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North Macedonia Opposition Falls Short Of Toppling Government -- By One Vote
North Macedonia's opposition failed in its bid to topple the government after ruling coalition lawmakers blocked a no-confidence vote.
The November 11 vote was a temporary victory for the government, which has been weakened by poor results in municipal elections. The deepening impasse threatens to plunge the country into outright political crisis.
The opposition bloc pushed the confidence motion against Prime Minister Zoran Zaev's cabinet, saying it had secured 61 votes in the 120-seat legislature. But only 60 lawmakers attended the session, one short of the required quorum of 61.
The lawmaker who did not attend comes from a smaller ethnic Albanian party that is in the opposition.
Technically, the deadline for the vote expires at midnight.
But Kastriot Rexhepi, who earlier backed the no-confidence motion, wrote on Facebook that he had decided not to participate in the vote because he thought that toppling the government would create problems for North Macedonia on the international stage.
The tiny Balkan country is hoping to start EU accession talks.
The opposition, led by the VMRO-DPMNE party, said earlier that if Zaev loses the vote they would try to form a new government before heading to an early election.
After a poor showing by Zaev’s Social Democrats in municipal elections in October, the prime minister pledged to resign.
That announcement came after months of Zaev’s struggles to keep afloat the country's pandemic-hit economy amid stalled accession talks with the European Union.
Analysts say that the former Yugoslav republic is heading into a potentially lengthy political crisis with no clear outcome.
Elected prime minister in 2017, Zaev is best known for the deal he struck with Greece to change the country’s name to North Macedonia -- in order to distinguish it from the Greek province of Macedonia.
The change enabled the country to join NATO and was a precondition for EU membership.
With reporting by dpa and AFP
Protesters Rally In Tbilisi Following Release Of Saakashvili Prison Hospital Video
Hundreds of supporters of jailed former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili held a rally in Tbilisi on November 11, demanding his transfer to a civilian clinic following the release of a video showing Saakashvili's November 8 transfer to a prison infirmary. The video has provoked outrage from opposition politicians and human rights activists. The Georgian Special Penitentiary Service says the footage "proves" that Saakashvili "disobeyed lawful orders and acted aggressively."
Jailed Tajik Opposition Politicians Placed In Solitary Confinement For Sending Letter To President
DUSHANBE -- Two jailed Tajik opposition politicians have been placed in solitary confinement after sending a letter to President Emomali Rahmon from a penal colony.
Two imprisoned members of the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) -- Zubaidullo Roziq and Rahmatullo Rajab -- told their relatives that the administration of the penal colony in Vahdat near Dushanbe had ruled to place them in solitary confinement for two months as punishment for sending a letter to Rahmon without obtaining preliminary permission from the warden.
In their letter, Rajab and Roziq "revealed certain details of their case, trying to prove their innocence," their relatives told RFE/RL on November 11.
An official with the state penitentiary service confirmed to RFE/RL on condition of anonymity that the two men are currently in solitary confinement for "violating regulations."
Dozens of IRPT officials and supporters have been prosecuted and many imprisoned in recent years, prompting criticism of Rahmon's government from rights groups.
Rajab and Roziq were arrested in 2015 and sentenced to 28 and 25 years in prison, respectively, after a court found them guilty of involvement in a purported insurrection against Rahmon's government led by Army General Abduhalim Nazarzoda.
The IRPT, long an influential party with representatives in the Tajik government and parliament, has denied any links to the deadly events and called the imprisonment of its members and leaders politically motivated. The IRPT was declared extremist and banned in 2015.
Activists and rights groups say Rahmon, who has ruled Tajikistan since 1992, has used the security forces and other levers of power to sideline opponents and suppress dissent.
Russian Prosecutor-General's Office Takes Aim At Memorial Rights Group
MOSCOW -- The Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office has asked the Supreme Court to shut down the international branch of one of the country’s most prominent human rights groups, Memorial, for failure to comply with requirements of the controversial law on "foreign agents."
International Memorial was added to the "foreign agents" registry in October 2016.
The group said on November 11 that the hearing on the case will be held on November 25.
International Memorial said the "foreign agents" legislation was meant to suppress independent organizations and that it saw no legal basis for it to be dismantled.
"We have repeatedly emphasized that the Russian foreign agent legislation is unlawful and consciously designed to suppress civil society. We have insisted that this law must be repealed. Yet, as long as it is in force, we are obliged to fulfill its requirements," the group said in a statement on November 11.
"We believe that there are no legal grounds for the liquidation of International Memorial," the statement said. "The decision to abolish International Memorial is politically motivated. It aims to destroy the organization, which deals with the political repressions of the past and fights for human rights today."
The Memorial human rights center -- another branch of the highly respected Moscow-based organization -- was placed on the government's "foreign agent" register in November 2015.
A movement rather than a centralized structure, Memorial was established in the late 1980s during the "glasnost" and "perestroika" reforms initiated by the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.
By 2018, Memorial had more than 60 branches and affiliated organizations scattered across Russia, with a quarter of them established in 2014 or later.
The branches share the same interest in respecting human rights, documenting the past, and marking Days of Remembrance for the victims of political repression.
