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Rearrested Kyrgyz Powerbroker Matraimov Sent To Pretrial Detention
BISHKEK -- A court in Bishkek has ruled to place Raimbek Matraimov, the controversial former deputy chief of the Customs Service who was rearrested on corruption charges this week, in pretrial detention.
The Birinchi Mai district court on February 20 said Matraimov will remain in pretrial detention for at least two months.
Matraimov's lawyer, Madina Niyazova, said she would appeal the ruling.
Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said Matraimov was rearrested on February 18 due to an ongoing probe launched into money laundering.
SPECIAL REPORT: Plunder And Patronage In The Heart Of Central Asia
The move came days after hundreds rallied in the Kyrgyz capital, protesting a Bishkek court ruling last week that ordered a mitigated sentence and no jail time for Matraimov.
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, 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 that disappeared through corruption schemes that he oversaw.
In June 2019, an investigation by RFE/RL, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and Kloop implicated 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 subsequently assassinated in Istanbul in November 2019.
On February 15, a day after the protests, the UKMK said the criminal case against Matraimov would resume if allegations are confirmed that he has numerous properties in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, and Russia.
The estimated $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 U.S. Treasury Department said.
Recent reports said that the 49-year-old Matraimov had changed his last name to Ismailov, and that his wife, Uulkan Turgunova, had changed her family name to Sulaimanova in a move seen as an attempt to evade the U.S.- imposed sanctions.
Last month, Damira Azimbaeva, a spokesperson for Kyrgyzstan's state registration service, confirmed to RFE/RL that both Matraimov and his wife had changed their surnames.
There have been no official statements from lawyers for Matraimov's family to explain the name change.
Ukraine Marks Seventh Anniversary Of Euromaidan Bloodshed
KYIV -- Ukrainians have marked the seventh anniversary of the shooting deaths of dozens of participants in the Euromaidan anti-government protests that toppled the country's Russia-friendly president, Viktor Yanukovych, in 2014.
The commemorations honored those who were killed in the capital, Kyiv, during clashes with Yanukovych's security forces on February 18-20, 2014.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his wife, Olena, laid flowers at the so-called Monument of the Heavenly Hundred in Kyiv's Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) on February 20.
"Eternal memory to all those who died for the future of Ukraine," Zelenskiy said at the ceremony.
Gatherings were held across Ukraine on February 20 to commemorate those killed during the Euromaidan protests.
Ukrainians Mark Anniversary Of Deadly Shootings Of Euromaidan Protesters
Some parts of Ukraine began honoring the slain demonstrators two days earlier, on the day when the shootings started.
The Euromaidan movement began in November 2013 when protesters gathered on the central square in Kyiv to protest Yanukovych's decision not to sign a crucial trade accord with the European Union. Instead, he sought closer economic ties with Russia.
Ukrainian prosecutors say 104 people were killed and 2,500 injured as a result of violent crackdowns by authorities against protesters.
Shunning a deal backed by the West and Russia to end the standoff, Yanukovych abandoned power and fled Kyiv on February 21, 2014.
The former president, who was secretly flown to Russia and remains there, denies that he ordered police to fire on protesters, saying that the violence was the result of a “planned operation” to overthrow his government.
In March 2014, shortly after Yanukovych's downfall, Russian military forces seized control of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula -- a precursor to the Kremlin's illegal annexation of the territory through a hastily organized and widely discredited referendum.
Russia also has supported pro-Russia separatists who are fighting Ukrainian government forces in eastern Ukraine.
More than 13,200 people have been killed in that conflict since April 2014.
Thousands Rally In Armenia To Demand Pashinian's Resignation
YEREVAN -- Thousands of protesters have rallied in the Armenian capital to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian over his handling of a six-week war with Azerbaijan last year.
Demonstrators gathered on February 20 in Freedom Square in central Yerevan under a heavy police presence shouting, "Armenia without Nikol!" and "Nikol traitor!"
Pashinian has refused calls to step down but raised the possibility of holding early parliamentary elections.
Pashinian, who swept to power amid nationwide protests in 2018, has come under fire since agreeing to a Moscow-brokered deal with Azerbaijan that took effect on November 10. The deal ended six weeks of fierce fighting in and around the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh that saw ethnic Armenian forces suffer battlefield defeat.
A coalition uniting 16 opposition parties has been holding anti-government demonstrations in Yerevan and other parts of the country in a bid to force Pashinian to hand over power to an interim government.
Opposition forces want their joint candidate, Vazgen Manukian, to become transitional prime minister to oversee fresh elections.
"It doesn't matter how many people gather on the square, Nikol Pashinian will not resign voluntarily," Manukian told a crowd of protesters waving Armenian flags in Freedom Square.
Despite facing a united opposition front, Pashinian’s My Step bloc maintains an overwhelming majority in parliament.
Under the Moscow-brokered cease-fire, a chunk of Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani administration after almost 30 years of control by Armenians.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but the ethnic Armenians who make up most of the region's population reject Azerbaijani rule.
They had been governing their own affairs, with support from Armenia, since Azerbaijan's troops and Azeri civilians were pushed out of the region and seven adjacent districts in a war that ended in a cease-fire in 1994.
With reporting by AFP
Russian Sentenced To Four Years In Prison For Role In Alleged Plot To Kill Georgian Journalist
TBILISI -- A court in Georgia has sentenced a Russian citizen to four years in prison for involvement in an alleged plot to kill a Georgian journalist.
The Tbilisi City Court on February 20 found Magomed Gutsiyev, a native of Russia's North Caucasus region, guilty of illegal border-crossing, forgery, and the illegal surveillance of journalist Giorgi Gabunia.
Gutsiyev was arrested by Georgian authorities in June with documents identifying him as Vasambek Bokov.
Georgia's Service for State Security (SUS) said at the time that they had arrested a Russian citizen, identified as V.B., who they suspected of planning to kill Gabunia.
In July 2019, Gabunia crudely insulted Russian President Vladimir Putin live on air amid worsening ties between Georgia and Russia.
The reporter called Putin a "stinking occupier" and used a string of obscenities to curse the Russian president, as well as Putin's mother and father -- and vowed to defecate on Putin's grave.
Gabunia's controversial comments were condemned by Russian and Georgian authorities.
The Moscow-backed leader of Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, publicly vowed to "punish" Gabunia at the time.
In recent years, several Kadyrov critics have been killed outside Russia, and many believe that either Kadyrov himself or Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) were behind the apparent assassinations.
Rights groups say Kadyrov, who has ruled Chechnya since 2007, uses repressive measures and has created a climate of impunity for security forces in the volatile region.
They allege Kadyrov is ultimately responsible for the violence and intimidation of political opponents by Chechen authorities, including kidnappings, forced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings.
Two Workers Killed After Collapse At Mineral Processing Plant In Russia's Arctic
NORILSK, Russia -- A building at an iron ore processing plant in Russia's Arctic city of Norilsk has collapsed, killing at least two workers.
The regional branch of the Emergencies Ministry said on February 20 that eight workers were in the building when it collapsed. One worker remained missing.
The ministry said three workers were in serious condition.
Authorities have launched a investigation into the collapse.
The facility belongs to the metallurgical giant Norilsk Nickel, which is owned by Russia's richest man, Vladimir Potanin.
In early February, a court in the regional capital, Krasnoyarsk, ordered Norilsk Nickel to pay more than 146 billion rubles ($1.9 billion) for a spill that dumped thousands of tons of diesel fuel into the Russian Arctic in May 2020.
With reporting by TASS and Interfax
Russian Political Researcher Arrested On High Treason Charge
A Russian political researcher has been arrested in Moscow on a charge of high treason.
Moscow’s Lefortovo district court disclosed on February 20 that Demuri Voronin will remain in pretrial detention until at least April 13.
Media reports cited sources close to the investigation as saying that Voronin was suspected of sharing classified material to a Western intelligence agency.
If convicted, Voronin faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to 500,000 rubles ($6,759).
Russia’s Investigative Committee has not commented on the arrest.
In recent years, the number of cases of alleged high treason has increased dramatically in Russia.
One of the latest high-profile high treason cases involves Ivan Safronov, a journalist and an aide to the Russian Roskosmos space agency chief, Dmitry Rogozin.
Safronov was arrested on July 7 and later charged with passing classified material to the Czech Republic.
Safronov’s lawyer, Ivan Pavlov, said on February 20 that Voronin's arrest was not linked to his client's case.
With reporting by RIA Novosti, Interfax, and TASS
Moscow Court Rejects Navalny Appeal, But Reduces Sentence Slightly
A Moscow court has upheld opposition politician Aleksei Navalny's prison sentence relating to his embezzlement conviction, but reduced the sentence by about 50 days considering time served. Navalny was in court on February 20 to appeal the sentence handed down earlier this month in relation to the 2014 embezzlement case, which he has said is politically motivated. The prominent anti-corruption activist and Kremlin critic was scheduled to face a second court hearing later in the day relating to charges of defaming a World War II veteran.
- By RFE/RL
Biden Administration's Additional Sanctions Over Nord Stream 2 'Inadequate,' Republicans Say
The United States imposed additional sanctions on a Russian vessel and the ship’s owner for their work on the Nord Stream 2 natural-gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, but the move was immediately criticized as inadequate by Republican lawmakers.
The sanctions were announced in a report submitted to Congress by the State Department late on February 19.
Two Republican lawmakers immediately denounced the administration for failing to impose sanctions on additional targets and demanded the administration explain what it is doing to oppose the completion of the pipeline.
Representative Michael McCaul (Republican-Texas) said that simply adding a layer of sanctions to previously sanctioned targets was “wholly inadequate” and does not meet lawmakers' intent to stop the pipeline.
“Allowing this pipeline to be completed would be nothing short of a victory for Vladimir Putin,” McCaul said.
Senator Jim Risch (Republican-Idaho) echoed McCaul’s concerns, saying in a statement that Congress has passed multiple bipartisan laws regarding the construction of the pipeline.
Congress specifically broadened the mandatory sanctions to include the types of pipe-laying activities occurring now, Risch said. But the State Department report ignores these activities, which “demands an immediate explanation.”
The lawmakers also said the new sanctions duplicate existing penalties that the Trump administration imposed on the pipe-laying ship Fortuna and its owner KVT-RUS in January.
The United States and several European countries oppose the pipeline, which will reroute Russian natural gas exports under the Baltic Sea, circumventing Ukraine. They say this will deprive Kyiv of billions of dollars in much needed transportation fees while strengthening the Kremlin’s grip on the European energy market.
“We’ve been clear for some time that Nord Stream 2 is a bad deal and that companies risk sanctions if they are involved,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters just hours before the report was transmitted to Congress.
“We’ll continue to work with our allies and partners to ensure that Europe has a reliable, diversified energy supply network that doesn’t undermine our collective security. Our goal in all of this is to reinforce European energy security and safeguard against predatory behavior,” he said.
But Risch and McCaul were unimpressed that the administration failed to impose any sanctions on additional targets, notably people and firms in Germany, which is a strong Nord Stream 2 proponent.
Opposition to the pipeline in Congress has increased since the poisoning and arrest of Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny and a crackdown against demonstrators who have protested in his support.
A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers on February 17 called on the Biden administration to brief Congress on its steps to stop the controversial pipeline, which is believed to be around 90 percent complete.
The lawmakers also said they wanted to know if Germany had made any proposal to halt or water down U.S. sanctions targeting the pipeline amid news reports that it had.
A first round of U.S. sanctions specifically targeting vessels laying the pipeline forced a European contractor to halt work, delaying the launch of Nord Stream 2 by at least a year.
Congress last year passed the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Clarification Act (PEESCA) to widen the list of sanctionable services against the project to include providing insurance, reinsurance, pipeline testing, inspection, and certification services. PEESCA became law on January 1.
- By RFE/RL
U.S. Says It Plans No Additional Steps On Iran Ahead Of EU-Proposed 'Diplomatic Conversation'
The United States plans no additional actions in response to pressure from Tehran ahead of proposed talks on a return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the White House said on February 19.
The White House has “no plan to take additional steps" on Iran in advance of having a "diplomatic conversation" about a possible U.S. return to the deal, spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Psaki noted the European Union has floated the idea of a conversation among Iran and the six major powers that struck the agreement: Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States, known as the P5+1.
"The Europeans have invited us and...it is simply an invitation to have a conversation, a diplomatic conversation,” she said, speaking to reporters on Air Force One as President Joe Biden flew to Michigan.
The European Union is working on organizing an informal meeting with all participants, a senior EU official said on February 19.
Meanwhile, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, arrived in Tehran on February 20 ahead of Iran’s deadline for U.S. sanctions to be lifted, state media reported.
Grossi is expected to meet Ali Akbar Salehi, the U.S.-educated head of the civilian Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Kazem Gharibabadi, among other officials, Iranian media reported.
Grossi’s trip came after Iran warned that it would ban short-notice IAEA inspections on its nuclear facilities by February 21 if the United States does not lift the sanctions it has imposed on Tehran since 2018.
In an address on February 19 to the Munich Security Conference, Biden said that Washington is prepared to reengage with the international partners that signed the deal on Iran's nuclear program.
Biden also said his administration is going to work with Europe and “other partners” to address Iran’s “destabilizing activities across the Middle East.”
In 2015, the P5+1 -- the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany -- signed a landmark agreement with Tehran that called for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of international sanctions.
But in 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the accord and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran. In response, Tehran has increasingly breached limits it had agreed to under the pact.
The United States on February 19 also notified the UN Security Council that it had withdrawn Trump's September 2020 invocation of the so-called “snap-back” mechanism under which it insisted that all UN sanctions against Iran were to be reimposed.
The United States said earlier this week that it was ready to talk to Iran about both nations returning to the deal. But the countries have been at odds over which one should make the first step.
Iran has said the United States must first lift sanctions, while Washington says Tehran must first return to compliance with the deal.
Iran said on February 19 that it would “immediately reverse” actions that contradict a 2015 nuclear agreement once U.S. sanctions are lifted.
When sanctions are lifted, "we will then immediately reverse all remedial measures. Simple," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
Navalny's Prison Sentence Upheld, While He's Also Fined For Defamation
MOSCOW -- A Moscow court has upheld opposition politician Aleksei Navalny's prison sentence relating to an embezzlement conviction, but reduced the sentence by about 50 days considering time served.
The prison sentence was upheld on February 20, the same day another court found the prominent anti-corruption activist and Kremlin critic guilty of defaming a World War II veteran. The court fined him 850,000 rubles ($11,500) on the defamation verdict.
Navalny was in court to appeal the sentence handed down earlier this month in relation to a 2014 embezzlement case he has said is politically motivated. The prominent anti-corruption activist and Kremlin critic also faced a second court hearing later in the day relating to charges of defaming a World War II veteran.
The Kremlin has many opponents. This is a normal political process. Political life in Russia has developed, and it will continue to develop."-- Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov
During Navalny's appeal hearing, the prosecution called on the court to uphold the February 2 sentence by a lower court, arguing that the decision to convert a suspended sentence related to the 2014 conviction into real jail time was lawful.
That 3 1/2-year sentence, considering time already spent in detention, had been set earlier this month at two years and eight months.
"Taking into account today's decision by the Moscow City Court, Navalny will have to spend two years and six months in captivity with a little extra," Navalny lawyer Vadim Kobzev was quoted as saying following the February 20 ruling.
Speaking from a glass cage in the Babushkinsky district court, where the Moscow City Court session was physically held, Navalny told the judge ruling on his case that it would be good if the court would now let him go. He also acknowledged that he was aware of a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) asking Russia to free him.
In And Out And In Again: All The Times Navalny Has Been In Jail
Members of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, which has conducted high-profile investigations of official corruption in Russia, harshly criticized the court's decision to reject Navalny's appeal.
"The court decision to keep Aleksei in jail says only one thing. There is no law in Russia right now," members of the foundation's staff wrote on Twitter.
Navalny's 3 1/2-year sentence came after the prominent anti-corruption activist was accused of violating his parole when he did not report to authorities in Russia while he was recovering in Germany from a near-deadly poisoning he suffered in Siberia in August. Navalny has blamed his poisoning on the Kremlin, which it has denied.
Navalny, 44, the most prominent critic and political rival of President Vladimir Putin, was arrested immediately upon his return from Germany.
He told the court that he was unable to report to the Moscow prison service as required under his suspended sentence because he was still recuperating.
"I don't want to show off a lot, but the whole world knew where I was," Navalny told the judge. "Once I'd recovered, I bought a plane ticket and came home."
His detention triggered international condemnation and protests across Russia on January 23 and January 31 during which more than 10,000 people were rounded up by police.
Navalny said he had no regrets about returning to Russia, saying that "strength was in truth."
"Our country is built on injustice," he said. "But tens of millions of people want the truth. And sooner or later, they'll get it."
In his closing statements, Navalny said that "Russia shouldn't just be free, Russia should be happy as well."
Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, speaking after the decision confirming that Navalny will go to prison, suggested that political life will continue without the powerful opposition figure in the mix.
"The Kremlin has many opponents. This is a normal political process," he said. "Political life in Russia has developed, and it will continue to develop."
The Strasbourg-based ECHR on February 16 called for the "immediate" release of Navalny, a demand rejected by the Kremlin as “unlawful" and “inadmissible” meddling in Russia's affairs.
Moscow has remained defiant about Western criticism over its jailing of the opposition politician and the crackdown on his supporters, calling it foreign interference in its internal affairs. The Kremlin has also denied any role in Navalny's poisoning, which foreign experts have determined was carried out with a Novichok class nerve-agent.
In a separate case, Navalny was also found guilty on February 20 of slandering a 94-year-old veteran for his role in a Kremlin-organized promotional video supporting constitutional changes that could allow Putin to remain in office until 2036. Case prosecutors had demanded that Navalny be fined 950,000 rubles ($13,000).
Navalny mocked the people in the clip, calling them "corrupt lackeys and traitors." Navalny’s allies have called the trial a politically motivated sham and Navalny has accused Russian officials of "fabricating" the case against him.
Addressing the court for his closing statements in that case, Navalny accused the authorities of using the veteran "like a doll."
"Through this process, the purpose of which is clear, you humiliated and insulted all these veterans 10 times [more] than everything you did before," Navalny was quoted as saying by Mediazona. "For this, all of you will burn in hell."
With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service, Current Time, Reuters, AP, and TASS
Russian Police Remove Memorial To Slain Opposition Leader Nemtsov, Detain Activists
Russian police have once again removed a makeshift memorial to slain opposition politician Boris Nemtsov in central Moscow and detained two activists guarding it, local media reported.
Grigory Simakov, one of the volunteers who help guard the memorial, told the Novaya gazeta newspaper that police destroyed it and later placed two metal barricades on the spot.
Simakov said police took two of the volunteers to the station to check their documents while he and his wife were chased away.
The memorial consisting of flowers, photographs, and candles is located on the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge -- a short walk from the Kremlin -- where Nemtsov was gunned down nearly six years ago, on February 27, 2015.
Supporters of Nemtsov have maintained the memorial ever since his death despite police, city workers, and others regularly destroying or removing it. A volunteer died in August 2017 after he was beaten on the bridge.
Nemtsov was an ardent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Five Chechens have been found guilty of involvement in his killing, but critics, including relatives and colleagues of Nemtsov, say Russian authorities failed to determine who ordered it.
Based on reporting by Novaya gazeta
Ukrainian President Signs Decree Imposing Sanctions Against Medvedchuk, Others With Ties To Kremlin
KYIV -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has signed a decree that brings into force sanctions against Viktor Medvedchuk, a political heavyweight and tycoon, and other Ukrainian politicians who have close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskiy signed the decree on February 20, a day after Ukraine’s National Security Council announced sanctions against Medvedchuk, his wife, Oksana Marchenko, as well as six other individuals and 19 companies all believed to be tied to the tycoon. Some of the individuals are Russian citizens.
The sanctions freeze the assets of Medvedchuk and his wife for three years and prevent them from doing business in Ukraine. Most of Medvedchuk’s assets are under his wife’s name. Ukraine has also said an oil pipeline that transports Russian oil products to Europe and is reportedly controlled by Medvedchuk will be nationalized.
The measures are the latest in a series of moves by Zelenskiy’s administration to go after Ukrainian individuals who critics say have close ties to the Kremlin.
The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said it supported Ukraine’s “efforts to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity through sanctions.”
“Medvedchuk has been under U.S. sanctions since 2014 for undermining Ukraine’s security, territorial integrity, and democratic institutions,” it said in a statement.
Earlier on February 20, Medvedchuk called the sanctions "illegitimate" and "illegal."
Ukraine on February 2 sanctioned Taras Kozak and three television stations he formally owns. Ukrainian media say the media assets, which aired pro-Kremlin propaganda, really belong to Medvedchuk.
Medvedchuk, who is a lawmaker and chairman of the pro-Russia Opposition Platform For Life (OPZZh), criticized the moves against him and fellow party member Kozak.
"My fellow faction member Taras Kozak and I, as well as our family members, have been subjected to sanctions illegally and without any evidence," Medvedchuk told Russia's Interfax on February 20. "As a specialist in law, I can say that all these sanctions that the sitting administration has imposed on me, my family, my associates, and journalists are illegitimate and cannot be imposed other than through a court ruling."
He vowed that he would not flee the country following the measures taken against him, which the Kremlin on February 20 called "very alarming."
In a separate move, Zelenskiy’s government recently launched a criminal investigation into meddling in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Ukrainian individuals are accused of seeking to harm the campaign of U.S. President Joe Biden by publishing alleged recordings of his conversations while he served as vice president overseeing the Obama administration’s relationship with Kyiv.
Godfather Putin
Medvedchuk is the head of the political council of the OPZZh, which is the largest opposition group in the Ukrainian parliament. He is one of the party’s 44 deputies in the 450-seat legislature.
Medvedchuk has a warm personal relationship with Putin, who is the godfather of his daughter. The lawmaker was sanctioned by the United States in 2014 for undermining democracy in Ukraine.
Ukraine said it is investigating Medvedchuk and the other individuals on suspicion of “financing terrorism.” The sanctions are tied to exports of coal to Russia from a separatist-held region in eastern Ukraine.
Russia-backed separatists took control of parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions after Ukrainian protesters toppled pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014.
Profits from the illegal coal trade allegedly funded the three TV channels Medvedchuk reportedly owns. Ukrainian media reported about the illegal coal sales as early as 2016.
Ukraine also said on February 19 that it is seizing PrykarpatZakhidtrans, an oil product pipeline owned by offshore companies reportedly connected to Medvedchuk.
The OPZZh has sharply criticized the sanctions and asset seizure, calling it "the destruction of Ukrainian democracy."
Political analysts say the moves by the Zelenskiy administration could be an attempt to cozy up to the Biden administration following Kyiv’s strained relationship with former President Donald Trump.
“I would see this [action] more as Zelenskiy trying to demonstrate to Washington that he will be a good partner,” John Herbst, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and an analyst at the Atlantic Council think tank, said about the timing of the Medvedchuk sanctions.
With reporting by AP, Reuters, UNIAN, Ukrayinska Pravda, and the Kyiv Post
Legendary Serbian Singer Djordje Balasevic Dies Of Coronavirus
Legendary Serbian singer Djordje Balasevic has died after contracting the coronavirus, state television reported on February 19.
The 67-year-old, who was also a poet and director, had remained popular across the former Yugoslavia after the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
Balasevic was admitted to a hospital in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad on February 16 after suffering from pneumonia that appeared to be caused by the coronavirus.
State broadcaster RTS reported that Balasevic died in the hospital on February 19.
Balasevic, born in Novi Sad in 1953, began his career in the 1980s, first performing in bands before going solo. He was known for his soft pop music and humorous lyrics.
Igor Mirovic, the head of the provincial government in Novi Sad, said Balasevic’s death had left a “huge, irreplaceable void.”
“With his poetry and music, Djordje Balasevic has permanently marked the art scene not only in our country, but in the whole region,” Mirovic said in a telegram sent to Balasevic’s family.
Balasevic stood out as a sharp critic of the late Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
The media in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina broadcast news of Balasevic’s death.
Croatia's state HRT television hailed Balasevic's “utterly anti-war and pacifist position that is present in many songs, concert speeches, and interviews.”
With reporting by AP
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said that Balasevic was 66. He was in fact 67 when he died.
Kyrgyz President Praises Russia Ties Ahead Of Planned Trip
BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov has praised what he called "allied ties" between Bishkek and Moscow, and expressed confidence that his planned trip to Russia will lead to the further strengthening of bilateral ties.
"The course to bring our ties with Russia to the highest level of allied ties and strategic partnership corresponds to Kyrgyzstan's national interests,” Japarov wrote in a commentary published in Slovo Kyrgyzstana (The Word Of Kyrgyzstan) state newspaper on February 19.
Last month, Japarov's office said the president would travel to Russia for his first official trip abroad since his election on January 10. It remains unclear when the visit will take place.
In his commentary, Japarov also said he would always oppose "any attempts of political manipulations" around the official status of the Russian language in the Central Asian nation.
