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- By RFE/RL
Russian Gas Begins Filling Nord Stream 2 Pipeline To Germany
The operator of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 has begun filling the controversial Baltic Sea pipeline to Germany with gas.
Nord Stream 2 AG, a Switzerland-based company owned by a subsidiary of Russian gas giant Gazprom, said in a statement on October 4 that the first string of the pipeline would be gradually filled to build inventory and pressure.
The latest step bringing the pipeline closer to operation comes as Europe faces dwindling natural gas reserves and soaring energy prices, threatening the continent’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic ahead of the winter heating season.
Nord Stream 2 AG did not provide a date for the pipeline to enter into service, saying only that it would publish more information about "further technical steps in due time.”
German media reported that gas could start flowing as soon as this month, but regulators are reviewing the final paperwork before giving it approval to start operation.
Regulators have until January to make a decision on whether Nord Stream 2 is an independent transport network in line with EU directives, public broadcaster MDR reported.
The Nord Stream 2 project is designed to carry Russian gas directly to Germany, bypassing land routes through Ukraine and depriving Kyiv of as much as $2 billion a year in transit fees.
When fully operational, the pipeline has capacity to carry 55 billion cubic meters of gas to European markets annually, or enough to supply 26 million households.
Ukraine has been lobbying to derail the project, warning Europe it could be used by Moscow to exert political and economic pressure.
The United States opposes Nord Stream 2, but President Joe Biden in May agreed to waive congressionally mandated sanctions on the pipeline to smooth out relations with Germany, which has backed the construction of the pipeline. Europe's largest economy receives 40 percent of its gas from Russia.
The U.S.-German agreement opened the door to the completion of the $11 billion pipeline last month.
"We continue to oppose this pipeline," U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on October 4. "We continue to believe it is a geopolitical project of the Russian Federation and we will continue to apply the law consistent with our periodic reviews which, of course, remain ongoing."
Under the May agreement with Germany, the Biden administration agreed to waive the mandatory sanctions in exchange for commitments from Berlin to invest in Ukraine’s energy industry and push the Kremlin to continue to export some gas through the country.
The agreement also stipulates that Russia be sanctioned should Nord Stream 2 be used to apply pressure.
With reporting by AFP, dpa, Reuters, and MDR
- By RFE/RL
Ambassadors Raise 'Grave Concerns' Over Alleged Spying In Georgia
A group of ambassadors representing the diplomatic corps accredited to Georgia has raised “grave concerns” about reported wiretapping by the South Caucasus country’s security services.
Last month, Georgia was hit by a scandal when thousands of alleged security-service files were leaked, seeming to document widescale and long-running state surveillance of journalists, clergymen, diplomats, and others.
In a joint statement on October 4 released after a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani, the diplomatic corps said the alleged wiretapping constitutes a “serious breach” of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and “compromises normal diplomatic work in Georgia.”
The meeting was attended by a representative group of ambassadors, composed of Holy Sea envoy Nuncio Jose Avelino Bettencourt, EU Ambassador Carl Hartzell, U.S. Ambassador Kelly Degnan, and Japanese Ambassador Imamura Akira.
Although the authenticity of the leaks from a whistle-blower has not been officially confirmed, they appeared to show the State Security Service eavesdropped on Hartzell, U.S. diplomats, Israel's ambassador, and other diplomatic missions in Tbilisi.
Many of the recordings focused on the Georgian Orthodox Church.
In response to the scandal, the Prosecutor's Office immediately launched an investigation into possible illegal eavesdropping and wiretapping, while State Security Service (SSG) head Grigol Liluashvili has rejected calls for his resignation.
In a statement after the meeting, Georgia’s Foreign Ministry said it reaffirmed the government’s interest in undercovering the truth about the leaked files.
“Zalkaliani provided the foreign diplomats with information on the fact-finding process undertaken by the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia to establish the authenticity and source of files disseminated by the media,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The statement pointed out that Georgia had appealed to the United States and other countries for legal assistance in the investigation.
Zalkaliani also reaffirmed Georgia’s commitment to its international obligations, including the Vienna Convention governing diplomatic relations.
The Foreign Ministry statement stands in contrast to the views of the ruling Georgian Dream party, which has denounced the scandal as a political provocation aimed at destabilizing society while seemingly justifying surveillance.
Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili has downplayed the spying allegations.
"As for the surveillance, it happens in every country, and our country is no exception," Gharibashvili said on September 27. "Yes, we conducted surveillance, but in accordance with the law and within the limits of the law."
Hartzell said last month that "the volume and nature" of the alleged eavesdropping appeared to go beyond the normal activities of security agencies in addressing potential threats.
- By RFE/RL
U.S. Calls On Iran To Release Ailing American For Urgent Medical Treatment
The United States has called on Iran to allow an elderly American detained in Iran for more than five years to travel to receive urgent medical care.
Former UNICEF representative Baquer Namazi, 84, requires surgery within days to clear up a severe blockage in the main artery that supplies blood to his brain, said his son Babak.
“We call on Iran to allow him to travel and recover from surgery with his family by his side, “U.S. envoy for Iran Robert Malley said on Twitter.
Earlier, Namazi’s son appealed for his father's immediate release in order to allow him to receive emergency and potentially life-saving surgery.
He was detained in 2016 when he traveled to Tehran to try to win the release of his other son, Siamak Namazi, a businessman arrested in Iran months earlier.
"My father has already lost so much precious time. I'm begging Iran to let him spend whatever small amount of time he has left with his family," Babak Namazi told reporters on October 4.
Both Baquer and Siamak Namazi were sentenced to 10 years in prison in Iran on what the United States and the UN say were trumped-up spying charges.
An Iranian court early last year commuted Baquer Namazi's sentence but his lawyers said authorities have refused to issue him an Iranian passport, which he needs to leave as Tehran does not recognize dual nationality. Siamak Namazi is still serving the sentence in Iran's notorious Evin prison.
In a letter to the UN special rapporteur on the right to health, lawyers for the family said Baquer Namazi's case was "dire and extremely urgent."
Jared Genser, a lawyer for the Namazis, said the family had appealed directly to members of President Joe Biden's administration to press Iran to let Namazi leave.
"The time for action is now. I call on President Biden to engage personally to make this happen," Genser said.
State Department spokesman Ned Price later told reporters the release of the Namazis and other Americans from Iran was a "top priority" for the Biden administration.
