U.S. cybersecurity researchers say they have uncovered evidence that the Belarusian government is linked to a hacking and disinformation campaign against Eastern European NATO members.

Researchers with the cybersecurity firm Mandiant said in a report issued on November 16 that the campaign, known as Ghostwriter, was primarily aimed at sowing discord and stealing information.

The researchers said they assessed that the hacking group, which it calls UNC1151, is linked to the Belarusian government, and the group provides technical support to the Ghostwriter campaign.

"This assessment, along with observed Ghostwriter narratives consistent with Belarusian government interests, causes us to assess with moderate confidence that Belarus is also likely at least partially responsible for the Ghostwriter campaign," Mandiant said in its report.

Mandiant has tracked UNC1151 since 2017 and issues periodic updates on its activity. The most recent report appears to mark the first time Belarus has been linked to the Ghostwriter campaign.

European Union members have previously said they suspected Russian involvement in Ghostwriter. The Mandiant report said it had no direct proof of Russian participation but didn't rule it out.

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EU Denounces Russian-Linked Cyberattack Campaign As 'Unacceptable'

Germany's prosecutor-general in September opened investigations into cyberattacks targeting German politicians, and the German Foreign Ministry blamed them on Moscow.

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Reports: German Prosecutors Open Investigation Into Alleged Russian Cyberattacks

The Belarusian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to the AP. The Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment from RFE/RL but told AP it had no immediate comment. Russian officials regularly reject accusations they are involved in hacking and disinformation activity.

Ben Read, director of cyberespionage analysis at Mandiant, would not provide details on why Mandiant is highly confident Belarus technically assisted the hackers and why it says they are likely located in Minsk, according to AP.

He said only that they left telltale digital footprints and that multiple other sources corroborated Mandiant's findings that the hackers likely were located in Minsk.

The report also said researchers believe Belarus's military is involved with the hackers. The reports says the evidence of this has been "directly observed by Mandiant."

The main targets of the hacking and disinformation campaign have been NATO members Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia, as well as Ukraine.

Also targeted were domestic news media and political opponents of Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka prior to the disputed August 2020 election that the opposition and Western governments have said was rigged.

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The report notes that since the elections, Ghostwriter disinformation operations have been more closely aligned to Lukashenka's political agenda, attempting in particular to create tensions in Polish-Lithuanian relations.

Among the false narratives disseminated were false claims that NATO was planning to withdraw from Lithuania in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and that nuclear waste from Lithuania was threatening Poland.

Mandiant's findings come as the European Union prepares new sanctions against Belarus over a migrant crisis on its border with Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania.

With reporting by AP

PRISTINA -- Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti says that talks on the normalization of ties with Serbia are stalling despite of what he called a "tectonic shift for good" in bilateral relations.

Kurti, a left-wing reformist who came to power after a landmark victory in February's parliamentary elections -- has pledged a new approach in talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

But progress in talks has so far been meager, despite efforts by the European Union and the United States to bring the two sides closer. Both Brussels and Washington insist that normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina is essential for their further integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions.

Kurti told RFE/RL that given the "lack of progress," the sides needed to redouble their efforts to kick-start the talks.

"We need a new chapter, we need a new approach, and for us it must be principled with the citizens as beneficiaries and with mutual recognition at the center," Kurti said.

However, the Kosovar prime minister hailed what he called "a tectonic shift for good" in the bilateral contacts since he came to power, with discussions about mutual recognition playing a central role.

"An agreement will not be just on mutual recognition, but there is no agreement without mutual recognition at the center. So, not in the end, in the sense of time, but in the center, in the sense of the space of things that that agreement includes," Kurti said.

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EU Leaders Reaffirm Western Balkans' 'European Perspective,' Give No Timeline For Accessions

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, nearly a decade after the war between ethnic Albanian separatists and the forces of rump Yugoslavia. The war ended after a 78-day NATO bombing campaign that drove Belgrade's troops out.

Kosovo's independence has been recognized by more than 100 countries including the United States and all but five of the European Union's 27 member states. But Serbia still considers the territory a southern province and is supported by Russia and China.

At a summit last month, EU leaders reaffirmed the bloc's commitment to the stalled enlargement process for six Western Balkans states that include Kosovo and Serbia, without giving a concrete timeline.

Kurti and Vucic met on the sidelines of the summit in Slovenia, with Vucic acknowledging that Serbia would not be able to join the EU unless it resolves outstanding issues with Kosovo.

While Serbia is more advanced, having opened accession negotiations and chapters with the EU, Kosovo remains at the potential-candidate stage.

A resumption of talks has also been hampered by a recent standoff at the Kosovo-Serbia border in September that was triggered by a dispute over vehicle registration plates.

The 10-day dispute was resolved after the two sides reached an agreement during European Union-mediated talks in Brussels that involved deploying members of the NATO-led KFOR stabilization force at crossings.

