ALMATY -- Lawyers with the newly created Qantar (January) foundation say the government’s investigation into deadly anti-government protests that shook the Central Asian nation at the start of this year is inadequate and called on Kazakh authorities to improve their techniques.

At a gathering in the oil-rich nation’s largest city, Almaty, on April 21, the foundation's lawyers said that Kazakh authorities and police intentionally slowed down investigations of deaths and torture during and after the unrest in early January that left at least 230 people dead.

"We can certainly conclude now that law enforcement and courts have reacted inadequately to the tragic January events," lawyer Daniyar Qanafin said at the gathering.

Most of the cases have not been investigated properly, he said.

“There are facts [indicting the] intentional prolongation of the cases, especially those related to gunshot wounds, which are being buried among other cases with some evidence that they are being lost,” he added.

Another lawyer, Rinat Baimolda, said that suspects have not been yet found in one of the most high-profile cases, a probe launched into the fatal shooting of a family that had nothing to do with the protests.

Qosai Makhanbaev, a man who and was shot while taking part in the rallies and later arrested and sent to jail for 37 days, where he says he was tortured, attended the gathering as well.

"They kept us lying on a concrete floor, tortured us with hunger, imposed moral and physical pressure on us, trying to make us confess to terrorism, namely the raping of nurses at hospitals and the beheading of a police officer," Makhanbaev said.

The Qantar foundation was established in recent weeks by noted Kazakh entrepreneurs to provide legal assistance to victims of the violent dispersal of the protests.

A peaceful protest in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic's western region of Manghystau over a fuel-price hike led to protests across the country and ended with deadly shootings in Almaty.

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During the protests, Kazakh authorities switched off the Internet and restricted mobile phone operations for five days.

Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev blamed rights activists and independent journalists for "inciting" the protests, which led to the arrest of several reporters in different towns and cities across the country.

Toqaev said in the wake of the protests that "20,000 extremists trained in foreign terrorist camps" attacked Almaty, but he did not provide any evidence to support the claim. As the unrest spread, Toqaev requested help from the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Toqaev also publicly said then that he had ordered security forces “to shoot to kill without warning.”

Kazakh authorities have said that at least 230 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, were killed across the country, but human rights groups say the exact number of people killed during the unrest may be much higher.

A fire at the Russian Defense Ministry's Research Institute in the city of Tver, 180 kilometers northwest of Moscow, has killed six people.

The Tver regional government said on April 21 that 27 people sustained injuries, mostly after they jumped from windows of the three-story building to save their lives.

Thirteen people remain in hospitals, while others left medical institutions after receiving first aid, the regional government said in a statement.

The fire started on the second floor and covered some 1,000 square meters of the building, which houses the Central Research Institute of the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces.

According to preliminary investigations, the fire might have been caused by the malfunction of outdated electrical wiring in the old building.

With reporting by TASS, Interfax, and SOTA

BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan's Interior Ministry has denied that politics are behind the launching of probes against noted investigative journalist Bolot Temirov, who was first accused of illegal drug possession before being charged additionally with forgery and illegally crossing the border, which he denies.

Speaking to reporters on April 21, ministry spokesman Bakyt Seitov described as "groundless" statements by Temirov and his supporters saying that the probes launched against him were fabricated and linked to his professional activities.

Temirov, who was summoned to police for questioning on April 20 and April 21, has insisted that drugs found at his home by police in January were planted in retaliation for his investigative reports about corruption among top officials of the country, including President Sadyr Japarov and the chief of the State Committee for National Security (UKMK), Kamchybek Tashiev.

Bishkek city police announced the forgery and illegal border-crossing charges this week, saying that Temirov, who was born and raised in Russia and holds a Russian passport, allegedly used forged documents to obtain a Kyrgyz passport in 2008 which he used to illegally exit and enter Kyrgyzstan in recent years.

The new charges came a day after Temirov's YouTube channel published an investigative report that questioned the activities of a company owned by Tashiev's son, Taimuras, which had won several construction tenders in the southern Jalal-Abad region in recent months.

Temirov said that the new charges were filed against him because of the report. Neither Tashiev, nor the UKMK have commented.

Interior Ministry spokesman Seitov alleged on April 21 that Temirov also illegally obtained Kyrgyz military registration papers using forged documents, which the journalist also rejected as false.

Temirov was arrested in January along with noted Kyrgyz traditional bard singer Bolot Nazarov, known for performing renditions of Temirov's investigative reports as songs.

The two were freed amid rallies demanding their release but ordered not to leave the country until a probe against them was completed.

The arrests in January came after Temirov's YouTube channel, Temirov LIVE, launched an investigative report alleging high-level corruption in Kyrgyzstan surrounding the activities of the state oil company.

Temirov was among 12 people recognized by the U.S. State Department last year as anticorruption champions.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Belarusian authorities to immediately release journalist Aksana Kolb, who was detained on April 20 and placed in preliminary custody for 10 days without explanation.

