News
- By RFE/RL
Western Powers Assail Moscow For Aiding Vagner Mercenary Group In Mali
Western powers condemned Moscow for providing “material support” for the Russia-backed Vagner Group that has deployed mercenary fighters in the troubled West African nation of Mali.
Canada, Germany, France, and Britain -- which are involved in the fight against an Islamist insurgency in Mali -- and 11 other countries on December 23 said in a joint statement that they "firmly condemn the deployment of mercenary troops on Malian territory."
Western nations have previously raised concerns and implemented sanctions against the Vagner Group following its involvement in conflicts in Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic, and in eastern Ukraine.
They have warned Mali against deploying the group's 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.
The United States did not sign the statement, but the U.S. State Department on December 15 said Vagner Group forces “will not bring peace to Mali, but rather will destabilize the country further."
The declaration by the 15 Western powers on December 23 was one of the first major statements to acknowledge that the deployment of mercenary fighters had begun.
The statement did not say if the presence of the Vagner Group could eventually lead the countries to pull their own forces out of Mali.
"This deployment can only further deteriorate the security situation in West Africa, lead to an aggravation of the human rights situation in Mali [and] threaten the agreement for peace and reconciliation in Mali," the 15 powers said.
The statement said they "deeply regret" the decision by Mali’s leaders to use "already scarce public funds" to pay mercenaries instead of using the funds to bolster the country's owned armed forces.
"We are aware of the involvement of the Russian Federation government in providing material support to the deployment of the Vagner Group in Mali and call on Russia to revert to a responsible and constructive behavior in the region."
Mali has struggled against the Islamic extremist insurgency for the past decade.
Extremists were forced from power in the country's north with the help of a French-led military operation that began in 2013.
However, the rebels regrouped in the desert and began launching attacks on the Malian army and its allies.
France now has some 5,000 troops in the region, but plans to lower that number to 2,500-3,000 by 2023.
In June, Colonel Assimi Goita seized power and was sworn in as president of a transitional government in Mali after carrying out his second coup in nine months.
Facing increasing isolation from the international community, his government has scheduled elections for February, but there are fears they will be delayed or canceled.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price earlier this month described the United States as “alarmed” by the potential deployment of Vagner Group forces in Mali under a deal that reportedly would cost $10 million a month.
His statement noted 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.
With reporting by AFP and AP
Biden Signs Into Law An Import Ban From China's Xinjiang Region Over Treatment Of Uyghurs
U.S. President Joe Biden signed legislation on December 23 that will ban imports from China's Xinjiang region in the latest measure to punish Beijing over its treatment of China's Muslim Uyghur minority and other groups.
The legislation bars all goods from Xinjiang, labeling products as being made from forced labor. The Chinese government has established a network of detention camps for Uyghurs and other Muslims in the northwestern region.
Xinjiang supplies much of the world's materials for solar panels, but the United States and many rights groups have alleged that Beijing is carrying out genocide there.
China denies abuses in Xinjiang and has engaged in a series of tit-for-tat measures against Washington in reaction to the allegations.
China insists camps in the region are "vocational education centers" designed to help people avoid the influence of terrorism.
Washington has also announced a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympics. Several other countries have joined in the boycott, which does not have an impact on sending athletes to the event.
Based on reporting on Reuters
Iran Agrees To Take Tea From Sri Lanka To Settle $251 Million Oil Debt
Iran has agreed to accept Ceylon tea in exchange for some $251 million in oil debt from the South Asian island nation of Sri Lanka, Iranian media report.
Alireza Peyman-Pak, the head of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization, said on December 23 that "in recent negotiations, we reached a written deal to reimburse Iran's debt and interest on it in the form of a monthly shipment of tea produced in Sri Lanka."
According to Iranian media, Peyman-Pak said a deal was reached in which Sri Lanka will export tea to Iran every month "to settle a $251 million debt for Iranian oil supplied to Sri Lanka nine years ago."
Sri Lanka, an island nation of some 22 million people, was formerly known as Ceylon.
Peyman-Pak said the deal will save Iran from having to use scarce hard currency to pay for imports of the widely consumed product.
Iran has been hit hard since the United States pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and began reimposing crippling financial sanctions against Tehran.
Sri Lankan Plantation Industries Minister Ramesh Pathirana emphasized that the arrangement will not violate international sanctions as tea is exempt due to it being categorized as a food item.
Iranian banks that have been blacklisted under U.S. sanctions will not be involved in the transaction, he added.
Sir Lanka has also been experiencing severe financial difficulties, including a severe shortage of foreign currency. National reserves have declined to just $1.6 billion, leaving the government hard-pressed to meet payments for oil and food imports.
Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, Colombo Gazette, and dpa
- By Todd Prince
U.S. Says Kremlin Aggression Against Ukraine Will Lead To More NATO Forces Near Russia
WASHINGTON -- The United States has sought to deter Russia from invading Ukraine, saying such an action would lead to punishing Western sanctions while forcing NATO to increase military aid to Kyiv and put more forces closer to Moscow.
“If Russia goes ahead with what may be under way, we and our allies are prepared to impose severe costs that would damage Russia's economy and bring about exactly what it says it does not want -- more NATO capabilities, not less, closer to Russia, not further away,” a senior U.S. administration official said in a briefing on December 23.
Russia has massed about 100,000 combat-ready troops near its border with Ukraine in what the United States has called a possible prelude to an invasion, something the Kremlin denies it is contemplating.
The military buildup may be an attempt to pressure Ukraine and the West to agree to Moscow’s recently publicized demands for sweeping security guarantees, analysts have said. Those demands include an end to NATO’s eastward expansion and cooperation with former Soviet states currently not part of the alliance, such as Ukraine and Georgia.
