A British-Iranian anthropologist who faced years in prison in Iran says he escaped the country on foot across a mountain border and made his way back to the United Kingdom.

Kameel Ahmady told British media on February 3 that he had escaped while on bail pending an appeal against his prison sentence.

"I just simply left. I packed my bag with a shaving kit, a few books of mine, and a laptop," Ahmady told the BBC, adding: "And warm clothes, because I knew I had to smuggle myself out of that train in the mountains. It was very cold, very long, very dark, and very scary."

He told The Guardian he took paths used by smugglers from Iraq and Turkey, wading through deep snow 1.5 meters deep and fog while evading Iranian border patrols.

Ahmady was sentenced in December 2020 to more than nine years in prison for allegedly collaborating with a hostile government -- a charge he denies – and ordered to pay a fine equivalent to $722,000.

The academic was arrested at his home in Tehran in August 2019 and spent three months in Tehran's Evin prison, where he said he was subjected to "so-called white torture, a psychological pressure they put on you."

The academic was then released on bail before his sentencing by a Revolutionary Court.

Ahmady is an ethnic Kurd whose research touched on sensitive issues such as child marriage, female genital mutilation, minorities, gender, and temporary marriages practiced in Shi’ite Islam.

His parents sent him to Britain when he was 18. He studied at the University of Kent and the London School of Economics, and applied for British citizenship before returning to Iran.

Ahmady told the BBC that he had been targeted not just because he was a dual national, but also because Iran wanted to retaliate after Britain in 2019 seized an Iranian oil tanker off Gibraltar that was suspected of breaking EU sanctions.

"I always knew that I am an attractive and potential asset," he said. "But that doesn't mean that I have done anything wrong."

Ahmady also faces accusations of sexual misconduct. Last year, he was expelled from Iran’s Sociological Society due to the many allegations brought against him.

Iran has repeatedly detained foreigners and dual nationals in recent years on charges human rights activists and governments say are unfounded.

With reporting by the BBC and The Guardian

The European Union has questioned a move by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to sanction three television stations nominally owned by a member of a pro-Russian faction.

In a written statement on February 3, the spokesperson of EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, said that "while Ukraine's efforts to protect its territorial integrity and national security, as well as to defend itself from information manipulation are legitimate, in particular given the scale of disinformation campaigns affecting Ukraine including from abroad, this should not come at the expense of freedom of media and must be done in full respect of fundamental rights and freedoms and following international standards."

The statement added that "any measures taken should be proportional to the aim" and that Brussels would be in touch with Ukrainian authorities to receive more information on the issue.

Zelenskiy on February 2 signed off on the sanctions proposed by his national-security team.

Although Taras Kozak, a member of the pro-Russian Opposition Platform For Life (OPZZh), is listed as the owner to the three outlets, Ukrainian media claim that the broadcasters – Ukrainian television channels 112, NewsOne, and ZIK -- are actually owned by Vicktor Medvedchuk, the head of OPZZh’s political council and one of the richest and most influential individuals in the country.

SEE ALSO:

Behind The Scenes In Ukraine, Ties To Putin Help Power Broker Pull Strings 

The EU statement contrasts with the response from the United States, which said that "the US supports Ukraine's effort to counter Russia's malign influence in line with Ukrainian law, in defense of its sovereignty & territorial integrity."

Medvedchuk, who heads the Opposition Platform For Life’s political council, was sanctioned by the United States in March 2014 following the overthrow of pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych for his role in undermining democracy in Ukraine. He has denied that he owns the TV stations.

A Moscow court has sentenced Sergei Smirnov, the chief editor of the news website Mediazona, to 25 days in jail after finding him guilty of "repeated violations" of the law on mass gatherings.

The Tverskoi district court announced its ruling on February 3, sparking a chorus of condemnation from Russian media outlets as well as international watchdogs.

Smirnov was detained on January 30 near his home when, he says, he went out for a walk with his son. He was released shortly afterward but charged with violating the law on rallies.

According to the investigators, Smirnov posted a statement on Twitter that contained elements of calling for unsanctioned rallies to support jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny.

Smirnov has said that the charge stems from a joke he tweeted suggesting that some people see a similarity between him and the singer of the rock group Tarakany (Cockroaches), Dmitry Spirin, who openly supported Navalny.

The publisher of Mediazona, anti-Kremlin activist Pyotr Verzilov, tweeted that the Kremlin was "not only trying to harshly crack down on protests but is also trying to intimidate journalists who are writing about what's happening."

Syndicate 100, a coalition of independent Russian media outlets, said it was "convinced that Smirnov's arrest is linked to his professional activities."

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called for Smirnov’s immediate release, saying journalists in Russia "should be able to work without fear."

In late January, dozens of Navalny's associates and supporters were briefly detained in Moscow and other towns and cities before countrywide mass unsanctioned rallies on January 31 protesting Navalny's arrest earlier in the month.

On February 2, Navalny was found guilty of violating the terms of a suspended sentence from a 2014 embezzlement case and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. Given the time he had already spent in detention, the court said he would have to serve another 2 years and 8 months behind bars.

The court’s ruling caused new protests across the country, with more than 1,400 people being detained by police.

The United States suffered a defeat at the UN's highest court, where judges ruled that they can consider a case filed by Iran that seeks to lift U.S. sanctions on Tehran.

A majority of a panel of judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on February 3 found that The Hague-based body has jurisdiction in the dispute, rejecting U.S. arguments about admissibility.

Iran filed the case at the ICJ in 2018 after then-President Donald Trump’s administration withdrew the United States from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and reimposed sanctions on Tehran.

Iran argued the sanctions violated an obscure friendship treaty signed between the two countries in 1955, before Iran’s Islamic Revolution.

In a preliminary ruling in October 2018, the world court unanimously ruled that Washington should remove any restrictions on Iran related to the trade of medicines and medical devices, food, and agricultural commodities. The court said sanctions on such goods "required for humanitarian needs... may have a serious detrimental impact on the health and lives of individuals on the territory of Iran."

