A special U.S. envoy for election reform in Bosnia-Herzegovina has told RFE/RL's Balkan Service ahead of a trip to the region that Washington sees "limited, targeted constitutional change" as a key aspect of a reform push ahead of elections next year.

Bosnia has been in a protracted political crisis as its Serb entity threatens secession and Bosnian Croats complain they are underrepresented in the country's ethnically-apportioned structures.

U.S. officials have been pressing for electoral reforms in time to ensure broad participation in an election scheduled for next October.

"The message that we will be bringing to the leaders of the various political parties and to others is -- now is the time for action," Mathew Palmer, special envoy for election reform in Bosnia, told RFE/RL on November 26.

"Everybody understands the nature of the problems that we are looking at, everybody understands the nature of the compromises that are necessary, and now is the time for leadership, now is the time for difficult choices… in order to help Bosnia-Herzegovina move forward towards a European future,” Palmer said ahead of his arrival in the Balkan country on November 27.

Bosnia's governing structures remain ethnically divided under a U.S.-brokered peace accord that ended a 1992-95 war.

The Dayton accords created two entities in Bosnia: the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation. The country is governed and administered along ethnic lines established by the agreement, with a weak and often dysfunctional central government.

"This is not a negotiation that has two parties. This is about all of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the future direction of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the integrity of the electoral process across the country. So there are going to be multiple stakeholders," Palmer said.

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, the Serbian representative in the ethnically-apportioned tripartite presidency, has been threatening to withdraw from state-level institutions, including Bosnia's joint judiciary, military, and tax administration. He has brushed aside international concerns that such an agenda could spark renewed conflict in the ethnically divided Balkan country.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has renewed a push for diplomacy to resolve the political crisis, working with European and regional partners to ensure the country's territorial integrity and compliance with the peace deal.

Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote a letter to members of the presidency, calling for a commitment to the Dayton accords and reforms to the country’s election law and limited constitutional reforms.

"One of the key aspects of the [electoral] reform process -- as we look at it -- is limited, targeted constitutional change to help Bosnia-Herzegovina meet its obligations to the European Union and come into compliance with the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights," Palmer said.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and EU officials have said Bosnia's current, ethnically defined representation is problematic.

An unidentified gunman opened fire on a bus carrying schoolchildren in western Kosovo, killing three people and injuring another, authorities said.

Veton Elshani, deputy police chief in the nearby city of Peja, said the shots were fired at the bus on the evening of November 26 as it was traveling in the village of Gllogjan, 90 kilometers west of the capital, Pristina.

The driver died on the scene and three teenagers were taken to a local hospital where two of them died.

Elshani said police believe the gunman used a Kalashnikov automatic rifle and acted alone when he fired at the bus transporting eight teenagers. It’s unclear if the bus was the intended target of the shooting.

“There is no reason to believe it was a terrorist act," Elshani said.

Chief Prosecutor Blerim Isufaj said an investigation had been launched but no suspect had been identified.

President Vjosa Osmani called the attack “shocking” and urged law enforcement officials to find the culprit.

Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla said that he had shortened his visit to Albania due to the event and ordered police to fully mobilize to find the perpetrator of this "macabre act.”

With reporting by AP

U.S. and NATO officials have issued fresh warnings of the possible consequences of any new Russian aggression against neighboring Ukraine, with Washington suggesting that "all options are on the table" if the alliance is forced to respond to an escalation by Moscow.

Later, U.S. President Joe Biden said in response to a reporter's question that "in all probability" he would speak directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin or Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in an effort to defuse tensions in the region.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on November 26 that Russia had assembled combat-ready troops, tanks, and heavy military equipment near its border with Ukraine and cautioned Moscow that any force against its neighbor would incur "costs."

Reports of a Russian buildup of more than 90,000 troops recently prompted the United States and Germany to reiterate their support for Ukrainian independence and territorial integrity.

"If Russia uses force against Ukraine that will have costs, that would have consequences," Stoltenberg said in Brussels.

SEE ALSO:

Merkel Urges EU Unity On Russia, Assures Poland, Ukraine Amid Border Tensions

Moscow has denied direct involvement in Kyiv's seven-year war with separatists in eastern Ukraine despite overwhelming evidence of Russian troop and other assistance. It has downplayed the recent reports of its troop movements as an internal matter.

"This is the second time this year that Russia has amassed a large and unusual concentration of forces in the region," Stoltenberg said in an allusion to a purported buildup in the spring that eased soon after a summit between Putin and Biden in June.

Russia this week launched military drills in the Black Sea region near Ukraine.

Earlier on November 26, Zelenskiy said his country was prepared for any Russian escalation and alleged that unidentified Russians and Ukrainians were plotting to overthrow his government next week.

SEE ALSO:

Zelenskiy Says Coup Plot Uncovered, Ukraine Ready For Any Escalation With Russia

Russia has recently stepped up its involvement in an ongoing feud between Alyaksandr Lukashenka and the West since a highly criticized Belarusian presidential election in 2020.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO's 29 other foreign ministers are scheduled to gather in Latvia on November 30, with Russia's activities high on the agenda.

Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are both expected to attend an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) ministerial meeting on December 2-3.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried said on November 26 that a key focus of Blinken's European trip next week would be how to respond to challenges including Russia and Belarus.

"As you can appreciate, all options are on the table and there's a toolkit that includes a whole range of options," Donfried told reporters.

"It's now for the alliance to decide what are the next moves that NATO wants to take," she said of the NATO and OSCE gatherings.

"Next week, we will talk about our assessment of what's happening on Russia's border with Ukraine and we will begin that conversations of what are the options that are on the table and what it is that NATO as an alliance would like to do together."

With reporting by Reuters and AP

Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security (UKMK) has announced the arrest of 15 suspects in an alleged coup plot, just two days before elections in the country's fourth major vote in a little over a year.

The UKMK said the alleged plotters included lawmakers in the Jogorku Kenesh, the unicameral legislature, and former high-ranking officials but did not identify any suspects.

It said pretrial proceedings had already been instituted under articles of the Criminal Code relating to violent efforts to overturn the government.

