The United States has charged four Russian soldiers with torture and other war crimes in connection with the alleged abduction and interrogation of an American during the early stages of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in April 2022.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the indictment on December 6, saying the charges against the four "Russia-affiliated military personnel" are for "heinous crimes against an American citizen" and are the first to be brought under the U.S. war crimes statute.

The U.S. citizen, who was not identified, was abducted from his home in the village of Mylove in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine and held for at least 10 days, the Justice Department said in a news release.

Investigators from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI interviewed the American, his family, and others who were around Mylove at the time of the abduction to identify the four Russians, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said.

"The evidence gathered by our agents speaks to the brutality, criminality, and depravity of Russia's invasion," Mayorkas said at a news conference in Washington.

The American and his wife, a Ukrainian citizen, were eventually evacuated.

According to the indictment, two of the soldiers charged -- Suren Mkrtchyan and Dmitry Budnik -- were commanding officers of military units of the “Russian Armed Forces and/or the so-called Donetsk People's Republic." The two others charged were lower-ranking military personnel, identified only as Valery and Nazar.

"During the abduction, Mkrtchyan, Valery, Nazar, and others allegedly threw the victim face down to the ground while he was naked, tied his hands behind his back, pointed a gun at his head, and severely beat him, including with the stocks of their guns," the Justice Department said.

The indictment also alleges that Mkrtchyan and Budnik led at least two interrogation sessions during which the four defendants and others tortured the victim.

During one interrogation, Mkrtchyan, Valery, and Nazar allegedly stripped the victim and photographed him. The defendants and others then allegedly severely beat the victim and pointed guns at the back of his head. Budnik allegedly threatened the victim with death and asked for his last words, which was followed by a mock execution.

U.S. Attorney Jessica Aber said in the news release that these were "grave breaches" of the Geneva Conventions.

The defendants, whose whereabouts are unknown, are charged with three war crimes -- unlawful confinement, torture, and inhuman treatment -- and one count of conspiracy to commit war crimes. If convicted, each faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Although U.S. officials described the case as history-making, the charges are largely symbolic, given the unlikely prospect of the Justice Department taking any of them into custody.

The United Kingdom has imposed new sanctions on 46 groups and individuals in countries ranging from Serbia to China that it says are supplying and financing Russia's war against Ukraine by helping it circumvent international sanctions.

The U.K. government said in a statement on December 6 that the sanctions target "foreign military suppliers" who are exporting equipment and parts to Russia and are "helping [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's war machine."

The new sanctions include entities and businesses operating in China, Turkey, Serbia, Belarus, and Uzbekistan.

Russian weapons manufacturers and defense importers were also on the list of newly imposed sanctions as well as "three actors" supporting the Wagner Group network and "four operators" of so-called "shadow fleet" vessels used by Russia to soften the blow of oil-related sanctions imposed by the U.K. alongside Group of Seven partners.

"This signals the UK’s no tolerance approach to those enabling Russia’s illegal war, wherever they may be," the statement said.

Sanctions Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan added that the sanctions "will hit Putin where it hurts, damaging Russian defense systems, and cracking down on illegal supply chains propping up Russia's war machine."

Ales Luci, the owner of Serbia's Avio Chem, one of the companies on the list, told RFE/RL that he stopped cooperating with Russian companies, though he could not specify exactly when.

"It is not clear to me what we have to do with Great Britain when Serbia does not have any sanctions against Russia, nor has it introduced any," Luci said.

An investigation by RFE/RL's Balkan Service last month highlighted several Serbian companies exporting dual-use goods to Russia that have been targeted by Western sanctions due to their use in Russian armaments deployed in Ukraine -- despite a pledge by President Aleksandar Vucic that his country would not serve as a conduit for circumventing U.S. and EU sanctions.

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The investigation showed equipment for the Russian squadron was shipped from the Belgrade airport by a company that had an address associated with Avio Chem. According to international trade databases, most of the company's trade was with two related airlines that are close to Putin's regime.

The British statement said 31 individuals and entities, including several directors and their immediate family members, linked to designing and manufacturing drones and missile parts and importing and supplying key electronic components are part of the sanctions.

Another aim of the sanctions, the British government said, is to starve Russia's military of key components and technology from Western manufacturers.

"Pre-invasion Russia was a major exporter of arms. Instead, it is now having to turn to North Korea and Iran for unreliable equipment and to buy back parts it previously exported to other countries. While the world is moving forwards technologically, Russia is going backwards," the statement said.

The prosecutor in the case against Kazakh opposition activist Asqar Sembai on December 6 asked a court in Astana to sentence him to seven years in prison on a charge of taking part in the activities of the banned opposition Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement. Sembai was arrested in May after he took part in rallies organized by DVK's leader, former banker and government critic Mukhtar Ablyazov. Last week, a court in Astana sentenced the chairman of the unregistered Algha Kazakhstan (Forward Kazakhstan) party, Marat Zhylanbaev, to seven years in prison for his links to DVK. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.

