One day after Iran agreed to reinstall surveillance cameras at one of its nuclear facilities, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said that the UN's atomic watchdog will not be able to examine images from the cameras until sanctions are lifted.

The cameras will store the images, and when their memory cards are full, they will be placed under the joint control of Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the organization, said on December 16.

"In other words, the agency will not have any access to the information before sanctions are lifted," state news agency IRNA quoted Kamalvandi as saying.

Iran and the IAEA announced the agreement to replace the cameras at a production site for centrifuge parts near Karaj on December 15.

The IAEA, which called the agreement "an important development," has sought to monitor activities at the site, which Tehran said was damaged in June by an alleged attack it blames on Israel. Iran said one of four IAEA cameras at the site was destroyed in the attack, and it later removed all the cameras.

Tehran has refused to allow IAEA access, citing an ongoing investigation into the incident.

The agreement on the cameras came after Western powers warned that time is running out to revive a 2015 deal, which curtailed Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of global sanctions.

There’s been no apparent progress in talks in Vienna due to what Western officials say is Tehran reneging on compromises reached in previous rounds.

Then-U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions, prompting Tehran to gradually exceed limits imposed under the pact.

President Joe Biden says the United States would rejoin the JCPOA if Iran resumes observing it. Iran is demanding the lifting of all U.S. sanctions first.

The United States on December 16 also blacklisted several companies for what Washington said were attempts to supply "U.S.-origin items" that could support Iran's conventional weapons and missile programs in violation of U.S. sanctions.

The United States said several Chinese companies were among those added to the so-called Entity List along with three companies in Georgia -- Gensis Engineering, ROV Solutions, and SAEROS Safety ERO; two companies in Turkey; and one in Malaysia.

The Entity List is published by the Commerce Department and identifies entities for which there is reasonable cause to believe have been involved in activities "contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States."

With reporting by AFP

Ukraine, Canada, Sweden, and Britain have told Iran that it has three weeks to reverse its refusal to address demands for reparations after the downing of a Ukrainian passenger airliner last year.

"The Coordination Group's patience is wearing thin," the four countries said in a statement on December 16, adding that they told Tehran it had until Jan 5, 2022 to respond or the countries would "have to seriously consider other actions to resolve this matter within the framework of international law" but gave no details.

Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) flight PS752 crashed on January 8, 2020, while en route to Kyiv, killing all 176 people on board. More than 130 of the passengers had ties to Canada. Citizens or residents of Afghanistan, Britain, Iran, Ukraine, and Sweden were also killed.

SEE ALSO:

A Year After Iran Downed Ukrainian Airliner, Families Still Seeking Justice

Days after official denials, Iran admitted that a unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) had inadvertently shot down the plane when it fired two missiles amid heightened tensions with the United States.

The group said on December 16 that Iran had shown reluctance to open talks on reparations and to deliver justice in a timely manner.

Families of victims said in a report last month that high-ranking Iranian officials were responsible.

In June, Canada said it had found no evidence that the downing of the plane had been premeditated.

In May, Human Rights Watch accused Iranian security agencies of harassing and abusing families of the victims of the Ukrainian passenger jet in order to "squash any hope for justice."

With reporting by Reuters

Kosovo's government says up to 300 convicts could be sent from Denmark to execute their sentences in Kosovar prisons in a deal that aims to alleviate strains in the Scandinavian EU member's prison system.

The Kosovar Justice Minister Albulena Haxhiu said on December 16 that the convicted criminals from non-European Union countries would serve their terms in a correctional center in the eastern town of Gjilan.

"The inmates who will be transferred to this institution will not be high-risk," Haxhiu said in a statement.

The 10-year deal, which has yet to be approved by Kosovo's parliament, involves the Balkan country receiving 210 million euros ($237 million), which will be dedicated to capital investments, particularly for renewable energy projects.

The deal has prompted concern over the treatment of the prisoners despite Denmark saying they would be treated the same.

A report last year by the U.S. State Department outlined shortcomings in Kosovo's prisons and detention centers, including violence between inmates and mistreatment by staff, corruption, and a lack of medical care.

Danish penitentiaries have been affected by years of staff departures and the highest number of convicts since the 1950s, partly due to rising gang violence.

Similar deals between other countries have also come under criticism.

In 2015, Norway reached a deal with the Netherlands to place 1,000 convicts in Dutch prisons. The deal was terminated in 2018 amid strong criticism from Norway's civil ombudsman, who said the arrangement violated Oslo's human rights obligations.

Based on reporting by Reuters and berlingske.dk

BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan has filed a lawsuit against Canada's Centerra Gold company, accusing it of violating the rights of employees at the Kumtor gold mine, which the Canadian firm ran for many years.

Kumtor officials told RFE/RL on December 16 that the lawsuit was filed over Centerra's alleged blocking of user and administrator access to Kumtor's computers from May 2021, just after the Kyrgyz government took what it calls "temporary" control of operations at the mine.

Centerra Gold has not commented on the Kyrgyz government's lawsuit.

Kumtor has been the target of financial and environmental disagreements for years and is currently the subject of an ongoing battle for control between the Kyrgyz state and Centerra Gold.

The giant gold project has been the focus of international attention since a new Kyrgyz government moved to take over operations at the mine in what President Sadyr Japarov said was a necessary move to remedy environmental and safety violations.

In May, the Kyrgyz government adopted a law allowing it to take control, for up to three months, of any company that operates under a concession agreement in Kyrgyzstan if that firm violates environmental regulations, endangers the local environment or the lives of people, or causes other significant damage.