The Trump administration responded to the preliminary ruling by pulling out of the friendship treaty, known as The Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations and Consular Rights.

SEE ALSO:

U.S. Terminates 1955 'Friendship' Treaty With Iran After UN Court Ruling

Now that the court has ruled it can hear the case, it may take months or years to reach a conclusion.

The ICJ's rulings are binding, but it has no power to enforce them.

"Another legal victory for Iran following the October 2018 Order. Iran has always fully respected international law. High time for the U.S. to live up to international obligations," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters that Washington was "disappointed that the court did not accept our well-founded legal arguments that the case Iran brought is outside the court's jurisdiction.”

The ruling comes as President Joe Biden is seeking to kick-start diplomacy with Iran and "lengthen and strengthen" the fragile 2015 nuclear accord.

In response to the U.S. pullout and the crippling sanctions, Iran has gradually breached parts of the pact, which eased international sanctions in exchange for curbs on its disputed nuclear program, saying it is no longer bound by it.

Tehran is demanding that the United States first return to compliance with the deal by lifting sanctions before it adheres to the pact.

Earlier on February 3, Iranian President Hassan Rohani again ruled out changes to the nuclear accord and dismissed calls to broaden the terms of the deal.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested earlier this week that the European Union could help coordinate a synchronized return of both Washington and Tehran to compliance with the agreement.

The nuclear deal was signed by Britain, China, Iran, France, Russia, and the United States, plus Germany.

With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters

ORAL, Kazakhstan -- Police in Kazakhstan's northwestern city of Oral have prevented journalist Lukpan Akhmedyarov and several activists from traveling to the western city of Atyrau, where they planned to greet outspoken government critic Maks Boqaev upon his release from prison on February 4.

Activists in Oral told RFE/RL that Akhmedyarov, the chief editor of the independent newspaper Uralskaya Nedelya, was stopped by police on his way to Atyrau on February 3 and held for questioning in an unspecified case.

Akhmedyarov placed a video on Facebook showing the moment of his detention as he argued with police, saying that he had received a subpoena ordering him to show up on February 5 at a police station for questioning, which he was going to follow and therefore there was no need to hold him.

Four rights activists in Oral, Maqsat Aisauytov, Bekbolat Otebaev, Bauyrzhan Alipqaliev, and Orynbai Oqasov, also were summoned to the police on February 4. They say they were ordered to come to the police so that they were unable to travel to Atyrau on that day to attend Boqaev's release.

The police department in Oral told RFE/RL that the activists and Akhmedyarov were summoned over "a classified criminal case."

"Kazakhstan authorities are once again trying to prevent journalists from reporting on public interest issues, and this time they have targeted editor Lukpan Akhmedyarov," Gulnoza Said, Europe and Central Asia program coordinator at the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement.

"Instead of wasting their time detaining and threatening members of the press, authorities should encourage journalists to report on politics and expose corruption," she added.

A day earlier, police in Nur-Sultan, the capital, stopped a vehicle with four rights activists who were on their way to Atyrau, where they also planned to see Boqaev at the moment of his release. Police then impounded the vehicle, citing an unspecified investigation.

The 48-year-old activist Boqaev was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison on extremism charges in 2016 after he organized unsanctioned protests against land reform in Atyrau. While serving his term, Boqaev refused to ask for clemency, insisting that the case against him was politically motivated.

The United States, the European Union, and the United Nations have urged Kazakh authorities to release Boqaev.

Human rights organizations in Kazakhstan have recognized Boqaev as a political prisoner. Kazakhstan's government has insisted that there are no political prisoners in the country.

Russia and the United States have formally extended the New START nuclear arms-control treaty for another five years, just days before it was set to expire.

"Extending the New START Treaty makes the United States, U.S. allies and partners, and the world safer. An unconstrained nuclear competition would endanger us all," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a February 3 statement announcing the official extension of the treaty.

New START, the last remaining arms-control pact between Washington and Moscow, limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads at 1,550, deployed strategic delivery systems at 700, and provides for a verification regime.

President Joe Biden’s new administration said last month it would seek to extend the treaty in an announcement welcomed by Russia. That set off a bureaucratic scramble on both sides to formally ratify the treaty and exchange diplomatic notes before it was set to expire on February 5.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that extending the treaty until February 5, 2026, provides an opportunity to continue dialogue on arms control.

"It will take significant efforts to return the Russian-American dialogue in this area to a stable trajectory, to achieve new major results that strengthen our national security and strategic stability in the world. Russia is ready for such work," the Russian diplomatic service said.

Former President Donald Trump made a failed attempt late in his term to negotiate limits on other categories of nuclear weapons and to add China to the treaty. A bid to agree to a shorter extension also ran into complications, leaving the fate of the treaty to the incoming Biden administration.

Blinken said the extension of the treaty provides time for Moscow and Washington to negotiate a new verifiable arms-control arrangement while ensuring that the United States can monitor and verify limits on Russian strategic nuclear arms.

"The United States will use the time provided by a five-year extension of the New START Treaty to pursue with the Russian Federation, in consultation with Congress and U.S. allies and partners, arms control that addresses all of its nuclear weapons. We will also pursue arms control to reduce the dangers from China’s modern and growing nuclear arsenal,” Blinken said.

The treaty extension comes amid strained ties between Moscow and Washington, including most recently over the jailing of Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny and a crackdown on his supporters following the Kremlin critic's return from Germany for treatment from nerve agent poisoning.

Blinken said that while Washington would work with Moscow on arms control, the United States remains “clear eyed about the challenges that Russia poses to the United States and the world.”

"Even as we work with Russia to advance U.S. interests, so too will we work to hold Russia to account for adversarial actions as well as its human rights abuses, in close coordination with our allies and partners," Blinken said.

In recent comments, the Biden administration has suggested the United States is mulling a tougher response against Russia over a host of contentious issues including Ukraine, Russia's suspected involvement in the massive Solar Winds hack of the U.S. government and major businesses, unverified reports that Russian intelligence may have paid bounties to militants in Afghanistan to target U.S. troops, and any interference in the 2020 election.

