U.S. President Joe Biden has urged his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to de-escalate simmering tensions in a phone call aimed at intensifying diplomacy amid a buildup of Russian troops near the border with Ukraine and the Kremlin’s demands for sweeping security guarantees.

During a 50-minute call on December 30, the two leaders held a “serious and substantive” exchange to set the groundwork for three sets of upcoming talks early next month, a senior Biden administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic matters, told reporters.

U.S. and Russian officials will meet January 9-10 in Geneva to discuss arms control and mounting tensions over Ukraine under their bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue. Then a separate meeting of the Russia-NATO Council will be held in Brussels on January 12, followed a day later by a meeting in Vienna within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which includes the United States, its European allies, Ukraine, and Russia.

“Biden very much saw this call as setting the conditions for…pragmatic, results-oriented diplomacy” at the upcoming meetings, the senior U.S. official said.

A Kremlin readout of the call posted on December 31 said that Biden told Putin the United States has no intention of introducing offensive weaponry on Ukrainian territory.

The United States has delivered more than $2.5 billion in military aid to Ukraine since 2014, including lethal weapons to help government forces battle Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Putin told Biden that the introduction of “massive” sanctions against Russia by the United States in the event of an escalation in Ukraine could threaten “a complete breakdown of Russian-American relations,” the Kremlin’s account said.

Russia earlier this month laid out sweeping demands for security guarantees from NATO as it amassed some 100,000 troops on its border with Ukraine, triggering fears of an invasion and a flurry of diplomacy, including another call between the two leaders on December 7.

Russia is seeking legal guarantees that NATO will not accept new members on its border, including Ukraine and Georgia. It also wants NATO to halt military drills near its borders and roll back military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe.

Putin last week called on the West to “immediately” give Russia those guarantees. The Biden administration has said that some Russian demands are “unacceptable,” and that each country has the sovereign right to choose its own security arrangements. But Washington has also signaled that discussing other Russian proposals -- including those on arms control, deconfliction of military forces, and the conflict in eastern Ukraine -- could yield results.

“Both leaders acknowledged that there were likely to be areas where we could make meaningful progress as well as areas where agreements may be impossible, and that the upcoming talks would determine more precisely the contours of each of those categories,” the senior U.S. official said.

SEE ALSO:

Amid Rumblings About A Russian Invasion, 'No Hysteria' In Ukraine  

During the call, Biden also reiterated that any invasion of Ukraine would be met with crushing economic sanctions from the United States and its partners as well as a greater NATO presence in Central and Eastern Europe.

Putin told Biden that any sanctions would be a “colossal mistake” that would lead to a “total severance of relations” between Russia and the United States, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.

Overall, Ushakov said Russia was satisfied with the phone conversation and the prospects for further diplomacy early next year, which he said centered on security guarantees that Moscow wants from the West.

The Eurasia Group, a U.S.-based political risk consultancy, said in a note to clients that the Russia-initiated call underscores the pressure Putin is applying for a quick start to negotiations. However, they warned talks would be slow and "face significant obstacles."

Nonetheless, the call was an opportunity for Putin “to air his grievances, to influence the forthcoming series of bilateral, U.S.-Russia, and OSCE meetings in the second week of January, and, just as important, to shape the Russian news cycle...to demonstrate that he took Russian concerns straight to the U.S. president,” Yuval Weber, an expert on Russian military and political strategy at Texas A&M's Bush School in Washington, D.C., told RFE/RL following the call.

SEE ALSO:

As Putin Hints At War In Ukraine, State TV Amplifies The Threat

Russia invaded and annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and backs separatists in eastern Ukraine fighting a nearly eight-year war against Kyiv's forces.

Peace talks to end the fighting have stalled as Moscow and Kyiv disagree over the interpretation of the framework signed in 2015 known as the Minsk agreements. Germany and France are mediating those talks.

U.S. officials have emphasized that no decisions about Europe’s security architecture would be made without agreement from Ukraine and European allies.

"We have heard very clearly from our partner, and we hear constantly that all issues related to Ukraine will be resolved together with Ukraine," including its NATO membership aspirations, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service in an interview to be aired on January 1 .

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy ahead of Biden's call with Putin to reiterate Washington’s “unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity," the State Department said.

SEE ALSO:

How Long Could Ukraine Hold Out Against A New Russian Invasion?

Biden plans to speak with Zelenskiy soon after the call with Putin.

Weber said Ukraine’s membership in NATO or a bilateral military alliance between the United States and Ukraine “is either many years away or purely fantastical, so it's both easy for Biden to say it won't happen and gleefully be accepted by the Russian side as a concession.”

John Herbst, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, said Putin had sought another phone call “to build on the momentum” he perceived coming out of his last discussion with Biden on December 7.

Putin “still believes he can get a concession or two out of us,” Herbst said, adding that just holding the call itself is a “kind of concession” to the Russian leader.

Herbst said he doesn’t expect Russia to invade Ukraine.

“I think he's looking again to use this crisis -- which he created -- to see if there's some wiggle room, either from the U.S. or from Germany and France in terms of the Minsk talks or from Ukraine,” said Herbst, who is now an analyst at the Washington-based Atlantic Council.

Belarus has declared a social media account of one of its oldest rights organizations “extremist” as the government of strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues its crackdown on dissent.

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.

A Belarusian court in Homel, a town 300 kilometers southeast of the capital, Minsk, ruled on December 30 that material published by Vyasna on its Telegram channel is extremist.

Vyasna, which was founded in 1996, documented Lukashenka’s brutal crackdown on the opposition following the disputed August 2020 presidential election, publishing data on the thousands of detentions as well as cases of torture.

Vyasna did not escape the postelection repression, with seven members of the organization currently behind bars.

The December 30 ruling opens the door to prosecuting subscribers of the channel as well.

Over the past year, Lukashenka’s government has declared about 300 Internet sites and online channels -- the majority run by the opposition -- as “extremist” as he seeks to quash any challenge to his 27-year rule.

Tens of thousands of Belarusian citizens took to the streets last year to demand Lukashenka step down following what the election, which they claim was rigged.

Belarus earlier this month added RFE/RL's Belarus Service, known locally as Radio Svaboda, to its registry of extremist organizations.

YEREVAN -- The Armenian government has lifted a ban on the import of Turkish goods that was imposed over Ankara's backing of Azerbaijan in last year’s war with Armenia.

"A decision was made not to extend the embargo on the import of Turkish goods into the country," the Economy Ministry said on Facebook.

The decision takes effect on January 1.

The ban was imposed on December 31, 2020, for six months and was extended for another six months in June. It was set to expire on December 31.

More than two weeks ago, the Economy Ministry told RFE/RL that a draft decision was being developed to extend the ban for another six months, but it never made it onto the government's agenda.

The government’s last cabinet meeting of the year took place on December 30, and the Economy Ministry issued a statement afterward in which it said that as a result of interdepartmental discussions it was decided not to extend the embargo on Turkish goods.

The lifting of the ban is expected to create more favorable conditions for the export of Armenian goods.

According to the ministry, the ban has had both positive and negative economic consequences.

“We have received many statements and requests to lift the ban on the import of Turkish goods,” the ministry said in a statement.

In autumn 2020, Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six-week war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. The conflict claimed more than 6,500 lives and ended with a Russian-brokered cease-fire under which Armenian forces ceded territories to Azerbaijan that they had controlled for decades.