The Russian government uses the "foreign agents" designation to label what it says are foreign-funded organizations that are engaged in political activity, as well as people linked to them.
The “foreign agents” laws require those designated to register with authorities and label their content with an intrusive disclaimer, with criminal fines for not doing so.
The label has led to several NGOs, media organizations, other groups to shut down as they lose revenues from spooked advertisers.
Pretrial Detention Extended For Former Chief Of Open Russia
A Russian court has extended the pretrial detention of Andrei Pivovarov, the former executive director of the pro-democracy Open Russia movement.
On November 11, a court in the southern city of Krasnodar ruled that Pivovarov must be remanded in custody for another six months. He was first detained in late May when he was taken off a Warsaw-bound plane just before takeoff from St. Petersburg.
Pivovarov was charged with heading an “undesirable” organization, an accusation that stems from a 6-year-old law that has repeatedly been used to target critical voices. Pivovarov denies any wrongdoing.
Leaders of the Russia-based Open Russia dissolved the group in late May after authorities designated it an "undesirable" organization. They said they did so to protect supporters from further "harassment" by the Russian authorities.
Open Russia was financed by Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who moved to London after spending 10 years in prison in Russia on charges widely seen as revenge for challenging Russian President Vladimir Putin politically.
The "undesirable organization" law, adopted in 2015, was part of a series of regulations pushed by the Kremlin that squeezed many nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations that received funding from foreign sources -- mainly from Europe and the United States.
The Russian State Duma on June 9 approved the third and final reading of a bill to widen the scope of the law.
Under that bill, Russian nationals and organizations located anywhere in the world will be barred from taking part in the activities of foreign NGOs labeled "undesirable" in Russia.
Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax
Saakashvili Agrees To Conditionally Stop Hunger Strike, But Georgian Justice Ministry Refuses Demands
TBILISI -- Jailed former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has agreed to follow a call by the European Court of Human Rights to end his hunger strike if he is transferred to a civilian clinic from a prison hospital.
Saakashvili’s lawyer, Nika Gvaramia, announced his client’s statement on November 11.
But Justice Minister Rati Bregadze said on November 11 that Saakashvili will not be transferred to a civilian clinic but will be returned to the Rustavi detention center once he stops his hunger strike.
On November 10, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) called on Saakashvili to stop the hunger strike he started on October 1 right after he was arrested on his arrival to Georgia after an eight-year absence.
The ECHR also called on the Georgian government to keep it informed about Saakashvili’s state of health, as well as about the medical treatment being dispensed in the prison hospital. The ECHR also said Georgian authorities should ensure Saakashvili's safety while in custody and provide him with appropriate medical care for the post-hunger strike recovery period.
Saakashvili and his supporters have said that authorities transferred him to the prison hospital from a detention center in Rustavi near the capital, Tbilisi, against his will on November 8.
Saakashvili, his relatives, doctors, and lawyers have demanded his transfer to a civilian clinic.
Earlier in the day, Georgian Special Penitentiary Service released a video showing Saakashvili's November 8 transfer to the prison infirmary, saying that the footage "proves" that Saakashvili “disobeyed the lawful orders and acted aggressively.”
The video shows Saakashvili dragged against his will from the emergency vehicle to his cell.
The video caused widespread protest by opposition politicians, human rights activists, and on social media.
The ombudsman of Georgia, Nino Lomjaria, called it proof that Saakashvili was transferred under false pretenses and against his will, noting that the Penitentiary Service had distributed an edited version of the incident.
In response, hundreds of Saakashvili's United National Movement (ENM) party and their supporters held a fresh rally, this time outside the office of the State Security Service in Tbilisi, demanding Saakashvili’s transfer to a civilian hospital.
The ENM was outpolled decisively by the ruling Georgian Dream party in the October 3 nationwide municipal and mayoral vote.
The opposition has claimed that Georgian Dream won the mayoral races in the country's five biggest cities as a result of vote rigging.
London Tribunal Hears From Victims Of Iran's 2019 Deadly Crackdown On Gasoline Protests
A tribunal in London has begun hearing evidence from witnesses, activists and others over Tehran’s role in a crackdown on anti-establishment protests in Iran in November 2019 that is believed to have left at least 300 dead.
The international people’s tribunal will run until November 14, with a panel assessing whether actions by Iran’s clerical establishment constituted “crimes against humanity“ from the more than 160 witnesses scheduled to appear. A report is due to be issued by early next year.
The tribunal, which has no legal standing, was launched by three rights groups: the London-based Justice For Iran, the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights, and the Paris-based Together against the Death Penalty. The groups want to hold Iran responsible for the 2019 killings.
The protests quickly spread to over 100 towns and cities, where many chanted against Iran’s leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran responded with lethal force, killing and injuring hundreds of protesters as well as bystanders, according to rights groups. The Iranian establishment also imposed a near-total Internet shutdown for several days to disrupt the free flow of information.
Speaking during the first day of the tribunal, Nahid Shirpisheh, whose 27-year-old son was killed in the 2019 crackdown, said authorities have pressured her family for speaking out and demanding justice.
“We’ve been threatened and arrested. [My son’s] father is currently in jail,” she said.
Amnesty International said the tribunal is “a powerful initiative against impunity.”
