The United Nations has urged Iran to halt the "imminent" execution of a member of the Baluch ethnic minority as it rebuked Tehran for a number of recent hangings, including members of the country’s ethnic minorities.

“We urge the authorities to halt the execution of Javid Dehghan, to review his and other death penalty cases in line with human rights law,” the Geneva-based Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Twitter on January 29.

"We strongly condemn the series of executions -- at least 28 -- since mid-December, including of people from minority groups," the UN added.

The UN said Dehghan had been sentenced to death in 2017 for “taking up arms to take lives or property and to create fear."

Amnesty International said on January 28 that Dehghan, 31, is scheduled to be executed on January 31.

The London-based rights group said Dehghan was sentenced to death in connection with his alleged membership in the extremist group Jaish Al-Adl (Army of Justice) and his alleged role in an ambush that killed two members of Iran’ Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Jaish Al-Adl has reportedly carried out several high-profile bombings and abductions in Iran in recent years.

Amnesty said his trial was "grossly unfair" with the court relying on "torture-tainted confessions" and ignoring abuses committed during the investigation.

"Amnesty International urges the Iranian authorities not to compound the shocking catalogue of human rights violations already committed against Javid Dehghan by carrying out his execution," the rights group said.

Activists outside Iran have in past weeks expressed concern over the numbers of ethnic Baluchi being executed or facing capital punishment in Iran.

Abdollah Aref, the director of the Europe-based Campaign of Baluch Activists, told the BBC earlier this week that in the past two months his group has documented the execution of 16 members of the Baluch minority.

SEE ALSO:

Activists Say Sunni Mosque Foundations Demolished In Iran 'To Pressure' Sunnis

The UN said Iran has launched a crackdown on minorities since mid-December.

"This has included a series of executions of members of ethnic and religious minority groups -- in particular Kurdish, Ahwazi Arab, and Baluch communities," OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said.

Iran is one of the world's leading executioners.

With reporting by AFP

ASHGABAT -- The Turkmen national currency, the manat, has lost some 10 percent of its value on the black market as citizens scramble to buy what little foreign currency is available.

RFE/RL correspondents reported on January 29 that the currency was trading at about 32 manats to the dollar on the black market, compared with 27-28 manats a week earlier.

Sources close to financial institutions told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity that the situation was likely caused by a decrease in remittances sent by Turkmen migrant workers from Turkey to their families, exacerbating an already existing shortage of foreign currency.

The central bank established an official rate of 3.5 manats per dollar in 2015 and has not changed it since, while all currency exchange in cash has been banned since January 2016.

Officials at several local municipalities and the central bank did not respond to RFE/RL requests to comment on the situation.

The shortage began last March when the government tightened control over foreign currency after China, the main buyer of the country's natural gas, slashed imports and global energy prices plunged.

At the time, the central bank ordered banks to pay salaries of employees of foreign companies, organizations, and entities operating in the country, only in the Turkmen national currency.

Turkmenistan's tightly controlled economy has been struggling for some time, with government revenues depleted partly due to unsuccessful energy deals and low global prices for natural gas, the Central Asian country's main export.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill approving the extension of the New START nuclear arms-control treaty.

The lower house of parliament, the State Duma, voted unanimously on January 27 to extend the New START for five years. It was then approved quickly in the upper house of parliament, the Federation Council.

The pact, signed in 2010, was set to expire on February 5.

New START, the last remaining arms-control pact between Washington and Moscow, limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads at 1,550, deployed strategic delivery systems at 700, and provides for a verification regime.

In a statement on January 29, the Kremlin said the extension of the treaty "allows to preserve the transparency and predictability of strategic relations between Russia and the United States.”

On January 27, Putin hailed the extension of the treaty as a positive development in reducing global tensions, saying “no doubt it is a step in the right direction."

Former President Donald Trump's administration made a late attempt to negotiate limits on other categories of nuclear weapons and add China to the treaty, stalling negotiations. A bid to agree to a shorter extension also ran into complications, leaving the fate of the treaty to the incoming administration of President Joe Biden.

Biden had long advocated for extending the treaty even if it could not be strengthened and expanded. Biden and Putin confirmed an agreement on the extension during a January 26 phone call -- their first direct communication since Biden took office six days earlier.

Speaking on January 29, U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan said there is still more to do on arms control with Russia, including its latest weapons that are not covered by the agreement.

The deal “is not the end of the story, it is the beginning of the story on what is going to have to be serious sustained negotiations around a whole set of nuclear challenges and threats that fall outside of the New START agreement, as well as other emerging security challenges as well,” Sullivan said at a virtual conference organized by the U.S. Institute for Peace.