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Vehicles, Their State Symbols Hidden, Now Crossing Kosovar-Serbian Border

A third meeting between Kurti and Vucic before the end of the year has been floated by EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell.

But Kurti, whose political standing has been seriously shaken by his party's shock losses in local elections last week, told RFE/RL that a future meeting with Vucic will depend on the results of preparation talks between the delegations of the two sides scheduled for November 16 in Brussels.

"We must first see how these talks are going this week between the two chief negotiators. Then we can say what is the perspective of a future meeting, in which case of course it should be known also what is the purpose of such a meeting," Kurti said.

"The government of Kosovo and I as prime minister have expressed our readiness and interest in comprehensive agreements, constructive meetings, principled talks and if we are invited to them in Brussels, of course we will participate as we have been twice before."

Kurti concluded that a final agreement with Serbia would still be possible during his term as prime minister but that will depend on Belgrade's determination to come to a "comprehensive agreement" with Kosovo.

"I cannot predict when it will happen, but if we consider that the mandate of the American president, [Joe] Biden, the mandate of the vice president of the European Commission, Borrell, and my mandate -- those will have approximately the same duration, it could be expected that within these mandates...we will conclude a comprehensive agreement with Serbia. We have the will and the interest, it depends on whether Serbia is ready," Kurti said.

The European Union's top court has ruled that Hungary broke the bloc's rules when it made it a criminal offense for individuals or organizations to help migrants and refugees apply for asylum.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling on November 16 is the latest issued by the court against measures that Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing government says defend the EU against illegal immigration.

Hungary's government in 2018 introduced legislation that would make it an offense to help people apply for asylum, after erecting a razor-wire barrier on its border with Serbia and Croatia in 2015 as well over 1 million people, most fleeing conflict in Syria, entered the EU.

Orban, who has targeted the work of U.S.-Hungarian billionaire philanthropist George Soros, accused Soros of encouraging the migrants.

The ECJ said in a statement that the 2018 legislation, known as the "Stop Soros" laws, "infringed EU law."

Orban, a steadfast opponent of immigration, has repeatedly accused Soros of meddling in Hungarian politics and leading the liberal opposition.

The European Court of Justice said Hungary had failed to fulfill its EU obligations "by criminalizing, in its national law, the actions of any person who, in connection with an organizing activity, provides assistance in respect of the making or lodging of an application for asylum in its territory."

The Luxembourg-based court said the legislation restricted "the right of access to applicants for international protection and the right to communicate with those persons," as well as the right of the migrants themselves to consult a legal adviser or counselor.

Human rights group Amnesty International welcomed the verdict, saying it "sends an unequivocal message that the Hungarian government's campaign of intimidation, targeting those who stand up for the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers cannot, and will not be tolerated."

With reporting by AP and AFP

BAKU/YEREVAN --Armenia has announced a Russian-mediated cease-fire with Azerbaijan after asking for Moscow's assistance amid deadly hostilities that erupted earlier in the day along their shared border.

"Under the mediation of the Russian side, an agreement was reached to cease-fire at Armenia's eastern border from 1830 (1430 GMT/UTC). The situation has relatively stabilized," the Armenian Defense Ministry announced on November 16, adding that at least one Armenian soldier died in the clashes. Earlier reports had put the number of the Armenian deaths at 15.

The renewed deadly clashes along the border started about a year after a cease-fire stopped an intense war over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Earlier on November 16, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said its forces prevented "large-scale provocations" by the Armenian forces in Kalbacar and Lachin districts bordering Armenia.

According to the ministry, two of its soldiers were injured when Armenian military units used mortars and artillery against the Azerbaijani position at the border.

In turn, Armenia's Defense Ministry accused Azerbaijani soldiers of shooting at its positions along the border, using artillery, armored vehicles, and guns.

The ministry also said that two Armenian "combat positions" had been lost and an unspecified number of soldiers killed. It also claimed that Azerbaijani forces lost a "significant number of armored vehicles and troops."

According to the ministry, 12 Armenian soldiers were taken captive by Azerbaijani forces. Their situation remained unknown after the announced truce.

The chairman of Armenia's parliamentary foreign-affairs committee, Eduard Aghajanian, told RFE/RL earlier that according to preliminary estimates, 15 Armenian soldiers may have been killed during the fighting.

The truce was announced shortly after the Kremlin said in a statement, without elaborating, that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian discussed the situation during a phone call on November 16.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also held phone calls with both his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts and called on them to stop activity that provokes escalation, Russian news agencies reported on November 16, citing the ministry.

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Armenia's Foreign Ministry earlier in the day had called on the Collective Security Treaty Organization comprising Armenia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, as well as the OCSE's Minsk Group to intervene and undertake measures "to remove Azerbaijani armed forces" from Armenia's territory.