With reporting by TASS and Interfax

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed a decree on resuming and increasing rail and air connections with four former Soviet republics after months of restrictions imposed over the coronavirus pandemic.

According to decrees signed by Mishustin on February 3, passenger trains from next week will resume service between Moscow and the Belarusian capital, Minsk, as well as between Moscow, St. Peterburg and Russia's western Kaliningrad exclave via Belarus.

The number of flights between Moscow and Minsk will also be increased from three to five per week, and weekly flights from Rostov-on-Don and St. Peterburg to Minsk will resume.

As of February 8, there will be more flights from Moscow to the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, as well, increasing from one to three per week.

Mishustin also signed a decree resuming two flights from Moscow to Azerbaijan and four flights from the Russian capital to Armenia each week as of February 15.

Based on reporting by RIA Novosti and Interfax

Alizhan Ibragimov, one of Kazakhstan's wealthiest men, has died at the age of 67.

The announcement was made on February 3 by the Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), in which Ibragimov owned a minority share.

No reason was given for the death, but the Bishkek-based Kaktus.media news website quoted unnamed sources as saying that the tycoon may have died as a result of a coronavirus-linked illness.

Ibragimov, who was of Uyghur origin, was known as one of Kazakhstan’s three richest individuals, all with strong ties to top Kazakh officials.

The trio also included Aleksandr Mashkevich and Patokh Shodiev.

Ibragimov owned a 20.7 percent share in ERG, a leading Kazakh-based natural resources group, operating in 15 countries.

In 2019, Forbes estimated Ibragimov's wealth at $2.3 billion. In 2020, Forbes listed Ibragimov as the fifth-richest entrepreneur in Kazakhstan.

Ibragimov also owned a 33 percent stake in the Eurasian Financial Company and the Eurasian Industrial Company.

BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov has approved a new, slimmed down government as the Central Asian nation moves forward less than four months after a public uprising ousted the country's rulers for the third time since 2005.

The new government was sworn in on February 3 after Japarov endorsed the parliament's approval of Prime Minister Ulukbek Maripov's cabinet.

The 42-year-old prime minister, who previously led Kyrgyzstan's Account Chamber, told parliament that the new government has been trimmed considerably -- listing 16 Cabinet members compared with the previous 48 members.

Kyrgyzstan has been in crisis since parliamentary elections in October 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 steadfastly denied the charge.

Japarov, 52, was elected as president last month after scoring a landslide victory in an election that international observers said "generally respected" fundamental freedoms even though the vote was not "fully fair."

Japarov was sworn in last month.

TASHKENT -- Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry has apologized to a Polish journalist who accused one of the ministry's officers of sexual harassment and pressuring her to write positive articles about the Central Asian nation in exchange for having her press accreditation prolonged.

The ministry also said on February 2 that the employee who was accused of sexually harassing journalist Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska had been fired.

Pikulicka-Wilczewska, an independent journalist who has worked for The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Diplomat, and Eurasianet, said on Twitter on February 1 that several requests to extend her press accreditation had been rejected over the past six months. She said the Foreign Ministry official dealing with her case had subjected her to sexual harassment, behavior that continued online.

The case triggered outrage and calls for Tashkent to investigate, including from Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director of Human Rights Watch, and Tim Torlot, the British ambassador to Uzbekistan.

In a Twitter post on February 2, Pikulicka-Wilczewska said that she had been informed that her accreditation would be prolonged and thanked everyone who supported her.

"I would like to thank each one of you who supported me in this ridiculous struggle. I've received massive support from everyone online and offline. You guys made it happen. I hope that together we will continue punishing Rustams all across Uzbekistan. You are the power," Pikulicka-Wilczewska wrote.

TERMIZ, Uzbekistan -- An Uzbek blogger critical of the local government in the southern Surxondaryo region has been arrested on charges that relatives say are trumped up.

Otabek Sattoriy was charged by the Interior Ministry’s investigative department on February 1 on extortion charges.

That came days after Sattoriy was taken from his home on January 29 by plainclothes security officers, his sister Farangiz Alimova told RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service on February 2.

Alimova provided RFE/RL with security-camera footage of the moment of her brother's detainment.

Alimova cited the blogger's lawyer as saying that Sattoriy had been charged with extorting cash and a mobile phone from unnamed individuals.

According to Sattoriy's relatives, a court in Termiz ruled on February 1 to place Sattoriy in pretrial detention.

They insist the charges against the blogger are fabricated.

The 40-year-old blogger has been known as a harsh critic of the region's governor Tora Bobolov. Sattoriy's popular video blog Halq Fikiri (People's Opinion) has been streamed on his Telegram and YouTube channels for some time.

In one of his recent postings, Sattoriy openly accused the local government of launching fabricated criminal cases against bloggers and vowed to continue to raise the issue of corruption among officials despite the "crackdown."

MOSCOW – Russia is dismissing Western criticism as "hysterics" after a Moscow court on February 2 sentenced Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny to prison, sparking more protests and arrests in the country.

Judge Natalya Repnikova ordered Navalny to prison for 2 years and 8 months for violating terms of parole while he had been recovering in Germany from a nerve-agent poisoning the Kremlin critic accuses President Vladimir Putin of ordering. Navalny's lawyer, Olga Mikhailova, said the ruling will be appealed.

The court decision drew strong criticism in the West, with the United States, Britain, Canada, and the European Union mulling a coordinated response against Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on February 3 accused the West of "going overboard" in its reaction to the ruling, which came after the Kremlin repeatedly dismissed calls for an investigation into the opposition figure's poisoning over the summer.

"The hysterics that we've heard over the judicial proceedings in Navalny's case is definitely going overboard," Lavrov was quoted as saying by TASS.

More than 1,400 people across the country, including more than 1,100 in Moscow, had been detained in protests following the court decision by the early hours of February 3, according to the independent monitoring group OVD-Info.

Russia experienced some of the largest anti-government protests in a decade over the past two weekends with hundreds of thousands assembling in more than 100 cities around the country. Police at times used violence as they detained some 10,000 people.