Extending the treaty to allow time for Moscow and Washington to negotiate a new verifiable arms-control arrangement will be welcomed by the United States’ European allies, which were already concerned after Trump withdrew from two other arms-control pacts.

With reporting by AP and AFP

A court in Russia has ordered Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny's brother, Oleg, to be held in pretrial detention until March 23.

The Tverskoi district court announced the ruling on January 29, a day after Oleg Navalny had been arrested by police on a charge of breaking coronavirus restrictions.

"A preventive measure was chosen in a criminal case on violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules (Article 236 of the Criminal Code), which was brought after the actions on January 23," when mass rallies in support of Aleksei Navalny were held, the court said in its ruling.

Lawmakers in Ukraine's parliament have overwhelmingly voted to ban the approval of vaccines made in Russia.

At the same time, the parliament on January 29 eased the process for registering vaccines from the United States, the European Union, China, India, and Mexico.

Ukraine has so far not started vaccinating its citizens.

The government has said it expects to receive 100,000 to 200,000 doses of the vaccine made by Pfizer Inc and Germany's BioNTech under the global COVAX initiative in February.

Authorities have repeatedly said Kyiv will not approve or use vaccines from Russia, with which the country’s ties are strained over the illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea in 2014 and its ongoing support to separatists in eastern Ukraine. The conflict has killed more than 14,000 people.

"One political force just created some hysteria over the registration of the Russian vaccine," Ukraine's Health Minister Maksym Stepanov told a televised briefing.

"I'll say this once: You can be hysterical for a very long time, no one will register the Russian vaccine in the country."

The Health Ministry has recorded a steady decline in new infections, deaths, and hospitalizations in recent weeks.

More than 1.2 million coronavirus cases have been recorded since last March. More than 22,000 people have died from the virus.

Based on reporting by dpa and Reuters

SHYMKENT, Kazakhstan -- A court in Kazakhstan’s southern city of Shymkent has returned to investigators the case of a series of deadly ammunition warehouse blasts in 2019 citing "irregularities."

Ghani Oteuliev, a spokesman for the Shymkent Garrison military court, told RFE/RL on January 29 that the decision was made due to "inconsistencies found in the materials of the case and some facts proving that more individuals must be held accountable for the incident."

Sixteen Kazakh military officers and Defense Ministry officials went on trial in June 2020 over blasts which claimed four lives and injured dozens of residents in the town of Arys, 67 kilometers west of Shymkent, the third-largest city in the Central Asian nation.

The charges against the defendants include negligence and violating safety regulations while storing arms and ammunition.

Some 35,000 residents of the town fled their homes for Shymkent and nearby towns, returning days later after authorities lifted a state of emergency.

Kazakh officials said that 85 percent of the town's buildings, mainly private houses, had been damaged by heavy smoke, shock waves, and flying debris from the blasts.

The government has promised to rebuild the houses, but many residents have complained that the rebuilding efforts have been too slow.

After the blasts, hundreds of people rallied in Shymkent and blocked a major road demanding to be relocated permanently because they were afraid to go back as the June blasts were just the latest in a series of explosions to hit the depot since 2009.

ATYRAU, Kazakhstan -- A court in Kazakhstan has upheld a three-year parole restriction on Kazakh activist Maks Boqaev upon his expected release from prison on February 4.

The Atyrau City Court in the country's west on January 29 rejected Boqaev's appeal, saying "the hearing did not find grounds to consider that Maks Boqaev's rights and interests had been violated by the lower court's decision."

Boqaev disputed the lower court's January 22 decision to impose restrictions on him after his release next week, calling the move politically motivated.

The 48-year-old activist was arrested and sentenced to five years on extremism charges in 2016 after he organized unsanctioned protests against land reform in Atyrau.

The United States, European Union, and the United Nations have urged Kazakh authorities to release Boqaev.

Human rights organizations in Kazakhstan have recognized Boqaev as a political prisoner. Kazakhstan's government has insisted that there are no political prisoners in the country.

AQTOBE, Kazakhstan -- More than 60 oil workers have gone on strike in Kazakhstan's northwestern region of Aqtobe as they seek a salary increase.

The workers of the AMK-Munai company's Bashenkol field walked out on January 29 saying that their monthly salaries of about $160 should be doubled as they currently fail to allow them to provide for their families.

One of the strikers told RFE/RL that the workers have been demanding a salary increase since March last year, but nothing has been done.