The whereabouts of Kolb, the editor of the Minsk-based independent weekly Novy Chas (New Time), are not clear, but her colleagues told the CPJ that she may be in the notorious Akrestsina detention center, which is known for the cruelty of its guards.

“Aksana Kolb’s detention shows that the situation for journalists in Belarus remains extremely worrying, and that authorities are determined to target the country’s few remaining independent outlets,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna in New York.

“Authorities must immediately release Kolb without charge, along with all other journalists currently in detention, and let the media work freely.”

The weekly switched to being solely online last August as it became too dangerous to print and distribute the paper. However its website was blocked after police raided the Novy Chas editorial office and Kolb’s home in Minsk in October and questioned her in an undisclosed case. Kolb signed a nondisclosure agreement and was unable to talk about the case.

Novy Chas then resumed publishing online on a new Internet domain and in recent weeks had covered Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

The Belarusian Interior Ministry was not available to comment on the case.

Russia says it has shut down consulates of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia in different parts of the country and requested that their staff members leave in retaliation for recent diplomatic moves against Moscow by the three Baltic nations.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued on April 21 that it has told Riga that the Latvian consulates in St. Petersburg and Pskov must be closed, while Tallinn was informed that the Estonian Consulate in St. Petersburg and its office in Pskov will be shut. Vilnius has been notified that the Lithuanian consulate in St. Petersburg is also to be shuttered, the statement said.

The announcement comes days after Latvia and Estonia each ordered the closure of two Russian consulates over Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, while Lithuania expelled Russia's ambassador over Moscow’s aggression against Kyiv.

In March, Moscow expelled 10 diplomats from Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia after the three Baltic nations joined other EU members in a move to expel Russian diplomats over the invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier on April 21, Estonia joined Latvia and Lithuania in banning the display of the symbols "Z" and "V," which are used by supporters of Russia's war in Ukraine.

Lawmakers in Estonia and Latvia also adopted resolutions on April 21, accusing Russia of genocide against the Ukrainian people.

With reporting by Reuters, dpa, and err.ee

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has called for the urgent evacuation of hundreds of civilians trapped at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol by Russian forces.

"The situation on Azovstal is desperate. Hundreds of civilians, children, injured Ukrainian defenders are trapped in plantʼs shelters. They have almost no food, water, essential medicine," the ministry said in a tweet on April 21.

SEE ALSO:

Inside Azovstal: The Ukrainian Metalworks That Has Become A 'Last Stand' Fortress

"Azovstal is being constantly bombarded by Russia, despite large number of civilians sheltering there. Ukrainians don't trust Russian troops, are afraid of being deported, killed. An urgent humanitarian corridor is needed from the Azovstal plant with guarantees people will be safe," it added.

SEE ALSO:

Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine

The plea for the safe passage of civilians and wounded came after Moscow claimed it had full control of the port city, except at the sprawling iron and steel plant.

Russian troops were planning on storming the facility, but President Vladimir Putin called the operation off on April 21, saying it would cause too many Russian casualties and that instead, forces should seal off Azovstal so tightly that "even a fly can't get out."

U.S. President Joe Biden says the United States will send another $800 million in military support to Ukraine to help the country defend against Russian forces in the Donbas region.

Biden said the weapons will go “directly to the front lines of defending freedom” to support brave Ukrainian forces and civilians who are fighting the Russian invasion in the region.

"We’re in a critical window now, of time where they’re going to set the stage for the next phase of this war,” Biden said, speaking at the White House on April 21. The United States and allies are “moving as fast as possible” to provide Ukraine with the equipment and weapons it needs, he added.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

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The new package will ensure the steady flow of weapons into Ukraine over the next few weeks, Biden said. It includes heavy weapons such was artillery, howitzers, 144,000 rounds of ammunition, and tactical drones. It comes on top of $800 million in aid announced last week.

The United States will also continue to share timely intelligence with Ukrainian forces and facilitate the delivery of weapons from other allies and partners from around the world, Biden said.

Biden also announced $500 million in direct economic assistance that the United States will provide to Ukraine to help the country stabilize its economy.

Biden said he will ask Congress next week to approve billions more dollars in aid for Ukraine because the $13.6 billion assistance package passed last month is “almost exhausted.”

He vowed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “will never succeed” in occupying Ukraine and stressed the need for continued unity among Western allies.

"Our unity at home with our allies and partners, and our unity with the Ukrainian people, is sending an unmistakable message to Putin -- he will never succeed in dominating and occupying all of Ukraine. That will not happen," Biden said.

Biden also said that, despite Putin’s claims, there no evidence that the southeastern port city of Mariupol has completely fallen. He called on Russia to provide humanitarian corridors so that civilians may flee safely.

