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- By Gregory Feifer
Ukraine Promises 'New Page' in Moscow Ties
Western countries are closely watching today's visit for signs of just how far Yanukovych aims to reposition Ukraine, a strategic energy-transit route over which Russia and the West are tussling for influence.
Speaking at a chummy joint news conference after meeting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Yanukovych said he wants to make a "sharp turnaround" in relations saying after the drastic deterioration in ties that followed the Orange Revolution.
"The new authorities in Ukraine will change relations with Russia so they'll never again be what they have been for the past five years," Yanukovych said, and he also praised Russia's "political stability."
A satisfied-looking Medvedev welcomed Yanukovych's words. The Russian leader said Yanukovych's election was an "indisputably positive signal" for relations, which he said would be "reborn on all levels" on the basis of "warm feelings and pragmatism."
"I hope the black streak that existed in relations between Ukraine and Russia will come to an end," Medvedev said.
He singled out energy as a key sphere for cooperation, but didn't indicate whether Moscow was open to reducing its high prices for natural gas, an important issue for crisis-stricken Ukraine.
Yanukovych was set to also meet Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
More Russia-Friendly
Moscow is gleeful over Yanukovych's election, which exposed a country split between its Russian-speaking east -- which overwhelmingly supported him -- and its European-looking west.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters spilled out onto the streets in what became the Orange Revolution, whose pro-Western leaders came to power following a new election.
Kyiv's relations with Moscow crashed. Russia vehemently objected to Ukraine's new drive to join NATO and other policies it saw as giving the West influence over former Soviet territory in its own backyard. The Kremlin feared the Orange Revolution would provide a model to those Russians chafing under its own authoritarian rule.
Moscow temporarily shut off natural gas to Ukraine after Kyiv refused to pay many times more for supplies the Kremlin said it had provided at Soviet-era subsidized rates. A second shutoff last year lasted three weeks, disrupting deliveries to millions in other European countries.
Last year, Medvedev accused then-President Viktor Yushchenko of being "anti-Russian." He recalled Russia's ambassador to Ukraine, saying Moscow wouldn't speak to Yushchenko, who accused the Kremlin of trying to kill him in a poisoning during the 2004 presidential campaign that dramatically disfigured his face.
No Word On Gas
The latest turnaround in relations with Russia comes after Yanukovych -- democratically elected this time -- narrowly defeated his rival, Orange Revolution heroine Yulia Tymoshenko.
The new president has pleased Moscow by indicating he'd put an end to Ukraine's drive to join NATO.
But although Ukraine pays more for gas than most European countries, the Kremlin on March 4 appeared to preempt talk of a renegotiation, saying the latest agreement shouldn't be revised.
Yanukovych has proposed creating a consortium with Moscow and the European Union that would control Ukraine's pipeline network, which some believe would establish closer ties with Russia's Gazprom.
He could entice Moscow by offering to prolong the lease for the Russian Navy's controversial Black Sea Fleet base in the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol. The current deal is set to expire in 2017, a date Yushchenko had insisted was firm, but over which Yanukovych today indicated he'd seek compromise.
"We'll very soon [reach a resolution] that will satisfy both Ukraine and Russia," he said.
Delicate Balance
But despite tilting Ukraine back toward Moscow, Yanukovych has said he wouldn't "dramatically change" Ukraine's foreign policy. His first trip abroad as president earlier this week was to Brussels, where he said European integration would remain a priority.
"Our priorities will include integration into the European Union," he said, "bringing up friendly and constructive relations with the Russian Federation, and developing friendly relations with the neighboring partners, and strategic partners like the United States of America, getting back on track our relations with the International Monetary Fund and other international financial organizations."
Yanukovych's most pressing task remains at home: to pull Ukraine out of its devastating economic crisis. He's keen to restart talks with the International Monetary Fund, which last year froze a $16.4 billion bailout.
But as he also recalibrates Kyiv's foreign policy, both Russia and the West are waiting to find out just how far east he believes the balance lies for Ukraine's national interests.
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Bolshoi Theater Director Vladimir Urin, Who Protested Russia's War In Ukraine, Quits
The director of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Vladimir Urin, announced his resignation on November 30 without explanation. After Russia launched its ongoing invasion of Ukraine on February 22 last year, Urin was one of numerous culture figures who signed an open letter calling on "all on whom it depends to stop all armed activities." Urin has led the Bolshoi since 2013. Some media reports said the Kremlin-friendly conductor and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Valery Gergiev, may replace Urin. Last year, Gergiev was fired from his position as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic after he refused to condemn the war. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.
- By Current Time
Navalny Says A New Criminal Case Has Been Opened Against Him
Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, who is serving a total of 19 years in prison on extremism and other charges that he rejects as politically motivated, said a new criminal case has been brought against him.
In posts issued on December 1 through his associates on X, formerly known as Twitter, Navalny, who is serving his term in a penal colony, said he received a letter from Russia's Investigative Committee informing him that a case had been opened against him "for a crime under Part 2 of Article 214 of the Criminal Code," which deals with vandalism.
"Rarely an inmate, confined to a solitary cell for over a year, has had such a vibrant social and political existence," one of the messages attributed to Navalny on X said. "It means that they really initiate a new criminal case against me every three months."
On November 21, Navalny was placed in 15-day punitive solitary confinement for an unspecified violation after having finished his previous solitary confinement a day earlier. It was the 23rd time he had been placed in solitary confinement since August 2022, totaling 266 days in punitive incarceration.
Navalny, one of President Vladimir Putin's most vocal critics, had his sentence increased to 19 years in August after being found guilty of creating an extremist organization and was transferred to a harsher “special regime” facility.
His previous sentence was handed down in 2021 after he arrived in Moscow from Germany, where he had been recovering from a poisoning attack he blames on the Kremlin.