“The hearings at the International People’s Tribunal on Iran’s Atrocities of November 2019 are crucial for ensuring that these atrocities do not fade into oblivion,” the rights group said in a statement on November 11.
“Crucially, the tribunal must spur UN member states into action, both at the current session of the UN General Assembly and the next session of the UN Human Rights Council, to pave the way for the accountability that is so desperately needed,” it added.
Iranian officials have been almost completely silent on the death toll from the crackdown. A rare acknowledgement came in May 2020 when then-Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said in state television that around 200 people died in the violence.
Belarus Detains, Fines Skier Who Signed Protest Letter
Belarusian authorities have fined former world champion freestyle skier Alyaksanrda Ramanouskaya for allegedly violating protest laws, according to a local group that supports athletes being persecuted for their political views.
The Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation (BSSF) said in a social media post on November 11 that a court in Minsk fined Ramanouskaya 2,610 rubles ($1,000), after the 25-year-old athlete was detained by police following a training session a day earlier.
Belarusian officials have not commented on the case.
Ramanouskaya, the 2019 world ski aerials champion, was a signatory of a letter of protest signed by more than 2,000 Belarusian sports figures.
In January, Belarusian athletes and other members of the sports community signed the open letter calling for the results of the 2020 presidential election -- in which authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka declared victory despite opposition claims the vote was rigged -- to be annulled.
It also called for all "political prisoners" and those detained in a brutal crackdown during mass demonstrations that followed to be released.
Several Belarusian athletes who took part in the protests or voiced support for the opposition have been detained or punished.
In one of the most high-profile cases, Belarusian team officials tried to force sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya to fly home from the Tokyo Olympics after she criticized them on social media.
She took refuge in the Polish Embassy in Tokyo after refusing the order. Two days later she boarded a plane to Europe, reaching Warsaw, where she is living in exile.
The BSSF was founded in August 2020 by retired Belarusian swimmer Alyaksandra Herasimenia as protests erupted in Belarus after the disputed reelection of Lukashenka.
The organization provides financial and legal help to Belarusian athletes targeted by the authorities after calling for an end to the violent police crackdown on demonstrators.
Ukrainian Court Sends Alleged Ex-Warden Of Notorious Donbas Jail To Pretrial Detention
MARIUPOL, Ukraine -- A court in Ukraine has sent the suspected former warden of a notorious jail in Ukraine's eastern city of Donetsk to pretrial detention.
The Prymorskiy district court in the city of Mariupol ruled on November 10 that Denys Kulykovskiy must stay in pretrial detention until at least January 7, 2022.
The press service of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) told RFE/RL the day before that Kulykovskiy was detained in Kyiv on suspicion of "taking part in the killing and torturing of illegally held Ukrainian citizens," adding that he will face charges of creating a terrorist group, violating the law of war, and human trafficking.
Ukrainian writer and former RFE/RL contributor Stanislav Aseyev -- who spent 2 1/2 years in the detention center known as Izolyatsia (Isolation) in Donetsk, which is controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists, before he was released in December 2019 -- also wrote on Facebook that "a major war criminal and a guard at Izolyatsia, Denys Kulykovskiy, aka Palych, was detained in Kyiv."
Separatists seized the premises of the former Izolyatsia factory and art center in Donetsk after they took control of the city and some parts of the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, commonly known as the Donbas, in 2014.
The exact number of inmates in the facility is unknown. Ukrainian nationals who were released from Izolyatsia as part of prisoner swaps have said they were tortured by guards there.
The defunct industrial facility is also used by the separatists as a training facility and a depot for vehicles, military equipment, and weapons.
Russia has provided military, economic, and political support to separatists in the Donbas since 2014. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Moscow maintains it is not involved in Ukraine's domestic affairs.
More than 13,200 people have been killed during more than seven years of fighting between the separatists and Ukrainian forces.
Russia's 'King Of Fraud' Gets 10-Year Prison Sentence In New York
A New York City judge has sentenced Aleksandr Zhukov, a Russian national behind what has been described as one of the most sophisticated digital fraud operations in the history of the Internet, to 10 years in prison.
District Judge Eric Komitee of the federal court in Brooklyn sentenced Zhukov for stealing more than $7 million from advertising companies in the United States between September 2014 and December 2016 via a digital-advertising-fraud scheme, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York said in a statement on November 10.
The 41-year-old Zhukov, who referred to himself as the "king of fraud," was also ordered to pay more than $3.8 million in forfeiture.
Extradited to the United States after being arrested in Bulgaria in November 2018, Zhukov was convicted following a jury trial in May 2021 of fraud and money laundering.
He has pleaded innocent to the charges.
Zhukov's scheme used thousands of infected computers around the world to falsely inflate web traffic to dummy websites and defraud advertisers.
"Sitting at his computer keyboard in Bulgaria and Russia, Zhukov boldly devised and carried out an elaborate multimillion-dollar fraud against the digital-advertising industry, and victimized thousands of companies across the United States," District Attorney Breon Peace said.
According to the statement, Zhukov "recruited computer programmers and other employees to help him perpetrate the scheme and build the technical infrastructure required to create fraudulent ad traffic."