Centerra has called the Kyrgyz actions "wrongful and illegal" and said in July that it had filed additional arbitration claims against the government in Bishkek over Kumtor.

Many Kyrgyz lawmakers have expressed concerns about a lack of transparency in the operations at Kumtor after the Kyrgyz government took the gold mine under its control.

At a parliamentary session on December 13, Kyrgyz Finance Minister Almaz Baketaev was unable to answer a lawmaker's question about the amount of gold produced at Kumtor while it's under government control and where and for what price it has been sold.

On September 22, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov told RFE/RL that after the Kyrgyz government took over the gold mine, Kumtor produced 4.1 tons of gold bringing $62 million to the State Treasury. Three days later, UKMK Chief Kamchybek Tashiev said that Kyrgyzstan gained $90 million in profit via Kumtor's operations from the time the government took over operations at the gold mine.

MOSCOW -- Prosecutors have asked a court in Moscow to sentence to lengthy prison terms four defendants convicted in a drugs operation that found almost 400 kilograms of cocaine on the premises of the Russian Embassy in Argentina.

Lawyer Leonid Kozak, who is defending one of the defendants, Ishtimir Khudzhamov, told Current Time on December 16 that prosecutors asked the Dorogomilov district court to sentence his client to 15 years in prison.

Kozak added that the prosecution wants the three other defendants in the case to be handed prison terms of between 17 and 19 years.

Three days earlier, a jury convicted the alleged mastermind of the operation, Andrei Kovalchuk, along with Ali Abyanov, Vladimir Kalmykov, and Khudzhamov of buying and storing the drugs at the Russian Embassy's school in Buenos Aires with the intention of later selling the contraband in Europe.

None of the defendants is or was a diplomat.

In February 2018, Argentinian Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said 389 kilograms of cocaine were found in bags seized in December 2016, following a tip from the Russian ambassador and three officers with Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).

The cocaine was replaced with flour and the luggage was flown in 2017 to Russia, where two men were arrested when they came to pick it up, Bullrich said.

Officials said the alleged mastermind -- later identified as Kovalchuk, a former technical worker at the Russian Embassy in Argentina who then resided in Germany -- was wanted under an international arrest warrant.

Germany extradited Kovalchuk to Russia in July 2018.

The U.S. government has announced sanctions on several Chinese biotech and surveillance firms, while the Senate approved legislation barring some imports from China's western Xinjiang region, in the latest steps against Beijing over human rights abuses against Uyghurs, a major indigenous ethnic group in Xinjiang.

Citing the Chinese entities' roles in the Beijing regime's actions against Uyghurs, the U.S. Commerce Department and the Treasury Department on December 16 announced synchronized punitive measures.

Locked Up In China: The Plight Of Xinjiang's Muslims

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is partnering with its sister organization, Radio Free Asia, to highlight the plight of Muslims living in China's western province of Xinjiang.

The Commerce Department added the Academy of Military Medical Sciences and its 11 research institutes that focus on using biotechnology to support the Chinese military to its list of firms and institutions, restricting access to exports.

The Treasury Department, meanwhile, added eight Chinese technology firms, including drone maker DJI Technology Co Ltd., to an investment blacklist, according to the department's website.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded to the new sanctions on December 17 by saying it would "take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese institutions and enterprises."

The measures, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, indicate that "the U.S. has no scruples about smearing China by every means."

China has been under growing international criticism and hit with sanctions for detaining more than 1 million Uyghurs and representatives of Xinjiang's other indigenous, mostly Muslim, Turkic-speaking ethnic groups for political "reeducation" in Xinjiang.

China insists such camps are "vocational education centers" aimed at helping people steer clear of terrorism.

A senior U.S. administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that U.S. intelligence has established that China has set up a high-tech surveillance system across Xinjiang employing biometric facial recognition and collecting DNA samples from all the region's residents aged 12 to 65 as part of a systematic effort to suppress Uyghurs.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate gave final approval on December 16 to a bill barring all imports from China’s Xinjiang region unless businesses can prove they were produced without forced labor.

The vote, by unanimous consent, to approve the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act came two days after the House of Representatives also passed it.

The bill now goes to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it.

The White House announced last week it would stage a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing, citing China's "egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang."

With reporting by AP and Reuters

A court in Moscow has ordered Twitter, Facebook's owner Meta, and TikTok to pay more fines for violating the country’s rules on banned content.

A magistrate court in the Russian capital ruled in separate hearings on December 16 that Twitter must pay 10 million rubles ($135,300), Meta 13 million rubles ($176,000), and TikTok 4 million rubles ($54,130) for failing or refusing to delete banned content as instructed in an earlier ruling.

The fines are the latest in a series of rulings in recent months against Google, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Telegram, and TikTok on similar charges that the social media platforms are not heeding Russia's Internet laws.

Communications regulator Roskomnadzor said earlier that Google, Facebook, and Twitter failed to delete about 5,500 items considered as banned in Russia with the amount of fines they have been ordered to pay now topping 140 million rubles ($1,894,700). It is not clear whether the companies have paid any of the fines levied against them.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused social media platforms and other tech giants of flouting the country's Internet laws, including a push seeking to force foreign firms to open offices in Russia and store Russians' personal data on its territory.

Many critics say the push has nothing to do with "Internet integrity" and instead accuse the authorities of trying to quell dissent.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax

SOFIA -- Bulgaria's lawmakers have voted to freeze electricity and heating prices for households until the end of March, giving the new governing coalition time to come up with a plan to shield the European Union's poorest member state from rising energy costs.