He was Russia's loudest opposition voice and galvanized huge anti-government rallies before he was jailed.
Three of Navalny's lawyers -- Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin, and Aleksei Lipster -- were taken into custody in October and prosecuted for allegedly participating in an extremist community because of their association with Navalny and his foundation to root out corruption.
Another Journalist From Independent Investigative Outlet Detained In Azerbaijan
BAKU -- Another journalist from the independent Abzas Media news website in Azerbaijan has been detained in a smuggling case that the outlet rejects as trumped up, the latest in a series of arrests in what rights groups say is a crackdown on the outlet's "pioneering journalism" to root out corruption.
Nargiz Absalamova's relatives told RFE/RL that she was summoned for interrogation for a second time on November 30 and was detained later on charges of smuggling.
Interior Ministry spokesman Ibragim Amiraslanli confirmed to the Turan news agency on December 1 that Absalamova had been detained on unspecified charges and that an investigation is under way.
Absalamova is the fourth journalist from Abzas Media arrested in recent days.
Abzas's director, Ulvi Hasanli; chief editor Sevinc Vaqifqizi; and employee Mahammad Kekalov were arrested less than two weeks ago after police claimed they found 40,000 euros ($43,800) in cash in Abzas's offices.
The journalists insist the case against them is in retaliation for their reports about corruption among officials.
Critics of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's government say authorities in the oil-rich Caspian Sea state frequently seek to silence dissent by jailing opposition activists, journalists, and civil society advocates on trumped-up charges.
Amnesty International has demanded the immediate release of Hasanli, Vaqifqizi, and Kekalov, saying the government's campaign "fits into a pattern of critics being arrested by the authorities to stifle their dissent," while Human Rights Watch (HRW) chided Azerbaijani authorities for pursuing "dubious, punitive criminal charges against their critics.”
Aliyev has repeatedly rejected criticism from rights groups and Western governments accusing him of jailing his opponents and abusing power to stifle dissent.
Earlier this week, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S., French, and German envoys to protest what it called "illegal financial operations" by organizations located in the three countries to support Abzas Media.
Aliyev has ruled Azerbaijan with an iron fist since 2003, taking over for his father, Heydar Aliyev, who served as president for a decade.
With reporting by Turan
- By RFE/RL
Russia's Investigative Committee Says Russian-Italian Citizen Arrested For Railway Bombing
Russia's Investigative Committee says it has arrested a Russian-Italian citizen suspected of bombing a freight train in the Ryazan region last month. The man, whose identity was not disclosed, allegedly detonated an improvised explosive device that damaged 15 freight train cars on November 11, the committee said on its Telegram channel. It said the man, 35, was a resident of Ryazan who had been recruited by Ukrainian intelligence in February last year and underwent "sabotage training" in Latvia. The message said the man had "confessed" to the bombing during an interrogation. Ukraine has not commented and the claim could not be independently confirmed.
- By Current Time
Air-Raid Alert Declared In Kyiv As Ukraine Claims 18 Russian Drones, One Missile Downed
Ukraine's air defense said 18 out of 25 Iranian-made drones launched by Russia at several Ukrainian regions were shot down early on December 1 as an air-raid alert was declared in the capital, Kyiv, and its surrounding region.
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.
The Ukrainian Air Force said it also destroyed one of the two X-59 guided missiles launched at its territory.
Russian drones were shot down over the Mykolaiyv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, and Dnepropetrovsk regions, the Ukrainian air defense said on Telegram.
There were no immediate reports about casualties or material damage.
Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry says its navy destroyed an unmanned Ukrainian sea drone in the Black Sea off the coast of Ukraine's occupied Crimea region.
"On December 1, at about 8 a.m. Moscow time, a Ukrainian Navy unmanned boat was detected in the western part of the Black Sea, heading in the direction of the Crimean peninsula. The target detected was destroyed by...the naval aviation of the Black Sea Fleet," the ministry said on its telegram channel.
Ukraine has not commented and the claim could not be independently verified.
- By Current Time
LGBT Initiative Ceases Work In Russia Following Move To Label 'Movement' As Extremist
The human rights initiative LGBT+ Cause announced that it is ending its Russia operation following the Russian Supreme Court's ruling that what it called the “international LGBT social movement” is an “extremist organization” and banned its activities in the country. “Due to external circumstances, we are forced to announce the self-dissolution of our initiative and, accordingly, the cessation of activities" in Russia," LGBT+ Cause said on Telegram. LGBT+ Cause has been active in protect the rights of people discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity. To read the original article by Current Time, click here.
Russian Court Extends Detention Of RFE/RL Journalist Kurmasheva Until February 5
A court in the Russian city of Kazan has extended by two months the detention of Alsu Kurmasheva, a veteran journalist from RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service who has been in Russian custody since October 18, until February 5.
Kurmasheva, a Prague-based journalist with RFE/RL who holds dual U.S. and Russian citizenship, traveled to Russia for a family emergency in May.
She was temporarily detained while waiting for her return flight on June 2 at the airport in Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, where both of her passports were confiscated. She was not able to leave Russia as she awaited the return of her travel documents.
Authorities on October 11 fined Kurmasheva 10,000 rubles ($103) for failing to register her U.S. passport with Russian authorities, according to local media reports based on court documents they've seen.
Kurmasheva was detained again on October 18 and this time charged with failing to register as a "foreign agent," which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
The Investigative Committee said Kurmasheva was being charged under a section of the Criminal Code that refers to the registration of "foreign agents" who carry out “purposeful collection of information in the field of military, military-technical activities of Russia,” which, if received by foreign sources, “can be used against the security of the country."
It gave no further details.