U.S., Ukraine Sign Updated Text To Strategic Partnership Document
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba have signed an updated text to a charter on a strategic partnership that reaffirms that the relationship between the United States and Ukraine is based on shared and common values.
The document provides for cooperation between the two countries on security and defense, democracy, and the rule of law, as well as the economy, including in the energy sector.
The charter goes into detail on Ukraine's energy security, saying that the United States intends to support Ukraine's efforts to become energy independent, decarbonize its economy, and deregulate its energy sector among other goals.
In addition, the United States declares its intention to "prevent the Kremlin from using energy as a geopolitical weapon."
The United States also vows to support Ukraine's efforts to counter armed aggression and malicious cyberactivity by Russia, including by maintaining sanctions on Russia, and applying other relevant measures.
On defense matters, the charter says Washington supports Ukraine's efforts to maximize its status as a NATO Enhanced Opportunities Partner to promote interoperability and Ukraine's "right to decide its own future foreign policy course free from outside interference, including with respect to Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO."
The parties also recognized the 2021 Strategic Defense Framework 2021 as a basis for further in-depth cooperation on defense and security and intend to work to advance shared priorities, including implementing reforms, deepening cooperation in areas such as Black Sea security, intelligence sharing, and countering Russian aggression.
The previous text of the charter was signed in December 2008. The parties agreed to review its text every 10 years or earlier by mutual consent.
Kuleba underscored the importance of support from the United States and added that Ukraine would benefit from any potential defense cooperation that would strengthen its capabilities including intelligence sharing or air defense systems.
"We are in a situation where we cannot allow losing or wasting any time and we are looking forward to working with the United States in this field," he said.
Blinken expressed concern about a large buildup of Russian military forces about 260 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border, not far from the border with Belarus.
He warned that Russia would be making a "serious mistake" if it were to try and repeat what it did in 2014 in Ukraine, and he said Washington was concerned by reports of "unusual Russian military activity" near the Ukrainian border.
"We're concerned by reports of unusual Russian military activity near Ukraine," he said. "Any escalatory or aggressive actions would be of grave concern to the United States."
Ukraine's Defense Ministry last week said up to 90,000 troops remained in those locations despite the conclusion of military drills, when the units had been expected to return to the regular bases.
Blinken told reporters that the U.S. authorities were unclear about Russia's intentions with Ukraine, but that Washington's commitment to Ukraine's territorial integrity was "ironclad."
With reporting by Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Poland Reports More Clashes With Migrants Near Belarusian Border; Merkel, Putin Speak Again
Hundreds of migrants trapped along the Belarusian border in freezing temperatures and with little food tried to force their way into EU member Poland, prompting warnings that the crisis could turn into a military confrontation.
Warsaw has accused Belarus of committing terrorism over its role in an escalating border dispute, while the European Union moved closer to penalizing Minsk for provoking the crisis. In turn, Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka threatened to cut off gas to Europe in retaliation for any new sanctions.
Underscoring the seriousness of the crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel on November 11 spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the second time in as many days.
"The chancellor stressed that the situation was caused by the Belarusian regime, which was using defenseless people in a hybrid attack on the European Union," spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement.
The Kremlin said Putin complained to Merkel about what he called provocative U.S. and NATO actions in the Black Sea, as well as the migrant crisis. Putin also accused Ukraine of increasingly forceful behavior, including the use of drones in the conflict zones in eastern Ukraine.
The crisis has sparked a new confrontation between the West and Russia, which is Belarus’s strongest ally. Moscow dispatched nuclear-capable strategic bombers to fly over Belarus for the second day in a row, in a show of support for Minsk, and a threat to the West.
The U.S. and European delegations on the UN Security Council condemned Belarus's behavior in a joint statement on November 11. After an emergency meeting on the crisis, the Western delegations condemned "the orchestrated instrumentalization of human beings whose lives and well-being have been put in danger for political purposes by Belarus."
They said Belarus is doing this with "the objective of destabilizing neighboring countries and the European Union's external border and diverting attention away from its own increasing human rights violations."
The Polish Defense Ministry on November 11 said “a group of several hundred migrants attempted to cross the border by force” in the area of Bialowieza the previous day, following similar attempts over the past days.
“The attack began by throwing objects at the soldiers and then attempting to destroy the fence. Soldiers fired warning shots into the air,” the ministry tweeted.
The ministry also shared a video of the border area near the Bruzhi-Kuznica border crossing, just outside the western Belarusian city of Hrodno, showing security forces patrolling with dogs along razor wire fences, with crowds of people standing on the Belarusian side of the frontier:
According to the Border Committee of Belarus, more than 2,000 people are gathered on the Belarusian side of the border with Poland.
Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvidas Anushauskas said there could be more than 1,000 migrants along his country's border with Belarus.
"This increases the possibility of provocations and serious incidents that could also spill over into military domain," a joint statement by the Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian defense ministers said, noting the "deliberate escalation of the ongoing hybrid attack by the Belarusian regime, which is posing serious threats to European security."
The EU has accused Lukashenka of flying in migrants and funneling them to the bloc's borders to retaliate against Brussels for sanctions imposed after last year's presidential election, which Lukashenka claimed to have won, but no Western countries have recognized.