The founder and co-owner of Lukoil, Russia's largest private oil company, has resigned days after he and other Russian tycoons were sanctioned by Australia and the United Kingdom over Moscow's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

In a statement on April 21, Lukoil said that the 71-year-old billionaire, Vagit Alekperov, decided to step down as the company’s president and resign as a member of Lukoil's board of directors. No reason was given for the moves.

"The respective notices of resignation were sent today to the Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors," the statement said, adding that Alekperov is not a controlling shareholder, but does directly own 3.12 percent of the company's voting shares, plus another 5.43 percent of nonvoting shares through various funds.

Alekperov had been CEO of Lukoil since April 5, 1993, when the firm became a private company.

He was among several Russian officials and tycoons sanctioned by Australia on April 8 and the United Kingdom on April 13 over the war Russia launched in Ukraine.

MOSCOW -- A court in Moscow has changed the remainder of a one-year parole-like sentence handed to a leading member of Pussy Riot protest group, Maria Alyokhina, to actual prison time saying she violated the terms of her punishment.

The human rights group Apology of Protest said on April 21 that the Presnya district court approved the request, made by the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN), to change the sentence handed to Alyokhina last September for violating coronavirus safety precautions by calling on people to protest against the detention of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny.

According to the court decision, Alyokhina must serve the remaining 21 days of her sentence in a penal colony.

The FSIN said it made the request because Alyokhina violated electronic bracelet requirements and once came home in January after a curfew time.

Alyokhina has said she removed the electronic bracelet from her leg on March 30 to protest Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen have made a surprise visit to Kyiv for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy amid Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Sanchez said in a tweet after visiting the town of Borodyanka on April 21 that he was "shocked to witness the horror and atrocities of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's war on the streets of Borodyanka."

"We will not leave the Ukrainian people alone," he added.

The visit came just hours after police in the town, located just northwest of Kyiv, said the bodies of nine civilians had been found with some showing signs of torture.

Similar scenes have been found in other areas around the capital and elsewhere in Ukraine after Russia pulled back its troops to redeploy them in the east after encountering stiff resistance from Ukrainian troops as they tried to move toward Kyiv.

Frederiksen told broadcaster TV2 during the visit that Denmark will deliver more weapons to Ukraine, though she gave no details.

A former top manager at Russian gas giant Novatek, Sergei Protosenya, his wife, and his daughter have been found dead in a rented villa in Spain, local media reported on April 21.

The 55-year-old millionaire was found hanged, while his wife and daughter had been stabbed to death in a villa in the town of Lloret de Mar near Barcelona on April 19, police were quoted as saying.

Police are said to be looking into two possible scenarios -- that Protosenya killed his wife and daughter and then hanged himself, or that someone killed the entire family and then staged the crime scene, the Spanish news site Telecino reported.

Protosenya, a former chief accountant of Novatek, used to be a member of the energy company’s board of directors. His wealth was estimated at around 400 million euros ($433,300,000).

He and his family resided mainly in France.

Novatek is Russia’s largest independent natural gas producer and analysts say its phenomenal rise from a bit player in the early 2000s to a $79 billion company today -- not far behind BP’s $89 billion market value -- is due in large part to the company’s connections to the Kremlin.

Gennady Timchenko, a key Novatek shareholder, is considered a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Their friendship goes back to the early 1990s.

SEE ALSO:

Executive Of Russian Gas Company Arrested In U.S. Says He Will 'Vigorously' Fight Charges

Late last year a top official at Novatek was arrested in the United States on tax charges. Mark Gyetvay, the deputy chairman of Novatek’s management board, said at the time that he was innocent and would “vigorously '' fight the case.

The U.S. Department of Justice said on September 23 that Gyetvay had been arrested on tax charges related to $93 million hidden in offshore accounts and faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

With reporting by Catalunya Diari and Telecinco

Teachers have taken to the streets of several cities in Iran, including the capital, Tehran, to demand fair wages, better working conditions, and the release of their jailed colleagues.

Reports suggest that the protests on April 21 were held under tight security.

Amateur video posted online showed protesters in Shiraz chanting: “Imprisoned teachers must be released.”

The Iranian Teachers Trade Unions Coordination Council reported on Telegram that at least 30 protesters were detained in the protests on April 21.

Teachers have in recent months taken to the streets on several occasions to protest their conditions and demand higher wages. They have also called on the government to speed up the implementation of reforms that would see their salaries better reflect their experience and performance.

On April 19, a court in Iran sentenced Rasoul Bodaghi, a member of the teachers' union and a civic activist, to five years in prison after convicting him of illegal assembly and propaganda. Bodaghi was also banned for two years from living in Tehran or leaving the country, his lawyer said.

The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said Bodaghi had been sentenced solely for "peaceful activism.”

CHRI has called on Iran to allow teachers to exercise their right to public protest without the threat of violence or arbitrary arrest.

With reporting by AFP

A court in Moscow has ordered Google to pay an 11 million ruble ($134,500) fine over materials about Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on YouTube.