Earlier this month, Turkey and Armenia appointed special envoys on mending relations.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Veronika Nikulshina, two members of the Pussy Riot protest group, have been added to Russia's controversial "foreign agents" list, which is used by the government to label what it says are foreign-funded organizations that are engaged in political activity, as well as people linked to them.

The Justice Ministry said in a statement on December 30 that two journalists connected to RFE/RL -- Yelena Vladykina and Ivan Belyaev -- were also placed on the "foreign agents" list in an update that added a total of eight people. With the update, the list now comprises 111 entities and individuals.

"This decision was made on the basis of documents received from authorized government bodies. In particular, according to the information received, these persons systematically distribute materials to an indefinite circle of persons, while receiving foreign funding," the ministry said in the statement.

Vladykina is a journalist with North.Realities, of RFE/RL's Russian Service, while Belyaev is a social media editor for RFE/RL's Russian Service.

RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said the Kremlin's "assault on the truth" would not succeed.

"This targeting of more @RFERL journalists from @SvobodaRadio and @severrealii will not deter us from our mission of providing objective information to Russian audiences," Fly said on Twitter.

He also issued a statement saying the addition of two more RFE/RL journalists to the foreign agents lists brings to 18 the number of Russian citizens working for RFE/RL "who have been falsely labeled in this way."

Yaroslavl filmmaker Andrei Alekseev; Marat Gelman, a former deputy director of Channel One and former member of the Public Chamber of Russia; Taisiya Bekbulatova, editor in chief of the magazine Kholod; and Viktor Shenderovich, a columnist for The New Times, were also added to the list.

SEE ALSO:

Who Has Russia Labeled As A 'Foreign Agent'?

The Pussy Riot performance-art collective came to prominence after some of its member 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.

In another protest, Pussy Riot members -- including Nikulshina -- interrupted the 2018 World Cup final in Moscow between France and Croatia by running onto the field wearing fake police uniforms.

The "foreign agents" laws require those designated to register with the authorities and label their content with an intrusive disclaimer, with criminal fines for not doing so.

The designation also restricts other media from citing a "foreign agent" organization without including a disclaimer.

The "foreign agents" label has led to several NGOs, media organizations, and other groups to shut down as they lose revenues from advertisers.

The United States voiced concern on December 30 over Iran's new space launch, saying such activities use technology that can help further its ballistic-missile program.

"The United States remains concerned with Iran's development of space launch vehicles, which pose a significant proliferation concern," a State Department spokesperson said after Iran announced it had launched a rocket carrying three satellites.

The space launch vehicles "incorporate technologies that are virtually identical to, and interchangeable with, those used in ballistic missiles, including longer-range systems," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also said the launch violated UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which backed the 2015 nuclear deal and called on Iran not to carry out work on ballistic missiles with the potential to carry nuclear warheads.

Earlier on December 30, Defense Ministry spokesman Ahmad Hosseini said the rocket used was an Iranian Simorgh (Phoenix) rocket and that the payload reached an altitude of 470 kilometers.

It was unclear whether any objects had successfully entered Earth’s orbit.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency quoted Hosseini as saying the launch was a “space research mission.”

He said the "performance of the space center and the performance of the satellite carrier were satisfactory."

State television showed footage of the rocket launching from the Imam Khomeini Spaceport near the northern city of Semnan.

The reported launch comes amid difficult negotiations in Vienna between Tehran and world powers over reviving the nuclear deal aimed at restricting Iran's nuclear program. That deal has been under threat since the United States withdrew from it and reimposed sanctions against Iran in 2018.

SEE ALSO:

European Powers Call For 'Urgency' As Iran Nuclear Talks Resume

One reason the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump gave for withdrawing from the agreement was concern that it did not restrict Iran’s strategic missile program.

Iran has said that it is not seeking to develop nuclear weapons and that its rocket tests do not have military objectives.

European delegates to the talks for weeks have warned that they are close to collapsing. In a joint statement on December 28, they said: “We are clear that we are nearing the point where Iran’s escalation of its nuclear program will have completely hollowed out” the 2015 agreement.

Iran's chief negotiator at the talks, Ali Bagheri, said on December 30 that the talks had seen some progress.

"Some written changes on the lifting of sanctions were established between the two parties and relatively satisfactory progress has been made over the first days of the eighth round of negotiations," Bagheri said in a video published by Tasnim.

Negotiations to restore the agreement began earlier this year but were put on hold in June as the Islamic republic held its presidential election, which brought an ultraconservative government led by President Ebrahim Raisi to power. They resumed in late November, and the latest round got under way on December 27.

The nuclear deal offered Iran relief from sanctions that have weighed heavily on its economy. Bagheri said on December 30 that the discussions had recently focused mainly on the lifting of sanctions.

"We hope that after a few days of pause, more serious work will continue on the question of lifting sanctions," he continued.

Talks are due to resume on January 3.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP

TBILISI -- Lawyers for former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili have expressed concerns about his health following his transfer overnight from a military hospital in Gori to a prison in Rustavi.

"I do not know how extreme the situation is following his transportation," defense lawyer Nika Gvaramia told journalists on December 30. "I have to see if the prisoner is alive."

Gvaramia claimed Saakashvili had been "abducted" and that his defense team and relatives had no information about his condition.

Defense lawyers were hoping to meet with Saakashvili at Rustavi prison No. 12 on December 30.

Georgia's prison service on December 30 confirmed that "convict Mikheil Saakashvili is in prison No. 12."

A parliament deputy from the ruling Georgian Dream party, David Sergeyenko, told journalists that Saakashvili had been released from the hospital after doctors determined his health had "stabilized."

Saakashvili had been scheduled to be transferred on December 27, but that move was postponed after he reportedly fainted upon being told of the order. A representative of Georgian rights ombudsman Nino Lomdzharia visited Saakashvili in the Gori hospital on December 28.

Saakashvili, 54, has been in custody since October 1, when he was detained shortly after returning to Georgia from self-imposed exile. He is serving a six-year sentence after being convicted in absentia of abuse of office.

He was transferred to the Gori Military Hospital on November 19 after a 50-day hunger strike to protest his convictions, saying they were politically motivated.

He and his supporters have complained that he has been mistreated and "tortured" while in custody.

On December 18, an independent medical team examined him and ruled that his health had been seriously compromised "as a result of torture, ill-treatment, inadequate medical care, and a prolonged hunger strike."

SEE ALSO:

Independent Medics Say Georgian Ex-President's Health Compromised By 'Torture' In Prison

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry on December 28 called on the Georgian authorities to treat Saakashvili, who has Ukrainian citizenship, "with respect," adding that he needs additional medical treatment.

Saakashvili served as Georgia’s president from 2004 until 2013.

With reporting by AFP

Iran's soccer association chief has backed former national team captain Mehdi Mahdavikia after he faced criticism from ultraconservatives for wearing a jersey bearing an Israeli flag during a friendly game coached by an Israeli.

"He is one of the greats of Iranian football" and "a symbol of pride for the Islamic Republic of Iran," Secretary-General Hassan Kamranifar said in a statement published by the official state news agency IRNA on December 29.

Government media and ultraconservative lawmakers attacked Mahdavikia after he wore a jersey bearing the flags of all FIFA member countries, including Israel, during a special friendly match in Qatar on December 17.

The match brought together former soccer players from around the world. Israel's i24 News reported that one of the teams was coached by Israeli Avram Grant, prompting three Algerian players to withdraw from the match.