The situation along the border has been tense since the two South Caucasus states fought a 44-day war over Nagorno-Karabakh last year that killed at least 6,500 people and ended with a cease-fire that granted Azerbaijan control of parts of the region as well as adjacent territories occupied by Armenians.

The breakaway region is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but had been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since the end of a separatist war in 1994.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington was “troubled” by the reports of the fighting. In a tweet on November 17, Blinken called on both sides to engage “directly and constructively to resolve all outstanding issues, including border demarcation.”

Last year's war ended when a Russian-brokered cease-fire granted Azerbaijan control of parts of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as adjacent territories, including the Kalbacar and Lachin districts, previously held by ethnic Armenians.

On November 16, the European Union also urged the two sides to show restraint.

Calling for "urgent de-escalation and full cease-fire," European CouncilPresident Charles Michel described the situation in the region as "challenging."

"The EU is committed to work with partners to overcome tensions for a prosperous and stable South Caucasus," Michel wrote on Twitter.

Michel also said that he had discussions with both Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev "in light of today's developments."

Kyiv has assailed Moscow over a presidential decree allowing goods produced in areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists to be sold more easily in Russia, calling it "gross interference" in the country's internal affairs and a violation of international law.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on November 16 that Russian President Vladimir Putin's decree violated Russia's commitments under the Minsk cease-fire deals aimed at putting an end to an ongoing seven-year conflict in Ukraine's eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk that has claimed more than 13,200 lives since April 2014.

The decree, which was posted on Russia’s official portal of legal information on November 15 amid Western concerns over Russian military activities in and around Ukraine, "clearly demonstrates Russia's purposeful policy to pull the temporarily occupied territories of our state to its economic, political, electoral, and information space," the statement reads.

The Ukrainian ministry said it had sent a relevant "note of protest" to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

In his decree, Putin ordered the government to lift curbs on exports and imports of goods between Russia and parts of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions that are held by the separatists.

The Kremlin justified the move by citing the repercussions of the economic blockade between the separatist-held areas and the rest of Ukraine, as well as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

A separatist representative in Luhansk, Rodion Miroshnik, hailed the move as a "serious step toward integration with Russia," while Donetsk separatist leader Denis Pushilin spoke of an "important step in support."

Since 2019, residents of the breakaway areas have been able to obtain Russian passports through a simplified procedure, sparking harsh criticism from Kyiv and Western governments which accused Moscow of trying to further destabilize the situation in Ukraine's east.

With reporting by dpa

BISHKEK-- Kyrgyz lawmaker Dastan Bekeshev, who is seeking reelection on November 28, has been summoned to the State Committee for National Security (UKMK) for questioning regarding alleged he violated election campaign regulations.

The UKMK said on November 16 that Bekeshev was questioned a day earlier over his alleged use of teenagers in his election campaign, paying campaigners from sources outside of state election funds, and without signing agreements.

According to the UKMK, the results of the investigation will be sent to the Central Election Commission (BSK).

Bekeshev, who is legally blind and does not represent any political party, said on November 15 that he had been interrogated at the UKMK for more than three hours, which he called "the use of an administrative resource" against him during the election campaign.

Earlier in the month, the rector of the Osh State University in the Central Asian nation's south, Kudaiberdi Kojobekov, was suspended for using university students in the campaign.

Parliamentary elections in the former Soviet republic are scheduled for November 28.

Previous parliamentary elections in October last year ended with mass protests against the official results that were later recognized as rigged and led to the government's resignation.

A court in Minsk has sentenced a student at the Belarusian State Medical University to four years in prison for his coverage of anti-government protests on social media as authoritian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on dissent stemming from a disputed presidential election in August 2020.

The Minsk City Court on November 16 sentenced 21-year-old Uladzislau Martsinovich for allegedly making "public calls for actions aimed at damaging national security," the Vyasna (Spring) human rights center said.

The charge stemmed from Martsinovich's online activities in the autumn of 2020, namely his creation of the "White Robes" channel on the social media platform Telegram, through which he covered the protests against the official results of presidential poll in August that handed Lukashenka a sixth consecutive term in office despite opposition claims it had won the vote.

Martsinovich, who was arrested in November last year, initially rejected the charge, but in September he agreed to plead guilty. Many believe he made the confession under duress, while human rights groups in Belarus have recognized Martsinovich a political prisoner.

Belarusian authorities have declared hundreds of Telegram channels and chats “extremist” since Belarus was engulfed by the protests.

In response, the government has cracked down hard on the pro-democracy movement, arresting thousands of people and pushing most leading opposition figures out of the country.

Lukashenka, who has run the country since 1994, has denied any election fraud and refuses to negotiate with the opposition on a political transition and new elections.

The German federal energy regulator says it is temporarily halting the approval process for the controversial Nord Stream 2 undersea gas pipeline aimed at bringing Russian gas to Germany.

