday, dozens of workers cleared snow from the single runway at Kabul's airport, which has slowly resumed business after being trashed in August when tens of thousands of people scrambled to evacuate as the Taliban returned to power.

"Flights have been delayed as there is snow on the runway but soon we will clear it," said Imamuddin Ahmadi, spokesman for the Ministry of Transport and Aviation.

Kabul has missed regular snowfall in recent years, as thick clouds of smog from coal and wood fires keep temperatures high in the immediate vicinity.

But the forecast for the coming days suggests temperatures will dip further in the capital and neighboring provinces.

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Russia Sentences Former US Consulate Worker to Nearly 5 Years in Prison

FILE - In this photo taken from video released by Lefortovo District Court, Robert Shonov, a Russian national who worked at the now-closed US consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years, is escorted by officers to the court room at the Lefortovo District Court in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, May 18, 2023. (Lefortovo District Court via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo taken from video released by Lefortovo District Court, Robert Shonov, a Russian national who worked at the now-closed US consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years, is escorted by officers to the court room at the Lefortovo District Court in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, May 18, 2023. (Lefortovo District Court via AP, File)
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Russia Sentences Former US Consulate Worker to Nearly 5 Years in Prison

FILE - In this photo taken from video released by Lefortovo District Court, Robert Shonov, a Russian national who worked at the now-closed US consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years, is escorted by officers to the court room at the Lefortovo District Court in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, May 18, 2023. (Lefortovo District Court via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo taken from video released by Lefortovo District Court, Robert Shonov, a Russian national who worked at the now-closed US consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years, is escorted by officers to the court room at the Lefortovo District Court in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, May 18, 2023. (Lefortovo District Court via AP, File)

A court in Russia's far-eastern city of Vladivostok on Friday convicted a former US Consulate worker charged with cooperating with a foreign state and sentenced him to four years and 10 months in prison.
Robert Shonov, a Russian citizen and former employee of the US Consulate in Vladivostok, was arrested in May 2023. Russia's top domestic security agency, the FSB, accused him of “gathering information about the special military operation" in Ukraine, a partial call-up in Russian regions and its influence on "protest activities of the population in the runup to the 2024 presidential election.”
The US State Department last year condemned the arrest and said the allegations against Shonov “are wholly without merit,” The Associated Press reported.
Shonov was charged under a new article of Russian law that criminalizes “cooperation on a confidential basis with a foreign state, international or foreign organization to assist their activities clearly aimed against Russia’s security.” Kremlin critics and human rights advocates have said it is so broad that it can be used to punish any Russian with foreign connections. It carries a prison sentence of up to eight years.
The State Department has said Shonov worked at the US Consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years. The consulate closed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and never reopened.
The State Department has said that after a Russian government order in April 2021 required the dismissal of all local employees in US diplomatic outposts in Russia, Shonov worked at a company the US contracted with to support its embassy in Moscow.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in May 2023 that Shonov’s only role at the time of his arrest was “to compile media summaries of press items from publicly available Russian media sources.”
Shonov was held in the Lefortovo Prison in Moscow, notorious for its harsh conditions, pending investigation, but stood trial in Vladivostok's Primorsky District Court.

In addition to a prison term, which Shonov was ordered to serve in a general regime penal colony, the court ruled that he must pay a fine of 1 million rubles (just over $10,000) and face additional restrictions for 16 months after finishing his prison sentence.