The Prosecutor-General's Office has set up an interagency group to investigate the case.

Street protests have sparked government ousters three times in the past two decades, including after a vote last year that swept the current president, Sadyr Japarov, to power.

National parliamentary elections are scheduled for November 28 to repeat the October 2020 vote.

Japarov has since organized a presidential election and a concurrent referendum on changing the constitution to grant more power to the presidency.

SEE ALSO:

Kyrgyzstan's Plucky Election Commission Tries To Disqualify A Political Heavyweight

A spokesman for the intelligence service, Kumushbek Shabdanov, said the suspects had recruited about 1,000 people and were preparing for a postelection riot.

Officials said mass riots were part of the plan and that a search turned up weapons, ammunition, and drugs.

RFE/RL has learned that Green Party candidate Beknazar Kupeshov is among those detained early on November 26.

One of the purported detainees named by local media, Nurbek Kalekeev, had recently become a vocal critic of the government on social media over an ongoing coal shortage.

In August, the Interior Ministry said it had tapped the phones of dozens of politicians and their relatives, civil society activists, and human rights activists earlier this year as part of an investigation into violence in October 2020.

The list of politicians and civil-society activists arrested and charged under the current administration with attempting to seize power through force includes former Interior Minister Kursan Asanov, whose trial began last month.

The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan have expressed a willingness toward progress on border delimitation and improving economic and transport links after Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted trilateral talks in Sochi.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, and Putin began their three-hour meeting on November 26 by saying that "a lot has been done" since last year's Moscow-brokered cease-fire ended 44 days of intense fighting over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh and nearby districts.

A deadly flareup last week has rekindled fears of a return to large-scale violence.

SEE ALSO:

Yerevan Claim That Armenian Soldier Was Killed By Azerbaijani Forces Is Denied By Baku

In a statement after their talks, all three pledged "to take steps to increase the level of stability and security on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and to work towards the creation of a bilateral commission on the delimitation of the state border between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia with its subsequent demarcation with the consultative assistance of the Russian Federation at the request of the parties."

They also vowed "to intensify joint efforts aimed at the earliest possible resolution" of commitments from the past year on resuming economic and transport links in their Caucasus region.

Moscow said it would lend "all necessary assistance" toward "normalizing relations" between the longtime foes and "creating an atmosphere of trust" between their peoples and "building good-neighborly relations in the region."

Putin said that Russian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani deputy prime ministers would meet in Moscow next week "to summarize some results and announce the decisions that we have coordinated today."

Aliyev expressed hope that the Sochi talks could lead a "more secure and predictable" situation in the Caucasus.

“Today we had a very detailed and I would say frank conversation on issues of border delimitation and demarcation and unblocking of transport arteries," Aliyev said.

"We openly discussed our plans, we openly discussed issues that cause concern with both sides. The most important thing is that the decisions that we’ve made in the issue of settling disputes, differences will contribute to a more secure and predictable situation in the South Caucasus."

Aliyev said that "in Azerbaijan we feel like turning over the page of many years of confrontation with Armenia and begin a stage of normal interaction," adding, "I think our meeting will lead to good results that won’t make us wait for too long."

Pashinian described the meeting as "very positive."

"This wasn't a meeting to hide problems," the Armenian prime minister said. "I think that we can expect concrete results if we manage to build on the dynamics of our talks."

The intense conflict last year ended with Azerbaijan in control of major swaths of territory in and around the breakaway Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh that had been under ethnic Armenian control since a bloody war in the 1990s.

Police have used tear gas to disperse hundreds of people demonstrating in the Iranian city of Isfahan to demand government action over a drought.

Video footage on social media appeared to show police and protesters clashing in the dry bed of the Zayandehrud River on November 26. Other videos showed similar unrest in nearby streets of Isfahan.

The gathering of some 500 people in Isfahan was ended by what the Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency said was a large security force.

Farmers reportedly ended a nearly weeks-long protest in the area on November 25, after authorities promised to compensate them for losses suffered in drought-stricken areas of central Iran.

Drought has been a problem in Iran for some 30 years, but it has worsened over the past decade, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization. The Iran Meteorological Organization says that an estimated 97 percent of the country now faces some level of drought.

SEE ALSO:

'Give Isfahan Life!' Water Shortages Unleash Waves Of Protest In Iran

The farming area around Isfahan was once well supplied by the Zayandehrud River, but nearby factories have increasingly drawn on it over the years. The river once flowed under historic bridges in Isfahan's city center, but it's now a barren strip of dirt.

In 2012, farmers clashed with police in a town in Isfahan Province, breaking a water pipe that diverted some 50 million cubic meters of water a year to a neighboring province. Similar protests have continued sporadically since then.

Based on reporting by AP

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Ukraine's intelligence service has uncovered plans to stage a coup involving people from Russia that was due to occur next week.

Zelenskiy did not give full details of the plot nor did he accuse the Kremlin of direct involvement in his comments at a press conference in Kyiv on November 26.

The Kremlin swiftly denied any role in any coup plot.

At the press conference involving journalists from Ukraine and abroad, Zelenskiy also said Ukraine was ready for any escalation from Russia amid recent reports of Russian troops massing in Russia's western regions and in illegally occupied Crimea.

Media outlets including The New York Times and Bloomberg have quoted U.S. officials as warning that Russia might attack this winter, with some saying a potential invasion could be "on a scale far greater" than in 2014, when Russia seized the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.

SEE ALSO:

What's Behind The Russia-Ukraine War Fears -- And What Might Actually Happen?

On the coup allegations, Zelenskiy said he had "certain audio recordings" in which plans for carrying out such a plot on December 1 or 2 were being discussed between unspecified people from Ukraine and Russia.

He said they mentioned Rinat Akhmetov, the Ukrainian billionaire, who didn't personally take part in the conversation, according to Zelenskiy.

Zelenskiy stressed he didn't believe the billionaire would get involved in the plot, as it would be a "fatal mistake" for him to take part in the "war" against the president.

"I believe this is a setup of Rinat Akhmetov," Zelenskiy said.

Akhmetov issued a statement on Telegram calling Zelenskiy's claims "an absolute lie" and saying that he was "outraged."