"The National Assembly imposes a moratorium on the prices of electricity, water services, and heating on the regulated market at the levels of December 16, 2021. The decision is valid until March 31, 2022,” according to the amendment, which will enter into force on the day of its promulgation.

The legislation was approved by almost all parties in parliament, with 186 lawmakers supporting it, two voting against, and two abstaining.

The ethnic Turkish MRF party did not take part in the vote, calling the proposal populist and illegal.

Power distribution and supply companies have warned that the price cap, by preventing them from passing on surging wholesale prices to consumers, could draw them into a deeper liquidity crisis after prices soared in September.

Earlier this week, Bulgaria’s independent energy regulator, the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission, proposed to increase power prices by an average 11.5 percent and heating prices by about 30 percent in order to bring them closer to the market prices power companies pay for electricity and natural gas.

The last increase in electricity prices for households occurred in July, when they increased by 3.5 to 5 percent, depending on the provider.

The December 16 vote comes three days after parliament confirmed a new government led by Kiril Petkov after his new anti-corruption We Continue The Change party sealed a governing coalition deal with three other factions.

The move followed a months-long political deadlock that has resulted in three parliamentary elections this year.

With reporting by Reuters

A court in Moscow has rejected a request to release from pretrial detention the chief executive of a leading Russian cybersecurity company who was arrested in September on charges of state treason.

The Moscow City Court on December 16 ruled that a lower court's November 23 decision to extend Ilya Sachkov's pretrial detention until February 28, 2022, was legal and cannot be changed.

Sachkov is the founder of Group-IB, a company known for its work in tracking down hackers and fighting theft and cyberfraud.

He is one of a group of prominent people, including scientists and cybersecurity officials, to be arrested in Russia on treason charges in recent years, while Moscow has faced numerous allegations of cyberattacks on Western countries, which it has denied.

Investigators said Sachkov was suspected of passing classified information to a foreign country. No other details were given by officials.

After their client’s pretrial detention extension was upheld, Sachkov's lawyers read aloud a statement where the accused reiterated his innocence and insisted that the case against him is not connected with Group-IB's activities.

Sachkov was arrested and charged after police searched his company's offices in Moscow on September 28.

Group-IB, founded in 2003, has grown markedly over the past years as cybercrimes have increased globally.

In addition to Moscow, the company has offices in Singapore, London, New York, and Dubai.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax

Russia has rejected a Berlin court's ruling that Moscow was behind the shooting death of a former Chechen militant in Berlin more than two years ago, calling it "completely divorced from reality" and warned of retaliation over the issue, which Germany's new chancellor defended.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on December 16 that the court's comments a day earlier during the delivery of a guilty verdict and life sentence for Russian national Vadim Krasikov, aka Vadim Sokolov, were "an unpleasant episode" in ties between the two countries, though Moscow hopes the issue will not impede the development of relations between newly appointed Scholz and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Hours after Krasikov's sentence was announced, Germany expelled two Russian diplomats over the special services' involvement in the August 2019 murder of Tornike Kavtarashvili, aka Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, in the German capital.

SEE ALSO:

Germany Expels Two Russian Diplomats After Court Finds Man Guilty Of Killing Ordered By Moscow

Russia's Foreign Ministry issued its own statement on December 16 rejecting "the unfounded and completely divorced-from-reality accusations of the involvement of Russian state structures in the murder of terrorist Khangoshvili, who lived in Germany with the acquiescence of the German authorities."

"Berlin should have no doubt that Russia will retaliate with appropriate measures," the ministry said.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in Brussels on December 16 for a European Union summit, defended the verdict and the expulsions, saying the judgement was "a clear indication that bad things happened here, and that is why it is absolutely right that the foreign minister reacted to it with a clear response."

When issuing the ruling against Krasikov on December 15, the second criminal division of the Higher Regional Court in Berlin noted the gravity of the attack by the 56-year-old Krasikov.

German prosecutors during the trial said evidence showed the killing was also aimed at intimidating other Chechen asylum seekers by making them believe they are not safe from Russia's security apparatus.

With reporting by TASS, Interfax, Reuters, AFP, and dpa

Russia's state-owned media company RT says YouTube has blocked its newly launched RT DE channel, less than three months after the U.S. video-sharing platform deleted two German-language RT channels it accused of breaching its COVID-19 misinformation policy.

YouTube deleted the RT auf Sendung (RT On the Air) channel "after only five hours of broadcasting," without sending advance notice or warning, RT said on December 16.

Russian news agencies quoted the press service of Google in Russia as confirming the move, saying the channel was removed for evading the restrictions that were placed on RT DE in late September.

"If a channel is removed, its owner cannot use, own, or create any other YouTube channels," it said, according to TASS and Interfax.

At the time, U.S. tech giant Google, which owns YouTube, said RT DE and Der Fehlende Part (The Missing Part) were deleted because the YouTube channels had published what it called "misinformation" about COVID-19 and vaccines.

SEE ALSO:

YouTube Deletes RT German-Language Channels Over COVID-19 'Misinformation'

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned the move as "censorship," while Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor threatened to restrict access to YouTube in Russia.

The United States and Europe have previously accused Russia of spreading false information about COVID-19 and vaccines.

Launched in 2005 as Russia Today, state-funded RT has continually expanded with broadcasters and websites in languages including English, French, Spanish, and Arabic.

The channel has been banned in several countries, including the ex-Soviet republics of Lithuania and Latvia.

In the United states, it was required to register as a "foreign agent," and British authorities have threatened to revoke its broadcasting license.