Iran does not recognize arch-foe Israel and prohibits athletes from competing against Israelis.

Mahdavikia "must apologize to the Iranian people for his act and must stand trial because he has betrayed the Iranian nation," lawmaker Bijan Nobaveh-Vatan said, according to the Fars news agency.

Fars described the friendly match as "a game in line with the occupying regime" aimed at normalizing relations with Israel.

However, Kamranifar said Mahdavikia participated in the game at the invitation of FIFA President Gianni Infantino and everything was approved by the Ministry of Sports and Youth.

He said the federation had no role but had examined the case and found Mahdavikia had handled the situation with "vigilance," despite some "false and sometimes unjustified prejudices and attacks" against him.

Mahdavikia, 44, has spent much of his career in Germany, most notably Hamburg SV.

He was named coach of Iran's under-23 team in July.

"Many Iranians leave but Mahdavikia, who lives in Germany, came on his own and took the helm of the national team with few facilities and a low salary. We appreciate such acts and the federation is behind the greats of football," Kamranifar said.

The 2003 Asian Player of the Year served as captain of the national team from 2006 to 2009. He is particularly known for having scored a goal in Iran's 2-1 victory over the United States in the 1998 World Cup.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, IRNA, i24 News, The Jerusalem Post, and AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin has welcomed Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka's proposal to hold another round of joint military drills.

Putin, who met with Lukashenka in St. Petersburg on December 29, said the military exercises would be held in February or March in Belarus.

The announcement comes amid a Russian troop buildup near Ukraine that has raised Western fears of an invasion. Some officials in Ukraine have voiced concern that Russia may also attack its northern flank from Belarusian territory.

Russia denies intending to attack Ukraine, instead accusing Kyiv and NATO of provocations.

Russia regularly conducts military drills with Belarus, the last large-scale one being a war game in September involving 200,000 troops.

Lukashenka has leaned on ally Russia for support amid rising tensions with the West over his crackdown on the country's pro-democracy movement in the wake of a disputed presidential election in August 2020.

Meanwhile, Moscow has staunchly backed Lukashenka in the face of Western sanctions against his regime. Minsk has responded to the pressure by flying in migrants from the Middle East and funneling them to the EU's eastern borders in what Brussels says is a form of "hybrid warfare."

SEE ALSO:

UN Urges Belarus, Poland To Address 'Appalling Situation' Along Their Border

The December 29 meeting is just the latest in a series between the two leaders since last year's election that has seen the countries deepen a union agreement envisaging close political, economic, and military ties.

In recent weeks, Moscow has repeatedly sent nuclear-capable bombers on patrol over Belarus. On December 28, Russian and Belarusian fighter jets jointly patrolled Belarus's air space.

Last month, Lukashenka said that his country would be willing to host Russian nuclear weapons if NATO moves similar U.S. equipment from Germany to Eastern Europe.

In an interview on November 30, Lukashenka also recognized for the first time Moscow-occupied Crimea as part of Russia, adding that he planned to visit the Ukrainian peninsula with Putin.

Earlier last month, Putin and Lukashenka approved a joint military doctrine along with a series of agreements on integration programs focused mainly on economic and regulatory issues.

The documents deepen integration as part of a decades-old plan to create a union state, but there has been less movement on issues surrounding political integration.

The operator of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany said it has filled the new pipeline with natural gas and is ready to begin deliveries.

"As of December 29, the gas-in procedure for the second string of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline has been completed," operating company Nord Stream 2 AG said in a statement quoted by AFP.

"This pressure is sufficient to start gas transportation in the future," the Switzerland-based company added.

The new pipeline, which runs under the Baltic Sea, consists of two parallel strings capable of transporting a total of 55 billion cubic meters of gas a year.

Nord Stream 2 AG said in a statement in early October that the first string of the pipeline would be gradually filled to build inventory and pressure.

Embed share

5 Things To Know About Nord Stream 2

Embed share

The code has been copied to your clipboard.

---

width px height px

---

The URL has been copied to your clipboard

No media source currently available

0:00 0:01:13 0:00

The new pipeline was completed in September after years of controversy but has not yet received regulatory approval from Germany. The regulator has said the approval process is likely to drag into the second half of 2022.

The pipeline is controlled by Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned gas giant. Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller also said on December 29 that the second line of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline had been filled with gas and that the link is ready for gas exports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told a government meeting that Miller attended that the addition of the pipeline will help stabilize prices on European markets.

"As soon as they decide to start work, large volumes -- additional volumes -- of Russian gas will immediately begin to flow to Europe," Putin told the meeting. "It would undoubtedly impact prices on the spot market, and consumers in the countries that use the Russian gas will immediately feel it.”

Western countries have for weeks accused Russia of limiting gas deliveries to put pressure on Europe to complete the regulatory process amid tensions over Ukraine.

Putin and Gazprom have rejected the accusations and say Nord Stream 2 is a purely commercial project.

The Baltic Sea pipeline has been controversial for years. Germany says it needs the natural gas to help its transition away from coal and nuclear energy, while 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, with Ukraine saying it will deprive it of transit fees. The United States has also opposed it, and some U.S. lawmakers have suggested sanctions targeting Nord Stream 2 to counter any new Russian military move against Ukraine.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, and TASS

SKOPJE -- The president of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski, has handed Social Democratic Union (SDSM) leader Dimitar Kovachevski a mandate to form a new government.

Kovachevski, the new leader of the ruling SDSM, received the mandate after the SDSM announced that it had secured a majority in parliament. He is expected to be the party's nominee to become the next prime minister.

"From today, I am starting to form a new team with people who must respond to the serious challenges that await us from the beginning of the new year," Kovachevski said on December 29. "The new government will have a clear goal -- to provide security, a better life, and a bright future for our citizens."

He said his personal commitment would be to restore trust in the country's politics and institutions.

Kovachevski, 47, a former deputy finance minister, will have 20 days to submit the composition of the new government to parliament for ratification.

The SDSM has allied with a small ethnic Albanian party to create a new coalition with 64 seats in the 120-member parliament.

Kovachevski succeeded Zoran Zaev as the president of the SDSM after Zaev resigned as party leader on November 27. He 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.

During an address to parliament on December 22, Pendarovski praised Zaev's resignation as a democratically minded act that he performed even though his party was in power.

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," paving the way to advance its European Union accession bid.

However, Bulgaria objects to that because of disputes over history and linguistics. Kovachevski has promised to invite Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov for talks in a bid to ease tensions over the name.

Zaev also secured North Macedonia's membership in NATO in March 2020.

The conservative opposition on December 29 renewed its calls for early national legislative elections. North Macedonia is currently expected to hold elections in 2024.

With reporting by AP and dpa

Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is "convinced" there can be effective dialogue between Washington and Moscow ahead of talks with U.S. President Joe Biden amid rising tensions over a buildup of Russian troops near the border with Ukraine and the Kremlin's demands for sweeping security guarantees from NATO.

The two leaders are set to hold a phone call on December 30 to "discuss a range of topics, including upcoming diplomatic engagements with Russia," according to White House National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne.

According to a Kremlin readout of Putin's holiday messages to world leaders, released on December 30, the Russian president said he was "convinced that...we can move forward and establish an effective Russian-American dialogue based on mutual respect and consideration of each other's national interests."

