A Moscow-based foundation with links to the Vagner Group, a Russian military contractor force, says three Russians and one Ukrainian national have been freed from captivity in Libya.

Aleksandr Malkevich, head of the Foundation for the Protection of Traditional Values, said on Telegram on January 2 that the four individuals had been "kidnapped" several weeks ago, but did not say why they were in Libya or who had allegedly detained them.

The foundation says it is a “a non-profit organization whose activities are aimed at protecting the national interests of the Russian Federation."

Moscow has been accused of supporting mercenaries fighting against the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. The GNA is vying for power against strongman Khalifa Haftar, who is supported by the United Arab Emirates, Russia, and Egypt.

The Vagner Group is believed to be headed by Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close associate of President Vladimir Putin.

In October, the European Union and Britain hit Prigozhin with an asset freeze and travel ban over Russia’s role in Libya's civil war.

Prigozhin "is engaged in and providing support" for the Vagner Group, threatening Libya's "peace, stability, and security," according to the bloc.

In December, the Foundation for the Protection of Traditional Values said two of its employees were released in Libya where they had been held since May 2019.

Malkevich said on December 10 that Russian citizens Maksim Shugalei and Samer Khasan Ali Sueifan had been released and would return to Moscow.

Libyan authorities said Shugalei, who is also a lawmaker in Russia's northern Komi Republic, and his interpreter Sueifan, were arrested on suspicion of trying to influence elections in Libya, which Russian officials have denied.

Shugalei and the foundation are widely known to have links to the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg-based organization known as the Russian "troll farm."

Based on reporting by AFP and Interfax

Montenegrin President Milo Dukanovic has refused to approve amendments to a controversial law on religion that has been sharply criticized by ethnic Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Dukanovic sent the amendments back to parliament along with six other laws passed by the ruling coalition, his office said on January 2.

A total of 41 deputies of the ruling coalition, which is composed of pro-Serb parties and is closely aligned with the Serbian Orthodox Church, in the 81-seat legislature backed amendments to the Law on Freedom of Religion in a vote on December 29 that was boycotted by the opposition.

The president’s office claimed it was unclear if the required number of lawmakers had been present in parliament during the vote.

Dukanovic heads the long-ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), which is now in opposition.

If lawmakers vote for the amendments again, the president is obliged to sign them.

Under Montenegro's religion law adopted a year ago, religious communities must prove property ownership from before 1918.

That is the year when predominantly Orthodox Christian Montenegro joined the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes -- and the Montenegrin Orthodox Church was subsumed by the Serbian Orthodox Church, losing all of its property in the process.

The Serbian Orthodox Church, its supporters, and pro-Serbian parties claimed the law could enable the Montenegrin government to impound church property, though officials deny that they intend to do this.

The new government -- which came to power after elections in August -- said it would rewrite the law to ensure the properties stay in the hands of church, which is based in neighboring Serbia.

Serbia and Montenegro were part of a federation until 2006, when Montenegro declared its independence.

Montenegro is a member of NATO and aspires to join the European Union.

With reporting by dpa

Iran said on January 2 that it plans to enrich uranium up to 20 percent purity at its underground Fordow nuclear facility "as soon as possible," a level far above limits set by an international nuclear accord.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the U.S.-educated head of the civilian Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, offered a military analogy to describe his agency's readiness to take the next step.

"We are like soldiers and our fingers are on the triggers," Salehi told Iranian state television. "The commander should command and we shoot. We are ready for this and will produce [20 percent enriched uranium] as soon as possible."

His comments on January 2 come a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that Tehran had revealed its intention in a letter to the UN nuclear watchdog.

"Iran has informed the Agency that in order to comply with a legal act recently passed by the country's parliament, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran intends to produce low-enriched uranium (LEU) up to 20 percent at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant," the IAEA said in a statement on January 1.

The letter, submitted on December 31, “did not say when this enrichment activity would take place," the IAEA said.

Russia's ambassador to the IAEA, Mikhail Ulyanov, said earlier on Twitter that IAEA chief Rafael Grossi had reported Iran’s letter to the agency’s board of governors.

Iran currently enriches its uranium stockpile up to around 4.5 percent, which is above the 3.67 percent cap imposed by the 2015 nuclear deal but below the 90 percent purity considered weapons-grade.

An increase to 20 percent would shorten Iran’s break-out time to a potential nuclear weapon, if it were to make a political decision to pursue a bomb. The Iran nuclear deal also prohibits Tehran from enrichment at the Fordow facility, buried deep in a mountain to protect against air strikes.

Iran has gradually reduced its compliance with the accord since the United States unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018 and started imposing crippling sanctions on Iran.

Following the assassination of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh on November 27, Iran’s parliament passed controversial legislation that ordered an immediate ramping up of the country’s uranium-enrichment program to 20 percent and an end to IAEA inspections.

