Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Russia

Russian Minister Slams EU Sanctions Against Uzbekistan

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (file photo)

12 October 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today sharply criticized the European Union for imposing sanctions against Uzbekistan for its refusal to permit an international probe into the Andijon bloodshed in May.

TEXT SIZE - +

October 12, 2005

Lavrov told journalists in Moscow the sanctions were a "purely political instrument" that has proved ineffective in
Iraq and elsewhere.

EU diplomats announced the sanctions last week (3 October), condemning Uzbekistan's refusal to allow a probe and saying the Uzbek government used excessive and indiscriminate force in quelling a public rebellion in Andijon in which more than 700 people may have died.

The EU cut 3 million euros in aid to Tashkent, and also imposed an embargo on the export of arms and equipment that
Brussels says can be used for internal repression.

(Reuters, RFE/RL correspondent in Brussels)

For more news about events in Uzbekistan, see RFE/RL's webpage News and Features on Uzbekistan

Syrians in the northwestern town of Kfar Nubul pose with a cartoon depicting Russia

Angry Over Syria, Arab World Threatens Russian Boycott

Groups in a number of Arab states, angry over the Russian-Chinese veto of a UN resolution aimed at stopping the violence in Syria, have called for a one-day boycott of Russian and Chinese goods on February 12. More

Alla Dzhioyeva attends a protest by her supporters in Tskhinvali on January 28.

South Ossetian Opposition Leader Hospitalized After Raid

Alla Dzhioyeva, the opposition candidate whose victory in a runoff ballot in November for de facto president of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia was swiftly annulled by the republic's Supreme Court, was taken to a hospital after a raid by some 200 masked security personnel on her headquarters in Tskhinvali. More

Protesters gather behind a banner reading "Honest Elections" during a demonstration in Moscow on February 4.

How To Rig An Election

A whistle-blower in Samara explains how the authorities fixed the Duma elections in December -- and plan to do the same in the presidential vote in March. More