With reporting by AFP and AP
Supporters Of Georgian Ex-President Saakashvili Rally To Demand His Release From Prison
Supporters of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili rallied outside the prison in Rustavi where he is being held to demand his release. Saakashvili was sentenced to prison in absentia in 2018 for abuse of power during his presidency, but he has said the charges against him are politically motivated.
Kazakh Rights Commissioner Meets People Demanding Release Of Relatives From Chinese Custody
NUR-SULTAN -- Kazakhstan's human rights commissioner, Elvira Azimova, has held a rare meeting with a group of people whose relatives are being held in custody in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang and who have asked for the Central Asian country's government to help secure their release.
Azimova did not talk to the press after the meeting on October 4 in the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan, but one of the participants, Baibolat Kunbolatuly, told RFE/RL that the commissioner had promised to look into each case presented to her by the group.
Police in Nur-Sultan last week detained eight protesters, mostly women, who demanded the release of relatives from China's so-called reeducation camps in Xinjiang.
They were later fined for violating regulations on public gatherings.
The October 1 protest was the latest in a series of demonstrations in Kazakhstan linked to the mass detention of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other ethnic groups in the neighboring Chinese province of Xinjiang.
The latest protests started on September 20, with demonstrators traveling to Nur-Sultan from the country's commercial capital, Almaty, where groups had rallied for months in front of the Chinese Consulate.
Demonstrators have been demanding that Kazakh authorities do more to protect ethnic Kazakhs who have been caught up in the Chinese sweep.
The Kazakh government, however, has been wary of angering Beijing, which is a major investor in Kazakhstan and the whole of Central Asia.
As many as 2 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of Xinjiang's other indigenous, mostly Muslim, ethnic groups have been taken to detention centers in the western Chinese region, according to the U.S. State Department.
China denies that the facilities are internment camps but people who have fled the province say that thousands are undergoing "political indoctrination" at a network of facilities known officially as reeducation camps.
After Kazakhstan gained independence following the Soviet collapse in 1991, many ethnic Kazakhs from Xinjiang and elsewhere resettled in Kazakhstan, as part of a state program.
Many obtained permanent residence or citizenship but continue to visit Xinjiang either to see relatives or for bureaucratic reasons. Some have reportedly faced pressure from Chinese authorities or even arrests and imprisonment
Kazakhs are the second-largest Turkic-speaking indigenous community in Xinjiang after Uyghurs. The region is also home to ethnic Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Hui (aka Dungans).
China's largest ethnicity, the Han, is the second-largest ethnic group in Xinjiang.
- By RFE/RL
Israel Accuses Iran Of Cyprus Attack Plot After Alleged Hitman Arrested
The Israeli prime minister's office has accused Iran of orchestrating an attempted "act of terror” against Israeli businesspeople living in Cyprus, after a man suspected of being hired to carry out the attacks was arrested on the island.
Iran -- Israel's arch-foe -- swiftly denied the accusation on October 4, with the country's embassy in the Cypriot capital, Nicosia, saying in a statement emailed to Reuters that Israel was "always making such a baseless allegation against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
According to local media reports, the suspect in the case is an Azerbaijani aged either 38 or 39 who used a Russian passport.
He was arrested a week ago in Nicosia after crossing from Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus. A gun with a silencer was found in his vehicle during his arrest, the reports said.
The man had reportedly arrived from Russia about three weeks ago and was under police surveillance.
Some reports in Israeli and Cypriot media have said that Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi was one of a number of Israeli businesspeople on a hit list.
But both the office of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Sagi's company denied that the tycoon was known to be a would-be victim.
"This is a foiled Iranian terrorist incident," the Sagi Group said in a statement. "The target for the assassination is not Teddy Sagi but Israelis in Cyprus."
Some Israeli media reports suggested that the plot could be linked to business disputes involving Sagi, whose ventures include online gambling and real estate.
In the past Israeli officials have accused Iran or its ally Hizballah of carrying out, or planning to carry out, attacks on Israelis abroad.
In 2012, Cyprus convicted a member of the Lebanese militant group of plotting to attack Israelis on the island.
The same year, Israel and Bulgaria accused Hizballah of carrying out a suicide bombing in the southeastern European country in which five Israelis and a Bulgarian were killed.
Both Iran and Hizballah have denied involvement in the incident.
With reporting by the BBC and Reuters
Afghanistan On Agenda As Senior U.S. Diplomat Discusses Cooperation With Uzbek President In Tashkent
TASHKENT -- U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman has met with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev in Tashkent to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries and the situation in Afghanistan.
During the October 4 meeting in the Uzbek capital, Sherman thanked Mirziyoev for his country's "close cooperation with the United States in Afghanistan," and "underscored the importance of the United States' strategic partnership with Uzbekistan," according to a statement from the State Department.
The U.S. official also called for "continued progress on economic, democratic, and human rights reforms" in Uzbekistan.
The Uzbek presidential press service said that the two sides "noted with satisfaction that in recent years the multifaceted cooperation between Uzbekistan and the United States has been developing rapidly."
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August has triggered alarm among Uzbekistan and other neighboring Central Asian states over possible security threats emanating from the war-torn country and the potential for tens of thousands of refugees to cross the border.
Mirziyoev has positioned himself as a reformer since taking office following the death of his authoritarian predecessor, Islam Karimov, in 2016, releasing political prisoners and opening his country to its neighbors and the outside world.
However, human rights groups say the reforms have not gone far enough.
State Symbols On Vehicle License Plates Covered As Serbia And Kosovo Implement New Agreement
An EU-mediated agreement to cover up state symbols on the license plates of vehicles from Kosovo and Serbia was put into effect at border crossings between the two countries on October 4. Police in Kosovo put white stickers over the state symbols of Serbian license plates and the same procedure was followed by Serbian police officers for vehicles registered in Kosovo. The deal ended a 13-day standoff between Kosovo police and local Kosovar Serbs who had blocked roads at border crossings.
District Governor In 'Coronavirus-Free' Turkmenistan Dies Of COVID-19, Family Says
The family of a Turkmen district governor says he has died of the coronavirus as the secretive Central Asian nation's authorities continue to deny the presence of the coronavirus in the country.
Toily Atajanov, the 40-year-old governor of Sakarchage district in the southeastern Mary Province died on October 4 from complications caused by COVID-19 and will be buried the next day, relatives told an RFE/RL correspondent.
The relatives said Atajanov was rushed to hospital several days ago with symptoms of the disease.