SEE ALSO:

Strategic Patience Or 'Tough' Action? Tehran Grapples With Response To Assassination Of Top Nuclear Scientist

The government led by President Hassan Rohani has opposed the bill, saying it was detrimental to diplomatic efforts and no funds were allocated to implement the law.

Some analysts have suggested that Iran could use parliament's move to gain leverage in future talks with the United States.

The remaining parties to the deal -- China, France, Germany, Russia and Britain -- said on December 21 that they were preparing for a possible return of the United States to the accord after President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20. Biden has said he will try to rejoin the deal, which was struck when he was vice president.

Biden has suggested the United States would reenter the deal if Iran complies with the agreement, leaving other issues of concern such as Iran’s ballistic missiles and support for regional proxies to "follow on" agreements.

Iran says its missile program and regional policies are off the table, and has said it would come back into compliance once the United States and the three European countries that signed the deal fulfill their end of the agreement by providing Tehran with the economic relief promised under the accord.

Tehran has always denied pursuing nuclear weapons, saying its nuclear program was strictly for civilian purposes.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters.

Kazakhstan has abolished the death penalty, making permanent a nearly two-decade freeze on capital punishment in the Central Asian country, a statement on the presidential website said on January 2.

The statement said Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev had signed off on parliamentary ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – a document that obligates signatories to abolish the death penalty.

Kazakhstan instituted an indefinite moratorium on capital punishment in 2003 but retained the death penalty for terrorism-related offenses.

In 2016, the death penalty was imposed on a man who was convicted of a mass shooting in Almaty.

Ruslan Kulikbaev had been the only person on death row in Kazakhstan. He will now serve a life sentence in prison.

Toqaev announced that his country would join the protocol on the abolition of the death penalty in his speech at the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in December 2019.

Russia, Tajikistan, and Belarus are now the only three countries in Europe and Central Asia which haven’t yet signed or ratified the Second Optional Protocol. Belarus is the only country in the region that still carries out executions.

With reporting by AFP

Iranian cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, considered the spiritual leader of the most fundamentalist hard-line factions, has died in Tehran at the age of 86.

A veteran revolutionary close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mesbah-Yazdi died of a gastrointestinal disease after several recent stints in the hospital, Iranian state media reported on January 1.

A fierce opponent of reforms, Mesbah-Yazdi was also known as a supporter of ultraconservative former President Mahmud Ahmadinejad before having a falling out with him.

To his opponents, the fundamentalist spiritual head of the Paydari Front political faction was one of the most disliked and radical figures.

At the time of his death, Mesbah-Yazdi was the head of the of Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute and a member of the Assembly of Experts, a clerical body that chooses the supreme leader.

With reporting by AFP, AP, and RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Eight students have been found dead from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning in a village in southwestern Bosnia-Herzegovina, authorities said.

The victims were described as high school and university students between the ages of 18 and 20 who were at a New Year's Eve celebration in a holiday cottage in Tribistovo, about 150 kilometers southwest of Sarajevo.

Police officers responded to a call around 10 a.m. on January 1 and went to the cottage, where they found several people dead, local police spokeswoman Martina Medic told the Associated Press.

Milan Galic, the police commissioner of the West Herzegovina Canton, told local media that police are on the ground and that an investigation is under way.

The Council of Ministers of Bosnia-Herzegovina declared January 2 a day of mourning in the country. The West Herzegovina Canton declared three days of mourning.

The municipality of Posusje, where the village is located, said on Facebook it mourned the “eight young lives lost” and urged the owners of cafes and restaurants to close down to honor the victims.

Bosnian and Croatian media said the victims died from a poisonous gas leak apparently caused by a power generator used for heating as they celebrated New Year’s Eve in a holiday cottage.

Many people in the region are thought to have organized similar private events in order to celebrate the holiday during a lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Carbon monoxide gas is odorless and colorless and can build up in confined spaces when generators or gas heaters are used.

Based on reporting by AP, dpa, and RFE/RL's Balkan Service

The head of Iran’s judiciary has said that those who carried out the targeted killing of a top Iranian military commander one year ago are “not safe on Earth.”

Ebrahim Raisi, speaking in Tehran on January 1, said that even U.S. President Donald Trump, who authorized the strike that killed Major General Qasem Soleimani near Baghdad on January 3, 2020, was not “immune from justice.”

Soleimani headed the Quds Force, the foreign operations wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

At the time of Soleimani’s killing in a U.S. drone strike, Trump posted on Twitter that the Iranian had “killed or badly wounded thousands of Americans over an extended period of time and was plotting to kill many more.”

Iran responded to the killing by launching a volley of missiles at bases in Iraq hosting U.S. and other international troops a few days later.

On January 1, Soleimani’s successor, Esmail Qaani, addressed those who carried out the drone strike, saying that “it’s even possible that there are people inside your home that will respond to your crime.”

“American mischief will not deter the Quds Force from carrying on its resistance path,” Qaani said.

