KYIV – Ukraine's army says three of its soldiers have been killed by an explosive device in eastern Ukraine, bringing to five the number of troops killed in the region this week, the latest casualties of a six-year conflict with Russia-backed separatists.

The three service personnel died on February 14 when an unknown device exploded while they were on their way to take positions near the town of Novoluhanske in the region of Donetsk, according to the army.

The office of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is on an official visit to the United Arab Emirates, said he had sent the country's defense minister and its chief of staff to eastern Ukraine to investigate the incident.

“An immediate investigation is needed so that similar tragedies do not repeat in the future. I am waiting for their report on the circumstances immediately after my return” to Ukraine on February 15, a statement quoted Zelenskiy as saying.

The deaths come three days after two government soldiers were killed in combat in the Donetsk region, despite a cease-fire that has been in place since last summer.

Fighting between Ukrainian government forces and the separatists holding parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions has killed more than 13,200 people since April 2014.

Hundreds of women have attended protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg on St. Valentine's Day in support of Russian women prosecuted for political reasons.

The Chain Of Solidary And Love protest is also dedicated to imprisoned opposition leader Aleksei Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, who flew to Germany on February 10. Although no explanation was given for her departure, Navalnaya had recently been detained for taking part in unsanctioned rallies in support of her husband.

Images shared on social media on February 14 show women holding red roses, balloons, and heart signs with the names of female political prisoners written on them. Demonstrators also sang "Love is stronger than fear," the motto of the protests.

The organizers said on their Facebook page that the rallies were dedicated to the women who were "beaten and tortured by police during peaceful protests," as well as "to everyone who spends their days in courts, police buses, and special detention centers."

They said the "chain" along Moscow's Old Arbat Street honors Navalnaya as well as lawyer Lyubov Sobol, Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina, municipal deputy Lucy Shtein, Navalny's press secretary Kira Yarmysh, and Alliance of Doctors head Anastasia Vasilyeva, who all face criminal charges for calling on supporters to rally for Navalny's release last month.

Later on February 14, Navalny supporters used light from mobile phones, flashlights, and candles to express support for him, despite a warning that people taking part could face criminal charges.

SEE ALSO:

In Change Of Tactics, Protesters Use Light To Show Support For Navalny

Navalny's team called on people across Russia to switch on their cell-phone flashlights for 15 minutes beginning at 8 p.m. local time and shine the light into the sky from their homes or the courtyards of their apartment buildings.

Navalny, 44, a staunch critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was arrested on January 17 after returning to Russia from Germany where he had been treated for a nerve-agent poisoning he says was ordered by Putin. The Kremlin denies it had any role in the attack.

Navalny's detention sparked outrage across the country and much of the West, with tens of thousands of Russians taking part in street rallies on January 23 and 31.

Police cracked down harshly on the demonstrations, putting many of Navalny's political allies behind bars and detaining thousands more -- sometimes violently -- as they gathered on the streets.

With reporting by tvrain.ru, Reuters, hrw.org, and themoscowtimes.com

Serbia has donated 4,680 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to neighboring North Macedonia, which has struggled to secure any vaccine supplies for its population of 2.1 million.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev met on February 14 at the Tabanovce border crossing for a ceremonial handover of one of the boxes containing doses of the shot.

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Features and analysis, videos, and infographics explore how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the countries in our region.

Serbia is donating enough doses to fully inoculate 2,340 people with the two-dose regime.

Calling the gift a "precious expression of friendship," Zaev said that it will be used “to vaccinate all medical staff working in COVID centers.”

"A friend in need is a friend indeed," Vucic said.

"We care about nothing else but our friendship to prosper, for us to advance economic development, and for us to be able to live not only as best neighbors, but also as best friends," the Serbian president added.

Serbia, a country of 7 million, has so far vaccinated some 635,000 people, mainly with the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, the Russian Sputnik V dose, and to a lesser extent, the Pfizer-BioNTech shots.

North Macedonia is hoping to receive 840,000 vaccine doses in February under a scheme led by the World Health Organization to help poorer countries immunize their populations. But manufacturing delays in recent weeks have held up those plans -- as well as similar plans for Ukraine and Moldova.

Last week, the Macedonian authorities signed an agreement to receive 200,000 doses of the Chinese SinoPharm vaccine. They hope to launch their vaccination program later in February.

Another 800,000 vaccines are expected to arrive in the country later in 2021 via the EU. But officials in Skopje have also asked neighbors Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia for assistance, along with Poland and Hungary.

With reporting by Reuters and AP

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- Hundreds of people have attended a rally in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, to demand that authorities take measures against widespread corruption in the Central Asian country.

The protesters gathered at midday on February 14 near the main Bishkek railway station, before marching towards the central Ala-Too Square. They were holding slogans that read "We demand the rule of law" and "We are for a bright future" among others.

Rally participants also condemned a recent ruling by a Bishkek court that ordered a mitigated punishment and no jail time for former customs official Raimbek Matraimov, who was placed on the U.S. Magnitsky sanctions list for his involvement in the illegal funneling of hundreds of millions of dollars abroad.

Matraimov, the former deputy chief of Kyrgyzstan's Customs Service, was fined just over $3,000 after pleading guilty to corruption charges. The court said on February 11 that Matraimov had paid back around $24 million to the state in damages lost through corruption schemes that he oversaw.

In June 2019, an investigation by RFE/RL, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and Kloop implicate Matraimov in a corruption scheme involving the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars out of Kyrgyzstan by Chinese-born Uyghur businessman Aierken Saimaiti, who was assassinated in Istanbul in November 2019.

Also Read: Plunder And Patronage In The Heart Of Central Asia

The $700 million scheme involved a company controlled by Matraimov bribing officials to skirt customs fees and regulations, as well as engaging in money laundering, "allowing for maximum profits," the Treasury Department said.

The participants of the protest in Bishkek condemned the court ruling and chanted: "Arrest Raim" and "Raim must be held responsible."

