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German Defense Minister Calls For Harsher Sanctions Against Russia Over Troop Deployment
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht has called for harsher sanctions against Russia over its troop deployment on the Ukrainian border, saying those responsible for any aggression must face "personal consequences.”
Lambrecht told the German weekly Bild am Sonntag that Germany and its allies should put Russian President Vladimir Putin and his entourage "in our sights."
"We have to exhaust all the diplomatic and economic sanction possibilities. And all further steps should be agreed with our allies," she said.
Lambrecht’s comments were published on December 19 as she visited German soldiers deployed in Lithuania as part of a NATO mission.
The visit comes amid growing concerns over regional security after Russia amassed some 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine in what Washington says could be preparations for an invasion.
Germany provides about half of the 1,200 troops of the multinational NATO combat unit in Lithuania and leads the unit as a so-called framework nation.
In response to Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014, NATO strengthened the protection of its eastern flank. Joint combat units were stationed in the three Baltic states and in Poland as part of an "enhanced forward presence."
Lambrecht took up the post of defense minister this month in Germany's new government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Based on reporting by dpa and AFP
Father Of Navalny Associate Gets Three-Year Suspended Sentence
A Russian court has handed a three-year suspended sentence to Yury Zhdanov, the father of Ivan Zhdanov, a close associate of jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, in a corruption case critics say is politically motivated.
Zhdanov, who spent several months in pretrial detention, was released from custody after sentencing, his lawyer, Vladimir Voronin, announced on Twitter on December 19.
Prosecutors had asked for Zhdanov, 67, to be sentenced to three years in jail on charges of fraud and forgery. Zhdanov rejected the charges.
Zhdanov was arrested in late March and went on trial in Russia's Arctic city of Naryan-Mar in October.
Ivan Zhdanov, the former chief of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), has accused Russia's presidential administration of trying to pressure him by arresting his father.
Yury Zhdanov is accused of recommending that a remote town’s administration, where he worked as an official before his retirement last year, provide a local woman with a subsidized apartment, though it later turned out that the woman's family had previously received housing allocations.
The apartment was later returned to municipal ownership in accordance with a court decision and no one among those who made the decision was held responsible.
Navalny's FBK was known for publishing investigative reports about corruption among Russia's top officials, including President Vladimir Putin.
Earlier this year, the FBK and other groups associated with Navalny were labeled as extremist and banned in Russia.
With reporting by Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Switzerland Extradites Kremlin-Linked Russian Businessman To U.S.
Switzerland has extradited Kremlin-linked Russian businessman Vladislav Klyushin to the United States, where he faces insider-trading charges, Swiss authorities reported on December 18.
Klyushin owns M13, a Russian company that offers media monitoring and cybersecurity services. He is accused in the United States of making tens of millions of dollars with accomplices via insider trading using hacked confidential information about listed U.S. companies.
The businessman was arrested in Switzerland in March on a U.S. warrant.
Russia said on December 19 that it was deeply disappointed with the Swiss decision to extradite Klyushin.
"We are forced to state that we are dealing with another episode in Washington's ongoing hunt for Russian citizens in third countries," the TASS news agency quoted Vladimir Khokhlov, a spokesperson for the Russian Embassy in Switzerland, as saying.
According to Russian opposition media, Klyushin is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first deputy chief of staff, Aleksei Gromov.
The website of M13 says its services are used by the Russian presidential administration and government.
Klyushin had argued in court that he was being targeted for “political reasons” and rejected the charges as baseless. But Swiss courts dismissed his appeal. The Federal Criminal Court in November upheld a previous rejection of Klyushin's argument that he was a victim of a U.S. political campaign.
Klyushin's extradition to the United States was approved in June after the Swiss Federal Office of Justice rejected a Russian request earlier to extradite Klyushin to Moscow to face trial there.
The United States slapped Russia with sanctions in April for interfering in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, hacking, and supporting pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.
Based on reporting by Reuters, TASS, and AFP
- By RFE/RL
Germany Warns Russia That Costs Would Be High If Moscow Invades Ukraine
German ministers have reiterated EU warnings that Russia would face harsher sanctions in the event of military aggression against Ukraine, which they said could also prompt Berlin to rethink its cooperation with Moscow on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline.
The renewed warnings come as Kyiv and its Western backers accuse Russia of massing about 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine as a possible prelude to an invasion as early as next month.
The European Union has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia over its seizure and illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region in March 2014, and over Moscow’s backing of separatists in eastern Ukraine in an ongoing conflict that has killed more than 13,200 people since April 2014.
The bloc has urged Russia to de-escalate and engage in renewed diplomacy over conflict, threatening strong new sanctions in coordination with Britain and the United States if there were any attack.
Russia denies it has plans to launch an offensive and has issued a series of demands about Ukraine’s potential membership in NATO and the alliance's activities near its western border.
In an interview published on December 19 as she visited German soldiers deployed in Lithuania, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said Russia cannot "dictate" to NATO on regional security.
Those responsible for any Russian aggression against Ukraine must face "personal consequences,” Lambrecht also told the German weekly Bild am Sonntag.
"We have to exhaust all the diplomatic and economic sanction possibilities. And all further steps should be agreed with our allies."
Following Russia’s seizure of Crimea, NATO has strengthened the protection of its eastern flank, deploying joint combat units in the three Baltic states and in Poland as part of an "enhanced forward presence."
Germany leads the multinational NATO combat unit in Lithuania and provides about half of its 1,200 troops.
Also on December 19, German Economic Affairs Minister Robert Habeck warned that the future of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany could face "severe consequences" if Russia attacked Ukraine.