The December 30 phone call comes as U.S. and Russian officials prepare to meet on January 10 in Geneva to discuss arms control and mounting tensions over Ukraine.

Putin, who initiated the call, according to the Kremlin, has been pressing Biden to attend the talks in person, though the White House has so far rejected such a meeting.

That meeting may be followed by separate talks between Russia and NATO on January 12, while Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which includes the United States and its European allies, will meet on January 13.

Biden will tell Putin the United States is "prepared for diplomacy and for a diplomatic path forward," a senior administration official told reporters. "But we are also prepared to respond if Russia advances with a further invasion of Ukraine," Biden will tell Putin, the official said.

It will be the second call between the two leaders in December, with Biden earlier this month warning his counterpart of "severe consequences" if Russian troops were to attack Ukraine.

Since the last call between the leaders, the Kremlin has publicly issued a list of demands that are almost certain to be rejected by the United States and its allies.

They include a call for NATO to commit to not accepting new member states that were once part of the Soviet Union, such as Ukraine and Georgia. Among other demands, Moscow wants NATO to halt military drills near its borders and roll back military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe.

However, U.S. officials say there may be room to negotiate some of the other proposals that fall under the arms-control agenda between Washington and Moscow.

In an interview broadcast on Russian state TV on December 26, Putin said that he would consider various options if the West failed to meet his demands.

SEE ALSO:

Putin To Mull Options If West Doesn't Meet 'Security Guarantees'

Russia's response "could be diverse," he said, adding it would depend on proposals offered by his military commanders.

The Biden administration has dismissed some of Russia's demands as "unacceptable," standing firm in the position that countries such as Ukraine have the right to choose their own foreign and security policy.

However, the U.S. administration has said it is willing to engage in diplomacy with Russia and plans to use the upcoming talks to lay out its concerns over the Kremlin's actions.

Russia has amassed about 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine in what Western capitals worry could be a prelude to an invasion.

Russia denies it intends to launch an invasion, instead accusing Ukraine and NATO of provocations. Russia invaded and annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and backs separatists in eastern Ukraine fighting a nearly eight-year war against Kyiv's forces.

SEE ALSO:

As Putin Hints At War In Ukraine, State TV Amplifies The Threat

The military buildup has sparked a flurry of transatlantic diplomacy this month, as Biden and top administration officials seek to coordinate policy with European allies and Ukraine, including the threat of severe economic sanctions if Russia were to invade Ukraine.

Further Russian aggression against Ukraine could also be met by bolstering NATO forces on the alliance's eastern flank, something the Kremlin wants to avoid.

U.S. officials have emphasized that no decisions about Europe's security architecture will be made without agreement from Ukraine and European allies.

"We have heard very clearly from our partner, and we hear constantly that all issues related to Ukraine will be resolved together with Ukraine, all issues regarding our Euro-Atlantic choice, our desire to become a member of the EU, our desire to become a member of NATO will be decided solely between us and the countries of the alliance, for example, if we are talking about NATO," Ukraine's ambassador to Washington, Oksana Markarova, told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service in an interview to be aired on January 1 .

SEE ALSO:

How Long Could Ukraine Hold Out Against A New Russian Invasion?

Horne said the administration continues to consult and coordinate with European allies and partners "on a common approach" to Russia's military buildup.

Earlier on December 29, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Blinken reiterated Washington's "unwavering support for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity in the face of Russia's military buildup on Ukraine's borders," the State Department said in a statement.

Biden plans to speak with Zelenskiy soon after the call with Putin, but no date has been set, the senior administration official told media.

SEE ALSO:

Tough Talk And Tough Talks: At Annual News Conference, Putin Sends Signals On Ukraine And NATO

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP

Three of the five associates of imprisoned Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny who were detained by police in raids across the country on December 28 have been released.

The five former directors of headquarters for Navalny's network of regional campaign groups were detained and interrogated in relation to possibly abusing their official position in the organization of an extremist group, infringing on the rights of citizens, or both.

Each charge, if applied, would carry a possible prison sentence.

SEE ALSO:

'Huge Disaster': Russian Police Detain Three Former Navalny Coordinators

Vadim Ostanin, who headed the Navalny movement's office in the southern Siberian city of Barnaul, was released on the morning of December 29 after questioning, according to OVD-Info, a nonprofit that monitors police arrests nationwide. His case relating to possible violations on each count remains open, according to OVD-Info.

Vadim Butakov, who headed Navalny's office in the northwestern city of Arkhangelsk, was reportedly released on December 28 after being questioned in relation to possible crimes relating to participation in the activities of an NGO that infringes on the rights of citizens.

If charged, Butakov could face up to four years in prison.

Andrei Gorodetsky, the regional coordinator in the southwestern Saratov region, was also questioned and released on December 28. He could face charges relating to abuse of his official position to create or participate in an extremist group, which is punishable by prison.

The fate of two others detained on December 28 for questioning -- Zakhar Sarapulov, who headed Navalny's headquarters in the eastern city of Irkutsk, and Ksenia Fadeyeva, coordinator of the office in the southern Siberian city of Tomsk -- are unknown.

Tomsk's TV2 information agency earlier reported that Fadeyeva, a member of Tomsk's city council, was likely to be transferred to Moscow for interrogation by the federal Investigative Committee.

She is reportedly being interrogated on suspicion of abusing her official position and infringing on the rights of citizens.

Sarapulov was being questioned in relation to abuse of his official position and was reportedly being detained for a period of 48 hours.

Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation and his political movement were declared extremist organizations by the Russian authorities in June and disbanded.

In November, a criminal case was opened against the head of Team Navalny's Ufa regional office, Lilia Chanysheva, who was charged with the creation and management of an extremist community.

Chanysheva was ordered last week to remain in pretrial detention until April 9, 2022.

Navalny himself has been in prison since February, after he was arrested the month prior upon returning to Russia from Germany, where he had been undergoing treatment for a near-fatal poisoning with a Novichok-type nerve agent that he says was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin has denied any role in Navalny's poisoning.

Several of the opposition leader and Kremlin critic's associates have been charged with establishing an extremist group. Many of his close associates, including lawyer Lyubov Sobol, have fled the country amid pressure from the Russian authorities.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service, Current Time, TV2, Irkutsk Insider, and OVD-Info

SARAJEVO -- The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia-Herzegovina says it has filed an indictment against nine Bosnian Serbs over the killing of about 100 Muslim Bosniaks just after the start of the Bosnian War in 1992, the latest in a series of war crimes charges laid in the country.

A statement from the Prosecutor's Office on December 29 said the nine, former members and commanders of the Bosnian Serb wartime army, were allegedly involved the 1992 killings of dozens of women, seniors, and children between the ages of 2 years old to 15 years old in the Serb-dominated Nevesinje area in southeastern Bosnia.

"The remains of 49 people have been found, while the remains of 47 victims are still being searched for," the statement said, noting the accused were arrested on December 16.

It added that seven families were among those killed in the violence.

The announcement comes amid a series of arrests for war crimes by the Investigation and Protection Agency of Bosnia-Herzegovina (SIPA).

Bosnia's declaration of independence in 1992 helped spark the 1992-95 conflict that left almost 100,000 people dead and displaced more than 2 million.

As part of a campaign of intimidation and ethnic cleansing during the war, thousands of women and girls were subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence by military and paramilitary groups.

The indictment has been forwarded to the State Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina for confirmation, the Prosecutor's Office statement said.