Thousands of Russians took to the streets to protest the sentencing of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny to a prison term of nearly three years on February 2. Russian security forces cracked down hard, detaining more than 1,400 of them, according to independent monitoring group OVD-Info.

Navalny was detained upon his return from Germany on January 17. The Russian Federal Penitentiary Service had accused him of parole violations relating to a suspended sentence he had been serving in a 2014 embezzlement case widely considered political.

"We are deeply dismayed by the sentencing of Russian opposition figure Aleksei Navalny by a court in Moscow yesterday," UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement on February 3. She noted that that the European Court of Human Rights had already unanimously found the fraud case to be "arbitrary, unfair and manifestly unreasonable."

Navalny has become the nation's most influential opposition figure after years of skillfully harnessing social media to channel growing discontent over a host of issues ranging from falling living standards to perceptions of corruption against Putin and the ruling elite.

In a statement to the court on February 2, Navalny repeatedly mocked Putin while stressing the aim of the hearing was to try to intimidate anyone who stood up to the Kremlin.

LISTEN To Excerpts Of Navalny's Speech In Court

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'Vladimir The Underpants Poisoner': Navalny Mocks Putin In Court

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"The main thing in this whole trial isn't what happens to me. Locking me up isn't difficult," he told the court. "What matters most is why this is happening. This is happening to intimidate large numbers of people. They're imprisoning one person to frighten millions."

Putin opted for such a harsh sentence "to make Navalny -- and others -- realize that they face the prospect of spending the rest of their lives behind bars," Tatiana Stanovaya, a founder of the think tank R.Politik, said in a tweet.

She warned that other groups, including liberal media, nongovernmental organizations, and opposition-minded activists, will face increased pressure as the Kremlin seeks to quell dissent.

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What's Next For Navalny And Russia's Beleaguered Opposition?

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The sweeping crackdown has targeted many of Navalny's aides with detention, fines, and house arrest.

Recent developments come as the Kremlin prepares for key parliamentary elections in September. Putin controls the parliament through the ruling United Russia party, which rubber-stamps his legislation.

However, the party's ratings are slumping as the economy and wages stagnate. Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation is seeking to chip away at Kremlin control through a campaign to encourage voters to reject United Russia candidates at the ballot box.

SEE ALSO:

Russia's Opposition Takes Stock After Navalny Jailing

"Putin needs Navalny in jail during Russia's next round of elections. That is obvious. He fears Navalny," Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, said in a tweet.

The West's relationship with Russia had already been tense following a host of malign activities that the EU, the United States, and other countries have pinned on the Kremlin, including election interference, state-sponsored hacks, and the use of chemical weapons.

The jailing of Navalny could trigger yet more moves against the Kremlin as the West, with new leadership in Washington, seeks to show greater resolve on a range of issues with Russia.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was "deeply concerned" by Navalny's jailing and called on Russia to release "the hundreds of other Russian citizens wrongfully detained in recent weeks for exercising their rights."

"Even as we work with Russia to advance U.S. interests, we will coordinate closely with our allies and partners to hold Russia accountable for failing to uphold the rights of its citizens," he said in a statement.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who is expected in Moscow from February 4-6 to meet with top Russian officials and members of civil society, issued a similar condemnation ahead of his visit.

In a statement on behalf of the EU, he said the bloc would discuss "implications and possible further action" at an upcoming foreign ministers meeting.

European officials previously said they would wait for the court decision to make any move, including further sanctions on top of those imposed following Navalny's poisoning.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service, Current Time, AFP, AP, Reuters, and TASS.

KYIV -- Ukraine has sanctioned the media assets connected to a political heavyweight with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kyiv’s latest move against pro-Kremlin figures inside the country.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on February 2 signed off on the sanctions proposed by his national-security team against three television stations nominally owned by Taras Kozak, a member of the pro-Russian faction Opposition Platform For Life.

However, Ukrainian media claim the broadcasters -- Ukrainian television channels 112, NewsOne, and ZIK -- are actually owned by Viktor Medvedchuk, the head of the faction’s political council and one of the richest and most influential individuals in the country.

Medvedchuk denies he owns the television stations.

The 66-year-old Medvedchuk, who picked Putin to be the godfather of his daughter, was sanctioned by the United States in March 2014 following the overthrow of pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych for his role in undermining democracy in Ukraine.

As a result of the sanctions approved on February 2, the stations were immediately shut down but they continue to stream their content on the Internet.

Zelenskiy said in a posting on Twitter that the move had been a difficult decision and that Ukraine supported freedom of speech but not "propaganda financed by the aggressor country."

Serhiy Leshchenko, a former member of Ukraine’s parliament, called the sanctions against the stations a “powerful step” and described the stations as a “Russian Trojan horse” for disseminating Kremlin propaganda inside the country.

Leshchenko called for YouTube to ban the stations.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the presidential office, told local media that the channels were “quite actively and often openly used as tools of foreign propaganda in Ukraine.”

"By shutting down opposition television channels, Zelenskiy acknowledged his inability to withstand political competition," Aleksei Pushkov, a political analyst and frequent critic of the West who is also a member of the upper house of the Russian parliament, wrote on Twitter.

"We regard this decision...as a political reprisal against objectionable media," channels 112, NewsOne, and ZiK said in a joint statement quoted by Reuters.

The move is the latest in a series taken by Kyiv since late January against figures considered Russian agents and follow the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden, a staunch supporter of Ukraine.

It also comes a day after the first call between the new U.S. administration and Zelenskiy's government.

On February 1, Zelenskiy’s Servant Of The People party voted to expel Oleksandr Dubinskiy, a lawmaker that Washington had put under sanctions over alleged interference in the 2020 U.S. election.

And on January 28, Ukraine announced it had launched a criminal investigation into attempts by individuals to interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

The U.S. Treasury Department in September 2020 sanctioned Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Derkach for interfering in the U.S. election, accusing him of being a Russian agent.

Derkach published what he claimed was compromising information on Biden and his son, Hunter, in the months leading up to the November election in what was seen as an attempt to help incumbent President Donald Trump.

Treasury in January also sanctioned seven individuals and four entities it claimed were associated with Derkach’s influence operation, including Dubinskiy.

Zelenskiy’s former national-security chief, Oleksandr Danylyuk, warned on January 27 that his former boss would have to clean house of those officials connected to the interference operation as it sought better relations with the new U.S. administration.

The United States has been one of the biggest backers of Ukraine as it seeks to reform its economy and integrate with the European Union. Washington has given Ukraine more than $1.6 billion in military aid since 2014 to combat Russian aggression as well as billions in financial aid.

Biden oversaw Ukraine policy while serving as vice president from 2009 to 2017.

With reporting by Reuters

A judge in Moscow has ordered a suspended 3 1/2 year sentence that opposition politician Aleksei Navalny received in 2014 to be changed to time in a penal colony, adding that time previously spent under house arrest in the sentence would count as time served, thus reducing his incarceration to 2 years and 8 months.

The following are reactions to the February 2 court ruling from around the world:

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken

"The United States is deeply concerned by the Russian authorities’ decision to sentence opposition figure Aleksei Navalny to two years and eight months imprisonment, replacing his suspended sentence with jail time."

“We reiterate our call for his immediate and unconditional release as well as the release of all those wrongfully detained for exercising their rights.”

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab

“Today’s perverse ruling, targeting the victim of a poisoning rather than those responsible, shows Russia is failing to meet the most basic commitments expected of any responsible member of the international community,” Raab said in a statement.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas

"Today's verdict against Aleksei Navalny is a bitter blow against fundamental freedoms & the rule of law in Russia," Maas said on Twitter.

French President Emmanuel Macron

“The condemnation of Aleksei Navalny is unacceptable. Political disagreement is never a crime. We call for his immediate release,” Macron said on Twitter.

EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell

"The sentencing of Aleksei Navalny runs counter to Russia's international commitments on rule of law and fundamental freedoms," Borrell wrote on Twitter, adding that the prison sentence goes against a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis

"The dialogue between the European Union and Russia is now possible only in the language of sanctions,” Landsbergis said. "If the community doesn't hurry, Lithuania will consider its own national sanctions," he added.

Amnesty International

The London-based rights group said in a statement that the February 2 court ruling "is the latest indication that the Russian authorities are spiraling out of control in their desperation to silence their critics.”

“In their vendetta against Aleksei Navalny and his supporters, the Russian authorities have shredded any remaining veneer of justice and respect for human rights. The politically motivated sentencing of Aleksei Navalny shows the true face of the Russian authorities, who seem intent on locking up anyone who dares to speak out against their abuses and repression of human rights,” Natalya Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Moscow Office Director, was quoted as saying in the statement.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul

“Putin's decision to jail Navalny today is not surprising, but still tragic and depressing. Putin's level of autocratic repression, including now this absurd show trial that we witnessed today, shows that he has more in common with Stalin than any recent Soviet/Russian leader,” McFaul said on Twitter.

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic

"With this decision, the Russian authorities not only further exacerbate human rights violations as already established by the European Court of Human Rights, they also send a signal undermining the protection of the rights of all Russian citizens and affecting the integrity of the European system of human rights protection. The Russian authorities should restore a climate of respect for human rights based on the international standards by which the Russian Federation is bound.”

Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek

"Sentence for #Navalny is no surprise with a clear motivation of the regime to silence the opposition. Czechia demands his immediate release as this is a show trial. Unfortunately, we remember a number of those from our own history. The #EU should return to the issue of sanctions."

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) says it has decided not to appeal the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) ruling that halved Russia's international ban for doping offenses to the Swiss federal court.

WADA made the announcement in a statement on February 2, saying an appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal would be restricted to procedural matters and could not interfere with the CAS panel's assessment of the proportionality of Russia's punishment.

“As a result, and following unanimous advice from in-house and external legal counsels, WADA strongly believes an appeal would have served no useful purpose and decided to refrain from doing so,” the global anti-doping watchdog said.

In December 2020, the CAS halved an original four-year doping ban imposed by WADA on Russia for manipulating lab samples and doping test data.

The ban prevents the country from competing as a nation at major sporting events for two years, including the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, which were delayed this year, and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

However, Russian athletes are able to compete under a neutral flag if they prove no connection to doping.

On January 25, Russia's anti-doping agency, RUSADA, said it regarded the CAS decision as “flawed” but decided not to appeal the ruling.

Iran's parliament has rejected a draft state budget proposed by President Hassan Rohani’s government, amid a political struggle between moderates and conservative hard-liners ahead of the presidential election in June.

State TV reported on February 2 that of the 261 lawmakers present in the 290-seat parliament, which is dominated by hard-liners, 148 voted against the bill while 99 backed it. The rest abstained.

Opponents of the proposed budget for the year beginning on March 21 argued that its heavy deficit and unrealistic oil-income forecast would worsen inflation and burden an economy already hit hard by U.S. sanctions imposed on Iran under former President Donald Trump.

The rejection of the draft budget came after much discussion in various parliamentary committees since Rohani’s government, seen as moderate, presented the bill in December 2020.

The administration now has two weeks to submit a new draft budget, and if the impasse is not resolved a temporary budget would have to be passed for one to three months, Iranian news agencies quoted lawmakers as saying.

Government spokesman Ali Rabiei said it is willing to modify the bill, but without "changing the overall structure and projecting unrealistic earnings."

In 2018, Trump pulled the United States out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, and started imposing crippling sanctions on Iran as part a “maximum pressure” campaign aimed at forcing the country to negotiate a new agreement that would also address the country’s missile programs and its support for regional proxies.

In response, Iran has gradually breached parts of the pact saying it is no longer bound by it, despite international calls for Tehran to return to full compliance.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on February 2 that Iran was enriching uranium with a larger number of advanced centrifuge machines, deepening a key breach of the nuclear accord.