“Alsu has spent 45 days behind bars in Russia and, today, her unjust, politically motivated detention has been extended,” said RFE/RL acting President Jeffrey Gedmin. “We call on Russian authorities to immediately grant Alsu consular access, which is her right as a U.S. citizen. Alsu must be released and reunited with her family."
The Investigative Committee said its investigation found that while the Russian Justice Ministry did not add her to the list of "foreign agents," she failed to provide documents to be included on the registry.
Kurmasheva and RFE/RL have both rejected the charge.
Russia's detention of Kurmasheva, the second U.S. media member to be held by Moscow this year, triggered a wave of criticism from rights groups and politicians who said the move signals a new level of wartime censorship.
The court decision to extend Kurmasheva's detention comes a day after leading Russian human rights group Memorial recognized Kurmasheva as a political prisoner.
Moscow has been accused of detaining Americans to use as bargaining chips to exchange for Russians jailed in the United States. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested for allegedly spying -- a charge he and the newspaper vehemently deny -- in March.
Kurmasheva is one of four RFE/RL journalists -- Andrey Kuznechyk, Ihar Losik, and Vladyslav Yesypenko are the other three -- currently imprisoned on charges related to their work. Rights groups and RFE/RL have called repeatedly for the release of all four, saying they have been wrongly detained.
Losik is a blogger and contributor for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service who was convicted in December 2021 on several charges including the “organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order” and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Kuznechyk, a web editor for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, was sentenced in June 2022 to six years in prison following a trial that lasted no more than a few hours. He was convicted of “creating or participating in an extremist organization.”
Yesypenko, a dual Ukrainian-Russian citizen who contributed to Crimea.Realities, a regional news outlet of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, was sentenced in February 2022 to six years in prison by a Russian judge in occupied Crimea after a closed-door trial. He was convicted of “possession and transport of explosives,” a charge he steadfastly denies.
Kazakh Lawmakers OK Controversial Amendments To Media Law On First Reading
Kazakh lawmakers have approved on first reading controversial amendments to the law on mass media that would allow citizens to file a libel lawsuit up to three years after publication. Currently, there is no time limit for such lawsuits. Organizations defending journalists' rights have insisted that the limit for filing libel suits against journalists and media outlets should be one year. The amendments approved on November 30 also would oblige journalists to get accredited by a single accreditation system. Journalists’ rights organizations have expressed concerns that the mandatory accreditation requirements may allow authorities to muzzle independent reporters. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.
Iranian Rapper Rearrested Less Than Two Weeks After Release From Prison
Iranian authorities on November 30 rearrested a dissident rapper and returned him to jail less than two weeks after his release on bail, according to his own social media account.
Toomaj Salehi was violently detained by armed plainclothes agents in the city of Babylon and then taken to an unknown location, according to social media accounts affiliated with him. The account attributable to Salehi said he was arrested with "beatings."
According to Mizanonline.ir, an online news outlet affiliated with Iran’s judiciary, Salehi was arrested on a new charge of spreading lies and “the violation of public opinion.”
Salehi was released from prison on November 18 after spending more than a year in custody on charges that his supporters said were based on his music and participation in protests in the past year over the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody after being detained for allegedly breaking the country’s strict Islamic dress code.
Salehi was accused of “spreading lies” on the Internet and publishing “anti-state propaganda.”
Salehi said in a video message earlier this week that he was tortured and put in solitary confinement for 252 days after his arrest in October 2022. Amini died the previous month.
He also said he was given an injection in his neck during his detention, which he said most likely was adrenaline so that he would not pass out during torture and thus endure the maximum amount of pain.
"They broke my arms and legs during my detention and hit me in the face and head a lot," Salehi said in the video, posted on November 27 on his YouTube channel.
“I tried to stop the blows with my hands when my fingers broke," he said, adding that the injuries required surgery.
Salehi had been sentenced to more than six years in prison. His release on bail on November 18 came after the Supreme Court, responding to an appeal, found “flaws in the original sentence” and sent the case back to a lower court.
Thousands were arrested in Tehran's crackdown on the protests, which largely died down earlier this year. Eight of those arrested were executed for allegedly attacking security forces after being convicted in secretive courts where rights groups say they were denied the right to defend themselves.
Salehi has gained prominence for his lyrics that rail against corruption, widespread poverty, state executions, and the killing of protesters in Iran. His songs also point to a widening gap between ordinary Iranians and the country’s leadership, accusing authorities of “suffocating” the people without regard for their well-being.
He said that he had sued prison officials and media close to the government for torture, saying that security agencies "ordered the prison warden" to pressure him.
The singer's detention had been met with widespread domestic and international backlash, with numerous global calls for his release.
With reporting by AP
Russian Court Sentences Ukrainian Soldier To 12 Years In Prison On Terrorism Charges
A military court in Russia's southwestern city of Rostov-on-Don on November 30 sentenced Ukrainian soldier Pavlo Zaporozhets to 12 years in prison on terrorism charges. Zaporozhets was arrested in Ukraine's then Russian-occupied city of Kherson in May 2022 while installing an explosive device. Russian investigators say Zaporozhets was targeting civilians, while he insists he was planning an attack against a Russian military patrol. Zaporozhets' lawyers requested that their client be considered a prisoner of war, which the Russian court rejected. Ukrainian armed forces regained control over the city of Kherson in November 2022. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.
- By AP
Hungary Will Not Agree To Starting EU Membership Talks With Ukraine, Minister Says
Hungary will not support any European Union proposal to begin talks on making Ukraine a member of the bloc, a government minister said on November 30. Gergely Gulyas, the chief of staff to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, said at a news conference in Budapest that it was premature to begin formal talks with Kyiv on the war-ravaged country joining the EU and that Hungary would not consent to opening the discussions when EU leaders meet in mid-December. Earlier this month, the EU's executive arm recommended allowing Ukraine to open membership talks once it addresses governance issues.