The thousands of people massed on the border include men, women, and children from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, and other countries.
Lukashenka's government, which is backed by Russia, denies the EU charges and has accused Poland and the EU of violating human rights by refusing to allow the migrants to apply for asylum.
A BBC correspondent posted photos on social media of what he described as “large groups of migrants in central Minsk, almost all heading to Belarus-Poland border.” The pictures showed mostly men wearing winter clothes and carrying backpacks, but also a number of women and children.
EU foreign ministers may approve a new fifth package of sanctions at their meeting in Brussels on November 15. Earlier reports said sanctions would target some 30 individuals and entities, including the Belarusian foreign minister and the national airline, Belavia.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said sanctions will be expanded "very rapidly" at the beginning of next week, including the possibility of sanctioning airlines that "facilitate human trafficking towards Minsk and then the EU-Belarus border."
Meanwhile, Lukashenka warned that Minsk would respond to any additional sanctions against it, warning he could shut off oil or gas supplies transiting Belarusian pipelines to Poland and Europe.
Asked about Lukashenka’s threat, a European Commission spokeswoman told reporters: "We are not going to be intimidated by any potential action by the Belarus regime using gas as a tool."
In a meeting with top security officials, Lukashenka also referred to the overflight by Russian bombers.
“Yes, these are bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons. But we have no other option. We must see what they are doing there beyond the borders," he said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated Moscow’s claim that it had nothing to do with the crisis on the Belarus-Poland border and rejected as "crazy" a suggestion in a media report that Russia’s state air carrier Aeroflot could be targeted with retaliatory sanctions.
In neighboring Ukraine, the government said police in the four border regions had been put on alert and extra border troops were being deployed to prevent possible attempts by migrants to cross.
Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy said 8,500 border guards would be in place, along with National Guard and National Police units.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart that "the idea that Belarus would weaponize migration is…profoundly objectionable."
Washington will pressure Lukashenka "as long as the regime is refusing to respect its international obligations, or commitments, as long as it's undermining peace and security in Europe through its actions, and as long as it continues to repress and abuse people,” Blinken said on November 10.
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, and RFE/RL's Belarus and Ukrainian services
- By RFE/RL
Top U.S., Ukrainian Diplomats Discuss Russian Troop Buildup
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that Russia would be making a “serious mistake” if it were to try to repeat what it did in 2014 in Ukraine, and he said Washington was concerned by reports of “unusual Russian military activity" near the Ukrainian border.
Blinken made the comments on November 10 after talks with visiting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
The two diplomats met amid growing concern in Ukraine, and in parts of Europe, about a large buildup of Russian military forces some 260 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border, not far from the border with Belarus.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry last week said that up to 90,000 troops remained in those locations despite the conclusion of military drills, when the units had been expected to return to the regular bases.
Blinken told reporters that the U.S. authorities were unclear about Russia’s intentions with Ukraine, but that Washington’s commitment to Ukraine’s territorial integrity was “ironclad.”
“We’re concerned by reports of unusual Russian military activity near Ukraine,” he said. “Any escalatory or aggressive actions would be of grave concern to the United States.”
“We don’t have clarity into Moscow’s intentions, but we do know its playbook,” he said.
The two sides also signed a new agreement that pledged cooperation between Washington and Kyiv.
“What is unfolding in Europe now is a very complicated thing with many elements to it,” Kuleba told reporters. “In this complicated game, we have to remain vigilant, we have to be resilient.”
Blinken also mentioned the growing crisis in Belarus, where thousands of migrants -- mainly from the Middle East -- have massed along the border with Poland and Lithuania. Both countries have declared states of emergency and deployed extra border forces.
With reporting by AP
Moscow Says Missing Turkmen Opposition Activist Left Russia Willingly
Russian authorities deny that they deported noted Turkmen opposition activist Azat Isakov, who for several years lived in Russia's Moscow region, saying that he left of his own accord for his native Turkmenistan where rights groups say he may face imprisonment and torture.
The Chronicles Of Turkmenistan website obtained an official letter from Russia's Interior Ministry saying that Isakov left Russia for the city of Turkmenabat in Turkmenistan on October 22 and recommending that Turkmen authorities should be contacted to ascertain his whereabouts.
Exiled opposition politician Chemen Ore voiced concern about Isakov last week, saying that the 37-year-old opposition activist had been missing since October 20.
Ore said at the time that Isakov might have been deported to Turkmenistan, adding that Turkmen authorities had threatened him and his relatives, who are still in Turkmenistan, with prosecution on unspecified charges.
According to the Chronicles Of Turkmenistan, Isakov may face arbitrary detention and torture in the extremely isolated and secretive former Soviet republic.
Turkmenistan is one of the most repressive countries in the world, with President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov ruling with an iron fist and allowing little dissent since he came to power after the death of autocrat Saparmurat Niyazov in 2006.
Alleged Leader Of Banned Islamic Group Detained In Kyrgyzstan
BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz authorities have apprehended an alleged leader of the Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic group, which is banned in the mostly Muslim Central Asian nation.
The State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said that the suspect, who is an Uzbek citizen whose identity was not disclosed, had been detained on November 4 in the southern Osh region that borders Uzbekistan.