"The management kept saying that salaries had been defined in individual work contracts and did nothing. That is why we decided to start the strike," the worker said.

AMK-Munai Director Erzhan Qoldasov confirmed to RFE/RL that workers have made demands but said that the operations at the oil field were not disrupted.

"We will discuss the issue. We will meet with them,” Qoldasov said.

Five days earlier, dozens of oil workers at the nearby Kokzhide oil field also started a strike based on the same demands.

Strikes by oil workers are a sensitive topic in the oil-rich Central Asian nation after police used firearms and killed at least 16 people while dispersing protesting oil workers in the southwestern town of Zhanaozen in December 2011.

BUDAPEST -- Hungary has become the first EU member to give initial approval to the Chinese-made Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine, with Prime Minister Viktor Orban saying he would personally choose to be inoculated with the jab because he trusts it the most.

"Today the National Institute of Pharmacy and Nutrition gave its approval for the Sinopharm vaccine," Chief Medical Officer Cecilia Muller announced on January 29, a day after a government decree allowing any vaccine that had been administered to at least 1 million people anywhere in the world to be used in Hungary.

EU-member Hungary also broke ranks with the bloc last week by issuing a provisional license to Russia's Sputnik V vaccine and ordering doses to treat 1 million people over the next three months.

“So after Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and the Russian Sputnik vaccine, we can also count on the Sinopharm shot," Muller told a briefing.

Earlier on January 29, Orban told state media a deal to purchase the Chinese vaccine could be concluded "today or tomorrow” and that the first shipment to Hungary could comprise up to 1 million doses.

"The Chinese have known this virus for the longest, and I'll presume that they probably know the most about it. So I'll wait my turn, and if I can choose, I'll ask for the Chinese vaccine," the prime minister said.

Orban, who has been critical of the EU’s vaccine procurement program, said that Serbia provided the “most inspiring example.” The neighboring, non-EU country this month became the first European country to start a mass inoculation program with Sinopharm’s vaccine.

More than 360,000 coronavirus infections have been reported in Hungary and over 12,000 people have died of COVID-19. More than 3,600 people are still in hospital, straining the country’s health-care system.

The government on January 28 extended a state of emergency for 90 days and partial lockdown measures until March 1. The measures include a night curfew, a ban on gatherings, mandatory mask-wearing in public, and online tuition for high schools and universities.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and AP

BISHKEK -- Former Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov, who resigned in October amid anti-government rallies protesting the results of parliamentary elections, has been summoned as a witness in the corruption case of former Deputy Prime Minister Duishenbek Zilaliev.

Zilaliev's lawyer, Taalaigul Toktakunova, told RFE/RL on January 29 that Jeenbekov was initially ordered to come to the Bishkek City Court on January 28, which he did not do, as he was attending the inauguration of his successor, Sadyr Japarov, that day.

According to Toktakunova, the court now wants Jeenbekov to testify at a hearing into her client's appeal on February 3.

Zilaliev was arrested in late 2018 and sentenced to nine years in prison in October 2020 after he was found guilty of illegal enrichment. Investigators have said that they found $1 million in cash in Zilaliev's safety deposit box in a Bishkek bank.

"Zilaliev told investigators that the cash was not his but belonged to Jeenbekov's election campaign before he was elected as president in December 2017. Because Jeenbekov was the president at the time, he was not questioned. Now, because he is an ordinary citizen, he can be summoned," Toktakunova said.

Neither Jeenbekov nor his lawyers have commented on the allegations.

DUSHANBE -- Tajik journalist Daler Sharifov, who was sentenced to one year in prison in a case media watchdogs labelled "absurd," has been released after serving his time.

Sharifov's relatives told RFE/RL that the independent journalist was released on January 29 and was currently with his family in his native city of Vahdat.

Sharifov, who writes about domestic politics and religious issues, was sentenced in April 2020.

He was arrested on January 28, 2020, on charges of inciting ethnic, racial, and religious hatred and spreading "propaganda" on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Prosecutor-General's Office said at the time that the case was based on "more than 200 articles and commentaries containing extremist content" aimed at "inciting religious intolerance" that had been published on social media between 2013 and 2019.

The charges centered on a dissertation Sharifov published in 2019 which examined Islamic theology and included quotes from Muslim Brotherhood leaders.

Similar to several authoritarian countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Tajikistan considers the Muslim Brotherhood an extremist organization and banned it in 2006.

