Antigovernment protesters camped out in Moscow say they have won a "toilet war" against authorities that threatened to disrupt their round-the-clock rally.

Portable toilets were removed overnight from Chistye Prudy, an upmarket area in central Moscow where Kremlin critics have been converging to protest the reelection of Vladimir Putin.

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has called the sit-in illegal and said it would be dispersed.

Organizers say they were told the toilet cubicles "looked unaesthetic."

"I think authorities decided to waste us in the outhouse," socialite and opposition figure Ksenia Sobchak wrote on Twitter in a tongue-in-cheek reference to Putin's infamous pledge to flush Chechen rebels from Russia.

Sobchak said the owner of the toilets admitted he had been pressured by authorities. "I never thought I would get sucked into politics in the toilet business," she quoted him as saying.

In another humorous message, another Twitter user suggested that Moscow authorities planned to send new cubicles packed with riot police, Trojan-horse style.

Thankfully for protesters, the "toilet war" was brief. An hour later, organizers were able to have new cubicles delivered by a different company.

"We've agreed with the toilets, now we need to agree with Putin..." quipped Sobchak.

"Now the most important thing is literally not to crap out on [more literally, "f*ck up"] the protests :)"

-- Claire Bigg

The shaky footage shows a group of Russian OMON riot police hauling protesters away.

Two officers are seen dragging a protester -- apparently a woman -- by the arm. A third officer, dressed in blue camouflage and menacingly waving his baton at the crowd of protesters, suddenly turns toward the woman lying at his feet and kicks her hard in the lower abdomen, to the shocked reaction of onlookers.

The incident, which is believed to have taken place on May 6 during mass opposition rallies in Moscow, has caused deep outrage, fueled by speculation that the unidentified woman was pregnant.



The Internet in Russia was flooded with calls for the officer, widely dubbed the "May Maniac," to face justice.

Russia's Communist Party posted the video on its website and its parliamentary deputies called for an investigation.

Investigators today launched a probe into the incident and the Interior Ministry says it is trying to identify the police officer.

The video is one of several to emerge from the police crackdown on the ongoing wave of protests sparked by the reelection of Vladimir Putin to a third presidential term.

More than 400 people were detained on May 6 alone, including opposition leaders Aleksei Navalny, Sergei Udaltsov, and Boris Nemtsov. Navalny and Udaltsov face up to 10 years in jail if convicted of causing bodily harm to police officers.

The woman's beating, together with other acts of police violence caught on camera, have fueled mounting anger at Russian authorities.

One of the videos shows a young man lying unconscious after a police officer hits him in the throat with his fist, also during the May 6 protests.



Again, the man's identity and condition are unknown.

Footage was also released on YouTube showing OMON police spraying tear gas into the faces of detained protesters.

Many Russians were further incensed when Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said police had been too soft on protesters.

According to opposition leader and State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomaryov, he also stated that protesters who hurt riot police should "have their livers smeared over the asphalt."

Peskov confirmed his words in a subsequent interview.

-- Claire Bigg

In a pair of recent investigative reports, Khadija Ismayilova worked with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) to expose two of the ways by which the family of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev enriches itself through proxy companies in the oil-rich country.

Proxy companies are nothing new, but they have become part of an "unseen global offshore financial platform," linking companies and banks in Russia, Moldova, and Eastern Europe to others in Asia and around the world, OCCRP notes in a series of reports under the rubric "The Proxy Platform."

If you've been following the story of Ukraine's ailing former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and the international furor over her treatment in prison, then this cartoon by Yevhenia Oliynyk for RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service won't need much explanation.

Tymoshenko's trademark blond braid, draped across Europe, is shown dividing Ukraine from the European Union.

Senior European officials have announced plans to boycott the Ukrainian portion of next month's Euro 2012 soccer championship over concerns about Tymoshenko's health and her alleged mistreatment in prison.

She has just ended a nearly three-week hunger strike.

The Week Ahead is a detailed listing of key events of the coming week affecting RFE/RL's broadcast region.

Now on Twitter! Daily updates at @The_Week_Ahead.


MONDAY, May 7:

Armenia: International election observers in Armenia hold press conference in Yerevan.

EU: The Center for European Policy Studies holds a discussion titled "The Transit Dimension Of EU Energy Security -- Russian Gas Transit Across Ukraine, Belarus, And Moldova" in Brussels.

EU/Macedonia: Brussels and Macedonia start the second round of high-level talks in Skopje intended to boost the reform process and complement future accession negotiations.

Macedonia: PACE rapporteur Robert Walter makes a fact-finding visit to Macedonia, holds a series of high-level meetings in Skopje (to May 10).