The Federal Network Agency, or Bundesnetzagentur, announced in a statement on November 16 that it has suspended the certification procedure for the recently completed pipeline after concluding that “it would only be possible to certify an operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if that operator was organized in a legal form under German law."

Bundesnetzagentur said that a subsidiary set up to govern the German part of the pipeline did not fulfil the conditions to be an "independent transmission operator."

The certification procedure would be suspended until "the main assets and human resources have been transferred to the subsidiary" and this step has been verified, it added.

The announcement comes as Europe, which receives a third of its gas from Russia, is battling surging energy prices as the continent heads into the winter season.

The Baltic Sea pipeline is set to double Russian gas supplies to Germany, which the EU's biggest economy says is needed to help it transition away from coal and nuclear energy.

But critics say Nord Stream will increase the EU’s energy reliance on Russia, while enabling Moscow to reroute gas exports to Europe around Ukraine, depriving the cash-strapped country of billions of dollars a year in transit fees

BAKU -- Saleh Rustamli, a representative of the opposition Popular Front Of Azerbaijan (AXCP) party, has been on hunger strike for more than 10 days to demand his release from detention.

Rustamli's relatives said on November 15 that they were allowed to meet him in a prison hospital, where they saw his state of health had dramatically worsened.

Rustamli, who has lived in Russia since 1998, was arrested in 2018 when he visited Azerbaijan. He was subsequently sentenced to more than seven years in prison after a court found him guilty of money laundering for the alleged transfer of $420,000 to a bank account connected to the AXCP.

Rustamli has rejected all of the charges against him, calling them politically motivated. He insists that, in all, he wired just $10,000 back home, and that it was to his relatives.

Rustamli's lawyer, Bahruz Bayramov, said on November 15 that his client has lost 10 kilograms and it is finding it difficult to move because of the effects of the hunger strike.

Representatives of the ombudsman's office visited Rustamli on November 14 and said that he had been placed under supervision due to his health condition.

Human rights groups in Azerbaijan have recognized him as a political prisoner. The Norwegian Helsinki Committee has called on Azerbaijani government to immediately release Rustamli.

Migrants trapped in Belarus have clashed with Polish soldiers at the border between the two countries, throwing rocks and debris at the heavily armed guards, who responded with water cannons, tear gas, and flash grenades as the situation at the EU and NATO's eastern border continues to worsen.

The escalation on November 16 prompted NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg to voice deep concern about authoritarian Belarusian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka's strategy of "putting migrant lives at risk," and to offer support to alliance member Poland.

Thousands of people, mainly from the Middle East, are stuck in makeshift camps in dire conditions on the Belarusian side of the border with Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania, trying to illegally enter the EU.

"The migrants attacked our soldiers and officers with stones and are trying to destroy the fence and get to Poland. Our services used tear gas to stifle the aggression," the Polish Defense Ministry tweeted on November 16.

The ministry posted videos of the violence, which took place at the Kuznica border crossing.

Live video on CNN showed Polish forces also using water cannons, flash grenades, and smoke grenades against several dozen migrants, who could be seen retreating while a polish helicopter was hovering over the area.

The bloc accuses Lukashenka of facilitating the flow of migrants to Minsk from the Middle East and funneling them to the bloc's borders to retaliate against Brussels for sanctions imposed following a disputed presidential election in August 2020 that saw the strongman claim victory despite accusations from the opposition and the West that the vote was rigged.

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EU, U.S. Prepare Fresh Sanctions Over Belarus Migrant Crisis Amid Flurry Of Diplomatic Calls

In response to protests against the election outcome, Lukashenka has ordered a brutal and often violent crackdown on dissent, arresting thousands while clamping down on independent media. Most opposition leaders have fled the country to avoid arrest.

Lukashenka's government, which is backed by Russia, has denied the EU charges that it is using the migrants as pawns and accuses the bloc of violating human rights by refusing to allow them to apply for asylum.

In response to the crisis, Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania, which form the eastern flank of both the EU and NATO, have been reinforcing their borders with Belarus.

In Brussels, Stoltenberg said NATO was very disturbed about the "hybrid tactic" employed by Minsk and reaffirmed the bloc's solidarity with members Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania.

"We are deeply concerned about the way the Lukashenka regime is using vulnerable migrants as a hybrid tactic against other countries and he is putting the lives of the migrants at risk," he said.

"We stand in solidarity with Poland and other affected allies," Stoltenberg told reporters as he arrived for a meeting with EU defense ministers.

Later on November 16, Polish lawmakers are expected to take up a proposal to regulate the ability of citizens to move in the area of the border with Belarus after a state of emergency imposed in early September expires at the end of the month.

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The renewed clashes on the border come a day after the EU's 27 foreign ministers updated their Belarus sanctions package to include airlines, travel agents, and individuals allegedly involved in the standoff.

