Watchdog

The head of the independent UzMetronom.com news and information website, Sergei Yezhkov, has announced he is indefinitely suspending the site's activities.

Fergananews.com on July 25 posted a letter on its site from Uzbekistan's military prosecutor warning UzMetronom.com's management about violations of the law.

The letter cited reports about the July 23 shooting along the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border that left two Uzbek border guards dead.

Yezhkov said he would attempt to find journalists outside Uzbekistan who specialize in reporting about the country to run the website.

He said he didn't know how long the situation would last.

Yezhkov described the decision to stop publishing from inside Uzbekistan as a "time out" and not cessation of the website's work.

UzMetronom.com has been posting reports about Uzbekistan since 2006.

Based on reporting by UzMetronom.com and Fergananews.com

The feminist activist group Femen is claiming members of Ukraine's and Russia's security services savagely beat one of its leading male activists.

Femen said on July 25 that "political consultant" Viktor Svyatskiy was assaulted near the group's headquarters in Kyiv late on July 24.

Femen said the assailants broke his jaw and knocked out several of his teeth. Svyatskiy was taken to a hospital for treatment.

The group did not provide evidence for their accusations, but said Svyatskiy was attacked as a warning to Femen activists not to go ahead with plans to protest at an event over the weekend marking the 1,025th anniversary of the Kievan Rus adopting Christianity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to attend that event.

Femen's female activists have gained notoriety for their topless demonstrations to protest discrimination against women and other rights issues.

Based on reporting by Interfax and AFP