SEE ALSO:

The President And The Tycoon: Could A Fight Between Ukraine's Leader And Its Richest Man Lead To Real Change?

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the allegation of Russia being involved in the planned coup attempt.

"We never do things like that," Peskov said.

Akhmetov owns Ukraine's largest private power utility, DTEK, plus multiple businesses in eastern Ukraine, including steel and iron-ore producers, a bank, insurers, and a television channel.

In his other comments on November 26, Zelenskiy said that Ukraine was in full control of its borders and was ready for any escalation with Russia.

"There is a threat today that there will be war tomorrow," Zelensky told the press conference. "We are entirely prepared for an escalation."

Zelenskiy also said his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, would soon be contacting representatives of Russia about the standoff between the two countries. Separately, Yermak said he would be contacting Dmitry Kozak, President Vladimir Putin's deputy chief of staff.

U.S. intelligence officials and senior figures in Ukraine's military have suggested that as many as 92,000 Russian troops are massed to the north and east of Ukraine -- many in the area around Yelnya, near Russia’s border with its ally Belarus -- and in Crimea, the peninsula that lies south of mainland Ukraine.

Amid Russia’s build-up, CNN this week quoted sources in U.S. President Joe Biden's administration as saying it was considering sending military advisers and new equipment including weapons to Ukraine.

Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington had "real concerns" about the Russian military moves and a possible new offensive, which he warned would be a "serious mistake."

Moscow, which also massed thousands of troops along its border with Ukraine last spring, has dismissed talk of a potential Russian invasion as "groundless."

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

Rescuers have found a survivor after an explosion at a mine in Siberia left at least 51 dead in what appears to have been Russia's deadliest mine accident in more than a decade.

The man pulled out of the mine shaft was a rescuer who had been presumed dead, reports said.

Sergei Tsivilyov, governor of the Kemerovo region where the mine is located, said on the messaging app Telegram that the survivor had been hospitalized.

A total of 51 people are now presumed dead after the explosion early on November 25 at the Listvyazhnaya mine in southwestern Siberia. A total of 285 miners were in the shaft at the time of the explosion.

The Emergency Situations Ministry said hundreds of miners were successfully evacuated from the mine after the blast in a shaft that is about 250 meters deep.

Hours after a methane-gas explosion and fire filled the mine with toxic fumes on November 25, rescuers were forced to halt the search because of a buildup of methane and carbon-monoxide gas from the fire.

SEE ALSO:

At Least 52 Dead, Dozens More Trapped, After Siberian Mine Fire

Regional officials have declared three days of mourning and Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched a criminal probe into the fire over violations of safety regulations that led to deaths. It said the mine director and two senior managers were detained.

Another criminal probe was launched on November 26 into the alleged negligence of state officials that inspected the mine earlier this month.

The Investigative Committee later said two inspectors who allegedly issued a certificate without checking the facility would be charged and taken into custody.

Inspections at the mine in 2020 and 2021 reportedly uncovered dozens of safety violations at the mine, some of them serious.

The mine is owned by SDS-Ugol, one of Russia's largest coal companies.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on November 25 that Russian President Vladimir Putin had extended his condolences to the families of the miners who lost their lives.

"The president instructed the regional governor [Tsivilyov] and acting Emergency Situations Minister Aleksandr Chupriyan to arrange assistance for the injured and make every possible effort to continue the rescue operation," Peskov said.

SEE ALSO:

'Unloved Children Of The Kuzbass': Life And Death In A Siberian Village

It appears to have been the deadliest mine accident in Russia since 2010, when two methane explosions and a fire killed 91 people at the Raspadskaya mine in the same Kemerovo region.

In 2016, 36 miners were killed in a series of methane explosions in a coal mine in Russia's far north. In the wake of the incident, authorities analyzed the safety of the country's 58 coal mines and declared 20 of them potentially unsafe.

The Listvyazhnaya mine, which was opened in 2003, wasn't on the list at the time, according to media reports.

But TASS reports that in 2021 an audit of the regional department of Rostekhnadzor revealed nearly 140 violations in the operation of the Listvyazhnaya mine. Violations were identified in ventilation systems and fire response.

According to Siberia.Realities, watchdog Rostekhnadzor identified 18 serious safety violations at the facility.

With reporting from AFP, dpa, and AP

A journalist who has worked for RFE/RL as a freelancer has been detained in Minsk, his wife said, amid an intensifying crackdown on independent media by the regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Andrey Kuznechyk went out for a bike ride on November 25, before returning shortly accompanied by four men garbed in civilian dress, Alesya Rak told RFE/RL.

The four, who did not present any identification, then searched their apartment, Rak said, only avoiding the rooms of their two young children.

"They took all the electronic equipment and Andrey's phone; my mobile phone, my tablet, and money," she added.

Kuznechyk was then led away by the group of four, who did not give any reason for his detention.

"Andrey was ordered to get dressed and to go with them. He was not allowed to take anything with him, only a spare pair of pants. They said that they were taking him away for a short while, for a couple of days," Kuznechyk's wife said.

Crisis In Belarus

Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.

Protests erupted in Belarus last year after Lukashenka, in power since 1994, was declared the winner of a presidential election that opponents and the West say was rigged.

The West has refused to recognize Lukashenka as the legitimate leader of Belarus. The Belarusian strongman is now reliant more than ever on Russia, which analysts say is using his weakened position to strengthen its hold over its smaller neighbor.

Tens of thousands of people were detained and human rights activists say more than 800 people are now in jail as political prisoners.

Independent media and opposition social media channels have been targeted as well.

"The regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues its effort to crush all independent media in Belarus," RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said of Kuznechyk's detention.

"Andrey was kidnapped by agents of the regime for nothing more than being a journalist. The regime also targeted one of our social media accounts, attempting to cut off more channels of information for the Belarusian people. Andrey should be released immediately and allowed to return to his wife and young children. He has committed no crime."

The website of RFE/RL's Belarus Service has been blocked within Belarus since August 21, 2020, weeks after the disputed August 3 presidential election.