The measures are expected to involve asset freezes and travel bans.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration said it was preparing new sanctions targeting Lukashenka’s regime in coordination with the EU over the "inhumane facilitation" of migrants.

The EU and the United States have already slapped several rounds of sanctions on Belarus over the president election and the postelection crackdown.

The Kremlin said that Putin and Lukashenka discussed the migrant crisis in a phone call on November 16 after the Belarusian strongman reiterated earlier in the day that he wants to avoid the crisis turning into a “heated confrontation.”

"The presidents continued to exchange views on the migration crisis at Belarus’ border with the EU countries, taking into account Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s phone call with German acting Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday," the Kremlin said.

Lukashenka on November 16 talked to Merkel in his first contact with a Western leader since he suppressed mass protests against his rule last year.

"We were of the united opinion that nobody needs escalation -- not the EU, nor Belarus," Lukashenka said, according to his office.

With reporting by AP and Reuters

YEREVAN -- The two opposition factions in Armenia’s parliament have announced a boycott of a regular session of the legislature on November 16, accusing the pro-government majority of scuttling their attempt to discuss the situation at the border with Azerbaijan.

The Hayastan and Pativ Unem factions requested hearings in the National Assembly on the matter after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian accused Azerbaijani troops of violating the border between the two South Caucasus states.

Baku denies its troops have entered Armenian territory as a result of several cease-fire violations reported along the border over the weekend.

The incidents came amid persistent heightened tensions between the two neighbors after they fought a 44-day war over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region a year ago.

“The opposition factions had demanded a special meeting to get answers from the government about what is happening at the borders of our homeland,” Hayk Mamijanian, secretary of the Pativ Unem faction, told parliament on November 16.

“That process was foiled by the ruling majority. Instead, today we see on the agenda of the National Assembly an issue of [the utilization] of mercury,” he added.

Mamikanian said that Pativ Unem members will return to the chamber when important issues regarding Armenia’s security will be discussed.

Members of the two oppositions factions then left the chamber, while the session, which also had the 2022 state budget on its agenda, continued with the participation of representatives of the pro-governing Civil Contract party.

With 71 seats in the 107-member National Assembly, Civil Contract is in a position to ensure a quorum and adopt laws without the opposition.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but had been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since the end of a separatist war in 1994.

Last year's war ended when a Russia-brokered cease-fire granted Azerbaijan control of parts of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as adjacent territories previously held by ethnic Armenians.

International mediators have called for an immediate de-escalation of the situation along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border following three days of reported incidents blamed by Yerevan and Baku on each other.

TBILISI -- Ukraine's ombudswoman has been barred from seeing hunger striking former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is a Ukrainian citizen, in a prison hospital in Georgia.

Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze said on November 16 that Lyudmyla Denisova cannot visit Saakashvili, as "Georgian law does not envision" such a visit.

"There is no need for that and we do not have such an obligation," Bregadze said, adding that Saakashvili’s health condition is satisfactory and there is no reason for concern.

Bregadze also criticized Denisova for an earlier statement she made after meeting with Saakashvili earlier last month. In the comments, she quoted Saakashvili as saying that he was being denied medical assistance.

"The last time Mrs. Denisova met [with Saakashvili], she made a one-sided statement. She did not even ask us if the information was true," Bregadze said.

After learning of the denial of her visit on November 16, Denisova said she will now try to meet with the administration and physicians of the penitentiary hospital to get concrete information on Saakashvili's health.

"At this point, we have controversial information regarding Saakashvili's health and the possible ways to assist him in case his health state dramatically worsens," Denisova told journalists, adding that Bregadze had not responded to her request to meet with him personally.

Denisova arrived in Tbilisi a day earlier saying that Saakashvili told her personally that his state of health had worsened.

Georgian authorities had already denied several European politicians to visit Saakashvili.

On November 15, Georgia's Special Penitentiary Service (SPS) also barred Saakashvili from attending his own trial on embezzlement charges, saying it would create a security risk and worsen the former president's health as he is in the seventh week of a hunger strike.

Last week, Saakashvili was similarly not allowed to be present at a hearing in a different court case against him, this one over his role in the violent dispersal of opposition protesters in November 2007.

Saakashvili was arrested on October 1 for allegedly illegally entering Georgia when he returned after an eight-year absence.

Saakashvili, who was president from 2004 to 2013, 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.

Saakashvili has said all of the charges against him are politically motivated. His supporters have been protesting his arrest since early October. They have been demanding the politician's transfer to a civilian medical clinic as his health fails due to the hunger strike.

The government has refused to transfer Saakashvili, instead placing him in a prison hospital.

TASHKENT – The Uzbek president has dismissed his advisor on law enforcement, the once influential former chief of the National Security Service, Rustam Inoyatov.