A controversial new law requiring foreigners in Russia to undergo health checks every three months, including for sexually transmitted diseases, has gone into effect.

As of December 29, nearly all foreigners in the country must pass medical exams for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, tuberculosis, and COVID-19, among other diseases.

Their blood will also be tested for the presence of illegal drugs, and they must submit fingerprints and other biometric data. Some will be subjected to X-rays and CT scans.

Those who refuse to comply could have their work permits revoked, while Belarusian citizens, children under the age of 6, and diplomats are among those exempt from the new requirements.

The foreign business community has warned that the new measures could prompt an exodus of managers and other business representatives.

In mid-December, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov played down such concerns and offered assurances that President Vladimir Putin "is in favor of creating the most comfortable conditions for foreign businesses here -- for investors and foreign specialists."

The Health Ministry has also suggested that the health checks would not actually have to be completed every three months, despite wording stating otherwise.

Critics also warn that the new measures will allow the Russian government to expand its data collection on foreigners and could negatively affect the country's hundreds of thousands of migrant workers.

Based on reporting by dpa, The Moscow Times, and AFP

The deputy director of Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) has been dismissed in the latest firing of senior officials amid a growing prison-abuse scandal.

Anatoly Yakunin, who has worked in the FSIN since 2019 and was appointed its deputy director in August 2020, was dismissed by President Vladimir Putin on December 28.

No reason was given for the dismissal of Yakunin, who previously served in the Interior Ministry. But the Russian rights group Gulagu.net, which has been publishing videos of torture and sexual assault that took place in Russian prisons, suggested Yakunin was pushed out at the suggestion of the Federal Security Service (FSB).

Yakunin's brings to six the number of senior prison officials who have been relieved of their duties since Gulagu.net began publishing videos of prisoner abuse in penitentiary facilities across the country.

SEE ALSO:

'I Was Always Afraid Of Getting Caught': Former Inmate Who Leaked Russian Prison-Torture Videos Speaks Out

Aleksandr Kalashnikov, who was the FSIN's director, is the highest-ranking official to have lost his job amid the scandal, which has resulted in a slew of criminal investigations into prisoner abuse. Kalashnikov, an FSB general, was replaced by Arkady Gostov, who previously served as the deputy head of the Interior Ministry.

Putin acknowledged during his annual news conference on December 23 that prisoner abuse is a problem in Russia.

The long-standing issue has received more exposure after the website Gulagu.net in October began publishing excerpts from a large batch of videos it received documenting prisoner abuse.

SEE ALSO:

Inmate's Gruesome Account Of Torture Adds To Evidence Of Rampant Abuse In Russian Prisons

The first batch of videos, which showed sexual abuse at an FSIN medical facility in Saratov, led to the resignation of the FSIN's director and several prison officials in the southwestern city.

The whistle-blower site has also published videos of abuse that took place in the Krasnoyarsk region from 2016-19, as well as in the territories of Transbaikal and Primorsk.

After Gulagu.net published a second batch of videos in November, the organization's founder, Vladimir Osechkin, was added to the Interior Ministry's most wanted list. Osechkin, who currently lives in France, has said the videos were provided by a former Saratov prison inmate and IT expert, Belarusian national Syarhey Savelyeu.

Savelyeu fled to France in October, where he applied for political asylum.
Russia issued an arrest warrant, accusing Savelyeu of "illegal access to digital information." But on November 11, prosecutors withdrew the charges and stopped the probe against him.

In a recent interview with RFE/RL's Russian Service, Savelyeu said he was "astonished" by the number of Russian officials who were aware of the torture going on in prison facilities.

"A huge number of state bodies support and 'protect' [the abuse], create a shield around this torture conveyor -- so long as it continues to function," he said.

SEE ALSO:

'Huge Number' Of Russian Officials Knew Of Prison Abuse, Whistle-Blower Says

Savelyeu was arrested on drug charges while visiting the southern Russian region of Krasnodar in 2015 and served time at a prison in Saratov, in Russia's Volga region.

The 31-year-old has said he was asked to help operate the prison's local computer network, including uploading videos and distributing them to prison staff. He secretly copied the videos of abuse to a flash drive and turned it over to Gulag.net shortly after his release in February.

A Moscow court has ordered the closure of the Memorial Human Rights Center, one day after another court shut down the group's main parent organization, capping a year of administrative moves by the state to throttle civil society across the country.

The widely expected ruling on December 29 by the Moscow City Court was based on the finding that the organization had violated the country’s draconian "foreign agent" law, which has been used with growing frequency against rights groups, journalists, lawyers, civil society activists, and others.

Among other things, the law requires organizations deemed to be "foreign agents" to include an intrusive label on everything they publish or broadcast.

Outside the court building, a crowd of several dozen stood in freezing temperatures chanting "Shame! Shame!" after the ruling was announced.

Embed share

Russian Protesters Condemn Closure Of Memorial Rights Center

Embed share

The code has been copied to your clipboard.

---

width px height px

---

The URL has been copied to your clipboard

No media source currently available

0:00 0:00:45 0:00

The day before, the Supreme Court ordered the closure of Memorial International, a venerable rights group that was set up just prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union to try and catalog the breadth of Stalin-era repressions.

During that hearing, one prosecutor accused Memorial of creating "a false image of the U.S.S.R. as a terrorist state and [denigrating] the memory of World War II." Memorial officials have denied the accusation.

Memorial International is both a stand-alone group and the umbrella organization for many regional branches and the Memorial Human Rights Center, which is the main domestic entity for Memorial within Russia.

SEE ALSO:

Russia Lurches Toward 'Total Repression' As Supreme Court Rules To Shut Memorial

Rights activists argued there were no legal grounds to liquidate the organization, which counts Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov as one of its founders.

"Today we heard that the filing of the claims against the Memorial International and the Human Rights Center on the same day was just a coincidence. I don't think anyone in the audience believes it. This indicates that the goals are political. The state does not like what [Memorial] is doing and saying," lawyer Ilya Novikov was quoted as telling the court.

"Whether a ship sinks to the bottom with its flag raised or lowers it voluntarily is extremely important," Novikov was quoted as saying. "Memorial is going to the bottom with its flag raised, it will not be lowered."

Memorial initially focused on trying to document Soviet repression, documenting thousands of victims who ended up in the gulag network of labor camps or were summarily executed by Soviet secret police.

In the decades since, the group has produced hallmark indicators of the country’s rights situation and documented more contemporary injustices.

Embed share

5 Things To Know About Why Russia Closed Memorial

Embed share

The code has been copied to your clipboard.

---

width px height px

---

The URL has been copied to your clipboard

No media source currently available

0:00 0:01:13 0:00

By closing the organization, the government "is trying to break the red flashing light that signals that something is wrong, and not to solve the problem itself," said Vitaly Cherkasov, a lawyer who was not part of the Memorial legal team.

During the Moscow court hearing, prosecutors suggested Memorial's support for public protests was aimed at destabilizing the country, and that its running list of people and organizations it considers to be political prisoners created "a negative perception of the Russian judicial system and disinformation of citizens."

That list includes well-known political figures such as corruption crusader Aleksei Navalny.

It also includes many religious groups and believers who have been labeled extremist under a separate, similarly draconian law. Those include Jehovah's Witnesses, a denomination that has been relentlessly targeted by the Russian authorities, and Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamic organization. Both are outlawed in Russia.