In recent months, Russian courts have ordered foreign Internet search engines and social media companies, including Google, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Telegram, and TikTok, to pay fines for failing to delete banned content.

Russia has also blocked several virtual private network (VPN) service providers that shield IP addresses, and still seeks to block others in what is seen as part of Moscow's efforts to bring the Internet in Russia under its control and quell dissent.

With reporting by TASS and Interfax

MOSCOW -- The Moscow City Court has ruled that hearings on a prosecutor's request to shut down one of Russia's oldest rights watchdogs, the Memorial Human Rights Center, will begin on December 23.

Dozens of Memorial supporters gathered in front of the court's building on December 16 as the decision was being handed down.

Last month, Moscow prosecutors asked the court to shut down the center, while the Prosecutor-General's Office around the same time asked the Supreme Court to liquidate the umbrella organization, Memorial International, under which the Memorial Human Rights Center and several other activist groups operate.

Prosecutors say the two organizations have "repeatedly violated" Russia's controversial law on "foreign agents," which is increasingly being used by officials to shut down civil society groups and stifle independent media in the country.

SEE ALSO:

Russian Supreme Court Resumes Hearing To Close Rights Group Memorial

The Supreme Court started hearings into the Prosecutor-General's request to shut down Memorial International in November.

Rights activists say that there are no legal grounds to liquidate the organization, which has been devoted since the late 1980s to researching and memorializing the crimes of the Soviet Union, as well as to promoting human rights in Russia and former Soviet republics. They say the prosecutors' demand to shut down Memorial International is "a politically motivated decision."

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

SEE ALSO:

In Rare Interview, Gulag Historian Speaks From Jail About His Case And The Fate Of Memorial

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

It 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.

Later modifications of the law targeted foreign-funded media, including RFE/RL's Russian Service, six other RFE/RL Russian-language news services, and Current Time.

On December 15, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the persecution and politically motivated attempts of the Russian authorities to liquidate the two veteran human rights groups.

SARAJEVO -- Authorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina say they have arrested eight people suspected of involvement in the killing of dozens of people, including women, children and seniors, during the Bosnian War nearly 30 years ago.

The suspects were detained in an operation launched across Bosnia early on December 16, the Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) said in a statement, adding that they will be handed over to prosecutors for questioning.

The agency said the eight were accused of committing crimes against humanity and war crimes against prisoners in 1992.

The case relates to the killings of almost 100 Bosniaks in the area around the southern town of Nevesinje. Many of the victims were women, elderly, children, and babies, according to the Prosecutor's Office.

It said the remains of 49 victims had been recovered so far, while a search is under way for the remains of at least 47 more.

The December 16 arrests are part of a series of similar operations conducted by SIPA in recent weeks.

More than 100,000 people were killed in the 1992-95 Bosnian War, which ended with a U.S.-brokered agreement that divided the country and its administration largely along ethnic lines among Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats.

On December 7, SIPA announced it had arrested five former soldiers for committing crimes against Serbian civilians who were being held during the war.

Four days earlier, seven former members of the Serbian police were arrested for allegedly participating in the killing of 22 Bosniaks, including seven children.

On November 30, SIPA arrested nine people on charges of involvement in crimes against humanity, also related to the Bosnian War.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Security measures have been beefed up in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, to prevent mass protests as the country marks the 30th anniversary of independence.

Almaty's Republic Square and major streets nearby were cordoned off by police on December 16, while Internet access was blocked in the area.

"It is not a celebration day now, it is a day of mourning," Yrysbek Toqtasyn told RFE/RL, referring to two anniversaries of violent crackdowns on protests that coincide with Kazakhstan's Independence Day.

One is the 1986 anti-Kremlin youth demonstrations, known as Zheltoqsan, in Almaty that erupted after Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev replaced Kazakhstan's long-term ruler, Dinmukhammed Konaev, with Gennady Kolbin, an ethnic Russian sent by Moscow to head the republic.

Demonstrations against the appointment were squelched by a violent crackdown by Soviet authorities. Hundreds of people are believed to have been killed by security forces, while officially only several people lost their lives during the demonstrations that lasted for three days.

Also, 10 years ago police opened fire at protesting oil workers in the southwestern town of Zhanaozen, killing at least 16 people and one person in the nearby town of Shetpe.

Despite the police cordon on December 16, dozens of protesters representing the unregistered opposition Democratic Party managed to make it to Republic Square, chanting "Zheltoqsan! Zhanaozen! We will not forget! We will not forgive!" and held a collective prayer near the monument to Zheltoqsan victims.

Toqtasyn, one of the protesters, told RFE/RL that "the essence of Independence Day has gone" because of the blood shed on that day in Zhanaozen in 2011.

Seven activists of the Oyan, Qazaqstan (Wake Up, Kazakhstan!) youth group held a performance to honor victims of Zheltoqsan and Zhanaozen in Almaty's center, wearing white clothes with a target mark on their backs splashed with red paint.

In Nur-Sultan, the capital, police cordoned the area around the Monument to the Victims of the 1930s Famine and the Internet was switched off there as well.

Many opposition activists across the Central Asian state were detained before December 16 on charges related to their previous participation in unsanctioned rallies.

SEE ALSO:

No Holiday: Independence Day In Kazakhstan Means Jail For Critics

On December 16, leading opposition activist Almat Zhumaghulov was detained when he was leaving a shop in Almaty without explanation. Zhumaghulov was released from prison in early October after serving four years for supporting the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) opposition movement.