The senior administration official said the United States was ready to engage in talks with Russia in early January regarding its demand for security guarantees -- including bilaterally as well as through NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)..
However, the official reiterated that some of Russia’s demands are unacceptable. The official also said that any dialogue “must be based on reciprocity” and that the West will raise its own concerns about Russian actions.
Russia’s demands essentially call for a "sphere of influence" for Moscow in its near abroad, including veto power over the foreign policy choices of its neighbors. Ukraine and Georgia have said they want to join NATO to protect themselves from possible Russian aggression.
The senior U.S. official laid out principles for the talks that are diametrically opposed to those demands.
“Our view is that negotiations should start from the baseline … which underscore territorial integrity, borders not being changed by force, and respect for the sovereignty and sovereign decision-making of countries,” the official said.
The official said no concrete date or location has been agreed to yet on the U.S.-Russia talks.
Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the meeting would be held in Geneva next month.
During his annual conference with journalists on December 23, Putin demanded that the West provide Russia with security guarantees “without any delay.”
He also repeated past Kremlin assertions that the United States had placed missile systems on Russia’s border.
The senior U.S. official declined to speculate about what missiles Putin was referring to.
The U.S. official also declined to comment on what type of military aid the West would give to Ukraine and what kind of sanctions it would impose on Russia in the event of an invasion, saying it preferred to negotiate behind closed doors.
“We don't plan to negotiate in public. It does not strike us as constructive or a way that progress has been made in such diplomatic conversations in the past,” the official said.
Hearing On Liquidation Of Memorial Human Rights Center Starts In Moscow
MOSCOW -- The Moscow City Court started hearings on a prosecutor's request to shut down one of Russia's oldest rights watchdogs, the Memorial Human Rights Center.
Some 25 journalists were allowed to follow the December 23 hearing from a special room outside the courtroom.
Memorial is being represented at the hearing. by lawyers Mikhail Biryukov, Ilya Novikov, Maria Eismont, Grigory Vaipan, Anastasia Garina, Tatyana Glushkova, Tamilla Imanova, Natalya Morozova, and Natalya Sekretaryova.
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 have explained their moves by saying the two organizations have "repeatedly violated" Russia's controversial law on "foreign agents," which is increasingly being used by officials to shutter civil society and stifle independent media in the country.
A prosecutor at the December 23 hearing reiterated the accusations, saying that Memorial Human Rights Center "should be shut down," adding that "the absence of the foreign agent label on its materials may lead to the formation of a negative image of the country and cause depression among citizens."
The Supreme Court started hearings into the Prosecutor-General's request to shut down Memorial International in November.
Rights activists say 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 Prosecutor-General’s demand to shut down Memorial International is "a politically motivated decision."
Memorial has characterized the actions of the Russian authorities as "political pressure" and countered that "there are no legal grounds for liquidation."
Russia’s so-called foreign agent legislation was adopted in 2012 and has been modified repeatedly. 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 persecution and politically motivated attempts of the Russian authorities to liquidate the two veteran human rights groups.
RFE/RL Correspondent Seized By Masked Men In Minsk, Rights Group Says
MINSK -- Aleh Hruzdzilovich, a correspondent of RFE/RL's Belarus Service, has been seized and held by masked men who broke into his home in Minsk, a human rights organization reports in the latest crackdown on independent media in the authoritarian Eastern European state.
No other information was immediately available following the December 23 report from the Minsk-based Vyasna (Spring) rights group.
The action marks an intensification of a clampdown on independent media and civil society sparked by an uprising against authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka's claim that he won a presidential election last year that the opposition says was rigged.
The report of Hruzdzilovich’s abduction comes as Belarus' Interior Ministry on December 23 added RFE/RL's Belarusian Service, known locally as Radio Svaboda, to its registry of extremist organizations, a move condemned by RFE/RL President Jamie Fly.
Fly also condemned the reported attack on Hruzdzilovich, saying that he was among "hostages taken by this lawless regime, not criminals. Factual reporting is not an ‘extremist’ activity, and journalism is not a crime.”
Hruzdzilovich and another RFE/RL correspondent, Ina Studzinskaya, were released from jail in late July, 10 days after their arrest as part of Lukashenka's clampdown on the media.
When they were released on July 26, Hruzdzilovich and Studzinskaya said they were informed that they remain suspects in an unspecified criminal case.
Studzinskaya had been on a hunger strike for nine days and Hruzdzilovich for three days to protest against their arrest. Another RFE/RL correspondent, Ales Dashchynski, was released on July 23.
The three journalists were arrested among other independent journalists on July 16 after police and security forces searched their apartments and offices, including RFE/RL's offices in Minsk.
RFE/RL had condemned the arrests of the journalists as "the latest searing testimony to the desperation of Alyaksandr Lukashenka."
Belarusian authorities have moved to shut down independent media outlets and more than 50 nongovernmental organizations in the wake of mass protests after the disputed election. The opposition and the West say Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya won the vote and accuse Lukashenka of falsifying the result to give him a sixth consecutive term in power.
Meanwhile, a jailed freelance journalist who has worked for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service is facing unspecified criminal charges, his relatives told RFE/RL on December 23.
Andrey Kuznechyk was not released from jail last week even though a second consecutive jail term he was handed on a controversial hooliganism charge had ended.
His relatives told RFE/RL that they were officially informed that the journalist will be transferred from the notorious Akrestsina detention center, where many inmates have said they were tortured, to another detention center in Minsk as a criminal case on unspecified charges had been launched against him.
Kuznechyk was initially sentenced to 10 days in jail on November 26 after a trial in which he refused to accept the guilty verdict.
Kazakh Lawmakers Approve Law On Abolishing Death Penalty
NUR-SULTAN -- The upper chamber of Kazakh’s parliament has approved a bill on abolishing the death penalty in the Central Asian nation.
