From the effects of the coronavirus pandemic to the aftermath of armed clashes, here are some of the most striking images of the year as taken by RFE/RL's photographers.
2021: The Year's Best From RFE/RL's Photographers

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Police arrest a man during a march calling for the release of jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia, on January 31.

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A man lights a candle during a day of remembrance for victims of communism in Bulgaria, Sofia, on February 1.

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Belarusian journalists Katsyaryna Andreyeva (right) and Darya Chultsova on trial in Minsk, Belarus, on February 9. They were jailed for two years for "organizing public events aimed at disrupting civil order." The sentence was widely seen as a politically motivated response to their reporting on anti-regime protests in Belarus.

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A man lights a candle in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 18, at a monument honoring the "Heavenly Hundred," the 104 people killed by security forces during anti-government protests in 2014.