President Shavkat Mirziyoev’s spokesman made the announcement on November 15, saying that Inoyatov will be replaced by Bakhtiyor Islomov.

The spokesman, Sherzod Asadov, did not give further information.

The 76-year-old Inoyatov, who holds a colonel-general's rank, was once seen as a potential rival to Mirziyoev.

He remained at the helm of the National Security Service for almost 23 years before he was removed from his position in early 2018 and became a presidential advisor.

Inoyatov was one of a relatively small number of senior officials who had retained their posts after the death of longtime President Islam Karimov was announced in September 2016.

Under his leadership, the National Security Service, the main successor of the Soviet-era KGB in Uzbekistan, became one of the most powerful and feared agencies in the tightly controlled Central Asian country.

Mirziyoev renamed the agency the State Security Service shortly after Inoyatov’s dismissal.

Many believed that Inoyatov, one of the most influential officials in Uzbekistan for years, would succeed Karimov or maneuver an ally into the presidency.

The European Union is planning to draw up a list of possible sanctions against a Russian mercenary group involved in multiple global conflicts, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

After chairing a meeting of EU foreign ministers on November 15, Borrell said experts had been tasked with developing sanctions proposals against the Vagner Group and the issue would be discussed when foreign ministers meet again in December.

"There is consensus to move forward in order to take restrictive measures against this group," Borrell said in Brussels.

Western governments have accused Moscow of using the Vagner Group as a paramilitary force in conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, and Africa. Russia denies a link between the government and the Vagner Group.

The Vagner Group is believed to be run by Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close associate of President Vladimir Putin. Already last year, the EU blacklisted Prigozhin over the group's involvement in Libya.

The possible sanctions against the Vagner Group come amid reports Mali's military junta was in discussions about deploying its mercenaries in the West African country, something opposed by former colonial power France and its allies.

Borrell said EU foreign ministers had also agreed on sanctions on Mali's military leadership in the wake of their coup in order to apply pressure on the junta to restore civilian rule.

In June, Colonel Assimi Goita was sworn in as president of a transitional government after carrying out his second coup in nine months. Elections are due to be held in February, but the EU fears they will be delayed.

France has been at the forefront of a broader counter-terrorism operation in the Sahel region with about 5,000 troops ever since another coup in Mali in 2012 helped trigger an Islamist insurgency in the north.

But France announced plans earlier this year to reduce that force to 2,500 to 3,000 troops in the coming years, in a move criticized by the Malian military leaders.

There are also United Nations peacekeeping mission and a European Union training program in the West African country.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters at the EU foreign ministers meeting that any sanctions would also be imposed on companies working with the Vagner Group.

Based on reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced that people will be offered a cash incentive to get fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

"Everyone who has had two doses will be able to receive 1,000 hryvnias," or around $37, Zelenskiy said in a video message on November 15.

The cash payments are a significant sum for the citizens of one of Europe's poorest countries, where the per capita income is around $3,700.

"With these funds, you can buy a season ticket to a gym or fitness club, visit a cinema, theater, museum, concert hall or exhibition center, or buy tickets for travel within the country," Zelenskiy said.

The government plans to allocate around $225 million for the scheme which will be launched on December 19.

Ukraine is currently experiencing its worst wave of the pandemic, prompting authorities to impose a raft of restrictions in several cities, including the capital Kyiv.

Health officials attribute the spike in cases and deaths to low vaccination rates, with just 28 percent of the population having received two vaccine doses.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Ukraine has recorded 3.2 million cases and more than 77,000 deaths.

Bosnian officials have inaugurated a memorial to ethnic Serbs killed during the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s.

Sarajevo Mayor Benjamina Karic, Bosnian Vice President Milan Dunovic, and Christian Schmidt, the chief UN envoy to Bosnia-Herzegovina, unveiled the stone monument on November 15 to people killed, most of them Serbs, on the slopes of Trebevic Mountain southeast of Sarajevo in 1992 and 1993.

Karic laid a wreath at the foot of the monument after she, Dunovic, and Schmidt pulled a black cloth off the stone in which the names of 17 Serbs are engraved and the sentence: "We will remember forever, with sadness and respect, our slain fellow citizens."

The officials did not issue a public statement during the ceremony, which took place on the mountainside and was attended by several people, who also laid flowers at the monument.

The monument pays tribute to the victims whose remains were discovered at the Kazani pit -- a mass grave where forces with a Bosnian Muslim paramilitary group dumped the bodies of ethnic Serbs killed in Sarajevo during the Bosnia War.

The monument has stirred controversy among Serb politicians and associations who have complained that the memorial fails to provide information about the victims' ethnicity or details about the perpetrators behind their deaths.

Bosnia's 1992-1995 war between its ethnic Croats, Muslims, and Serbs claimed some 100,000 lives.