Judge Timur Vakhrameyev of the magistrate court of the Taganka district in the Russian capital ruled on April 21 that Google must pay a 4 million ruble ($50,000) fine for failing to delete as instructed what authorities had determined was banned content.

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The judge also ruled in a separate case that Google must pay 7 million rubles ($87,000) for distributing materials produced by Ukraine's Azov military group and the Ukrainian far-right group Right Sector.

The court's rulings come two weeks after media regulator Roskomnadzor accused Google of violating Russian law, saying its YouTube video-sharing platform "turned into one of the key platforms spreading fake news" about the war Moscow launched against Ukraine.

Roskomnadzor said at the time that it will take punitive measures against the giant tech company, including an advertising ban on the platform and its information resources.

Last month, Roskomnadzor demanded Google stop the spread of videos on its YouTube platform that it said were "threatening Russian citizens."

Days after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Roskomnadzor ordered media across the country to publish information about the war in Ukraine only if it is provided by official sources.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the major developments on Russia's invasion, how Kyiv is fighting back, the plight of civilians, and Western reaction. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

It also has forbidden describing the conflict in Ukraine as a war or an invasion, instead insisting it be called a "special military operation."

Over the past year, Russia has intensified its crackdown on any dissent, forcing the closure of most independent media outlets and limiting the free flow of information.

On March 4, Roskomnadzor blocked Facebook, claiming the world's largest social media platform was discriminating against Russian media and information resources such as RT, RIA Novosti, and Sputnik.

A day later, President Vladimir Putin signed a law that calls for lengthy prison terms for distributing "deliberately false information" about Russian military operations as the Kremlin seeks to control the narrative about its war in Ukraine.

The law envisages sentences of up to 10 years in prison for individuals convicted of an offense, while the penalty for the distribution of "deliberately false information" about the Russian Army that leads to "serious consequences" is 15 years in prison.

It also makes it illegal "to make calls against the use of Russian troops to protect the interests of Russia" or "for discrediting such use" with a penalty possible of up to three years in prison. The same provision applies to calls for sanctions against Russia.

Multiple websites of RFE/RL, the BBC, and other independent media outlets have been blocked over what Russian regulators claim is erroneous reporting.

Some Russian journalists have left Russia after their companies had to stop or suspend operations following the criminalization of the coverage of the war in Ukraine.

Several have since started up their own streams on YouTube to cover and discuss the ongoing war.

With reporting by TASS and Interfax

Cyprus says it will strip its citizenship from four more Russian billionaires as the European Union member continues to pull passports from those who have fallen under the bloc's sanctions over Moscow's unprovoked war against Ukraine.

Deputy government spokeswoman Niovi Parisinou said in a written statement on April 20 that 11 members of the billionaires' families will also lose their citizenship in the move.

In line with government policy, the names of those affected were not released, but according to local media reports on April 21, Russian tycoons Oleg Deripaska and Igor Kesayev; Grigory Beryozkin, the owner of the newspaper Komsomolskaya pravda and RBK media-holding; and Gulbakhor Ismailova, a sister of Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, will lose their Cypriot citizenship, along with 11 of their dependents.

The EU has imposed sanctions on more than 1,000 Russians since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

The four billionaires and members of their families received Cypriot citizenship through a so-called Golden Passport program that allowed investors to obtain passports of the EU member. Almost 3,000 Russians have participated in the cash-for-passports scheme.

Deripaska obtained his citizenship in 2017 and Ismailova in 2015, while Beryozkin and Kesayev received their Cypriot passports in 2012.

Last week, Cypriot media reported that four other Russian billionaires -- Mikhail Gutseriyev, Aleksandr Ponomarenko, Vadim Moshkovich, and Aleksei Kuzmichyov -- will be stripped of the Cypriot citizenship on the same grounds.

The Golden Passport program was closed in Cyprus amid corruption allegations in October 2020.

With reporting by Athens Voice and Filelefteros

Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev has blasted Wimbledon's ban on Russian and Belarusian players as "complete discrimination" and "illogical."

Rublev, the world's eighth-ranked men's player, joined world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in criticizing the ban, which the Serb called "crazy" earlier on April 21.

The reasons Wimbledon gave made no sense, Rublev said on the sidelines of the Serbia Open, an ATP 250 event in Belgrade.

"What is happening now is complete discrimination against us," Rublev said, according to the AFP news agency.

Wimbledon on April 20 became the first tennis tournament to ban Russian and Belarusian players in response to Russia's war, a move that was immediately criticized by the world governing bodies for men's and women's professional tennis as unfair.

The ban means that the men's world No. 2, Russia's Daniil Medvedev, and the women's fourth-ranked player, Belarus's Aryna Sabalenka, will be banned from the June 27-July 10 tournament.

Djokovic, who grew up in war-torn Serbia, said the athletes had nothing to do with the ongoing conflict.

"I will always condemn war. I will never support war, being myself a child of war," Djokovic told reporters at Belgrade tournnament.