According to the UKMK, the detained person used forged documents to stay in the country and is wanted in Uzbekistan on extremism charges.
In a separate statement on November 10, the UKMK said that several leaders and members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, including teenagers, were detained at a gathering in the northern Chui region.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is a global organization based in London that seeks to unite all Muslim countries into an Islamic caliphate but says its methods for reaching that goal are peaceful.
The group has been banned as extremist in Central Asian nations and Russia.
Hundreds Of Saakashvili Supporters Rally In Georgian Capital On First Day Of Ex-President's Trial
Police in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, have arrested dozens of protesters demanding the release of jailed former President Mikheil Saakashvili. Hundreds of his supporters rallied outside government buildings and in front of a courtroom where his trial started on November 10. Georgia's penitentiary service said that Saakashvili was not brought to the trial at Tbilisi City Court due to coronavirus precautions and the defendant’s poor health. He has been on hunger strike for 41 days.
- By Mike Eckel
Russian Analyst Involved In Salacious Trump Dossier Pleads Innocent To Lying To FBI
A U.S.-based Russian analyst who gathered information for the so-called Steele Dossier alleging ties between Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia pleaded innocent to charges of lying to FBI agents about the origins of his research.
Igor Danchenko’s plea on November 10 came nearly a week after his indictment by a U.S. grand jury. He was released on a $100,000 bond; earlier he had been ordered to turn over his passport.
The court set a tentative trial date of April 2022.
The indictment was the third secured by Special Counsel John Durham, who has been probing the origins of the FBI investigation that looked at whether Trump’s campaign was collaborating with Russia in 2016.
Earlier, Danchenko's lawyer, Mark Schamel, said that the 39-page indictment “presents a false narrative designed to humiliate and slander a renowned expert in business intelligence.”
“Mr. Danchenko is a respected research analyst who uncovered and exposed Vladimir Putin’s plagiarized PhD thesis and whose work has been recognized all over the world for its intellectual rigor and accuracy,” Schamel said in a statement. “For the past five years, those with an agenda have sought to expose Mr. Danchenko’s identity and tarnish his reputation.... We will expose how Mr. Danchenko has been unfairly maligned by these false allegations."
Danchenko, who lives outside of Washington, D.C., was the primary researcher for Christopher Steele, a former British spy who prepared the dossier for a U.S. private investigation firm called Fusion GPS.
Fusion GPS had been researching Trump, initially for a Republican donor, but then was hired by a law firm that represented the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. That firm hired Fusion GPS, which in turn brought in Steele.
Steele compiled a series of memos that later were called the Steele Dossier. The file is mostly filled with rumors, third-hand sourcing, and unproven assertions that Trump himself was compromised and his campaign conspired with Russian intelligence to undermine Clinton’s presidential bid.
Some of the research Danchenko did for Steele was provided to the FBI and used to obtain surveillance warrants targeting a former Trump campaign aide who worked in Russia. Some of the information Danchenko obtained allegedly came from a Democratic donor named Charles Dolan who had worked as a public relations consultant in Russia for years.
When it was published in full in January 2017, the dossier roiled U.S. politics, and sent reporters around the world looking to verify or disprove it.
The FBI investigated the dossier’s claims but was unable to confirm or corroborate most of its allegations, according to the indictment.
Danchenko has previously suggested that the information he offered to Steele was not meant to be portrayed as indisputable fact, and that he was not responsible for how Steele made the information public.
“Even raw intelligence from credible sources, I take it with a grain of salt,” Danchenko told The New York Times last year. “Who knows, what if it’s not particularly accurate? Is it just a rumor or is there more to it?”
Danchenko previously worked for a Washington think tank called the Brookings Institution, where he wrote a report showing that Russian President Vladimir Putin had plagiarized his dissertation.
An investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller took over the broader FBI investigation, and ultimately found that Russia meddled in the 2016 election, but did not find sufficient evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
- By Current Time
Belarusian Authorities Launch Probe Into Former Law Enforcement Officers' Group
The Investigative Committee of Belarus has launched a probe against the BYPOL group, which unites former law enforcement officers who support opposition politicians.
The committee said in its statement on Telegram on November 10 that "an extremist group of country traitors" will face charges of creating of "an extremist group," adding that investigations to identify members of the group are under way.
The Criminal Code of Belarus envisions punishment of up to seven years in prison for the crime.
A BYPOL member, former top police official Alyaksandr Azarau, told Current Time earlier that the group had launched a program called Peramoga (Victory) "to reinstate law and order in the country."
Azarau added that the Peramoga plan aims to convince active police officers to "take the Belarusian people's side" to stop the ongoing massive crackdown on dissent that started after monthslong mass protests erupted across the country following the presidential poll of August last year.
Strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has run the country with an iron fist since 1994, says he won the election, while the opposition and the West say the poll was rigged.
Many opposition politicians and activists have been forced to leave the country or have been jailed since then.
On November 10, the Minsk-based Vyasna human rights center said a couple, Syarhey Krupenich and Anastasia Krupenich-Kandratsyeva, have fled Belarus after they were unexpectedly released from jail last week after serving a 15-day term they had been sentenced to for using Telegram channels labeled as extremist by the Belarusian authorities.