Montenegro: The European Policy Center holds a discussion titled "Montenegro -- Next In Line For EU Accession?" in Brussels.

Russia: Russian outgoing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin inaugurated as President in a ceremony at the Kremlin.

Serbia: International election observers in Serbia hold press conference in Belgrade.

World: The fourth annual Oslo Freedom Forum, titled "Out Of Darkness, Into Light," opens in Norway.


TUESDAY, May 8:

Belarus: President Alyaksandr Lukashenka delivers an address to the Belarusian people and the National Assembly.

EU/Russia: European Parliament hosts a presentation of the study "Political And Social Developments In Russia In 2012 As A Consequence Of Its New Role On The Global Stage" in Brussels.

Pakistan/UK: Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani visits London to attend an annual review meeting on bilateral relations (to May 13).

Russia: Russia's State Duma is expected to approve a new prime minister.

World: World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day.

World: Dubai hosts the 11th Arab Media Forum (to May 9).


WEDNESDAY, May 9:

EU: Europe Day.

Russia: Moscow's Red Square hosts the annual Victory Day parade.


THURSDAY, May 10:

Kyrgyzstan/Kazakhstan: Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev pays an official visit to Kazakhstan.

Russia/China: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov makes an official visit to China (to May 11).

Tajikistan: United Nations Special Rapporteur Juan Mendez makes his first official visit to Tajikistan (to May 18).


FRIDAY, May 11:

Armenia/Azerbaijan: The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs visit Armenia and Azerbaijan (to May 13).

China: Beijing hosts a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which comprises six member countries: China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

EU: Copenhagen hosts the Europe Conference 2012 titled "Building The Future Of Europe: Post-Crisis Reflection."

Russia/Norway: Russia and Norway hold the Pomor-2012 joint naval exercise (to May 16).

Turkmenistan: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation holds a conference on refugees in the Muslim world in Ashgabat (to May 12).

Ukraine: A summit of the presidents of Central European countries opens in Yalta. The summit has reportedly been postponed.

Ukraine/Lithuania: Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite is expected to visit Ukraine.


SATURDAY, May 12:

Belarus: Human rights project GayBelarus holds a week of action against homophobia in the country (to May 17).


SUNDAY, May 13:

Azerbaijan: Eurovision 2012 song contest rehearsals of all 42 participants begin at the Baku Crystal Hall (to May 20).

Brussels is often keen to portray itself as a champion of media freedom, but this week it came under severe criticism from its own press corps -- and on World Press Freedom Day, to boot.

Journalists were irked that they weren't given a single opportunity to pose questions to Chinese Vice Prime Minister Li Keqiang during his three-day visit to the Belgian capital.

Li is tipped to become China's next prime minister in a major reshuffle at the top of the Chinese Communist Party later this year. The trip to Brussels was meant to be an opportunity for him to forge working relationships with EU leaders such as Jose Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy.

Traditionally, both the president of the European Commission (Barroso) and the president of the European Council (Van Rompuy) hold press points with visiting foreign leaders, where reporters are allowed to ask a couple of questions.

Not this time.

A commission spokesperson noted dryly that "it takes two to tango" and said that a press point was an option but that it wasn't taken up. That left journalists to speculate that Beijing wanted to avoid discussing recent events concerning Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng and the defenestrated party functionary Bo Xilai openly.

The Brussels media was assured, however, of several opportunities to take pictures of Li and promised a press release with the text of three declarations agreed by Brussels and Beijing on issues such as energy, electricity markets, and sustainable urbanization.

-- Rikard Jozwiak

Serbians go to the polls on May 6 for local, parliamentary, and presidential elections on the same day.

Reason enough for voters to be confused.

But as Serbian political cartoonist Corax suggests in the picture above, Serbian voters have a bigger problem than that -- they have two frontrunners offering similar choices.

His point is that President Boris Tadic (left) is pro-European but is acting nationalist to steal votes from rival Tomislav Nikolic.

And nationalist Nikolic (right) is doing the same in reverse by acting pro-European.

That, the cartoonist says, puts voters in the position of "Buridan's Ass," the famous metaphor 14th-century French philosopher Jean Buridan used to illustrate a paradox of free will.

The paradox: when a hungry person cannot rationally choose between two equally distant sources of food, he may starve from indecision.

With Tadic and Nikolic running neck-and-neck in polls and unemployment in Serbia at 24 percent, many Serbs find the metaphor only too apt.

Corax's cartoon was commissioned by RFE/RL's Balkan Service.