The accreditation of all locally based journalists working for foreign media, including RFE/RL, were annulled by the Belarusian authorities in October 2020.

Ihar Losik, a popular blogger and RFE/RL consultant, was detained on June 25, 2020, and accused of using his popular Telegram channel to "prepare to disrupt public order."

Losik is now on trial in a closed-door hearing.

SEE ALSO:

Hope And Horror: How Belarus Has Changed Since An Election Ignited A Crisis One Year Ago

Six months after the arrest of journalist Raman Pratasevich, charges of "extremism" are increasingly being used against Belarusian independent media, Reporters Without Borders said on November 23.

Pratasevich and his Russian girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, were detained in May when Belarus scrambled a military jet to escort their Athens-to-Vilnius flight to land in Minsk because of a bomb threat that proved to be false.

Many countries called Belarus's actions a "state hijacking."

A day after his arrest on May 23, Pratasevich appeared with his face swollen in a video broadcast by Belarusian TV, admitting to his involvement in organizing "mass rioting."

Pratasevich faces charges of being behind protests that followed the August 2020 disputed election, an offense punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

He was a key administrator of the Telegram channel Nexta-Live, which like other social media channels was widely used during the street protests against Lukashenka last year both to coordinate demonstrations and share footage of the violent police crackdown.

Six months after his detention, Pratasevich is under house arrest at a secret location. His mother is allowed to take him food and his mail, but she has signed a confidentiality pledge.

The most recent official comment on Pratasevich's case was on September 12 when, speaking on state-owned STV, the head of the Minsk Investigative Committee said the criminal investigation into the case would be completed in October.

He added that the case – which he said also concerned Nexta founder Stepan Putylo, 1863x.com news website founder Eduard Palchys, and "anarchist movements" -- already consisted of "more than 600 volumes of documents." There has been no further official word since then.

Pratasevich, who had to wait four more days to see his lawyer, delivered additional seemingly forced confessions in several more public appearances, including one in an ONT television interview in which he professed “unconditional respect” for Lukashenka, who -- he said -- had "balls of steel." He remained in prison for just over a month before being transferred to house arrest.

"The physical and psychological pressure to which Raman Pratasevich has been subjected for the past six month constitutes inhuman treatment and even torture," said Jeanne Cavelier, the head of RSF's Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk. "We call for his immediate release and the release of the 30 other journalists and media workers arbitrarily imprisoned in Belarus."

Around 600 Iraqis stranded for weeks on the Belarus-Poland border have returned home, local media report.

Hundreds of Iraqis, most of them Kurds, returned home last week on the first repatriation flight from Belarus, where thousands of migrants have camped in freezing temperatures during a standoff between Belarus and the European Union.

Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmad al-Sahaf said that 617 citizens were being voluntarily repatriated on two Iraqi Airways flights from the Belarusian capital, Minsk, the official Iraqi news agency reported on November 25.

Both planes later landed on November 26 in Irbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region, multiple media reported, including Kurdistan 24.

On November 18, a total of 431 migrants returned on an Iraqi Airways plane from Minsk. The plane stopped first in Irbil before flying on to Baghdad.

Embed share

Trafficked In, Trafficked Out: Iraqi Kurds Recount Failed Journey To Belarus's Borders

Embed share

The code has been copied to your clipboard.

---

width px height px

---

The URL has been copied to your clipboard

No media source currently available

0:00 0:02:27 0:00

The EU accuses Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka of flying in mostly Middle Eastern migrants and funneling them to the borders of member states Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania to retaliate for sanctions the bloc imposed over a sweeping crackdown following last year's disputed presidential election.

Brussels has accused Minsk of an "inhuman, gangster-style approach" to the crisis at the border, where at least 11 migrants have died in recent months.

In response, Poland has bolstered its border to prevent a surge of migrants, seeking to push them back in a policy criticized by human rights groups.

Warsaw says groups of migrants are still continuing to illegally cross the border from Belarus, and has warned against interpreting recent moves by Minsk to repatriate some of the migrants as a de-escalation of the crisis on the EU's eastern frontier.

SEE ALSO:

Merkel Urges EU Unity On Russia, Assures Poland, Ukraine Amid Border Tensions

Meanwhile, the EU is readying a fifth package of sanctions against Belarus for mounting a "hybrid attack" using migrants against the bloc and has been in contact with Iraq and other countries about repatriating the migrants.

In a BBC interview, Lukashenka, who has been in power since 1994, denied inviting migrants to Belarus in order to provoke a border crisis.

"I told them I'm not going to detain migrants on the border, hold them at the border, and if they keep coming from now on I still won't stop them, because they're not coming to my country, they're going to yours," he told the BBC.

With reporting by AFP and Kurdistan 24

Another associate of jailed Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny is going into exile amid an ongoing crackdown against the defunct organizations associated with the Kremlin critic that were labeled extremist earlier this year.

Sergei Boiko is a member of the Novosibirsk city council and former head of Navalny's network of regional campaign groups in the Siberian city until a court labeled it extremist this year, effectively outlawing it.

Boiko wrote on Twitter on November 25 that he and his family would not return to Russia from a business trip, saying that he had information that he would be arrested.

He said that he decided not to return from an unspecified country after the arrest of the former chief of Navalny's support group in Ufa, Lilia Chanysheva, earlier this month.

SEE ALSO:

U.S., 17 Other Nations Condemn Russia’s ‘Intensifying Harassment’ Of Media, Journalists

Earlier this week, the chief of Navalny's network of regional campaign groups in St. Petersburg also said that she had left Russia for an unspecified country. Irina Fatyanova said that she decided to leave Russia after the arrest of Chanysheva.

Navalny has been in prison since February, while several of his associates, many of whom have fled Russia, have been charged with establishing an extremist group.

Serbia's parliament has overwhelmingly passed a law on how referendums are conducted amid criticism from opponents that it is undemocratic.

The new law on referendums was passed on November 25 with 178 deputies voting in favor and two against.

The law, together with another on expropriations due to be debated by parliament in the coming days, is contentious.

Opponents say the expropriation law may be used to advance mining projects that damage the environment, including China's Zijin copper mine and Rio Tinto's plans for a $2.4 billion lithium mine in western Serbia.