“Thanks to our diligent nuclear scientists, two cascades of 348 IR2m centrifuges with almost 4 times the capacity of IR1 are now running with UF6 successfully in Natanz. Installation of 2 cascades of IR6 centrifuges has also been started in Fordow,” Gharibabadi tweeted.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on February 1 said that Washington is willing to return to compliance with the 2015 accord if Iran does, and then work with U.S. allies and partners on a "longer and stronger" agreement including other issues.

Iranian officials insist that the United States should make the first move by returning to the nuclear agreement, which eased international sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran's disputed nuclear program.

They also say the country’s missile program and regional policies are off the table.

In an interview broadcast on February 1, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested that the United States and Iran take synchronized steps to return to the nuclear accord.

In response, State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on February 2 that the U.S. administration will be "consulting with our allies, consulting with our partners, consulting with Congress before we're reaching the point where we're going to engage directly with the Iranians and [be] willing to entertain any sort of proposal."

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has decided that the Latvian capital, Riga, will be the sole host for the 2021 World Championship, after Minsk was stripped of the right to co-host the competition last month.

The IIHF said in a statement on February 2 that the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, and Herning in Denmark offered to co-host the tournament in May-June, but the organization decided it was best to keep all teams in Riga throughout the event and avoid travel amid the coronavirus pandemic.

On January 18, the IIHF said it had decided to move the 2021 World Championship from Minsk due to safety and security issues that are "beyond its control," amid mounting pressure from European countries and sponsors for Belarus to be stripped of its role as co-host of the tournament because of an ongoing crackdown by authorities following a disputed election last year.

Strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka has faced protests since the August 9 presidential vote, which handed him a sixth presidential term in a contest the opposition says was rigged.

The European Union and the United States have declined to recognize Lukashenka’s reelection and have imposed sanctions in connection with the violent crackdown on protesters.

In its February 2 statement, the IIHF said the 2021 World Championship would take place in Riga under a number of conditions, including that all 16 participating teams should be housed in one hotel.

“The IIHF Council cited the ongoing challenges placed by COVID-19 together with various technical reasons for its decision to keep the tournament in one city,” the federation said.

“With continued uncertainty surrounding international travel restrictions, the council believes that keeping all teams in Riga throughout the tournament and avoiding travel between two host countries is the safest and most cost-effective way to operate the event,” it added.

A prominent U.S investor went on trial in Moscow on February 2 nearly two years after he was arrested on embezzlement charges that rattled Russia’s business community.

Michael Calvey, the founder of the private equity group Baring Vostok, and other executives were detained in February 2019. They have denied wrongdoing and said the charges against them are being used to pressure them in a business dispute over control of Vostochny Bank.

In the Moscow courtroom on February 2, Calvey again proclaimed his innocence.

"The allegation against me is not only unreasonable and unfair, but also illegal," Calvey told the judge, speaking in Russian.

On trial with Calvey is Philippe Delpal, a French national who was among the executives detained in February 2019.

Delpal also denied his guilt, saying the case is a "continuation of unfounded speculation and fabrications,” according to the AFP news agency.

The trial is set to resume on February 17.

The case against Baring Vostok has troubled Russia’s business community and prompted several prominent officials and businessmen to voice concerns about the treatment of the executives.

In November 2020, Russia’s Supreme Court greatly reduced the terms of detention for Calvey and the six others under house arrest.

The court ruled the seven businessmen could not leave their residence at night and not be in contact with each other, send or receive mail, or use telephones unless in case of emergency.

Baring Vostok is one of the largest and oldest private-equity firms operating in Russia. It was founded in the early 1990s and manages more than $3.7 billion in assets. The company was an early major investor in Yandex, Russia's dominant search engine.

Calvey is one of three Americans currently held in Russia on charges supporters say are groundless. Paul Whelan, a former U.S. marine, was sentenced in June 2020 to 16 years on espionage charges, which he has vehemently rejected.

Another former U.S. marine, Trevor Reed, was sentenced to nine years in prison in late July after a Moscow court found him guilty of assaulting two police officers, a charge that he refused to admit.

With reporting by Interfax and AFP

Russian scientists say the country's Sputnik-V vaccine appears safe and effective against COVID-19, according to early results of an advanced study published in a British medical journal.

Researchers say that, based on their trial, which involved about 20,000 people in Russia last fall, the vaccine is about 91 percent effective in preventing people from developing COVID-19. The study was published online on February 2 in the journal, The Lancet.

Scientists not linked to the research acknowledged that the speed at which the Russia vaccine was made and rolled out was criticized for "unseemly haste, corner cutting and an absence of transparency."

"But the outcome reported here is clear," British scientists Ian Jones and Polly Roy wrote in an accompanying commentary. "Another vaccine can now join the fight to reduce the incidence of COVID-19."

The Sputnik-V vaccine was approved by the Russian government with much fanfare on August 11. At the time, the vaccine had only been tested in several dozens of people.

Some early results were published in September, but participants had only been followed for about 42 days and there was no comparison group.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund, which helped finance Sputnik V, said last month that more than 1 million Russians had been vaccinated with it. But some Russian media questioned the number, suggesting that the rollout had been much slower.

Outside Russia, Sputnik V has received authorization in more than a dozen countries, according to the fund.

The data release comes as Europe scrambles to secure enough shots for its 450 million citizens due to production cuts by AstraZeneca and Pfizer while the U.S. roll-out has been hampered by the need to store shots in ultracold freezers and uneven planning across states.

Hungarian authorities were the first in the European Union to approve Sputnik V last month, and Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Facebook that the country received a first batch of 40,000 doses on February 2.

However, the National Public Health Center must still give its final approval before shots are distributed to the public.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and AP

Iran has agreed to allow the crew members of a South Korean vessel it seized for allegedly polluting the environment to leave the country,

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh was quoted by state media on February 2 as saying Tehran was releasing the crew of 20 as a "humanitarian move."

"Following a request by the South Korean government...the crew of the Korean ship, which was detained on charges of causing environmental pollution in the Persian Gulf, have received permission to leave the country in a humanitarian move by Iran," Khatibzadeh said.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) seized the South Korean-flagged MT Hankuk Chemi on January 4 and detained its crew near the strategic Strait of Hormuz over pollution violations -- an allegation rejected by the ship's operator.