The DVK, established by Mukhtar Ablyazov, a fugitive tycoon and opposition politician, had announced plans to organize rallies in the two cities and elsewhere in Kazakhstan on Independence Day.

A court banned the movement, branding it an extremist organization in 2017. The move was criticized by the European Parliament as politically motivated.

Ablyazov and his movement have openly called on Kazakhs to rally against the government, which has been dominated for more than 30 years by the 81-year-old Nursultan Nazarbaev.

Nazarbaev resigned abruptly in March 2019 as president and picked Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev as his replacement, but continues to control social, economic, and political spheres by leading the influential Security Council and enjoying limitless powers as "elbasy" -- the leader of the nation.

MINSK -- Authorities in Belarus have again failed to release a freelance journalist who has worked for RFE/RL's Belarus Service even though the second consecutive jail term he was handed on a controversial hooliganism charge ended on December 15.

Andrey Kuznechyk was initially sentenced to 10 days in jail on November 26 after a trial in which he refused to accept the guilty verdict. He is being held in Minsk's notorious Akrestsina detention center, where many inmates have said they were tortured.

On December 6, when his sentence ended, he was not released and handed another 10-day jail term, also on a hooliganism charge.

Kuznechyk's relatives told RFE/RL at the time that the journalist continued to maintain his innocence.

RFE/RL President Jamie Fly has said the extension of Kuznechyk's sentence "on absurdly fabricated charges" should be considered a crime in itself.

"Andrey's state-sponsored kidnapping continues, all in furtherance of the Lukashenka regime's efforts to block independent information from reaching the Belarusian people. Andrey should be allowed to return to his family immediately," Fly said in a statement on December 6, referring to authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Kuznechyk went for a bike ride on November 25 and returned accompanied by four men dressed in civilian clothes, according to his wife, Alesya Rak.

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

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

SEE ALSO:

Belarusian Journalist Detained As Media Crackdown Continues

Tensions have been running high in Belarus since Lukashenka, in power since 1994, was declared winner of a presidential election in August 2020 that opponents and the West say was rigged.

Many Western governments have since refused to recognize Lukashenka as the legitimate leader of Belarus, leaving him more reliant 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 have been 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 unconditional release of all political prisoners in Belarus remains the top goal of the United States, the U.S. special envoy to Belarus, Julie Fisher, told RFE/RL after harsh prison sentences were handed down to a group of Belarusian opposition activists.

Fisher said in a December 15 interview that the United States wanted to "keep focused" on that goal along with its partners and "nothing is off the table" on the question of further "tools of economic pressure" to try to effect change in Belarus.

"As the repression continues there can be no doubt that we will continue our work with Europe and other partners to bring about the next round of sanctions, the next round of tools of pressure," Fisher said, speaking from Vilnius.

Fisher's comments came a day after popular video blogger Syarhey Tsikhanouski, who intended to run against authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka before being disqualified and arrested, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his activism. Five other activists, including blogger and RFE/RL consultant Ihar Losik, were handed sentences of between 14 years and 16 years for their activism.

SEE ALSO:

'The Dictator's Revenge': Who Are The Six Belarusians Sentenced To Major Prison Terms?

Fisher called the sentences "unjust," "outrageously harsh and ruthless."

After her husband was disqualified from running, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya mobilized voters and won the election, according to the opposition and Western countries who accuse Lukashenka of rigging the results. The results from the August 2020 election sparked months of protests and an increasingly brutal crackdown by Lukashenka's regime, with tens of thousands or people across Belarus being detained.

Tsikhanouskaya has been living in exile in Lithuania since leaving Belarus due to concerns about her safety and that of the couple's two children.

Fisher said there had been signs that the sanctions imposed thus far to try to pressure Belarus to release the more than 900 political prisoners and bring an end to the political crisis are having an impact, but the challenge remains how to "drive that toward the release of all political prisoners."

The United States understands just how devastating the sentences handed down on December 14 were for the families of the prisoners, she said.

"The fortitude and resilience of these families is astonishing," she said, adding that it's important that they "see that this will come to an end, that they believe in that because it is their belief and their resilience that will help their loved ones get through this very difficult period that they will face."

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The U.S. envoy, who was approved by the Senate one year ago as the first U.S. ambassador to Belarus since 2008, said that given the chance to speak with the jailed opposition activists, she would convey just how much solidarity there is for their causes in the United States, Britain, the European Union, Canada, and other partners.

"It is their cause -- the cause of those who were sentenced yesterday as well as the more than 900 political prisoners who are being held in Belarus -- that animates our sanctions polices and truly -- certainly in the case of Washington -- keeps us focused on what more is needed in order to...break through this situation in Belarus," she said.

Fisher said that while U.S.-Belarus relations had deteriorated, the U.S had expanded its relationship with Belarus "as it exists beyond its borders," and it has been a highlight of her year to see the dedication of people who are working to improve the lives inside the country.

As special envoy, she said she spent a great deal of time coordinating with partners in Europe and others who are focused on Belarus, including civil society activists, human rights activists, and independent media.

She has been unable to take up her post in Minsk because the Belarusian government has denied her a visa in response to the harsh economic sanctions Washington has imposed on Lukashenka and other members of his regime because of the election and subsequent crackdown on dissent. Several protesters have been killed in the violence and some rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used by security officials against some of those detained.

Fisher said that despite not being able to physically be in Minsk, she was still "conveniently placed" in Vilnius for anyone who comes from Belarus to have a conversation with the United States.

The U.S. Embassy in Minsk, meanwhile, has been forced to work under restrictive limits on its ability to engage with Belarusians to build people-to-people ties, share information, and fulfill other roles, such as helping Belarus build the elements of civil society and issuing tourist visas, for which she acknowledged there is a lot of pent-up demand.

In October, the embassy said it was forced to close its Public Diplomacy and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) offices as well as the American Center in Minsk. But she said Washington had been clear that it will continue the efforts of those operations.

"As the crisis persists on the ground inside Belarus, we will continue to get more creative we will continue to do more," she said.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Belarus Service Director Alexander Lukashuk

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says 488 journalists and media workers were detained around the world as of December 1, the highest number since the group began publishing its annual roundup more than 25 years ago.

The number of media professionals detained in connection with their work has surged by 20 percent compared to last year, due largely to crackdowns on the media in Myanmar, Belarus, and Hong Kong, RSF said in its annual press-freedom report published on December 16.

By contrast, the number of media workers killed this year -- 46 -- is the lowest number since the Paris-based media-freedom watchdog began issuing annual tallies in 1995, due to a relative "reduction in conflict" in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, it said.

The deadliest countries were once again Mexico and Afghanistan, with seven and six deaths, respectively. The majority of the attacks against reporters in Afghanistan were claimed by the local affiliate of the Islamic State group or the Taliban, with those behind them enjoying “total impunity.”

China is the world's biggest jailer of journalists and media workers for the fifth year running, with 127 of them in prison as of December 1, due in large part to Beijing's increasing control over Hong Kong, according to RSF.

Myanmar was second with 53 imprisoned journalists, followed by Vietnam (43).

Belarus was third with 32 journalists and other media professionals such as media managers, directors, accountants, or lawyers behind bars, compared to seven at the same time last year, RSF said.

Authoritarian Belarusian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka launched a brutal crackdown on the pro-democracy movement and independent media after mass protests erupted across the country in the wake of his disputed reelection in August 2020.

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More women have been detained in Belarus than men -- 17 to 15 -- which RSF said was "symptomatic of the end of the traditional patriarchal tolerance of the Belarusian authorities, which were taken short by the preponderant role of women at the start of the postelection protest movements."

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RSF said it had also never registered so many female journalists in prison worldwide, with the overall number of 60 representing a third more than a year ago.

RSF also counted 65 journalists and colleagues held as hostages around the world. Almost all are in the Middle East -- Syria, Iraq, and Yemen -- apart from a French journalist who is being held in Mali.

The United States and the European Union have warned Russia of "massive consequences” in the event of military aggression against Ukraine and called for a return to diplomacy to de-escalate tensions.

In a call with reporters on December 17, a senior U.S. administration official said the United States and Europe are preparing a list of measures to punish Russia if the Kremlin undertakes military action against its smaller neighbor.

Russia is reported to currently have about 100,000 troops stationed near Ukraine in what the United States has said could be a prelude to an invasion of its neighbor. Russia has carried out aggression against Ukraine in the past, illegally annexing the Crimean region in 2014 and supporting separatists in two of Ukraine's eastern provinces in a war that has killed at least 13,200 people since April of that year.

“If there is any further aggression against Ukraine, that will have massive, massive consequences and will carry a high price,” the senior administration official said. “The results will be very profound on the Russian Federation.”

The senior administration official said the measures being considered are mainly economical and financial but declined to give any details.

The U.S. comments echo those made by European leaders a day earlier in a joint statement at the end of a one-day summit in Brussels, demonstrating the West’s united front against the Kremlin.

"Any further military aggression against Ukraine will have massive consequences and severe cost in response, including restrictive measures coordinated with partners" in Britain and the United States, the EU leaders said in their statement on November 16.

Neither the U.S. senior official nor the European leaders specified what would constitute further military aggression.

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Russia has denied it is planning to invade Ukraine. However, the country continues to build up its forces near the border with Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned on December 16.

"We see no sign that this buildup is stopping or slowing down. On the contrary, it continues," he told reporters during a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at NATO headquarters.

At the same conference, Zelenskiy called on the West to impose sanctions on Russia now to deter the Kremlin from military action against his country.

The United States and the EU also urged Moscow to engage in the stalled peace talks to resolve the nearly eight-year war between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists in the east.

Germany and France have been mediating those talks between Ukraine and Russia. However, no summit has been held in two years. Russian President Vladimir Putin has not accepted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s repeated offers to meet.

The senior U.S. administration official said Washington is ready to support the peace talks and expressed hope that a new cease-fire and prisoner exchange could be reached later this month.

With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters

UN cross-border humanitarian aid from Turkey to a rebel-held enclave in northwestern Syria remains vital for millions of people, the United Nations secretary-general has said in an internal report.

The United States and Russia reached a last-minute deal in July to allow humanitarian aid to continue flowing at Bab al-Hawa, the only border crossing into Idlib, a jihadist and rebel-controlled enclave where more than 2 million people need assistance.

An agreement at the UN Security Council, where Russia has a veto, allowed the aid to keep flowing through Bab al-Hawa until January 10, 2022. But an automatic six-month extension was contingent on Antonio Guterres issuing a report on the operation's "transparency" and progress on delivering aid across Syria's internal front lines.

"Cross-border assistance remains lifesaving for millions of people in need in northwest Syria," Guterres said in a confidential document obtained by AFP and AP on December 15.

"Despite challenges, humanitarian aid is delivered, and services are provided, in a principled and transparent manner throughout the country," Guterres said, adding that over 4 million people were in need of crucial assistance across the country.