London-based Rio Tinto, the world's second-largest metals and mining company, is studying possible development of a lithium mine in Serbia, believed to be one of the largest in Europe.

The mine has the potential to generate significant export revenue and jobs for Serbia, especially if the country pursues plans to refine it locally and develop lithium-battery plants.

The law would allow for expedited expropriations of private property if it is considered to be in the public interest. In some areas where mining and infrastructure projects are planned, property owners have refused to sell their property and went to court, demanding higher compensation in legal proceedings that last for months.

President Aleksandar Vucic has denied the expropriation law was designed to enable Rio Tinto's project, arguing instead changes are needed to speed up infrastructure projects.

Serbian officials have previously said that a referendum would be organized for the Rio Tinto project.

The new referendum law, which is expected to be signed by Vucic, would remove the threshold for the number of voters needed for a referendum to pass. Until now, it was necessary for 50 percent of registered voters to turn out in order for a referendum to be considered valid.

"Due to the fact that the current law was passed in 1994, the new bill harmonizes the law with the constitution...and regulates all types of referendums," the government said after the bill passed parliament.

Opponents say removing the threshold nullifies the point of referendums as an element of direct democracy and undermines the intent of the constitution.

Poland's Internal Security Agency (ABW) says a 66-year-old Polish man who is suspected of spying for Russia has been detained.

The counterintelligence agency announced on November 25 that the suspect was arrested three days ago in Warmia-Masuria, just north of the capital, Warsaw.

It said documents were seized in a property search and alleged that the suspect was working for Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), an indirect successor to the former KGB.

He has rejected the charges and remains in 90-day pretrial custody.

A local report said the man could face 10 years in prison if convicted.

SEE ALSO:

Lithuania Jails Two Citizens For Spying For Russia

The Polish security agency said the case was linked to the arrest of another suspect, in May, who has been charged with spying for a foreign intelligence service.

Reports in May suggested a 43-year-old suspect was accused of providing "information and materials" to Russian secret services.

Based on reporting by dpa

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic have left a meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi talking up weapons sales and the prospect of a crucial gas deal for Belgrade.

Vucic has publicly pleaded with the Russian side to offer "favorable" pricing on a new 10-year natural-gas deal to replace the current agreement that expires at the end of this year.

The two men did not appear to achieve a clear breakthrough on November 25, but Putin professed optimism.

"I think we will be able to agree [on a new contract], we will assign our business entities to finish this work," Putin reportedly told Vucic. "In any case, we will find a solution that will definitely be acceptable for our Serbian friends."

Vucic is said to be requesting 3 billion cubic meters of gas a year in any new deal, but the sides have so far disagreed over the amount that market rates should factor into the price.

Serbia, a candidate country for EU accession although progress is mired in delays, is also one of Russia's closest European allies.

The two cooperate on weapons deals in addition to political and diplomatic support from Moscow for Belgrade's refusal to recognize the independence of former province Kosovo.

Vucic has sought to maintain constructive relations with Moscow while aggressively courting China and avoiding irrevocably harming relations with the European Union.

SEE ALSO:

China's Strategic Vaccine Diplomacy Gains A Foothold In The Balkans

Vucic left the Sochi meeting boasting of military-technical cooperation with Russia.

He alluded to the early arrival of tactical weapons and said he "prayed that certain things arrive in Serbia more quickly," without specifying.

"There will be other important major things of strategic interest for Serbia in the future, and not in the distant future," Vucic said.

"So we will have the first things before the end of the year in Serbia," Vucic said, according to Serbian Pink TV. "These are not strategic, but tactical things are very important." It said he cited anti-tank weapons in particular.

With reporting by Reuters

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has put his son Serdar in charge of the country's oil-and-gas sector, in the latest sign that the authoritarian leader could be grooming the 40-year-old to succeed him some day.

Serdar Berdymukhammedov is already a lawmaker and deputy prime minister for economic affairs under his father's administration.

Critics say his rise is part of a plan to entrench a dynasty atop Turkmenistan, whose fuel exports help fuel massive vanity projects and luxurious lifestyles for a tiny number of politically connected elites.

SEE ALSO:

The Son Rises In Turkmenistan

The elder Berdymukhammedov has kept a tight lid on dissent in the post-Soviet Central Asian state since taking over under shady circumstances following the death in 2006 of longtime dictator Saparmurat Niyazov.

Many of Turkmenistan's 6 million people live in poverty, with food rationing and a state-controlled network of shops dominating essentials despite a massive industry based on its location atop one of the world's largest reserves of natural gas.

SEE ALSO:

Turkmenistan To Reportedly Cut Access To Subsidized Food As Woes Deepen

A state-controlled newspaper, Neutral Turkmenistan, reported that the president instructed Serdar Berdymukhammedov at a meeting of officials on November 25 to oversee the oil-and-gas complex.

Hydrocarbon sales are among Turkmenistan's most lucrative sources of revenue, and it ranks fourth globally by gas supplies.

But human rights group Crude Accountability and other observers say up to around 80 percent of the funds from gas sales go into a private economy dominated by elite connections, allegedly including personal accounts linked to the Berdymukhammedov family.

The younger Berdymukhammedov has effectively been in charge of the country's woeful economy since February.

Last week, local reports suggested the authorities were reducing rations and further curbing subsidies to a heavily dependent population by laying preparations for cutting of the sale of subsidized foods to the families of convicted criminals or stateless people residing in the former Soviet republic.

He has served in a staggering number of posts, including deputy foreign minister, deputy governor and then later governor of the province surrounding the capital, Ashgabat, minister of industry, and a member of the State Security Council.

Serdar Berdymukhammedov is officially described as "the son of the people," and his public appearances with his father a "symbol of the continuity of generations."

Russia says it is prepared to mediate efforts to repair relations between Armenia and Turkey following reports earlier this week of a request by Yerevan to facilitate such a rapprochement.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a press briefing on November 25 that normalization between the neighbors "would undoubtedly contribute to the improvement of the general situation in the region."

Former Soviet republics Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six-week conflict last year over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region that had been under ethnic Armenian control for nearly three decades.