The protest was initiated by the Bashtan Bashta movement, which has been organizing similar peaceful rallies in central Bishkek every Sunday since October 2020 when anti-government protests over official results of parliamentary elections toppled the government and led to President Sooronbai Jeenbekov's resignation.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. climate envoy John Kerry discussed climate change and the implementation of the Paris climate agreement in a call on February 13.

They agreed to cooperate further within the Arctic Council, including developing contacts, "given the significance of climate issues on the Arctic agenda," the Russian Foreign Ministry said, according to Interfax. Russia holds the two-year rotating chairmanship of the Arctic Council starting this year.

They also agreed to establish contacts ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference scheduled to take place in November in Glasgow, Scotland, to try to finalize rules for implementing the 2015 landmark Paris climate pact, the ministry said.

Lavrov welcomed the new U.S. administration's intention to rejoin the Paris agreement, the global treaty committing nearly 200 countries to halt rising temperatures quickly enough to avoid disastrous climate change.

U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement, calling it a "disaster" for America. Trump’s successor, President Joe Biden, has already taken measures to rejoin the Paris accord.

The phone conversation came as tensions between Moscow and the West have intensified.

Russia said on February 12 that it was prepared to sever ties with the European Union if the bloc follows through with threats to implement tough new economic sanctions against Moscow over the detention and jailing of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny.

Based on reporting by Reuters and Interfax

The remains of French and Russian soldiers who died more than 200 years ago during Napoleon's retreat from Moscow were laid to rest on February 13 in a cemetery in a town in the Smolensk region.

The ceremony in Vyazma, about 200 kilometers west of Moscow, was held to rebury the remains of 126 people killed in one of the bloodiest battles of Napoleon's Russian campaign in 1812.

French diplomats and representatives of the princes of the Murat family and the imperial house of Romanov attended the ceremony, which took place in a snowstorm and severe frost, RFE/RL’s Russian Service reported.

About 100 reenactors in military uniforms of the period and a company of the guard of honor took part in the event, which included playing the national anthems of France and Russia, a gun salute, and a liturgy by Orthodox and Catholic priests.

The remains of 120 soldiers, as well as three women and three adolescents, were discovered in 2019 by a Russian-French archaeological dig led by Pierre Malinowski, head of the Foundation for the Development of Russian-French Historical Initiatives.

All are thought to have fallen during the Battle of Vyazma on November 3, 1812, at the beginning of the French Army's retreat from Moscow.

The three women are believed to have provided first aid and kept canteens in the French Army, while the three adolescents are believed to have been drummers.

Inna Demidova, head of the Vyazemsky district administration, said they had been buried in a mass grave.

Prince Joachim Murat, a descendant of one of Napoleon's most celebrated marshals, called the ceremony a "symbol of mutual respect" between the once-warring sides, according to the French AFP news agency.

The ceremony marked a rare moment of unity between Russia and France at a time of heightened tensions between the European Union and Russia, including the Kremlin's increasingly harsh crackdown on political opposition.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service and AFP

PRISTINA – Kosovo's leftist-nationalist Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party appeared set to win the country's early parliamentary elections by a massive margin, according to partial official results, which could further complicate efforts to resolve the country's decades-long dispute with neighboring Serbia.

With more than 56 percent of ballots counted in the February 14 elections, Vetevendosje had 48 percent of the vote, far ahead of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) with 18 percent, the now-ruling Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) with 14 percent, and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) with 8 percent.

Vevendosje would have to join forces with at least one other party to govern the Balkan country if it does not secure a majority of 61 seats in parliament.

The party has won support on pledges by its leader Albin Kurti, who served as prime minister for less than two months last year, to fight widespread corruption and on a stance that there should be no compromise in a dialogue with Serbia, which lost control over Kosovo in 1999 after NATO bombed its forces.

"Kosovo as an independent state, this Sunday, is turning to its people as the source of sovereignty. We should vote with love for the country," Kurti said after casting his ballot in Pristina.

At a press conference late in the day, Albulena Haxhiu of Vetevendosje called upon party supporters to celebrate at home instead of going to the streets because of the coronavirus pandemic and cold weather.

AAK head Ramush Haradinaj expressed readiness to form a coalition with Vetevendosje.

"We have declared that we have no red lines, neither for Vetevendosje nor for any political entity," Haradinaj said.

Some 1.8 million eligible voters are being asked to choose 120 lawmakers among more than 1,000 candidates from 28 political groupings.

Election authorities put the turnout at about 47.08 percent, nearly 3 percentage points higher than during the 2019 parliamentary elections. Vetevendosje won 26 percent of the vote in the 2019 polls.

Amid the pandemic, voters were required to wear masks and keep at least a 2-meter distance in polling stations. Election officials said that those infected by the coronavirus will be able to vote through mobile polling teams.

Some 100,000 Kosovars living abroad were also eligible to vote by post. Some 43,000 votes from the diaspora have already arrived in Kosovo.

SEE ALSO:

Kosovo's Voters Make Fresh Attempt At 'New Era' In Balkan 'Clash Of Generations'

The national elections are the fifth since independence. They were called on short notice by acting President Vjosa Osmani after the Constitutional Court ruled that the parliamentary vote electing a new government in June was unconstitutional.

The court ruled on December 21 that the election of Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti of the LDK was illegal because one member of parliament who voted for the government had previously served time in prison.

Since then, the campaign has featured disqualifications of Kurti and other senior politicians based on the same law.

'Multiple Reforms' On Agenda

A coalition government led by Kurti lasted only 51 days last year before it was toppled by a no-confidence vote based on its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a televised address on February 12, Kurti said dialogue with Serbia was "not one of the first priorities."

He has also said that multiple reforms would be on the new government's agenda.

"We plan to focus on the strengthening of our state, and two key concerns of the citizens of Kosovo are jobs and justice," Kurti said in an interview last week with the Associated Press.

Nearly one-quarter of Kosovo's workers were unemployed at one point last year, according to the national statistics agency. The World Bank says the coronavirus pandemic slowed the country’s growth by 4.5 percent in 2020.

Most Western nations have recognized Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence, but Serbia, backed by Russia, does not, and normalization talks have stalled. The situation has blocked Kosovo from joining international organizations such as the United Nations and NATO.