On December 31, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused the United States of seeking a “pretext for war” because U.S. officials have suggested that Iran might carry out retaliatory attacks to mark the anniversary of Soleimani’s assassination.

Tensions have been elevated between Iran and the United States since 2018 when Washington withdrew from an international agreement that aimed to restrict Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions.

The Trump administration argued the agreement was “fatally flawed” because it did not address Iran’s ballistic-missile program or its support for regional groups that Washington considers terrorists.

After withdrawing, the United States reimposed sanctions on Iran.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

Moldovan President Maia Sandu has appointed Foreign Minister Aurel Ciocoi as acting prime minister.

Sandu announced the appointment on Facebook on December 31, following the resignation of former Prime Minister Ion Chicu last week.

Sandu defeated pro-Russian President Igor Dodon in an election last month on a platform of combating corruption and building on her country’s Association Agreement with the European Union.

Ciocoi, a career diplomat, previously served as Dodon’s foreign policy adviser. Under Moldova’s constitution, Sandu was obliged to choose an acting prime minister from among the outgoing cabinet.

Sandu has asked the Constitutional Court to weigh in on a request by parliamentary deputies from the Party of Action and Solidarity -- which Sandu headed before becoming president -- to allow parliament to dissolve itself and hold snap elections.

“I hope that the court will consider this request…in a few days,” Sandu said on December 31.

The Islamic State extremist group has claimed responsibility for a knife attack against police last month in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Chechnya.

The Al-Naba newspaper, which is affiliated with Islamic State, made the claim on December 31 without providing any evidence or details.

In the December 28 incident in the Chechen capital, Grozny, two assailants armed with knives killed one police officer and injured another. Both men were shot dead by police on the scene.

Chechen Republic leader Ramzan Kadyrov later stated that the attackers were brothers from the nearby region of Ingushetia who worked at a bakery in Chechnya.

The two men had no criminal record or history of extremism. Authorities in Ingushetia have asked Chechnya for details about the incident.

An anti-Kadyrov Telegram channel alleged that the incident was part of clan conflict and that people close to Kadyrov had earlier kidnapped the parents and sister of the two men.

Kadyrov, 44, has been the head of Chechnya since Putin appointed him in 2007. He has been accused by Russian and international rights groups of massive human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture, kidnapping, and the persecution of LGBT people.

With reporting by Reuters

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has presided over the ceremonial opening of the Serbian section of the Russia-led Balkan Stream natural-gas pipeline.

In a televised event from the settlement of Gospodjinci near Novy Sad on January 1, Vucic proclaimed the 403-kilometer pipeline segment open. The ceremony had been postponed from December 30 without any explanation.

“A big day for Serbia!” Vucic posted on Instagram. During the event, he praised the project as “key for Serbia’s future development.”

Russian Ambassador to Serbia Aleksandr Botsan-Kharchenko, Srbijagas Director-General Dusan Bajatovic, and representatives of Russian gas and construction firms attended the event.

Bosan-Kharchenko said the pipeline will “provide energy security also for the wider region, Central Europe.”

The pipeline segment is part of the larger TurkStream pipeline, which supplies Russian natural gas to Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Hungary.

Speaking to journalists on December 25, Vucic said the government plans to extend the pipeline within Serbia to supply gas to the cities of Vranje and Valjevo.

“We will lay gas lines to bring new factories and investors there and to supply gas to the population,” he said.

Like the Nord Stream pipeline project across the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, TurkStream is intended to divert Russian gas supplies from transiting through Ukraine.

In July 2020, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described both projects as “Kremlin tools” to expand European dependence on Russian energy supplies and to undermine Ukraine.

In 2019, the United States imposed sanctions against companies involved in both projects. The administration of President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized Germany and other European nations for their reliance on Russian energy supplies.

Although it aspires to European Union membership, Serbia is a traditional ally of Russia and has long been dependent on Russian natural gas.

Based on reporting by TASS and AP

Suspected Russian government hackers behind a massive intrusion of government and private company networks were able to gain access into Microsoft’s source code, a key building block for software or operating systems, the tech giant said on December 31.

Microsoft had previously acknowledged that, like U.S. government agencies and other firms, it had downloaded malicious SolarWinds software updates that provided hackers a backdoor into its networks.

But the revelation in a blog post that the hackers accessed Microsoft’s source code is new, raising questions about the spies’ intentions. The company did not say what part of the architectural blueprint the hackers accessed.

Downplaying the significance, Microsoft said the hackers gained access to a number of internal accounts but did not have permission to modify any code or engineering systems.

No changes were made before “these accounts were investigated and remediated,” the firm said.

“This activity has not put at risk the security of our services or any customer data, but we want to be transparent and share what we’re learning as we combat what we believe is a very sophisticated nation-state actor,” Microsoft said.

The U.S. government and cybersecurity experts are still trying to understand the full scale of the massive breach, which began as early as March when hackers slipped malicious code into updates in SolarWinds software used by the government and thousands of businesses and entities.

