BAKU -- Azerbaijan says its forces have entered the Lachin district, the last of three handed back by Armenia as part of a deal that ended six weeks of fighting over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.

"Units of the Azerbaijani Army entered the Lachin region on December 1" under the deal signed on November 9 by Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also released a video showing a tank flying the Azerbaijani flag and leading a column of trucks along a road at night.

Azerbaijan lost control of Lachin during a war with Armenia in the early 1990s as they transitioned into independent countries amid the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Lachin was a strategic link between Armenia's internationally recognized border and ethnic Armenian-held areas in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenia agreed to hand over three districts ringing Nagorno-Karabakh -- Agdam, Kalbacar, and Lachin -- after nearly three decades under Armenian control as part of the Russian-brokered agreement signed on November 9, halting military action in and around Nagorno-Karabakh following the worst fighting in the region since the 1990s.

Agdam was ceded on November 20 and Kalbacar five days later.

Almost 2,000 Russian peacekeepers have moved into the area as part of the truce deal, including along the Lachin Corridor, an overland route linking Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh.

The agreement also committed the parties to reopening their borders for trade but sets no time frame for that.

Ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh have been governing their own affairs, with support from Armenia, since Azerbaijan's troops and Azeri civilians were pushed out of the region in a war that ended in a cease-fire in 1994.

Russia has extensive relations with both Armenia and Azerbaijan but provides security guarantees to the former.

With reporting by AFP

A report presented to NATO foreign ministers on December 1 says the alliance must adapt to deal with new threats, including “persistently aggressive Russia” and “the rise of China.”

The ministers received the report on the first day of a two-day conference being held via videolink as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters that the ministers also discussed the Russian “military buildup” around the alliance, as well as its mission in Afghanistan.

The Western military alliance “will have to take some hard decisions” about the mission when NATO defense ministers meet in February, he said.

The 67-page report makes about 140 suggestions on how to reboot the alliance, which it says “must adapt to meet the needs of a more demanding strategic environment.”

It notes that while NATO faced one big threat during the Cold War it now faces two “systemic rivals” – Russia and China – along with “the enduring threat of terrorism.”

It also suggests the Western military alliance find a way to stop individual countries vetoing policy decisions, as Hungary has done over plans for a deeper partnership with non-NATO member Ukraine.

Other recommendations include creating a consultative body to coordinate broader, Western policy toward China, holding summits with European Union leaders, and giving the secretary-general more power over personnel and budgets.

"NATO needs a strong political dimension to match its military adaptation," according to the report, whose suggestions are not binding.

The document is to be presented to NATO leaders at a summit planned for next year. They could be included in an update to NATO's Strategic Concept document, which dates from 2010 and sought to consider Russia as a partner.

Speaking to reporters, Stoltenberg said the ministers discussed “Russia's continued military buildup in our neighborhood, as well as arms control.”

He said NATO is adapting its deterrence posture “to address Russia's destabilizing actions,” but the ministers agree that they must continue to pursue dialogue with Russia.

They also expressed support for preserving limitations of nuclear weapons and for developing a more comprehensive arms control regime, and welcomed dialog between Russia and the United States ahead of the expiration of their bilateral New START treaty in February.

“We should not find ourselves in a situation where there is no agreement regulating the number of nuclear warheads,” he said.

On Afghanistan, Stoltenberg said NATO supports the peace process while remaining committed to the mission to help Afghanistan fight terrorism.

But he added: “As we continue to assess the situation in Afghanistan, it is clear that we will face a turning point early next year."

The security alliance risks and even longer-term engagement if the NATO mission stays in Afghanistan, and if it leaves there is a risk that it will become a safe haven for international terrorists again, Stoltenberg said.

“So, there is a price for staying longer, but there is also a price for leaving too soon,” he said.

NATO now has about 11,000 troops from dozens of countries stationed in the country. Their mandate is to help train and advise Afghanistan’s own national security forces.

But the presence of U.S. forces, which NATO relies on for air support, transport, and logistics, is scheduled to shrink by 2,000 troops to 2,500 by January 15.

Under a peace deal reached between the United States and the Taliban, all foreign troops should leave Afghanistan by May 1, 2021 if security conditions on the ground permit.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan

CHISINAU -- The Kremlin has rebuffed calls by Moldova's incoming President Maia Sandu for Russian troops to withdraw from the separatist region of Transdniester, saying such a move could lead to "serious destabilization."

Sandu, who favors closer ties with the European Union, vowed to balance ties with the West and Russia after decisively defeating pro-Russian incumbent Igor Dodon in the second round of Moldova's presidential election two weeks ago.

But the former World Bank economist on November 30 called for Russian troops in Transdniester to be removed in favor of civilian monitors under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), adding that she wanted dialogue with Moscow.

"We are an independent country that does not want foreign troops to stay on its territory," she told a press conference.

In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia expected the authorities in Chisinau to remain "constructive."

Russia is playing a "very important role" in Transdniester, and "a change in some status quo" there could lead to "serious destabilization," Peskov told reporters.

Transdniester declared independence from then-Soviet Moldova in 1990. Moldovan forces and Moscow-backed Transdniester fought a short war in 1992 over fears that newly independent Moldova would seek reunification with neighboring Romania.

The conflict ended with a cease-fire agreement after Russian troops in the region intervened on the side of the separatists.

Some 1,400 Russian troops remain in Transdniester guarding Soviet-era arms depots. Transdniester's independence is not recognized by any country, but Moscow has been unofficially backing the separatist regime.

Putin congratulated Sandu after the November 15 runoff vote, which was viewed as a referendum on whether the former Soviet republic sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania should move closer to the EU or be drawn more tightly into Moscow's orbit.

Sandu is to be inaugurated as president on December 24.

With reporting by Reuters

MOSCOW -- A former member of the Soviet Communist Party's Politburo, Yegor Ligachyov, has become the first ex-top Soviet official to live to the age of 100.

Ligachyov was considered in the late 1980s as the second-most-powerful official in the Soviet Union after President Mikhail Gorbachev. He marked his 100th birthday on November 29.

Ligachyov started his political career in the Communist Party during World War II.

For almost two decades, he was the first secretary of the Communist Party in the Siberian region of Tomsk.

In 1983, Ligachyov was promoted to membership of the Communist Party's Central Committee. He became a member of the Politburo in 1985.

Under Gorbachev's leadership, Ligachyov controlled the Communist Party's organizational work and ideology. He was considered a close ally of Gorbachev when he began to introduce democratic reforms.

However, Ligachyov later became associated with anti-perestroika forces and was excluded from the Central Committee of the party in 1990.

But after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ligachyov joined the leadership of the Communist Party. He was a lawmaker from 1999 to 2003.

Gorbachev is now 89 years old.

Czech President Milos Zeman has reportedly demanded a list of all Russian spies active in the Czech Republic, which security experts say could endanger secret sources of the Czech counterintelligence service.

Czech public broadcaster Cesky Rozhlas reported on November 30 that Zeman had made the request to Michal Koudelka, director of the Security Intelligence Service (BIS).

It said Zeman also called on the BIS to provide him with documentation about all known Russian intelligence operations in the Czech Republic.

Zeman, who has often expressed pro-Russian views and is seen as being friendly to Moscow, has not commented on the report.

In the past, Zeman has accused his own intelligence service of incompetence.

Czech lawmakers said on November 30 that committees from both chambers of parliament would discuss the matter.

The chairman of the Senate Security Committee, Pavel Fischer, said Zeman's requests could threaten the security of the state.

"Parliament has a role to play. We will discuss this immediately in the Senate Security Committee," Fischer tweeted.

Former Interior Minister Frantisek Buhlan said on November 30 that releasing such information to Zeman "would put a lot of people and running operations in danger."

Buhlan said there was no reason for the Czech president to receive the information.

The BIS has reported for years about increased activity by Russian spies in the Czech Republic, saying they targeted European Union countries and members of the NATO alliance. However, the BIS has released few concrete details about Russian espionage activities in the country.

Based on reporting by dpa and Cesky Rozhlas

BAKU -- A prosecutor has asked a court in Baku to imprison a member of the opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (AXCP) for failing to comply with coronavirus precautions and "spreading the disease."

The prosecutor on November 30 asked the Sabuncu district court to sentence Mahammad Imanli to 18 months in prison.

Imanli rejected the charge, saying a police statement noting he was detained on July 20 was false.

He insists he was detained on July 16 and kept in a police station for four days, during which he was interrogated regarding his participation in unsanctioned rallies in Baku in support of the country's armed forces amid an escalation of military tensions with neighboring Armenia.

Imanli's relatives were informed that the verdict and sentence will be pronounced on December 1.

Imanli is one of almost 50 AXCP members arrested in July after the rallies in support of the military.

Investigators have said that during the unsanctioned rallies in mid-July, AXCP activists clashed with police, injuring some of them, and also upended private vehicles and damaged the parliament building.

Many of the activists who were detained were charged with damaging private property, attacking law enforcement officers, and disrupting public order.

Dozens of AXCP members have been arrested, and some imprisoned, in recent years on what their supporters have called trumped-up charges.

Opponents of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Western countries, and international human rights groups say his government has persistently persecuted critics, political foes, independent media outlets, and civic activists.

Aliyev denies any rights abuses. He took power in 2003 shortly before the death of his father, Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB officer and communist-era leader who had ruled Azerbaijan since 1993.

The European Commission (EC) will propose for the first time that the European Union impose sanctions on "foreign actors" from states such as Russia or China spreading disinformation as it pushes for a tougher oversight mechanism for online platforms, according to a draft document seen by RFE/RL.

The European Democracy Action Plan, which the EC is set to present on December 2, says that the 27-member bloc "needs to use more systematically the full range of tools in its toolbox for countering foreign interference and influence operations and further develop them, including by imposing costs on the perpetrators."

"Possible ways of doing so range from publicly identifying commonly used techniques (so as to render them operationally unusable) to imposing sanctions following repeated offenses," it says.

It is the first time that the EC -- the EU's executive body -- has suggested in an official document the imposition of sanctions for the spread of disinformation.

Warning that information can be "weaponized by foreign actors," the document goes on to say that "certain third countries (in particular Russia and China) have engaged in targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns around COVID‑19 in the EU, its neighborhood, and globally, seeking to undermine democratic debate, exacerbate social polarization, and improve their own image."

The action plan notes that the East StratCom Task Force, a division of the European External Action Service (EEAS) that monitors Russian disinformation, has so far identified more than 500 examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation on COVID-19 this year and over 10,000 examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation since it started monitoring in 2015. The EEAS is the EU's diplomatic corps.

The document also suggests much tougher EU rules on online platforms that "can be used by malicious operators for disseminating and amplifying false and misleading content and have been criticized for lack of transparency in the use of algorithms to distribute content online and for targeting users on the basis of the vast amount of personal data generated from online activity."

In 2018, the EC put together a code of practice on disinformation that platforms such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter joined voluntarily to report on actions taken on the transparency of ad placements and moves against fake accounts and bots.

However, amid what it said were disappointing results, the EC is now suggesting "a more robust approach based on clear commitments and subject to appropriate oversight mechanisms is necessary to fight disinformation more effectively."

The document says the upcoming Digital Services Act (DSA), due to be unveiled by the EC later this year, "will propose rules to ensure greater accountability on how platforms moderate content, on advertising, and on algorithmic processes."

"Very large platforms will be obliged to assess the risks their systems pose -- not only as regards illegal content and products but also systemic risks to the protection of public interests and fundamental rights, public health and security," it says.

The DSA aims to update the European Union's legal framework for online business.

MINSK -- Syarhey Tsikhanouski, a jailed Belarusian vlogger who was arrested in May after he expressed willingness to take part in an August presidential election, has reportedly been charged with inciting social hatred, which would allow the authorities to extend his pretrial detention.

The Tut.by website quoted Tsikhanouski's lawyer, Viktar Matsekvich, on November 30 as saying that his client was "outraged at the new charge," which was made against him several days ago.

Tsikhanouski was arrested in late May and later charged with the organization and preparation of actions that severely violated public order and disrupting the work of the Central Election Commission.

According to his lawyer, Tsikhanouski was supposed to be released from pretrial detention in November, since there were no developments in the cases against him. By adding a new charge, the authorities found a way to keep Tsikhanouski in pretrial detention for another 18 months.

Tsikhanouski is the owner of a popular YouTube channel called The Country For Life, which frequently challenges the Belarusian authorities.

When Tsikhanouski's candidacy was rejected by election officials, his wife, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, took over and ran in the presidential election and became the main challenger to Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the authoritarian leader who has run the country since 1994.

The official results of the election handing victory to Lukashenka have sparked ongoing mass protests, with Tsikhanouskaya's supporters and opposition figures claiming she won the vote.

Lukashenka has overseen a violent crackdown on protesters by law enforcement that has seen thousands of people -- including media members -- detained and scores injured.

The European Union and the United States have refused to recognize Lukashenka as the legitimate ruler of Belarus, characterizing the election as fraudulent.

BISHKEK -- A new political group in Kyrgyzstan, Committee-93, has called on the Central Asian nation to return to its constitution from 1993 amid protests against a controversial proposal by the interim government to change the current constitution.

The new group held its first session in Bishkek on November 30 at which its members criticized the proposal to change the constitution pushed by Sadyr Japarov, who was named as the country's new prime minister and handed presidential powers in mid-October amid protests against the official results of parliamentary elections that ousted the government and led to the resignation of President Sooronbai Jeenbekov.

The group's members said that by changing the constitution, the current interim leadership is trying to cement power in its hands, while returning to the constitution from 1993 would help ensure a more independent judicial system and parliament needed for the country's further democratic development.

Japarov, who suspended his duties as acting president and prime minister in mid-November in order to be eligible to take part in an early presidential election on January 10, has publicly defended the proposed draft constitution last week.

Japarov said on November 24 that he also wanted a national referendum on the reforms to be held simultaneously with the presidential election, blaming the ongoing political crisis on the current format.

According to the current constitution, the duties of the executive branch are divided between an elected president and a prime minister chosen by parliament.

The controversial draft being considered by the Constitutional Council calls for a single executive -- the president -- along with a smaller parliament and a new body called the People's Kurultai (Congress) that would control the government and parliament.

Rights groups and activists have criticized the draft reforms as a threat to the democratic process by putting too much power in the hands of the president. They also say the current caretaker government does not have the legitimacy to initiate such deep changes.

The publication of the draft constitution on November 17 has triggered several demonstrations in Bishkek, the latest held on November 29.

MINSK -- Belarusian activists say security forces have detained at least a dozen people as police broke up a protest march by pensioners demanding the resignation of authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

The crackdown came a day after police said they'd fired warning shots to force the dispersal of a mass demonstration in Minsk on November 29 and detained hundreds of protesters.

More than 1,000 pensioners gathered in Minsk on November 30 to stage what they called a "March of Wisdom." But the demonstrators were divided into smaller groups that marched in different directions after being blocked by police along their planned route.

At least 12 people were detained in the November 30 crackdown, according to the Minsk-based Vyasna human rights center.

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.

Belarus has seen nearly daily protests since election officials declared Lukashenka won a sixth presidential term in a disputed August 9 election.

Neither the European Union nor the United States have recognized Lukashenka's reelection. Both have noted widespread allegations of election fraud.

Belarusian opposition figures are calling for Lukashenka's resignation, the release of all political prisoners, and a new election.

Belarusian authorities have cracked down hard on the largely peaceful demonstrations.

There have been mass arrests and widespread complaints about demonstrators being tortured in custody.

On November 29, security forces used tear gas and stun grenades against protesters in Minsk.

"Security officers had to use special means -- a number of warning shots of stun rounds fired into the air and tear gas," Interior Ministry spokeswoman Volha Chamadanava wrote on Telegram on November 30.

SEE ALSO:

More Than 300 Reported Detained In Belarus At Anti-Lukashenka Marches

Chamadanava said a total of 313 people were detained on November 29 on charges of violating laws that forbid the holding of public gatherings.

Vyasna said it calculated that more than 420 protesters were detained across the country on November 29.

The rights group said most were taken into custody in Minsk, though there also were detentions in Brest, Hrodna, Baraulyany, and other towns and cities.

Demonstrations were reported in almost all districts of Minsk, making it difficult to estimate how many people participated in the protests overall.

Unrecognized Reelection

Presidential candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, whom the opposition says was the real winner of the August election, expressed support for the ongoing protests.

"Every week the regime claims that the protests are subsiding," she tweeted on November 29. "Every week the regime sends its forces with tear gas, stun grenades to beat & scare the Belarusian people. Yet they gather every week to protest peacefully against Lukashenka's regime."

Tsikhanouskaya left Belarus after the election under pressure from the authorities in Minsk and is currently in Lithuania.

During a visit to a Minsk hospital on November 27, Lukashenka implied that he would resign if a new constitution is adopted.

SEE ALSO:

Lukashenka Says He Will Leave Post When New Constitution Is Adopted

"I will not work as president with you under the new constitution," state media quoted him as saying.

Lukashenka has called several times for a new constitution, but the opposition has dismissed the statements as a bid to buy time and stay in power.

MOSCOW -- A court in Moscow has extended the pretrial detention of former journalist Ivan Safronov, who is charged with high treason.

The Lefortovo district court on November 30 ruled that Safronov must be held at least until March 7, 2021. Only Safronov's girlfriend, Ksenia Mironova, and his sister Irina were allowed to be present in the courtroom when the court handed down its decision.

The hearing took place behind closed doors as the case is classified.

The 30-year-old Safronov, who has worked since May as an adviser to the head of Russia's Space Agency (Roskosmos), Dmitry Rogozin, is a prominent journalist who covered the military-industrial complex for the newspapers Kommersant and Vedomosti.

He was arrested on July 7 amid allegations that he had passed secret information to the Czech Republic in 2017 about Russian arms sales in the Middle East.

Safronov has rejected the accusations and many of his supporters have held pickets in Moscow and other cities demanding his release.

Human rights organizations have issued statements demanding Safronov’s release and expressing concerns over an intensifying crackdown on dissent in Russia.

With reporting by Kommersant and Interfax

OMSK, Russia -- Several Jehovah's Witnesses have been sentenced in Russia for being members of the religious group that Moscow has labeled as extremist and banned in the country.

A court in the Siberian city of Omsk, on November 30, sentenced 48-year-old Sergei Polyakov to three years in prison after finding him guilty of "organizing the activities of an extremist group."

Polyakov's wife, Anastasia Polyakova and two other Jehovah's Witnesses, Dinara Dyusekeyeva and Gaukhar Bektemirova, were convicted of "taking part in the activities of an extremist group" and handed suspended two-year prison terms each.

Their lawyer, Dmitry Kolobov, told RFE/RL after the sentences were pronounced that all of the convicted will appeal the court's rulings.

The four went on trial more than a year ago amid Russian authorities' crackdown on the religious group that was officially labelled as extremist and banned in the country in 2017.

Last week, Russia's Investigative Committee said it had arrested several Jehovah's Witnesses and carried out raids of their homes across the country.

For decades the Jehovah's Witnesses have been viewed with suspicion in Russia, where the dominant Orthodox Church is championed by President Vladimir Putin.

The Christian group is known for door-to-door preaching, close Bible study, rejection of military service, and not celebrating national and religious holidays or birthdays.

Since the faith was outlawed in Russia, several Jehovah's Witnesses have been imprisoned in Russia and the Russia-annexed Ukrainian Black Sea Crimea peninsula.

In September 2019, Washington banned two high-ranking regional officers from Russia's Investigative Committee from entering the United States over the alleged torture of seven detainees who are Jehovah's Witnesses.

The Moscow-based Memorial Human Rights Center has recognized dozens of Jehovah’s Witnesses who've been charged with or convicted of extremism as political prisoners.

Iran has held a funeral for top nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who founded its military nuclear program two decades ago, with the Islamic republic's defense minister vowing to continue the scientist's work.

Fakhrizadeh's targeted killing on November 27 on the outskirts of Tehran, in what appeared to be a military-style operation, has raised concerns about a new confrontation between Iran and Israel or the United States.

State TV broadcast the ceremony on November 30, showing Fakhrizadeh's casket, wrapped in an Iranian flag, being carried by an honor guard to a podium where reciters read the Koran and other religious verses in an outdoor area of the Defense Ministry in Tehran.

Fakhrizadeh's body was later transferred to the Emamzade Saleh cemetery in northern Tehran for burial.

Officials, including Defense Minister Amir Hatami, attended the ceremony, sitting apart from each other and wearing masks due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"The enemies know and I, as a soldier, tell them that no crime, no terror, and no stupid act will go unanswered by the Iranian people," Hatami said at the ceremony, vowing that Fakhrizadeh's work will be continued "with more speed and more power."

Attack Allegations

Another top Iranian security official who attended the funeral accused Israel of using "electronic devices" to remotely kill the scientist in the November 27 attack.

"Unfortunately, the operation was a very complicated operation and was carried out by using electronic devices," Ali Shamkani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, told state TV. "No individual was present at the site."

Shamkhani also blamed the Iranian exiled opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO or MEK) as well for "having a role in this," without elaborating.

In a statement, the MKO dismissed "Shamkhani's rage, rancor, and lies" against the group, while claiming credit for past revelations on Iran's nuclear program and previously secret sites.

Israel has not commented on the killing, seen by many as a move to disrupt Tehran's efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Iran insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes.

Israel has long been suspected of carrying out a series of targeted killings of Iranian nuclear scientists and other sabotage operations against Iran using MKO operatives.

SEE ALSO:

Killing Of Iranian Nuclear Scientist Risks Conflict, Complicates Diplomacy For Biden

Shamkani's remarks signaled a change in the official narrative that initially said a truck was blown up in front of Fakhrizadeh's car, and then gunmen opened fire on the scientist, killing him.

Earlier on November 30, Iran's English-language Press TV said that the weapon used in the killing was made in Israel.

"The weapon collected from the site of the terrorist act bears the logo and specifications of the Israeli military industry," an unnamed source told Press TV.

State TV's Arabic-language channel, Al-Alam, claimed the weapons used were "controlled by satellite."

None of the outlets immediately offered evidence supporting their claims.

Russia's Foreign Ministry condemned Fakhrizadeh's killing, saying its intent was "destabilizing the situation and building up conflict potential in the region," and called on "all parties to refrain from taking steps that could lead to an escalation of tensions."

Calls For Revenge, Diplomacy

Despite calls for revenge, Iranian officials said they hoped to ease tensions with the United States once U.S. President-elect Joe Biden takes office in January.

"We don't want to start a friendship, but we want to reduce unnecessary tension and enmity," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a video interview released on November 30 on the news portal Entekhab.

Government spokesman Ali Rabiei on November 29 said that "we should definitely not fall into this trap [of early military action or giving up on diplomacy]."

Earlier, Iranian President Hassan Rohani stressed that the country will seek its revenge in "due time" and not be rushed into a "trap."

Rohani has accused Israel of acting as a "mercenary" for the United States in connection with the assassination.

Rohani is seen as being among the more moderate figures in the country and likely to be looking toward the possibly returning to the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement that Iran signed with six world powers, including the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has taken a hard line against Tehran, in 2018 pulled out of the accord and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran, accusing it of continuing to seek nuclear weapons and of funding extremist activity in the region -- allegations Iran has denied.

With reporting by AFP, AP, dpa, and Reuters

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner will travel to Saudi Arabia and Qatar this week amid rising tensions following the assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist near Tehran by unknown attackers.

A White House official said on November 29 that Kushner is to meet separately with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Saudi city of Neom and with the emir of Qatar in that small Persian Gulf nation.

The statement said Kushner -- who is also President Donald Trump’s son-in-law -- will be accompanied by Middle East envoys Avi Berkowitz and Brian Hook. Adam Boehler, chief of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, will join them.

Kushner and his team have been instrumental in negotiating normalization deals between Israel and Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), and Sudan since the start of the summer.

U.S. administration officials said the team is attempting to reach further such deals before Trump’s term is set to end on January 20, 2021.

Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia is a bitter rival of Shi’ite-led Iran as two nations battle for influence in the Middle East.

Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in an ambush near Tehran on November 27, in a brazen attack that threatens to escalate tensions between Iran and the United States and its close ally Israel.

Iranian President Hassan Rohani on November 28 accused Israel of acting as a “mercenary” for the United States in connection with the assassination. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, which many saw as an attempt to slow Iran's progress toward developing nuclear weapons.

With reporting by Reuters and Axios

The head of one of Hungary's premier cultural institutions, the Petofi Literary Museum in Budapest, has retracted an article in which he likened U.S. billionaire philanthropist George Soros to Adolf Hitler’s genocidal Nazi regime.

Szilard Demeter, who is also a Hungarian culture commissioner, said in a statement on November 29 that he had withdrawn the article and deleted his Facebook page.

"My critics are right in that...the Nazi parallel can unintentionally offend victims' memories," he said.

Demeter's article, an opinion piece for the Internet portal Origo.hu, a Hungarian pro-government outlet, was widely criticized by Jewish and Holocaust memorial groups.

The criticism continued on November 29 as leading opposition politicians, including former Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai and Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony, called on Prime Minister Viktor Orban to fire Demeter immediately.

"His man, his cultural politician, wanted to establish his Europe politics, his shame," Karacsony said on Facebook. "Szilárd Demeter can no longer wear any public office from 8 am. The Prime Minister has a few hours left."

Demeter's article referred to Soros as the "liberal Führer," saying he is turning Europe into a "gas chamber."

The American Jewish Committee in Central Europe condemned the comments about Soros, who was born in Hungary and is a Holocaust survivor, describing them as "horrendous."

"Such ignorance of history and minimizing the Holocaust have to be called out," the organization said on Twitter.

In the article, which addressed a dispute with Brussels over the EU budget, Demeter described Hungary and Poland as "the new Jews."

"Poisonous gas flows from the capsule of a multicultural open society, which is deadly to the European way of life, and we, the nations of Europe, are doomed to try to fight for the last sip of air by climbing on each other," he wrote.

Orban has repeatedly taken aim at Soros for his foundation's funding of liberal causes. He accuses Soros, a bête noire of the European right, of wanting to flood the continent with Muslim migrants and undermine national identity.

Hungary and Poland are holding up negotiations over the EU’s multiyear budget due to a new rule-of-law mechanism.

Both countries are under EU investigation for undermining the independence of the judiciary, media, and nongovernmental organizations, and they risk losing access to EU funding over the new mechanism.

Demeter’s statement was also condemned by the International Auschwitz Committee.

"Not only in Hungary are Holocaust survivors disgusted and appalled by this bizarre and hateful agitation," said Executive Vice President Christoph Heubner.

He said the vitriol signified a new low in a wave of anti-Semitic and anti-European campaigns in Hungary.

The Israeli Embassy in Hungary said in a statement that it rejected the "use and abuse" of the memory of the Holocaust for any purpose.

"There is no place for connecting the worst crime in human history, or its perpetrators, to any contemporary debate, no matter how essential," it said.

With reporting by dpa, Reuters, and AP

Serbia has revoked its decision to expel Montenegro's ambassador a day after declaring the envoy persona non grata in a tit-for-tat move.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic announced the decision on November 29 after a meeting with President Aleksandar Vucic and after consulting Montenegrin Serbs, according to RFE/RL’s Balkan Service.

"We decided that Serbia already tonight unilaterally revokes the decision on expelling Montenegro's ambassador," Brnabic told reporters. “Good relations with Montenegro are above all important to us.”

She expressed hope that the move would be interpreted in Podgorica as an act of goodwill and that Serbia would continue to build relations with Montenegro.

“We are once again extending a hand of cooperation and friendship,” Brnabic said.

Serbia declared Montenegro's ambassador persona non grata and ordered him expelled from the country on November 28 after Montenegro declared Serbia's envoy persona non grata and expelled him.

Vucic said Serbia "made a good move," adding that it is up to Serbia to show that it "wants the best and brotherly relations" with Montenegro.

Montenegrin Prime Minister-designate Zdravko Krivokapic earlier on November 29 criticized the outgoing government's decision to expel the Serbian ambassador just days before the planned inauguration of a new, pro-Serb cabinet.

Krivokapic said on November 29 on Twitter that he regretted the expulsion, announced on November 28, of Serbian Ambassador to Montenegro Vladimir Bozovic.

“Such acts are not in the spirit of the European path and good regional cooperation of friendly countries,” Zdravko Krivokapic tweeted. He lamented that the outgoing regime, even in its last days, did not "shy away from the polarization of society and the deepening of divisions."

The Montenegrin Foreign Ministry cited "long and continuous meddling in the internal affairs of Montenegro" as the reason for declaring Bozovic persona non grata and expelling him.

SEE ALSO:

Montenegro. Serbia Expel Each Other's Ambassadors

Montenegro remains deeply divided among people seeking closer ties with traditional allies Serbia and Russia, and those who view Montenegro as an independent state allied with the West.

Montenegro and Serbia were part of a joint country before an independence referendum in 2006 led to Montenegro splitting off.

The country is now set to be led by a pro-Serb coalition that is to be voted into office during a parliament session next week following the defeat of the long-ruling pro-Western Democratic Party of Socialists in August.

The coalition’s most powerful party is the Democratic Front (DF), which seeks closer ties with Serbia and Russia and is backed by the Serbian Orthodox Church. Its partners, however, insist that Montenegro remain on its pro-Western course.

Krivokapic said the new government would work to improve Montenegro’s relations with Serbia.

"We will promote a truly good neighborly policy with Belgrade, as well as with everyone in the region, on the principle of sovereignty, independence and noninterference in the internal affairs of other countries," Krivokapic tweeted.

With reporting by AP and AFP

MINSK -- Authorities in Belarus have detained more than 300 protesters amid ongoing demonstrations aimed at ousting strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka from the presidency.

Most of the people reported detained were taken into custody in Minsk, but there also were detentions in Brest, Hrodno, Barauliany, and other cities, according to the Vyasna human rights group.

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Belarusian Protesters Arrested As Protests Continue

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This is the second week in which the Belarus demonstrations have been held under the rubric March of Neighbors. The opposition has adopted the strategy as a way of decentralizing the protests and making it more difficult for police to round up activists.

"Neighbor for neighbor against dictatorship," read one protest banner in Minsk. Others expressed negative sentiments toward Lukashenka, who has ruled the country since 1994.

SEE ALSO:

Hundreds Detained Despite New Tack By Anti-Government Protesters In Belarus

RFE/RL's Belarus Service reported that law enforcement used tear gas and stun grenades against some demonstrators. Mobile Internet services were not available in Minsk and the central metro stations were closed.

Demonstrations were reported in almost all districts of the capital.

One video posted on social media appeared to show police in Minsk dragging away an unconscious person near the Pushkin metro station.

It was unclear how many people participated in the demonstrations.

Belarus has seen nearly continuous protests since a disputed presidential election on August 9 gave Lukashenka a sixth presidential term. The United States and the European Union have not recognized Lukashenka’s reelection.

The opposition, which believes candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya was the real winner of the election, has been calling for Lukashenka’s resignation, the release of all political prisoners, and a new presidential vote.

Tsikhanouskaya, who left the country soon after the August election under pressure from the authorities and is currently in exile in Lithuania, extended her support to the protesters.

"Every week the regime claims that the protests are subsiding," she said on November 29 on Twitter. "Every week the regime sends its forces with tear gas, stun grenades to beat & scare the Belarusian people. Yet they gather every week to protest peacefully against Lukashenka's regime."

The tweet included a video of people streaming through a park.

During a visit to a Minsk hospital on November 27, Lukashenka implied that he would resign if a new constitution was adopted.

“I will not work as president with you under the new constitution,” state media quoted him as saying.

Lukashenka has called several times for a new constitution, but the opposition has dismissed the statements as a bid to buy time and stay in power.

A former collective farm manager, Lukashenka, 66, has ruled Belarus since 1994.

A former associate of President Donald Trump's election campaign who was the target of a secret surveillance warrant during the FBI's Russia investigation has filed a lawsuit saying he was the victim of illegal spying.

The suit filed by Carter Page alleges that FBI and Justice Department officials made a series of errors and omissions in their applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA), which granted requests to eavesdrop on Page on suspicion that he was an agent of Russia.

“Since not a single proven fact ever established complicity with Russia involving Dr. Page, there never was probable cause to seek or obtain the FISA Warrants targeting him on this basis,” the lawsuit says.

FBI and Justice Department officials who were involved in signing off on the surveillance have since testified they wouldn't have done so had they known the extent of the alleged errors and omissions.

In the lawsuit, filed on November 27 in Washington, Page accuses the FBI of relying excessively on Christopher Steele, a former British spy whose so-called dossier alleged that Page and other Trump allies colluded with Russia.

The research, which became public during the 2016 presidential campaign, looked into Trump's ties to Russia and was funded by Democrats.

Page’s lawsuit says the FBI failed to tell the surveillance court that Steele's primary source had contradicted information attributed to Page.

It says the FBI also failed to tell the court that Page had denied to an FBI informant having "any involvement with Russia on behalf of the Trump campaign."

A lawsuit Page filed earlier against the Democratic National Committee over the dossier was dismissed in August by a federal judge in Chicago on technical grounds.

Based on reporting by AP

An unnamed Uzbek government source has said that Uzbekistan plans to repatriate another group of its citizens from a camp for families of Islamic State fighters in Syria, Reuters reported on November 29.

An Uzbek delegation has visited two camps in the Kurdish-controlled part of Syria and spoken with about 100 Uzbek citizens – mostly women and children – about returning to Uzbekistan.

The source told Reuters that the Uzbeks are living "in deplorable conditions and have difficulties with access to drinking water, food, and medical care."

The United Nations estimates there are about 65,000 people at the Al-Hol camp, including 28,000 Syrians, 30,000 Iraqis, and about 10,000 foreigners of other nationalities.

Uzbekistan repatriated about 220 women and children from Syria last year as part of a rehabilitation program.

Based on reporting by Reuters

Russian police have fined more than 1 million people for violating COVID-19 restrictions since the beginning of the pandemic, the Interior Ministry said.

"Law enforcement officers filed over 1.1 million administrative offense protocols over noncompliance with regimes of heightened readiness, quarantine, or self-isolation," the Interior Ministry told the TASS news agency on November 28.

Most infractions -- more than 976,000 people -- were for violating health protocols during an emergency. Under this article, the minimum fine is 1,000 rubles ($13).

Russia has the world’s fourth highest number of confirmed infections at more than 2.2 million, as well as 39,000 deaths linked to the virus. Real metrics are believed to be higher.

Despite spiking caseloads straining hospitals in recent weeks, authorities have refrained from reintroducing lockdown measures or closing businesses as elsewhere in Europe. Instead, Russian regions have decided on their own coronavirus-related restrictions.

In October, the government issued a nationwide mask mandate in crowded public areas.

With reporting by TASS

Construction on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany will resume in early December after a one-year pause due to U.S. sanctions.

The company Nord Stream 2 AG said on November 28 that undersea pipe-laying work will resume on a 2.6-kilometer section of each of the gas pipeline's branches within Germany’s exclusive economic zone.

German broadcaster NDR 1 Radio MV reported that construction will resume on December 5, citing an announcement by the Baltic Sea Waterways and Shipping Office in Stralsund.

In December 2019, construction on Nord Stream 2 was suspended following U.S. sanctions on the project, which will double Russian natural gas deliveries to Germany.

The sanctions targeted any vessel building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, forcing Switzerland-based pipe-laying company Allseas to suspend operations shortly before its completion.

The U.S. Congress is considering another bill that would widen the scope of sanctions to include any individual or entity providing insurance, technical certification, or welding services for the project.

It is unclear what pipe-laying ship will be involved in finishing Nord Stream 2, which still has 16 kilometers left in German waters and another 60 kilometers in the Danish section to be completed.

The pipe-laying vessel Akademik Cherskiy was expected to finish the gas pipeline, but according to Marine Traffic tracking services the Russian-flagged ship left the German project hub of Mukran and is off the coast of the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

According to NDR 1 Radio MV, it is unclear if the vessel has received the required certification from the Danish government. The Norwegian certifier already announced a partial withdrawal from the project related to any ships, but not the pipeline itself.

Meanwhile, the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where the pipeline ends, reportedly decided this week to create a public trust under the control of the state premier's office to protect companies working on Nord Stream 2 from U.S. sanctions.

Citing insiders, NDR 1 Radio MV said top officials consider the special vehicle a “clever legal gimmick” to skirt around U.S. sanctions.

Sanctions against Nord Stream 2 have been a source of friction in U.S.-German relations, with Berlin accusing Washington of applying extraterritorial restrictions on a sovereign project.

The U.S. government wants to prevent the pipeline from being completed, saying it will strengthen Russia’s energy hold on Europe and undercut Ukraine’s role as a transit country for Russian gas.

Nord Stream 2 is a $10 billion project led by Russian gas giant Gazprom, with half of the funding provided by Germany’s Uniper and BASF’s Wintershall, Anglo-Dutch oil major Shell, Austria’s OMV and Engie.

Russia initially expected to complete the pipeline in early 2020. After the sanctions on vessels were passed, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hoped the pipeline would be completed by early 2021.

With reporting by dpa and NDR 1 Radio MV

Montenegro's outgoing government has declared the ambassador of neighboring Serbia persona non grata and asked him to leave the country, the Foreign Ministry said on November 28.

Serbia responded a few hours later by declaring Montenegro's ambassador persona non grata and expelling him from the country.

The Montenegrin Foreign Ministry cited "long and continuous meddling in the internal affairs of Montenegro" as the reason.

The Foreign Ministry's statement said Serbian Ambassador Vladimir Bozovic “directly disrespected” Montenegro by describing a 1918 decision to join a Serbia-dominated kingdom as an act “liberation” and “free will” by the Montenegrin people.

Montenegro's parliament declared the century-old decision void in 2018, saying it had stripped Montenegro of its sovereignty.

The statement said Bozovic’s comments on November 27 were “incompatible with the usual acceptable standards of diplomatic office.”

Serbia’s Foreign Ministry announced its tit-for-tat response in a statement.

"On the occasion of declaring the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to Montenegro, Vladimir Bozovic, a persona non grata, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia acted in a reciprocal manner," the ministry statement said.

State-run media reported that Montenegrin Ambassador Tarzan Milosevic was asked to leave Serbia within 72 hours.

Montenegro remains deeply divided among those seeking closer ties with traditional allies Serbia and Russia, and those who view Montenegro as an independent state allied with the West.

Montenegro and Serbia were part of a joint country before an independence referendum in 2006 led to Montenegro splitting off.

The pro-Western Democratic Party of Socialists was defeated in August after three decades in power by a pro-Serb coalition. The new government is set to be voted into office during a parliament session next week.

With reporting by AP

Iran has said it will not recognize any verdict in a trial in Belgium against an Iranian diplomat who is charged with plotting to bomb an exiled opposition group's rally two years ago.

The diplomat, Assadolah Assadi, and three other Iranians went on trial in Antwerp on November 27 accused of planning to bomb the rally in France in 2018.

"We have announced many times and from the beginning that this court is not qualified, and that the judicial process is not legitimate due to (Assadi's) diplomatic immunity and fundamental issues," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying.

"He is innocent and it is clear he has been conspired against," Khatibzadeh said on November 27, emphasizing that Iran "will not recognize" a verdict.

Assadi, formerly based in Vienna, faces 20 years in prison if convicted. His trial is the first by an EU country against an Iranian official for terrorism.

Belgian prosecutors accuse Assadi and the others of plotting an attack on a rally of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

The trial has the potential to embarrass Iran and strain ties with European countries, which have blamed Iranian intelligence for being behind the foiled bombing, a charge the Islamic republic has furiously denied.

Assadi, who was arrested while on holiday in Germany and handed over to Belgium, is refusing to appear in court and did not attend the first day of the trial. He has not commented on the charges.

His lawyer, Dimitri de Beco, told reporters that while he has "the fullest respect" for the judges, he considers himself immune from prosecution.

Iran has repeatedly dismissed the charges, saying the allegations by the NCRI, which Tehran considers a terrorist group, are false.

The NCRI is the political wing of the exiled Iranian opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an exiled opposition group that is seeking to overthrow the Islamic republic.

The 2018 rally's keynote address was given by Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City who now serves as U.S. President Donald Trump's personal lawyer.

The United States considered the MEK a terrorist group until 2012. Its designation was removed following a lobbying campaign and pledges to end its violent militancy. Giuliani is among those who lobbied on its behalf.

The attack on the rally was thwarted by a coordinated operation between French, German, and Belgian security services, authorities in the three countries have said.

French officials have said Assadi was in charge of intelligence in southern Europe and was acting on orders from Tehran.

Two of Assadi's suspected accomplices were arrested in Belgium in possession of explosives and a detonator. Their lawyers said on November 27 that neither had any intention to kill.

Lawyers representing participants in the 2018 rally, who are a civil party to the Belgian prosecution, have argued that diplomatic immunity cannot be used as a cover to carry out a terrorist attack, which carries a maximum 20-year prison term.

European countries have blamed Iran for other suspected moves against dissidents, including two killings in the Netherlands in 2015 and 2017 and a foiled assassination in Denmark. Tehran has denied involvement.

With reporting by AFP, AP, dpa, and Reuters

Four Azerbaijani civilians were killed on November 28 when their car triggered an anti-tank mine in a region that was taken by Azerbaijan during recent fighting with Armenian forces.

The Azerbaijani Prosecutor-General’s Office said the blast took place a village in the Fizuli region, one of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlements that Azerbaijan said earlier it had taken control of.

A statement issued by the Prosecutor-General’s Office said an investigation has been launched.

Neither Armenian nor Nagorno-Karabakh officials have commented.

Azerbaijan recaptured Fizuli in renewed clashes over Nagorno-Karabakh that started in late September and continued for six weeks.

A Moscow-brokered truce signed earlier this month ended weeks of heavy fighting. Under the agreement, Armenia is ceding control of parts of the enclave's territory as well as seven surrounding districts of Azerbaijan it held since the 1990s.

The Armenian separatists are retaining control over most of Nagorno-Karabakh's territory, and some 2,000 Russian peacekeepers have been deployed along frontline areas and to protect a land link connecting Karabakh with Armenia.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Azerbaijani and Armenian services, AFP, and AP