Kazakh Ex-Minister Faces Up To 20 Years In Prison For Allegedly Killing Wife
ASTANA -- Former Kazakh Economy Minister Quandyq Bishimbaev faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted after the charge of murder was revised up to murder with extreme violence, Deputy Prosecutor-General Zhandos Omiraliev said on November 30.
Omiraliev added that the previous charge envisioned a punishment between 8 and 15 years in prison, while the new charge may lead to Bishimbaev facing between 15 and 20 years if found guilty.
Omiraliev confirmed that a relative of Bishimbaev was also arrested on a charge of failing to report an ongoing crime.
In 2018, Bishimbaev and 22 others faced a high-profile corruption trial that ended with Bishimbaev's conviction on charges of bribery and embezzlement while leading a state-controlled holding company.
A court in Astana sentenced him to 10 years in prison, but Bishimbaev was subsequently granted an early release through a mass amnesty decreed by the government. He had served about 18 months of his term when the amnesty occurred.
Since the 43-year-old Bishimbaev was arrested this month and charged with beating his wife, Saltanat Nukenova, to death in a restaurant in the Central Asian country's largest city, Almaty, many in Kazakhstan have raised the issue of domestic violence, emphasizing that in many cases, including deadly ones, the perpetrators avoid justice.
Domestic violence has been a major issue in the former Soviet republic for decades.
Amid the public outcry over Nukenova's death, Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev publicly called on the Interior Ministry to have the investigation of the case under its "special control."
The Interior Ministry said earlier that, in general, more than 100,000 cases of domestic violence are officially registered each year, though the number of unregistered cases, analysts say, is likely much larger.
International rights watchdogs have urged Kazakh officials to curb the spread of domestic violence for years.
According to United Nations experts, about 400 women die in Kazakhstan as a of result of domestic violence every year.
Appeals By Russian Director, Playwright Against Extension Of Pretrial Detention Rejected
The Moscow city court on November 30 rejected appeals filed by theater director Yevgenia Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriichuk against an extension of their pretrial detention on charges of justifying terrorism with the production of the play Finist-The Brave Falcon, about Russian women who married Muslim men and moved to Syria.
The court upheld a lower court decision in early November to extend the two women's pretrial detention until at least January 10.
During the hearing, Berkovich expressed gratitude "to all who were involved" for allowing her to travel from a Moscow detention center to St. Petersburg to attend the burial of her grandmother, noted human rights defender Nina Katerli, who died at the age of 89 on November 20.
However, Berkovich said "the act of mercy had tuned into an act of torture" as while being transported to the funeral she spent 25 hours in "a cage of avtozak" -- a special vehicle designed for transporting suspects and convicts, which affected her health.
"I did not have warm clothes with me because I was not aware where I was going and my lawyers did not know. It was a cage -- a piece of an iron cage 1 meter by 2 meters, in which it is not possible to stand or properly sit. Because of that, it is painful for me to stand up or sit down. It was not possible to sleep there either as there was no heating.... For those 25 hours, I was allowed to get out to a toilet only twice," Berkovich said.
But Judge Oksana Nikishina rejected Berkovich's complaints, saying that she should be grateful that she was allowed to attend her grandmother's burial at all.
Katerli, who defended several high-profile persons at politically motivated trials, including Mikhail Khodorkovsky and other former leaders of the Yukos oil company in the early 2000s, was buried in St. Petersburg on November 25.
Berkovich and Petriichuk were arrested in May. They both maintain their innocence. If convicted, they face up to five years in prison.
With reporting by Meduza
- By RFE/RL
Azerbaijani, Armenian Deputy PMs Agree To Intensify Border Talks
Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Sahin Mustafayev and his Armenian counterpart, Mher Grigorian, led a fifth meeting of the two South Caucasus countries' border-delimitation commissions on November 30 and agreed to intensify future talks. Both countries' Foreign Ministries said an agreement was reached to start work on negotiations for the draft regulation on the joint activities of the commissions. The issue of Azerbaijani-Armenian border delimitation has been under focus amid preliminary steps for a peace agreement after Baku regained control over the then mostly Armenian-populated breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in September.
OSCE Opens Summit In Skopje Amid Boycotts, Criticism Directed At Russia's Presence
SKOPJE -- The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on November 30 kicked off its annual summit in North Macedonia amid boycotts and criticism from some member states for the presence in Skopje of Russia's top diplomat as Moscow continues its war on Ukraine.
North Macedonia's foreign minister, Bujar Osmani, who currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the pan-European security body, slammed Russia's ongoing invasion in his opening remarks as host of the summit.
"Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine flies in the face of all this organization holds dear," Osmani said.
Despite Osmani's remarks, North Macedonia has still faced criticism that it has given in to Moscow by allowing Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to attend the meeting, though not without issues.
WATCH: The OSCE opened its annual summit in North Macedonia on November 30. But the attendance of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has sparked a rift among member states as Moscow continues its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Sofia lifted an EU-wide ban imposed on Lavrov's plane flying over the bloc's airspace -- implemented as a measure against Russia for its full-scale invasion -- to allow him to attend the summit.
Russia, however, said the plane with the Foreign Ministry delegation was refused entry at the last minute because spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who is under European Union sanctions, was on board the plane as well and didn't have permission. The flight was rerouted over Greek airspace after Athens approved an exception.
Sofia has not commented on the Russian claims.
Lavrov's intention to attend the summit already threatened to overshadow the meeting after it sparked a boycott by Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Established initially as the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, in 1975 as a tool of cooperation between the West and the Soviet-led Eastern bloc, the OSCE brings together 57 states from Europe, Central Asia, and North America.