The Senate's December 23 approval of the bill comes almost a year after President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev signed off on parliamentary ratification of a UN human rights protocol aimed at abolishing the death penalty worldwide.
Kazakhstan instituted an indefinite moratorium on capital punishment in 2004 but retained the death penalty for terrorism-related offenses, including plotting an assassination of the nation's first President Nursultan Nazarbaev.
In 2016, the death penalty was imposed on a man who was convicted of a mass shooting in Almaty.
Ruslan Kulekbaev had been the only person on death row in Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan's lower chamber, the Mazhilis, approved the bill on December 8.
Russia, Belarus, and Tajikistan are now the only three countries in Europe and Central Asia that haven’t signed or ratified the UN's Second Optional Protocol To The International Covenant On Civil And Political Rights. Belarus is the only country in the region that still carries out executions.
University Head In Russia's Tatarstan Placed In Detention Center On Murder Charge
The rector of Kazan Federal University in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, Ilshat Gafurov, who is also a regional lawmaker, has been placed in a detention center in Moscow on a murder charge.
The Basmanny district court in the Russian capital ruled on December 23 that Gafurov must stay in pretrial detention until at least February 21, 2022.
The court said earlier that Gafurov was suspected of premeditated murder, without giving any details.
Gafurov was detained in Tatarstan's capital, Kazan, earlier in the week and transferred to Moscow.
Gafurov, 60, has run one of Russia's oldest universities since 2010. Before that, he was the mayor of the city of Yelabuga in Tatarstan.
With reporting by Business-Online
Moscow Court Extends Pretrial Detention For Ex-Chief Of Navalny Support Group
A court in Moscow has extended the pretrial detention of the former leader of a regional organization for jailed opposition activist Aleksei Navalny in Bashkortostan.
The Basmanny district court ruled of December 23 that Lilia Chanysheva must stay in pretrial detention at least until April 9, 2022.
Chanysheva's lawyer Vladimir Voronin said the ruling will be appealed.
The 39-yer-old activist was arrested on extremism charges in Bashkortostan's capital, Ufa, on November 22, and later transferred to Moscow, where she was ordered to stay until at least January 9.
Chanysheva headed the local unit of Navalny's network of regional campaign groups until his team disbanded them after a Moscow prosecutor went to court to have them branded extremist.
A court later accepted the prosecutor's claim, and labeled the national network extremist, effectively outlawing them.
Voronin said at the time that his client's arrest was the first of its kind since the movement was banned. The charges appear to be retroactive since the organization she worked for disbanded before it had been legally classified as extremist, he said.
Navalny himself has been in prison since February, while several of his associates have been charged with establishing an extremist group. Many of his associates have fled the country.
Several former activists who worked for Navalny's groups fled the country shortly before and after Chanysheva's arrest.
Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax
Minsk Labels RFE/RL's Belarus Service As 'Extremist'
MINSK -- Belarus's Interior Ministry has added RFE/RL's Belarus Service, known locally as Radio Svaboda, to its registry of extremist organizations, in a continued clampdown on independent media and civil society sparked by an eruption of protests against authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka's claim he won a presidential election last year that the opposition says was rigged.
According to the statement issued by the ministry on December 23, "a group of citizens associated via Radio Svaboda's Internet resources were determined to be an extremist group."
The move means that Belarusians who subscribe to Radio Svaboda online could face up to six years in prison.
RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said that “we condemn the Belarusian government’s campaign to criminalize honest journalism and deprive the Belarusian people of the truth. We again adamantly reject this ridiculous, regime-imposed label -- Radio Svaboda is not an ‘extremist organization.’”
The Interior Ministry’s declaration against RFE/RL’s Belarus Service comes as actions were reportedly taken against two other journalists in the country, Andrey Kuznechyk and Aleh Hruzdzilovich.
Fly condemned those actions as well, saying that Hruzdzilovich and Kuznechyk “are hostages taken by this lawless regime, not criminals. Factual reporting is not an ‘extremist’ activity, and journalism is not a crime.”
The action comes almost three weeks after a court in Minsk designated its official Telegram channel and some of the broadcaster's social media accounts as extremist.
Authorities in Belarus have declared hundreds of Telegram channels, blogs and chatrooms as “extremist” since the country was engulfed by protests since the August 2020 presidential election, which handed Lukashenka a sixth consecutive term.
In response, the government has cracked down hard on the pro-democracy movement, arresting thousands of people and pushing most of the top opposition figures out of the country. There have also been credible reports of torture and ill-treatment, and several people have died.
Dozens of news websites have been blocked in Belarus and independent media shuttered as part of a sweeping crackdown on information in the wake of the unprecedented protests.
The website of RFE/RL's Belarus Service has been blocked within Belarus since August 21, 2020, while the accreditation of all locally based journalists working for foreign media, including RFE/RL, were annulled by the Belarusian authorities in October 2020.
Lukashenka, who has run the country since 1994, has denied any fraud in the election and refuses to negotiate with the opposition on a political transition and new elections.
The West has refused to recognize Lukashenka as the legitimate leader of Belarus and in response has imposed several waves of sanctions against the government and other officials accused of aiding and benefiting from the crackdown.
Separately on December 23, relatives told RFE/RL that Kuznechyk, a jailed freelance journalist who has worked for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, is facing unspecified criminal charges.
Kuznechyk was not released from jail last week even though the second consecutive jail term he was handed on a controversial hooliganism charge ended.
His relatives told RFE/RL that they were officially informed that the journalist will be transferred from the notorious Akrestsina detention center, where many inmates have said they were tortured, to another detention center in Minsk as a criminal case on unspecified charges had been launched against him.
Kuznechyk was initially sentenced to 10 days in jail on November 26 after a trial in which he refused to accept the guilty verdict.