"For many years, Kyrgyzstan lived and developed hand in hand with Russia, and the Russian language is not just an official language but also the language of interethnic communication,” the president wrote.
Kyrgyzstan has been in crisis since parliamentary elections in October 2020 led to protests that triggered the toppling of the government and the resignation of then-President Sooronbai Jeenbekov.
Japarov was among several prominent politicians freed from prison by protesters during the unrest. He had been serving a 10-year prison sentence for hostage taking during a protest against a mining operation in northeast Kyrgyzstan in October 2013. He has denied the charge.
The 52-year-old's landslide victory came in an election that international observers said "generally respected" fundamental freedoms even though the vote was not "fully fair."
- By RFE/RL
Biden Calls On Allies To Defend Freedom, Accuses Russia Of Undermining Democracy
WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Joe Biden warned allies that the world is at an “inflection point” in the ideological battle between democratic and autocratic values, and called on them to join with Washington in defending freedom.
In a speech delivered on February 19 to the Munich Security Conference, Biden also sought to dispel any concerns in Europe about Washington’s commitment to the transatlantic relationship, saying it was vital to containing threats posed by China and Russia, which he accused of seeking to undermine democracy and weaken NATO.
This year’s annual gathering of the world’s top national security and military leaders is being held online due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S. president told the conference that many countries are now engaged in a debate about whether autocracy is the best way forward in a world facing monumental upheaval caused in part by revolutionary technological change and a deadly pandemic.
He said there was no doubt that democracy was “essential” to meeting such challenges.
“In so many places, including in Europe and in the United States, democratic progress is under assault. Historians are going to examine and write about this moment as an inflection point and I believe with every ounce of my being that democracy will and must prevail,” Biden said in his first foreign policy address to an international audience since his inauguration last month.
His administration is seeking to mend relations with Europe, strengthen NATO, and support democratic values around the world following criticism that all three have been atrophied under the leadership of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump was accused of cozying up to authoritarian leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Erdogan, undermining NATO, and testing relations with close allies such as Germany and France.
The former president publicly harangued European countries for not meeting NATO defense spending levels and sought to rewrite trade terms with the EU to help U.S. companies.
In an indirect reference to Trump’s policies, Biden said relations with Europe were "not transactional" and "not extractive."
“I know the past few years of strain has tested our transatlantic relationship. But the United States is determined to reengage with Europe. To consult with you. To earn back our position of trust and leadership,” he told the conference.
He pointed out as an example his decision to overturn a Trump administration plan to cut the number of U.S. troops in Germany.
'Economic Abuses And Coercion'
Biden highlighted China and Russia as key challengers that the U.S. and Europe need to address together.
He accused China of “economic abuses and coercion” and said its companies must play by the same rules as U.S. and European countries.
The U.S. president accused Putin of trying to “bully and threaten individual states” rather than negotiate “with a strong and closely united transatlantic community.”
Biden cited Ukraine as an example, saying the defense of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity from Russian aggression was of “vital concern” to the United States and Europe.
Despite highlighting the need for competition with the Kremlin, Biden said it must “not lock out cooperation” with Russia on issues of mutual concern such as nuclear proliferation and Iran’s nuclear program.
Addressing the Munich Security Conference, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg accused China and Russia of working against the international order.
"Europe and North America must defend the international rules-based order, which is being challenged by authoritarian powers," Stoltenberg said, adding that China and Russia “are trying to rewrite the rules of the road to benefit their own interests."
Russia is set to remain NATO's main adversary during this decade, and the 30-member alliance is considering including China in its official master strategy document, its Strategic Concept, to face up to the country’s military rise.
Biden said that Washington is prepared to reengage with international partners in the so-called P5+1 group -- China, France, Russia, Britain, the United States, plus Germany -- on Iran's nuclear program.
Biden also said his administration is going to work with Europe and “other partners” to address Iran’s “destabilizing activities across the Middle East.”
The P5+1 group in 2015 signed a landmark agreement with Tehran that called for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of international sanctions.
But Trump in 2018 pulled his country out of the accord and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran. In response, Tehran has increasingly breached limits it had agreed to under the pact.
Th president concluded by saying Europe’s contribution to the successful landing of a NASA robotic rover on Mars on February 18 underscored the ability of the transatlantic relationship to meet “any challenge” it faces.
“The United States will do our part. We will stand with you. We will fight for our shared values and meet the challenges of this new moment in history,” he said.
With reporting by Reuters
Five Children From The Same Family Die In Kazakh Apartment Fire
NUR-SULTAN -- Five children from the same family have died in a fire that swept through an apartment in Kazakhstan's southern region of Zhambyl.
Kazakhstan’s Emergency Situations Ministry said on February 19 that the youngest of the deceased children was born last year, while the eldest was born in 2015.
The fire raced through an apartment on the third floor of a five-story residential building in the town of Zhanatas. The children's father was at work and the mother had left the house to visit a shop when the blaze broke out.
A special commission has been established to investigate the deadly fire, which occurred a day after another fire killed a toddler in the southern region of Qyzylorda.
In early February 2019, a fire in a small house near the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan, killed five children from the same family when both parents were at work on night shifts.
That deadly fire sparked waves of protests across the Central Asian nation, with people demanding increased social support and financial allowances for families with several children and low incomes.
French-Iranian, German Citizens Reportedly Arrested In Iran
A French-Iranian dual citizen and a German national were arrested in Iran more than two weeks ago, a French newspaper reported on February 19.
Without citing its sources, the Le Figaro daily said the two individuals were detained before February 4 as leverage in anticipation of the sentencing of Iranian diplomat Assadolah Assadi by a Belgian court that day.
Assadi was handed 20 years in prison for planning to bomb an Iranian opposition rally in France in 2018, a sentence that was "strongly" condemned by the Iranian government.
Le Figaro did not name the two individuals or their places of detention, but said the French-Iranian national was arrested while flying a small drone in the desert.
French, German, or Iranian officials have not commented on the report yet.
In recent years, Iran has imprisoned a number of dual nationals, mostly on espionage charges.
Critics say Iran arbitrarily detains dual nationals as part of hostage diplomacy to extract political concessions from Western countries, which Tehran denies.
If confirmed, the arrests of the French and German nationals would come at a sensitive time.
The new administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has signaled it was ready to talk with Iran about how both nations could return to a 2015 agreement that called for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of international sanctions.
With reporting by Le Figaro and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Belarus Authorities Refuse To Launch Probe Into Protester Killing
Belarus's Investigative Committee has ruled out launching a probe into the killing of 34-year-old Alyaksandr Taraykouski, who was shot by riot police in Minsk in August 2020, becoming the first fatality in a postelection crackdown and a rallying cry for the protest movement.
Taraykouski died on August 10 in protests against the results of a presidential election a day earlier that claimed incumbent Alyaksandr Lukashenka was the winner in a landslide. Opposition figures and many Belarusians immediately questioned the results, saying the vote was rigged.
The Investigative Committee said in a statement on February 19 that Taraykouski was "very drunk" and "provoked" riot police to use "nonlethal weapons" against him.
"Due to the confluence of a number of tragic circumstances, one of the wounds turned out to be penetrating, causing Taraykouski's death at the site," the statement said.
WATCH: Video Of Belarusian Protester Dying Contradicts Official Claims
Initially, officials said Taraykouski was killed by an improvised explosive device he was trying to throw at riot police. However, graphic footage of his death appeared to contradict official claims.
The site of Taraykouski's death near the Pushkin subway station in Minsk turned into a makeshift memorial where protesters gathered regularly for some time, bringing flowers and inscribing "We Will Not Forget" on the sidewalk.
Several protesters have been killed and thousands of people arrested during the ongoing demonstrations.
There have also been credible reports of torture during a widening security crackdown.
Most of the country's opposition leaders have been arrested or forced to leave the country, including opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who says she won the presidential poll.
The United States, the European Union, and several other countries have refused to acknowledge the election results and Lukashenka as the country's leader.
Police In Tbilisi Brawl With Opposition Activists, Detain 20 Protesters
TBILISI -- Police in downtown Tbilisi have brawled with dozens of opposition and civil rights activists who unsuccessfully tried to set up a tent in front of the parliament building.
The Interior Ministry told RFE/RL on February 19 that 20 people were detained for allegedly not complying with a lawful order or demand of a law-enforcement officer. The tent was confiscated.
The activists have been protesting near the parliament for several months against what they call the rigging of October 31, 2020 parliamentary elections and an ongoing political crisis in the country.
The political crisis in Georgia that followed the elections deepened after a court ruled on February 17 to send Nika Melia, chairman of the United National Movement opposition party, to pretrial detention in a case denounced by the opposition as a political witch hunt.
Melia is accused of organizing "mass violence" during 2019 anti-government protests, a charge he rejects as politically motivated. The ruling Georgian Dream party denies that.
The 41-year-old politician faces up to nine years behind bars if convicted.
On February 18, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia resigned amid the crisis, and Irakli Gharibashvili was named new prime minister.
Gharibashvili’s appointment needs to be confirmed by parliament, which is being boycotted by the opposition.
Following Gakharia’s resignation, Melia called for early elections, while the Interior Ministry said they had temporarily postponed detaining the opposition leader.
The court ruling on Melia's pretrial detention followed his refusal to pay an increased bail fee of 40,000 laris ($12,000). The opposition leader initially posted bail in 2019 but the amount was increased after he publicly removed his electronic monitoring bracelet during a postelection rally in November 2020.
Belarus Reportedly Looking At Law To Expand Definition Of Extremism
Belarusian lawmakers are reportedly preparing to consider legal changes that would make almost any criticism of the government "extremist" behavior that could lead to severe punishment including the loss of livelihood and citizenship.
The suggested tweaks to the country's law on extremism were published by multiple independent Telegram channels on February 18 and would be debated after parliament's spring session opens on April 2.
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.
RFE/RL was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the proposed amendments, which were reportedly sent to parliament last week.
According to Motolko Pomogi, a Belarusian "press club" that said it was anonymously sent the proposed changes on February 18, the KGB would maintain the list of people and organizations deemed "extremist" and blacklisted violators could be prevented from working in their chosen profession, performing large financial transactions without permission, or engaging in medical, pedagogical, or publishing activities.
Individual entrepreneurs and founders of media organizations labeled "extremist" would be deprived of the right to create other organizations for five years, according to the proposals, and foreigners who have received Belarusian passports could face the loss of their Belarusian citizenship and be deported.
The popular Polish-based opposition news outlet Nexta, which was deemed "extremist" by a Belarusian court in October 2020, also published the 12-page document containing the amendments in full on its Telegram channel.
Nexta wrote that under the changes "almost all state bodies -- from the Finance Ministry and the Justice Ministry to local authorities -- will fight extremism" and that if adopted "Belarus will in fact turn into a fascist-police state, and all the current legal chaos will become completely legal."
According to Motolko Pomogi, taking actions aimed at discrediting the Belarusian state would be grounds for being classified as "extremist," including the use of state symbols that have national historical or cultural value for "the purpose of promoting extremism."
The Belarusian opposition has adopted the use of the red-and-white flag, which is essentially banned by the authorities, instead of the official green and red flag.
The reported proposals come amid continuing mass protests against the results of Belarus's presidential election in August 2020 and an ongoing crackdown against independent media in the country.
The protests erupted after long-standing leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka claimed he won the vote by a landslide, while his main challenger, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has said she was the rightful victor.
Thousands of protesters have been arrested by Belarusian security forces in the course of anti-government rallies that have been held almost daily since the vote, and beatings at the hands of police have been widely documented.
At least seven journalists are currently behind bars in Belarus awaiting trial for "organizing public events aimed at disrupting civil order" or similar charges.
On February 18, two journalists for Belsat, a Polish-based satellite television station aimed at Belarus, were sentenced to two years imprisonment after they reported live from a rally against the death of an anti-government protester in November 2020.
The journalists, Katsyaryna Andreyeva and Darya Chultsova, have denied the charges against them and called their case politically motivated.
Belarusian Doctor, Journalist Go On Trial For Revealing Info On Slain Protester
MINSK -- A physician and a journalist in Belarus have gone on trial for allegedly disclosing information about a protester killed during a crackdown on demonstrations against authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
The Moscow district court in Minsk started the trial of Artsyom Sarokin and Katsyaryna Barysevich on February 19 with a decision to hold the process behind closed doors claiming "personal medical data" would be involved in the case.
The decision to bar the public sparked protests by dozens of supporters who were at the court.
Journalist Barysevich, from the online newspaper Tut.by, and Sarokin, a doctor with the Minsk ambulance service, were arrested on November 19 after Barysevich cited Sarokin in an article she wrote about Raman Bandarenka, who had died several days earlier from injuries he sustained in a vicious beating by a group of masked assailants. Activists had said the attackers were affiliated with the authorities.
Belarusian officials have claimed that Bandarenka's attackers had nothing to do with the authorities or riot police, adding that Bandarenka was drunk when he was attacked.
Barysevich wrote that no alcohol had been found in Bandarenka's blood, information she obtained from Sarokin, whose ambulance team provided Bandarenka with medical attention and took samples for tests right after he was found severely beaten.
The two have been charged with disclosing medical data. Barysevich is additionally charged with instigating a crime by pushing Sarokin to share the medical data. If found guilty, the two could face up to three years in prison.
In late November, Amnesty International recognized Sarokin and Barysevich as prisoners of conscience and demanded their immediate release.
Bandarenka is one of several people to have been killed during the protests demanding Lukashenka's resignation after he was announced as the winner in an August presidential election.
Outrage over what was seen by both opposition forces and the general public as a rigged vote to hand Lukashenka a sixth term in office brought tens of thousands onto the streets.
Security officials have cracked down hard on the demonstrators, arresting thousands, including dozens of journalists who covered the rallies, and pushing most of the top opposition figures out of the country.
Some rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used by security officials against some of those detained.
Lukashenka, who has run the country since 1994, has denied any wrongdoing with regard to the election and refuses to negotiate with the opposition on stepping down and holding new elections.
On February 18, Amnesty International published a document about four Belarusian artists and performers -- Vola Semchanka, Illya Yasinski, Andrus Tokidang, and Alyaksey Sanchuk, who have continued to perform and have challenged Lukashenka and his government despite being arrested and beaten.
"Today, they have also become symbols of courage and solidarity, as hundreds of Belarusian artists are being targeted by the government for their artistic expression of dissenting views. Some have been fired from their jobs, others have been detained and tortured, yet others are languishing behind bars awaiting trial and facing long prison sentences," Amnesty said.
The European Union, United States, Canada, and other countries have refused to recognize Lukashenka, 66, as the legitimate leader of Belarus and have slapped him and senior Belarusian officials with sanctions in response to the “falsification” of the vote and postelection crackdown.
- By RFE/RL
Turkmen Journalist Posts Rare Public Rebuke Of President On YouTube
A 71-year-old Turkmen journalist Soltan Achilova has issued a rare rebuke of the Central Asian nation's authoritarian President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, criticizing him and his government in a video posted on YouTube for failing to provide proper heating and water supply to Ashgabat residents during winter.
In the video statement that appeared on YouTube late on February 18, Achilova, who has previously worked as a reporter for RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service, said she will no longer call Berdymukhammedov "respected" because "millions of Turkmen had stopped respecting you long ago."
Such an act of public dissent is a rare occurrence in Turkmenistan, where Berdymukhammedov has run the former Soviet republic with an iron fist since 2006, becoming the center of an elaborate personality cult.
"You have always said that your main goal is to take care of your people. But in fact, you are taking care of such things as to listen to how others praise you, to ride a horse, to drive a race car, to swim in a lake, to fish, and to sing songs," Achilova said, pointing to numerous television programs showing Berdymukhammedov's hobbies and his leisure activities.
Achilova added that the heating system in her apartment had been switched off several times in recent days, which she called an intentional warning over her journalistic activities.
Last month, Achilova was named as one of three finalists for the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders for her reports from Turkmenistan, one of the most repressive countries in the world.
In her video statement, Achilova said that seven letters she sent to Berdymukhammedov had been rejected by Ashgabat's central post office. According to Achilova, post office officials told her that the letters had not been sent to the president due to an equipment malfunction.
"Those letters were intentionally destroyed. This is what our country is facing now," Achilova said, accusing the government of refusing to talk to people.
Achilova also criticized Berdymukhammedov and his government for what she called a "failure to provide" ordinary people with decent food at acceptable prices, adding that "miserable pensions and salaries in the country" do not provide people with the means to shop for regular items at local markets.
"Our fellow Turkmen citizens working in foreign countries have staged several protests recently demanding your resignation. We join those protests and demand your resignation as well because you are incapable of carrying out your duties. We are suffering and you do not even care about it. All you are capable of is ruining our homes and causing our people to suffer," Achilova said.
Based in Ashgabat, Achilova is currently a contributor to the Vienna-based independent news website Khronika Turkmenistana (Chronicles of Turkmenistan), which focuses on news and developments in Turkmenistan.
Turkmen authorities, who don't tolerate an independent press, have targeted Achilova in the past for her work as a journalist.
A 71-year-old Turkmen journalist Soltan Achilova has issued a rare rebuke of the Central Asian nation's authoritarian President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov
This year's Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders was given to jailed Chinese lawyer and human rights activist Yu Wensheng earlier this month.
- By Current Time
Tsikhanouskaya Says Belarusian Regime Telling Media: 'You're Either With Us, Or In Jail'
Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya says that by prosecuting journalists the authorities in Belarus are sending a message to the media: "Either you're with the regime, or you're in jail."
Tsikhanouskaya made the comments during an exclusive, wide-ranging video interview with Current Time on February 18, the same day that a judge in Minsk sentenced two journalists to two years in prison each for reporting live from a rally in the capital in November.
Katsyaryna Andreyeva, 27, and Darya Chultsova, 23, have repeatedly rejected the charge that they "organized public events aimed at disrupting civil order" while covering the rally commemorating the death of an antigovernment protester.
The two work for Belsat, a Poland-based satellite television station that covers Belarus, and say the case against them is politically motivated since their only reason to be at the rally was to do their job as reporters.
"What is happening cannot be called either a fair trial or a fair investigation. Therefore, it is painful for all people that such sentences are handed down," said Tsikhanouskaya, who believes she was the rightful winner of the presidential election in Belarus in August.
"This applies not only to Darya [Chultsova] and Katsyaryna [Andreyeva], but also to all the others, both political prisoners and those who are in prison.
"You know, this is a message to journalists: either you're with the regime, or you're in jail," said Tsikhanouskaya, who went into exile abroad over fears she would be arrested and separated from her children amid mass protests against the results of the election, which long-serving leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka claimed to have won by a landslide.
Ongoing Crackdown
The European Union and rights watchdogs have criticized the sentences against Andreyeva and Chultsova as part of an ongoing crackdown against independent media in Belarus.
The crackdown began during the run-up to the election and has heightened as Belarusians continue to take to the streets to call for Lukashenka to step down and for a new vote to be held.
The anti-government protests have lived on despite the arrests of thousands of demonstrators, documented beatings by police, and raids against journalists, rights activists, and Lukashenka's political opposition.
"Everyone understands that it is impossible to return to the life that we lived before this level of violence that we saw from the state," Tsikhanouskaya told Current Time, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. "No one will forgive Lukashenka for these crimes, and Lukashenka will never become legitimate in the eyes of Belarusians. People do not trust him."
Tsikhanouskaya -- who decided to run for president after her husband, Syarhey Tsikhanouski, was jailed after expressing interest in taking part in the August election against Lukashenka -- also addressed the ongoing trial of former banker Viktar Babaryka.
Babaryka, a would-be candidate who was once seen as Lukashenka's toughest rival, was detained in July and barred from competing in the election on embezzlement charges that his supporters say were trumped up.
Tsikhanouskaya said the charges dating back more than a decade when Babaryka headed Belgazprombank were "fabricated" and "absolutely political."
"In 2020, when he expressed his desire to run for president, it all surfaced," she said. "Previously, no one cared, before everyone was happy with everything. And now all of a sudden so many accusations were made against him."
Tsikhanouskaya said that "maximum publicity" of the treatment of Lukashenka's opponents and imprisonment of demonstrators could help them.
"The attention of the whole world to our problems, to our movement for rights, for a new Belarus, will force the world community to put more pressure on the regime, talk about justice, talk about lawlessness, and thus try to help Belarusians cope with our problem."
As for her personal situation, Tsikhanouskaya said she has not spoken to her husband since October, right after Lukashenka spoke with him and other opposition representatives at a pretrial detention center.
"Syarhey has been in jail for nine months now," she said. "He holds on. He is very strong, he is very brave. He will never deviate from his principles."
The couple's son, she said, knows that his father is in jail and is old enough to "understand that it hurts me, and I know that it hurts him, and we often talk about his dad."
Their daughter, Tsikhanouskaya said, thinks her father is on a business trip.
"We cannot return to Belarus, because of the coronavirus," Tsikhanouskaya said. "So far, such a fairy tale comes to her. We very often watch videos showing her dad so that his image does not fade from memory."
- By RFE/RL
U.S. Commander Says Military Seeks 'Fallback' Saudi Bases Amid Tensions With Iran
The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East says the U.S. military is looking for so-called "fallback" bases in Saudi Arabia to protect forces in the event of raised tensions with Iran.
"What we would like to do, without shutting down [current] bases...is to have the ability to go to other bases to operate in a period of heightened risk," General Kenneth McKenzie, head of the U.S. Army Central Command (Centcom), said on February 18.
He made the comments while on a tour of the Middle East, during which he also assailed the Taliban for increased violence in Afghanistan.
Referring to Saudi Arabia, McKenzie stressed that the Pentagon was not looking for new permanent bases, but rather sites that could be quickly utilized in time of crisis.
"These are things that any prudent military planner would want to do to increase their flexibility, to make it more difficult for the adversary to target them," he added.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the Pentagon is exploring plans for potential use of a Red Sea port and two additional Saudi airfields amid heightened tensions with Iran
The U.S. military has an array of bases in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf Arab states, many of which are bitter rivals of Iran.
Traditionally close U.S.-Saudi relations, while strong during the administration of President Donald Trump, are uncertain under new President Joe Biden, who is expected to take a harder line against human rights violations in the country.
Biden has also expressed a willingness to reengage with Tehran following Trump's hard-line approach to Iran.
Meanwhile, McKenzie also said that Taliban militants were "clearly" responsible for a recent surge in violence in Afghanistan.
The Taliban has denied responsibility for the violence that has intensified as a U.S.-brokered peace deal with the Afghan government has stalled, blaming instead other Muslim extremist groups.
McKenzie, however, directly blamed the Taliban.
"Certainly ISIS [the Islamic State militant group] has launched some attacks. It pales against what the Taliban is doing. It's a combination of their countrywide attacks against the Afghan forces, their targeted assassinations in some of the urban areas," McKenzie said.
"This is clearly the Taliban. There is no way it's anyone else. That's very clear," he added.
"Violence is not directed at us or our coalition NATO friends, it is directed against the Afghan military and security forces and against the people as well. And that is principally coming from the Taliban," he stressed to reporters.
During the Trump administration, U.S. negotiators struck a deal with the Taliban that called for U.S. troops to pull out of Afghanistan in the coming months in exchange for security guarantees from the militants, who have been fighting the Kabul government since their ouster from power by U.S.-led forces in 2001.
The Biden administration is reviewing the Taliban deal to determine if the militant group is meeting its commitments, including reaching a cease-fire and engaging in meaningful negotiations with the Afghan government.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance did not make a final decision on whether or when to withdraw troops out of Afghanistan during a virtual meeting on February 18.
With reporting by AFP and The Wall Street Journal
NASA Rover Lands On Mars In Crater Named After Bosnian Town
NASA says its Perseverance aircraft has successfully landed in a Mars crater named after the Bosnian town of Jezero -- the third visit to the red planet in just over a week.
The six-wheeled vehicle -- the biggest, most advanced rover ever sent by NASA – touched down on February 18 after a seven-month, 470-million-kilometer journey from Earth.
It was designed to hit the thin Martian atmosphere at 19,500 kilometers per hour, then use a parachute to slow it down, and a rocket-steered platform to lower the rover the rest of the way to the surface.
NASA is teaming up with the European Space Agency to bring rocks from Mars that could answer whether life ever existed on the planet.
It is a historic day for the 1,000 residents of the Bosnian town of Jezero, whose name was given by the International Astronomical Union in 2007 to the 49-kilometer-wide crater thought to have once been flooded with water.
Jezero, which means “lake” in some Slavic languages, is located on Pliva Lake.
The car-size, plutonium-powered Perseverance rover is the ninth spacecraft to successfully land on Mars -- all of them from the United States.
Two spacecraft from the United Arab Emirates and China were put into orbit around the planet last week.
China’s spacecraft includes a smaller rover that also will be seeking evidence of life if it successfully lands on Mars later this year.
All three missions departed the Earth in July to take advantage of the planet's close alignment to Mars.
With reporting by the BBC and AP
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