The Vienna, Austria-based OSCE deals with issues such as arms control, the promotion of human rights, freedom of the press, and free and fair elections.
Osmani told RFE/RL in an interview ahead of the summit that he regarded the meeting as a "victory of the rules-based international order."
"What we are doing is continuing the rules of conduct of this organization so that all participating states are at the table, since this is a consensus-based organization," Osmani told RFE/RL.
"All the more, taking into account that the organization goes through an exceptional moment when its very existence is being questioned, we considered it crucial to reach a consensus, especially on those pillars that ensure the functionality of the organization for the future."
Still, several other members, including Poland, took issue with Lavrov's presence in Skopje.
"We just cannot ignore the fact that the Russian minister of foreign affairs will be present at the table of the organization that is supposed to build peace and security in Europe," Polish Foreign Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek told reporters ahead of the meeting.
Osmani also rejected criticism that by allowing militarily neutral Malta to take over the rotating chairmanship of the OSCE in January, the organization acquiesced to Moscow, which had vetoed Estonia's taking the helm of the group because of its being a member of NATO.
"I think [Malta's chairmanship is] a diplomatic victory. It is a victory for the OSCE and a victory for the rules-based international order," Osmani said, adding that Russia was "not happy" during the chairmanship of NATO member North Macedonia.
"We were unequivocal in our condemnation of Russian aggression in Ukraine. Russia openly violated the basic, founding principles and obligations of the organization, and from the beginning we recognized our role as guardians of those principles and obligations.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who arrived in Skopje on November 29, attended a pre-summit dinner with representatives of other OSCE states, but did not attend the opening of the summit on November 30.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
- By RFE/RL
Officials Around the World Praise Kissinger, Father Of Soviet Détente
Diplomats and leaders across Europe hailed Henry Kissinger, the U.S. diplomat who pursued through the 1970s a policy of détente with the Soviet Union that sparked arms-control accords to help keep Cold War tensions from boiling over into nuclear war, after the announcement of his death at the age of 100.
Kissinger, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who died on November 29 at his home in Connecticut, was praised by many for his work while serving two U.S. presidents -- Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
Born in Germany, Kissinger joined Richard Nixon's administration as national security adviser in 1969, a job he kept after the president resigned amid the Watergate scandal and was succeeded by Gerald Ford. He also served as secretary of state under both Nixon and Ford, playing a prominent role in U.S. foreign policy from 1969 to 1977.
"A kind human and a brilliant mind who, over one hundred years, shaped the destinies of some of the most important events of the century. A strategist with attention to the smallest detail," European Council President Charles Michel said.
Known for his thick glasses and gravelly voice, Kissinger, an Orthodox Jew, left Germany in 1938 and moved with his family to New York.
He worked as a translator for the U.S. Army during World War II before eventually going on to Harvard University, where he earned a PhD in philosophy.
"The name of Henry Kissinger is inextricably linked with a pragmatic foreign policy line, which at one time made it possible to achieve détente in international tensions and reach the most important Soviet-American agreements that contributed to the strengthening of global security," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
Despite criticism from many that he turned a blind eye to U.S. war crimes in Vietnam, which he helped extricate the United States from, Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 along with Le Duc Tho "for jointly having negotiated a cease-fire in Vietnam."
He was also heavily criticized for failing what some analysts said were policies that gave the green light to repressive regimes in Latin America.
But in the decades after he left government, Kissinger, arguably the most identifiable secretary of state in modern times, continued to be sought out informally by officials around the world for advice, and remained in the spotlight with his opinions on everything from China to the Middle East to Russia.
"He was a problem solver, whether in respect of the Cold War, the Middle East or China and its rise," former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.
Commenting in January this year on Putin's February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kissinger told the World Economic Forum in Davos that NATO membership for Kyiv would be an "appropriate outcome" once the conflict ends.
"The idea of a neutral Ukraine under these conditions is no longer meaningful," he said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kissinger's impact on foreign policy thinking and the global stage would live on long past the diplomat's death.
"The century of Henry Kissinger was no easy one, but its great challenges fit his great and curious mind. He changed its pace and the face of diplomacy," Kuleba said on X, formerly Twitter.
With reporting by Reuters and AP
Russian Rights Group Memorial Recognizes RFE/RL's Kurmasheva As Political Prisoner
The human rights group Memorial has recognized Alsu Kurmasheva, a veteran journalist of RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service who has been in Russian custody since October 18, as a political prisoner.
Kurmasheva, a Prague, Czech Republic-based journalist with RFE/RL who holds dual U.S. and Russian citizenships, traveled to Russia for a family emergency in May.
She was temporarily detained while waiting for her return flight on June 2 at the airport in the capital of the Tatarstan region, where both of her passports were confiscated. She was not able to leave Russia as she awaited the return of her travel documents.
On October 11, Kurmasheva was fined 10,000 rubles ($103) for failing to register her U.S. passport with the Russian authorities, according to local media reports based on court documents they'd seen.
Kurmasheva was detained again on October 18 and this time charged with failing to register as a "foreign agent," a crime that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
The Investigative Committee said Kurmasheva was being charged under a section of the Criminal Code that refers to the registration of foreign agents who carry out "purposeful collection of information in the field of military, military-technical activities of Russia," which, if received by foreign sources, "can be used against the security of the country."
It gave no further details.
The Investigative Committee said its investigation found that while the Russian Justice Ministry did not add her to the list of foreign agents, she failed to provide documents to be included on the registry.
Kurmasheva and RFE/RL have both rejected the charge.
Russia's detention of Kurmasheva, the second U.S. media member to be detained by Moscow this year, triggered a wave of criticism from rights groups and politicians saying the move signals a new level of wartime censorship.
Sergei Davidis, the leader of Memorial's Support of Political Prisoners project, told RFE/RL that Kurmasheva was recognized as a political prisoner because the group considers illegal the Russian Criminal Code's article on foreign agents and its connection with so-called "purposeful collection of information in the field of military, military-technical activities of Russia."
Davidis added that Memorial considered the prosecution and possible conviction of people for failing to carry out "a so-called obligation to voluntarily declare themselves as foreign agents...also illegal."
"That request is illegal because, de facto, it is not about punishment for failure to declare, but for implementation of legal activities. The information in question is not classified and it is not illegal to collect such information," Davidis said, stressing that the Federal Security Service (FSB) had given a vague explanation about what can be considered information banned for collecting.
"Additional to that, we see concrete political goals in [Kurmasheva's] case that were obvious by how the persecution was carried out. First, she was detained and convicted of failure to declare the second citizenship, and after that only, after obvious thinking over and looking for reasons -- they filed the second case," Davidis said.
"This is the first criminal case and arrest of that kind. It explicitly indicates the artificial grounds of the whole construction. This illegal charge was thought over for a long time before it was used. They had searched for something to deprive Alsu Kurmasheva of her freedom," he added.
Russia has been accused of detaining Americans to use as bargaining chips to exchange for Russians jailed in the United States. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested for alleged spying -- a charge he and the newspaper vehemently deny -- in March.
WATCH: The husband of the RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who was detained in Russia on October 18, has said she is a "political prisoner."
Since 2012, Russia has used its so-called foreign agent laws to label and punish critics of government policies. It has also been increasingly used to shut down civil society and media groups in Russia since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Amnesty International, the UN Human Rights Office, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the chairman of the U.S. House of Representative's Foreign Affairs Committee have called for the immediate release of Kurmasheva.
The "foreign agent" law allows authorities to label nonprofit organizations as "foreign agents" if they receive funding from abroad and are engaged in political activities.
RFE/RL says the law amounts to political censorship meant to prevent journalists from performing their professional duties and is challenging the authorities' moves in Russian courts and at the European Court of Human Rights.
More than 30 RFE/RL employees have been listed as "foreign agents" by the Russian Justice Ministry in their personal capacity.
In March, a Moscow court declared the bankruptcy of RFE/RL's operations in Russia following the company's refusal to pay multiple fines totaling more than 1 billion rubles ($14 million) for noncompliance with the law.
Memorial, founded in 1987 to remember victims of Soviet repression, was closed down by Russia's Supreme Court in November 2021 -- citing the "foreign agents" law -- although it still functions outside the country and has managed to continue some activities inside Russia.
Kurmasheva is one of four RFE/RL journalists -- Andrey Kuznechyk, Ihar Losik, and Vladyslav Yesypenko are the other three -- currently imprisoned on charges related to their work. Rights groups and RFE/RL have called repeatedly for the release of all four, saying they have been wrongly detained.
Losik is a blogger and contributor for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service who was convicted in December 2021 on several charges including the “organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order” and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Kuznechyk, a web editor for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, was sentenced in June 2022 to six years in prison following a trial that lasted no more than a few hours. He was convicted of “creating or participating in an extremist organization.”
Yesypenko, a dual Ukrainian-Russian citizen who contributed to Crimea.Realities, a regional news outlet of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, was sentenced in February 2022 to six years in prison by a Russian judge in occupied Crimea after a closed-door trial. He was convicted of “possession and transport of explosives,” a charge he steadfastly denies.
- By Current Time
'Shameful And Absurd': Russian Supreme Court Declares LGBT 'Movement' Extremist
Russia's Supreme Court has ruled that the LGBT "movement" is "extremist," sparking a global outcry over fears the designation will allow the country to ratchet up its crackdown on gay and transgender people.
After a closed-door hearing, the court on November 30 said it had approved a Justice Ministry request to label the "international LGBT social movement" as extremist, which bans its activities in the country.
Russian human rights organizations had asked the Supreme Court to reject the ministry's request, saying that "it is impossible to call a group of people a 'social movement' simply because they belong to some social group, or because they are united by some personal characteristics."
The ruling is the latest in a series of blows to LGBT rights in Russia. President Vladimir Putin last year expanded the scope of a 2013 law banning the distribution of "gay propaganda" among children to include people of all ages.
"I call on the Russian authorities to repeal, immediately, laws that place improper restrictions on the work of human rights defenders or that discriminate against LGBT people," UN human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.
Amnesty International criticized the ruling, saying it will have "catastrophic" consequences and leaves "little if any doubt that it will lead to the persecution of LGBTI activists, undoing decades of their brave and dedicated work, while threatening to inspire and legitimize whole new levels of violence against LGBTI persons across Russia."
"This shameful and absurd decision represents a new front in the Russian authorities' campaign against the LGBTI community," Marie Struthers, director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International, said in a statement.
"The ruling risks resulting in a blanket ban on LGBTI organizations with far-reaching violations of the rights to freedom of association, expression and peaceful assembly, as well as the right to be free from discrimination. It will affect countless people, and its repercussions are poised to be nothing short of catastrophic," she added while calling on Russian authorities to reconsider the ruling.
In addition to potential threats to close LGBT organizations and arrest gay and transgender people, activists say they fear the ruling will mean internationally recognized LGBT symbols such as the rainbow will be considered "extremist."
WATCH: Activists and rights defenders warn that the new ruling could lead to the blanket prosecution of not just activists but also those who seek shelter from homophobic violence under a threat of up to 10 years of imprisonment.
Russian law forbids citizens and organizations from supporting or promoting an extremist organization, including displaying its symbol online or offline. Punishments range from fines and closures to jail time.
Experts say Putin is targeting LGBT and other minorities to appease his conservative base ahead of a presidential election in March.
Activists who spoke with RFE/RL in Moscow predicted that fear and insecurity will increase and people will leave Russia in greater numbers as a result.
"Those who stay for various reasons will not be able to feel safe -- even more so than before," one activist told Current Time, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.
Another said that it will no longer be possible to continue work on a shelter for transgender people.
"Any opportunity I have to provide some kind of security for transgender [people] in Russia will lead to me putting myself in jeopardy and by extension the people who will live [in the shelter] with me," the activist said, adding that assistance to leave Russia will continue.
Thirteen Dead In Kazakh Hostel Fire
A fire in a hostel in the center of Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, has killed 13 people, the authorities said early on November 30.
Almaty Mayor Erbolat Dosaev said that among the dead were several foreigners, and Almaty police later clarified that nine of the victims were Kazakh citizens, while the other four were foreigners -- two Russian citizens, including one from the Far Eastern Sakha region, and two citizens of Uzbekistan.
Emergency services said there were 72 people, many of them foreigners, in the hostel, which occupies the ground floor and the basement of a three-story building, and 59 of them managed to get out.
The cause of the deaths was carbon-monoxide poisoning, officials said, adding that a commission has been set up to investigate the causes of the fire, which were not immediately clear.
Dosaev said that according to the regulations of the Health Ministry, placing guests in basements is prohibited. Basements can only be converted to accommodate storage or kitchens, the regulations say.
The Almaty Emergencies Department said that the hostel, which reportedly opened six weeks ago, had not received permission to operate. The hostel was equipped with a fire alarm that went off, but the building did not have mandatory fire extinguishers.
One of the people who was staying at the hostel, a Kazakh man from the southern region of Zhambyl, described the incident to Kazakhstan's news portal Tengrinews.
"When the fire started, the alarm went off, there was smoke all around. Everyone ran into the rooms to wake up the others. Everyone ran out into the street, but I couldn't see the actual fire. On the first floor there were seven rooms, each with seven people. Mostly Kazakhs lived there," the man said.
Almaty, a city of 1.8 million people, was Kazakhstan's capital until 1997 and it remains the Central Asian country's main trading and cultural center.
Zelenskiy Discusses Need To Fortify Ukraine's Defenses Along Front
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy traveled to the southern region of Zaporizhzhya on November 30 for meetings with military leaders, saying afterward that the fortification of frontline areas should be accelerated.
Speaking in his evening address, Zelenskiy referred to areas of the Donetsk region, saying they will receive "maximum attention." He also noted the need to strengthen defensive lines at Lyman and Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine, where he met earlier with Ukrainian troops and visited a school and an underground shelter.
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.
He said one of his meetings in the Zaporizhzhya region was on the construction of fortifications "primarily [in] Avdiyivka and Maryinka and other areas in the Donetsk region." He also mentioned other regions, including Sumy, Chernihiv, and Kyiv, which have been regularly targeted by Russian forces.
Zelenskiy also said he spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov and thanked them for their support.
"We have reasons to be grateful to our partners. All of our agreements are being put into action," he said. "We also coordinated new joint steps to protect our people, our Europe, and the international order."
Ukraine's commander in chief, General Valeriy Zaluzhniy, reported on November 30 that he spoke by phone with U.S. Air Force General Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to discuss the situation at the front.
Zaluzhniy said on Facebook that he told Brown that Ukrainian troops are causing the enemy to suffer significant losses in troops and equipment across the front line, and Brown "agreed to continue joint work on finding technological solutions to gain superiority over the enemy in air, fire attack, and demining."
During a stop earlier on November 30, Zelenskiy presented awards to soldiers in Kupyansk for their efforts to "protect the peaceful life of Ukrainians and the people of Kharkiv region," a statement from the president's office said.
Zelenskiy, who was accompanied by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and senior adviser Andriy Yermak, met with General Oleksandr Syrskiy, the commander of that sector of the front.
He was briefed on the situation along the Kupyansk-Lyman defense line, where Russian forces have been pushing in an attempt to regain territory they lost to a Ukrainian blitz offensive last year.
The operational situation in the east and south of Ukraine remains difficult, the General Staff of the Ukrainian military said in its evening summary on November 30. There were 73 combat clashes along the front during the day, it said.
The General Staff also reported that Russian troops conducted "unsuccessful" assaults in a number of directions, including in Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, Maryinka, and Zaporizhzhya.
In Washington, White House national-security spokesman John Kirby said the United States has been working with Ukraine to prepare for an anticipated winter attack by Russia. Kirby said the United States expects Russia will again try to destroy Ukraine's critical energy infrastructure and has therefore been providing equipment and supplies to keep people from losing heat and electricity.
WATCH: Minefields laid by occupying Russian forces have posed a major challenge for the Ukrainian military near the front lines. Although hundreds of thousands of mines put Ukrainian troops and civilians at risk, the explosive devices are also being used against the enemy. Ukrainian sappers watch the routes of Russian vehicles and lay mines along them -- but the work requires risky forays.
Ukraine's State Emergency Service said Russian troops carried out an air strike on the city of Toretsk in the Donetsk region on November 30, killing one person and injuring three others. Two people were rescued from the rubble of a house, which was destroyed in the attack, the service said on Telegram.
Russian shelling killed two people in Novogrodivka, a city about 90 kilometers southwest of Toretsk. A rescue operation was still ongoing late on November 30, the Interior Ministry said, adding that a family of three may be under the rubble.
Russian shelling earlier on November 30 killed one civilian and wounded five others in Darivka in the southern Kherson region, the press service of the regional military administration reported.
It said a dozen residential buildings, a kindergarten, and a hospital were damaged in the shelling.
In the eastern region of Donetsk, at least 10 civilians were wounded by Russian shelling overnight, regional Governor Ihor Moroz said on November 30.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said Russian troops fired six S-300 missiles at Pokrovsk and shelled Myrnograd, a city east of Pokrovsk. Four of the 10 wounded people are children, he said.
"As a result of the shelling, 10 people were wounded, including four children. They are looking for five missing people under the rubble," Klymenko said.
Russian forces also shelled Ukraine's northeastern region of Sumy, the Prosecutor General's Office said on November 30, without giving details about casualties or damages.
Separately, Ukraine's air defense said it shot down 14 out of the 20 Iranian-made drones that Russia launched at Ukrainian territory early on November 30.
With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and dpa
Disabled Russian Sentenced To Jail For Writing 'No To War' In The Snow
A disabled Muscovite was sentenced to 10 days in jail for writing "No to war" in the snow, the Telegram channel Caution News reported. Dmitry Fedorov was detained by police while leaving Moscow's Gorky Park after he wrote the words with his finger on a snow-covered turnstile. Administrative protocols were filed against him for discrediting the Russian military and disobeying police, although Fedorov claimed that he went with the police to the precinct voluntarily. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.
Blinken Attends Dinner On Eve Of OSCE Meeting In Skopje, Leaves Before Lavrov Arrives
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the president of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) at a dinner on November 29, the eve of a two-day meeting of the group in Skopje. Blinken met with Bujar Osmani, foreign minister of North Macedonia, telling him that the United States strongly supported all that Skopje is doing to strengthen democratic institutions and bring energy diversification to the region. Blinken departed for Israel after the dinner and before the arrival of his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. To read the full story by RFE/RL's Balkan Service, click here.
Russian LGBT Activists Form Organization In Last-Ditch Attempt To Stymie Government's 'Extremist' Case
Russian activists have made a last-ditch attempt to stymie a controversial government case that many fear could force LGBT organizations in the country to shut down.
The Russian Supreme Court on November 30 is scheduled to hear closed-door arguments in a Justice Ministry case to declare the "International LGBT Social Movement" an "extremist" organization.
If the court rules in favor of the ministry, it would allow law enforcement to use the ambiguous 2002 law on extremism to close any LGBT organization it desires, activists say.
As no organization called the International LGBT Social Movement existed when the Justice Ministry filed its suit earlier this month, there would be no one to defend it and, more importantly, the entire LGBT community during the hearing before the Supreme Court, activists said.
In their last-ditch effort, a group of LGBT activists moved quickly on November 29 to legally create a Russian organization called the International LGBT Social Movement and now hopes to be allowed to represent it in court.
In addition to potential threats to close LGBT organizations, activists say that at stake is whether internationally recognized LGBT symbols such as the rainbow will be declared "extremist."
Russian law forbids citizens and organizations from supporting or promoting an extremist organization, including displaying its symbol online or offline. Punishments range from fines and closures to jail time.
If the Justice Ministry claims in court that the rainbow -- a universal symbol for LGBT rights and inclusion -- represents the International LGBT Social Movement, then it would no longer be safe to display it in Russia, activists say.
If the Supreme Court declares the organization "extremist," it also would be the latest in a series of blows to LGBT rights in Russia. President Vladimir Putin last year expanded the scope of a 2013 law banning the distribution of "gay propaganda" among children to include people of all ages.
Experts say Putin is targeting LGBT and other minorities to appease his conservative base ahead of a presidential election in March.
Opposition Politicians Arrested In Kosovo During Protest Against Special War Crimes Court
Several members of an opposition party in Kosovo were arrested on November 29 during a protest in Pristina against a special war crimes court in The Hague that is prosecuting former Kosovar leaders over crimes committed during the 1998-99 war against Serbia.
Six members of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), which is not represented in parliament, were arrested and ordered detained for 48 hours by the prosecutor's office, PSD said, adding that its chairman, Dardan Molliqaj, was among those arrested.
The protest took place during a visit by Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) President Ekaterina Trendafilova and escalated when protesters threw smoke bombs inside and outside the hotel where she was holding a meeting with members of civil society. Police responded by using tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the protesters.
The presence of Trendafilova "is an attempt to...improve the image of the unjust special court," PSD said on Facebook.
PSD said the detention of its members was unfair and an attempt to silence the opposition.
Kosovar police have not commented on the arrests or the protest.
The demonstrators believe that the KSC has unfairly accused former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK), which waged the war for independence from Serbia and are now on trial at The Hague.
The KSC is a Kosovar court seated in the Netherlands and staffed by international judges. It was set up in 2015 to handle cases under Kosovo law against former UCK guerrillas.
Former Kosovar President Hashim Thaci, former parliament speaker Kadri Veseli, former lawmaker Rexhep Selimi, and others have been charged. They were all top leaders of the UCK.
Thaci resigned as president of Kosovo in November 2020 after learning that the KSC had confirmed an indictment against him. The charges against him and the others include murder, torture, and persecution.
Speaking before the protest escalated, Molliqaj said that the demonstrators gathered in front of the hotel to oppose Trendafilova's visit.
He claimed that the court’s mandate is to pursue only the UCK and said that whenever Kosovo gets closer to Serbia, "there has been persecution of the UCK."
With reporting by AP
Another Russian General Reportedly Dies In Ukraine
Another Russian Army general has died in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian and Russian media reports on November 29. Russian Major General Vladimir Zavadsky died on November 28, according to the reports, which say his death was confirmed by an organization of graduates of his military school. The Russian research group Conflict Intelligence Team also confirmed Zavadsky's death, citing Russian military sources. The Russian Defense Ministry has not confirmed his death. The Russian media website Important Stories says Zavadsky is the seventh Russian general whose death in the war in Ukraine has been confirmed by Russian sources. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.
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