"I know how much emotional trauma it leaves. In Serbia, we all know what happened in 1999. In the Balkans, we have had many wars in recent history.

"However, I cannot support the decision of Wimbledon. I think it is crazy," he said. "When politics interferes with sport, the result is not good."

Djokovic is playing in just his third tournament of the season after being deported from Australia ahead of the Australian Open over his COVID-19 vaccination status.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on April 21 that the Ukrainian city of Mariupol had been “liberated” after nearly two months of fighting, but U.S. President Joe Biden said this claim was “questionable” as he announced another $1.3 billion in U.S. aid for Ukraine.

Biden said that, despite Putin’s claim, “There is no evidence yet that Mariupol is completely fallen.”

Speaking at the White House, Biden said a new package of $800 million in military aid will go “directly to the front lines of defending freedom” to support brave Ukrainian forces and civilians who are fighting the Russian invasion in the region.

"We’re in a critical window now, of time where they’re going to set the stage for the next phase of this war,” Biden said, adding that the United States and allies are “moving as fast as possible” to provide Ukraine with the equipment and weapons it needs.

Biden also announced $500 million in direct economic assistance that the United States will provide to Ukraine to help the country stabilize its economy.

His announcement came as the fate of Mariupol hung in the balance, with the city’s Ukrainian defenders trapped in the sprawling Azovstal steel plant.

Russian troops are continuing attempts to storm the plant in the besieged port city despite Putin's order to stop such efforts, Ukrainian authorities say.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces' General Staff said on Facebook on April 21 that Russia is also continuing its airstrikes near the port of Mariupol.

Earlier in the day, Putin earlier ordered Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to cancel plans to storm the facility and instead blockade it in order to protect the lives of Russian soldiers.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

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During a televised meeting on April 21, Shoigu told Putin that "all of Mariupol is under the control of the Russian Army" and Moscow-backed separatists, while the Azovstal plant "is securely sealed off" after weeks of heavy bombardment and intense fighting throughout the city, where tens of thousands of civilians are trapped amid what aid workers have called "apocalyptic" conditions.

Shoigu told Putin that more than 2,000 Ukrainian fighters were still holed up in the vast plant, which has a large underground component to it, and claimed that Russian forces only needed several days to "complete" the takeover of the compound.

Putin said during the meeting it would be "impractical" to storm the huge industrial complex as there was "no need to climb into those catacombs and crawl underground beneath those industrial facilities."

Shoigu said that more than 142,000 civilians were evacuated from the Sea of Azov port through humanitarian corridors -- a claim contradicted by Ukrainian officials who said that only a small number of refugees have been allowed to leave the city since the start of the war on February 24.

Earlier on April 21, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said only four buses carrying evacuees left Mariupol on April 20 instead of a planned 90 buses expected to transport 6,000 people due to the Russian forces' "disorganization and negligence."

She said in a statement on Telegram that the evacuation of women, children, and the elderly would continue on April 21.

Meanwhile, Russian troops continued their all-out offensive in eastern Ukraine as Kyiv proposed to hold a "special round" of negotiations in Mariupol.

A British military update on April 21 said that Russian forces are advancing from staging areas in the Donbas toward the city of Kramatorsk, which continues to be hit by rocket fire.

SEE ALSO:

Inside Azovstal: The Ukrainian Metalworks That Has Become A 'Last Stand' Fortress

"High levels of Russian air activity continue as it seeks to provide close air support to its offensive in eastern Ukraine, and to suppress and destroy Ukrainian air defense capabilities," Britain's Ministry of Defense tweeted in a regular bulletin.

After failing to seize Kyiv and other large and strategic cities in its nearly eight-week war, Moscow now says its aim is to capture the full provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, which have been the focus of Russia-backed separatists since 2014.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine needs more heavy weapons to defend itself and asked Western nations to impose further sanctions.

Speaking in a video address to the Portuguese parliament on April 21, he accused the Russian Army of committing many atrocities in Ukraine, including in the port city of Mariupol, and asked Portugal to support a global embargo on Russian oil.

Satellite imagery from near Mariupol shows a mass grave site that has expanded in recent weeks to contain more than 200 new graves, a private U.S. company said.

Maxar Technologies said a review of images from mid-March through mid-April indicates the expansion began March 23 and March 26. The site lies adjacent to an existing cemetery in the village of Manhush, 20 kilometers west of Mariupol, Maxar said.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP

The United States imposed another round of sanctions on April 20, this time hitting more than 40 people and entities for allegedly attempting to evade penalties previously imposed on Russia.​

The latest list includes a Russian commercial bank, a virtual currency mining company, and Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev, who is accused by U.S. authorities of financing Russians promoting separatism in Crimea.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Justice Department charged Malofeyev with violating sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Malofeyev was previously sanctioned by the United States in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea.

The United States and its allies have imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow since it launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The latest round announced by the United States is aimed at targeting the evasion of those previously implemented sanctions, the department said in a statement.