NATO member Turkey threw its weight behind Azerbaijan in the war, which ended with a Russian-brokered cease-fire in November 2020 that allowed Azerbaijan to regain control over parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territory, with Russian peacekeepers on the ground.

Turkey has kept its border with Armenia closed for nearly three decades, due to what it said was Armenia's occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijani territory, an issue that was resolved by the cease-fire deal.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin will host Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for talks in Sochi on November 26, amid a small flareup of violence between the South Caucasus neighbors.

Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vahan Hunanian told RFE/RL this week that Yerevan had informed Moscow that it was ready for normalization with Ankara without preconditions and asked for its mediation in the process.

"Our country is ready to further promote this process [of Armenian-Turkish rapprochement] in every possible way," Russian spokeswoman Zakharova said. "The launch of this process, as we believe, would undoubtedly contribute to the improvement of the general situation in the region."

She added that Russia was "taking all measures to restore economic ties and transport links in the region."

Pashinian and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued public statements in August citing reciprocal "positive signals" for normalizing relations through multiparty regional talks including Russia.

On November 23, Pashinian reiterated Yerevan's readiness to normalize its relations with Ankara.

But he warned that such a process could not take place if Turkey continued to condition a rapprochement on the creation of a corridor connecting Azerbaijan to its western Naxcivan exclave via Armenia.

One point of the tripartite agreement that ended the war includes the "unblocking of regional economic and transport links." Such a corridor would give Ankara long-sought direct land access to its Turkic cousin through Naxcivan, with which Turkey shares a border.

"We want to normalize our relations with Turkey," Pashinian said. "We cannot discuss any corridor issue. But we want to discuss opening of regional transport links."

In an interview earlier this month with Le Figaro, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan accused Ankara of setting new conditions for a dialogue with Yerevan, including such a corridor, which he called unacceptable.

Russia's Supreme Court has begun hearing federal prosecutors' arguments aimed at shutting down one of the post-Soviet world's most prestigious human rights organizations, International Memorial.

The case was brought under controversial "foreign agent" laws increasingly used to shutter civil-sector and media groups in Russia.

Police detained at least three picketers who appeared separately outside the court in Moscow to express opposition to the closure request.

One held a sign saying, "We are Memorial," while another had scrawled on her sign: "You cannot kill the memory of the people! We survive in poverty, powerlessness and [with] almost no hope."

Both sides presented arguments to the court before proceedings were adjourned until December 14.

About 50 people were reportedly allowed into the Supreme Court building but the judge warned them not to record the proceedings.

Russian Prosecutor-General Igor Krasnov claims that Memorial International has systematically violated the law by failing to appropriately label its materials.

A separate claim by Moscow authorities targets the Memorial Human Rights Center, the local group that is among Russia's oldest rights groups and works under the umbrella of Memorial International.

A Moscow city court on November 23 heard pretrial arguments in that "foreign agent" case but quickly adjourned until November 29. The court said it would give Moscow prosecutors more time to address questions presented by the defense lawyers for Memorial Human Rights Center.

Memorial has called the actions of the Russian authorities "political pressure" and countered that "there are no legal grounds for liquidation."

Russia's so-called "foreign agent" legislation was adopted in 2012 and has been modified repeatedly.

SEE ALSO:

Russian Nobel Laureates Warn Against Closure Of Memorial Rights Group

Memorial is among several news outlets and rights organizations to have been labeled "foreign agents" in what is seen as a historic crackdown on civil society and critics of the government.

The Memorial Human Rights Center was put on the list in November 2015.

International Memorial, a standalone group and the umbrella group for 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.

In the decades since it was founded in the dying years of the Soviet Union, Memorial has produced hallmark indicators of the rights situation and elsewhere through lists of political prisoners, and documenting historical and ongoing injustices.

In a joint statement on November 18, two Russian Nobel Peace laureates -- the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Novaya gazeta newspaper editor in chief Dmitry Muratov -- said attempts to close Memorial had "caused anxiety and concern in the country, which we share."

Marija Pejcinovic Buric, the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, a pan-European rights body, said last week that the "foreign agents" legislation "stigmatizes" NGOs, media, and individuals and "has had a repressive impact on civil society in Russia over recent years."

Bulgarian officials say that "human error" on a "dangerous stretch" of highway is the most likely cause of the fiery bus crash this week in western Bulgaria that killed at least 44 people, all of them from North Macedonia and many of them children.

The announcement came on November 25 as the authorities revised downward the confirmed death toll, to 44.

They said they were still searching for another passenger who may have transferred during a gas-station stop before the accident to one of three other buses in the convoy.

A deputy chief prosecutor and chief of Bulgaria's national investigation service, Borislav Sarafov, announced in Sofia that investigators had ruled out a terrorist act and established that there was no explosion.

He said that as the investigation continued, "the leading version [of events] is human error."

Sarafov said the guard rail on that stretch of the Struma highway "is dangerous and is among the main causes for the crash."

A lead investigator, Marian Marinov, said evidence suggested the bus driver had tried to brake before striking the guard rail and noted that it was raining at the time.

SEE ALSO:

At Least 46 Dead, Including 12 Children, In Fiery Bus Crash In Bulgaria

The bus was one of four traveling together from Istanbul to Skopje in North Macedonia.

At least 12 of the victims were children, and most were tourists from North Macedonia.

Photos shortly after the 2 a.m. crash near the village of Bosnek, near Sofia, showed the bus engulfed in flames with thick plumes of smoke blanketing the highway in both directions.

"Witnesses have said that immediately after the first hit fire broke out and the bus was quickly filled with smoke," Marinov said.

The Macedonian government declared three days of mourning, including the cancellation of all public events, while Bulgaria's government declared one day of mourning.

With reporting by AP

Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that the European Union needs to be ready to increase sanctions against Russia if the situation worsens near either the Ukrainian border or the Belarus-Poland border.

She issued the call for EU unity and an implied caution to Moscow during a meeting in Berlin with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and ahead of a phone call later in the day with Ukraine's president.