Russia, a key ally of Syria, used its veto threat in the council last year to stop aid shipments through three other border points. Moscow argues humanitarian supplies should be sent across conflict lines within Syria to strengthen the government's sovereignty over the entire country.

The European Union, United States, Turkey, and other countries say cross-border deliveries at Bab al-Hawa remain vital, warning that stopping them could impact millions of Syrians living in camps.

Guterres said that "clear progress has been made" on delivering aid across internal conflict lines, but that those shipments weren't enough to replace shipments through Bab al-Hawa.

"At this point such cross-line convoys, even if deployed regularly, could not replicate the size and scope of the cross-border operation," he said.

"The cross-border operation remains an essential part of the humanitarian response and will continue to do so as long as needs cannot be addressed at the same scope and scale through any other modality," he wrote.

With reporting by AFP and AP

The United States has warned Mali against deploying Russia-backed Vagner Group forces, saying a reported deal between the country and the private military contractor would divert money away from efforts to fight terrorism and could ultimately destabilize the region.

Vagner Group forces “will not bring peace to Mali, but rather will destabilize the country further," State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement on December 15.

Price described the United States as “alarmed” by the potential deployment of Vagner Group forces in Mali under the deal, which the statement says would cost $10 million per month.

The statement notes that Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a Russian businessman and close associate of President Vladimir Putin who is believed to run the Vagner Group, is sanctioned by the United States, Britain, and the European Union “in connection with his dealings with the Russian Federation's Ministry of Defense and his efforts to subvert U.S. democratic processes.”

Putin has said the Vagner Group does not represent the Russian state and is not paid by it. He has also said private military contractors have the right to work and pursue their interests anywhere in the world as long as they do not break Russian law.

Price said countries that have Vagner Group deployments within their borders "soon find themselves poorer, weaker, and less secure.”

He cited Libya, the Central African Republic (CAR), Ukraine, and Syria as examples. In these countries the Vagner Group "stoked conflict and increased insecurity and instability, causing the deaths of local soldiers and civilians and undermining national sovereignty -- all while depleting the national treasury and diverting essential resources that could have been used to build the capabilities of the countries’ own armed services.”

Price added that engaging the Vagner Group “could put at risk” the contributions of more than 20,000 international peacekeepers and troops who serve in Mali at no cost to the government.

In a separate move on December 15, the EU said it would suspend its training mission for soldiers in CAR because of fears the mission could get tied up in violations of international law by Russian mercenaries, including many with the Vagner Group.

The European Union Training Mission in Central African Republic (EUTM RCA) says its job has been complicated by the presence of hundreds of Russian operatives who have arrived since 2018 and have been working in close coordination with the army of the CAR.

With reporting by Reuters

A Russian woman who worked with supporters of jailed Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny in the central city of Saratov says she has received political asylum in the Netherlands.

Olga Kuznetsova wrote on Instagram on December 15 that she had obtained asylum but didn’t say when. It was not clear when she left Russia.

Kuznetsova worked as a volunteer for a group of Navalny's supporters in Saratov. She said that officers of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in the summer of 2020 tried to recruit her as an informant. When she refused, she was threatened with criminal prosecution.

Later that year law enforcement officers searched her home. Her bank accounts were then frozen, and she was questioned after she took part in a seminar organized by the pro-democracy organization Open Russia.

Many of Navalny’s former associates have fled the country fearing arrest after a Moscow court in June labeled all organizations associated with him as extremist.

Last week, Aleksandr Chernikov, the former head of Navalny's network of regional campaign groups in Russia's far-western exclave of Kaliningrad, said that he and his family were in the United States, where they had asked for political asylum.

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According to Chernikov, Russian investigators questioned him twice in "a case concerning extremism" after the June ruling, which effectively outlaws all organizations associated with Navalny.

In October, the former head of Navalny's network of regional campaign groups in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Sergei Boiko, who is also a member of the Novosibirsk City Council, wrote on Twitter that he and his family would not return to Russia from a business trip to an unspecified country because he feared persecution.​

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Boiko said he decided not to return to Russia after the arrest of the former chief of Navalny’s support group in the city of Ufa, Lilia Chanysheva.

Chanysheva was arrested in November in the Bashkortostan on extremism charges. She was later transferred to a detention center in Moscow, where she is expected to remain in pretrial detention until at least January 9.​

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

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

DUSHANBE -- Tajik President Emomali Rahmon on December 15 appointed his third daughter, Ruhshona Rahmonova, to be the country’s ambassador to Britain.

Several other close relatives of Rahmon, who has nine children, occupy important official positions or control lucrative businesses in Tajikistan -- one of the poorest former Soviet republics in Central Asia.

Rahmon has ruled Tajikistan since 1992. Rights groups and opponents say he tolerates little dissent and suppresses his critics.

In 2016, his daughter Ruhshona, who is in her late 30s, was given a senior position at the Foreign Ministry in Dushanbe following a period of activity at the Tajik Embassy in London.

She is married to businessman Shamsullo Sohibov, who is known for having used the family’s influence to amass a reportedly immense fortune.

Rahmon’s 34-year-old son, Rustam, is the mayor of the capital, Dushanbe, and chairman of the Majlisi Milli, Tajikistan's upper house of parliament.

One of the Tajik leader’s other daughters, Ozoda Rahmon, is his chief of staff, while her husband, Jamoliddin Nuraliev, is the first deputy chairman of the central bank.

Iran and the UN's nuclear watchdog have announced an agreement on replacing damaged cameras at an Iranian nuclear complex amid Western warnings that talks with Tehran on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal were “rapidly reaching the end of the road.”

The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been seeking to replace the cameras, one of which Iran claims was damaged in a June attack that it blames on Israel.

The IAEA "will soon install new surveillance cameras at Iran's Karaj centrifuge component manufacturing workshop under an agreement reached today by Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi and the Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami," an IAEA statement said on December 15, calling this "an important development."

It added that the two sides "will continue to work on remaining outstanding safeguards issues with the aim of resolving them."

The IAEA has sought the monitoring of activities at the centrifuge-parts-production site near Karaj that was hit by the alleged Israeli act of sabotage.

Iran said one of four IAEA cameras there was destroyed in the attack, and it later removed all the cameras.

Tehran has refused to allow the IAEA access, citing an ongoing investigation into the incident.

"In a gesture of goodwill, Iran is allowing the IAEA to install new cameras to replace those damaged in a sabotage operation" against the Karaj nuclear site, said Iran's Nour news agency, which is seen as close to the Islamic republic's Supreme National Security Council.

"This is a voluntary action by Iran to end misunderstandings in its relations with the IAEA," it said.

The breakthrough came a day after Britain, France, and Germany -- the three European powers that are part to the agreement together with China and Russia -- said that talks with Iran to revive the 2015 nuclear deal are “rapidly reaching the end of the road.”

The comments suggest talks between Iran and the remaining parties to the agreement are nearing collapse some two weeks after they resumed in Vienna after a five-month hiatus, with the United States participating indirectly.

The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), under which Iran curtailed its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of global sanctions, began unraveling in 2018 when former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal and reimposed sanctions, prompting Tehran to gradually exceed limits imposed under the pact.

Trump's successor, Joe Biden, says the United States is ready to rejoin the JCPOA provided Iran resumes observing the deal's conditions.

The remaining parties to the deal are holding their seventh round of talks in Vienna, but no apparent progress has been made due to what Western officials say is Tehran's reneging on compromises reached in the previous six sessions. Iran's new positions and demands come after hard-line cleric Ebrahim Raisi was elected president in June.

Considerable gaps remain between Iran and the other parties over the speed and scope of sanctions relief and technical aspects of how and when Iran will reverse its nuclear steps.

Iran is demanding the lifting of all U.S. sanctions in a verifiable process. Washington has said it would remove sanctions “inconsistent” with the JCPOA if Iran resumed compliance, but there are questions over how the Biden administration can remove the Trump-imposed sanctions.

The United States has also implied that sanctions on Iran for terrorism or human rights abuses would remain in place.

With reporting by Reuters, dpa, and AFP

Iran's parliament passed legislation on December 15 to raise teachers' salaries following several days of countrywide protests and a strike that impacted the Islamic republic's education system.

The legislation had initially obtained emergency approval on December 14 following a three-day strike by thousands of teachers and educators that culminated with hundreds of demonstrators gathering in front of the parliament building in Tehran on December 13 to protest unfair labor conditions. Police used violence against the strikers and arrested several people.

Measures passed by legislators on December 15 guarantee that teachers will earn about 80 percent of the salaries of university faculty members, one of the protesters' demands.

Lawmaker Alireza Monadi, who heads parliament's education committee, told the semiofficial Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) that a teacher would earn a minimum of about 80 million rials ($267) per month if the legislation is enacted, compared with an average of around 60 million rials now.

Education Minister Yousef Nouri promised on December 14 that the law, which had been repeatedly introduced in parliament in recent years but failed to pass, would be swiftly implemented after its approval, the state news agency IRNA reported.

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During rallies held in several cities outside Tehran, teachers also demanded the release of colleagues detained by police, according to Iranian news outlets and rights groups.

"I have no information how many were arrested but I will definitely follow up the cases of arrested teachers," Monadi was quoted as saying by ILNA.

In recent months, teachers and other educators have reportedly taken to the streets of Tehran, Yazd, Shiraz, Qom, Kerman, and dozens of other cities across Iran to protest against the failure by the government and lawmakers to fulfill their promises to improve their livelihoods.

Security forces have sometimes responded using heavy-handed tactics and arresting some participants.

The wave of protests come amid high unemployment and soaring inflation exceeding 40 percent over the past year as the impact of government mismanagement and financial sanctions imposed by the United States over Iran’s nuclear program cripple the economy.

​With reporting by Reuters

Russia has presented the United States with a set of proposals for binding Western security guarantees during a meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried in Moscow on December 15, the Kremlin said.

Donfried, who traveled to Moscow after holding talks with officials in Kyiv on a major Russian troop buildup near Ukraine, said in a video posted on Twitter that the United States will share Russia's proposals with its allies and partners.

Ukraine and its Western backers have raised concerns that Russia may be preparing an invasion of its neighbor, something Moscow has denied.

The Kremlin, which says that a new eastward NATO enlargement would threaten Russia, has demanded guarantees that the alliance will not expand further eastwards or deploy advanced weaponry in Ukraine and other countries that border Russia.

Washington and Kyiv have repeatedly said that no one has the right to veto Ukraine's desire to join the Western alliance.

NATO says its activities are defensive and meant to discourage new Russian aggression after Moscow in 2014 illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimea region and has been backing pro-Russian separatists who seized a swath of eastern Ukraine that same year.

"American representatives were literally today handed concrete proposals in our Foreign Ministry that are aimed at developing legal security guarantees for Russia," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.

"We are ready to start negotiations on this crucial issue immediately," Ushakov told reporters.

Donfried met Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov for talks in the ministry earlier on December 15.

With reporting by Reuters and TASS