With reporting by Reuters and AP

Following mass rallies that saw thousands of detentions, supporters of jailed Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny have been using light from cell phones, flashlights, and candles as a new form of protest.

The February 14 protest action, called by Navalny's team under the motto "Love is stronger than fear," began in Russia's Far East, including in the cities of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Vladivostok, and Khabarovsk.

Photos shared on social media showed small groups of people standing outdoors and holding flashlights or standing by candles arranged in the shape of a heart to mark the Valentine's Day protest.

In the Russian capital, more than 20 people could be seen at Moscow State University forming a heart while holding flashlights.

It was not possible to determine how many people participated in the nationwide action, during which no detentions were reported.

Navalny's team had called on people across Russia to switch on their mobile-phone flashlights for 15 minutes beginning at 8 p.m. local time and shine the light into the sky from their homes or the courtyards of their apartment buildings, or to arrange candles in the shape of a heart.

In the afternoon in Moscow, about 200 women took part in a so-called Chain Of Solidary And Love along Old Arbat Street in support of Russian women prosecuted for political reasons. A similar protest attracted about 70 people in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city.

Images shared on social media showed women holding a white ribbon, as well as red roses, balloons, and heart signs with the names of female political prisoners written on them. Demonstrators also sang, "Love is stronger than fear."

The organizers said on their Facebook page that the rallies were dedicated to the women who were "beaten and tortured by police during peaceful protests," as well as "to everyone who spends their days in courts, police buses, and special detention centers."

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The protests were also dedicated to Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, lawyer Lyubov Sobol, Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina, municipal deputy Lucy Shtein, Navalny's press secretary Kira Yarmysh, and Alliance of Doctors head Anastasia Vasilyeva. They all face criminal charges for calling on supporters to rally for Navalny's release last month.

Navalnaya flew to Germany on February 10. Although no explanation was given for her departure, Navalnaya had recently been detained for taking part in unsanctioned rallies in support of her husband.

SEE ALSO:

Report: Navalny's Wife Leaves Russia For Germany

In the Urals city of Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, police detained nine people after an approved rally against political repression that was organized by the opposition parties Yabloko and PARNAS, as well as the Left Front movement, according to the independent monitoring group OVD-Info.

Six of the activists were later released while the other three were charged with violating the law on rallies. They are accused of using a slogan that was not on the stated agenda of the demonstration.

More than 500 people participated in the rally, which was authorized for only 200 people.

• RFE/RL

Following mass anti-government rallies that saw a brutal crackdown and thousands of detentions, supporters of jailed Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny used cell-phone lights, flashlights, and candles on the night of February 14 as a new form of silent -- but visible -- protest.

The candlelit protest across Russia was designed to make it difficult for the police to take action. The Kremlin had signaled its contempt for the event.

Russia's federal media regulator ordered media outlets on February 12 , including RFE/RL's Russian Service and Current Time, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA, to delete all reports about the planned protest. RFE/RL did not comply.

The official order from Roskomnadzor said Russian authorities would consider any reporting about the flashlight protest to be a call for people to take part in an unsanctioned public demonstration and mass disorder.

Navalny's team in Tomsk said they were also warned by the city prosecutor's office on February 12 that they could be held liable for staging an unsanctioned protest action.

Leonid Volkov, director of Navalny's network of teams across Russia, has announced a moratorium on street protests in response to police crackdowns against mass demonstrations that have led to tens of thousands of arrests across Russia.

Volkov called the protest using light a nonviolent way for Russians to show the extent of outrage over Navalny's treatment without subjecting themselves to arrests and police abuse.

Navalny, 44, a staunch critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was arrested on January 17 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he had been treated for a nerve-agent poisoning he says was ordered by Putin. The Kremlin denies it had any role in the attack.

Navalny's detention sparked outrage across the country and much of the West, with tens of thousands of Russians taking part in street rallies on January 23 and 31.

Police cracked down harshly on the demonstrations, putting many of Navalny's political allies behind bars and detaining thousands more -- sometimes violently -- as they gathered on the streets. The crackdown led Volkov to call for a pause in the street demonstrations until the spring.

SEE ALSO:

Russia's Anti-Putin Opposition Struggles To Hang Together Following Navalny's Imprisonment

A Russian court on February 2 ruled that Navalny was guilty of violating the terms of his suspended sentence relating to an embezzlement case that he has called politically motivated. The judge ruled that he violated parole conditions while recovering from the near-fatal poisoning in Germany.

The court converted the sentence to 3 1/2 years in prison. Given credit for time already spent in detention, the court said Navalny must serve another two years and eight months behind bars.

Law enforcement officers on February 13 conducted another search of one of Navalny's offices, activists said.

SEE ALSO:

Police Search Navalny's Chelyabinsk Office, Activists Say

The search in Chelyabinsk took place while nobody was present in the office, the activists said on Twitter.

"We came to the headquarters and found this," the activists tweeted together with several pictures of the ransacked office. "The premises were raided while we were working remotely," the activists said.

With reporting by Dozhd TV, The Moscow Times, Reuters, dpa, and RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service

The Iranian health minister has warned about a fourth COVID-19 surge in Iran due to the spread of a mutated virus in his country.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rohani has told state television that "alarm bells were ringing for a fourth coronavirus wave" as at least nine cities and towns in southwestern Iran were declared high-risk "red" zones after a rise in cases on February 12.

In a February 13 meeting with the heads of Iranian medical colleges broadcast live on state television, Health Minister Saeed Namaki said: "Hard days are beginning for us and you must prepare to fight the most uncontrollable mutated virus which is unfortunately infecting the country."

Namaki said Iran's first three deaths this week from the virus variant that was first found in Britain -- including the death of a 71-year-old woman with no history of travel -- suggested that the mutant strain of the virus was spreading and soon "may be found in any city, village or family."

He urged Iranians to avoid gatherings in order "not to turn weddings into funerals" during what is traditionally one of the most popular wedding months in the country.

Iran started a vaccination drive on February 9, two weeks after declaring there were no "red" cities left in the country.

Iran has recorded more than 1.5 million cases and 58,883 deaths from COVID-19.