President Vladimir Putin has suggested the group was advocating for "terrorist and extremist organizations."

The two court decisions have been met with condemnation by Western governments and human rights activists.

"Memorial has worked tirelessly for decades to ensure abuses of Soviet era are never forgotten. Its closure is another chilling blow to freedom of expression in Russia," British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a post to Twitter.

The European Court for Human Rights, meanwhile, called on Russia to suspend enforcement of the ruling pending an appeal from both Memorial organizations. It's unclear whether Moscow would comply with the request. Russia routinely ignores rulings from the court, which is the continent's main rights court.

The court "decided to indicate to the government of Russia...that in the interests of parties and the proper conduct of the proceedings before it, the enforcement of the decision to dissolve the applicant organizations [Memorial International and Memorial Human Rights Center] should be suspended for a period that would be necessary for the court to consider" Memorial's case at the ECHR.

The "foreign agent" law was adopted initially 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. More recent amendments have targeted media organizations, individual journalists, and even defense lawyers.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was among the first media organizations deemed to be a "foreign agent."

With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service

A Canadian company has dismantled one of its multimillion-dollar solar investments in Ukraine following a dispute with a powerful tycoon believed to be close to the presidential administration in a case that has underscored the former Soviet state's troubled investment climate.

TIU Canada completed the removal of its 10.5 megawatt power plant in Nikopol, a city about 500 kilometers southeast of the capital, Kyiv, in mid-November after failing to be reconnected to the electricity grid, company spokesman Brian Mefford told RFE/RL on December 28. The plant contained more than 32,000 solar panels

TIU Canada commissioned the $12 million plant on the territory of the Nikopol FerroAlloy Plant in January 2018 amid much fanfare, with representatives from the local government, foreign embassies, and business community in attendance.

TIU's solar plant symbolized foreign investors' interest in the country's burgeoning alternative-energy industry. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy even highlighted TIU's investment in a pitch to Canadian investors during a visit to Toronto in July 2019.

However, on March 1, 2020, the Nikopol FerroAlloy Plant disconnected TIU Canada from the electricity grid on the pretext of needing to make repairs to the power substation on its territory, the solar company said.

Almost two years later, the solar power plant remained idle, costing TIU Canada millions of dollars in lost revenue.

The decision to dismantle the plant follows an unsuccessful, two-year legal, media, and lobbying campaign against Nikopol FerroAlloy Plant and its main owner, Ihor Kolomoyskiy.

TIU hired Washington-based Blue Star Strategies late last year to lobby on its behalf before the U.S. government on "sustainable energy investments in Ukraine."

TIU has accused Kolomoyskiy of cutting the company off from the grid in an attempt to purchase it at a knockdown price. Such ruthless business practices were common in the 1990s and early 2000s in many former Soviet states but have since subsided.

SEE ALSO:

Thirty Years After Independence From Moscow, Ukraine Struggles To Throw Off Oligarch Yoke

Nikopol FerroAlloy Plant, meanwhile, accused TIU Canada of blackmail and preventing it from carrying out urgent repairs.

However, Yurkovich told Voice of America he didn't see anyone doing repairs. Instead, Nikopol FerroAlloy Plant had sent offers to buy the solar power plant at rock-bottom prices, he said.

Ukrainian business ombudsman Marchin Svenchintskiy told Voice of America that even if Nikopol FerroAlloy Plant had to urgently carry out repairs, the work "couldn't last that long."

Ukrainian law requires power stations to give their permission to be disconnected, making Nikopol FerroAlloy Plant's actions illegal, TIU has argued.

However, the company has failed to win over a court system that is widely considered highly corrupt and its Nikopol project has become the latest poster child for the dangers of doing business in Ukraine.

Two court cases have failed to deliver any results for TIU. Several judges recused themselves from hearing the case, something that Yurkovich has attributed to their fear of crossing Kolomoyskiy.

"There are not many judges willing to take on the oligarchs, particularly Kolomoyskiy, and adhere to the rule of law," Mefford said.

CEO Yurkovich "saw no solution to that situation" and decided to dismantle the project, Mefford said. TIU is storing the recoverable assets -- at least temporarily -- in Ukraine, he said.

TIU Canada has two other solar plants in Ukraine. Mefford declined to comment on the company's future plans.

SEE ALSO:

Too Big For Sanctions? Why The U.S. Didn't Hit Ukrainian Tycoon Kolomoyskiy With Economic Penalties

Ukraine has struggled to attract significant foreign investment since achieving independence from the Soviet Union 30 years ago due to its weak rule of law.

Ukraine's economy is dominated by a handful of tycoons like Kolomoyskiy, who exercise outsized influence over the government and courts.

Nowhere is that dominance more evident than in the country's energy and metals industries.

Banned By United States

Kolomoyskiy, a billionaire who made his wealth in the 1990s scooping up former state assets, is known for his aggressive business practices, which have included sending armed men to take over companies.

The State Department in March officially banned him and his immediate family from entry into the United States due to accusations of corruption that he denies.

Political analysts and members of civil society have expressed concern over Kolomoyskiy's ties to Zelenskiy.

The tycoon's media assets backed Zelenskiy's presidential campaign and are credited with helping the former comic and political novice win the April 2019 election in a landslide.

A month later, Kolomoyskiy returned to Ukraine following several years of self-imposed exile over fear of prosecution for bank fraud.

Zelenskiy promised during his campaign to take on the tycoons and improve Ukraine's investment climate.

While he has passed a law to reduce their influence and gone after several of the wealthiest individuals, he has largely left Kolomoyskiy alone, analysts say.

Yurkovich told Voice of America he removed the solar panels, a costly process, so that Kolomoyskiy would not get them for free.

Neither Nikopol FerroAlloy Plant nor the president's office responded to Voice of America's request for comment on the situation.

Diplomats from the three European countries directly involved in the negotiations to breathe new life in a faltering nuclear deal with Iran have stressed the "urgent" nature of talks.

The eighth round of negotiations aimed at reviving the agreement, which unraveled after the United States withdrew from the accord in 2018 and reimposed tough sanctions on Tehran, opened in Vienna on December 27.

The 2015 agreement limited Iran's nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.

Iran, which claims its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only, reacted to the U.S. withdrawal by gradually ramping up its activities and enriching uranium well beyond the thresholds allowed in the original agreement.

"This negotiation is urgent.... We are clear that we are nearing the point where Iran's escalation of its nuclear program will have completely hollowed out the JCPOA," negotiators from Britain, France, and Germany said in a statement, referring to the deal's official name by its acronym.

"That means we have weeks, not months, to conclude a deal before the JCPOA's core nonproliferation benefits are lost."

Beside negotiators from the three European powers, diplomats from the other two countries that remained party to the deal -- China and Russia -- are also directly taking part in the efforts to restart the accord.

Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian envoy to the talks, said on December 29 that he had met with his U.S. counterpart, Robert Malley, in Vienna.

"Close consultations and coordination between the Russian and the U.S. delegations in the course of the Vienna talks constitute an important prerequisite for progress towards restoration of the JCPOA," Ulyanov said on Twitter.

The seventh round of talks, the first under new hard-line Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, ended on December 17 after Tehran added some new demands to a working text, including that U.S. sanctions be lifted.

Tehran has said that it wanted "guarantees" that Washington, which is participating in the Vienna talks indirectly, will return to the accord.