And a rights group reported that Hruzdzilovich, a correspondent of RFE/RL's Belarus Service, has been seized and held by masked men who broke into his home in Minsk.
No other information was immediately available following the December 23 report from the Minsk-based Vyasna (Spring) rights group.
Hruzdzilovich and another RFE/RL correspondent, Ina Studzinskaya, in late July were released from jail 10 days after their arrest as part of Lukashenka's clampdown on the media.
When they were released on July 26, Hruzdzilovich and Studzinskaya said they were informed that they remain suspects in an unspecified criminal case.
Jailed Belarusian Journalist Kuznechyk Faces Criminal Charges
MINSK -- A jailed freelance journalist who has worked for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, is facing unspecified criminal charges, his relatives told RFE/RL on December 23.
Andrey Kuznechyk was not released from jail last week even though his second consecutive jail term he was handed on a controversial hooliganism charge ended.
His relatives told RFE/RL that they were officially informed that the journalist will be transferred from the notorious Akrestsina detention center, where many inmates have said they were tortured, to another detention center in Minsk as a criminal case on unspecified charges had been launched against him.
Kuznechyk was initially sentenced to 10 days in jail on November 26 after a trial in which he refused to accept the guilty verdict.
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 continues 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.
On December 23, Fly again condemned the Belarusian government's actions against a free media and stated that Kuznechyk was among "hostages taken by this lawless regime, not criminals. Factual reporting is not an ‘extremist’ activity, and journalism is not a crime.”
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.
Tensions have been running high in Belarus since Lukashenka, in power since 1994, was declared the winner of a presidential election in August 2020 that opponents and the West say was rigged.
Many Western nations 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.
North Macedonia's PM Zaev Steps Down
SKOPJE -- North Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev formally resigned on December 23, weeks after he announced plans to step down following his party's defeat in municipal elections.
The country's lawmakers formally ratified Zaev's resignation a day after he sent a letter to parliament, paving the way for his exit.
Earlier this month, Zaev's governing Social Democratic Party (SDSM) selected Deputy Finance Minister Dimitar Kovachevski to succeed him as its leader, and he is expected to be the party’s nominee to become the next prime minister as well.
Zaev had announced the move after a poor showing by the SDSM in local elections in October. Last month, he stepped down as head of the party.
President Stevo Pendarovski will now have 10 days to hand the mandate to form a new government to the SDSM-led coalition, which controls a majority in the 120-member parliament.
The SDSM leader would then have 20 days to form a government that has the backing of lawmakers to face challenges from both the coronavirus pandemic and an energy crisis.
In his letter of resignation distributed to media, Zaev said "it would be politically irresponsible and unjustified...to continue to lead the country along the Euro-Atlantic path."
He said he believed that another prime minister from the SDSM "could achieve that in a better way."
During an address to parliament on December 22, Pendarovski praised Zaev’s resignation as a democratically-minded act.
“He does this even though his party is in power,” the president said.
Zaev served as prime minister from May 2017 to January 2020 and again since August 2020.
He oversaw the resolution of his country’s long-standing dispute with Greece over the name “Macedonia.” Zaev oversaw a 2018 referendum that changed the country’s name to North Macedonia, paving the way to advance its European Union accession bid.
However, Bulgaria objects to that because of disputes over history and linguistics.
He also secured North Macedonia’s membership in NATO in March 2020.
In the wake of the Social Democrats’ defeat in the October local elections, the opposition has called for early national legislative elections.
North Macedonia is currently expected to hold such elections in 2024.
Hungary Postpones $2.3 Billion In Investments To Cut Budget Deficit
The Hungarian cabinet has deferred investments worth 755 billion forints ($2.3 billion) next year to reduce the budget deficit and bolster its finances amid warnings from the central bank about its fiscal discipline.
Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government said the measure was needed to cut the 2022 budget deficit to 4.9 percent of gross domestic product from 5.9 percent targeted earlier.
Hungary's budget registered a record shortfall of 1 trillion forint ($3.06 billion) last month, prompted by a steep rise in pre-election spending as the latest opinion polls show the united opposition slightly ahead of Orban's Fidesz party in next year's general elections.
"Stimulating the performance of the Hungarian economy with public investments is no longer needed to the same extent," the Finance Ministry said in a statement on December 22.
Orban, who will face a closely fought election for the first time since 2010, said the moves would generate funds to finance other measures, such as a $2-billion tax rebate for families, scrapping income tax for career starters, and an extra month's worth of pensions next year.
Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP
U.S. Navy Seizes Illicit Weapons From Vessel In North Arabian Sea
The U.S. Navy says two of its patrol ships seized a cargo of illicit weapons from a stateless fishing vessel encountered in the North Arabian Sea that the navy said originated in Iran.
The vessel “transited international waters along a route historically used to traffic weapons unlawfully to the Huthis in Yemen," the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet said in a statement on December 22.
The shipment consisted of approximately 1,400 AK-47 assault rifles and 226,600 rounds of ammunition, the fleet said.
The seizure took place on December 20 during “flag verification boarding in accordance with customary international law,” the statement said. U.S. naval forces sank the vessel after removing the crew and illicit cargo.
Direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer of weapons to the Huthi movement violates UN Security Council resolutions and U.S. sanctions.
The vessel's five crew members, who identified themselves as Yemeni nationals, will be returned to Yemen, the statement said.
Yemen's internationally recognized government has been fighting the Iran-aligned Huthis in Yemen for some seven years as part of a coalition backed by Saudi Arabia.
Based on reporting by Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Russian Envoy To EU Says Russia Not Planning Attack As Groundwork Is Laid For Talks In January
Russia is not preparing a military invasion of Ukraine, its ambassador to the European Union was quoted as saying on December 23 as Russia’s top diplomat said talks will be held early next year on Moscow’s security proposals.