“Treasury can and will target those who evade, attempt to evade, or aid the evasion of U.S. sanctions against Russia, as they are helping support Putin’s brutal war of choice,” said Brian Nelson, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

"The United States will work to ensure that the sanctions we have imposed, in close coordination with our international partners, degrade the Kremlin’s ability to project power and fund its invasion," Nelson said in the statement.

The move targets the holding company of Moscow-based bitcoin miner BitRiver, which operates a data center in Siberia, and 10 of the holding company's Russia-based subsidiaries, the Treasury Department said.

The department also put sanctions on Russian commercial bank Transkapitalbank, whose representatives it said have suggested ways to evade international sanctions. Transkapitalbank serves several banks in Asia, including in China, and the Middle East, the department said. Its subsidiary, Investtradebank, was also designated.

The action freezes any U.S. assets held by those designated and generally bars Americans from dealing with them.

Separately, the U.S. State Department imposed visa restrictions on more than 600 people, barring them from traveling to the United States. The move is aimed at promoting accountability for human rights abuses and violations, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

Three Russian officials were among those hit with visa restrictions over "gross violations of human rights" they perpetrated against human rights defender Oyub Titiev, formerly the head of the Grozny office of the Memorial Human Rights Center in Chechnya.

In addition, 48 people believed to have violated the sovereignty, territorial integrity, or political independence of Ukraine were hit with visa restrictions alongside 17 others accused of undermining democracy in Belarus.

"We will use every tool to promote accountability for human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law in Ukraine," Blinken said.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her Canadian and European counterparts on April 20 led a walkout of a meeting of Group of 20 finance officials in protest against Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

British, French, and Canadian officials joined the walkout of the virtual meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the spring meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington.

Yellen told attendees she strongly disapproved of a senior Russian official's presence at the meeting, according to two sources quoted by Reuters. The U.S. treasury secretary said earlier this week she would not take part in meetings with her global counterparts if Russian officials were included.

Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko also walked out, according to AFP, quoting a source familiar with the event.

British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said that he, Yellen, and Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland walked out as Russian delegates spoke.

"We are united in our condemnation of Russia’s war against Ukraine and will push for stronger international coordination to punish Russia,” Sunak said on Twitter.

Freeland tweeted a picture of all the officials who left the meeting.

"The world's democracies will not stand idly by in the face of continued Russian aggression and war crimes," she said. "Today Canada and a number of our democratic partners walked out of the G20 plenary when Russia sought to intervene."

Indonesia Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who chaired the meeting, said the walkout was "not a total surprise" and was not disruptive to the group's wider discussion.

"I am confident this will not erode cooperation or the importance of the G20 forum," Indrawati said at a press conference following the meeting.

It was the first meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion in late February.

The G20, chaired by Indonesia this year, includes major economies like the United States, China, India, Brazil, Japan, several European countries, and Russia.

Despite the friction, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said global cooperation "must and will continue," pointing to a long list of issues that "no country can solve on its own."

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

A Russian oligarch has written a scathing assessment of President Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine, touching a nerve on social media where it has attracted tens of thousands of likes in just one day.

Writing on Instagram, Oleg Tinkov said Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the "crazy war" that has followed has no benefit, a rare break from one of the country's billionaires who gathered their wealth under Putin and have remained mostly silent since Moscow launched what it calls a "special military operation" on February 24.

"I don't see ANY beneficiary of this crazy war! Innocent people and soldiers are dying," he wrote in the post, dated April 19, which had almost 120,000 likes less than a day later.

Tinkov's comments come after Russian forces, which were largely bogged down in much of the country, retreated and redeployed in the east and south, mostly along the Black Sea coast.

During their invasion, Russian forces have been accused by Human Rights Watch and many others of committing war crimes and atrocities in occupied areas of the Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Kyiv regions.

The invasion also has forced more than 5 million Ukrainians to flee the country.

Tinkov, a financier worth $3.5 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, is one of the few oligarchs so far to have expressed concerns over Moscow's invasion, even as he and dozens of others have been hit with sanctions from the West aimed at putting pressure on the Kremlin and those around Putin.

Last month, tycoon Oleg Deripaska, known for his close ties with Putin, said on Twitter that the war in Ukraine must be stopped as soon as possible.

But Tinkov's criticism runs far deeper.

"The generals are waking up with a hangover and realizing that they had a shitty army," Tinkov wrote, adding that with rampant nepotism making "everything else in the country shit," the state of the army shouldn't be a surprise.

"Kremlin officials are shocked that not only they, but also their children, will not go to the Mediterranean in the summer. Businessmen are trying to save the rest of their property," he added.

Tinkov also took aim at those "morons" using the symbol Z -- used by Russian armed forces to mark their vehicles and equipment -- as they represent only 10 percent of the country and that the other 90 percent of Russians "are AGAINST this war!"