There was no official confirmation of Atajanov's death as the government continues to insist that the tightly controlled former Soviet republic has recorded no coronavirus cases within its borders, despite ample indications that the disease is devastating the country.
It was reported in July 2019 that a district governor in the eastern province of Lebap had died of COVID-19.
Despite ignoring the coronavirus, Turkmen authorities have taken unprecedented health measures in an apparent attempt to prevent the spread of the disease.
Last month, workers at funeral houses in the capital, Ashgabat, told RFE/RL that because of the rapid increase of the daily COVID-19 death toll, the price of coffins has dramatically increased.
Many of those who do not have enough money have to bury their loved ones in plastic bags, they said.
Local authorities across the country have been urging families and religious clerics to ask those who have lost someone to refrain from organizing post-burial gatherings and prayers in an apparent attempt to stem the spread of the virus.
In addition, all gatherings, including public events, weddings, and birthday parties have been banned across the country. No official reason was given for the ban.
Russia Extends Journalist Safronov's Pretrial Detention Until Early January
A Russian court has extended by three months the pretrial detention of Ivan Safronov, a prominent former journalist accused of high treason in a case widely considered to be politically motivated.
On October 4, the Moscow City Court ordered Safronov, who covered the defense industry for the newspapers Kommersant and Vedomosti, be remanded in custody until January 7.
The 31-year-old suspect is a former adviser to the head of Russia's space agency Roskosmos, Dmitry Rogozin.
He was arrested on July 7, 2020 on allegations that he had passed secret information to the Czech Republic in 2017 about Russian arms sales in the Middle East.
Safronov has repeatedly denied the accusations and his supporters have held pickets in Moscow and other cities demanding his release.
Human rights organizations have also issued statements demanding Safronov's release and expressing concerns over an intensifying crackdown on dissent in Russia.
One of Safronov's defenders, prominent rights lawyer Ivan Pavlov, fled to Georgia last month after Russian authorities launched a probe against him earlier this year, accusing him of disclosing data from the journalist's case.
Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax
Russian Authorities Reveal Where Anti-Putin Shaman Is Being Forcibly Confined
Russian authorities have finally revealed to which clinic Yakut shaman Aleksandr Gabyshev was transferred after a court ordered him to be confined to forced psychiatric treatment in July, his lawyer says.
Gabyshev had been stopped by the authorities several times as he attempted to march to Moscow by foot in his self-proclaimed effort to drive President Vladimir Putin out of office.
"We have received a written answer to our query from the acting warden of the Detention Center No. 1 in Yakutsk,” the capital of Russia's Far Eastern region of Yakutia, lawyer Aleksei Pryanishnikov wrote on Telegram on October 4.
Pryanishnikov quoted the official as saying Gabyshev was sent to a psychiatric clinic in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, almost 3,000 kilometers west of his native Yakutsk.
Earlier, the lawyer had told RFE/RL that his client was transferred from Yakutsk to an undisclosed psychiatric clinic.
Gabyshev was found "mentally unfit" during a court hearing where he had been accused of committing a "violent act against a police officer" as he was being taken forcibly from his home to a psychiatric clinic in late January.
The decision to confine Gabyshev for forced psychiatric treatment was challenged by his lawyers and supporters, who say it was an attempt to silence dissent.
Domestic and international human rights organization have condemned the court decision, comparing the move with the Soviet-era practice of using psychiatric clinics to silence dissidents.
Police have said the incident between Gabyshev and the law enforcement officer took place on January 27, less than three weeks after the shaman had announced a plan to resume his trek to the Russian capital.
Gabyshev's sister, Kyaiyylana Zakharova, told RFE/RL in April that her brother’s state of health had dramatically deteriorated, most likely due to unspecified injections he received while in the psychiatric clinic.
Gabyshev first made headlines in March 2019 when he called Putin "evil" and announced that he had started his march to Moscow. He then walked more than 2,000 kilometers, speaking with hundreds of Russians along the way.
As his notoriety rose, videos of his conversations with people were posted on social media and attracted millions of views.
In July of that year, Gabyshev led a 700-strong rally under the slogan "Russia Without Putin" in the city of Chita.
His march was halted when he was detained in the region of Buryatia later in September and placed in a psychiatric clinic in Yakutia for several months against his will.
Shamans have served as healers and diviners in Siberia for centuries. During the Soviet era, the mystics were harshly repressed, but in isolated parts of Siberia they are now regaining prominence.
Armenia's Prime Minister Says He's Ready To Meet Azerbaijan's President For Talks On Karabakh
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has expressed readiness to meet Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to discuss further steps to regulate the situation in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as being part of Azerbaijan, but the entire territory and seven surrounding districts were controlled by ethnic Armenian forces from the early 1990s until recently.
The two sides have skirmished regularly over the years.
Internationally mediated negotiations under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) involving the so-called Minsk Group co-chaired by Russia, the United States, and France have been unable to produce a lasting settlement of the conflict.
In September 2020, Azerbaijan launched a military offensive that resulted in Baku regaining control of the seven surrounding districts and a significant chunk of Nagorno-Karabakh itself.
Speaking to members of the Armenian diaspora in Lithuania, Pashinian on October 3 said that it would be possible to discuss the issue at the level of the two countries' foreign ministers.
"In my recent speech in the United Nations, I stated that the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh is awaiting its solution, and I can say that we have hailed several times the statements by the OSCE's Minsk Group about the necessity to regulate the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and reestablish the peace process," Pashinian's press service quoted him as saying.
Pashinian also said that he is ready to hand all mine maps to the Azerbaijani side in exchange for Armenian military personnel captured by the Azerbaijani Army during last year's 44-day war.
Last week, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said he was ready to meet with Pashinian if such a meeting were organized by the OSCE Minsk Group.
Iran Says Waiting For IAEA To React To 'Israeli Attack' On Nuclear Site
Iran is calling on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to clarify its position regarding an alleged Israeli attack on a centrifuge-component manufacturing workshop near Tehran in June, amid a dispute with the UN nuclear agency over access to the site.
Speaking to journalists on October 3, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, deplored that the Vienna-based IAEA and Western powers have not condemned the "terrorist act" in which the TESA Karaj facility was “severely destroyed.”
Eslami’s comments come after the IAEA said on September 26 that it was denied “indispensable” access to the site contrary to a September 12 agreement under which Tehran allowed international inspectors to service surveillance cameras at its sensitive nuclear sites and to continue filming there.