"The most important issue for us is to reach a point where, firstly, Iranian oil can be sold easily and without hindrance," Iranian media quoted Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian as saying in Tehran before negotiations resumed this week.

Russia's envoy to the talks, Mikhail Ulyanov, said on December 28 that the working group was making "indisputable progress."

"Sanctions lifting is being actively discussed in informal settings," he wrote on Twitter.

However, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Washington thinks it is too soon to say how substantive this progress is, and told reporters the United States has not yet seen sufficient urgency demonstrated by Iran.

Also on December 28, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said he is not opposed to a "good" nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, but expressed skepticism that the talks can result in such an outcome.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will Russia after receiving an invitation from Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, an Iranian government spokesman said on December 28.

Putin has invited Raisi to Moscow early next year "in the framework of strategic interaction between Iran and Russia," Ali Bahadori Jahromi said..

The visit would address "bilateral, regional and national cooperation" and in particular "economic and commercial" cooperation, Bahadori Jahromi said.

The last Iranian president to visit Russia was moderate Hassan Rohani in March 2017.

Raisi, a hard-line conservative, took over from Rohani in August.

According to the Kremlin website, the invitation was extended by Putin earlier this month during a joint news conference with visiting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Russia and Iran have good relations and are key allies of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's decade-long civil war.

Russia is also one of the parties to the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers under which Tehran was granted sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

Moscow has been taking part in ongoing negotiations in Vienna to revive the deal after then-U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 and began reimposing sanctions, prompting Iran to rescind some of its commitments.

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has said he is not opposed to a “good” nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, although he expressed skepticism that the talks that resumed this week can result in such an outcome.

"At the end of the day, of course there can be a good deal,” Bennett told Israeli Army Radio on December 28. “Is that, at the moment, under the current dynamic, expected to happen? No, because a much harder stance is needed."

Israel is not a party to the talks and opposed the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that curbed Iran's controversial nuclear program, saying it was not tough enough.

In the past, Israel has accused its archenemy Iran of using "nuclear blackmail" as a bargaining chip that allowed it to inch closer to developing a nuclear weapon.

The eighth round of negotiations aimed at reviving the deal, which stalled after the United States withdrew from the accord in 2018, opened in Vienna on December 27.

SEE ALSO:

Talks Aimed At Reviving Iran Nuclear Deal Resume In Vienna

Iran, which claims its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only, reacted to the U.S. withdrawal by gradually ramping up its nuclear program and enriching uranium well beyond the thresholds allowed in the original agreement.

Tehran has said that the current negotiations should focus on lifting sanctions on the Islamic republic and obtaining "guarantees" that Washington, which is participating the talks indirectly, will return to the accord.

"The most important issue for us is to reach a point where, firstly, Iranian oil can be sold easily and without hindrance,” Iranian media quoted Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian as saying in Tehran before negotiations resumed this week.

The 2015 agreement limited Iran’s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief, but sanctions were reimposed after the United States backed out of the deal under former President Donald Trump.

SEE ALSO:

Iranians Express Skepticism, Frustration Over Nuclear Talks

Diplomats from the parties that remained party to the deal -- China, Britain, France, Germany, and Russia -- are directly taking part in the efforts to restart the accord.

The seventh round of talks, the first under new hard-line Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, ended on December 17 after Tehran added some new demands to a working text, including that U.S. sanctions be lifted.

Diplomats from the three European countries directly involved in the negotiations said after that round ended that negotiators were “rapidly reaching the end of the road.” They have expressed frustration with Tehran's new demands in recent weeks but pointed to “some technical progress."

Russia's envoy in the talks, Mikhail Ulyanov, said on December 28 that the working group was making "indisputable progress."

"Sanctions lifting is being actively discussed in informal settings," he wrote on Twitter.

U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan said last week that current diplomatic efforts aimed at reviving the deal may be exhausted within “weeks," while U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley warned of a "period of escalating crisis" if diplomacy failed to restore the agreement.

With reporting by AP and Reuters

The former inmate of a Russian jail who publicized shocking videos of torture said numerous officials from various agencies were aware of the abuse of prisoners but chose to cover it up rather than expose it.

Syarhey Savelyeu, a 31-year-old Belarusian national who copied the videos while serving a sentence in Saratov in Russia’s Volga region, said in an interview with RFE/RL that he was "astonished" by the number of officials who knew of the torture.

“A huge number of state bodies support and ‘protect’ [the abuse], create a shield around this torture conveyor -- so long as it continues to function,” he said in an interview from France, where he is seeking asylum.

Savelyeu was arrested while visiting the southern Russian region of Krasnodar in 2015 and sentenced on drug-trafficking charges. He said he was asked to hold a package for an acquaintance; the package later turned out to contain illegal drugs. He said he was sentenced to nine years in prison but was released in February 2021.

SEE ALSO:

'It Was Not Suicide': Russian Rights Group Releases More Videos Of Alleged Prison Torture

Savelyeu said officials from Russia’s Investigative Committee, Prosecutor-General's Office, and Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) -- including both the central and regional offices -- “repeatedly” came to the jail in the Saratov region and “all took some measures and actions to conceal these facts" of abuse.

Russia has fired five senior prison officials -- including Aleksandr Kalashnikov, the director of the FSIN -- and opened a slew of criminal investigations into the abuse since Gulagu.net began publishing the videos earlier this year. But Savelyeu has said he sees little chance of substantive reform.

Russia's Interior Ministry has also put Sergei Savelyeu on its wanted list.

SEE ALSO:

Russian Rights Group Issues More Videos Of Alleged Rape In Prison

The videos, which show instances of both torture and sexual assault, have made headlines around the globe.

Savelyeu, an IT specialist, was asked to help operate the prison’s local computer network, including uploading videos and distributing them to prison staff, while serving his sentence. He secretly copied the videos of abuse to a flash drive and turned it over to Gulag.net shortly after his release.

Savelyeu said he could not recall his reaction to the first video of abuse because it was so quickly followed by the second, third, and 10th in “a never-ending series of violence.”

He said he had to hide his feelings about the videos for years while working in the prison.

SEE ALSO:

'People Would Scream For Hours': Former Inmates Shed Light On Recent Russian Torture Revelations

He described the majority of prison employees as indifferent to the scenes of abuse and said they do not raise their voices because they feel “it is not my business.”

However, Savelyeu chose otherwise.

“If a person watches the suffering of other people day in and day out and sees that everyone thinks this is normal, he has only two paths: He can either accept it and become part of this machine or he can try to do something about it and somehow change it. I chose the second way,” Savelyeu told RFE/RL.

He said the abuse is carried out for a variety of reasons, including “banal blackmail” and punishment for noncompliance with rules. Some prisoners are abused to coerce testimony, including “false” testimony against themselves or someone else.

In the case of prisoners respected or feared by other inmates, the videos of abuse were used to blackmail them into helping the authorities, Savelyeu said.

SEE ALSO:

France Urged To Grant Asylum To Russian Prisons Whistle-Blower

The guards could influence “a whole mass” of inmates through just one prisoner, he said.

“This prison hierarchy is actively used by the FSIN and FSB officers themselves and is used for their own purposes,” he said.

Savelyeu said he feared for his life as he fled, a trip that took three weeks as he wound his way from the Siberian city of Novosibirsk to Moscow, then Minsk, and then on to Turkey, before arriving in France on October 16.

He said he could not sleep or eat well and lost more than 8 kilograms on the road. But once in France, he said he finally felt a sense of relief.