Based on reporting by Reuters and IRNA

HERAT, Afghanistan -- A fuel tanker exploded on the Afghan-Iranian border on February 13, causing a massive fire and a chain reaction that destroyed more than 500 trucks carrying natural gas and fuel.

Afghan officials and Iranian state media said the blast occurred on the Afghan side of the border in the western Afghan province of Herat at the Islam Qala border crossing.

Wahidullah Tawhidi, a spokesman for Afghanistan's Ministry of Power Supply, said the blaze forced Afghanistan to shut down its electrical supply from Iran -- leaving the provincial capital of Herat in darkness after nightfall.

Initial reports said at least seven people were injured. But Wahid Qatali, Herat’s provincial governor, suggested the number of casualties could be much higher -- saying:: "“For the time being, we can’t even talk about the casualties."

Qatali said it wasn’t immediately clear what caused the explosion. He said Afghan firefighters did not have the means to put out the enormous blaze and had requested support from Iran in the form of firefighting aircraft.

Mohammad Rafiqu Shirzy, a spokesman for the regional hospital in the city of Herat, said the intensity of the flames meant ambulances were having trouble reaching the wounded or getting close to the site of the blast.

But he confirmed that at least seven people injured by the fire had been admitted to the hospital in the city of Herat, about 120 kilometers east of the border.

Iran’s semiofficial ISNA news agency quoted truck drivers who said that more than 500 trucks carrying natural gas and fuel were burned.

The Associated Press reported that two explosions at the border crossing were powerful enough to be spotted from space by NASA satellites.

The first was at about 1:10 p.m. local time and the next was about half an hour later.

The fire was continuing to burn after nightfall.

The road between the city of Herat and Islam Qala is a dangerous stretch of highway that Afghans rarely travel on during the night for fear of attacks by criminal gangs.

Taliban militants also travel freely in the area. Afghan security services had set up checkpoints and were assisting ambulances and emergency vehicles traveling to and from the border crossing.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quoted Mohsen Nejat, director-general of crisis management in Iran's Khorasan Razavi Province. as saying that Iranian "rescue forces and fire fighters were under way to extinguish the fire inside Afghanistan" at the request of Herat's provincial governor.

Iranian state television reported that fire also spread to the Dogharoon customs facilities on the Iranian side of the border.

It reported that Iranian firefighters, troops from the Iranian Army, and Iranian border guards were all working to try to extinguish the blaze.

Other trucks carrying natural gas and fuel were directed to leave the scene.

The United States allows Afghanistan to import fuel and oil from Iran as part of a special concession that exempts Kabul from U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Satellite photos taken on February 13 before the explosion showed dozens of tankers parked at the border crossing.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan, AP, Reuters, AFP, and Tolonews.com

A 4.7-magnitude earthquake shook the Armenian capital, Yerevan, on Feburary 13, prompting residents to flee buildings into the streets in fear of an aftershock.

Armenia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations reported some destruction in Yerevan, and local news reports said items were knocked off shelves in stores.

The ministry has reported about 20 minor aftershocks.

One person was injured, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on his Facebook page.

The European Mediterranean Seismological Center said the quake’s magnitude was 4.7 and its epicenter was 13 kilometers south of Yerevan.

With reporting by AP

Law enforcement officers have searched the Chelyabinsk offices of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, activists reported on February 13.

The activists said on Twitter that the search took place while nobody was present at the offices in the Urals city.

"We came to the headquarters and found this," the activists tweeted together with several pictures of the ransacked office. "The premises were raided while we were working remotely," they said.

The 44-year-old Navalny, a staunch critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was arrested on January 17 after returning to Russia from Germany where he had been treated for a nerve-agent poisoning he says was ordered by Putin. The Kremlin denies it had any role in the poison attack against Navalny.

Tens of thousands of Russians took part in street rallies on January 23 and 31 in protest at Navalny's detention, which sparked outrage across the country and much of the West.

In a change in tactics from mass street rallies that resulted in thousands of arrests, Navalny's team has called on people across Russia to switch on their mobile-phone flashlights for 15 minutes beginning at 8 p.m. local time on February 14 -- shining the light into the sky from courtyards and posting pictures of the protest on social media.

SEE ALSO:

Russian Media Ordered To Delete Reports On Planned 'Flashlight' Protest

In an attempt to limit the planned February 14 flashlight-protest, Russia's federal media regulator ordered media outlets, including RFE/RL's Russian Service and Current Time TV, to delete all reports about the event.

The official order from Roskomnadzor was received by media groups on February 12.

It says Russian authorities consider any reporting about the planned flashlight protest to be a call for people to take part in an unsanctioned public demonstration and mass disorder.

Roskomnadzor's order was also sent to online newspapers Meduza and Open Media, and the TV-2 news agency in the Siberian city of Tomsk.

Navalny's team in Tomsk said they were also warned by the city prosecutor's office on February 12 that they could be held liable for staging an unsanctioned protest action.

Telegram channel Baza reported on February 13 that in Bryansk, 379 kilometers southwest of Moscow, students were banned from using flashlights on the premises of the local university on the day of February 14.

Leonid Volkov, director of Navalny's network of teams across Russia, announced the change of tactics on February 9 in response to police crackdowns against mass street demonstrations that have led to tens of thousands of arrests across Russia.

The "flashlight" protest is a tactic similar to what demonstrators have been doing in neighboring Belarus following brutal police crackdowns targeting rallies against authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Volkov says it is a nonviolent way for Russians to show the extent of outrage across the country over Navalny's treatment without subjecting themselves to arrests and police abuse.

Police cracked down harshly on the demonstrations, putting many of Navalny's political allies behind bars and detaining thousands more -- sometimes violently -- as they gathered on the streets.

A Russian court on February 2 ruled Navalny was guilty of violating the terms of his suspended sentence relating to an embezzlement case that he has called politically motivated.

The court converted the sentence to 3 1/2 years in prison. Given credit for time already spent in detention, the court said Navalny must serve another 2 years and 8 months behind bars.