The United States and European Union have called on Iran to allow UN inspectors access to the site.
Tehran has claimed that the facility is exempt from the agreement, which averted the agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors issuing a resolution criticizing Iran for stonewalling the IAEA.
“The IAEA representatives in both Tehran and Vienna were told about these important details: the facility was severely destroyed, in particular where the cameras were supposed to be located,” Eslami said on October 3.
“It is regrettable that neither the IAEA nor the countries that have made monitoring claims against us condemned that terrorist act,” he added.
Satellite images appeared to show damage to the TESA Karaj facility after the June incident, and reports suggested that one out of four IAEA cameras at the site were destroyed during the incident.
Iran has accused Israel of sabotaging its nuclear program and assassinating its nuclear scientists, including top scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh who was killed near Tehran last year. Fakhrizadeh was credited with beginning an alleged military nuclear program decades ago that U.S. intelligence and the IAEA say was abandoned in 2003.
Eslami’s comments also come amid stalled nuclear talks aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal under which Tehran significantly limited its nuclear work in exchange for sanctions relief.
That deal started to fall apart in 2018 when then-U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from it and reinstated crippling economic sanctions. Iran reacted by gradually ramping up its nuclear activities.
U.S. President Joe Biden has promised to rejoin the deal if Tehran returns to full compliance.
Iran’s new Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has said that Tehran would resume the nuclear talks “very soon” while being vague about the time frame.
Speaking on October 4, Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh suggested that talks with world powers aimed at reviving the 2015 deal could resume by early November.
"The government of [President] Ebrahim Raisi has been in power for 50, 55 days...I don't think that the [return to talks] will be less than the 90 days that it took the Biden administration to return to negotiations," he added, indicating that Iran believes talks will be under way again by the second week of November.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned last week that time was running out for Tehran to return to the deal.
“The ball remains in their court, but not for long," Blinken told reporters, adding that "there is a limited runway on that, and the runway is getting shorter."
Vehicles, Their State Symbols Hidden, Now Crossing Kosovar-Serbian Border
Vehicles are moving across two contentious crossings along the Kosovar-Serbian border without issue as a new measure requiring vehicles to cover up the two countries’ state symbols on license plates went into effect.
Automobiles with their license plates bearing white stickers were moving from both sides of the Jarinje and Brnjak crossings on October 4, and Kosovar police said the new measure was also being implemented at the four other crossings with Serbia.
The decision to cover up the state symbols came as the result of last week’s EU-mediated negotiations between Pristina and Belgrade intended to defuse a heated dispute over license plates.
The dispute erupted on September 20 after Kosovar authorities ordered all drivers entering Kosovo from Serbia to use temporary, 60-day, printed license plates in response to measures in Serbia against drivers from Kosovo that have been in place since 2008, when the country declared independence from Belgrade.
Serbs from northern Kosovo blocked the Jarinje and Brnjak crossings with vehicles and makeshift barricades, while Kosovo's government sent in police units and Serbian military jets and helicopters buzzed the border in a show of force.
Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s independence, nor its right to impose rules and regulations such as registering cars and trucks.
On October 2, the two crossings were reopened to traffic as ethnic Serb protesters removed vehicles, workers dismantled their barricades, Kosovar special police units withdrew, and NATO troops deployed there in keeping with the EU-brokered deal.
Besnik Bislimi, the deputy prime minister of Kosovo and head of the Kosovo delegation for dialogue with Serbia, told RFE/RL on October 1 that Kosovo has 300,000 packages of stickers to be pasted over state symbols on license plates.
The Serbian government also announced it would provide stickers for all Serbian-registered vehicles seeking to cross into Kosovo from its side.
Afghan Would-Be Refugee Said Killed By Taliban Near Tajik Border
Taliban fighters have reportedly killed an Afghan man who tried to flee to neighboring Tajikistan and detained another man along the Afghan-Tajik border.
A source in the city of Ishkashim in Afghanistan's northern province of Badakhshan, which borders Tajikistan, told RFE/RL on October 3 that the incidents occurred the previous day, when Taliban militants raided the area in an attempt to force about 2,000 Afghans seeking to leave the war-torn country to go back to their homes.
The Taliban-led administration in Badakhshan did not immediately comment.
Many Afghans have left the country and thousands have been trying to leave after the hard-line Islamist group seized control of most of Afghanistan in August.
The Taliban takeover triggered alarm among Central Asian states bordering Afghanistan over possible security threats emanating from the country and the potential for tens of thousands of refugees to pour over the border.
Would-be refugees along the Afghan-Tajik border in Badakhshan say they have been stranded there for two months, with Tajikistan’s border guards not allowing them to enter the Central Asian country.
"The militants gather people in groups and force them to return to Kabul on trucks. The militants are searching for natives of the Panjshir area mainly," one of the men seeking to flee to Tajikistan told RFE/RL.
In mostly ethnic Tajik-populated Panjshir, a rugged mountain valley northeast of Kabul, an anti-Taliban resistance front remains active.
Activists In Tatarstan Allowed To Mark 469th Anniversary Of Kazan's Fall, But No March
KAZAN, Russia -- Authorities in Kazan have allowed activists to gather in the capital of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan next week for a public event commemorating the 1552 siege of Kazan by Russian troops -- but only if they remain inside a park.
"It is a cruel joke, a mockery. The city administration just mocked the whole Tatar people," the chairman of the All-Tatar Public Center, Farit Zakiyev, told RFE/RL on October 5.
Zakiyev said earlier that he had filed a request with the city administration asking permission to organize a march from Liberty Square to the Kazan Kremlin on October 15 to mark the 469th anniversary of the fall of the then-capital of the Kazan Khanate.
The event has been marked in the city since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but Kazan authorities have been reluctant to allow activists to hold such public commemorations in recent years.
Zakiyev said the authorities agreed that the activists will hold the commemoration in Tinchurin Park, which is located close to the city center.
Last year, the local administration initially allowed a public event to mark what is known as Commemoration Day, but that permission was later withdrawn, triggering protests in Kazan.
The move came after a local prosecutor requested that the commemoration not be allowed, saying that "the goal of the event was unclear."
Several participants in the 2019 commemoration were sentenced to community work or fined for praying and reading the Koran at the gathering and using the words "Tatarstan's statehood."
In October 1552, Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible conquered the Khanate of Kazan after a two-week resistance. Many of the Khanate's Muslim population were killed after the siege or forcibly Christianized.