Nothing can be excluded if there is a "new violation of the territorial integrity" of Ukraine, Habeck said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Lambrecht and Habeck took up their ministerial posts this month in Germany's new government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Nord Stream 2 is set to double the supply of natural gas from Russia to Germany, but the project has for years been dogged by delays and criticism from Germany's eastern EU allies, including Poland.
The United States and Ukraine oppose Nord Stream 2 on the grounds that it would endanger European energy security by increasing the continent’s reliance on Russian gas and deprive Ukraine of transit fees.
Habeck said that from a geopolitical point of view, “the pipeline is a mistake." It has, however, been built, he said.
The new German government already has threatened to block the pipeline from going into operation if Russia invades Ukraine.
"In the event of further escalation, this gas pipeline could not come into service," Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.
The pipeline awaits approval from German regulators. The pipeline's Swiss-based Nord Stream 2 AG, the company that controls the pipeline, must submit documents to restart the certification process. The pipeline would then also have to be approved by the European Commission.
Germany's energy regulator said on December 16 that no decision on whether to allow the pipeline to be commissioned is expected in the first half of 2022.
Meanwhile, in Washington, lawmakers have not given up on imposing sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG.
The U.S. Senate will vote next month on a bill to slap sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG under an agreement reached on December 18 between Senator Ted Cruz (Republican-Texas) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (Democrat-New York).
Cruz agreed to lift a hold on votes to approve several of President Joe Biden's nominees for ambassadorial posts in exchange for a guarantee of a vote on the sanctions bill by January 14.
The deal cleared the way for approval on December 18 of about three dozen ambassadors in votes by the Senate.
Cruz moved to block votes on nominees after the Biden administration in May waived sanctions against Nord Stream 2 AG, saying the project was already mostly built and as the administration sought to repair ties with Germany.
The controversial $11 billion pipeline was completed in September, and Russia has said it is ready to begin shipping gas.
With reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP, and dpa
- By RFE/RL
Top U.S. Senator Accuses Russia Of Trying To Create 'Pretext For War'
The top Republican on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee says the security proposals that Moscow has put forth in response to Western alarm over a Russian troop buildup near Ukraine are a clear sign that Russia is “trying to create a pretext for war.”
U.S. Senator Jim Risch (Republican-Idaho) said in a statement on December 18 that Russia’s proposals are not security agreements, but a list of concessions the United States and NATO must make to appease Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The proposals, laid out on December 17 by the Russian Foreign Ministry, call for an end to NATO’s eastward expansion and limitations on the alliance’s military activity in Eastern Europe, including cooperation with Ukraine and Georgia.
“The Russian Federation made these demands with the full understanding they are impossible to accept,” Risch said. “Putin knows the United States and our 29 NATO allies do not, and will not, negotiate away the future of sovereign nations, like Ukraine, that must be able to make their own choices.”
Risch urges the Biden administration and all NATO allies to reject the demands but said the alliance should be prepared for Putin to use the rejection as an excuse for using military force. He also called on Congress and the administration to act before Russia escalates further.
Russia currently has about 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine in what the United States says could be preparations for an invasion.
The proposals, which would roll back many of the security advances NATO has made in Eastern Europe and former Soviet states since the late 1990s, come as tensions between Washington and the Kremlin reach a post-Cold War high amid Moscow’s attempts to carve out a sphere of influence in its near abroad.
A senior U.S. administration official on December 17 called some of the proposals “unacceptable” but said other aspects “merit some discussion.”
The official said the United States would consult with its allies and partners, including Ukraine, about the proposals before responding to Russia next week.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called Washington and NATO's response to the security proposals discouraging and said he did not consider them unacceptable.
Ryabkov told the TASS news agency on December 18 that the aim is to hold talks exclusively with Washington.
Ryabkov expressed hope that the United States would enter into negotiations, saying the issue "is critically important for maintaining peace and stability."
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Russia has made clear it is “ready to talk about switching over from a military or a military-technical scenario to a political process."
Speaking on December 18, Grushko said if that doesn’t work out, Russia has signaled to NATO that it would “move over to creating counterthreats, but it will then be too late to ask us why we made these decisions and why we deployed these systems.”
Moscow and Kyiv have been at odds since 2014 when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and began providing military, political, and economic support to separatist formations in parts of eastern Ukraine.
Moscow denies direct involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine despite compelling evidence to the contrary.
With reporting by TASS
Independent Medics Say Georgian Ex-President's Health Compromised By 'Torture' In Prison
TBILISI -- An independent group of doctors has examined jailed former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and determined that his health has been seriously compromised as a result of "torture" and mistreatment he had allegedly experienced since his arrest in early October.
The doctors reported on December 18 that Saakashvili, 53, had developed several neurological conditions "as a result of torture, ill-treatment, inadequate medical care, and a prolonged hunger strike."
One member of the group, psychiatrist Mariam Jishkariani, told the AFP news agency that the health problems were the result of "Saakashvili's psychological torture in prison, which could lead to his incapacitation if he is not given proper medical care."
She added that he had been wrongly given unspecified "antipsychotic drugs," which amounted to "pharmacological torture."
The examination by a group of seven physicians was organized by the nongovernmental Empathy Center.
Saakashvili himself has said he was subjected to death threats, sleep deprivation, and physical abuse while in custody.
Last week, the Georgian State Inspectorate announced it had opened an investigation into Saakashvili's allegations.
The NGO Amnesty International has said Saakashvili’s treatment was "not just selective justice, but apparent political revenge," while the U.S. State Department has called on the Georgian government to "treat Saakashvili fairly and with dignity."
Saakashvili served as Georgia's president from 2004 to 2013. He was arrested shortly after returning to Georgia from self-imposed exile in Ukraine.
He conducted a 50-day hunger strike to protest his convictions on charges of abuse of office, which he says were politically motivated.
His arrest, coming amid a political crisis stemming from disputed parliamentary elections in 2020, spurred the largest anti-government protests in Georgia in a decade.
With reporting by AFP
Moldova Calls Russian Envoy's Presence At Transdniester Inauguration 'Unfriendly Action'
The government of Moldova has criticized Russia's ambassador for attending the inauguration ceremony of the de facto president of the breakaway Moldovan region of Transdniester.
"The so-called presidential election in the Transdniester region is illegitimate and runs counter to the constitutional foundations of Moldova," the Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry said in a December 18 statement.
"The participation of the head of Russia's diplomatic mission in these activities is regarded by the Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry as an unfriendly action," the statement added.
Russian Ambassador Oleg Vasnetsov attended the December 17 swearing-in ceremony of Vadim Krasnoselsky as the de facto head of the unrecognized region. Krasnoselsky was proclaimed the winner of the unauthorized election held on December 12.
Earlier, the chairman of Moldova's presidential pardons commission, Ion Guzun, wrote on Facebook that Vasnetsov should be declared persona non grata for attending the ceremony.
Transdniester gained de facto independence following a brief war in 1992. Russia maintains a military presence in the region despite the Moldovan government's repeated calls for Russian troops to be replaced by international peacekeepers.
Russia Officially Completes Withdrawal From Open Skies Treaty
Russia has officially completed its obligations under the 2002 Open Skies Treaty and finalized its withdrawal from the agreement.
Moscow gave treaty signatories six months' notice of its intention to withdraw on June 18, following the withdrawal of the United States in November 2020.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump accused Russia of "flagrantly violating" the agreement.
Specifically, Washington said Russia had imposed flight restrictions over the Kaliningrad region, the area near its border with Georgia, and the North Caucasus region of Chechnya.
The treaty allows signatories to conduct unarmed surveillance flights over the territory of other participants as a means of boosting mutual confidence and preventing misunderstandings. Thirty-three countries remain part of the agreement.
- By RFE/RL
Russian Strategic Bombers Patrol Over Belarus Amid High Regional Tensions
Russia has sent two nuclear-capable strategic bombers to patrol the western borders of ally Belarus, the authorities in Minsk say, amid heightened tensions across Eastern Europe.
The two Tu-22M3 bombers were accompanied by Su-30SM fighter jets from both the Russian and Belarusian air forces.
It was the third such mission in the area in the last month.
Tensions between Russia and the West have been heightened by a buildup of Russian troops in the region near the country's border with Ukraine.
At the same time, Belarus's relations with the European Union are strained over a migrant crisis along its western border that the EU says was instigated intentionally by Minsk.
Officials in Kyiv have expressed fears that Moscow could use Belarusian territory to support an attack on Ukraine.
The United States and NATO have warned of "massive consequences" if Russia attacks Ukraine.
However, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told the Spectator magazine on December 18 that it was "highly unlikely" NATO members would send troops to defend Ukraine from a Russian attack.
"It is not a member of NATO, so it is highly unlikely that anyone is going to send troops to Ukraine to challenge Russia," Wallace said. "We shouldn't kid people we would. The Ukrainians are aware of that."
Wallace added that Britain would continue helping Ukraine build up its own defense capabilities and again warned Moscow of "severe economic sanctions" -- including Russia's possible exclusion from the SWIFT international payments network -- if it attacked Ukraine.
Meanwhile, German Economic Affairs Minister Robert Habeck said in an interview published on December 18 that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to deliver Russian natural gas to Germany could face "severe consequences" in the event of a Russian attack on Ukraine.
He added that "nothing can be excluded" if "there is a new violation of the territorial integrity" of Ukraine.
Habeck also said that "from the geopolitical point of view, the pipeline was a mistake."
Moscow and Kyiv have been at odds since 2014, when Russia seized the Ukrainian region of Crimea and began providing military, political, and economic support to separatist formations in parts of eastern Ukraine.
Moscow denies direct involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, despite compelling evidence to the contrary.
Western analysts say Russia currently has about 100,000 troops positioned near its border with Ukraine.
With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
- By RFE/RL
Iran Insists Missing Video From Nuclear Site Lost Due To 'Sabotage'
Iran's Atomic Energy Organization has rejected that it is responsible for the loss of surveillance video from a centrifuge-parts-production site, suggesting that the data was lost due to an attack on the plant this summer.
"The records were destroyed by an act of sabotage," the agency said in December 18 press statement after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had "doubts" about Iran's explanation for the missing video.
Iran has blamed Israel for the June attack on the facility in Karaj, west of Tehran, and until recently blocked access to the site because it was considered a crime scene.
The missing surveillance-video footage has raised concerns that Iran could be hiding increased nuclear activities.
!["The [IAEA] will not have any access to the information before sanctions are lifted," state news agency IRNA quoted Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, as saying. (file photo)](https://gdb.rferl.org/cdaa370c-e41c-4877-82c8-09a07767fbeb_cx0_cy3_cw0_w100_r1.jpg)
The IAEA was only recently allowed to replace damaged surveillance cameras at the site, and on December 17 the UN's nuclear watchdog said Tehran had not provided a convincing explanation for the lost data.
When asked in Vienna whether he thought the data could have been destroyed in the June attack, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said, "We have doubts about that."
"This is why we are asking them, 'Where is it?' I'm hopeful that they are going to come up with an answer because it is very strange that it disappears," Grossi said.
The development comes as Iran and world powers are negotiating in an effort to restart a stalled nuclear deal worked out in 2015 under which Tehran had agreed to curbs on its controversial nuclear program in exchange for relief from punitive economic sanctions.
The United States withdrew from the accord in 2018, leaving Iran to consider the deal broken and to resume many of the activities, including the production of centrifuges, that it had agreed to halt or limit.
Under the administration of President Joe Biden, Washington has expressed interest in rejoining the agreement if Iran returns to full compliance.
The centrifuges manufactured at the Karaj facility have applications for producing enriched uranium that can be used to fuel both nuclear reactors and, possibly, nuclear weapons.
The latest round of negotiations on restarting the nuclear pact wrapped up on December 17 and participants have expressed optimism they could resume before the end of the year.
With reporting by dpa, Reuters, and AP
- By Current Time
Russian LGBT Organization Branded As 'Foreign Agent'
An organization that provides legal and counseling assistance to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Russia's Far East has been listed as a "foreign agent."
The nonprofit organization Mayak, which says it has been operating in Russia since 2016, was added to the Justice Ministry's list of "unregistered public associations performing the functions of a foreign agent" on December 17.
Mayak is part of the Russian LGBT Network, Russia's largest gay and lesbian support group, which was branded a "foreign agent" on a separate list on November 8.
Russia maintains multiple lists of individuals and entities it considers to be working as "foreign agents," a label that is handed down in keeping with Russia's so-called "foreign agent" legislation adopted in 2012.
Among other things the designation requires nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign assistance and which are considered by the government to be engaged in political activities to register as "foreign agents," to identify themselves as such, and to submit to audits.
RFE/RL and a number of its services are among 103 individuals and entities listed as "foreign mass media performing the functions of a foreign agent."
Mayak joins the election-monitoring NGO Golos as the only entities on the "unregistered public associations" list.
Mayak is headed by Regina Dzugkoyeva, who also heads the NGO Lilit.
Lilit, which implements social and legal programs in the Far East, was also designated a "foreign agent" on December 17.
Uzbekistan Sends Technicians To Repair Afghanistan's Mazar-e Sharif Airport
Uzbekistan has sent experts to the northern Afghanistan city of Mazar-e Sharif to help repair its airport equipment and restart operations.
The Uzbek special presidential envoy for Afghanistan, Ismatilla Ergashev, said on December 17 that the technicians would complete their work on the airport early next year.
The assistance reflects a willingness by neighboring Central Asian states to engage with the Taliban after the movement toppled the Western-backed government in mid-August as U.S. and allied forces withdrew.
Uzbekistan has also helped the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other aid groups set up a humanitarian hub in the southern Uzbek border city of Termez.
The UN refugee agency has so far sent 100 tons of humanitarian aid to a logistics center in Termez.
Earlier this week, the UN agency sent its first two aid trucks filled with 40 tons of basic necessities such as kitchen kits and plastic sheeting from the border city to Mazar-e Sharif.
Afghanistan is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, with more than half of its population at risk of not having enough to eat during the winter, according to the UN.
Based on reporting by Reuters and RFE/RL's Uzbek Service
- By RFE/RL
German Regulator Says Russian State Media Broadcasting Without A License
German regulators have launched proceedings against Russian state-controlled media RT for broadcasting in the country without a valid license.
RT DE, the German-language channel of broadcaster RT, suddenly began satellite broadcasts in Germany on December 16 using a questionable Serbian license, the MABB media regulator for Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg said on December 17.
Germany does not grant broadcasting licenses to foreign-owned state media, although RT DE is allowed to have a bureau in Berlin.
RT -- formerly Russia Today, which has been repeatedly criticized in the West as a source of Kremlin propaganda -- has been trying to expand its German-language television channel for some time, but lacks a license to broadcast in the country using terrestrial or satellite signals.
RT DE still has articles and an online streaming service on its website that are accessible in Germany.
In August, neighboring Luxembourg refused to grant a license for RT DE to broadcast in Germany because its operations are based in Berlin.
However, RT DE's parent organization, TV Novosti, received a license in Serbia after its failed attempt in Luxembourg. This only became known on December 16, when RT DE began broadcasting in Germany.
"For this program, a broadcast license was neither applied for nor granted by MABB," the regulator said in a statement to RFE/RL. It added that a formal procedure had been launched and RT DE now had until the end of the year to respond.
Such proceedings could potentially lead to the channel being banned or receiving a fine of up to 500,000 euros ($563,700).
RT DE responded on its website with an article titled European Licensing Law: A Refresher Course For Inexperienced Regulators. In the article, RT DE argues that it has been granted a license for cable and satellite transmissions in Serbia, which under the European Convention on Transfrontier Television convention allows it to broadcast in Germany.
However, MABB said that because RT DE Productions GmbH is based in Berlin it falls under German jurisdiction.
Tobias Schmid, a representative of the EU's Association of European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services, says that RT DE's legal argument is questionable.
"In our evaluation, the registered company is still the company based in Berlin and thus it is subject to German jurisdiction, so if the license in Germany is to be granted the application should also be made here," he told German television program ZAPP.
The license was granted by Serbia's Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM).
Olivera Zekic, the head of REM, told Serbian media on December 17 that the license was issued based on the European Convention on Transfrontier Television.
However, Judita Popovic, a member of REM's council, told RFE/RL that Serbia was enabling Russian state media to circumvent German regulations.
Popovic said that she was the only member of REM that voted against the decision to issue the license. She added that TV Novosti submitted a license request in which it is stated that the program would be broadcast from Russia in German.
"In this way Serbia is reduced to becoming a transmission signal for a wider area, via satellite," Popovic said, noting that the television programs were not intended for viewers in Serbia, but for German-speaking countries.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Balkan Service and NDR
Russia Issues Travel Ban To Seven Britons In Response To U.K. Sanctions
Russia has imposed a travel ban on seven unnamed British citizens in a tit-for-tat response to London's sanctions connected to the August 2020 poisoning of Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on December 17 said the targeted Britons were "closely involved in anti-Russian activities."
The move was a response to an entry ban that London imposed on seven purported Federal Security Service (FSB) operatives who were allegedly connected to the attack on Navalny.
The Russian Foreign Ministry statement denounced those allegations as "far-fetched and absurd pretexts."
Navalny fell violently ill while on a flight from Siberia to Moscow on August 20, 2020. He was later medically evacuated to Germany where specialists detected a nerve agent from the Novichok group.
It was a toxin from same group of Soviet-developed nerve agents that was used in a 2018 assassination attempt against former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the English city of Salisbury. London has asserted that Russian agents carried out that attack.
Moscow denies any involvement in the assassination attempts against Skripal or Navalny.
After months of treatment in Germany, Navalny returned to Russia in January, where he was immediately arrested. In February, he was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for allegedly violating the terms of his parole on a previous conviction that he denounced as politically motivated.
Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and dpa
- By RFE/RL
U.S. Says Iran's Nuclear Breakout Time Is 'Really Short' As Latest Vienna Talks Adjourn
An unnamed source within the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has said that the amount of time required for Iran to develop nuclear weapons if it chooses to do so is "really short," adding that the situation was "alarming."
The comments came as the latest round of talks with Iran aimed at salvaging a landmark 2015 nuclear deal was adjourned on December 17 amid questions raised by the UN's nuclear watchdog about the disappearance of surveillance camera recordings from an Iranian nuclear complex.
The Biden administration official did not offer an estimate of Iran's so-called "breakout time" -- the amount of time it would take Tehran to develop a nuclear weapon if it renounced all international agreements restricting its nuclear program -- but it has previously been estimated at several months. The official said Iran's breakout time was "unacceptably short."
U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan said in Washington that the United States had conveyed to Iran its "alarm" over the purported progress of Iran's nuclear program. He added that the Vienna talks are "not going well."
European Union envoy Enrique Mora, the coordinator of the talks in the Austrian capital, said time to reach an agreement was running out fast.
"We don't have months, we rather have weeks to have an agreement," Mora told a news conference at the end of the seventh round of talks.
"There is a sense of urgency that is absolutely important if we want to really have success in these negotiations," he added.
In 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the deal meant to curb Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief, prompting Tehran to gradually exceed limits imposed under the pact.
Biden, has said he is willing to rejoin the deal if Iran returns to full compliance, but negotiations between Tehran and world powers that started in April in Vienna were put on hold in June after the Islamic republic elected hardliner Ebrahim Raisi as president. They resumed after a five-month hiatus, with the United States participating indirectly. The other participants in the talks are Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia.
Iran has gradually stepped up its conditions to rejoin the pact, demanding the lifting of all U.S. sanctions first.
Adding to the tensions, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said on December 17 that no understanding had been reached with Iran over the issue of a missing data-storage unit from one of the cameras at the centrifuge-parts-production site in Karaj, west of Tehran.
The IAEA and Iran had reached an agreement the previous day on replacing the cameras after Iran claimed they were damaged in a June attack it blames on Israel.
Asked at a news conference in Vienna whether he thought the data could have been destroyed in the June attack, Grossi replied: "We have doubts about that."
"This is why we are asking them 'Where is it?' I'm hopeful that they are going to come up with an answer because it is very strange that it disappears," Grossi said.
Participants said they aim to resume the talks in Vienna quickly, though they haven't yet announced a firm date. Mora said, “I hope it will be during 2021,” while China's chief negotiator, Wan Qun, said the talks will “resume hopefully before the end of the year.”
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
Tatarstan's Supreme Court Upholds Sentence For Teacher Found With Banned Islamic Group's Books
KAZAN, Russia -- The Supreme Court of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan has rejected an appeal filed by Nakia Sharifullina, a noted teacher and founder of Islamic schools for girls, who was handed a suspended two-year sentence in August after being convicted of organizing the activities of a banned Islamic group.
Sharifullina's lawyer, Ruslan Nagiyev, told RFE/RL that the court handed down its decision on the appeal on December 17.
Sharifullina was charged in March 2020 after police found in her possession of several books by the founder of the Nurcular movement, Islamic scholar Said Nursi. She has rejected all of the charges, insisting that she did not use the books in her lessons.
The teacher was placed under house arrest for eight months at the time and later released on condition she would not leave the city.
Since 2013, several alleged members of Nurcular have been arrested across Russia.
Last month, a noted Islamic scholar in Tatarstan, Gabdrakhman Naumov, was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison after a court found him guilty of creating and running Nurcular's branch in the republic, which he and his supporters have denied.
Nurcular was founded in Turkey by Nursi, who died in 1960.
The Nurcular movement, which has millions of followers around the globe -- especially in Turkey -- has been banned in Russia since 2008.
Russian authorities have said the group promotes the creation of an Islamic state that encompasses all Turkic-speaking areas and countries in the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Russia's Turkic-speaking regions in the North Caucasus and Volga regions.
- By RFE/RL
Russia's Proposal To Redraw European Security 'Unacceptable,' U.S. Says
Russia has published a wish list of agreements it wants to negotiate with the United States, as Moscow seeks to fundamentally alter the post-Cold War security architecture in Europe.
The proposals, laid out on December 17 by the Russian Foreign Ministry, call for an end to NATO's eastward expansion and limitations on the alliance's military activity in Eastern Europe, including cooperation with Ukraine and Georgia.
While Moscow has sent its proposals to Washington and its NATO allies, it has underscored that it is seeking bilateral talks exclusively with the United States. The White House, meanwhile, has said it will not enter talks without its European partners and allies.
The proposals, which would roll back many of the security advances NATO has made in Eastern Europe and former Soviet states since the late 1990s, come as tensions between Washington and the Kremlin reach a post-Cold War high amid Moscow's attempts to carve out a sphere of influence in its near abroad.
A senior U.S. administration official called some of the proposals "unacceptable" and said the Russians "know that." However, speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said other aspects "merit some discussion." The official did not elaborate.
William Courtney, a former State Department official who took part in U.S.-Soviet defense talks, told RFE/RL that Russia's proposals would be a way "to formalize spheres of influence," something he said would be unacceptable to the United States and Europe.
"It's not a serious proposal. It may have been designed to be rejected so the Kremlin could have one more 'casus belli' in order to invade Ukraine," said Courtney, who is now an analyst at the Washington-based think tank RAND Corp.
Russia currently has about 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine in what the United States says could be preparations for an invasion. Russia has called Ukraine's desire to one day join NATO a "red line."
Courtney said the Kremlin might be using the military buildup "to create a position of strength" at the negotiating table with the United States and NATO.
Russian President Vladimir Putin -- who has lamented Moscow's loss of influence in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia following the collapse of the Soviet Union -- has been warning NATO against further expansion toward the border.
The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania -- all former Soviet republics -- joined NATO in 2004 and now host battalion-sized battle groups on a rotational basis.
Ukraine and Georgia, which both border Russia, are seeking to join the alliance. However, their potential membership is considered decades away, not least because of Russia's support for separatist forces in eastern Ukraine and Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions.
George Beebe, the former head of Russia analysis at the CIA, told RFE/RL that Russia may be acting now to stop Ukraine from joining NATO even though its membership is not on the horizon because it feels threatened by the growing U.S. military cooperation with Kyiv.
The United States, which signed a new defense cooperation agreement with Ukraine in November, has been training its military personnel, upgrading the country's ports to fit U.S. warships, and supplying it annually with hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid.
"That relationship will be far stronger and deeper, and the United States military will be more firmly entrenched inside Ukraine two to three years from now. So inaction on [the Kremlin’s] part is risky," said Beebe, who is now director of studies at the Center for the National Interest in Washington.
Opening Gambit?
Beebe said the Russian proposals would lead to tough negotiations, but did not believe it was designed to fail.
"I think this was their opening position. I think it's designed to be a basis for negotiations. It will be a difficult negotiation...but not an impossible one. I think there's potential middle grounds on many of the issues that the Russians are talking about," he said.
Russia's proposed terms also seek to limit Russian and NATO military exercises in a designated buffer area to no more than brigade-level, and would bar the deployment of ground-based intermediate and shorter-range missiles "in areas from which they are capable of hitting targets on the territory of other participants."
Courtney said some of the proposals, including transparency of military drills, could enjoy some support on both sides.
The senior U.S. administration official said the United States would consult with its allies and partners, including Ukraine, about the proposals before responding to Russia next week.
"There will be no talks on European security without our European allies and partners participating, and we will not compromise on key principles on which European security is built," the official said.
One of those key principals is the right of a country to decide its own future foreign policy, including whether to join NATO, the official said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called Washington and NATO's response to the security proposals discouraging and said during a wide-ranging interview with Interfax on December 17 that he did not consider them unacceptable to NATO's 30 members.
Calling on Washington to take the proposals seriously, Ryabkov expressed hope that the United States would enter into negotiations, saying the issue "is critically important for maintaining peace and stability."
Ryabkov told the TASS news agency on December 18 that the aim was to hold talks exclusively with Washington. "We propose negotiations on a bilateral basis with the United States," he said. "If we involve other countries, we will simply drown it all in debate and verbiage."
In assessing the situation, the senior U.S. administration official said the United States and NATO intended to bring their own concerns about Russia's actions to the negotiating table.
"Any dialogue with Russia has got to proceed on the basis of reciprocity. We and our allies have plenty of concerns about Russia's dangerous and threatening behavior. And those will have to be raised in any conversation," the official said.
Russian Lawmakers Fight To Approve First Reading Of Bill On COVID QR Codes
Russian lawmakers have approved the first reading of a bill on the introduction of QR codes for citizens to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, though not without a fight. Literally.
Communist deputies who openly opposed the ruling United Russia party-backed idea to introduce the QR-code system arrived at the parliamentary session on December 16 with a poster saying, "Against QR fascism."
Lawmakers representing United Russia tried to forcibly take the poster from the Communist deputies, who resisted, which led to a scuffle that ended shortly after State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin called on the lawmakers to calm down.
No injuries were reported from the fight.
Volodin harshly criticized the Communists for coming to the session with the poster, saying that they could use such posters for their actions in the streets instead of "holding an event here while receiving a monthly salary of 500,000 rubles ($6,800)."
The bill was approved by 329 lawmakers, while 87 voted against it, and one abstained.
The bill, which still needs to be approved in two other readings before heading to parliament's upper chamber, the Federation Council, would allow local authorities to introduce QR codes and so-called COVID passports to be presented in public places to prove vaccination status or having recovered from COVID-19.
- By RFE/RL
Female Trio Of Belarusian Opposition Figures Win Charlemagne Prize For Freedom Fight
Belarusian opposition figures Svyatlana Tsikhouskaya, Maryya Kalesnikava, and Veranika Tsapkala have been chosen for the 2022 Charlemagne Prize for their efforts on behalf of freedom and democracy.
"Since last year, voices calling for democracy, freedom, and justice have also become more and more audible in Belarus: at first just a few, then thousands, then tens and hundreds of thousands," the board of directors for the International Charlemagne Prize said in a statement on December 17.
"And, primarily, it is three brave women who, despite persecution and repression, have given and continue to give these voices a face," it added.
The 39-year-old Tsikhanouskaya, emerged as the face of the opposition to Belarusian authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka after facing off against the strongman in a presidential election in August 2020 after her husband had been detained to prevent him from running.
After her husband was disqualified, Tsikhanouskaya mobilized voters and won the election, according to the opposition and Western countries. Tsikhanouskaya has been living in exile in Lithuania since fleeing Belarus due to concerns about her safety and that of the couple's two children during a subsequent crackdown on dissent by Lukashenka.
The crackdown on the pro-democracy movement has only intensified since mass protests erupted in the wake of Lukashenka's August 2020 reelection. Tens of thousands of people have been detained and human rights activists say more than 800 people are considered political prisoners.
Independent media, opposition social-media channels, and civil society groups have also been harassed and shuttered, while much of the opposition is either in prison or exile.
Kalesnikava, 39, was a coordinator of the election campaign of an excluded presidential aspirant, former Belgazprombank head Viktar Babaryka.
She was sentenced to 11 years in prison on September 6 after being found guilty on charges of conspiracy to seize power, calls for action to damage national security, and calls for actions damaging national security by trying to create an extremist group.
Tsapkala, 45, became an integral part of the largely female-led push to unseat Lukashenka after her husband's bid to run in the election was rejected as well on unsubstantiated claims that he had falsified signatures needed to get on the ballot. Soon after the election she fled Belarus for Greece with her family over security fears.
During the election campaign, the trio attracted crowds that swelled in size, tapping into Belarusians' building frustrations with Lukashenka's authoritarian rule.
For many Belarusians, the tipping point perhaps came with Lukashenka's perceived mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and his refusal to institute any lockdown measures, triggering some of Europe's highest coronavirus infection rates. His crackdown since has only exacerbated those frustrations among many Belarusians.
"The three leading figures of the Belarusian democratic movement are energetic, living symbols of the spirit of freedom," the Charlamagne Prize board of directors said.
"They are a steadfast signal to their own Belarusian society to take its destiny into its own hands. And they are a signal to a weary European society to once again take a stand -- with conviction and militancy -- for the European values that have been fought for over centuries, values that are increasingly endangered today due to the global struggle for profit and domination, but also to the indifference of many European citizens themselves."
The Charlemagne Prize honors exceptional work performed in the service of European unity. According to its bylaws, it is given to public figures or bodies "distinguished by their outstanding work toward European unity or cooperation between its states."
Ukraine Says Soldier Killed Fighting Separatists As Tensions With Moscow Soar
A Ukrainian soldier has been killed during the latest clashes with Kremlin-backed separatists in the country's east, ratcheting up already heightened tensions between Kyiv and Moscow.
Ukraine's Defense Ministry said on December 17 that one of its soldiers was killed and one wounded after separatists opened fire from mortars, grenade launchers, and machine guns at Ukrainian military positions overnight.
Representatives for the separatists did not immediately comment on the incident, which could not be independently verified.
The clashes were reported as the United States, the European Union, and Ukraine have expressed alarm over a Russian military buildup near Ukraine’s borders, interpreting it as a possible prelude to an invasion.
Russia has denied it is planning to invade Ukraine and issued a series of demands, including direct dialogue with the United States to resolve the standoff and a guarantee that Ukraine won't one day become a NATO member.
Europe's only shooting war in Ukraine has uprooted more than 1.5 million people from their homes in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, some parts of which have been under separatist control since April 2014.
The conflict started after Russia invaded and occupied Ukraine's Crimea region in in February-March 2014.
Russia has provided military, economic, and political support to the separatists. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Moscow maintains it is not involved in Ukraine's domestic affairs.
Belarusian Blogger Gets 13 Years In Prison
MINSK -- A court in Minsk has sentenced noted blogger Eduard Palchys to 13 years in prison amid an ongoing crackdown on those who have challenged the official results of last year's presidential election that handed victory to strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
Judge Pyatro Arlou of the Minsk City Court sentenced Palchys on December 17, convicting him of inciting social hatred, organizing mass disorder and activities disrupting social order, and calls for activities that could damage the national security of Belarus.
The trial, which was held behind closed doors, started on December 6.
Palchys was arrested in September 2020 and sentenced to 30 days in jail on a charge of violating the law on mass gatherings. After serving his sentence in October 2020, officials did not release Palchys and instead launched a criminal case against him.
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.
He has rejected all of the charges calling them politically motivated.
Palchys is one of dozens in Belarus who have faced trials in recent months as the authorities brutally suppress dissent in any form since the disputed presidential election in August 2020.
Rights activists and opposition politicians say the poll was rigged to extend Lukashenka's 26-year rule. Thousands have been detained during nationwide protests and there have been credible reports of torture and ill-treatment by security forces. Several people have died during the crackdown.
Many of Belarus's opposition leaders have been arrested or forced to leave the country, while Lukashenka has refused to negotiate with the opposition.
The United States, the European Union, and several other countries have refused to acknowledge Lukashenka as the winner of the vote and imposed several rounds of sanctions on him and his regime, citing election fraud and the police crackdown.
Jailed Azerbaijani Opposition Activist Stops Hunger Strike
BAKU -- Jailed Azerbaijani opposition activist Saleh Rustamli, whose supporters were attacked and detained when they rallied recently to demand his release, has ended his hunger strike after 41 days.
Rustamli, who has lived in Russia since 1998, was arrested in 2018 when he visited Azerbaijan. He was subsequently sentenced to more than seven years in prison after a court found him guilty of money laundering for the alleged transfer of $420,000 to a bank account connected to an opposition party.
He denies the charges, calling them politically motivated.
A member of the opposition Popular Front of Azerbaijan Party (AXCP), Rustamli started his hunger strike in early November to demand his release from prison.
His lawyer, Bahruz Bayramov, told RFE/RL that he was able to talk to his client in a detention center in Baku on December 16.
"Saleh is very exhausted, so we talked via a telephone. He is connected to an intravenous system. He stopped his hunger strike at the request of his sister and his doctor, Adil Geybulla," Bayramov said.
Rustamli's doctor confirmed to RFE/RL that Rustamli had ended his hunger strike. He also rejected local media reports saying that Rustamli was in a coma.