“I am aware that the threat of my physical elimination has not gone away. It remains. But we have taken a number of steps to make it pointless,” he said, without going into detail.

Russian police have taken three former regional coordinators of Aleksei Navalny's campaign team in for questioning amid continued pressure against the imprisoned opposition leader's associates.

The home of Zakhar Sarapulov, who headed the Irkutsk headquarters of Navalny's network of regional campaign groups, was searched early on the morning of December 28 and Sarapulov was detained by Russia's Investigative Committee.

The same morning, the offices of the banned Navalny movement's Tomsk headquarters were raided and its former head, Kseniya Fadeyeva, was detained at her cottage and taken in for questioning.

In Saratov, regional coordinator Andrei Gorodetsky was also detained, according to Siberia.Realities of RFE/RL's Russian Service.

It is unclear if a reported raid carried out against a fourth Navalny associate, Vadim Ostanin, the Navalny campaign's former Barnaul office head, has resulted in his detention or charges.

Leonid Volkov, who is among several Navalny associates who have fled Russia this year amid pressure from the Russian authorities, described the situation as a "huge disaster" in a post on his Telegram channel on December 28.

Volkov wrote that both Sarapulov and Fadeyeva, a representative in the Tomsk city council, had earlier refused his advice for them to leave the country.

RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities reported that both detainees have been allowed access to lawyers, who were not allowed to reveal details of their clients' cases.

Fadeyeva is suspected of using her official position in relation to the organization of an extremist group, according to Tomsk's TV2 information agency, a charge punishable by up to two years in prison.

TV2 also reported that Fadeyeva is likely to be transferred to Moscow for interrogation and is also suspected of participation in a nonprofit organization that infringes on the personality and rights of citizens, which is also punishable by prison.

Sarapulov and Gorodetsky have also reportedly been detained on suspicion of using their official positions to create or participate in an extremist community.

Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation and his political movement were declared extremist organizations by the Russian authorities in June and disbanded.

In November, a criminal case was opened against the head of Team Navalny's Ufa regional office, Lilia Chanysheva, who was charged with the creation and management of an extremist community.

Chanysheva was ordered last week to remain in pretrial detention until April 9.

Navalny himself has been in prison since February after he was arrested the month prior upon returning to Russia from Germany, where he had been undergoing treatment for a near-fatal poisoning with a Novichok-type nerve agent that he says was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin has denied any role in Navalny's poisoning.

Several of the opposition leader and Kremlin critic's associates have been charged with establishing an extremist group. Many of his close associates, including lawyer Lyubov Sobol, have fled the country amid pressure from the Russian authorities.

With reporting by TV2, Irkutsk Insider, and OVD-Info

MOSCOW -- Russia's Supreme Court has ordered the closure of Memorial International, one of the country’s oldest and most respected human rights organizations, capping a year of what critics called the state’s systematic dismantling of the country’s civil society.

The decision by the court at a hearing in Moscow on December 28 was condemned by the United States and other Western governments as well as human rights groups.

It came in a year during which Kremlin critics, their associates, independent news outlets, and rights organizations have been either muzzled, jailed, closed or forced to flee the country.

Maria Eismont, one of the lawyers in Memorial’s legal team, told the court that closing the rights organization, which counts Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov as one of its founders, would "throw the country back and increase the risk of total repression."

Yan Rachinsky, Memorial's chairman of the board, said the decision would be appealed and that the organization's work would not stop since parts of it are not legal entities.

Embed share

5 Things To Know About Why Russia Closed Memorial

Embed share

The code has been copied to your clipboard.

---

width px height px

---

The URL has been copied to your clipboard

No media source currently available

0:00 0:01:13 0:00

"The decision of the Supreme Court once again confirmed that the history of political terror organized and directed by the state authorities remains for Russia not an academic topic of interest only to specialists, but an acute problem of our time," Memorial said in a statement.

"Our country needs an honest and conscientious reflection on the Soviet past; this is the guarantee of her future. It is ridiculous to believe that the judicial liquidation of International Memorial will remove this issue from the agenda. The entire Russian society needs to remember the tragedies of the past. And not only Russian: the memory of state terror unites all the former Soviet republics," it added.

Dozens of people were at the court building in support of Memorial, which was launched shortly before the Soviet collapse in part to document Soviet repression. In the decades since, it has produced hallmark indicators of the rights situation and documented historical and ongoing injustices.

SEE ALSO:

Hearing On Liquidation Of Memorial Human Rights Center Starts In Moscow

The case was initiated by prosecutors under the controversial "foreign agent" law, which increasingly is being used by officials to shutter civil society and media groups in Russia.

Judge Alla Nazarova said that Memorial International breached its designation as a "foreign agent" by not marking all its publications with the label as required by law.

In a separate case, the Moscow City Court will hold a hearing on December 29 over a prosecutor's request to shut down sister organization Memorial Human Rights Center as well for violations of the "foreign agent" legislation.

The U.S. State Department condemned the ruling on Memorial International and said it was following with concern Russia's ongoing efforts to close Memorial Human Rights Center.

"We urge Russian authorities to end their harassment of independent voices and human rights defenders and stand in solidarity with those who have been targeted for repression for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

Germany's Foreign Ministry called the decision "more than incomprehensible," adding that it went against international obligations to protect fundamental civil rights.

"Justified criticism from organizations like Memorial should be listened to. The decision causes us great concern, not least because it deprives victims of oppression and repression of their voice," a spokeswoman said in a statement.

Rights activists say there are no legal grounds to liquidate the organization, which also has been devoted since the late 1980s to promoting human rights in Russia and the former Soviet republics. They say the demand by the Prosecutor-General Office to shut down Memorial International is "a politically motivated decision."

"The closure of International Memorial represents a direct assault on the rights to freedom of expression and association. The authorities' use of the 'foreign agents' law to dissolve the organization is a blatant attack on civil society that seeks to blur the national memory of state repression," said Marie Struthers, Amnesty International's Eastern Europe and Central Asia director.

"The decision to shut down International Memorial is a grave insult to victims of the Russian gulag and must be immediately overturned," she added.

SEE ALSO:

The Memorial File: Voices From The Past That Putin's Government Threatens To Silence

Memorial said it would appeal the ruling "in all ways available to us."

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.

"Memorial is the heart and soul of the Russian human rights movement," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.

"It is an utter outrage that the Kremlin is now moving to shut Memorial down. It speaks to the fears of the Russian government that it is no longer willing to tolerate the honest and objective recounting of its conduct that Memorial provides."

SEE ALSO:

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

"This is bitter, as Memorial -- an island of free thought and one of the last bastions of democratic civil society in Russia -- will be liquidated. Internal authoritarian harmonization and aggressive external politics go hand in hand," said Ralf Fuecks, managing director of the Center for Liberal Modernity and a former politician in Germany.

Memorial International, the umbrella organization under which the Memorial Human Rights Center and several other activist groups operate, is among several news outlets and rights organizations to have been labeled "foreign agents" in what is seen as a historic crackdown on civil society and critics of the government.

"The forced liquidation of the highly respected human rights organization International Memorial is another step in the deplorable degradation of human rights in Russia," Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said.

"I call on Russia to protect human rights defenders, independent media, journalists, and opposition figures," he added.

"We fear its [Memorial International's] companion organization focusing on contemporary repression is next," HRW's Roth said.

With reporting by Interfax and Reuters