Vladimir Chizhov said Russia wanted to support Russian-speaking people living in other countries, but he added that Moscow never said it wanted to use military means for this.
"Russia is not planning an attack against any country. I can assure you that no Russian troops are currently preparing for an invasion of Ukraine," Chizhov told the German newspaper Die Welt in an interview.
The Kremlin has amassed about 100,000 combat-ready troops near eastern Ukraine, alarming Ukraine, NATO, and the United States and its European partners. Moscow has previously rejected Western concerns about the troop buildup, saying it's free to deploy forces wherever necessary on its territory.
Earlier on December 22 in Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russian and U.S. negotiators early next year will discuss Moscow's security proposals, which include a demand for an end to NATO’s eastward expansion and limitations on the alliance’s military activity in Eastern Europe.
Russia will also start separate talks with NATO in January, Lavrov said, adding that separate negotiations led by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will also be held.
Lavrov hailed Washington’s “business-like” approach that helped quickly agree on parameters of the future talks.
“We don’t want a war,” Lavrov said on December 22 in an interview with Russian RT television. “We don’t want to take the path of confrontation. But we will firmly ensure our security using the means we consider necessary.”
Lavrov’s interview followed comments made earlier by Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried, who said the United States and Russia would likely hold bilateral talks to discuss Moscow’s security proposals next month.
Donfried said NATO would also discuss inviting Russia for talks on its proposals, and the OSCE was working out how it wants to engage Russia.
The U.S. already has said it won't give Russia the kind of guarantee on NATO expansion it seeks. In the meantime, the American side is conferring with its European allies.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed Ukraine on December 22 with Josep Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy.
“They emphasized the need for coordinated action to support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and reaffirmed that any further Russian military aggression against Ukraine would have massive consequences for the Russian Federation,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
With reporting by AP, Reuters, and Die Welt
- By Mike Eckel
Putin Demands That West Provide Russia With Security Guarantees 'Immediately'
President Vladimir Putin has demanded that the West provide Russia with security guarantees “immediately” amid spiraling tensions involving a massive deployment of Russian troops toward Ukraine.
Speaking at his annual news conference on December 23, Putin responded testily to a reporter’s question about Russia’s intentions, listing off a litany of grievances about Ukraine and about NATO.
He also referred to a list of demands that Russian officials released publicly earlier this month which essentially call for a restructuring of European security and NATO's policies.
“You should give us guarantees. You! And without any delay! Now!” he said, responding to a question by a reporter from British broadcaster Sky News.
U.S. officials have said publicly that they were willing to hold talks on the Russian demands. Privately, however, officials in Washington and elsewhere have said some of the demands are either unworkable, impossible, or fundamentally contrary to Western values.
Putin repeated past Kremlin assertions that the United States had placed missile systems on Russia’s border.
He appeared to be referring to the anti-missile Aegis Ashore systems that the United States has deployed to NATO allies Romania and Poland in recent years. Washington has insisted that the systems are needed to defend Europe against threats from Iran’s missiles, and are ineffective against Russia’s arsenal.
“Were we the ones who placed missiles next to the U.S. borders?” Putin said, responding to another question. “No. It is the U.S. with its missiles who came to our home and are on the threshold of our home. ... Is it an unusual demand? Do not place any more assault systems next to our home? What is unusual about it?”
Responding to an earlier question, Putin appeared to give a positive signal regarding proposed upcoming talks between Russia, the United States, and possibly other Western allies.
U.S. and Russian diplomats are tentatively scheduled to meet for new talks, reportedly in Geneva, sometime after the New Year.
“We have so far seen a positive reaction,” he said. “Our U.S. partners told us that they are ready to begin this discussion, these talks, at the very start of next year.”
“I hope that’s how it will all play out,” he said.
The news conference is one of three carefully orchestrated, nationally televised public events that Putin holds almost every year as part of an effort to showcase his dominance of Russia’s political life.
Many observers were watching this year’s event for clues as to the Kremlin’s intentions on Ukraine and the prospect of war -- a subject that has dominated headlines in the West for weeks now.
In recent weeks, the United States, NATO, and Kyiv have raised the alarm over around 100,000 Russian troops deployed near the border with Ukraine and in the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula.
U.S. officials have said Moscow is planning for a possible military offensive that, if it happens, could come within weeks.
But the topic of Ukraine or a possible new war was the focus of just three questions over the course of the event, which concluded just short of four hours, with around 40 questions asked in all, mostly by Russian journalists.
The Russian demands, released publicly on December 17, call for prohibiting NATO from expanding further to the east and leaving Ukraine and several other countries as buffer states with limited sovereignty when it comes to military affairs.
The demands amount to a drastic restructuring of the post-Cold War order in Europe.
Putin has said he does not want a war but has been adamant that if new fighting breaks out, it will be the fault of Kyiv and the West.
During the news conference, he also repeated past accusations against Ukraine, asserting that Kyiv was preparing a new military offensive in the eastern regions where war has been ongoing for more than seven years now.
"Now they tell us, war, war, war. It seems they are preparing another operation [in Donbas] and are warning us not to get in the way, or there'll be sanctions," Putin said. He also accused the West of creating an "anti-Russia" sentiment in Ukraine by arming it and "brainwashing the population."
"We are doing our best to established good-neighborly ties with Ukraine. But it is impossible to do so with the current leadership. People in Ukraine who wants to work with us are facing pressure or even being killed,” he said.
Ukraine has been a fixation of Putin and other Kremlin officials since at least 2014, if not for years prior. In 2014, street protests that had gripped Kyiv for months erupted in violence, culminating in the ouster of Ukraine’s pro-Russia president.
In the aftermath, Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, and fomented war in eastern Ukraine. Since then, relations between Kyiv and Moscow have been outright hostile, though trade still continues between the two, and there is little outright enmity between Ukrainians and Russians themselves.