European and U.S. officials blame Moscow for stoking and supporting Belarus's "hybrid" campaign to spark a migrant crisis at its border with the EU and warn of Russian troop buildups near Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists are in their eighth year of a war against the central authorities.

At Merkel's meeting with Morawiecki, the two discussed the acute crisis as thousands of third-country migrants camp out on EU member Poland's border with Belarus in hopes of reaching the European Union.

Merkel said she thinks Poland is "doing everything possible" to avoid any further escalation on its border, where hundreds of migrants were reportedly forced back after Belarusian security troops helped breach a border fence earlier on November 25.

SEE ALSO:

Poland Says 200 Migrants Try To Cross Belarusian Border

Merkel, who will soon give way to successor Olaf Scholz, expressed Germany's "full solidarity" with Warsaw as it confronts the border crisis.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry repeated on November 25 that Belarusian and Russian air forces were jointly patrolling the country's western border, cooperation that began last week.

Morawiecki said Poland would not give in to "political blackmail" regarding the border crisis and said the EU must prepare additional sanctions targeting Belarus, including on trade.

He said his country was "protecting" Germany and the entire EU from a major wave of migrants.

Merkel also issued a warning on the situation in western Russia and Ukraine, where reports for weeks have suggested a Russian troop buildup is under way.

SEE ALSO:

Biden Vows 'Unwavering Support' For Ukraine Amid Heightened Tensions With Russia

Merkel said de-escalation was always the preferred option but added, "Any further aggression against the sovereignty of Ukraine would carry a high price."

A spokesman for Merkel, Steffen Seibert, later said that the German leader had spoken by telephone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to "emphasize" to Kyiv her support for Ukraine's "independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity."

She said any effort to undercut Ukrainian independence "would not go without consequences."

Seibert said, via Twitter, that they also discussed the situation at the Belarus-EU border.

Russia this week launched military drills in the Black Sea, south of Ukraine, saying it needed to sharpen the combat-readiness of its conventional and nuclear forces because of what Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu called "the growing activity of NATO countries near Russia's borders."

Meanwhile, Ukraine launched its own exercises near its northern border to increase preparedness for a potential spillover of the Poland-Belarus border situation.

U.S. President Joe Biden on November 24 reiterated "unwavering support" for Kyiv as reports suggested there was a debate over possibly boosting weapons supplies to Ukraine.

Moscow has called allegations of a buildup near its border with Ukraine "groundless."

Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in March 2014, and has been backing separatists in eastern Ukraine in an ongoing conflict that has claimed more than 13,200 lives since April 2014.

With reporting by AP and Reuters

YEREVAN -- Poland has donated a total of 201,640 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca anti-COVID-19 vaccine worth nearly $660,000 to Armenia as the country struggles with a low inoculation rate that has seen only 20 percent of its 2.9 million people fully vaccinated.

Poland's embassy in Yerevan said on November 25 that the donation was made by the Polish Foreign Ministry to Armenia's Health Ministry.

Armenians have until now been inoculated with Russian and Chinese vaccines, as well as those from AstraZeneca and Moderna.

After spiking last month and the first half of this month, the number of daily coronavirus cases reported in Armenia has begun to slowly decrease over the past several days, but remains relatively high.

The Health Ministry on November 25 reported 592 new cases and 40 coronavirus-related deaths.

More than 7,400 people have died in Armenia from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic in March last year.

Health Minister Anahit Avanesian on November 25 also announced the start of a campaign to administer booster shots to those who were fully inoculated at least six months ago.

Vaccination in Armenia is not compulsory, but the government has introduced some administrative measures in an attempt to speed up the slow pace of its immunization campaign launched in April.

From October 1, virtually all public- and private-sector employees refusing vaccination have been obliged to take coronavirus tests twice a month at their own expense.

Earlier this month, the government revealed plans to make such mandatory testing weekly and introduce a mandatory health pass for entry to cultural and leisure venues.

Moldovan lawmakers have approved budget amendments that will allow the national energy company to pay energy dues to Russia's state-controlled Gazprom and avert a new energy crisis in the Eastern European country.

Following the November 25 vote, some 1.4 billion Moldovan lei ($79 million) was allocated to Moldovagaz to pay the Gazprom debt.

Gazprom told Moldova on November 22 that it would cut off gas to the country in 48 hours if it did not pay tens of millions of dollars for recent deliveries.

Moldovagaz head Vadim Ceban confirmed that the state energy company received such a notification from Gazprom, saying the sum amounted to 1.3 billion Moldovan lei.

Gazprom on November 24 agreed to postpone the deadline but expected the payment by November 26.

Last month, Chisinau declared a state of emergency and started buying gas from countries other than Russia after its contract with Gazprom, the largest supplier of natural gas to Europe, expired at the end of September, and the two sides failed to agree on details and pricing of a new long-term deal.

But in a breakthrough on October 28, the Moldovan government and Gazprom announced a new price formula for a five-year agreement to keep gas flowing.

Some observers have said Moscow was using energy against the impoverished country sandwiched between EU member Romania and Ukraine for electing pro-Western President Maia Sandu last year in a vote that rejected Russian-backed incumbent Igor Dodon.

Russia rejected the accusations, saying the hike was purely commercial and reflected global markets.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and TASS

Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Aleksandr Kalashnikov as director of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN), the Kremlin said in a statement, after disturbing videos of torture and rape inside a jail were leaked.

Putin replaced Kalashnikov with Arkady Gostev, a former deputy interior minister.

Kalashnikov has also been subjected to Western sanctions over the jailing of Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny. He served as prison chief for only two years.

The reason for Kalashnikov's dismissal was not specified, but it came after dozens of videos of torture from inside a prison in the central city of Saratov were published recently by Russian human rights group Gulagu.net.

SEE ALSO:

Russian Rights Group Issues More Videos Of Alleged Rape In Prison

"The incidents of torture in the colonies and pretrial detention centers of the Saratov region and other regions, which received a wide public response, became the main reason for Kalashnikov's resignation," an unnamed source told Interfax news agency.

The videos were smuggled out of the prison by a former inmate, Belarusian IT engineer Syarhey Savelyeu, who has since fled Russia and asked for asylum in France. Russia placed Savelyeu on a wanted list last month, but then removed him from it.