Sharifov's relatives, human rights organizations, and media-freedom groups rejected the accusations against the journalist as unfounded and demanded his release.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists called the incitement charges "absurd," stressing that Sharifov's arrest was aimed at silencing a critical journalist ahead of parliamentary elections in March 2020 that were won, as expected, by President Emomali Rahmon's ruling party.

Writing for the independent news website Ozodagon from 2013 until its closure in 2019 following "years of harassment," Sharifov often commented on violations of human rights and religious freedoms, according to RSF.

Nine years ago, the journalist spent several days in the hospital after being assaulted in a still-unsolved attack.

MINSK -- Lawyers for Viktar Babaryka, a Belarusian banker once seen as a potential challenger to Alyaksandr Lukashenka but who was prevented from running in the presidential election and jailed on corruption charges, say his case will be heard directly by the country's Supreme Court, a move that takes away any chance of appeal.

"Viktar Babaryka's right to appeal his verdict has been rejected," lawyer Dzmitry Layeuski, a member of Babaryka's legal team, wrote on Facebook on January 28.

After he expressed his intention to run for president, the former Belgazprombank chief was arrested in June along with his son Eduard and charged with money laundering, bribery, and tax evasion. Babaryka and his son have rejected the charges as politically motivated.

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.

Lukashenka went on to be declared the victor of the August 9 election, but opposition and public outrage over what they saw as a rigged vote has sparked continuing protests, bringing tens of thousands onto the streets with demands that the authoritarian step down with new elections be held.

Security officials have cracked down hard on the demonstrators, arresting thousands and pushing most top opposition figures out of the country.

Several protesters have been killed in the violence and some rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used against some of those detained.

Lukashenka, who has run the country since 1994, has denied any wrongdoing and refuses to negotiate with the opposition on stepping down or holding new elections.

The European Union, United States, Canada, and other countries have refused to recognize Lukashenka, 66, as the legitimate leader of Belarus and have slapped him and senior Belarusian officials with sanctions in response to the "falsification" of the vote and postelection crackdown.

Veteran diplomat Robert Malley will serve as the U.S. special envoy for Iran, White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed on January 29.

U.S. officials had said on January 28 that Secretary of State Antony Blinken will name Malley, a top national-security aide to former President Barack Obama, as the administration’s point person on Iran.

Malley was a key member of Obama's team that negotiated a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, an agreement that Trump abandoned in 2018, arguing that the 2015 accord did not go far enough.

The Trump administration also imposed crippling sanctions on Iran as part a "maximum pressure" campaign aimed at forcing Tehran to negotiate a new agreement that would also address the country's missile programs and its support for regional proxies.

In response, Iran has gradually breached parts of the pact, saying it is no longer bound by it, despite international calls for Tehran to return to full compliance.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said Malley is building “a dedicated team” of “clear-eyed experts with a diversity of views.”

"Leading that team as our special envoy for Iran will be Rob Malley, who brings to the position a track record of success negotiating constraints on Iran's nuclear program. The secretary is confident he and his team will be able to do that once again," Price said.

Earlier this week, Blinken said the Biden administration was willing to return to commitments under nuclear agreement if Iran returned to "full compliance."

"Then we would use that as a platform to build, with our allies and partners, what we call a longer and stronger agreement and to deal with a number of other issues that are deeply problematic in the relationship with Iran," Blinken said on January 27, adding, "But we are a long ways from that point."

Jake Sullivan, the White House national-security adviser, on January 29 told a Washington-based think tank it was a critical early priority for President Biden to deal with what he called an escalating nuclear crisis with Iran as Tehran gets closer to having enough fissile material for an atomic bomb.

"From our perspective, a critical early priority has to be to deal with what is an escalating nuclear crisis as [Iran] moves closer and closer to having enough fissile material for a weapon," Sullivan told an online program sponsored by the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Iranian officials insist that the United States should make the first move by returning to the nuclear pact, which eased international sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran's disputed nuclear program.

They also say the country's missile program and regional policies are off the table.

Speaking at a news conference during a visit to Istanbul, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the demand that Tehran reverse an acceleration of its nuclear program before Washington lifts sanctions "is not practical and will not happen."

Iran denies pursuing atomic weapons, saying its nuclear program is for civilian purposes.

After Malley's name first surfaced in news reports as a leading candidate for the post, a number of foreign-policy veterans praised him as a respected, even-handed diplomat.

However, he has also drawn criticism from Iran hawks and pro-Israel groups that expressed concern that he would be soft on mainly Shi'ite Muslim Iran and may be willing to sacrifice the security of Israel and Sunni-ruled Arab states in the Persian Gulf to do so.