That prompted fresh street protests across the country. But Volkov called for a pause in street rallies until the spring -- saying weekly demonstrations would only result in more mass arrests.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service, Meduza, TV-2, Dozhd, and Znak

Russia has slapped economic sanctions on nine Ukrainian firms, the latest in a list of businesses that it targets with such penalties.

The companies targeted by "special economic measures" under the new Russian decree, which was published late on February 12, include Ukrainian vessel builder Craneship, towage firm Donmar, cargo operator Transship, and metal producer Maxima Metal.

The decree did not say why the companies had been targeted. The latest move brings the number of Ukrainian companies sanctioned by Russia to 84.

Relations between Ukraine and Russia deteriorated in 2014 after Moscow annexed the Crimean Peninsula and began supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine. The conflict, now in its seventh year, has killed more than 13,200 people.

Russia denies Kyiv's accusations that its military has been involved in the conflict.

The West has slapped a range of sanctions since then on Russia, which has retaliated with its own measures.

There was no immediate response from Ukraine to the move.

In a sign of further strains in Moscow's ties to the West, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on February 12 that it was ready to sever ties with the European Union if the bloc hit it with painful economic sanctions.

Based on reporting by Reuters and dpa

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Ukraine must show more progress on reforms to reach an agreement for a new tranche under a $5 billion program with the international lender.

The statement by the IMF representative in Kyiv on February 13 came after the fund's mission held talks with Ukraine.

"Discussions will continue," Goesta Ljungman said in a statement, adding that the talks were productive.

The talks centered on strengthening governance of the National Bank, improvements to the legislative and regulatory framework for bank supervision and resolution, policies to reduce the medium-term fiscal deficit, legislation restoring and strengthening the anti-corruption framework and the judiciary, as well as on energy policy, Ljungman said.

Ukraine expects to receive $2.2 billion in three equal tranches from the IMF in 2021, National Bank Governor Kyrylo Shevchenko told Reuters.

The IMF in June approved the $5 billion loan program and disbursed the first tranche of $2.1 billion to help the pandemic-hit Ukrainian economy.

However, further loans have been put on hold due to the slow pace of reforms in Ukraine.

The IMF also voiced concern over the government's decision last month to regulate household gas prices.

Based on reporting by Reuters

WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan group of lawmakers has asked the Biden administration to move ahead with a U.S. pledge made under the previous administration to invest $300 million in energy infrastructure projects in Central and Eastern Europe as Congress seeks to counter Russian and Chinese influence in the region.

The Trump administration in 2020 agreed to contribute up to $1 billion to the Three Seas Initiative Infrastructure Fund through the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC), which in December approved an initial investment of $300 million. However, amid a bumpy presidential transition, the money has yet to be transferred.

The fund was set up by 12 nations in Central and Eastern Europe, which lie between the Baltic, Adriatic, and Black seas and are members of the European Union, to address historical infrastructure gaps that have left the region heavily dependent on Russia for energy imports. Congress last year passed a resolution announcing its support for the fund.

The group of nations is seeking to expand energy infrastructure running north and south to counter the predominance of infrastructure built during Soviet times to run from Russia westward through Central and Eastern Europe. Each of the 12 nations is expected to contribute to the fund.

"The current infrastructure deficit leaves the region overly dependent on Russia and China for energy and economic needs. Unfortunately, these malign actors seek to sow discord in the transatlantic alliance through hybrid warfare operations, compromised telecommunications hardware, and the export of authoritarian ideals," the representatives said in a February 11 joint letter to the president.

"Our support for the Three Seas Initiative will help provide a solid footing for our allies and partners to achieve these goals," they said.

'Undue Influence'

Moscow has been accused by Western governments of using its dominant energy position as a "weapon" to maintain influence in the former communist nations of Central and Eastern Europe.

Russia twice cut off natural gas supplies to Ukraine in 2006 and 2009 in the dead of winter amid a disagreement over prices, exposing Kyiv’s total dependence on its eastern neighbor for imports. The shutoffs shook the nations of Europe and forced them to accelerate their energy diversification.

Ukraine has ended direct imports of natural gas from Russia, purchasing energy from its western neighbors. Several Eastern European countries, especially in the Balkans, are still heavily dependent on Russia for natural gas and oil imports.

In their letter to Biden, the U.S. lawmakers highlighted the importance of using the fund to expand energy infrastructure connections to Ukraine.

Global natural gas production has surged in recent years, led by the United States, opening an opportunity for Central and Eastern Europe to diversify imports away from Russia. However, a lack of infrastructure, including liquefied natural gas terminals, pipelines, and interconnectors have hampered the speed of progress.

The Three Seas Initiative Infrastructure Fund seeks to address those problems. The 12 nations have contributed nearly $1.5 billion to date, with the majority coming from Poland, Daniel Kochis, an analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, said in a January 5 commentary.

Kochis said the fund would be more effective in solving the infrastructure gap in Europe if it were permitted to invest in non-EU countries such as Ukraine, Georgia, and those in the Western Balkans.

While Russia’s influence in those countries has always been strong, China has been making important inroads in recent years, especially in the Western Balkans.

"Chinese investments have often focused on those nations that aren't fully ensconced within the transatlantic community. Broadening the scope of the Three Seas Initiative will help to steel vulnerable nations against undue influence from China," Kochis said.

Two U.S. senators have urged President Joe Biden to ensure the implementation of sanctions aimed at stopping the Nord Stream 2 gas-pipeline project from Russia to Germany.

Senators Jim Risch (Republican-Idaho) and Jeanne Shaheen (Democrat-New Hampshire) urged the State Department in a letter on February 12 not to delay issuing a report to Congress required under sanctions passed last month in the annual defense policy bill.

The report, due by February 16, will identify companies involved in constructing, insuring, and verifying Nord Stream 2. The law requires the companies listed in the report to be sanctioned.

The letter made reference to "press reports that the German government has put forth an offer that would require the United States to disregard statutorily mandated sanctions."

Risch and Shaheen didn’t provide details, but reports in German media have said Germany sought to cut a deal with the Trump administration to let the nearly completed pipeline be finished.