State Penitentiary Service officials were not available for immediate comment.
Human rights groups in Azerbaijan have declared Rustamli a political prisoner.
Police in Baku violently dispersed two demonstrations this month at which protesters demanded Rustamli's release.
Some of the protesters were later either fined or handed jail terms of up to 30 days on charges they violated sanitary precautions during the coronavirus pandemic.
Two Members Of Pussy Riot Protest Group Get Jail Terms For Online Posts
MOSCOW -- Two members of the Pussy Riot protest group in Russia, Maria Alyokhina and Lyusya Shtein, have been sentenced to jail for online posts they made several years ago.
The Tver district court in Moscow sentenced the two activists on December 17 -- Alyokhina to 15 days in jail and Shtein to 14 days -- after finding them guilty of propagating Nazi symbols online. The two women had been detained a day earlier.
The charge against Alyokhina stemmed from a picture she posted on a social network six years ago of Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka with Nazi swastikas on it, comparing him with "fascists."
Shtein, who is also a Moscow municipal lawmaker, was sentenced over a caricature showing her in a hat with swastika on it that was posted on a social network in 2018.
Alyokhina, Shtein, and other members of the protest group have been sentenced to up 15 days in jail several times in recent months over taking part in protest actions and unsanctioned rallies.
Alyokhina and two other members of Pussy Riot came to prominence after they were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" for a stunt in which they burst into Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral and sang a "punk prayer" against Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister and campaigning for his return to the presidency at the time.
Alyokhina and bandmate Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were close to the end of their two-year prison sentences when they were freed in December 2013 under an amnesty they dismissed as a propaganda stunt to improve Putin's image ahead of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
Also on December 16, police in Moscow detained opposition municipal lawmaker Lyusya Shtein over a caricature showing her in a hat with a swastika on it. She faces the same charge as Alyokhina.
- By RFE/RL
German Regulator Says Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Approval Months Away
Final approval for the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany is not expected to come in the first half of 2022, Germany’s energy regulator has said.
The Bundesnetzagentur regulator announced in November that it had temporarily suspended the certification process for the $12 billion pipeline, saying the Swiss-based Nord Stream 2 AG operator must first form a legal entity in Germany.
Bundesnetzagentur head Jochen Homann said at a press conference on December 16 that Nord Stream 2 AG initiated a process to create a German subsidiary but not all documents had been submitted to restart the certification process.
"There will be no decisions in the first half of next year," he said.
Even when the regulator receives all the necessary documents and gives approval, the European Commission has four months to review the project to ensure it complies with EU energy directives. After that, Bundesnetzagentur has another two months to give a final certification.
Nord Stream AG is half-owned by Russian state-owned Gazprom in a consortium with European energy companies. The role of Gazprom in the project may present issues, because under EU energy law pipeline operators and gas suppliers cannot be the same company.
The Baltic Sea pipeline, which would double natural-gas supplies to Germany and help ease a European energy crunch, was completed in September after years of controversy.
Germany says it needs the gas to help the EU's largest economy transition away from coal and nuclear energy.
Critics say the project will increase Europe's dependence on Russian gas and could be used to apply political pressure. Poland and Ukraine have been particularly vocal in their opposition, while the United States has also opposed it.
Concerns over Russia's military buildup near Ukraine have put renewed focus on the pipeline.
New German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told broadcaster ZDF on December 12 that under an agreement between Berlin and Washington Nord Stream 2 would be halted if Russia were to attack Ukraine.
"In the event of further escalation, this gas pipeline could not come into service," Baerbock said after a G7 meeting of foreign ministers.
- By Todd Prince
Russian Court Verdict Indicates Russian Troop Presence In Ukraine, Contradicting Kremlin Narrative
A bribery case in southern Russia indicates the country had troops stationed in eastern Ukraine, contradicting a long-held Kremlin position that it has never been a party to the conflict in the region.
The verdict in the case against V.H. Zaboluyev, the deputy manager of a food supplier in Rostov-on-Don, a city near eastern Ukraine, states that he oversaw the procurement and delivery of food to "Russian military personnel located in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR)."
DPR and LPR refer to parts of two regions in eastern Ukraine controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists since war broke out in early 2014 following the toppling of pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
The deliveries in question were made in 2018 and 2019, according to the verdict, which was published on the court's website last month. However, media only recently discovered the text.
The verdict states that a convoy of more than 70 trucks carrying 1,300 tons of food -- including flour, canned goods, and fresh vegetables -- embarked on the regular trip from Rostov-on-Don to eastern Ukraine to supply Russian military personnel.
"This food was intended to be sent to military units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation stationed on the territory of the DPR and LPR," the ruling states.
The food deliveries would be enough to feed about 26,000 people, according to calculations by RFE/RL.
It's unclear whether any of the supplies went to separatist forces
When asked to comment about those details in the verdict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated the government's position that there were no Russian troops in eastern Ukraine and said the court must have made a "mistake."
The court later removed a copy of the verdict from its website.
The United States and its allies have long said that thousands of Russian troops and large amounts of Russian equipment, munitions, and supplies are propping up separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.
The nearly eight-year war between government forces and separatists has killed more than 13,200 people.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly described the fighting in eastern Ukraine as an "internal" issue and called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to negotiate with the separatists. Zelenskiy has said he wants to negotiate with Putin.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson told RFE/RL that the details in the verdict "demonstrate that Moscow cannot credibly deny it isn’t a party to the conflict" and called on Russia to play a constructive role in advancing a stalled peace process.
The court controversy comes amid growing fears Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine, something the Kremlin has also denied. Russia currently has about 100,000 troops stationed on its border with Ukraine.
The United States and its European allies have warned Russia it would face severe economic sanctions and other consequences if it were to attack Ukraine.
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