Microsoft has helped respond to the hack with cybersecurity firm FireEye, which discovered the breach when the security firm itself was targeted.

Top U.S. officials have blamed Russian intelligence agency hackers for the sophisticated operation, which Moscow has denied.

With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters

The founder of an independent Belarusian press group and several associates taken into custody last week have been charged with tax evasion and related crimes in a case that comes against the backdrop of a continuing state crackdown on dissent.

The daughter of Press Club founder Yulia Slutskaya said via Facebook that her mother had been charged with "large-scale tax evasion."

A lawyer for the group confirmed the charges against Slutskaya and said charges alleged that at least four staff members were being charged as co-conspirators.

Slutskaya will remain in pretrial custody until at least February 22, the lawyer, Anton Hashinski, said.

It was unclear whether the other four -- Syarhey Alsheuski, Pyatro Slutski, Ala Sharko, and Denys Sokolouski -- had their custody similarly extended.

AFP reported that another Press Club employee, Russian national Sergei Yakupov, had been deported on December 31.

Slutskaya was detained after she arrived in Minsk from abroad on December 22, while the others were detained hours later after their homes and offices were searched.

Belarus's Committee for State Control said it had launched preliminary investigations into "facts of violation of the taxation laws of the Republic of Belarus by the staff members of the Press Club Journalistic Workshop cultural-educational organization linked among other things to financial support from abroad."

The detentions came days after the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) listed Belarus as a country where authorities have significantly increased their arrests of journalists in recent months.

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) on December 23 demanded the release of veteran journalist Slutskaya and her colleagues.

"This repression must end immediately. We demand the release of Yulia and all her colleagues," said EFJ President Mogens Blicher Bjerregard. "We call on the European Union, the Council of Europe, and the OSCE to respond decisively to this new wave of repression."

Founded in 2011, the Belarusian Press Club calls itself "a platform for professional development of independent media and journalists."

Mass protests continue across the country to demand the exit of longtime leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka after election officials in Minsk said he won a sixth presidential term in a landslide on August 9.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets for months, declaring that opposition candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya was the real winner.

Lukashenka has responded with mass arrests of protesters, jailings and expulsions of opposition leaders, and the withdrawal of accreditations and other strictures on local and international journalists.

Since August, at least 373 journalists have been arrested in Belarus.

In October, the Foreign Ministry of Belarus revoked the media accreditations from several foreign media organizations in a move widely criticized as an attempt to stifle reporting about ongoing anti-government demonstrations.

With reporting by AFP and Tut.by

The United Nations has condemned Iran for executing a man convicted of murder when he was 16 years old, saying the punishment violated international law.

The UN human rights office in Geneva said Mohammad Hassan Rezaiee was executed on December 31.

He was the fourth juvenile offender put to death in Iran this year, the office said.

“The execution of child offenders is categorically prohibited under international law and Iran is under the obligation to abide by this prohibition," UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement.

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, "strongly condemns the killing," she added.

Shamdasani said the office was “dismayed that the execution had taken place despite” its efforts to engage with Tehran on the case.

"There are deeply troubling allegations that forced confessions extracted through torture were used in the conviction of Mr. Rezaiee," Shamdasani said, along with "numerous other serious concerns about violations of his fair-trial rights."

Iran regularly forces confessions from prisoners, often under duress or torture, rights groups say.

Amnesty International said Rezaiee was arrested in 2007 in connection with the fatal stabbing of a man in a brawl and had spent more than 12 years on death row.

Iran is among a handful of countries that execute juvenile offenders.

Amnesty International said it is aware of at least 90 cases of people in Iran currently on death row for crimes that took place when they were under 18. The rights organization said the real number is likely to be far higher.

Rights groups have called on Iranian authorities to urgently amend Article 91 of the 2013 Islamic Penal Code to abolish the death penalty for crimes committed by people under 18 in line with Iran’s international obligations.

Iran is one of the world's leading executioners. Amnesty International said in April that at least 251 people were executed by Iranian authorities in 2019.

A senior aide to Prime Minister Viktor Orban says Hungary won't use Russia's Sputnik-V vaccine despite bilateral cooperation on Russian testing of the controversial serum against COVID-19.

Orban chief of staff Gergely Gulyas blamed the reversal on an "inadequate manufacturing capacity" for the vaccine in Russia.

It is the first clear sign that the Russian serum won't be broadly used on Hungary's general population of around 10 million.

Sputnik-V received Russian approval two months ago, despite a lack of large-scale clinical trials and perceived shortcomings in data to support its safety and efficacy.

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Russians are already being inoculated en masse with it.

Gulyas said mass vaccine purchases by Hungary would have to be "part of the EU process or from China."

Orban has refused to rule out any path to securing supplies of any vaccine.

Orban has come under criticism over perceived democratic backsliding in EU-member Hungary as he has deepened bilateral ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has viewed Sputnik-V as a national prestige project.

Some 50 countries have reportedly placed orders for Sputnik-V, with national testing ongoing in some of them.

Regulators in Europe and North American have so far given emergency authorizations to a Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and a Moderna vaccine.

Britain this week became the first country to approve an AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine.

China has been slower than some countries to approve COVID-19 vaccines but has been inoculating its citizens for months with three different shots in late-stage trials.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has accused outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump of seeking to fabricate a "pretext for war" between the two countries.

Zarif made the comments on December 31, days ahead of the first anniversary of the killing of a top Iranian military commander in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq.

For weeks, U.S. officials have suggested Iran or allied Iraqi militia may carry out retaliatory attacks to mark the January 3 anniversary of Qasem Soleimani’s assassination.

And U.S. President Donald Trump on December 23 warned Tehran against any attack on U.S. military or diplomatic personnel in Iraq, days after suspected Iran-backed Iraqi militia launched a barrage of rockets at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone.

No Americans were killed or injured by the rockets.

The developments came as Trump ramped up pressure on Iran ahead of a transition to President-elect Joe Biden, who has said he will try to revive diplomacy with Iran upon his inauguration on January 20.

In a show of force directed at Iran, the United States flew strategic bombers over the Persian Gulf on December 30, the second such flight this month. In addition, a U.S. nuclear submarine carrying 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles crossed the Strait of Hormuz on December 21.

The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz has been patrolling Gulf waters since late November.

On December 31, Zarif criticized the United States for sending American B-52 bombers to the region.

"Instead of fighting [the coronavirus pandemic] in US, @realDonaldTrump & cohorts waste billions to fly B52s & send armadas to OUR region," Zarif tweeted.

"Intelligence from Iraq indicate plot to FABRICATE pretext for war," he wrote, adding: “Iran doesn't seek war but will OPENLY & DIRECTLY defend its people, security & vital interests.”

The killing of Soleimani, the powerful commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, near Baghdad's international airport considerably raised tensions between the two rivals.

Days later, Iran launched retaliatory ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops.

In May 2018, Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and imposed punishing sanctions on Iran under a so-called “maximum-pressure” campaign.

In response, Iran has gradually breached parts of the agreement, which was intended to induce Tehran to curb its controversial nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, arguing that it was no longer bound by the deal owing to the U.S. withdrawal.

With reporting by AFP

Azerbaijan has started commercial natural-gas supplies to the European Union via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), as the region seeks to diversify energy supplies away from Russia.

Gas pumped from the giant Shah Deniz 2 field in the Caspian Sea began flowing into Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria on December 31, Azerbaijan’s state energy company SOCAR said in a statement.

SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev hailed the development as a "historic day."

“Some were skeptical about this project. Now the mission is accomplished -- Azerbaijan’s natural gas has arrived in Europe,” he said.

The 878-kilometer TAP is a segment of the Southern Gas Corridor, which took more than $30 billion and seven years to build.

The overall project includes Shah Deniz 2, Azerbaijan’s largest gas deposit, and 3,500 kilometers of pipelines connecting the Caspian Sea with Western Europe via Georgia and Turkey.

Azerbaijan already supplies gas to Turkey and aims to supply European gas markets with 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas a year.

Analysts say Azerbaijani gas poses some threat to Moscow's share of the continent's gas market but is unlikely to change Russia's dominant position as a supplier.

Russia, which already accounts for about one-third of the region’s gas supplies, plans to raise gas exports to Europe, including Turkey, to 183 bcm in 2021 from more than 170 bcm this year.

Moscow has recently accelerated efforts to complete its undersea Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline to Germany, a project that stalled a year ago due to U.S. sanctions.

Washington has strongly opposed the project as threatening the security of NATO allies in Europe by increasing dependence on Russia.

Later on December 31, Azerbaijan's SOCAR announced that it had signed a long-term contract with the Belarus Oil Company to supply oil to that country.

Belarus has intermittently been at loggerheads with Russian officials in recent years over oil supplies that for decades have been supplied at a heavy discount.

With reporting by Reuters, RIA Novosti, and Bloomberg

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said goodbye to 2020, which he said "carried the burden of several years."

Speaking in his annual New Year's address just minutes before 2021 began in Russia's Far East, Putin recalled that people around the world looked forward to changes for the better this time last year, but that "nobody could have imagined then what trials were in store for us."

However, he said, despite the coronavirus pandemic it was also a year "of hope for overcoming hardships and pride for those who displayed the best human and professional qualities."

Looking ahead, Putin wished for all the "hardships of the outgoing year to become a thing of the past as soon as possible and everything we have gained, the very best unlocked in every person, to stay with us forever."

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"I sincerely wish all of you, as close and dear people, robust health, faith, hope and love," he concluded. "Be happy in the new, approaching year 2021!

Russia reported more than 27,000 new COVID-19 cases on December 31, taking the national tally to nearly 3,160,000 since the pandemic began.

A total of 593 deaths were reported over the past 24 hours, taking the official death toll to 57,019.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova earlier this week revealed that more than 80 percent of excess deaths this year are linked to COVID-19, which would mean its death toll is three times higher than officially reported.

Excess deaths are the difference between the total number of deaths registered and the average over the previous years for the same period.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax

Bosnia-Herzegovina's governing executive on December 31 recommended that authorities transfer around 900 migrants from a burned-out refugee camp in northwestern Bosnia to be overwintered in a nearby reception center in Bihac amid local protests over their transfer to another location.

The migrants -- from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East -- have been in limbo without shelter in freezing temperatures as the dispute plays out this week.

Many have been sleeping rough at the site of a camp at Lipa that was destroyed in a fire on December 23, the same day it was due to be temporarily closed.

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Hundreds of migrants at the Lipa camp in Bosnia-Herzegovina are stranded amid heavy snowfall after a fire destroyed much of the camp on December 23.

The decision by Bosnia's Council of Ministers suggests the refugees and migrants will be sent to the Bira facility -- in Bihac, near the border with Croatia -- which had been closed since October.

It came as EU officials appeared to be losing patience with the drawn-out humanitarian crisis in nonmember Bosnia.

The European Commission on December 31 called on Bosnia's national and local authorities to work together to give shelter to the asylum seekers and migrants.

In Brussels, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said the quickest and most practical solution was reopening the Bira center.

Many of the migrants had been forced to disembark from buses on December 30 on which they had spent the previous night as residents near a former barracks at Bradina, near Konjic, protested plans for their arrival.

Peter Van der Auweraert, the International Organization for Migration's (IOM) coordinator for the Western Balkans, had tweeted grim video of the migrants at Lipa with “close to no shelter for the night” after “last minute political negotiations failed to produce a viable outcome.”

Even before the fire, the much-criticized tent camp at Lipa lacked basic facilities such as running water and heating to house people in winter.

Bosnian authorities have failed to fulfill pledges to upgrade facilities to brace them for the cold weather, including by providing utilities and road access.

In a joint statement, humanitarian groups on December 30 called on Bosnian authorities to address the "dire humanitarian conditions and uncertainty” of the stranded migrants.

“Forcing people once again to stay out in the open in these conditions cannot be an acceptable solution. The lack of immediate action by responsible authorities risks grave consequences to human safety and lives,” the groups, including the IOM and the UN refugee agency, said.

About 10,000 migrants and asylum seekers are stuck in Bosnia, hoping to cross into EU member Croatia in order to reach wealthier countries in the bloc.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Balkan Service and Balkan Insight

The United States has reportedly flown two B-52 bombers over the Persian Gulf in the third such show of force in recent months, presumably meant to deter Iran from attacking U.S. or allied targets in the region.

The U.S. bombers carried out a round-trip, 30-hour mission from Minot Air Force Base, in North Dakota, to the Middle East that ended on December 30.

"The United States continues to deploy combat-ready capabilities into the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility to deter any potential adversary, and make clear that we are ready and able to respond to any aggression directed at Americans or our interests," General Kenneth McKenzie, chief of U.S. Central Command, said in a statement on December 30.

He added: "We do not seek conflict, but no one should underestimate our ability to defend our forces or to act decisively in response to any attack."

The U.S. Air Force has carried out two similar missions in the past 45 days.

The mission reflects increasing concern in Washington that Iran could order further military retaliation for the U.S. killing of top Iranian military commander General Qasem Soleimani in neighboring Iraq in January.

Days after the air strike that killed Soleimani, Iran launched a ballistic-missile attack on a military base housing international troops in Iraq that caused brain-concussion injuries to some 100 U.S. troops.

Adding to U.S. concerns was a rocket attack last week on the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad by Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias.

Nobody was killed in the attack, but U.S. President Donald Trump said Tehran was on notice.

"Some friendly health advice to Iran: If one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible. Think it over, Trump tweeted on December 23.

The United States has reduced the number of staff at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

With reporting by AP and The Washington Post

Iran says it has allocated $150,000 for the families of each of the 176 victims of a Ukrainian passenger plane that was downed in Iranian airspace nearly a year ago.

The Iranian government said in statement on December 30 that it had approved the payment of “$150,000 or the equivalent in euros as soon as possible to the families and survivors of each of the victims” of the crash.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran’s main airport on January 8, killing all on board, including many Canadian citizens and permanent residents.

Iran admitted days later that its forces accidentally shot down the Kyiv-bound plane after firing two missiles amid heightened tensions with the United States.

Iranian Roads and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Eslami told reporters on December 30 that Iran's final report on the crash had been sent to countries involved in investigating it -- Ukraine, the United States, France, Canada, Sweden, Britain, and Germany.

Earlier this month, an independent Canadian report accused Iran of not conducting its investigation properly and said that many questions remain unanswered.

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"The party responsible for the situation is investigating itself, largely in secret. That does not inspire confidence or trust," said the report, written by the Canadian government's special counsel on the tragedy.

Iranian officials said the country never sought to hide the details about the air disaster or to violate the rights of the victims' families.

Flight 752 was downed the same night that Iran launched a ballistic-missile attack that targeted U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Tehran's air defenses were on high alert in case of retaliation.

Iran's missile attack was in response to a U.S. drone strike that killed the powerful commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Major General Qasem Soleimani, in Baghdad five days earlier.

With reporting by Reuters

Russia says it has expanded its list of British citizens barred from entering the country in response to London’s "unconstructive and unfriendly" decision to sanction Russian officials over the poisoning of Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced the move on December 30, without mentioning how many British individuals had been blacklisted or their names.

In October, Britain, along with the European Union, imposed travel bans and asset freezes on six senior Russian officials and a state scientific research center for the "attempted assassination" of Navalny, who is currently recovering in Germany from a near fatal poisoning.

Moscow earlier this month hit EU countries with reciprocal sanctions in response to the bloc's measures.

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Russia Hits EU Officials, Entities With Tit-For-Tat Navalny Sanctions

The opposition politician and anti-corruption campaigner fell ill on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow on August 20. He was placed in an induced coma in a Siberian hospital before being transferred to a clinic in Germany.

Laboratory tests conducted in Germany, France, and Sweden have established that Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent of the Novichok class, a conclusion confirmed by the international Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Navalny has blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for his poisoning.

Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have denied involvement and have refused to open a criminal investigation into the incident.

Russia on December 29 also hit German officials with entry bans after the EU and Britain sanctioned Russian intelligence officers over a 2015 hacking attack on the German parliament.

MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a raft of legislation that human rights watchdogs and opposition politicians have said will undermine democratic processes.

The controversial legislation came into force immediately upon being signed into law on December 30 and included an amendment to a law that allows individuals and public entities to be recognized as foreign agents if they are considered to be engaged in political activities "in the interests of a foreign state."

Grounds for being recognized as a "foreign agent" could be the purposeful collection of information about Russia's military or military activities that could harm Russia's security; holding rallies or political debates; providing opinions on state policies; actions promoting a certain outcome in an election or referendum; or participation as an electoral observer or in political parties if they are done in the interest of a foreign entity.

Entities that have been branded as "foreign agents" are subject to restrictions such as providing financial reports on their activities and identifying themselves as such in publications.

Putin signed a separate bill imposing penalties of up to five years in prison to those identified as "foreign agents" who do not register as such or fail to report on their activities.

Amnesty International slammed the legislation before it was signed into law, saying it would "drastically limit and damage the work not only of civil society organizations that receive funds from outside Russia but many other groups as well."

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Amnesty Slams Russian Proposal To Label Individuals As 'Foreign Agents'

Critics say the “foreign agent” law, originally passed in 2012 and since expanded through amendments, has been arbitrarily applied to target Russian civil society organizations, human rights defenders, and political activists.

Russia on December 28 effectively branded individuals as "foreign agents" for the first time, but on a Justice Ministry registry of "foreign mass media performing the functions of a foreign agent." Three of the five individuals listed contribute to RFE/RL. The other two are activists who are not members of the media.

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Individuals Named To Russia's 'Foreign-Agent' Registry For First Time

On December 30, Putin also signed a bill allowing media regulator Roskomnadzor to partially or fully restrict or slow access to foreign websites that "discriminate against Russian media."

The legislation is expected to affect major social-media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

Another signed bill prohibits the disclosure of personal information about certain “employees [of law enforcement agencies], their families, and assets."

The list of those qualifying for the measure is to be drawn up by law enforcement agencies and may include officials including judges, prosecutors, investigators, as well as employees at the Interior Ministry, the Federal Penitentiary Service, and the Federal Security Service.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and his Moldovan counterpart, Maia Sandu, have vowed to open a fresh page in relations as Moldova’s new president plies a pro-EU and anti-corruption agenda.

Iohannis visited Sandu in Chisinau on December 29, just days after the former World Bank economist was inaugurated following her victory in last month’s runoff election against Russia-backed President Igor Dodon.

It was the first visit by Romania’s president to Moldova in six years, representing a clear thaw in relations between the neighbors after years of poor ties under Dodon.

Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest countries, is deeply divided between those who support closer ties with Russia and those who advocate links with EU member Romania, with which it shares a common culture and language.

Iohannis stated that his visit was symbolic, meant to support the new president and her pro-Western agenda at a time when the country is suffering from an economic crisis and the coronavirus pandemic.

“The victory of Maia Sandu in the presidential election is a victory of historic importance. My visit is taking place against the backdrop of a massive vote by Moldovan citizens for European values,” Iohannis told a televised briefing.

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Moldova's New Pro-EU President Pledges To Be 'Honest And Transparent'

Beyond rhetoric, he announced an economic aid package and said Romania would provide Moldova with 200,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from its quota allotted by the EU.

Sandu described a new beginning in the country's foreign and domestic policies, which includes “the development of a strategic partnership with Romania."

"I am glad that, starting today, Moldova and Romania are reentering natural, fraternal, and open relations,” Sandu said alongside Iohannis. "A new stage is beginning in Moldova, which applies to both domestic and foreign policy: the stage of getting out of international isolation."

Since her election, Sandu has called for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Moscow-backed separatist region of Transdniester, prompting the Kremlin to warn it could lead to "serious destabilization.”

The rapprochement between Chisinau and Bucharest comes as Moldova lurches toward early parliamentary elections after Prime Minister Ion Chicu and his pro-Dodon government resigned on December 23 following weeks of political crisis.

Sandu is pushing for snap legislative elections, describing them as the "only way to cleanse parliament and restore justice in our country."

Earlier in December, protesters backing Sandu took to the streets of Chisinau to demand early elections after lawmakers passed a bill transferring control of the country's intelligence agency from the president to parliament.

The move was seen as a way to boost the power of parliament, where pro-Moscow Socialists aligned with Dodon hold a razor-thin one-seat majority in the 101-seat legislature.

Russia's media regulator, Roskomnadzor, says the country needs an alternative to YouTube, the U.S. online video-sharing platform that it struggles to censor.

"Due to the absence of a direct competitor in Russia, YouTube is still irreplaceable," Roskomnadzor said in a statement on December 29.

The regulator added that there was a need for a "popular equivalent" in Russia that would reduce Russians' dependence on foreign social media.

The Kremlin is losing its grip on information dissemination inside the country as more and more Russians turn to foreign social-media sites like YouTube and Instagram for content.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been able to maintain high ratings during his two decades in power in part thanks to Kremlin control over the country's main TV stations.

An effective and popular Russian competitor to YouTube would enable the government to impair YouTube's ability to operate inside the country.

Roskomnadzor's comments came the same day that Russia's Investigative Committee launched a criminal case against Aleksei Navalny, the Kremlin critic who has deftly used YouTube to expose corruption at the highest levels of government.

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Russia Launches Criminal Case Against Kremlin Critic Navalny

It also comes the same day that Gazprom-Media, the media arm of state-controlled natural-gas giant Gazprom, acquired a 100 percent stake in Russian video-streaming service Rutube.

Gazprom-Media is Russia's largest media company, with holdings including several leading television channels, radio stations, and print media.

Roskomnadzor's chief, Aleksandr Zharov, said work was under way to make Rutube as "convenient" as YouTube.

On December 23, the State Duma approved in a final reading a bill that would allow Roskomnadzor to block websites that "discriminate against Russian media."

Roskomnadzor would be allowed to partially or fully restrict or slow access to websites found in violation of the law.

The bill is seen affecting major social media such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

Russia's Investigative Committee has launched a criminal case against Aleksei Navalny, accusing the Kremlin critic of stealing hundreds of millions of rubles donated to his anti-corruption organization.

The criminal case now raises questions as to whether Navalny, who is recuperating in Germany following his poisoning in August with a military-grade nerve agent, will return to Russia, where he could face a lengthy prison term if convicted.

Navalny dismissed the latest charges as the government's revenge against him for surviving the poisoning and then exposing those who were behind it. The activist has called the poisoning an assassination attempt by the state's security services.

"I immediately said: they will try to jail me for not dying and then looking for my killers. For proving that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is personally behind everything. He is a thief, ready to kill those who refuse to keep quiet about his theft," Navalny said in a tweet on December 29 shortly after the launch of the case.

Navalny has become a thorn in the Kremlin's side over the years with his detailed investigations into corruption at the highest levels of government and has been jailed for short periods of time on several occasions.

His investigative videos -- which often take him abroad to film the rich lifestyle of Russian officials -- receive millions of views each time they are uploaded online and have helped sour the public on the government and the ruling party, United Russia.

The launch of a criminal case against Navalny comes amid an intensifying clampdown in recent years on the Kremlin opposition as the Russian economy struggles to grow and public frustration mounts over declining living standards.

Russia holds key parliamentary elections next year after what is likely to be the country's worst economic performance in more than a decade. Navalny is seeking to weaken United Russia's hold by urging his supports to vote for other candidates.

The Investigative Committee said in a post on December 29 that a series of nonprofit organizations run by Navalny, including the Anti-Corruption Foundation, raised a total of 588 million rubles ($7.94 million) from citizens.

Investigators claim he spent 356 million rubles ($4.81 million) acquiring personal items and vacationing abroad. They did not say what those items were, whether they were used to carry out his work, nor whether the alleged vacations coincided with the destinations he filmed.

Navalny later tweeted a link to his foundation's donation page, telling his supporters that "the best way to laugh" at the new criminal case "invented" by the authorities was to finance his work.