The move came amid tensions over Iranian funds frozen in Seoul because of U.S. sanctions.

The frozen assets stem from oil sales earned before Washington tightened sanctions on Iran following the U.S. withdrawal from a landmark nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.

The Iranian government has rejected allegations that the seizure of the tanker amounted to hostage taking.

MOSCOW -- A Moscow court has ordered Aleksei Navalny to serve 2 years and 8 months in prison after finding him guilty of violating his parole in a reversal of a suspended sentence the Russian opposition politician says was driven by President Vladimir Putin’s “fear and hatred.”

Judge Natalya Repnikova on February 2 ordered a suspended 3 1/2 year sentence Navalny received in 2014 to be changed to time in a penal colony, adding that time previously spent under house arrest in the sentence would count as time served, thus reducing his incarceration to 2 years and 8 months. Navalny's lawyer, Olga Mikhailova, said the ruling will be appealed.

Immediately after the ruling, Navalny’s supporters called for further large-scale protests that have rocked the country over the past two weekends while also kneecapping his team’s ability to campaign against the ruling United Russia party ahead of key parliamentary elections in September.

The court decision sparked severe Western criticism amid already tense relations.

The United States condemned the decision. "We reiterate our call for the Russian government to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Navalny, as well as the hundreds of other Russian citizens wrongfully detained in recent weeks for exercising their rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on February 2, minutes after the ruling in a Moscow court.

"Today’s perverse court decision shows Russia is failing to meet the most basic commitments expected of any responsible member of the international community,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominik Raab said in a tweet.

The judge made the ruling following a tense hearing that preceded two hours of deliberation. Navalny faced a maximum sentence of 3 1/2 years in prison.

Hundreds of Navalny supporters gathered in the vicinity of the courthouse, which had been blocked off by law enforcement, to await the ruling. At least 300 had been detained prior to the judge’s decision, according to independent rights monitor OVD-Info.

WATCH: RFE/RL's Russian Service Live Coverage

The ruling comes after tens of thousands of Russians across the country rallied the past two weekends calling for the release of Navalny in some of the biggest protests against Putin’s rule in a decade.

The anti-corruption campaigner has been held in detention since his high-stakes return on January 17 from Germany, where he had been recovering from an August nerve-agent poisoning he blames Putin of ordering.

The Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) accuses Navalny of parole violations relating to a suspended sentence he had been serving in a 2014 embezzlement case he calls trumped up.

"Today’s verdict against Alexey @navalny is a bitter blow against fundamental freedoms & the rule of law in #Russia. Already in 2017, the #ECHR criticized criminal prosecution in this case as arbitrary. Alexey #Navalny must be released immediately,” German Foreign Minister Heikko Maas said in a tweet.

'Vladimir The Underpants Poisoner'

In a statement to the court earlier in the day, Navalny mocked Putin -- whom he accuses of being behind a poison attack that almost killed him -- repeatedly while stressing the aim of the hearing was to try and intimidate anyone who stood up to the Kremlin.

“Everyone was convinced that he’s just a bureaucrat who was accidentally appointed to his position. He’s never participated in any debates. Murder is the only way he knows how to fight. He’ll go down in history as nothing but a poisoner. We all remember Aleksandr the Liberator and Yaroslav the Wise. Well, now we’ll have Vladimir the Poisoner of Underpants,” Navalny said in his address to the court, referring to how his attackers allegedly laced his underwear with a military-grade nerve agent to poison him.

Unlike other times when he appeared via video link from a pretrial detention center, Navalny was present in court as he outlined how the European Court of Human Rights ruled that his 2014 conviction was unlawful, adding that Russian officials had admitted as much by paying him compensation in line with the ruling.

“The main thing in this whole trial isn’t what happens to me. Locking me up isn’t difficult. What matters most is why this is happening. This is happening to intimidate large numbers of people. They’re imprisoning one person to frighten millions,” Navalny, wearing a blue hoodie, said as he faced the court in a glass-enclosed holding cell.

“Everything I’m saying now reflects my attitude toward the performance you’ve staged here. This is what happened when lawlessness and tyranny become the essence of a political system, and it’s horrifying,” he added.

Nationwide Protests

Navalny’s detention and growing public anger over perceptions of rampant corruption and deteriorating living conditions has spurred tens of thousands to protest across the country the past two weekends.

Police have responded with a sometimes violent crackdown, detaining some 10,000 people. Many of Navalny's close associates and his wife, Yulia, have been either detained, fined, or ordered under house arrest.

Expecting more of the same, police were out in force ahead of the hearing at the Moscow City Court. Surrounding streets were closed, and many police were deployed around the court complex equipped with riot gear. Police buses also lined nearby streets.

Before proceedings began, Navalny praised Yulia, his wife, who was present after being fined the previous day for taking part in a protest to demand his release.

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WATCH: Russian Police Reportedly Detain Hundreds Outside Navalny Court Hearing

"They said that you had seriously violated public order and were a bad girl. I'm proud of you," Navalny said via a microphone from his glass-walled holding cell.

At the hearing, the FSIN repeated its request for the court to convert that suspended sentence into a real jail term of up to 3 1/2 years.

An FSIN representative told the court that Navalny had violated public order many times since being handed the original suspended sentence, which ended last month, and that he had systematically failed to report in to register.

Navalny said he was unable to report to the prison service at the end of last year because he was recovering in Germany where he was flown in an air ambulance after being poisoned in Siberia. The FSIN said its complaints predated his poisoning and that Navalny had in any case been well enough to meet journalists after being discharged from a Berlin hospital in September 2020.

Navalny told the court that the whole country knew he had been poisoned and was in Germany at the end of last year.