Based on reporting by RFE/RL's Balkan Service and AFP

France and NATO have joined the United States in condemning Russia for conducting a missile test that blew up a defunct Russian satellite, creating a debris cloud that endangered the International Space Station (ISS) -- an accusation dismissed by the Kremlin.

The anti-satellite missile test blew up a defunct Russian satellite on November 15, and generated more than 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris and will likely generate hundreds of thousands of smaller pieces, U.S. officials said.

According to NASA, the debris forced the crew aboard the space station -- four Americans, a German, and two Russians -- to shelter into their docked spaceship capsules for two hours as a precaution to allow for a quick evacuation had it been necessary.

Without naming Russia, French Defense Minister Florence Parly on November 16 lashed out at "space vandals" who were producing dangerous amounts of debris, after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Moscow for its "dangerous and irresponsible" anti-satellite missile test. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson denounced Russia's "reckless" action.

The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed it had conducted a weapons test targeting an unused Russian satellite that had been in orbit since 1982, insisting that the debris it generated “did not and will not pose a threat to orbital stations, spacecraft and space activities.”

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called accusations against Russia baseless, while a vague statement issued by Russian space agency Roskosmos said that it was monitoring the situation to "prevent and counter all possible threats to the safety" of the space laboratory orbiting at an altitude of about 420 kilometers.

The test highlights a growing space arms race among global powers, encompassing everything from systems to counter missile defense systems to anti-satellite operations.

Parly wrote on Twitter that "space is a common good belonging to the 7.7 billion inhabitants of our planet."

"The space vandals have an overwhelming responsibility for generating debris that pollutes and puts our astronauts and satellites in danger," she wrote, after announcing in a separate tweet the launch of three French military satellites.

Blinken warned the debris created by "this dangerous and irresponsible test" will now threaten satellites and other space objects "that are vital to all nations' security, economic, and scientific interests for decades to come.

"In addition, it will significantly increase the risk to astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station and other human spaceflight activities," he added.

Stoltenberg told journalists that the missile test "created a lot of debris, which is now a risk to the International Space Station and also to the Chinese space station -- so this was a reckless act by Russia."

NASA's Nelson said he was "outraged" at the Russian test.

"With its long and storied history in human spaceflight, it is unthinkable that Russia would endanger not only the American and international partner astronauts on the ISS, but also their own cosmonauts," Nelson said in a statement.

"Their actions are reckless and dangerous, threatening as well the Chinese space station and the taikonauts on board," he added.

U.S. Space Command said its initial assessment was that the debris will remain in orbit for years and potentially for decades, posing a long-term threat to the ISS and more than 3,000 active satellites from multiple countries.

In a sign of the strategic nature of the test, Space Command said Russia was developing and deploying capabilities to deny access to and use of space by the United States and its allies.

"Russia's tests of direct-ascent anti-satellite weapons clearly demonstrate that Russia continues to pursue counterspace weapon systems that undermine strategic stability and pose a threat to all nations," Space Command commander James Dickinson said.

"Russia, despite its claims of opposing the weaponization of outer space, is willing to jeopardize the long-term sustainability of outer space," Blinken said, adding that the United States was discussing its response with partners.

At the UN General Assembly in September last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested an agreement among space powers to prohibit the placement of weapons in space, as well as the threat or use of force against outer space objects.

Anti-satellite weapons are high-tech missiles possessed by few countries.

India was the last to carry out a test on a target in 2019, in a move strongly criticized by other powers, including the United States.

The United States shot down a satellite in 2008 in response to China demonstrating a similar capability in 2007.

The U.S. and India tests were carried at much lower altitudes -- well below the International Space Station -- than the one conducted by Russia.

With reporting by AFP, AP, Reuters, and TASS

A group of leading Russian scholars has called on the authorities to reconsider a move aimed at shutting down one of Russia's most respected human rights groups -- Memorial.

More than 60 Russian scholars, including members of the Academy of Sciences and the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center, said the announcement last week by Memorial that it had been notified by Russia's Supreme Court that prosecutors had filed a demand to dissolve the group over systematic violations of "foreign agent" legislation "is an attempt to deprive the nation of its memory."

The attack on Memorial comes amid an unprecedented crackdown on the opposition and independent media in Russia, with authorities imprisoning Russia's top opposition politician Aleksei Navalny earlier this year, and the detention of thousands of protesters who have since come out to support the Kremlin's most vocal critic.

"We...express our strong protest against the persecution and attempts to close the Memorial Society undertaken by the authorities under a far-fetched pretext," a November 15 statement signed by scholars of the July 1 Club said.

"The destruction of Memorial is an attempt to deprive the nation of its memory, which we cannot allow if we want to avoid a repetition of an era of monstrous repressions," it added.

Reports emerged on November 11 that Moscow prosecutors asked a city court to order the Memorial Human Rights Center's closure, while Russian federal prosecutors want the Supreme Court to order a shutdown of International Memorial. Hearings in both cases are scheduled for late November.