Malley who served as the president and CEO of the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit organization focused on global conflict, announced on January 29 that he is stepping down to be the new special envoy.

He has held numerous senior positions in the Democratic administrations of Obama, in which Biden served as vice president, and Bill Clinton with a focus on Middle East and Persian Gulf policy making.

With reporting by Reuters and AP

BUCHAREST -- Romanian officials say at least five people have died after a fire broke out in a Bucharest hospital where COVID-19 patients were being treated, the second deadly hospital fire in the country in less than three months.

Raed Arafat, state secretary of the Interior Ministry, said on January 29 that three patients were found dead at the Matei Bals hospital and a fourth died despite attempts at resuscitation.

The body of a fifth victim was later found in one of the bathrooms, Interior Minister Lucian Bode announced in an update of the total on January 29.

Bode earlier said that 60 people were transferred to other buildings of the Matei Bals Institute and another 44 to other hospitals in the capital.

Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu said none of the evacuated patients had burns.

The blaze, which has since been extinguished, broke out on the ground floor in one of the buildings of the hospital at around 5 a.m.

According to firefighters, there were about 200 people in the building at the time of the fire, whose cause was not yet known.

Matei Bals is one of the largest and most used hospitals treating COVID-19 patients in Romania.

The building where the blaze broke out was built in 1953 and had been completely renovated, according to Streinu Cercel, general manager of the National Institute for Infectious Diseases.

He said the patients there had medium to serious COVID-19 infections and most were using oxygen.

A criminal case was opened into the tragedy, which comes after 10 people suffering from COVID-19 died in a fire in an intensive-care unit of a hospital in the northeastern town of Piatra Neamt in November.

The Health Ministry has suggested the fire could have been caused by an electrical short circuit.

Romania, one of the poorest countries in the European Union, is trying to manage the coronavirus pandemic with a dilapidated and understaffed health-care system.

The country of 19 million has reported more than 721,000 coronavirus infections and over 18,100 deaths.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

The U.S. Navy has sent a third warship into the Black Sea as it steps up its presence in the strategic region.

The destroyer USS Porter entered the Black Sea on a routine patrol on January 28, joining destroyer USS Donald Cook and replenishment oiler USNS Laramie, the U.S. Navy said in a statement.

It is the largest U.S. Navy presence in the Black Sea in three years, according to Breaking Defense, and comes days after President Joe Biden spoke for the first time with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Porter's entrance demonstrates "our continued commitment to security and stability in the region with our NATO allies and partners," Commander Thomas Ralston said in the statement.

The Black Sea has taken on greater strategic importance for the United States and NATO after Russia illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, giving Moscow a larger presence in the region.

NATO allies Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria border the Black Sea as do Ukraine and Georgia, which have both expressed interest in joining the Western military alliance.

Russia quickly responded to the increased U.S. presence in the Black Sea, activating its mobile coastal-defense anti-ship system in Crimea.

Russian police have issued a strong warning against participating in protests that opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has called for on January 31.

Moscow police have announced plans to restrict movement in the capital and close seven central metro stations in preparation for “unauthorized” demonstrations. Businesses, restaurants, and cafes in the areas near the protest zones will also be shut.

The protests are planned in Lubyanka Square outside the headquarters of the FSB security agency and Staraya Square, where the presidential administration has its offices.

SEE ALSO:

The Week In Russia: Trolleybuses, Trams, And Other Threats

Russian Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk cited the coronavirus pandemic on January 30 in warning against protests. Participants found in violation of regulations to control the spread of the virus could face criminal charges, she said.

The latest move against Navalny's associates on January 29 came as Moscow police announced plans to restrict movement in the capital and close seven central metro stations in preparation for "unauthorized" demonstrations "punishable by law."

Demonstrations in dozens of cities on January 23 brought out tens of thousands of people calling for the opposition leader's release. Police detained almost 4,000 people in the demonstrations.

On January 29, a Moscow court placed Oleg Navalny, Aleksei's brother, Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), and Oleg Stepanov, the coordinator of Navalny's Moscow headquarters, under house arrest until March 23.

A member of the Pussy Riot protest group, Maria Alyokhina, and the head of the Alliance of Doctors trade union, Anastasia Vaislyeva, were also ordered under house arrest for two months.

All were detained and charged with violating restrictions in place due to the coronavirus pandemic by calling for mass protests.

On January 30 the editor in chief of Mediazona, Sergei Smirnov, was detained in Moscow. Police officers were waiting for him outside his home when he went out for a walk with his son, according to RFE/RL’s Russian Service. Smirnov was charged with violating the law on rallies.

Another journalist, Yekaterina Lushnikova of RFE/RL's Idel Realities (Idel.Realii), found a summons for at her flat door on January 30 and phoned police to ask about it. She was told that the police want to conduct a "preventive talk" and hand over a "warning about a mass event."

In another move, the Investigative Committee announced on January 29 that it had charged in absentia Navalny's close associate, Leonid Volkov, with calling on teenagers to take part in the "unlawful" rallies organized by Navalny's supporters.

Embed share

Navalny: 'We Will Never Allow Our Country To Be Stolen From Us'

Embed share

The code has been copied to your clipboard.

---

width px height px

---

The URL has been copied to your clipboard

No media source currently available

0:00 0:01:33 0:00

In a letter posted on his website on January 28 after a court rejected an appeal against his detention until February 15, Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most outspoken critic, called on Russians to cast aside fear and stage fresh protests.

"Come on out, don't be afraid of anything. Nobody wants to live in a country where tyranny and corruption reign. The majority is on our side," Navalny said.

Navalny was arrested on January 17 upon returning to Russia from Germany, where he had been recovering from a near-fatal poisoning by a military-grade nerve agent in August, which he accuses Putin of ordering, a claim the Kremlin denies.

A Russian court on January 28 confirmed his 30-day pretrial sentence, rejecting an appeal by the dissident's lawyers to set him free.

A hearing set to begin on February 2 will determine whether an earlier suspended sentence will be converted into 3 1/2 years in prison in relation to an embezzlement case that is widely considered trumped up and politically motivated. Prosecutors are alleging he violated the terms of his probation while receiving treatment in Germany.

Embed share

Navalny Supporter Defiantly Plays Piano As Russian Police Raid Her Home

Embed share

The code has been copied to your clipboard.

---

width px height px

---

The URL has been copied to your clipboard

No media source currently available

0:00 0:01:40 0:00

Navalny’s poisoning and detention have led to a groundswell of condemnation in Russia and abroad, with the EU among others warning of further sanctions if the opposition leader isn’t freed.

Russian anger has been propelled by the findings of a two-hour film made by Navalny alleging Putin owns an opulent $1.36 billion palace on the Black Sea.

Embed share

Pole Dancing And Fancy Toilet Brushes: Millions Watch Navalny Video On Alleged 'Putin Palace'

Embed share

The code has been copied to your clipboard.

---

width px height px

---

The URL has been copied to your clipboard

No media source currently available

0:00 0:04:06 0:00

The U.S. ambassador to Russia commented on the protests in an interview with the TV channel Dozhd broadcast on January 30.

John Sullivan said that Washington and Moscow have differences on all issues related to the poisoning of Navalny and his arrest after returning from Germany.

The new U.S. administration has said sanctions against Russia could be tightened over Moscow’s treatment of Navalny and the opposition.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, Current Time, and RFE/RL's Russian Service.

Armenian police have arrested at least 21 people during protests calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian over his handling of a six-week war with Azerbaijan.

Several thousand demonstrators rallied outside the government's headquarters in the capital Yerevan on January 28, with some clashing with police.

Pashinian has refused calls to step down but raised the possibility of holding early parliamentary elections.

Pashinian, who was swept to power amid nationwide protests in 2018, has come under fire since agreeing to a Moscow-brokered deal with Azerbaijan that took effect on November 10, 2020, ending six weeks of fierce fighting in and around the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh that saw ethnic Armenian forces suffer battlefield defeat.

A coalition uniting 16 opposition parties has been holding anti-government demonstrations in Yerevan and other parts of the country in a bid to force Pashinian to hand over power to an interim government.

Despite facing a united opposition front, Pashinian’s My Step bloc maintains an overwhelming majority in parliament.

Under the Moscow-brokered cease-fire, a chunk of Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani administration after almost 30 years of control by Armenians.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but the ethnic Armenians who make up most of the region's population reject Azerbaijani rule.

They had been governing their own affairs, with support from Armenia, since Azerbaijan's troops and Azeri civilians were pushed out of the region and seven adjacent districts in a war that ended in a cease-fire in 1994.

Based on reporting by AP and TASS

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, will reimpose coronavirus restrictions from February 1 for an indefinite period.

Almaty's sanitary inspector-general Zhandarbek Bekshin issued the order on January 28, according to which the restrictions will be imposed due to a "worsening of the sanitary and epidemiological situation" in the city of nearly 2 million people.

According to the decision, the activities of theaters and cinemas, which were allowed to partially resume in October 2020, will be suspended again as of the first of next month.

Shopping malls will operate only from Monday to Friday between the hours of 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Grocery stores and pharmacies will continue operations as usual, but only 30 percent of their premises will be allowed to be occupied by customers at any one time.

Marketplaces located inside buildings will be open until 5 p.m. on regular business days and closed on weekends. Open-air marketplaces will follow the same regulations but be allowed to operate on Saturdays as well.

Sport tournaments, exhibitions, conferences, family celebrations, or mass religious rituals will be banned.

Individuals with any form of coronavirus will be hospitalized. Restaurants, cafeterias, and cafes will be allowed to be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. only.

Restaurants inside shopping malls will be allowed to sell products to go only between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Public saunas, spas, and swimming pools will not operate on weekends, but will be allowed to open between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. on other days.

Mail services will be provided between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

As of January 28, the number of registered coronavirus cases in the Central Asian nation was 182,530, including 2,476 deaths.

In the last two weeks, the spread of infections across the country has been on rise, reaching 1,500 new cases daily, according to health officials.

DUSHANBE -- Tajik opposition politician Mahmurod Odinaev has been sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges of hooliganism and "calling for extremism."

The Rudaki district court in Dushanbe convicted and sentenced Odinaev, a deputy head of the Social Democratic Party, on January 28.

Odinaev's son Habibulllo Rizoev was also convicted of hooliganism and fined 58,000 somonis (more than $5,000). Both men pleaded not guilty during the trial, which started on January 25.

Mahmurod Odinaev went missing on November 20 after he asked Dushanbe Mayor Rustam Emomali in a Facebook post to allow him and supporters of the Social Democratic Party -- the only opposition party functioning in Tajikistan -- to stage a demonstration over food-price hikes.

On December 5, the Tajik Prosecutor-General's Office acknowledged that Odinaev had been arrested in Dushanbe.

According to the authorities, he allegedly conducted an act of hooliganism in late October in a military draft office where prosecutors say he confronted officials over the conscription of Rizoev.

That came after the Interior Ministry said in November that another son, Shaikhmuslihiddin Rizoev, was charged with hooliganism over his alleged involvement in a brawl.

Odinaev said that unknown attackers had severely beaten his son as part of a pressure campaign imposed on him for his political activities.

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, who has tightly ruled the former Soviet republic since 1992, has been criticized for cracking down on opposition political groups, rights defenders, and independent journalists.

Ukraine has launched a criminal investigation into attempts to interfere in the November 2020 U.S. presidential election.

Andriy Yermak, the head of the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on January 28 that Ukraine would do everything in its power to bring to justice forces within the country and outside it who attempted to damage relations between Ukraine and the United States.

"The State Bureau of Investigation has opened a criminal case," Yermak was quoted as saying in an interview to the Ukrainian news outlet NV that was posted on the presidential website.

"The investigation is under way, and we are waiting for its results. The investigation must answer a lot of questions,” Yermak added.

The U.S. Treasury Department on January 11 imposed sanctions on several Ukrainian individuals and entities, accusing them of U.S. election interference and associating with a pro-Russian Ukrainian lawmaker linked to efforts by then President Donald Trump's allies to find compromising information on President Joe Biden and his son.

Trump’s request to Zelenskiy during a July 2019 call led the House of Representatives to charge him with two crimes. Trump was eventually acquitted by the Senate in early 2020, but the case damaged his administration’s relationship with Kyiv.

Among those blacklisted was Oleksandr Dubinskiy, from Zelenskiy's ruling Servant of the People party.

Dubinsky denied interfering in the election. Servant of the People may vote to expel Dubinskiy from its parliamentary faction.

President Biden, who oversaw Ukraine policy while serving as vice president from 2009 to 2017, including traveling to Kyiv six times during that period, has yet to speak with Zelenskiy since taking office on January 20.

With reporting by Reuters

KOKSHETAU, Kazakhstan -- A court in northern Kazakhstan has sentenced an opposition activist to jail and fined two other people for allegedly taking part in an unsanctioned rally.

The administrative court in the city of Kokshetau on January 28 handed a 12-day jail sentence to Aslan Qurmanbaev.

Another activist, Marat Zhanuzaqov, and a local resident, Gaukhar Shakenova, were both fined 87,500 tenges ($205).

The case stems from an unsanctioned rally held in Kokshetau's central square on January 25 by hundreds of people angered by what they called the government’s poor results in the fights against corruption and the coronavirus pandemic.