Georgian officials said on December 6 that the remains of 23 Georgians, including 21 soldiers and two civilians, who died during the war in the breakaway region of Abkhazia in 1992-93 had been identified and will be buried on December 7. Since 2010, the International Committee of the Red Cross has helped to identify 273 human remains in Abkhazia, while 1,870 people are still considered missing. Between 10,000 and 30,000 people were killed during the war and more than 300,000 displaced. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Georgian Service, click here.

Reuters cited police officials in Nepal on December 6 as saying that they detained 10 people on suspicion of sending Nepalese citizens to Russia, where they were recruited to Russian armed forces involved in Moscow's war in Ukraine. The Himalayan Times and AFP reported that the number of the detained suspects is 12. A probe was launched into human trafficking. The reports come two days after authorities in Kathmandu confirmed that six Nepalese citizens had been killed while fighting along Russian troops in the war in Ukraine, while another one had been captured by Ukrainian forces. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

The chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Ben Cardin, has urged Tajik President Emomali Rahmon "to immediately end" the repression of peaceful demonstrators, community leaders, journalists and activists in Tajikistan, as well as "all forms of transnational repression."

In a statement issued on December 5, Senator Cardin stressed that "there are persistent reports of arbitrary arrest, denial of judicial due process, as well as acts of violence including torture, assault, and even instances of murder of journalists, political dissidents, as well as community and religious leaders."

"The ongoing crackdown on ethnic and religious minorities, their local organizations and leaders, in the Gorno-Badakhshan region, in particular, is especially troubling," Cardin's statement said, citing the State Department's 2022 Country Report on Human Rights and Freedom House as saying that Rahmon's government "used intimidation and abused judicial procedures to engage in repression against individuals outside of Tajikistan's borders -- also known as transnational repression -- targeting political opponents, civil society activists, human rights defenders, and journalists."

"The United States wants to strengthen its growing partnership with Tajikistan," the statement emphasized. "Bolstering human rights and the rule of law will reap long-lasting benefits for Tajikistan through increased influence, foreign investment, tourism, and trade."

Rahmon, who has ruled the Central Asian country for almost 30 years, has been criticized by international human rights groups over his administration's alleged disregard for independent media, religious freedoms, civil society, and political pluralism.

In recent years, several Tajik journalists, rights activists, and opposition politicians have been handed lengthy prison terms mostly based on accusations of collaborating with extremist, or banned organizations, the charges seen by rights groups as trumped up and politically motivated.

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Cardin's statement came one day before the committee's hearing on "Transnational Repression: Authoritarian Targeting Dissenters Abroad."

Noted international investigative journalist Christo Hrozev, Freedom House President Michael Abramowitz, and British lawyer Caoilfhionn Gallagher will testify at the hearing as witnesses.

Well-known Ukrainian human rights defender Maksym Butkevych, sentenced by a Moscow-installed court in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region to 13 years in prison in March, has been located in the Russian-occupied region after going missing for more than three months.

Butkevych's lawyer, Leonid Solovyov, told the Graty Telegram channel on December 5 that the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service had informed him his client is currently serving his term in a prison in the town of Krasniy Luch.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

Butkevych's relatives have expressed concerns about his situation saying they had not been aware of his whereabouts since late August.

Butkevych was sentenced on March 10 for allegedly being involved in two attempted murders, as well as premeditated damage of others' property, cruelty against civilians, and using banned methods in an armed conflict. He and his supporters have rejected the charges.

Butkevych was known for raising awareness of the problems faced by refugees even before the Russian invasion.

He gained prominence for his calls to amend Ukraine's migration regulations for Belarusian nationals who fled en masse to Ukraine following a deadly crackdown on dissent that started after a disputed presidential election in Belarus in August 2020.

In addition to his human rights activities, Butkevych is known for his journalistic activities and is a well-known public figure in Ukraine.

He is a co-founder of the Hromadske radio (Public radio) station that has broadcast a series of special programs for residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that at the time were controlled by Russian-backed separatists.

Just days after Russia launched its ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022, Butkevych joined Ukraine's armed forces.

In July 2022, his mother recognized him on a video showing Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russian forces near the towns of Zolote and Hirne in the Luhansk region.

She says she has had no contact with her son since his capture. She has been trying to free him from Russian captivity in prisoner swaps that have taken place sporadically since Russia invaded Ukraine.

UN cultural and scientific agency UNESCO has included on its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage the Tajik art of weaving silk satin and adras and the Turkmen tradition of breeding Akhal-Teke horses as well as the ornament decorating the harness. The decision was made during the 18th session of the Interstate Committee on Intangible Cultural Heritage of the organization. Silk satin and adras, consisting of silk and cotton, are natural fabrics, the production of which is a labor-intensive and expensive process. Akhal-Teke horses have been bred on the territory of modern Turkmenistan. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

Romania's Health Ministry has declared a measles epidemic at national level amid an alarming increase in cases throughout the country. "The ministry declares a national epidemic to facilitate the vaccination of children between 9 and 11 months old and of older children who have not yet been vaccinated," it said in a statement on December 5, adding that were a total of nearly 2,000 new cases in 29 out of Romania's 41 counties. Romania has seen a continuous decrease in the number of children vaccinated against measles prompted by anti-vaccination campaigns on social media.

Iranian security forces have used rape and other types of sexual abuse to intimidate protesters during the crackdown on nationwide protests that started in September last year under the banner of "Women, Life, Freedom," Amnesty International said in a report published on December 6.

Sexual violence was weaponized and used with impunity against women, men, and children, the 120-page report that documents the ordeal of 45 survivors has found.

Those interviewed included 26 men, 12 women, and seven children who suffered sexual violence perpetrated by Iranian security forces.

No Iranian official has so far been charged or prosecuted for sexual crimes against the detained protesters that included rape, gang rape, and/or other forms of sexual violence, the report said.

Iranian women have been at the forefront of nationwide protests triggered by the death in custody in September last year of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had been arrested in Tehran for allegedly improperly wearing a hijab.

The protest movement was joined by many men and boys outraged by the decades of religious restrictions and other forms of suppression imposed on women by Iran's theocracy.

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Protests gradually lost their intensify by the end of 2022 as they were met with fierce repression by the security forces. Hundreds were killed and thousands were arrested, according to activists and the United Nations.

"Our research exposes how intelligence and security agents in Iran used rape and other sexual violence to torture, punish, and inflict lasting physical and psychological damage on protesters, including children as young as 12," Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnes Callamard said.

"The harrowing testimonies we collected point to a wider pattern in the use of sexual violence as a key weapon in the Iranian authorities' armory of repression of the protests and suppression of dissent to cling to power at all costs," Callamard said.

The report found that a wide array of Iranian security forces participated in the sexual violence against those detained during protests.

They included members of the Revolutionary Guards, the paramilitary Basij force, the Intelligence Ministry, and various law-enforcement departments such as the Public Security Police, the Investigation Unit of Iran's police, and the Special Forces of the police.

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Amnesty International shared its findings with the Iranian authorities on November 24 but has thus far received no response, the rights watchdog said.

Out of the 45 survivors interviewed by Amnesty, 16 were raped, including six women, seven men, a 14-year-old girl, and two boys aged 16 and 17.

Four women and two men were subjected to gang rape by members of the security forces. ‎

The report documented instances of vaginal, anal, and oral rape perpetrated on women and girls by security agents, while men and boys were subjected to anal rape.

Wooden and metal batons, glass bottles, and hosepipes were used to rape detainees in detention facilities and police vans, as well as schools and residential buildings.

Most of the abused victims did not file complaints against the perpetrators out of fear of reprisals, Amnesty said, adding that in the rare cases when the victims told prosecutors about their ordeal, they were ignored.

"Without political will and fundamental constitutional and legal reforms, structural barriers will continue to plague Iran's justice system," said Callamard.

"With no prospects for justice domestically, the international community has a duty to stand with the survivors and pursue justice.... We urge states to initiate criminal investigations in their own countries against suspected perpetrators under the principle of universal jurisdiction, with a view to issuing international arrest warrants."

With reporting by AFP

A Moscow military court has sentenced two Russian officers -- Colonel Anatoly Bondarev and Major Dmitry Dmitrakov -- to four years in prison for "failing to repulse a surprise attack" by Ukrainian forces on Russian territory. The two kept their military ranks and are allowed to rejoin the military after completing their sentences. The verdict is the first of its kind since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and originated in a Ukrainian missile attack in March last year on an ammunition depot in Russia's Belgorod region in which seven Russian soldiers were killed and 43 were wounded. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pledged Ukraine will defeat Russia and win a fair peace "against all odds" as U.S. President Joe Biden prepared to press Congress to pass a new military aid package for the beseiged country before arms run out.

"It has been difficult, but we have persevered.... It is not easy now, but we are moving. No matter how difficult it is, we will get there. To our borders, to our people. To our peace. Fair peace. Free peace. Against all odds," he said in a self-recorded video early on December 6.

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RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

Just hours earlier, Zelenskiy canceled an address to U.S. senators as debate heated up on President Joe Biden’s nearly $106 billion request for funding for the wars in Ukraine and Israel.