Siberian Activist Says He Fled Russia To Avoid Prison
BARNAUL, Russia -- A well-known opposition activist in the Siberian city of Barnaul says he has left Russia after the authorities launched criminal investigations into allegations that he repeatedly violated the law on mass gatherings.
Viktor Rau wrote on social network VKontakte on October 3 that he and his grandson are currently in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.
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"Police have registered criminal cases against me and my grandson Miron due to my opposition activities,” Rau wrote, adding: “The totalitarian authorities do not need dissent, they need to silence people.”
“My motherland, Russia, will be free! I will back someday," Rau said.
Investigations against Rau were launched in April when police searched his home and confiscated his computer, telephone, and 65 posters.
The opposition activist, who has been a vocal critic of local and federal authorities, took part in many unsanctioned rallies in Barnaul in recent years.
Rau tried to get elected to the parliament's lower chamber, the State Duma, last month.
Although election officials initially registered him as a candidate, they later rejected his candidacy, citing his links to groups related to jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny that were labeled by the authorities as extremist and banned earlier this year.
Many opposition activists and politicians have left Russia in recent years amid an increasing crackdown on opposition groups and independent media across Russia.
Georgia's Ruling Party Wins Nationwide Vote Seen As Well-Run, But Flawed
TBILISI -- Georgia's ruling party has won the October 3 nationwide municipal elections that outside observers said were well-run but tainted by irregularities -- a victory overshadowed by the arrest of returning former President Mikheil Saakashvili, whose supporters staged protests for his release on October 4.
The October 2 vote was held in a highly polarized atmosphere, with the results seen as a referendum on the Georgian Dream party's rule and the prospect that a bad showing by the ruling party could prompt early parliamentary elections.
Georgian Dream passed the test, with results after all the votes were counted showing that it easily cleared the threshold to avoid an early parliamentary vote under a foreign-brokered agreement to end a long-brewing political crisis between the ruling party and the opposition.
After all results from the country's 3,743 precincts were tallied, the ruling Georgian Dream party had 46.7 percent, according to the Central Election Commission (CEC) on October 4. The main opposition party, the United National Movement (ENM), had 30.7 percent. The rest of the vote was split among the remaining 48 parties, with the For Georgia party third at 7.8 percent.
The five major mayoral races held on election day -- in Tbilisi, Batumi, Kutaisi, Poti, and Rustavi -- will all head to runoffs after no candidate won an absolute majority, according to early results.
While the ruling party appeared to have scored a convincing victory, the opposition and outside observers alleged numerous irregularities while Saakashvili, the founder of ENM, vowed to continue a hunger strike he reportedly started after his arrest upon return from self-exile in Ukraine.
Waving Georgia's red-and-white flags and chanting Saakashvili's name, hundreds of demonstrators rallied on October 4 outside the prison in Rustavi, southeast of Tbilisi, where the former president has been held since his arrest after returning to the country last week.
Supporters vowed to stage mass protests in the coming days, as his lawyer, quoted by Russia's state-run TASS news agency, said Saakashvili plans to keep up the hunger strike he declared on the evening of his arrest until he is freed.
The U.S. State Department said on October 4 that Washington was paying close attention to developments in Georgia and urged the government in Tbilisi to ensure Saakashvili is treated fairly.
"We're following developments very closely," spokesman Ned Price told a regular news briefing.
"We urge Georgian authorities to ensure that Mr. Saakashvili is afforded fair treatment in accordance with Georgian law, and Georgia's international human rights commitments and obligations."
Tensions were heightened by Saakashvili's arrest within hours of his return from eight years in self-exile abroad on October 1. The 53-year-old Saakashvili, who was president from 2004-13, was sentenced in absentia to prison in 2018 for abuse of power and seeking to cover up evidence about the beating of an opposition member of parliament when he was president. Saakashvili has said the charges against him are politically motivated.
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on October 3 that Saakashvili would serve his full term of six years in prison before being allowed to return to Ukraine, where he briefly served as governor of the Odesa region, has held several top government positions, and currently heads the executive committee of Ukraine's National Reform Council.
"As of today, he [Saakashvili] is sentenced to six years in prison," he was quoted as telling Georgia's Imedi television channel. "No one on the planet can convince us to release Saakashvili."
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskiy said he would personally press for Saakashvili's return.
"Mr. Saakashvili is a Ukrainian citizen," Zelenskiy said at an event in the western Ukrainian town of Truskavets.
"We will use the level of all government institutions, including the [Ukrainian] Foreign Ministry, our ambassador to Georgia, and the Georgian ambassador to Ukraine. The governments, the prime ministers [of Ukraine and Georgia] -- we all will be working on it (Saakashvili's return to Ukraine)."
In its preliminary report of its observer mission's findings, the OSCE/ODIHR said the local elections were "generally well-administered but held against the backdrop of a protracted political crisis and characterized by hardened polarization."
The election watchdog noted that, while contestants were "able to campaign freely in a competitive environment," the process was "marred by wide-spread and consistent allegations of intimidation, vote-buying, pressure on candidates and voters, and an unlevel playing field."
The U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi echoed the assessment, congratulating the people of Georgia on the high voter turnout, but also describing the lack of focus on local issues as a "missed opportunity."
"While voters were able to cast their votes in a largely calm environment on October 2, the election process is about more than Election Day," the embassy wrote. "We share ODIHR's concerns about the polarized media landscape, the significant imbalance of resources and insufficient oversight of campaign finances, the under-representation of women in the campaign, reports of misuse of administrative resources, and pressure against journalists."
President Salome Zurabishvili, speaking to TASS on October 3, said the vote "took place in a calm, fair, safe, and competitive environment."
"It is very important that today one more step toward democracy and stabilization was made," she said.
The local elections come as the country has been in a protracted political crisis since Georgian Dream -- founded by former prime minister and reclusive billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who openly clashed with Saakashvili -- won parliamentary elections a year ago.
Under an EU-brokered agreement reached in April to defuse the paralyzing political crisis between Georgian Dream and opposition parties, early parliamentary elections were to be called in 2022 if Georgian Dream received less than 43 percent overall nationwide in the local elections.
But in July, Georgian Dream leader Irakli Kobakhidze annulled the so-called April 19 agreement, blaming the opposition for its failure and claiming most other key provisions had been met.
At the time, Kobakhidze said that smaller opposition parties signed the agreement, but that the larger "radical opposition" blocs, including the ENM, refused to join the deal.
As the results came in, opposition leaders said there were widespread irregularities in the the October 2 vote despite Georgian Dream saying the elections had been held to the "highest democratic standards."
The Interior Ministry announced on October 3 that it had launched 16 criminal investigations related to incidents that took place on voting day, including physical violence near or at polling stations.
Nongovernmental organizations monitoring the elections reported dozens of suspected cases of electoral fraud, including vote-buying, violations of the secrecy of the ballot, and "carousel voting" -- where voters are bused into multiple polling stations as an organized group.
According to the Central Election Commission, 366 complaints were filed with the district election commissions on election day, most of them being "procedural deficiencies [that will] require disciplinary action against commission members.”
Transparency International, whose Georgia branch had about 300 observers on the ground, reported 160 violations, including multiple voting, the obstruction of monitoring, and the harassment of journalists. The violations led to the filing of 30 complaints, the corruption watchdog said.
Overall, voters cast ballots for mayors in 64 municipalities, as well as nearly 2,100 members of local self-governing councils. Voter turnout nationally stood at nearly 52 percent, according to election authorities.
In the mayoral election in the capital, Tbilisi, the incumbent, Kakha Kaladze of Georgian Dream, had nearly 45 percent of the vote, while ENM party chief Nika Melia was at 34 percent.
With reporting by civil.ge, AFP, TASS, and Reuters
One Of Romania's Richest Men Dies In Plane Crash Near Milan, Alongside Family
A light aircraft carrying Romanian billionaire Dan Petrescu and his family crashed into an empty office building near Milan, killing all eight on board, Italian media reported.
The single-engine Pilatus PC-12 crashed minutes after takeoff from Milan’s Linate airport on October 3 as it traveled to Olbia on the Italian island of Sardinia.
The plane had already caught fire when it crashed into an empty municipal building in San Donato Milanese, a town near Milan, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported.
Italy’s National Flight Safety Agency has opened an investigation into the cause of the crash.
Petrescu, 68, was one of Romania's richest men, having built his estimated $3 billion fortune in real estate and through ownership of a chain of supermarkets and malls. He also held German citizenship.
Corriere della Sera reported Petrescu’s wife, son, and five friends were on the plane, as well as a 1-year-old child who had been baptized the day before.
The family was headed to their villa in Olbia, where Petrescu's elderly mother was waiting for them, Corriere said.
The plane was bought in 2015 by Petrescu together with Vova Cohn, a former shareholder of the football club Dinamo Bucharest.
Based on reporting by Corriere della Sera
- By RFE/RL
Pandora Papers Expose Secret Wealth, Dealings Of Aliyev, Zelenskiy, Putin, Other World Leaders
A massive new leak of financial documents has exposed how the presidents of Azerbaijan and Ukraine, as well as hundreds of other politicians and billionaires around the world, are linked with companies that use offshore tax havens to hide wealth.
The files from offshore companies, dubbed the Pandora Papers, involve some 35 current and former leaders and more than 300 officials.
The findings of an examination of the files -- the largest organized by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) -- were released on October 3.
The investigation found that the family of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and their close associates have secretly been involved in property deals in Britain, almost entirely in London, worth nearly $700 million, using offshore companies, according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which is part of the ICIJ consortium.
Most of these properties were purchased in cash.
The files show how the Aliyevs, long accused of corruption in the South Caucasus country, bought a total of 17 properties, the BBC reported.
Aliyev’s son, Heydar, owned four buildings in London’s Mayfair district when he was just 11 years old.
A $44.7 million block was bought by a front company owned by a family friend of the president in 2009 and was transferred one month later to Heydar.
Aliyev’s administration did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations, nor did members of his family.
The secret records also show that Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his close circle were the beneficiaries of a network of offshore companies, including some that owned expensive property in London, the OCCRP reported.
It said Zelenskiy and his partners in a television production company, Kvartal 95, set up a network of offshore firms dating back to at least 2012. Among other things, the offshore firms were used by Zelenskiy's associates to purchase three prime properties in the center of the British capital.
The documents also show that just before he was elected in 2019 on a wave of public anger against the country’s political class, Zelenskiy transferred his stake in a secret offshore company to his business partner, who later became his top presidential aide.
And an arrangement was soon made that would allow the offshore firm to keep paying dividends to a company that now belongs to Zelenskiy's wife.
A spokesman for Zelenskiy declined to comment.
According to the OCCRP, other leaked offshore documents show that the “unofficial third wife” of Kazakhstan’s former President Nursultan Nazarbaev received $30 million, apparently for “almost nothing.”
The payment to Asel Qurmanbaeva followed a number of share transfers involving six offshore companies, almost all registered in the British Virgin Islands, a notorious haven for offshore secrecy, the investigative journalism group said.
The payment was structured as a sale, in which Qurmanbaeva gave up her stake in a company that appeared to do no business. She received the money two months after the 2010 death of a man rumored to be Nazarbaev’s confidant, an oligarch named Vladimir Ni, from a company taken over by his daughter.
Nazarbaev did not respond to requests for comment on the claims.
The leaks also link Russian President Vladimir Putin to secret assets in Monaco.
The Washington Post, which is part of the investigative consortium, reported on the case of Svetlana Krivonogikh, a Russian woman who it said became the owner of a Monaco apartment through an offshore company incorporated on the Caribbean island of Tortola in April 2003, just weeks after she gave birth to a girl.
She was at the time in a secret, years-long relationship with Putin, the U.S. newspaper said, citing Russian investigative outlet Proekt.
They are using those offshore accounts, those offshore trusts, to buy hundreds of millions of dollars of property in other countries, and to enrich their own families, at the expense of their citizens."-- Fergus Shiel, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
Krivonogikh and her 18-year-old daughter and the Kremlin did not respond to requests for comment.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on October 4 dismissed revelations leaked in the Pandora Papers as "a set of largely unsubstantiated claims."
In Pakistan, members of Prime Minister Imran Khan's inner circle, including cabinet ministers and their families, secretly own companies and trusts holding millions of dollars, the BBC reported.
The files also expose the offshore dealings of Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and detail the financial activities of more than 130 billionaires from Russia, the United States, Turkey, and other nations.
Many of the transactions in the documents involve no legal wrongdoing, but Fergus Shiel of the ICIJ said the leak documents show “the reality of what offshore companies can offer to help people hide dodgy cash or avoid tax."
"They are using those offshore accounts, those offshore trusts, to buy hundreds of millions of dollars of property in other countries, and to enrich their own families, at the expense of their citizens," he added.
The publishing of the Pandora Papers comes five years after the explosive Panama Papers investigation in 2016.
State Department spokesman Ned Price told journalists at a regular briefing on October 4 that the United States is reviewing the Pandora Papers' findings, but is not in a position to comment on specifics.
The ICIJ obtained the trove of nearly 12 million confidential files from 14 financial services companies in countries such as the British Virgin Islands, Panama, Belize, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and Switzerland that set up shell companies and other nooks for clients.
A team of more than 600 journalists from 150 news outlets spent two years sifting through them, tracking down sources, and digging into court files and other public records from dozens of countries.
Russia Reports Record One-Day COVID Death Toll
The Russian government has said it recorded 890 deaths owing to the coronavirus from October 2-3, the highest single-day death toll since the pandemic began.
The numbers were reported by the government's coronavirus task force, which also said it had recorded 25,769 new cases over the same time period, 4,294 of them in Moscow.
WATCH: Russia recorded a new high for daily deaths from COVID-19 on September 28 as another wave sweeps across the country and vaccination rates stall.
Russia has officially recorded more than 7.5 million coronavirus infections, with more than 210,000 related deaths. However, it is widely assumed that the death toll is being underreported.
According to official statistics, about 50 million of the country's population of 146 million have received at least one vaccination, and there are no major anti-coronavirus restrictions currently in place.
Based on reporting by TASS, dpa, and Reuters
Near-Final Results Point To Win By Georgian Ruling Party After Tense Local Elections
TBILISI --Near-final results from Georgia show the ruling party well ahead of challengers after nationwide local elections amid high tensions, allegations of electoral fraud, and early claims of victory by the South Caucasus country's two main political forces.
With results from all but one of the country's 3,743 precincts tallied, the ruling Georgian Dream party had nearly 46.7 percent of the vote, according to the Central Election Commission on October 3.
The main opposition party, the United National Movement (ENM), had 30.7 percent of the vote. The rest of the vote was split among the remaining 48 parties, with the For Georgia party third at nearly 7.8 percent.
The mayoral races in Tbilisi, Batumi, Kutaisi, Poti and Rustavi were all heading for runoffs after no candidate got an absolute majority of votes.
The elections "took place in a calm, fair, safe and competitive environment. It is very important that today one more step towards democracy and stabilisation was made," President Salome Zurabishvili was quoted as saying by Russia's state-run TASS news agency.
The nationwide elections were held on October 2 in a highly polarized atmosphere and were seen as a referendum on Georgian Dream's rule.
The opposition was seeking to use the elections as leverage to demand early parliamentary elections if Georgian Dream failed to get more than 43 percent of the national vote.
Tensions were heightened with the arrest of former President and ENM founder Mikheil Saakashvili within hours of his return from self-exile to rally the opposition ahead of the vote. Saakashvili was convicted in absentia in 2018 of abuse of office.
Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili said on October 3 that Saakashvili would serve his full term of six years in prison.
A mission of observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said in a statement on October 3 the election had been "marred by widespread and consistent allegations of intimidation, vote-buying, pressure on candidates and voters, and an unlevel playing field," although candidates were able to campaign freely.
In the capital, Tbilisi, the mayoral race appeared headed for a runoff with more than 99 percent of the votes counted.
Mayor Kakha Kaladze of Georgian Dream had nearly 45 percent of the vote, while ENM party chief Nika Melia was at 34 percent.
The incumbent conceded on October 3 that he had failed to reach the 50 percent required to avoid a runoff, saying he respected the will of voters and would begin to assess the reasons for the result, mentioning the strained political atmosphere as one potential cause.
Kaladze claimed, however, that Georgian Dream had retained its majority in the Tbilisi city council, although it appeared to have lost seats.
According to the election commission, all five of the mayoral races being contested in the country were heading for a runoff, and three of the races were led by opposition candidates.
Georgian Dream Chairman Irakli Kobakhidze said that he was saddened that the Tbilisi race would go to a second round, but claimed the ruling party had "won convincingly" and predicted that all its candidates facing runoff votes would win.
He scolded the opposition during an October 3 press conference. "You are in a difficult situation," he told a reporter for the opposition-aligned TV channel Mtavari Arkhi in response to a question. "You have severely lost the election, but this should not make you lose face."
After polls closed on October 2, opposition leader Melia claimed Georgian Dream had "lost the political center" and accused the ruling party of "voter intimidation and vote-buying." He called on Georgians to "be mobilized so that Georgian Dream can't manipulate election results."
As the results came in the, other opposition leaders also said there were widespread irregularities despite Georgian Dream saying the elections had been held to the "highest democratic standards."
"The election results were falsified. We have witnessed intimidation and bribing of voters prior to the elections, multiple voting on the election day," Giorgi Baramidze, a leader of the ENM, told AFP.
The Interior Ministry announced on October 3 that it had launched 16 criminal investigations related to incidents that took place on voting day, including physical violence near or at polling stations.
Nongovernmental organizations monitoring the elections reported dozens of suspected cases of electoral fraud, including vote-buying, violations of the secrecy of the ballot, and "carousel voting" -- where voters are bussed into multiple polling stations as an organized group.
According to the Central Election Commission, 366 complaints were filed with the district election commissions during election day, most of them being "procedural deficiencies [that will] require disciplinary action against commission members."
An independent union of journalists, the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics, reported cases where journalists were cursed, threatened, or physically assaulted at polling stations.
Transparency International, whose Georgia branch had about 300 observers on the ground, reported 160 violations, including multiple voting, the obstruction of monitoring, and the harassment of journalists. The violations led to the filing of 30 complaints, the corruption watchdog said.
Overall, voters cast ballots for mayors in 64 municipalities, as well as nearly 2,100 members of local self-governing councils. Voter turnout nationally stood at nearly 52 percent, according to election authorities.
The local elections come as the country has been in a protracted political crisis since Georgian Dream won parliamentary elections a year ago. Opposition parties claimed the vote was unfair and fraudulent, while international observers said it had been competitive and that fundamental freedoms were generally respected.
Under an EU-brokered agreement reached in April to defuse the paralyzing political crisis between Georgian Dream and opposition parties, early parliamentary elections were to be called in 2022 if Georgian Dream received less than 43 percent in local elections.
But in July, Georgian Dream leader Kobakhidze annulled the so-called April 19 agreement, blaming the opposition for its failure and claiming most other key provisions had been met.
At the time, Kobakhidze said that smaller opposition parties signed the agreement, but the larger "radical opposition" blocs including the main opposition ENM refused to join the deal.
Observers say the election and its aftermath could usher in a period of instability in the country with aspirations of joining Western institutions.
"Today's vote is probably a culmination of the months-long political crisis that has a good chance to drive Georgia into more instability and less prospects for development," Olesya Vartanyan, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, told RFE/RL.
"[It's] difficult to say if the ruling party will even want to demonstrate its readiness for compromise after it withdrew from the April 19 agreement that included a step-by-step plan on how to start getting out of Georgia's stagnation and regular crisis situations. Many in the opposition are also very frustrated with the lack of results," she said.
The arrest of Saakashvili, who ruled Georgia from 2004 to 2013, added extra fuel to the country's political crisis, with the ENM's Baramidze saying the situation had undermined the credibility of the elections.
The former president left the country shortly after his term ended, and in 2015 he gave up his Georgian citizenship to become governor of Ukraine's Odesa region, although he continues to be considered a leading opposition figure in Georgia.
Saakashvili was convicted in absentia on corruption and abuse of power charges in 2018 that says are politically motivated. He faces a total of nine years in prison after being found guilty of abusing his authority in two separate cases: one related to trying to cover up evidence related to the 2005 beating of an opposition lawmaker, and another relating to the killing of a Georgian banker.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on October 3 that he would personally press for Saakashvili to be returned to Ukraine.
With reporting by Civil.ge, AFP, and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Report: EU Mulls Ukrainian Military Training Mission
The European Union is considering a training mission for Ukrainian officers due to the "ongoing military activities" of Russia, according to an internal EU document.
With tensions between Kyiv and Moscow running high, some members of the bloc want Brussels to set up an independent training program called the EU Military Advisory and Training Mission Ukraine (EUATM), Germany's Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported on October 3, citing an EU policy paper it obtained.
"A military mission would underscore the visibility and commitment to the countries of the Eastern Partnership initiative," according to the working document from the European External Action Service, the EU's diplomatic service.
Such a military mission would also "be an expression of solidarity with Ukraine in view of the ongoing military activities of Russia on the borders with Ukraine and in the illegally annexed Crimea," the document said.
In addition to EUATM, the EU's diplomatic service led by top diplomat Josep Borrell is considering three other options to help improve Ukraine's military capabilities, according to the document.
One is to beef up the European Union Advisory Mission Ukraine, which was established in 2014 to help civilian security-sector reform. According to the report, the responsible EU ambassadors recently discussed in the document for the first time forming a political and security committee responsible for foreign and security policy.
The three EU Baltic states are especially pushing for the military training mission, as well as Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. Sweden and Finland have also expressed support.
Those EU members share similar concerns with Ukraine about Russian military drills on their borders, including the Zapad-2021 military exercises in September and a massive Russian troop build-up near Ukraine in April that raised concern in Kyiv and the West over Moscow's intentions.
Ukraine, which is not a NATO member, is seeking closer ties with the West and its militaries to help it fight Kremlin-backed separatists in a seven-year war that has killed more than 13,200 people in the east of the country.
In 2014, Russia occupied and annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, just before the war broke out.
With reporting by Welt am Sonntag
- By RFE/RL
Russian Tycoon Ismailov Seeks Asylum In Montenegro After Arrest On Moscow Warrant
An Azerbaijan-born Russian billionaire wanted by Moscow for allegedly ordering contract murders has been detained in Montenegro.
Local media in Montenegro reported on October 2 that Telman Ismailov is seeking asylum in the Balkan country, a day after he was arrested in Podgorica on an international arrest warrant issued by Russia.
The newspaper Vijesti reported that the political asylum request could complicate Ismailov's extradition to Russia from Montenegro, where his son Alekper Ismailov owns a casino in the coastal town of Budva.
Ismailov is accused in Russia of financing the 2016 killing of two businessmen in the Moscow region, as well as of the abduction of a singer in 2004.
The tycoon has long been a target of President Vladimir Putin, who was reportedly critical of Ismailov's flashy and extravagant lifestyle.
Ismailov -- once one of the best-connected businessmen in Russia -- built the massive outdoor Cherkizovsky market in Moscow, only to have it closed in 2009 for "sanitary and safety violations" and conducting illegal activities.
At the time, Russia's Investigative Committee accused the market of operating as a "state within a state," with its own laws and security.
Critics say the closure of Cherkizovsky market may have been part of a struggle for valuable Moscow real estate. Ismailov ultimately fled Russia and his properties were confiscated to pay debts.
The market's closure came weeks after Putin berated Ismailov for holding a lavish inauguration party at his massive five-star Mardan Place hotel in Turkey at a time Russians were suffering following the 1998 financial crisis in the country. He also suggested billions of dollars made in Russia should be invested in the country, rather than on glitzy projects abroad.
Eyewitnesses at the party said they saw $100 bills being released from the ceiling to shower over the guests, including Hollywood stars and Russian elites.
Vijesti reported that one of Ismailov's guests at the party was Montenegro's then-prime minister, and now president, Milo Dukanovic.
With reporting by AFP, Vijesti, and Current Time
Thousands Protest Corruption In Bosnia's Serbian Entity
Several thousand people have demonstrated in the Serb-dominated part of Bosnia-Herzegovina against government corruption and curbs on media freedom.
Led by opposition parties, protesters on October 2 accused the ruling party of nationalist leader Milorad Dodik of criminal behavior, cronyism, and corruption.
They also demanded the firing of the health minister and hospital managers in the Republika Srpska over alleged corruption in the procurement of supplies to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, including oxygen used for ventilators.
Shouts of "Thieves" and "Enough is enough" were heard echoing through the crowd at a protest in the main city Banja Luka.
The opposition in the Republika Srpska has accused the government of curbing media freedoms.
It says the ruling party is attempting to shut down critical media under the guise of Bosnia's switch away from an analogue signal for commercial television.
The Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat entity were formed after the Balkan country's civil war in 1995.
The country's administrative structures created by Dayton accords ending the war left it with a weak central government with most powers devolved to two autonomous entities: the Muslim-Croat federation and the Republika Srpska.
With reporting by AFP
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