"On what grounds are you saying you didn't know where I was? You're misleading the court," he told the FSIN official, who told Navalny he should have got in touch to formally inform the service of his circumstances

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Navalny Appears In Moscow Court For Hearing On Jailing

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As the hearing proceeded, the Kremlin accused Western diplomats of trying to influence the court.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted cars with diplomatic license plates were seen near the court, warning "diplomats mustn't resort to actions that may be associated with attempts to pressure the court."

It was not clear whether any diplomats were actually inside the courtroom where the hearing was taking place on February 2.

The jailing of Navalny and the crackdown on protests have stoked international outrage, with Western officials calling for his release and condemning the arrests of demonstrators.

"Sweden and the EU are concerned about the situation with democracy, civil society, and human rights in Russia," Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde, the current chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said during talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

The diplomat said Navalny's poisoning and the response by Russian authorities to the street protests will be part of the discussion.

Peskov said that Russia is ready for dialogue about Navalny, but sternly warned that it wouldn't take Western criticism into account.

"We are ready to patiently explain everything but we aren't going to react to mentor-style statements or take them into account," he said in a conference call with reporters on February 2.

The Kremlin has dismissed extensive evidence that state agents poisoned Navalny and has rejected international calls for his release.

Prosecutors claim Navalny broke the terms of a 2014 suspended sentence in an embezzlement case for not checking in while receiving life-saving treatment in Germany.

The European Court for Human Rights has already ruled the so-called Yves Rocher fraud case was "arbitrary and manifestly unreasonable."

In a television interview aired on February 1, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was "deeply disturbed by the violent crackdown" and that the U.S. administration was considering a response to Navalny’s detention as well as other issues of concern.

Blinken did not commit to specific sanctions against Moscow.

EU officials have said they were waiting to respond -- including more comprehensive sanctions -- pending the outcome of the Navalny’s hearing.

EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell is expected in Moscow from February 4-6 to meet with top Russian officials and civil society.

Navalny’s detention and poisoning is expected to be high on the agenda.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service, Reuters, AP, AFP, and dpa

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has pledged continued U.S. economic and military support to Ukraine under President Joe Biden's new administration.

In a phone call with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on February 1, Blinken "emphasized strong bipartisan support for Ukraine and the priority the United States places on Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and Euro-Atlantic aspirations," the State Department said in a readout of the call.
"He pledged to continue robust U.S. economic and military assistance to Ukraine," it added, while working on a diplomatic resolution to Russia's aggression in eastern Ukraine and Crimea.

Blinken also called on Ukraine to maintain progress on fighting corruption and implementing rule of law and economic reforms. The two also discussed the coronavirus pandemic.

Ukraine relies on Washington's support against Russia since Moscow illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 and backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Turkey and Azerbaijan have begun large-scale joint military exercises in eastern Anatolia near the border with Armenia.

The winter military exercises, set to run from February 1 to 12 near the city of Kars, are the latest sign of deepening ties between the Turkic allies after Turkey threw its weight behind Azerbaijan in its victory against ethnic Armenian forces in a six-week war over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement the drills are intended to ensure combat coordination and capabilities under winter conditions.

On Twitter, it posted a video of two combat helicopters saluting the Turkish flag above Kars castle.

On January 30, a joint Turkish-Russian observation center to monitor the cease-fire between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh began operations inside Azerbaijan, giving Ankara a greater footprint in the South Caucasus.

Under the Russian-brokered cease-fire agreement reached on November 9, a chunk of Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani administration after almost 30 years under the control of ethnic Armenians.

More than 4,700 people were killed in the flare-up of violence.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's party has voted to expel a lawmaker after he was put under U.S. sanctions over alleged U.S. election interference.

A majority of lawmakers from the Servant of the People party on February 1 voted to remove Oleksandr Dubinskiy from the ruling party's parliamentary faction.

Deputy Olha Vasylevska-Smahlyuk wrote on her Telegram channel that Dubinskiy was expelled in "the shortest meeting of the Servant of the People faction ever."

The faction voted 198 to 29 to remove the controversial lawmaker from the party. Nineteen party members abstained.

Dubinskiy denies the election meddling allegations and in a statement after the decision condemned the party.

"We have seen the true face of political actors in both the president's office and the Ukrainian parliament, and we are well aware that this is a manipulative result that was needed by specific people to receive specific political dividends and to solve their own problems," he told the press.

The U.S. Treasury on January 11 imposed sanctions on seven individuals and four entities, accusing them of U.S. election interference and involvement in a Russia-linked foreign-influence network associated with Ukrainian parliament deputy Andriy Derkach. Among those blacklisted was Dubinskiy.

Derkach, who was sanctioned separately in September, has been linked to efforts by then-President Donald Trump's allies to find compromising information on President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.

Trump's request to Zelenskiy during a July 2019 call led the U.S. House of Representatives to impeach the former president for two crimes. Trump was eventually acquitted by the Senate in early 2020, but the case damaged his administration's relationship with Kyiv.

Ukraine relies on Washington for support against Russia since Moscow illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 and backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

In late January, Ukraine's presidential office said it had launched a criminal investigation into attempts to interfere in the November U.S. presidential election and would do everything in its power to bring to justice those who attempted to damage relations between Ukraine and the United States.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and Reuters

Iran's ambassador to London has condemned a film produced by a U.K.-based company, claiming that the film undermines the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.

The film, titled The Lady Of Heaven, revolves around the story of an Iraqi child who learns the importance of patience by discovering the story of Fatima Zahra, the daughter of Muhammad.

"In a letter to the Shi'ite and Sunni Islamic centers in the U.K., I categorically condemned the film...as a divisive action, and expressed concern over attempts to create division and hatred among Muslims at this sensitive time," Ambassador Hamid Baeidinejad tweeted on February 1.

Baeidinejad urged the both Shi'a and Sunnis to "be vigilant and act in unity to condemn this film and resort to legal steps to ban the film in the U.K."

Several senior Iranians clerics have reportedly condemned the movie, saying it promotes discord between Shi'a and Sunnis.

It has been also condemned in Pakistan, where the telecommunications authority last month ordered social-media platforms to block all content related to the "sacrilegious" movie.

With reporting by Mehr and Express Tribune