"Dear 'collective West,' please give Mr. Putin a clear exit to save his face and stop this massacre," he wrote at the end of the text.

Russia said on April 20 that it had conducted the first test-launch of its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, a new addition to its nuclear arsenal.

President Vladimir Putin was shown on television being told by military officials that the missile had been launched from Plesetsk in the northwest and hit targets on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Far East.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Sarmat was fired from a silo launcher at 3:12 p.m. Moscow time and traveled about 6,000 kilometers to a test range on Kamchatka.

"Sarmat is the most powerful missile with the longest range of destruction of targets in the world, which will significantly increase the combat power of our country's strategic nuclear forces," the ministry statement said.

Putin claimed that the missile "is capable of overcoming all modern means of anti-missile defense." He said it had no equal in the world "and won't have for a long time to come."

The missile will "strengthen the combat potential of our armed forces, reliably ensure Russia's security from external threats, and provide food for thought for those who, in the heat of frenzied aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country," Putin said.

The Sarmat has been under development for years and so the test is not a surprise for the West, but it comes with tensions high over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia properly notified Washington ahead of the test-launch, the Pentagon said, adding it saw the test as routine and not a threat to the United States.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP

TBILISI -- Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili needed assistance to leave the courtroom at his trial on an illegal border-crossing charge on April 20, raising fears over his state of health.

A tired-looking Saakashvili was giving testimony at the trial when he stopped and said: "I need doctor's assistance."

Saakashvili, who served as Georgia's president from 2004 until 2013, was helped out of the courtroom but returned about 10 minutes later, saying he feels fatigued and suffers from insomnia.

"I have lost 12 kilograms in recent days. I am literally unable to eat. Probably because of that, I fully lost control over my legs," Saakashvili said.

Saakashvili, 54, has been in custody since October 1, when he was detained shortly after returning to Georgia from self-imposed exile. He is serving a six-year sentence after being convicted in absentia of abuse of office, a charge he called politically motivated.

He is currently on trial on separate charges of violently dispersing an anti-government rally in November 2007 and has been charged with embezzlement. He has rejected those charges as well, calling them politically motivated.

Saakashvili’s doctors and supporters say his health has deteriorated dramatically since he held two separate hunger strikes during his detention.

Saakashvili, who is currently a Ukrainian citizen, also made a statement regarding Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, saying the "whole world is winning in this war."

A Ukrainian woman who survived the Nazi occupation of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol has died while hiding in a basement during Russia's siege of the port.

Chabad.org said 91-year-old Vanda Obyedkova, an active member of Mariupol's Jewish community and a Holocaust survivor, died in a basement "freezing and pleading for water" in early April after being trapped in the city for weeks during intense shelling by Russian forces.

"At 10 years old, Vanda survived the Germans by hiding in a basement in Mariupol. 81 years later, she died in a basement in the same city as a victim of the horrific war hiding from the Russians," the Auschwitz Memorial group tweeted on April 19.

Obyedkova was born in Mariupol in 1930 and survived the Nazi roundups hiding in Mariupol's basements. Her mother and several members of the family perished during the Nazi occupation.

Last month, another Holocaust survivor, 96-year-old Borys Romanchenko, was killed by a Russian bomb that hit his apartment in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

Wimbledon has become the first tennis tournament to ban Russian and Belarusian players in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a move immediately criticized by the world governing body for men's professional tennis as unfair.

The ban means Russian Daniil Medvedev, currently ranked second in the world, and Andrey Rublev, ranked eighth, are barred from participating in the grand slam tournament. In the women's draw, two-time Grand Slam winner Victoria Azarenka, ranked 18th in the world, and Aryna Sabalenka, ranked fourth, are barred from playing. Both are from Belarus, which has aided Russia in its attack on Ukraine.

The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), which runs Wimbledon, announced the decision on April 20, confirming earlier media reports.

"In the circumstances of such unjustified and unprecedented military aggression, it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefits from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian players," an AELTC statement said. "It is therefore our intention, with deep regret, to decline entries from Russian and Belarusian players to Wimbledon."

The ban also applies to other British grass court tournaments that are scheduled to be held prior to Wimbledon.

The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the world governing body for men's tennis, called the ban discriminatory and said it set a bad precedent.

"We believe that today's unilateral decision by Wimbledon and the [AELTC] to exclude players from Russia and Belarus from this year's British grass court swing is unfair and has the potential to set a damaging precedent for the game," an ATP statement said.

"Discrimination based on nationality also constitutes a violation of our agreement with Wimbledon that states that player entry is based solely on ATP Rankings," the organization said.

Ian Hewitt, chairman of the AELTC, said in the statement that the tournament recognizes that the ban will be hard on the players affected.

"It is with sadness that they will suffer for the actions of the leaders of the Russian regime," he said in the AELTC statement.

But he said given the tournament's high profile, the importance of not allowing sport to be used to promote the Russian regime, and concerns for public and player safety, "we do not believe it is viable to proceed on any other basis at The Championships.”