In July, the Kremlin published an article authored by Putin that all but questioned Ukraine’s existence as a sovereign country.
Asked about Crimea, Putin tried to draw a parallel with U.S. history.
“How about territorial questions between Mexico and the United States? Who did California used to belong to? And Texas? You forget, don’t you?” Putin said. “Nobody remembers that the way they recall Crimea. But we also try not to recall how Ukraine was created. Who created Ukraine? Vladimir Lenin created Ukraine when he established the Soviet Union."
The bulk of the questions that Putin fielded concerned domestic worries such as the cost of living, waste and rubbish management policies, and municipal issues like water and electricity.
Because of pandemic restrictions, journalists were being required to submit three negative PCR tests in order to enter the hall. Organizers also set up “disinfection tunnels” -- an unproven technology that sprays individuals with a disinfectant as they walk through.
Earlier in the news conference, Putin extolled his government's efforts in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, and bolstering the country’s economic growth.
Like many countries, Russia has struggled to get its COVID-19 infections under control -- an effort that has been hampered by widespread vaccine hesitancy.
Less than 50 percent of the country’s 146 million people have been fully vaccinated so far, even though Russia was the first in the world to approve and release a coronavirus vaccine a year ago. As of December 23, Russia has reported 10.2 million cases, and 300,000 deaths, according to the national coronavirus information center.
"After facing the coronavirus infection's challenges and the necessary restrictions caused by it in the economy, as well as in the social sphere, our economy, turned out to be more mobilized and better prepared for such shocks than the world's other developed economies,” he said.
Mayor Of Yerevan Removed Amid Conflict With Armenia's Ruling Party
YEREVAN -- The city council of Armenia’s capital has voted to remove Mayor Hayk Marutian and replace him with one of his deputies, Hrachya Sargisian.
By a vote of 44-10, the council on December 22 passed a no-confidence resolution against Marutian, who was accused of not running the city “with sufficient efficiency.”
Shortly before the vote, Marutian accused the ruling Civil Contract party of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian of betraying the goals of the 2018 uprising that brought them to power. He accused Pashinian and his political team of stifling dissent and enriching themselves.
Marutian, who was a leading figure in the 2018 mass protests that toppled former Armenian leader Serzh Sarkisian, quit Civil Contract in December 2020.
“I thought that a revolutionary’s supreme goal must be to improve the lives of other people,” Marutian told council members. “In reality, as soon as they came to power, they started improving their own lives, despite the fact that the country’s poverty rate continued to hover at around 30 percent.”
Marutian particularly criticized a decision to increase salaries for ministers and other senior government officials and claimed that as mayor he had received frequent phone calls from unnamed officials seeking favors.
“I did not expect such phone calls when I joined the team,” he said, citing them as a key reason for his conflict with Pashinian.
Pro-Pashinian members of the council, in turn, criticized Marutian for supposedly failing to support the government against opposition protests in the wake of Armenia’s defeat in an armed conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan last year.
“Where was the Yerevan mayor during the counterrevolution?” council member Armen Galjian said. “Was he locked down in his office with a mask on his face or busy preparing to leave the party?”
Pashinian has not publicly commented on the rift with Marutian.
- By Current Time
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Calls 2021 A 'Nightmare Year' For Russian Journalists
The editor in chief of Russia’s Novaya gazeta, who shared this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, has denounced the Russian government’s so-called “foreign agents” law as “a filthy stigma that the authorities try to hang on all of their opponents.”
In an interview with Current Time on December 23, Dmitry Muratov said that 2021 had been a “real nightmare year” for independent media in Russia.
“The people are being robbed of their media,” Muratov said. “It is not just journalists who are being victimized. [The authorities] tell readers, ‘Go there, don’t go here. You aren’t allowed to read that!’ It is an enormous lack of trust in their own people. That’s what it means to label journalists ‘foreign agents’ -- mistrust of one’s own people.”
In recent months, the Russian authorities have designated dozens of organizations and individuals as “foreign agents,” subjecting them to restrictions and possible prosecution. RFE/RL’s Russian-language outlets and Current Time and several individual RFE/RL contributors have been designated as “foreign agents.”
Russian and international rights groups, as well as the U.S. government and the European Union, have accused the Russian government of using its “foreign agent” law to crack down on dissent and political opponents.
Muratov told Current Time, the Russian-language network operated by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA, that independent media in Russia are “a sort of parliament” for a country in which the real parliament does not represent the people.
“Our audience is large,” he said. “More than 30 million on social media. And no one represents them in parliament.”
Since winning the Nobel Peace Prize in October, Muratov said he has received “an unbelievable number” of requests for help from ordinary Russians.
“If people are turning for help to some guy who for some reason was given a Nobel Prize, then that means they cannot get help from their local authorities,” he said. “They cannot get justice in local courts. It means that they have no local deputies whom they trust.”
Six Novaya gazeta journalists and contributors -- Igor Domnikov (2000), Yury Shchekochikhin (2003), Anna Politkovskaya (2006), Anastasia Baburova (2009), Stanislav Markelov (2009), and Natalya Estimirova (2009) -- have been killed in attacks that the newspaper and human rights activists say were retribution for their journalism.
Muratov said his newspaper continues to receive threats “regularly,” particularly for its coverage of Chechnya and the alleged human rights abuses of the region’s longtime leader, Ramzan Kadyrov.
The Nobel Peace Prize, he said, is “a medal, not a bulletproof vest,” and conceded that he does not know whether the international honor will be a “shield” for his newspaper or not.
Muratov shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Maria Ressa, who co-founded Rappler, a news website critical of the Philippine government.