It was the couple's ninth incarceration since August last year.
Belgrade Protesters Angered By Arrests Of Activists Who Egged Mladic Mural
People gathered in the center of the Serbian capital, Belgrade, to protest against the arrest of two activists detained after they threw eggs at a mural of war criminal Ratko Mladic on November 9. The protesters chanted "Fascists!" at a group of right-wingers shouting support for Mladic. By November 10, paint had been splashed on the mural. Mladic, 79, led Bosnian Serb forces during Bosnia-Herzegovina's 1992-95 war and was convicted by a UN tribunal of war crimes.
Dozens Of Georgian Demonstrators Arrested As Saakashvili Goes On Trial
TBILISI -- Police in Tbilisi have arrested dozens of protesters demanding the release of jailed former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, as his trial in a case related to the dispersal of a 2007 opposition rally kicked off in Georgia's capital.
The opposition leader, who served as president between 2004 and 2013, has been on hunger strike for 41 days.
He was detained on October 1 upon his return from eight years in self-exile to campaign for the opposition ahead of local elections, exacerbating a political crisis that began after last year's parliamentary polls that the opposition denounced as fraudulent.
Hundreds of Saakashvili supporters on November 10 rallied outside government buildings and in front of the courtroom where his trial started without the presence of the accused.
The Interior Ministry said police had detained 46 people, who were charged with administrative offenses.
Those detained "exceeded the legal limits to freedom of assembly and attempted to blockade administrative buildings," the ministry said.
Georgia's penitentiary service decided not to bring Saakashvili from detention to the Tbilisi City Court, citing coronavirus precautions and his poor health. It also argued that the presence of the accused at the trial "may provoke disorders."
His co-defendant, former Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava, was ordered to leave the courtroom after he demanded Saakashvili's presence at the trial.
Saakashvili's lawyers also demanded their client be brought to court and filed a motion to recuse the judge, after which the trial was adjourned until November 29.
Saakashvili denies any role in the violent dispersal of protesters in Tbilisi in November 2007.
Earlier this week, Saakashvili was moved from a prison in the city of Rustavi to the Gldani prison clinic, where he claimed he was verbally and physically abused by guards.
He said in a letter released through his lawyer that they punched him in the neck and dragged him by his hair on the ground.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price on November 9 urged the Georgian government to treat Saakashvili "fairly and with dignity."
Georgia's rights ombudswoman, Nino Lomjaria, said Saakashvili had been "under psychological pressure" in custody.
Saakashvili left the country shortly after the presidential election of 2013 and was convicted in absentia in 2018 for abuse of power and seeking to cover up evidence about the beating of an opposition member of parliament. He has rejected the charges as politically motivated.
Saakashvili's United National Movement (ENM) party was outpolled decisively by the ruling Georgian Dream party in the October 3 nationwide municipal and mayoral vote.
The opposition has claimed that Georgian Dream, which won mayoral races in the country's five biggest cities as a result of the vote, rigged the election.
North Macedonia's PM Delays Resignation
SKOPJE -- North Macedonia's prime minister, Zoran Zaev, who announced he would step down following his party's poor results in local elections last month, says he will stay on in the job until the political situation stabilizes.
Zaev made the announcement late on November 9 following a meeting of his Social Democratic Union's (SDSM) leadership, after opposition parties led by the right-wing VMRO-DPMNE filed a no-confidence motion in the government.
"I expect the parliamentary majority to stabilize, especially the majority that is for the EU, for a multiethnic society," he said.
It was not clear how long his resignation would be postponed.
The 120-seat parliament is scheduled to vote on the motion of no confidence in the government on November 11.
VMRO-DPMNE has said that it and other opposition parties have secured the 61 votes in the legislature to bring down the government, while the ruling SDSM insists it will try to hold on to the support of at least 62 lawmakers.
If the motion passes, President Stevo Pendarovski will have to appoint another politician who can command a majority in parliament to form a new government.
On October 31, Zaev announced he would step down both as prime minister and SDSM leader after his center-left party suffered a defeat in mayoral elections, including in the capital, Skopje.
But he insisted that the majority in parliament should continue until the next regular elections set for 2024.
Zaev was elected prime minister in 2017 after 10 years of right-wing rule led by Nikola Gruevski, whose government was shaken by a wiretapping scandal revealed by Zaev.
In 2018, Zaev struck a deal with Athens to add the geographical qualifier "north" to the country's official name in order to distinguish it from the Greek province of Macedonia.
That was a precondition to paving the way for NATO and European Union membership, but the name change did little to settle grievances of other neighbors, including Bulgaria, which has sought to block the country's path to joining the EU.
- By RFE/RL
Iran's New Population Law Violates Women's Rights, HRW Warns
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is calling on Iran to repeal provisions of a new legislation that it says undermine women's rights, dignity, and health, denying them access to reproductive health care and information.
"Iranian legislators are avoiding addressing Iranians' many serious problems, including government incompetence, corruption, and repression, and instead are attacking women's fundamental rights," Tara Sepehri Far, senior Iran researcher at HRW, said in a statement on November 10.
First approved by parliament in March, the "rejuvenation of the population and support of family" bill was backed by Iran's Guardians Council on November 1.
It is set to become law when it is signed and published in the official gazette, which HRW said is expected within the next month.
The legislation bans sterilization and free distribution of contraceptives in the public health-care system unless a pregnancy threatens a woman's health.
Several articles also "further limit already restricted access to safe abortion," HRW said.
By adding to existing limits on access to contraception and abortion, the legislation violates women's rights to sexual and reproductive health and puts women's health and lives at risk, according to the New York-based human rights watchdog.
Currently, abortion can be legally performed in Iran during the first four months of pregnancy if three doctors agree that a pregnancy threatens a woman's life or the fetus has severe physical or mental disabilities that would create extreme hardship for the mother.
Ex-Chief Of Navalny Support Group Jailed On Extremism Charges
UFA, Russia -- A woman who headed a regional organization for jailed opposition activist Aleksei Navalny was ordered jailed on extremism charges, in an unusual prosecution that appeared to target her for retroactive crimes.
A district court in the central city of Ufa on November 10 ordered Lilia Chanysheva to remain in pretrial detention in Moscow until at least January 9.
Chanysheva, who her supporters said was newly pregnant, was detained a day earlier in Ufa, the capital of Bashkortostan, after police searched her home.
Chanysheva's lawyers, who had asked the court to place her under house arrest, said they will appeal the ruling.
Chanysheva headed the local unit of Navalny's network of regional campaign groups until his team disbanded them after a Moscow prosecutor went to court to have them branded extremist. A court later accepted the prosecutor's appeal, and labeled the national network extremist, effectively outlawing them.
Defense lawyer Vladimir Voronin said Chanysheva's arrest was the first of its kind since the movement was banned. The charges also appeared to be retroactive, since the organization she worked for disbanded before it had been legally classified as extremist.
Another Ufa-based activist, Olga Komleva, earlier told RFE/RL that police searched the homes of other activists who used to work for Navalny's team in Ufa and in the Siberian city of Kemerovo. The activists’ computers and mobile phones were confiscated, she said.
Some of the activists were detained for questioning.
Navalny himself has been in prison since February, while several of his associates have been charged with establishing an extremist group. Many of his associates have fled the country.
With reporting by Reuters
Russian Rights Group Issues More Videos Of Alleged Rape In Prison
The Russian human rights group Gulagu.net has released new videos purportedly showing instances of torture and rape in a prison hospital in the city of Saratov.
The group said the clips published on YouTube on November 9 had been recorded in the OTB-1 tuberculosis infirmary between July 2015 and September 2020.
The nine videos appear to show instances of anal and oral rape allegedly recorded in the infirmary. Seven of them have dates on them.
Gulagu.net founder Vladimir Osechkin, who resides in France, said that the men involved in raping and torturing the inmates were hired by the prison hospital as administrative managers and nurses.
Osechkin said they were supervised by the regional branch of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN), a FSIN deputy director, and a top official of the regional directorate of the Federal Security Service (FSB).
He gives the names of 13 men directly involved in the alleged abuses and their supervisors.
According to Osechkin, the footage was handed to the infirmary's administration, which then passed it on as classified material to the FSIN and FSB.
FSB and FSIN officers recruited the victims as informants after telling them that the videos would be made available to other inmates, he said.
In penitentiaries across Russia and most of the former Soviet republics, raped inmates and gays are treated as pariahs, face humiliation on a daily basis, and do dirty menial work.
Last month, Osechkin said his group obtained a large batch of videos showing prison inmates being tortured so that FSB and FSIN officers could use rape and other forms of torture to force inmates to cooperate with them.
Osechkin released several videos at the time, with one of them showing several people using a large stick to rape a naked man who is tied to a bed.
The videos sparked public outcry that led to resignation of the chief of the FSIN's directorate in Saratov and the firing of five senior prison officials in the city.
After that, more than 400 inmates have made statements saying they were tortured in the prison hospital.
Osechkin has said that the videos were provided by a former prison inmate and an IT expert, Belarusian national Syarhey Savelyeu.
Savelyeu fled to France last month, where he applied for political asylum. Russia issued an arrest warrant, accusing him of "illegal access to digital information."
Belarusian Activist Dzyadok Gets Five Years In Prison Over Protests
MINSK -- Noted Belarusian activist Mikalay Dzyadok has been sentenced to five years in prison over his participation in unsanctioned rallies held last year to protest against official election results that handed strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth consecutive term in office.
The Minsk City Court pronounced the ruling on November 10 after finding Dzyadok guilty of charges including organizing activities that violate social order and making public calls for activities that undermine national security.
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Dzyadok rejected the accusations against him and called the case "persecution for my views and my desire to tell the truth."
Dzyadok, a contributor to Novy chas (New Time) newspaper, was arrested in November 2020 after being actively involved in unprecedented anti-Lukashenka rallies that lasted for several months.
The protests were triggered by an August presidential poll that Lukashenka said he had won by a landslide but which the opposition and West say was rigged.
In 2011, Dzyadok was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison on hooliganism charges. He rejected the charge and Belarusian human rights groups declared him a political prisoner.
In February 2015, his prison term was extended by one year for allegedly disobeying prison guards, but he was unexpectedly released several months later along with other political prisoners.
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