All three defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Shakenova said she did not participate in the rally but was just a passerby.

Kokshetau is a remote city of 146,000 people located 300 kilometers northwest of Kazakhstan’s capital, Nur-Sultan.

Human rights groups have said Kazakhstan’s law on public gatherings contradicts international standards as it requires preliminary permission from authorities to hold rallies and envisions prosecution for organizing and participating in unsanctioned rallies even though the nation’s constitution guarantees its citizens the right of free assembly.

BISHKEK -- A court in Bishkek says it has rejected a request to transfer jailed former Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev to house arrest.

The 64-year-old Atambaev was sentenced to 11 years and two months in prison in June 2020 over his involvement in the release of a notorious crime boss.

In November, the Supreme Court sent the case back to a Bishkek district court for retrial. The reason for the decision was not immediately given.

Atambaev has denied any wrongdoing.

In early October, he was released from custody as the country was rocked by mass protests against the official results of parliamentary elections. He was rearrested four days later and charged with organizing an illegal demonstration.

Atambaev was initially arrested in August 2019 after he surrendered to police following a deadly two-day standoff between security forces and his supporters that led to the death of a top security officer and more than 170 injured.

The former president and 13 other people were charged with murder, attempted murder, threatening or assaulting representatives of the authorities, hostage taking, and the forcible seizure of power.

A trial on those charges is yet to be held.

YEREVAN -- Former Armenian President Robert Kocharian, currently on trial on charges stemming from his alleged role in a 2008 crackdown on the opposition, says he will participate in early parliamentary elections if they are called.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has come under heavy public criticism and pressure to step down after signing a cease-fire accord with Azerbaijan that ceded control over parts of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven adjacent districts after a 44-day war.

In a half-hour interview with Armenia's leading media outlets on January 27, Kocharian said Pashinian and his government should resign to allow a provisional government to take over the country until early elections can be held.

"I will take part in the early elections with my team and we will win.... Otherwise we will allow [Pashinian's government] to remain in power," Kocharian said.

Opposition politicians have demanded Pashinian's resignation over his signing of the Moscow-brokered truce agreement with Azerbaijan to stop the war in November that ended with Baku regaining control over land that had been under ethnic Armenian control since the early 1990s.

Kocharian, who served as the South Caucasus country's president from 1998 to 2008, is currently on trial on charges stemming from his alleged role in a 2008 postelection crackdown on the opposition, as well as on suspicion of taking bribes.

He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the charges, which he rejects as politically motivated.

Kocharian was released from pretrial detention on bail in June 2020.

Before that, since being arrested in July 2018, Kocharian was released twice by court decisions, but in both cases he was rearrested following appeals by the prosecutors.

The 66-year-old native of the Nagorno-Karabakh region was one of the leaders of separatist forces and became its first de facto president between December 1994 and March 1997.

Iran's parliament speaker says the country has produced 17 kilograms of 20 percent-enriched uranium within a month, as Iranian officials continue to dismiss international calls for Tehran to return to full compliance with the 2015 nuclear agreement.

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf made the announcement during a visit to the Fordow nuclear plant on January 28.

In separate comments, the spokesman of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Behruz Kalamvandi, confirmed Qalibaf’s estimate, saying there are currently 17 kilograms of enriched uranium stockpiles with a 20 percent purity in the country.

Iran, which denies pursuing nuclear weapons, saying its nuclear program is strictly for civilian purposes, has vowed to produce 120 kilograms of uranium enriched to 20 percent per year, or 10 kilograms per month on average.

About 250 kilograms of 20 percent-enriched uranium are needed to convert it into 25 kilograms of the 90 percent-enriched needed for a nuclear weapon.

Western countries have called on Tehran to adhere to the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, from which the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018.

In response to the U.S. pullout and crippling sanctions, Iran has gradually breached parts of the pact, which eased international sanctions in exchange for curbs on its disputed nuclear program, saying it is no longer bound by it.

On January 27, newly installed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the administration of President Joe Biden was willing to return to commitments under the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but only if Iran returned to full compliance.

In response, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reiterated Tehran's view that the United States should first lift its sanctions.

"Reality check for @SecBlinken," Zarif tweeted, saying the United States "violated" the accord by imposing sanctions on Iran that "blocked food/medicine to Iranians," among other grievances.

Zarif argued that Iran had "abided by the JCPOA" and only took "foreseen remedial measures” to the U.S. moves.

"Now, who should take 1st step?” he asked.

With reporting by AP, dpa, and AFP