SEE ALSO:

Nord Stream 2: Is Russia's 'Bad Deal For Europe' Also A Done Deal?

An environmental and consumer protection group said on February 9 that the German government offered financial support of up to 1 billion euros ($1.21 billion) to invest in facilities for the import of U.S. liquefied natural gas. The Trump administration pushed U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas as an alternative to Russian gas.

According to a document published by the Environmental Action Germany (DUH), German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz offered funding in August. In return, Washington was asked to permit the "unhindered construction and operation of Nord Stream 2.

'A Dirty Deal'

Sascha Mueller-Kraenner, the DUH executive director, called it a "scandal" and a "dirty deal at the expense of third parties." The German Finance Ministry has not commented on the matter.

State Department spokesman Ned Price reiterated on February 12 that the United States sees the pipeline project as a "bad deal" for Europe.

"It's a bad deal because it divides Europe, it exposes Ukraine, and Central Europe to Russian manipulation. It goes against Europe's own stated energy and security goals," Price said.

But he said "sanctions are only one" of many tools, and that the department will work closely with allies and partners to reinforce European energy security and safeguard against "predatory behavior."

About 150 kilometers of pipe transiting Danish and German waters of the Baltic Sea must be laid to complete the pipeline controlled by the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom.

The pipeline is intended to carry 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year from Russia to Germany, but work was halted in December following the threat of sanctions from Washington.

The pipeline would affect Ukraine by depriving it of transit fees from existing pipelines that transverse its territory.

With reporting by Reuters and Bloomberg

An Iranian official suspected of instigating the killing of an Iranian dissident in 2019 has been arrested in Turkey, Reuters has reported.

Quoting unnamed sources, Reuters said it had confirmed a report by Turkey's Sabah newspaper that Mohammad Reza Naserzadeh was detained earlier this week on suspicion of planning the shooting of Masud Molavi Vardanjani, a critic of Iran's political and military leadership.

Sabah reported that Naserzadeh worked at the civic registry department of the Iranian Consulate in Istanbul. Reuters said it could not independently confirm that information.

The incident could strain ties between regional powers Turkey and Iran. Iran's Foreign Ministry called the newspaper report "baseless."

Vardanjani, a former Iranian intelligence operative who exposed corruption involving Iranian officials, was shot and killed in Istanbul on November 14, 2019 -- a year after leaving the Islamic republic. He had been put under investigation by Iranian authorities.

A Turkish police report published in March 2020 said Vardanjani had an “unusual profile.” It said he had worked in cybersecurity at Iran’s Defense Ministry before becoming a vocal critic of the Iranian regime.

Two senior Turkish officials told Reuters in 2020 that Vardanjani's killing was instigated by intelligence officials at the Iranian Consulate in Istanbul.

At the time, one of the Turkish officials identified the two suspects by their initials. One set of initials matched Naserzadeh's.

A senior U.S. administration official said in April 2020 that Washington had grounds to believe that Iran's Intelligence and Security Ministry was directly involved in the killing of Vardanjani.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh denied that any consulate staff had been involved in Vardanjani's shooting death.

The Foreign Ministry's website said Iran was in talks with Turkish officials to shed light on the issue.

Last week, a Belgian court sentenced an Iranian diplomat to 20 years in prison on charges of planning an attack on an exiled opposition group.

It was the first trial of an Iranian official on terrorism charges in Europe since Iran's 1979 revolution.

With reporting by Reuters

Political tensions have been stirred up in North Macedonia by the government's failure to deliver its first COVID-19 vaccination shot while neighboring countries boast about progress in their vaccination programs.

A government statement in Skopje on February 12 said "technical" issues had delayed the expected delivery of 8,000 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines from neighboring Serbia this week.

The handover of vaccines had been expected on February 11 during a ceremony at the Tabanovce border crossing that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had been scheduled to attend. Vucic's office said more documentation was needed after the event was canceled.

North Macedonia has yet to secure a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine for its population of 2.1 million.

The main opposition party, VMRO-DPMNE, called on the center-left government to resign after the latest delay. It said "incompetence" on the part of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev had forced him to "beg” other countries for vaccines.

North Macedonia is hoping to receive 840,000 vaccine doses in February under a scheme led by the World Health Organization to help poorer countries immunize their populations. But manufacturing delays in recent weeks have held up those plans -- as well as similar plans for Ukraine and Moldova.

Earlier this week, the Macedonian authorities signed an agreement to receive 200,000 doses of the Chinese SinoPharm vaccine. They hope to launch their vaccination program later in February.

Another 800,000 vaccines are expected to arrive in the country later in 2021 through the EU. But officials in Skopje also have asked neighbors Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia for assistance, along with Poland and Hungary.

Based on reporting by RFE/RL's Balkan Service and AP

The Moscow City Court will consider an appeal of the decision to convert opposition politician Aleksei Navalny's suspended sentence to real jail time on February 20, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

RIA Novosti reported on February 12 that it learned of the hearing through a lawyer with knowledge of the court's decision.

The Kremlin critic on February 2 was ordered to serve 2 years and 8 months in prison for violating the terms of a suspended sentence imposed on him from a widely criticized 2014 embezzlement case.

Navalny could not report to parole officers because he was recovering from a coma in Germany after being poisoned with a nerve-agent in Siberia last August, in an attack he blames on Putin and his security agents. The Kremlin dismisses the allegations.

Navalny was immediately arrested on returning to Russia in January, triggering nationwide protests and a crackdown on his allies and supporters.

Based on reporting by RIA Novosti

MOSCOW -- Russia's federal media regulator has ordered media outlets, including RFE/RL's Russian Service and Current Time TV, to delete all reports about a planned mobile-phone "flashlight" protest against the jailing of Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny.

The official order from Roskomnadzor was received by media groups on February 12. It says Russian authorities consider any reporting about the planned flashlight protest to be a call for people to take part in an unsanctioned public demonstration and mass disorder.

Roskomnadzor's order also was sent to online newspapers Meduza and Open Media, and the TV-2 news agency in the Siberian city of Tomsk.

Navalny's team in Tomsk said they also were warned by the city prosecutor's office on February 12 that they could be held liable for staging an unsanctioned protest.

Navalny's team has called on people across Russia to switch on their mobile-phone flashlights for 15 minutes beginning at 8 p.m. on February 14 -- shining the light into the sky from courtyards and posting pictures of the protest on social media.

Leonid Volkov, director of Navalny's network of teams across Russia, announced the change of tactics on February 9 in response to police crackdowns against mass street demonstrations that have led to tens of thousands of arrests across Russia.

The "flashlight" protest is a tactic similar to what demonstrators have been doing in neighboring Belarus following brutal police crackdowns targeting rallies against authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Volkov says it is a nonviolent way for Russians to show the extent of outrage across the country over Navalny's treatment without subjecting themselves to arrests and police abuse.

The 44-year-old Navalny, a staunch critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was arrested on January 17 after returning to Russia from Germany where he had been treated for a nerve-agent poisoning he says was ordered by Putin. The Kremlin denies it had any role in the poison attack against Navalny.

Navalny's detention sparked outrage across the country and much of the West, with tens of thousands of Russians taking part in street rallies on January 23 and 31.

Police cracked down harshly on the demonstrations, putting many of Navalny's political allies behind bars and detaining thousands more -- sometimes violently -- as they gathered on the streets.

A Russian court on February 2 ruled Navalny was guilty of violating the terms of his suspended sentence relating to an embezzlement case that he has called politically motivated.

The court converted the sentence to 3 1/2 years in prison. Given credit for time already spent in detention, the court said Navalny must serve another 2 years and 8 months behind bars.

That prompted fresh street protests across the country. But Volkov called for a pause in street rallies until the spring -- saying weekly demonstrations would only result in more mass arrests.

Authorities have criticized Volkov's call for flashlight protests.

Kremlin-friendly political observer Aleksei Martynov accused Navalny's team of stealing the idea from commemorations of Soviet war veterans.

With reporting by Meduza, TV-2, Dozhd, and Znak

The so-called E3 European powers have urged Iran to reverse its decision to violate a landmark nuclear deal by producing uranium metal and avoid "noncompliant" steps before it's too late.

Britain, France, and Germany issued the plea on February 12 following a call the previous day by Russia's deputy foreign minister for Iran to "show restraint" as a new U.S. administration weighs possible paths to rejoining the multilateral Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA) from 2015.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi informed member states on February 10 that the UN atomic watchdog's inspectors had confirmed this week that 3.6 grams of uranium metal had been produced at an Iranian nuclear facility in Isfahan.

"We strongly urge Iran to halt these activities without delay and not to take any new noncompliant steps on its nuclear program," the E3 said in a statement. "In escalating its noncompliance, Iran is undermining the opportunity for renewed diplomacy to fully realize the objectives of the JCPOA."

Ex-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States in 2018 from the agreement and reimposed punishing sanctions against Iran, but President Joe Biden campaigned ahead of the U.S. elections in November 2020 on seeking a way to revisit that move.

The Biden administration has insisted that Iran move to full compliance with the JCPOA before Washington will return to the deal, but Tehran has rejected any preconditions.

U.S. and other intelligence sources have suggested Iran could be just months away from nuclear bomb-making if it chose to pursue such a weapon, given its return to some sensitive nuclear activities since Trump's withdrawal.

Tehran has resolutely insisted it wants nuclear technology for a civilian energy program and not a weapon, although the IAEA and some Western governments point to a history of obfuscation and deceit by Iranian officials in the face of past concerns.

"We reiterate that Iran has no credible civilian justification for these activities, which are a key step in the development of a nuclear weapon," the statement by the E3 repeated.

The nuclear agreement, which exchanged sanctions relief for curbs on technology, put a 15-year ban on Iran "producing or acquiring plutonium or uranium metals or their alloys."

Russia -- which along with the E3 and China is a signatory to the JCPOA -- has sought to keep diplomatic channels open to Tehran as it cooperates on Syria, Libya, and on other problems in the region.

"We understand the logic of their actions and the reasons prompting Iran," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said of Tehran on February 11. "Despite this, it is necessary to show restraint and a responsible approach."

The nuclear agreement -- reached by Iran, the United States, China, Russia, Germany, France and Britain -- put a 15-year ban on Iran "producing or acquiring plutonium or uranium metals or their alloys."

Tehran has gradually breached the deal since the U.S. pullout by building up its stockpile of low-enriched uranium, refining uranium to a higher level of purity, and using advanced centrifuges for enrichment.

After the assassination in Iran of a top nuclear scientist in December 2020 that Tehran blames on Israel, Iranian officials signaled their intention to research uranium metal production.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP

Hungary on February 12 was on its way to become the first EU nation to use Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus, breaking ranks with the rest of the 27-member bloc.

"Today we are beginning to vaccinate with the Sputnik V vaccine, this is taking place in the designated vaccination stations," Cecilia Muller, Hungary's chief medical officer, told a daily press briefing in Budapest.

Hungary last month gave emergency approval to the Russian vaccine, ordering 2 million doses to be delivered over three months, enough to inoculate 1 million people, rather than wait for a green light from the EU's European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Budapest also approved the Chinese-made Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine -- again the first in the EU to do so -- and said it had ordered 5 million doses.

Hungary has often come into conflict with Brussels, mainly on migration, and repeatedly criticized what it says is the slow pace of vaccine approval and procurement by the EU's health agencies.

"Each day we spend waiting around for Brussels, we would lose 100 Hungarian lives," Prime Minister Viktor Orban said during his weekly interview with state radio on February 12.

On February 12, Hungary reported 99 new deaths from COVID-19, bringing the country's overall death toll to 13,543, while the number of infections and coronavirus patients in hospitals has begun rising sharply this month.

Orban blamed the surge in infections on the probable spread of the variant of the disease first detected in Britain.

However, he said there was no need for further lockdown measures to curb the spread, as a planned acceleration of inoculations with Russian and Chinese vaccines could offset the rise in cases in coming weeks.

"If we start inoculations with the Chinese vaccine as well, by Easter we will be able to vaccinate all the [more than 2 million] people who have registered for vaccines," Orban said.