The statement said that if circumstances change materially between now and June, the AELTC "will consider and respond accordingly."

Earlier on April 20, The Times newspaper and the sports industry website Sportico quoted sources as saying the AELTC was in talks with the British government on the participation of players from the two countries.

The tournament is scheduled to begin on June 27 and conclude with the men's singles final on July 10.

Russian and Belarusian players have been allowed to continue to compete in ATP and WTA events under a neutral flag since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Russia and Belarus had already been barred from competing in the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup team events.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the move unacceptable.

"Taking into account that Russia is a very strong tennis country," he said, "our athletes are at the top of world rankings, the competition itself will suffer from their removal."

Ukrainian players Elina Svitolina, Marta Kostyuk, and Serhiy Stakhovsky demanded in a joint statement that Russian and Belarusian athletes be banned from competing in any international event.

"In times of crisis, silence means agreeing with what is happening. We noticed that some Russian and Belarusian players at some point vaguely mentioned the war, but never clearly stating that Russia and Belarus started it on the territory of Ukraine," the players said. "The very silence of those who choose to remain that way right now is unbearable as it leads to the continuation of murder in our homeland."

Russian and Belarusian players are still able to compete at the French Open, which starts in May. The United States Tennis Association said it has not yet made a decision regarding the participation of Russian and Belarusian players at this year's U.S. Open, which begins on August 29.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to multiple decisions across international sport to exclude Russian teams or cancel events scheduled to take place in Russia. One of the most significant was a ban imposed by FIFA, world football's governing body, barring it from international football events, including those associated with this year's World Cup.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport last month rejected Russia's appeal of FIFA's ban.

With reporting by The Times, Sportico, Reuters, AFP, and dpa

NUR-SULTAN -- The Kazakh parliament's lower chamber, the Mazhilis, has approved a controversial bill that would allow authorities to shut down social media and messaging platforms to protect users from cyberbullying. Critics of the legislation, however, have warned that it could be used by the state to silence its critics.

According to a bill amending the law on the protection of children's rights, foreign social media networks and messaging services would be obliged to register in Kazakhstan and set up local offices to receive permission to operate in the Central Asian nation.

Companies affected will have six months to register in Kazakhstan and open local offices once the bill is endorsed into law by the president.

The bill was initiated by lawmakers Aidos Sarym and Dinara Zakieva, who also proposed allowing regulators to block websites without court decisions.

Internet experts and activists have criticized the bill, saying that it would give authorities tighter control over social networks and messengers, while several rallies were held in recent weeks to protest against the legislation.

Diana Okremova, the chairwoman of the Legal Media Center group which defends the rights of Internet users, told RFE/RL that the bill needs additional work as there are no clear definitions of what can be recognized as cyberbullying of children or what the bill calls the "distribution of dangerous information."

Okremova pointed to another controversial law, one on inciting social discord, which she said also has "unclear definitions" that have allowed the authorities to jail dozens of civil rights activists, journalists, bloggers, and representatives of religious groups in recent years.

Rights activists have accused Kazakh authorities of purposely using "unclear text" in legislation to crack down on dissent.

The bill now must be signed by President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev to become a law.

International human rights groups have said that Kazakhstan frequently blocks or restricts access to social networks. In its annual report on the level of Internet freedom in the world, Freedom House defined Kazakhstan as a "not free" country.

With reporting by Asemgul Mukhitqyzy of RFE/RL's Kazakh Service

MOSCOW -- A court in Moscow has rejected an appeal by the independent radio station Ekho Moskvy against moves by the government to restrict the broadcaster's reach, which led to its decision to close.

The Taganka district court on April 20 refused to recognize as illegal the decision by Russia's media regulator, Roskomnadzor, to restrict access to Ekho Moskvy's website on March 1 at the Prosecutor-General’s request.

Judge Nadezhda Kiselyova said statements by Ekho Moskvy's lawyers -- which maintained that the Prosecutor-General's request failed to specify which programs at the station violated Russian laws -- were baseless and thus the appeal had been turned down.

In its March request, the Prosecutor-General's Office said the broadcaster, known to be critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was distributing what authorities deemed information "calling for extremist activities, violence, and premeditated false information" about Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian government has instructed media in the country to refrain from calling Russia's actions in Ukraine a war or an invasion and should instead be referred to as a "special military operation."

Soon after the move by the Prosecutor-General's Office, Ekho Moskvy's board decided to liquidate the radio station and its website.

Ekho Moskvy first aired on August 22, 1990, in Moscow.

Before Russia launched its war with Ukraine on February 24, the station had been taken off the air only once, during the State Committee for the Emergency Situation (GKChP) coup in 1991.

Several Russian media outlets have chosen to suspend operations rather than face heavy restrictions on what they can report. The Kremlin has also blocked multiple foreign news outlets, including RFE/RL, for their independent coverage of the war.