- By RFE/RL
European Satellite Operator Takes Russia's RT DE Off The Air Days After Launch
A European satellite operator has pulled the new German-language broadcasts of Russia's state-owned media company RT off the air after German regulators ruled that it did not have a valid license in the latest media spat between the two countries.
Eutelsat said on December 22 that it had suspended RT DE at the request of German regulators. The MABB media authority in Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg said in a statement sent to RFE/RL that the broadcaster did not apply for a broadcasting permit, nor was one issued in the country.
The move came after YouTube blocked the Russian broadcaster’s newly launched RT DE channel last week, less than three months after the U.S. video-sharing platform deleted two other German-language RT channels it accused of breaching its COVID-19 misinformation policies.
RT claims a license it holds in Serbia for satellite transmission gives it the right to broadcast in Germany under a Council of Europe agreement to which both countries are party.
"We consider the actions of the German regulator to be illegal and are convinced that this decision will be reviewed in court," RT said in a statement.
MABB considers the Serbian license insufficient because RT DE "is in German and aimed at the German market."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he could not rule out retaliation for the satellite block, which he described as “unacceptable."
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 former 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.
The media dispute between Germany and Russia threatens to further strain their ties after a Berlin court last week sentenced a Russian to life in jail over a 2019 assassination on German soil that the court found had been ordered by Moscow.
The ruling prompted Berlin to expel two Russian diplomats, with Moscow responding with tit-for-tat expulsions.
Germany has also joined other Western countries in voicing alarm at a Russian troop buildup on the border with Ukraine.
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and RFE/RL's Balkan Service
North Macedonia's Prime Minister Submits His Resignation To Parliament
SKOPJE -- North Macedonia's prime minister, Zoran Zaev, submitted his resignation to parliament on December 22, and lawmakers were expected to approve it during a legislative session the following day.
Zaev had announced the move after a poor showing by his governing Social Democratic Party (SDSM) in local elections in October. Last month, he stepped down as head of the party.
Earlier this month, the SDSM selected Deputy Finance Minister Dimitar Kovachevski to succeed Zaev as its leader, and he is expected to be the party’s nominee to become the next prime minister, as well.
After parliament formally accepts Zaev's resignation, President Stevo Pendarovski will have 10 days to hand the mandate to form a new government to the SDSM-led coalition that controls a majority in the 120-member parliament.
The SDSM leader would then have 20 days to form a government that has the backing of lawmakers to face challenges from both the coronavirus pandemic and an energy crisis.
In his letter of resignation, Zaev said "it would be politically irresponsible and unjustified...to continue to lead the country along the Euro-Atlantic path."
He said he believed that another prime minister from the SDSM "could achieve that in a better way."
During an address to parliament, Pendarovski praised Zaev’s resignation as a democratically minded act.
“He does this, even though his party is in power,” the president said.
Zaev served as prime minister from May 2017 to January 2020 and again since August 2020.
He oversaw the resolution of his country’s long-standing dispute with Greece over the name Macedonia. Zaev oversaw a 2018 referendum that changed the country’s name to North Macedonia, paving the way to advance its European Union accession bid. However, Bulgaria objects to that because of disputes over history and linguistics.
He also secured North Macedonia’s membership in NATO in March 2020.
In the wake of the Social Democrats’ defeat in the October local elections, the opposition has called for early national legislative elections.
North Macedonia is currently expected to hold such elections in 2024.
Petkov Says Bulgaria Hasn't Discussed NATO Troop Deployment, Calls For More Diplomacy
SOFIA – Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Kiril Petkov says his government has neither discussed nor taken any decision on an eventual deployment of NATO troops in the Black Sea country as a response to Russia's troop buildup near the border with Ukraine.
Petkov made the comments on December 22, a day after Defense Minister Stefan Yanev said that the deployment of additional troops to NATO and EU member Bulgaria “would not match” the interests of his country or its allies.
“That topic has neither been discussed at the Council of Ministers, nor with any of our [NATO] partners,” Petkov told reporters.
“The defense minister has his own personal opinion, which is in no way the formal position of our government,” he added.
The comments come amid intelligence reports that Russia has amassed about 100,000 combat-ready troops near its eastern border with Ukraine in what the United States has said could be a prelude to an invasion as early as next month.
Russia denies it is planning to attack, claiming instead that Ukraine and NATO are provoking tensions. Moscow is demanding security guarantees against NATO’s expansion to Ukraine, which is not a member of the alliance.
Regarding the possible deployment of NATO troops in Bulgaria, Petkov said his country is and will remain “an active member of the European Union and NATO, and such types of decisions will be coordinated.”
Boots On The Ground: Satellite Images Reveal Russian Troop Buildup Near Ukrainian Border And In Crimea
The prime minister also called for "maximum use of diplomatic and peaceful means" regarding the security of the EU and NATO’s eastern flank.
In a Facebook post on December 21, Yanev said that "various options for response” were being discussed within NATO, including building up the alliance’s presence in Bulgaria and neighboring Romania as part of the alliance’s Enhanced Forward Presence strategy.
“At this stage, [the discussions] are at the level of military-technical discussion and no final decision has been made,” Yanev said.
The defense minister added, though, that “my position is that such [an approach] has the potential to lead to an undesirable increase in tensions in the region.”
The Russian Embassy in Sofia quickly shared Yanev's post without making any comment.
Bulgaria, a former Warsaw Pact member, joined NATO in 2004.
University Rector In Russia's Tatarstan Charged With Involvement In Premeditated Murder
The rector of the Kazan Federal University in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, Ilshat Gafurov, who is also a regional lawmaker, has been charged with involvement in a premeditated murder.
The Basmanny district court in Moscow said on December 22 that investigators have asked the court to place Gafurov in pretrial detention.
Local media reports said that Gafurov was detained in Tatarstan's capital, Kazan, on suspicion of involvement in a murder committed in Tatarstan several years ago and transferred to Moscow.
No further details were given.
Gafurov, 60, has run one of Russia's oldest universities since 2010. Before that, he was the mayor of the city of Yelabuga in Tatarstan.
With reporting by TASS and Interfax
Kyrgyzstan Accuses Tajik Border Guards Of Opening Fire On Truck Driver Near Disputed Border
BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz authorities say Tajik border guards opened fire on a truck and attempted to abduct the driver near a disputed sector of the border between the two Central Asian states where ethnic-related incidents have been frequent in recent years.
Kyrgyzstan's State Border Guard Service (KChAK) said on December 22 that three Tajik border guards forcibly got aboard a Kyrgyz truck, when its driver stopped to get some water from a spring in the southern Leilek district.
"The Tajik border guards then ordered the Kyrgyz driver to drive his truck further with them aboard. To attract other vehicles attention to his situation, the driver abruptly turned the wheel blocking the road, which forced the Tajik soldiers to leave the truck. However, when the Kyrgyz citizen continued to drive his truck, the Tajik border guards opened fire at the vehicle hitting the windshield and a tire," the KChAK statement said, adding that the driver sustained minor injuries caused by shattered glass.
The incident could not be independently confirmed and Tajik officials have yet to comment on the Kyrgyz statement.
Almost half of the 970-kilometer-long Kyrgyz-Tajik border has not been demarcated, leading to repeated tensions since the two countries gained independence three decades ago.
In late April, clashes that involved military personnel along a disputed segment of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border left dozens of people dead on both sides.
Many border areas in Central Asia have been disputed since the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.
The situation is particularly complicated near the numerous exclaves in the volatile Ferghana Valley, where the borders of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan meet.
Two Kazakh Activists Sentenced For Supporting Banned Opposition Groups
AQTAU, Kazakhstan -- Two civil rights activists in the western Kazakh city of Aqtau have been sentenced to one year of restricted freedom for supporting the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement and its associate, the unregistered Koshe (Street) party amid an ongoing crackdown on supporters of the two opposition groups.
A court in the Caspian Sea port city sentenced 32-year-old Abzal Qanaliev late in the evening on December 21. The ruling came a day after a separate ruling by the court against 29-year-old Aizhan Ismakova.
Qanaliev and Ismakova were also barred from using social networks for 30 and 24 months, respectively.
Both pleaded not guilty.
Many activists across the Central Asian country have been handed lengthy prison terms or parole-like, restricted-freedom sentences in recent years for their involvement with the DVK and Koshe, as well as for taking part in rallies organized by the two groups.
DVK is led by Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive former head of Kazakhstan's BTA Bank and outspoken critic of the government. The authorities labeled the DVK "extremist" and banned it in March 2018.
The crackdown on the two groups' supporters and other activists has increased recently, before and after the former Soviet republic's Independence Day on December 16.
The holiday coincides with two sensitive events in modern Kazakh history, the anniversaries of the 1986 Kazakh anti-Kremlin youth demonstrations in Almaty, known as the Zheltoqsan revolt, and a deadly 2011 police crackdown against protesting oil workers in the southwestern town of Zhanaozen, when at least 16 oil workers died.
- By RFE/RL
Dutch Prosecutors Seek Life Sentences For MH17 Suspects
Dutch prosecutors have requested life sentences for three Russians and a Ukrainian on trial in absentia on charges of playing a role in downing a passenger jet over Ukraine in 2014, killing 298 people.
In their final summations on December 22, prosecutors said the defendants helped supply a missile system that Moscow-backed separatists used to fire a rocket at Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
MH17 was on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down on July 17, 2014, by a Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile fired from territory controlled by the separatists in the east of Ukraine, killing all passengers and crew.
The trial comes amid heightened tensions between Moscow and the West over a Russian troop buildup near Ukraine that has drawn fears of an invasion. Russia, which in 2014 seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, has denied plans to attack its neighbor.
The four suspects -- Russians Sergei Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov, and Igor Girkin, as well as Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko -- are being tried in absentia. Only one of the suspects, Pulatov, is represented by lawyers at the trial.
The trial is being held in a secure courtroom near Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport because the departure point for the doomed plane was in the Netherlands, while 196 of the victims were Dutch.
"We demand that suspects Girkin, Dubinsky, Pulatov, and Kharchenko are convicted, each individually for the joint shooting down of an aircraft which caused death and the murder of 298 people on board, to life in prison," public prosecutor Manon Ridderbeks said.
"Incredibly deep and irreversible suffering has been caused to the next of kin," Ridderbeks told the court.
The four have all have denied involvement either in video messages or in media interviews shown in court.
The sentence guidance was announced at the end of a three-day presentation of evidence.
Prosecutors said on December 22 that the evidence showed the four accused were linked to Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine and played different but significant roles in the conflict with Ukrainian government forces that has killed more than 13,200 people since April 2014.
A team of international investigators concluded in May 2018 that the missile launcher used to shoot down the aircraft belonged to Russia's 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade.
In their closing arguments on December 20, prosecutors said evidence such as photos, intercepted telephone conversations, videos, and witness statements showed that the accused worked together to procure the Buk missile system from Russia into eastern Ukraine to reinforce the separatists.
In recordings played to the court during the three days of hearings, men identified by the prosecution as the suspects could be heard talking about moving "our Buk" to a field from where flight MH17 was attacked.
The four celebrated the success of "our boys" when they brought down what they mistakenly thought was a Ukrainian military plane.
Prosecutors argued that their intention to shoot down a military plane made no legal difference.
"Even if the suspects did not intend the consequences of their actions those consequences still count for their sentencing," Ridderbeks said.
Defense lawyers for Pulatov are expected to make their presentation to judges in March. Verdicts in the trial that started 20 months ago aren't expected until September at the earliest.
With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
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