Russia registered Sputnik V in August 2020, months ahead of Western drugmakers but before the start of large-scale clinical trials, which prompted skepticism from experts.

However, results published in The Lancet medical journal last week showed that Sputnik V is 91.6 percent effective against the virus.

Just over 300,000 Hungarians -- health-care workers and the most vulnerable among the elderly -- in a population of almost 10 million have so far received at least one shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine. Hungary also started using the AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine this week.

Hungary's tourism industry has been seriously hit by the pandemic, with restaurants and bars being closed since November 2020 and a curfew enforced from 8 p.m.

With reporting by AFP, AP, dpa, and Reuters

Uzbekistan plans to fully transition the Uzbek language from the Cyrillic script to a Latin-based alphabet by January 1, 2023.

The Justice Ministry said in a statement on February 11 that the government approved the target date and a corresponding road map for the plan a day earlier.

The government's decision comes less than four months after President Shavkat Mirziyoev issued a decree to expedite the full transition of the Uzbek language to a Latin-based alphabet.

Uzbek, as well as other Central Asian languages, was written in an Arabic script until the late 1920s. It then switched to Latin script as part of a larger Latinization of Turkic languages, before the Soviets introduced Cyrillic in 1940.

In 1993, less than two years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan began to transition back to a Latin script but Cyrillic is still widely used.

After going through various iterations, a working group at Tashkent State University presented a final draft of the updated Uzbek alphabet based on the Latin alphabet in 2019.

The updated alphabet consists of 30 characters: 29 letters and an apostrophe to denote a hard sign, specific sounds, or intonations..

In neighboring Kazakhstan, the process of switching to the Latin alphabet has been going on since 2017, when former President Nursultan Nazarbaev first instructed the government to work on the transition to a Latin-based alphabet by 2025.

Another Central Asian country, Turkmenistan, switched from the Cyrillic script to Latin in 1993, while Azerbaijan, a Turkic-speaking former Soviet republic in the South Caucasus, replaced its Cyrillic-based alphabet with the current Latin-based script on December 25, 1991.

The move to shift to Latin script was in part driven by political considerations, in order to distance the Turkic-speaking nations from years of Russian influence and develop a stronger national identity in the young states. The Latin script is also considered better suited to Turkic languages.

The Soviet-era transition of Turkic languages to Cyrillic was in part implemented to distance Central Asian states and Azerbaijan from Turkey, which as part of a Westernization drive changed its Persian-Arabic script to a Latin one in the 1920s.

The switch away from Arabic script among Turkic languages in the former Soviet Union was designed to distance the Muslim Central Asian nations from the Islamic world.

Russia says it is prepared to sever ties with the European Union if the bloc follows through with threats to implement tough new economic sanctions against Moscow over the detention and jailing of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny.

Speaking in an interview with the YouTube channel Solovyev Live on February 12, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that if further sanctions are imposed on Russia and they "create risks" to the country's economy, "then yes," relations could be broken off.

Lavrov's comments come a day after diplomatic sources suggested the European Union was likely to impose travel bans and asset freezes -- possibly within weeks -- on allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"We do not want to be isolated from international life, but we must be ready for this. If you want peace, then you should prepare for war," Lavrov said.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added at a meeting with reporters on February 12 that Moscow had to be ready to provide replacement elements for anything in its vital infrastructure if foreign sanctions called for it.

The 44-year-old Navalny, Putin's top critic, was arrested on January 17 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he was treated for a nerve-agent poisoning that he says was ordered by Putin, which the Kremlin has denied.

The detention sparked outrage across the country, with tens of thousands of Russians taking to the streets in rallies. Police, in turn, cracked down harshly on the demonstrations, putting many of Navalny's allies behind bars for the actions, and then detaining thousands more -- sometimes violently -- as they gathered.

It also prompted condemnation from the United States and the European Union and demands for Navalny's immediate release and proper investigations into his poisoning in August last year.

In the past week, Russia has expelled several diplomats from EU countries after the Kremlin accused them of participating in the protests. The moves have been matched tit-for-tat by Sweden, Poland, and Germany, which have told Russian diplomats to pack their bags and head home.

The two sides were already at odds over Russia's 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea and its support for separatist formations waging a war against Kyiv in parts of eastern Ukraine, the EU's rejection of a disputed presidential election in Belarus and criticism of a brutal crackdown by the government of strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka, and other issues.

Germany's Foreign Ministry called Lavrov's comments on February 12 " really disconcerting and incomprehensible."

Moscow has accused the West of hysteria and double standards over Navalny and has accused the United States and others as meddling in Russia's internal affairs.

Lavrov pushed that theme in the February 12 interview, saying the threats weren't about Navalny, but a broader course "coordinated by the entire collective West, which goes beyond mere deterrence of Russia and evolves into an aggressive deterrence of Russia."

"They don't like us because we have our own idea of what's going on in the world," he said.

Jailed anti-corruption campaigner Navalny was back in court on February 12 for his latest legal battle.

Navalny is accused of slandering a World War II veteran who took part in a promotional video in support of last year's constitutional amendments that cleared the way for Putin to run for two more terms in office after 2024, if he wants.

Meanwhile, Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, flew from Moscow to Frankfurt in a sign that -- following her brief detention recently -- she might be concerned for her safety amid a sweeping crackdown in Russia on Navalny allies.

German magazine Der Spiegel, citing sources, reported Navalnaya arrived in the country for "private" matters.

A court in Moscow on February 10 ordered the arrest of Leonid Volkov, an exiled ally of Navalny's, in a move seen as part of an effort by authorities to squelch demonstrations demanding the release of Navalny.

Russian security agents -- including one allegedly linked to Navalny's poisoning -- tailed another Kremlin critic, Vladimir Kara-Murza, in the days and weeks before his two near-fatal poisoning illnesses, investigative group Bellingcat said this week in a new report.

Kara-Murza, who lives in suburban Washington, has built strong alliances with senior U.S. lawmakers, believes he was targeted for his support for the U.S. Magnitsky Act, a 2012 law targeting alleged Russian human-rights abusers with sanctions.