Later in the day, Zelenskiy later took part in a virtual meeting with Biden and other G7 leaders to discuss the war in Ukraine and millitary aid.

The White House said that Biden will make a televised address to Congress to pass the aid bill, which has been held up for months as House Republicans seek to tie Ukraine support to U.S. immigration reform, a historically contentious issue.

Ukraine's ability to drive Russian forces from its territory hinges on more U.S. military aid, which is expected to run out by the end of the month if no new bill is passed. The United States has been Ukraine's biggest supplier of military aid, sending more than $40 billion in weapons and equipment since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

U.S. military support to Ukraine has declined over the past three months as last year's aid bill approaches depletion. The United States said later on December 6 that it would be announcing another $175 million in military aid to Ukraine. Over the first nine months of the year, the bimontly aid deliveries averaged around $400 million but have fallen below $200 million since October.

In a meeting with House leaders the same day, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov pleaded his country's case for additional aid, telling them that Russia was ramping up weapons production.

Umerov said Ukraine needed more air defense, drones, electronic-warfare equipment, artillery, and ammunition.

Meanwhile, in another location in Washington, U.S. and Ukrainian officials signed an agreement to speed weapons co-production and data sharing. No information was immediately given on what types of weapons the agreement covered. Greater domestic production of crucial weapons would ease Kyiv's dependence on Western partners.

The Biden administration asked Congress in October to approve the aid package, which would cover not only aid for Ukraine and Israel but also border security, but the Republican-controlled House rejected the request as they demand it be tied to a revamp of U.S. immigration and border policies.

In a blunt warning, Biden's budget director, Shalanda Young, told Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson in a letter that the lack of U.S. military aid would "kneecap" the Ukrainian military's efforts, increasing Russia's chances on the battlefield.

"Already, our packages of security assistance have become smaller and the deliveries of aid have become more limited," Young wrote.

"If our assistance stops, it will cause significant issues for Ukraine. While our allies around the world have stepped up to do more, U.S. support is critical and cannot be replicated by others."

The developments come as Ukrainian forces are locked in close combat with Russian troops around the industrial city of Avdiyivka. Russian forces have been attempting for several weeks to encircle the city in the eastern region of Donetsk, which has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance.

Ukrainian air defenses shot down 41 out of 48 Iranian-made drones that Russia launched at targets in Ukraine early on December 6, the air force said, adding that the drones had been launched from Cape Chaud in Moscow-occupied Crimea and from Russia's Kursk region.

No details were given about possible casualties or damage.

With reporting by Reuters

A Russian prankster managed to get through to German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck on a recorded phone call, Germany’s Economy Ministry confirmed to dpa on December 5. The prankster posed as a representative of the African Union in the call, which was repeatedly interrupted by technical problems and largely incoherent as a result, the ministry said. No confidential or security-related information was discussed, it added, saying the content of a recording of the call published on Telegram by pro-Kremlin duo Vovan and Lexus didn't match accounts of the phone conversation, so its authenticity could not be confirmed.

The United States says Russia rejected a new proposal to free two detained Americans, Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan. "We have made a number of proposals, including a substantial one in recent weeks," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on December 5. "That proposal was rejected by Russia," he said. Miller said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Joe Biden would keep trying to find a way to free the pair, considered "wrongfully detained" by the State Department.

The United States on December 5 imposed fresh sanctions targeting a defense procurement network that the U.S. Treasury Department said is led by a Belgium-based businessman and involves numerous Cyprus-based companies as well as businesses in Sweden, Hong Kong, and the Netherlands.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the businessman, Hans De Geetere, leads the network, which it said is involved in procuring electronics with military applications for Russian end-users.

"Today's coordinated action reflects our collective commitment to enforcing our sanctions and export controls, including holding accountable those who seek to evade these measures," said Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson.

Nelson added that United States and its allies "remain focused on disrupting any attempts by Russia or its trusted agents to gain access to the critical inputs and technologies necessary to support Moscow's defense industry and facilitate its brutal war in Ukraine."

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The network is involved in procuring electronics with military applications for Russian end-users and consists of nine entities and five people based in Russia, Belgium, Cyprus, Sweden, Hong Kong, and the Netherlands, the Treasury Department said.

De Geetere operates Belgium-based Knokke Heist Support Corporation Management, Cyprus-based Eriner, Cyprus-based The Mother Ark, and Netherlands-based European Trading Technology, all of which were designated for sanctions by the Treasury Department on December 5.

The treasury also designated companies it said are linked to Eriner and The Mother Ark, including M and S Trading based in Hong Kong and other companies in Cyprus and the Netherlands that it said De Geetere has a hand in running.

In addition to those companies, De Geetere's network includes the Belgium-based company European Technical Trading (ETT), founded and led by his brother, Tom De Geetere.

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De Geetere has leveraged the ETT brand in attempted purchases from U.S. and European companies, the Treasury Department said. In addition to his role as the founder and director of ETT, Tom De Geetere has coordinated with his brother to procure engines for drones.

Also designated is Russian national Vladimir Kulemekov, who is linked to De Geetere through multiple business dealings, including coordinating electronics orders for Russian entities. Kulemekov was previously employed by De Geetere and has been identified as a member of Russia's military intelligence agency.

Kulemekov associate Sergey Skvortsov, who has served as the director of a Kulemekov-owned electronics company founded to facilitate Sweden-based contracts between China and Russia, was also designated. Treasury said Skvortsov simultaneously led a separate import-export company that tested electronic components in production.

The sanctions freeze any assets held by the individuals and entities held in U.S. jurisdiction and generally bar Americans from dealing with them.

Separately, the U.S. Department of Justice also unsealed two separate indictments against De Geetere related to the network, while the Department of Commerce added De Geetere and five entities to its entity list.

WASHINGTON -- Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya has called on U.S. lawmakers to materially support the Belarusian democracy movement abroad and tighten sanctions on authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka amid a push for a clear U.S. strategy for her country.

The Crisis In Belarus

Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.

In testimony on Capitol Hill on December 5, Tsikhanouskaya also asked U.S. lawmakers to urge the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Lukashenka for the deportation of Ukrainian children to Belarus and back more military aid to Kyiv, saying her nation’s freedom hinges on Ukraine defeating Russia.

Tsikhanouskaya's visit to Washington comes as Congress is embroiled in debate over a bill that would send billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, raising questions how much bandwidth lawmakers and the White House have for Belarus right now. She sought to hammer home that supporting the Belarus opposition is in the U.S. national interest.

"Supporting free Belarus is not charity. It's your investment into the global peace and security," she told lawmakers, using the same pitch that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy delivered to Congress nearly a year ago as he sought more U.S. aid for his country's fight against Russia.

Tsikhanouskaya asked lawmakers to "provide material assistance" to the Belarusian opposition, their family members, and media. She said members of the Belarusian opposition living abroad, including herself, are paying a “big price” for their dogged pursuit of democracy and “we can’t do it alone.”

Belarusian authorities last week raided about 200 homes belonging to members of the government in exile and their family. The authorities said they would seek to expropriate property. Relatives of several members of the government in exile, including Tsikhanouskaya's husband, are in prison.

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She said the opposition needs money to counter the vast resources Russia spends on propaganda and disinformation in Belarus as well as to help its members who have suffered terribly under Lukashenka.

There are about 1,500 political prisoners in Belarus, according to the U.S. State Department, most of whom were jailed following mass demonstrations to protest the declared outcome of the August 2020 election. Lukashenka claimed to defeat Tsikhanouskaya with 80 percent in a vote the opposition called rigged. Tsikhanouskaya and other leading members of the opposition fled Belarus to avoid persecution along with thousands of other citizens.

Belarus treats political prisoners harshly, and those exiting now are in "awful physical and emotional state," Tsikhanouskaya said.

"These people need rehabilitation and we need to support the organization of rehabilitation programs so people do not feel that they have been abandoned" after risking their lives for democracy, she told the lawmakers.

Representative Bill Keating (Democrat-Massachusetts) told the hearing that Congress had appropriated $30 million for Belarusian civil society and democracy.

Sanctions

Tsikhanouskaya also called on lawmakers to expand sanctions to include Belarusian wood and steel and to close loopholes that allow Lukashenka to circumvent existing sanctions.

As Tsikhanouskaya testified, the U.S. Treasury Department announced a raft of sanctions targeting several entities and individuals that it said generate revenue for Lukashenka and support Russia's war in Ukraine. The sanctions also target the head of the Belarus Red Cross, accusing him of being complicit in the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Tsikhanouskaya accused the Lukashenka regime of accepting about 2,000 children from Russian-occupied Ukraine. She said the opposition has sent "tons of proof" to the ICC and, lamenting that no action had been taken yet, she asked Congress to push the ICC to open an investigation.

The ICC earlier this year issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian commissioner for children's rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, for the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

"People have to feel that dictators shouldn't feel impunity for their crimes," she told the lawmakers.

Envoy, Ukraine Aid

Tsikhanouskaya is visiting Washington with other members of the Belarusian exiled government to take part in a new initiative organized by the State Department that seeks to coordinate various U.S. government efforts aimed at supporting the Belarusian democratic movement.

The so-called Strategic Dialogue will take place December 6-7 at the State Department and include members of Belarusian civil society and human rights defenders.

She said she hopes the dialogue will lead to a clear U.S. strategy for Belarus, including its place in a post-Ukraine war security architecture.

Tsikhanouskaya also told Congress she wants the White House to appoint a special envoy for Belarus to help be a “bridge” between the opposition and the U.S. government and to help coordinate a whole-of-government strategy toward Belarus.

“We need to clearly understand what will be the future steps of the U.S. [government] and that's why we need this person,” she told lawmakers.

Tsikhanouskaya urged Congress to approve more military aid for Kyiv, saying the fate of Ukraine and Belarus are intertwined.

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Congress has been unable to pass new aid for Ukraine for months as Republicans tie the shipment of weapons to Kyiv with border security and U.S. immigration reform. The White House on December 4 warned that current aid to Ukraine will run out by the end of the month if a new bill isn't passed.

“Without a free Ukraine, there will be no free Belarus but also vice versa. We have to remember that without a free, independent Belarus, there will be a constant threat to the security of the whole region of Europe. So help Ukraine to win this war.”

The United States on December 5 imposed fresh sanctions targeting several entities and individuals that the U.S. Treasury Department says are revenue generators for the regime of Belarusian authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

The action aims to increase pressure on the Lukashenka regime for its "brutal suppression of Belarus's democratic civil society, corrupt financial enrichment of the Lukashenka family, and complicity in Russia's unjustified war against Ukraine," the Treasury Department said in a news release.

One of the individuals targeted is Dzmitry Shautsou, secretary-general for the Belarus Red Cross, whom the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said has been complicit in Russia’s efforts to transport Ukrainian children to Russia.

The Russian government and Belarus's regime "have been working together to coordinate and fund the movement of children from Ukraine to Belarus," the Treasury Department said.

Both Ukraine and the Belarusian democratic opposition have labeled the transfers unlawful deportations, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian commissioner for children's rights, for their roles in the unlawful deportations. Moscow has not denied transferring Ukrainian children to Russia but claims it did so for their own protection.

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OFAC said it was designating Shautsou for having assisted Lvova-Belova, who has previously been designated for sanctions, in her efforts to transport Ukrainian children to Russia.

The Belarusian Red Cross reported in June that more than 700 Ukrainian children were in Belarus, and in July, the Belarus Red Cross sparked international outrage when Shautsou visited children in the Luhansk region of Ukraine and said on Belarusian state television that the organization has been actively involved in bringing Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine to Belarus.

The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has called for Shautsou's removal, and the IFRC on December 1 suspended the membership of the Belarus Red Cross.

The Treasury Department announced the sanctions during a visit to Washington by Belarusian Opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, telling lawmakers that Belarus accepted about 2,000 children who had been deported from Russian-occupied Ukraine.

Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said in the news release that the United States will continue to target "actors who facilitate Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, coordinate the movement of children from Ukraine to Belarus, and support Lukashenka's authoritarian regime."

The sanctions also take aim at what treasury said were the Lukashenka regime's revenue generators and his so-called personal wallets by targeting members of Lukashenka's inner circle, including Alyaksandr Shakutsin, one of the leading businessmen in Belarus who made his fortune through privatization under Lukashenka.

Shakutsin controls a large piece of Belarus's construction machinery production business through his company Amkodor, which is currently planning to produce attack drones and artillery fire systems, the treasury said.

"Despite running a deficit for years, Amkodor has relied on Shakutsin's personal relationship with Lukashenka to secure highly favorable loans and other forms of public support at the expense of the average Belarusian," the department said.

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Among the other Belarusian entities designated for sanctions are three state-owned companies that OFAC said have served as "revenue generators" for the regime: the Belarusian Cement Company, Belarusian Production and Trade Concern of Timber Woodworking and Pulp and Paper Industry (Bellesbumprom), and Republican Unitary Enterprise Beltamozhservice (Beltamozhservice).

The designation also names the general director of Beltamozhservice, Vadim Babarikin, and two of Belarus's richest oligarchs, Pavel Topuzidis and Viktor Petrovich, who though their business Tabak Invest control 30 percent of Belarus's tobacco production. The company has been cited in news reports as having been involved in a cigarette-smuggling scheme into Russia that has generated millions of dollars in revenue.

The designation also names companies in the Belarusian defense sector and some of their directors that OFAC said have supported Russia's war in Ukraine.

The sanctions freeze any assets held by the individuals and entities held in U.S. jurisdiction and generally bar Americans from dealing with them.

The Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law (KIBHR) said on December 5 that a court in the western city of Atyrau had ruled to shut down the local Slava Ukraini (Glory to Ukraine) charity foundation that provided humanitarian and financial assistance to victims of Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine. The foundation, registered in early August, was liquidated at the request of the Justice Ministry. The foundation's leader, Turarbek Kusainov, told KIBHR that the court's ruling was political and most likely made under pressure from Russia.

Russia has returned six Ukrainian children taken from Ukraine's territories occupied by Russia, officials of Russia's Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova told the RBK news agency on December 5. According to the officials, the children were returned to Ukraine via the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Qatari Embassy in Moscow. Lvova-Belova and President Vladimir Putin are wanted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague for their roles in the deportation of Ukrainian children. Kyiv said earlier that as of July 1 it had confirmed 19,546 Ukrainian children had been illegally deported by Russia during its invasion. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai decried Afghanistan's Taliban rulers in a speech on December 5 and called on the international community to make gender apartheid a crime against humanity.

In a speech marking the 10th anniversary of the death of Nelson Mandela, Yousafzai told the audience in Johannesburg, South Africa, that since returning to power in August 2021, Taliban militants have made "girlhood illegal," causing many to despair over a lack of freedoms.

"Just two years ago, women in Afghanistan were working, serving in leadership positions, running ministries, traveling freely. Girls of all ages were playing soccer and cricket and learning in schools. Though all was not perfect, there was progress," she said of the almost two decades between Taliban rule, when international forces provided security to allow governments to rule.

But, she added, that since the U.S.-led troops pulled out in August 2021, the Taliban rulers who seized power "quickly began the systematic oppression of girls and women" by enacting more than 80 decrees and edicts restricting women's rights -- including barring girls from pursuing a high-school education -- in the name of their "false visions."

"In effect, the Taliban have made girlhood illegal, and it is taking a toll," Yousafzai said.

SEE ALSO:

Afghan Activist And Daughters Who Fled To Pakistan Fear Return To Life Under The Taliban

Eleven years ago, Yousafzai, then 15, was shot in the head on her school bus by the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) extremist group, which has pledged allegiance to the Afghan Taliban, though the two groups have separate operation and command structures.

The attack on Yousafzai, who had become a target for her campaign for girls' education, sent shock waves across the predominately Muslim country and provoked international outrage.

At 17, she became the youngest-ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize when she won the award in 2014 along with Indian children's rights activist Kailash Satyarthi.

In her speech honoring Mandela's legacy, Yousafzai said that while the Taliban's restrictions of the lives of girls and women made global headlines at first, "the world has turned its back" since and it is "imperative to call the regime in Afghanistan what it really is: a gender apartheid."

She said world leaders have an opportunity to make a stand on the issue by including gender apartheid in a new UN crimes against humanity treaty that is currently being debated at the United Nations.

"I call on every government in every country to make gender apartheid a crime against humanity," she said.

A Bosnian man helped a Russian businessman wanted by the United States on smuggling charges escape house arrest in Italy last spring, U.S. officials charged, a stunning escape that embarrassed Italian officials and infuriated Washington.

The charges against Vladimir Jovancic, 52 -- handed down by a U.S. grand jury in October -- were unsealed on December 4, the same day he was arrested by Croatian authorities as he entered the country. U.S. prosecutors said they would seek his extradition.

Separately, Italian prosecutors announced they had identified six people who also helped in the March escape of the Russian businessman, Artyom Uss. The others included a Bosnian-Italian man and four foreign nationals living abroad.

The prosecutors said on December 5 they had executed arrest warrants in Brescia in northern Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia, which appeared to be of Jovancic.

Uss, 40, was charged by U.S. officials last year with running an elaborate yearslong smuggling scheme that brought sensitive military technology to Russia, as well as allegedly smuggling Venezuelan oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.

U.S. officials alleged that Uss and another Russian, Yury Orekhov, used a German company called Nord-Deutsche Industrieanlagenbau as a front company to acquire sensitive military and dual-use technologies from U.S. manufacturers. Items included advanced semiconductors and microprocessors used in fighter aircraft, missile systems, radar, satellites, and other space-based military applications, the Justice Department said.

Some of the chips have turned up in Russian military equipment found on the battlefield in Ukraine, officials said.

The German company was also used as a front to smuggle hundreds of millions of barrels of oil from Venezuela to Russian and Chinese purchasers, U.S. officials said.

SEE ALSO:

Wider Europe Briefing: More EU Sanctions On Russia, And What Remains Of The Eastern Partnership?

Uss was arrested by Italian police at Milan's airport on October 17, 2022, as he prepared to board a flight to Istanbul. Orekhov was arrested by German police.

About a month later, a Milan court ordered that Uss be moved from jail to house arrest, a move that U.S. officials warned was potentially dangerous due to Uss's family.

Uss's father, Aleksandr Uss, is a wealthy businessman with ties to Igor Sechin, the powerful, Kremlin-connected CEO of the state oil giant Rosneft who is widely believed to have worked for Soviet intelligence agencies in the 1980s. Aleksandr Uss also served as governor of the sprawling, mineral-rich Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk until earlier this year.

Artyom Uss was allowed to serve his house arrest in a villa in an upscale suburb south of Milan, where he was allowed Internet access and visitors and was required to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet. Italian police also checked in on him regularly.

On March 22, a court approved the U.S. extradition request. The following day, according to U.S. officials, Uss fled house arrest with the help of Jovancic and other identified people who "escorted Uss into a car and provided Uss with bolt cutters, which Uss used to remove his electronic ankle monitor and throw it out the window."

Uss was then driven into Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, before crossing into Serbia, where he later flew to Moscow, according to the indictment.

Jovancic, who was allegedly paid 50,000 euros for his services by Uss's wife, had posed as a grocery delivery man to slip past guards.

Uss told Russian media in April that he was back in Russia.

"I am in Russia! In these past few particularly dramatic days, I had strong and reliable people by my side," he was quoted as saying by the state news agency RIA Novosti on April 4.

"The Italian court, whose impartiality I initially counted on, demonstrated its obvious political bias. Unfortunately, it is ready to buckle under the pressure of U.S. authorities."

At a news conference in Milan on December 6, Italian prosecutors provided more details of Uss's escape, and identified four other alleged accomplices. Italian media said the names were Jovancic's son, Boris; a Slovenian man named Matej Janezic; and two Serbian men, Srdjan Lolic and Nebojsa Illic.

The Milan prosecutor's office could not be immediately reached for further comment.

Uss's escape prompted outrage from U.S. authorities and among some Italian officials, as well, who questioned why a person known for a high risk of flight would be allowed house arrest.

"The case is quite serious," Italian Prime Minister Giorgina Meloni said in April when she was questioned by reporters about the escape. "There are certainly anomalies. I think the main anomaly is the (court’s decision) to keep him under house arrest with questionable reasons and to maintain the decision even when there was a decision on extradition."

On December 5, the day after the indictment against Jovancic was unsealed, the U.S. State Department announced a $7 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Uss.

The circumstances behind Jovancic's arrest in Croatia were also unclear. Croatian authorities have not commented on the case.

The former deputy prime minister of North Macedonia, Kocho Angjushev, Kocho Angjushev has been barred from entering the United States for what the U.S. State Department said was his "involvement in significant corruption."

"While serving as Deputy Prime Minister, Angjushev abused his official position to benefit his private business interests, undermining the confidence of North Macedonia’s public in their government institutions and public processes," the State Department said in a statement on December 5.

"Today’s action demonstrates the United States stands with those in North Macedonia who seek accountability of corrupt public officials," it added, noting Angjushev’s wife, Elizabeta, and children, Angel and Ognen, are "generally ineligible" for entry into the United States as well.

The State Department statement did not give specific instances of corruption by Angjushev.

The 54-year-old Angjushev, considered one of North Macedonia's richest citizens, served as a deputy prime minister for economic affairs from 2017 to 2020 under Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.

Corruption has long been an issue for the country, which is trying to enact reforms as it strives for membership in the European Union after applying for accession in 2004.

Earlier this year, the U.S. AID agency said corruption in North Macedonia "continues to erode trust in institutions, weakens accountability and transparency, obstructs economic growth, and contributes to political fragility
and instability."

The European Commission said in a report last month that corruption remains "prevalent in many areas and is an issue of concern" and that "no progress was made" on the issue in recent months.

In Transparency International's 2022 Corruption Perception Index, North Macedonia scored 40 out of 100, ranking it 85th among 180 countries in the survey, just above Belarus and Moldova.

Amid protests against the introduction of a new taxation system for vendors at marketplaces as of January 1, 2024, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov said on December 5 that the move will be delayed by six months due to the "unpreparedness" of the country's Taxation Service for the innovation. Thousands of vendors at marketplaces across Kyrgyzstan have rallied since November 30, demanding the current system -- based on a flat annual sum -- be kept in place. According to the new system, vendors will be obliged to use electronic cash registers and pay tax on each item sold. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

The government of Nepal said late on December 4 that six Nepalese nationals had been killed in Ukraine while serving with the occupying Russian forces. The government statement also called on Moscow to stop recruiting Nepalese citizens to its armed forces and immediately return any Nepalese nationals remaining in the Russian armed services to the small Himalayan country. According to the statement, Kathmandu is currently working on the release of a Nepalese citizen recruited by the Russian military and captured by Ukrainian forces during battle.

LUKoil, Russia's largest private oil company, says it is reviewing its business strategy in Bulgaria and is not ruling out selling its entire operation in the Balkan EU and NATO member, including the country's largest refinery, Neftohim, located in the Black Sea port of Burgas. In recent months the Bulgarian government has taken steps to curb some of the privileges LUKoil enjoyed for years. Bulgaria's parliament banned the import of Russian oil from March 1 2024, a few months earlier than the derogation from EU sanctions that allowed Bulgaria to import Russian oil until the end of 2024. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service, click here.