SEE ALSO:

France Urged To Grant Asylum To Russian Prisons Whistle-Blower

Earlier this month, FSIN said it had dismissed 18 officials in the Saratov region in connection with the videos and opened several investigations.

The Kremlin had previously called for the case to be investigated.

Russia's huge prison network has long been known as a place of torture and sexual violence inflicted on inmates, according to human rights groups, but the videos cast new light on abuses.

With reporting by AFP

Tents set up last week by Iranian farmers in a dry river bed in Isfahan, Iran's third-largest city, to protest against water cuts have been set on fire by riot police, and shots could be heard in the area.

The site was being "cleaned up" by the city's municipality after the tents were set on fire overnight by Iranian security forces, reports said.

The protest movement started in Isfahan on November 8 and a number of demonstrators set up tents in the dried-up bed of the Zayandehrud River that passes through Isfahan last week.

SEE ALSO:

'Give Isfahan Life!' Water Shortages Unleash Waves Of Protest In Iran

On November 18, thousands of people joined the Isfahan rally to protest against water cuts and the drying up of the river.

Last week, images broadcast on state television and videos published on social networks showed farmers and others from across Isfahan Province gathered in the dry river bed and elsewhere in the city, chanting slogans such as "Give Zayandehrud River back."

Embed share

Iranians Hold Mass Protest Over Poor Water Management Amid Drought

Embed share

The code has been copied to your clipboard.

---

width px height px

---

The URL has been copied to your clipboard

No media source currently available

0:00 0:00:30 0:00

First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber said that meetings were being held over the issue to try to resolve the water problem in Isfahan and elsewhere.

Similar protests have been held across Iran in recent years.

In July, deadly rallies broke out in the southwestern province of Khuzestan amid widespread water shortages.

The Iranian Meteorological Organization has estimated that 97 percent of the country is experiencing drought to some degree.

Mismanagement by the authorities has also been cited as a main cause for the water crisis.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has sworn in Nicolae Ciuca as prime minister, hours after lawmakers overwhelmingly endorsed Ciuca's three-party coalition to end a two-month political stalemate.

The new coalition's center-right National Liberal Party (PNL), the leftist Social Democratic Party (PSD), and ethnic Hungarian UDMR control around two-thirds of the seats in the 466-seat legislature. The Ciuca-led cabinet was endorsed by a 318-to-126 vote.

Iohannis nominated Ciuca, the caretaker defense minister and retired army general, three days ago in the latest push to break through the political impasse.

At the swearing-in ceremony, Iohannis said the "political crisis is over" but added that the country of around 19 million people still faced many challenges.

"The pandemic is not over. The energy crisis is not over, it is only taking on new forms," Iohannis said. "All this requires a solid government, with a consistent majority in parliament, and now there is this government."

Ciuca vowed to put aside differences to rule in "the interest of Romanians."

"We who are in front of you today have gone through things that separate us and we have found things that unite us," Ciuca, a military veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq, said. "We are determined to put an end to the tense situation we are going through."

The PNL pledged last week to install a cabinet by November 25.

Romania, one of the European Union's poorest members, has been in political paralysis since a PNL-led centrist coalition government fell apart in September, threatening an economic recovery and the fight against the deadliest surge in COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

Critics say that although nominally led by the Liberals, the leftist PSD, which is the single-largest party in parliament following general elections in December, will hold sway over the new government.

Ciuca, 54, was first nominated by Iohannis to form a minority Liberal government in October, but he gave up when it became clear that PNL would not be able to garner sufficient support in parliament.

Romania, which has the second-lowest vaccination rate in the 27-member EU, has been battling a rampant fourth wave of COVID-19 infections that saw at its peak last month with some 500 deaths per day in the country of 19 million.

SEE ALSO:

Meet Diana Sosoaca, One Of Romania's Most Influential Anti-Vaxxers And Also A Member Of Parliament

Almost 1.8 million infections have been registered since the start of the pandemic and more than 55,000 people have died of the coronavirus in Romania.

With reporting by Reuters, G4media.ro, and Hotnews.ro

Some 200 migrants attempted to break through a fence on the Polish-Belarus border late on November 24, the Polish Border Guard said, amid continuing tensions at the European Union's external border.

Brussels has accused Belarus of trying to destabilize the bloc by bringing thousands of men, women, and children from the Middle East and pushing them to cross into the EU through Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.

Minsk's action is seen as retaliation for sanctions imposed by the EU on the regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka following its brutal and sometimes deadly crackdown against protesters who accuse the authoritarian leader of stealing an election in August 2020.

SEE ALSO:

Watchdog Says Migrants Face 'Serious' Abuses At Belarusian-Polish Border

The fresh incident near the village of Czeremcha is part of a series of daily clashes between groups of migrants helped by Belarusian soldiers and Polish border forces.

"They were trying to break through the border, attacking the border," Border Guard spokeswoman Anna Michalska told the media on November 25. "They were throwing branches and stones and the attempt was stopped by our officers."

Michalska said the migrants had flattened a section of the fence with logs in their bid to get across. Five migrants have been hospitalized after suffering from exhaustion, she said.

Top EU officials say they're readying a fifth package of sanctions against Belarus for mounting what it called a "hybrid attack” against the bloc.

Embed share

Trafficked In, Trafficked Out: Iraqi Kurds Recount Failed Journey To Belarus's Borders

Embed share

The code has been copied to your clipboard.

---

width px height px

---

The URL has been copied to your clipboard

No media source currently available

0:00 0:02:27 0:00

As tensions rose, Belarusian authorities last week cleared migrant camps at the border and allowed the first repatriation flight to Iraq in months.

On November 25, the Belarusian Security Council claimed the authorities had detained more than 11,500 illegal migrants this year, with around 5,000 deported from the country.

Security Council head Alyaksandr Volfovich was quoted by Russian news agency RIA Novosti as saying that an Iraqi evacuation flight scheduled for November 25 to fly out migrants had not yet taken place, with around 200 migrants waiting at the airport.

With reporting by Reuters and RIA Novosti