SEE ALSO:

Outrage, Dismay As Russia Moves To Shut Down Its Oldest Human Rights Group

The Memorial organization was launched shortly before the Soviet collapse in part to document Soviet repression.

In the decades since, it has produced hallmark indicators of the rights situation in Russia and elsewhere through lists of political prisoners, and documenting historical and ongoing injustices.

Memorial has maintained that Russia's "foreign agents" legislation from 2012 and its subsequent amendments are meant to suppress independent organizations and it sees no legal basis for the rights group to be dismantled.

The legislation requires nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign assistance, and that the government deems to be engaged in political activity, to be registered, to identify themselves as “foreign agents,” and to submit to audits.

The Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center noted in a November 15 statement that the former president was once a member of Memorial, adding that concern for the fate of the group was "understandable."

"In these difficult days for Memorial, we would like to express the hope that the trial will be able to be objective and that Memorial will continue its selfless work to expose Stalin's crimes," it said, reflecting on the outcry -- both locally and internationally -- to the move.

Nearly 23,000 men and women have signed an online petition called "Hands Off Memorial!" in the four days since the public announcement of the move against the rights group.

Over the weekend, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the possible closure of Memorial and demanded Russian authorities stop using the controversial law on "foreign agents" to persecute and intimidate the organization.

SEE ALSO:

U.S. Assails Russian Efforts To Close Memorial Rights Group, 'Misuse' Of 'Foreign Agents' Law

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on November 15 did not comment directly on the prosecutors' move, but stressed that Memorial "has been having problems for a long time in terms of following Russian laws."

The Memorial Human Rights Center was put on the "foreign agents" list in 2014.

International Memorial, a stand-alone group and the umbrella group for the Memorial Human Rights Center and more than 70 other organizations, including 10 operating outside Russia, was added to the "foreign agents" registry five years ago.

A mural of Bosnian Serb wartime commander Ratko Mladic that has been at the center of a tug-of-war between supporters and detractors of the convicted war criminal was defaced by unidentified protesters on November 15 only to be quickly restored.

The protesters threw a bucket of black paint at the mural early in the morning, but several hours later a group of six hooded youths cleaned the paint and partially repainted it. The youths told RFE/RL they were people "from the neighborhood."

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No uniformed police were seen in the area.

Mladic, 79, led Bosnian Serb forces during Bosnia's 1992-95 war and was convicted by a United Nations tribunal of war crimes, including the killing of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the eastern town of Srebrenica in 1995.

He is serving a life sentence, and his appeal of his 2017 conviction for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes was rejected by the tribunal, based in The Hague, in June.

But many in Serbia still see Mladic as a hero of the war, and his mural, which appeared on the facade of a building in central Belgrade one month after the war crimes court confirmed his conviction, has reignited passions among supporters and enemies of the man dubbed the Butcher of Bosnia.

SEE ALSO:

Graffiti War: Battle In The Streets Over Ratko Mladic Mural

Since then, the mural was targeted by paint throwers several times, and each time it was quickly returned it to its original state.

Last week, protesters gathered in central Belgrade in response to the arrest of two activists who threw eggs at the mural, but police cordoned the area off, preventing protesters from approaching the painting. Mladic supporters also staged a counterprotest. The two groups were separated by police and no incidents were reported.

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The two activists, Aida Corovic and Jelena Jacimovic, were released after a brief detention.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog has been invited to visit Iran "probably soon," the country's Foreign Ministry said, amid concern over a lack of contact with Iranian authorities ahead of the expected resumption of negotiations with world powers on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), "has been invited to travel to Tehran. A date has been set in this regard and we are waiting for his response to the specified date. He will visit Iran probably soon," spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

Grossi is expected to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and the country's atomic energy chief, Khatibzadeh told journalists, adding, "we await his response."

The announcement came after Grossi last week described a lack of contact with the Iranian government as "astonishing."

"There's a long list of things we need to discuss," he said.

Grossi, who last visited Tehran in September, had voiced hope he could visit Iran before the next meeting of the IAEA's board of governors starts on November 22.

The invitation comes as talks are expected to resume on November 29 in Vienna aiming to revive a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was intended to curtail Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The United States withdrew from the deal in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump, and Iran has since consistently increased activity in its nuclear program, including expanding its stockpile of enriched uranium, arguing that it was no longer subject to the terms of the vacated deal.

Trump's successor, President Joe Biden, has expressed interest in rejoining the pact if Iran returned to full compliance.

However, indirect negotiations between the deal's signatories that started in April in Vienna were put on hold in June after the Islamic republic elected hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi as president.

On November 15, Khatibzadeh reiterated Tehran's demands for guarantees that Washington would not pull out of the deal again, adding that progress in negotiations was contingent on the lifting of sanctions.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP