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- By RFE/RL
Biden Says 'America Is Back' As He Strikes New Tone In U.S. Foreign Policy
President Joe Biden has promised a new era in U.S foreign policy, declaring "America is back" on the global stage and vowing to confront “authoritarianism" in China and Russia while reengaging with allies.
In his first foreign policy address as president, Biden on February 4 said his administration will seek to lead in the world after four years under President Donald Trump.
"American leadership must meet this new moment of advancing authoritarianism, including the growing ambitions of China to rival the United States and the determination of Russia to damage and disrupt our democracy,” Biden said, speaking at the State Department.
The Kremlin on February 5 called Biden's comments on Russia "aggressive," but said it hopes the new administration will be pragmatic in its approach to foreign relations.
In a series of policy announcements, Biden said he would halt a Trump-initiated redeployment of troops stationed in Germany, end U.S. support for offensive operations to the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen and increase the refugee cap to 125,000 from the current Trump-imposed cap of 15,000.
He also attempted to vanquish any doubts about the strength of U.S. democracy after the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6 and signaled a desire to rebuild alliances frayed under Trump’s "America First" foreign policy.
"Investing in our diplomacy isn't something we do just because it's the right thing to do for the world," he said. "We do it in order to live in peace, security, and prosperity. We do it because it's in our own naked self-interest."
On Russia, Biden said he warned President Vladimir Putin in their first call that the days of the United States "rolling over" to Russia’s “aggressive actions” have come to an end.
"I made it clear to President Putin, in a manner very different than my predecessor, that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia's aggressive actions -- interfering with our elections, cyberattacks, poisoning its citizens -- are over," Biden said.
"We will not hesitate to raise the cost on Russia and defend our vital interest and our people," Biden said.
His comments on Russia come as Washington and its European allies barrel toward fresh tensions with Moscow over the jailing of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny.
"Mr. Navalny, like all Russian citizens, is entitled to his rights under the Russian Constitution. He's been targeted for exposing corruption. He should be released immediately and without condition," the U.S. president said.
A Moscow court this week ordered Navalny to serve nearly 3 1/2 years in prison after he returned to Russia in January from Germany, where he had been receiving treatment for a nerve agent poisoning. Having already spent time in detention, he will serve 2 years and 8 months behind bars.
More than 10,000 Russian protesters have been arrested during protests demanding Navalny’s release.
"The Russian efforts to suppress freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are a matter of deep concern to us and the international community," Biden said.
Biden said Washington and Moscow could still cooperate in some areas, pointing to the New START arms control treaty that the two sides extended by five years this week.
The Kremlin described Biden's comments as aggressive and unconstructive, but said it hoped the two countries could set aside their differences and cooperate where it made sense.
"This is very aggressive, unconstructive rhetoric, to our regret," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on February 5.
"Any hints of ultimatums are unacceptable to us. We have already said that we won't pay attention to any lecturing announcements," he added.
China also featured prominently in his speech as the Biden administration seeks to pursue a pivot of U.S. economic, political, and military power to the Asia-Pacific region.
Trump sought a warm relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping early in his term, but differences over trade, Hong Kong, and Beijing's behavior in the South China Sea created a rift.
Calling Beijing "our most serious competitor," Biden said the United States would take on challenges posed to U.S. prosperity, security, and democratic values directly.
"We will confront China's economic abuses, counter its aggressive course of action to push back China's attack on human rights, intellectual property, and global governance," he said. "But we're ready to work with Beijing, when it's in America's interest to do so."
With reporting by AFP, dpa, AP, and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Macron Renews Call For Dialogue With Russia, Floats Himself As Broker In U.S.-Iran Talks
French President Emmanuel Macron has renewed his call for dialogue with Russia despite what he called its "huge mistake" in jailing opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, and offered to be an "honest broker" in talks between the United States and Iran.
Amid lasting tensions between the West and Russia, Macron has long pushed for a working relationship with Moscow under President Vladimir Putin and renewed his commitment to the strategy during a question and answer session with the Atlantic Council think tank on February 4.
His latest comments come as Moscow continues to ignore international calls to release Navalny, who on February 2 was sentenced to jail for almost three years for violating the terms of parole while recovering in Germany from a nerve-agent poisoning in August 2020. The Kremlin critic accuses Putin of ordering his poisoning -- a charge rejected by Russian officials.
"I think this is a huge mistake, even for Russian stability today," Macron said of the Moscow court's ruling, which critics say aims to silence Navalny.
But the French president also said that he favored dialogue with Moscow because Russia is "part of Europe."
It was "impossible" to have peace and stability in Europe without being able to negotiate with Russia, he said.
The West’s relationship with Russia has been severely strained over a variety of issues including Moscow’s seizure of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, its support for separatists in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, election interference, and hacks that the European Union, the United States, and other countries have pinned on the Kremlin.
'Honest Broker'
On Iran, Macron offered himself as a “honest broker” in talks between Tehran and Washington in order to revive a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.
"I will do whatever I can to support any initiative from the U.S. side to reengage in a demanding dialogue, and I will...try to be an honest broker and a committed broker in this dialogue," he said.
In 2018, former President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, and started imposing crippling sanctions on Iran as part of 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 to the U.S. moves, which were accompanied by increased tensions between Iran, the United States, and its allies, Tehran has gradually breached parts of the pact saying it is no longer bound by it.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on February 1 said that the new administration of President Joe Biden 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.
The next day, State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters that the U.S. administration would 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."
Price was responding to comments made by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggesting that the United States and Iran take synchronized steps to return to the nuclear accord.
Iranian officials have insisted that the United States should make the first move by returning to the agreement, which eased international sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran's disputed nuclear program.
They have also said that the country’s missile program and regional policies are off the table.
Macron argued in favor of new negotiations with Iran that would also place limits on Iran's ballistic missile program and include Israel and Saudi Arabia.
The two Iran foes were fiercely opposed to the 2015 deal and supported Trump's decision to pull the United States out.
"We have to find a way to involve in these discussions Saudi Arabia and Israel because they are some of the key partners of the region directly interested by the outcomes with our other friends of the region," Macron said.
With reporting by AFP and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Biden Says He Warned Putin U.S. Will No Longer Look The Other Way
U.S. President Joe Biden says he has warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that the days of the United States "rolling over" with regard to Russia's transgressions have ended.
"I made it clear to President Putin, in a manner very different than my predecessor, that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia's aggressive actions -- interfering with our elections, cyberattacks, poisoning its citizens -- are over," Biden said on February 4 in a speech to the State Department in Washington during his first visit to the country's diplomatic nerve center.
He also urged Russia to release opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, adding: "We will not hesitate to raise the cost to Russia."
Serbia 'Dismantles' Soccer-Hooligan Crime Gang
BELGRADE -- Serbian authorities say they have arrested 17 people in a crackdown on a crime syndicate linked to hooligans who support a Belgrade soccer club.
The arrests took place overnight and were the result of a joint operation of Serbian police and the intelligence agency, Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin said in a statement on February 4.
Vulin said the suspects were accused of murder, extortion, and drug trafficking.
Police official Ninoslav Cmolic said that "the dismantled criminal group was hiding behind" a group of supporters of the Partizan Belgrade soccer club.
Serbia's hard-core soccer fans are notorious for their rowdiness in stadiums, while some have also been accused of using sport as a front for engaging in organized crime.
In recent years, the Balkan country has seen a string of gangland-style killings of members of soccer supporters' groups.
Partizan fan leader Veljko Belivuk, nicknamed Velja Nevolja (Velja the Trouble) and a close associate, Marko Miljkovic, were among those arrested in the overnight raids.
Belivuk has been linked to criminal activity in the past but reportedly managed to avoid prosecution because of his political connections.
With reporting by AP and AFP
- By RFE/RL
Alarm Raised Over Iran's Minority Inmates Amid 'Escalation' In Executions
Amnesty International is urging the international community to "urgently intervene" to save the lives of four ethnic Baluch and four ethnic Arab men who are on death row following what the human rights watchdog called "flagrantly unfair trials."
"The recent escalation in executions of Baluchis and Ahwazi Arabs raises serious concerns that the authorities are using the death penalty to sow fear among disadvantaged ethnic minorities, as well as the wider population," Diana Eltahawy, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at the London-based group, said in a statement on February 4.
"The disproportionate use of the death penalty against Iran's ethnic minorities epitomizes the entrenched discrimination and repression they have faced for decades," Eltahawy added.
The statement called for "concerted action" by the international community, including United Nations human rights bodies and the European Union, to "stop the Iranian authorities from carrying out executions after flagrantly unfair trials marred by torture-tainted 'confessions'."
It cited figures obtained from the Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, which promotes human rights in Iran, according to which the country has executed at least 49 people since December 1, 2020. More than a third of them were Baluchis.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has denounced what it called a crackdown on ethnic and religious minority groups in Iran since mid-December 2020, in particular Kurdish, ethnic Arab, and Baluch communities.
Amnesty International said the four Baluch prisoners on death row in Zahedan prison in Sistan-Baluchestan Province and in Dastgerd prison in Esfahan Province "have all been subjected to a catalogue of human rights violations, including enforced disappearance and torture."
Three ethnic Arabs on death row have sewn their lips together and have been on hunger strike since January 23 in Sheiban prison in Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, "in protest at their prison conditions, denial of family visits, and the ongoing threat of execution," the watchdog said.
The fourth ethnic Arab inmate "has been forcibly disappeared since April 2020, putting him at risk of torture and secret execution."
Amnesty International's plea comes a day after 36 civil society and human rights organizations denounced "an ongoing wave of arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, and enforced disappearances by the Iranian authorities" targeting Iran's "disadvantaged" Kurdish minority.
The groups said in a statement that at least 96 members of the community had been arrested in five provinces since January 6.
They included "civil society activists, labor rights activists, environmentalists, writers, university students, and formerly imprisoned political activists as well as individuals with no known history of activism," they said.
- By RFE/RL
Prosecutor Seeks Five-Year Prison Term For Russian Activist Shevchenko
The prosecutor in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don has asked a court to sentence Anastasia Shevchenko, an activist with the Open Russia opposition group, to five years in prison for her involvement in the activities of an "undesirable organization."
Shevchenko's lawyer, Sergei Badamshin, said on Telegram that the prosecutor made the request during the trial on February 4.
The "undesirable organization" law, adopted in May 2015, was part of a series of regulations pushed by the Kremlin that squeezed many nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations who received funding from foreign sources.
The Russian Prosecutor-General's Office declared Open Russia "undesirable” in 2017.
In 2019, Human Rights Watch said those who support the group had come under "increasing pressure" from the authorities.
Shevchenko, who has been under house arrest since January 2019, is the first Russian charged with "repeated participation in the activities of an undesirable organization."
Previously, violations of this law were punished under administrative law. If convicted, Shevchenko could face up to six years in prison.
After she was initially arrested in January 2019, Shevchenko was allowed at the last minute to see her eldest daughter in the hospital shortly before she died.
- By Stuart Greer
More Countries Look To Produce Russia's Sputnik Vaccine As U.K. Journal Deems It Safe, Effective
Moscow wants to ramp up foreign production of its Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine after it was deemed safe and effective according to advanced trial data provided by Russia and published in The Lancet, a British medical journal. The vaccine was initially criticized for being hastily rolled out in August before any large-scale trials had begun. But now that those trials have started and are getting positive reviews, the Kremlin hopes to bolster the vaccine's use around the world.
- By RFE/RL
Lawyer For Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation Fined For 'Disobeying' Russian Police
Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer of Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), has been fined for what a Moscow court called "disobeying police."
Sobol's lawyer, Vladimir Voronin, said on February 4 after his client was fined 1,000 rubles ($13) that he will appeal the ruling.
"The charge is related to Sobol's arrival at [Moscow's] Vnukovo airport on January 17 to meet Navalny, who returned from Germany that day. Sobol was just sitting in a cafe without causing any problems and it was the police who broke the law by detaining her without explanation," Voronin said.
Sobol is currently under house arrest on suspicion of violating sanitary and epidemiological regulations during the coronavirus pandemic while taking part in a January 23 unsanctioned rally to protest Navalny's arrest.
That charge came down earlier on February 4, Voronin said on Twitter. If convicted, Sobol faces up to two years in prison.
Sobol, along with Navalny's brother, Oleg, and the coordinator of Navalny's Moscow headquarters, Oleg Stepanov, were detained last week and placed under house arrest until March 23.
The house arrests have been widely criticized as an attempt by the authorities to prevent them from taking part in rallies in support of Navalny, such as those that took place on January 23 and January 31.
Navalny was arrested on January 17 upon his arrival from Germany, where he was treated for a poison attack in Siberia in August, for which he has blamed Kremlin. The Kremlin has denied any involvement.
Navalny was charged with violating probation related to an embezzlement case that he has called politically motivated.
On February 2, Navalny was found guilty of violating the terms of the suspended sentence 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 2 years and 8 months behind bars.
The ruling sparked new protests across the country, with more than 1,400 people detained on February 2.
With reporting by TASS
Iran Gets First Batch Of Russia's COVID-19 Vaccine As It Shuns West
The first batch of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine has arrived in Iran as the country prepares to launch a COVID-19 inoculation campaign aimed at curbing the usage of Western medicines.
The state news agency IRNA showed video of the vaccine delivery being transferred off a Mahan Airline flight at Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran on February 4.
Iran's ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, said the second and third deliveries of the vaccine were due to be sent to Tehran on February 18 and 28.
Mohammad Reza Shansaz, the head of Iran's drug regulator, said earlier this week he expected Iran to initially receive 500,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine.
Iran, the country hardest-hit by the pandemic in the Middle East, has turned mainly to Russia, China, and India for vaccines after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in January announced a ban on those made by the United States and Britain, calling them "completely untrustworthy."
On February 3, however, Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki said that Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca would provide the country with 4.2 million doses of its vaccine. They were purchased via COVAX, the World Health Organization-backed program to ensure global access to vaccines.
Tehran has also said it is working on developing its own vaccine, as well as on one with Cuban experts.
RFE/RL's Coronavirus Crisis Archive
Features and analysis, videos, and infographics explore how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the countries in our region.
Russia registered Sputnik V in August 2020 before the start of large-scale clinical trials or data, raising many questions over the vaccine's safety and efficacy.
However, peer-reviewed, late-stage trial results published in The Lancet medical journal this week showed the two-dose regimen of Sputnik V was 91.6 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19.
Other countries, including Argentina, Serbia, and Hungary, have approved the Russian vaccine.
Iran has accused the United States of blocking its access to vaccines and other medical equipment and supplies through its sanctions regime.
Iran has recorded 58,000 deaths during the pandemic, though many experts say the figure is likely much higher due to underreporting by officials.
With reporting by AFP, dpa, and ISNA
Russian Tatar NGO Leader On Hunger Strike To Protest 'Absurd' Shutdown Order
KAZAN, Russia -- The chairman of the All-Tatar Public Center (TIU), Farit Zakiyev, has started a hunger strike to protest a move by prosecutors to label his organization in Russia's Tatarstan region extremist and shut it down.
Zakiyev started his hunger strike on February 3, calling the official motion, first presented in mid-January, "absurd."
"To declare TIU an extremist organization would mean to declare all Tatar people extremists. It would mean to declare the idea of Tatarstan's statehood and articles of the Russian Constitution on federalism extremist," Zakiyev said in a statement, calling on other members of the TIU to join the hunger strike.
TIU, which has been functioning since 1989, is known for activities promoting the Tatar culture, language, and traditions, as well as equal rights for ethnic Tatars.
A court in Tatarstan's capital, Kazan, is scheduled to look into the prosecutor's motion and render a decision on February 24.
The situation mirrors similar developments in the neighboring Bashkortostan region, where last year a court banned the prominent Bashqort group that had long promoted the Bashkir language and culture.
The court on May 22 labeled the group extremist and banned its operations, based on what it called the "presence in the organization of individuals who had been convicted on extremism charges."
The group's leader, Fail Alsynov, said at the time that extremism charges against members of his organizations were politically motivated.
Both TIU and Bashqort activists have faced pressure in recent years after staging several rallies and other events challenging the policies of both local and federal authorities, including Moscow's move to abolish mandatory indigenous-language classes in regions with large indigenous populations.
Exclusive: EU Staff In Moscow Given Green Light For Sputnik Vaccination
The European Union is allowing its diplomats in Moscow to be vaccinated with the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine if they choose, even though it hasn't been approved by the bloc's regulators, according to an internal email seen by RFE/RL.
In an e-mail sent from a senior person in the EU delegation in Moscow on February 3 titled "Covid Vaccine -- Urgent Request For Feedback Today," staff were informed that Russian authorities had decided to "extend the COVID vaccination campaign also to the diplomatic corps, organized by the city of Moscow."
The statement adds that "for that purpose, they are collecting the data of diplomatic mission staff or their family members over 18 willing to be vaccinated (first name and last name, date of birth, and the Ministry’s accreditation card numbers)."
Sputnik V is not mentioned anywhere explicitly in the text, but the e-mail states that Russian authorities "are not specifying the vaccine to be used" and that "more information about where and how the vaccination would take place will be sent later when they see the interest from the diplomatic community."
The e-mail adds, however, that "we have from the HQ not received any decisive opinion on whether we should get local vaccinations or non-EMA approved vaccines, where such are available."
To date, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has approved three vaccines: Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca.
"We have been advised that this is a personal decision of each individual but it is not a proper duty of care to recommend any vaccine that has not been approved by EMA. Hence, the delegation cannot actively recommend, but is leaving it to any individual to decide whether you and/or your adult, in Moscow registered, family member wants this," the letter said.
In a written response to an RFE/RL question on whether the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU’s diplomatic corps, had proposed guidelines to its various delegations worldwide on how to approach the issue of local COVID vaccinations with non-EMA approved vaccines, EEAS spokesperson Nabila Massrali said that "the EEAS is discussing with member states the different options for vaccination of EU diplomats and staff posted abroad in due respect of the EU policy on the timing and pace of deploying the vaccines (i.e. priority groups); the logistical and legal challenges and in line with EU support to third countries."
A source in Moscow told RFE/RL that Russian officials have been offering European diplomats the vaccine "like crazy, at every occasion, at every meeting."
Sputnik V’s official Twitter account, meanwhile, notes that Italy’s ambassador to Russia, Pasquale Terracciano, was vaccinated by them and in their post from 19 January he is quoted as saying "I have been inoculated with the Russian vaccine, Sputnik V. I have not experienced any noticeable side effects."
The Russian government's offer comes at a time when the EU's vaccine rollout continues to sputter.
The EU rollout started several weeks after both Britain and the United States and the bloc had on average administered just 2.6 vaccination doses per 100 people, compared to the U.K.'s 12.5 doses and 8.8 in the United States.
The EU's problems have been compounded by supply problems involving Pfizer/BionTech, and more significantly, AstraZeneca, which in late January announced it was cutting back planned supplies to the EU by a reported 60 percent to 31 million doses following disruptions at its plant in Belgium.
The delays are also acknowledged in the e-mail, which stated that "we in the EU delegation can also unfortunately not respond to any possible questions you may have on medical prerogatives of the vaccine, its safety and efficacy beyond what you read in the media already."
"The fact remains that from all we know other vaccines may take longer to make it to Moscow (or even for us to get vaccines in our home countries or Brussels)," it added.
The clamor for the Sputnik V vaccine in Europe has also increased after the renowned scientific journal The Lancet published the news earlier this week that the Russian vaccine was 91.6 percent effective in preventing people from developing COVID-19, according to peer-reviewed results from its late-stage clinical trial.
Several European politicians have recently pushed for the EU to approve Sputnik V, and Emer Cooke, the head of the EMA, said in a press conference last week that the agency had "not received an application either for a rolling review or for marketing authorization," but added that "we are in discussions with the company who is responsible for this vaccine. And they have raised a number of questions with us in the context of scientific advice. And this will obviously shape how the evaluation could go forward in the future."
Hungary, using an emergency authorization, broke ranks with the rest of the EU in January when it bought two million doses of Sputnik V but it has not received the vaccination yet.
Kyrgyz Ex-President Atambaev's Pretrial Detention Extended Until April 7
BISHKEK -- A court in Bishkek has extended the pretrial detention of former Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev until April 7.
Atambaev's lawyer Zamir Jooshev told RFE/RL that the Birinchi Mai district court, on February 4, again rejected the defense team's motion to transfer the 64-year-old politician to house arrest.
Atambaev was sentenced to 11 years and two months in prison in June 2020 over his involvement in the release of a notorious crime boss.
In November, the Supreme Court sent the case back to a Bishkek district court for retrial. The reason for the decision was not immediately given.
Atambaev has denied any wrongdoing.
In early October, he was released from custody as the country was rocked by mass protests against the official results of parliamentary elections.
He was rearrested four days later and charged with organizing an illegal demonstration.
Atambaev was initially arrested in August 2019 after he surrendered to police following a deadly two-day standoff between security forces and his supporters that led to the death of a top security officer and more than 170 injured.
The former president and 13 other people were charged with murder, attempted murder, threatening or assaulting representatives of the authorities, hostage taking, and the forcible seizure of power.
A trial on those charges has yet to be held.
- By RFE/RL
U.S. 'Deeply Disturbed' By Reports Of Rape At Camps In China's Xinjiang Region
The United States is "deeply disturbed" by reports of systematic rape and sexual abuse against women in internment camps for ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslims in China's Xinjiang region, the U.S. State Department said on February 3.
"These atrocities shock the conscience and must be met with serious consequences," a State Department spokesperson said in an e-mail to RFE/RL.
The statement comes after a news report earlier on February 3 quoted women who fled Xinjiang describing rape, torture, and beatings occurring in the camps. The BBC report included first-hand accounts from women who had been held in the camps.
The State Department statement reiterated charges that China has committed "crimes against humanity and genocide" in Xinjiang. It also called on China’s leaders to release all “arbitrarily detained people and abolish the internment camps,” end torture, and stop the persecution of Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang.
A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the BBC report was "wholly without factual basis" and said the people interviewed had been "proved multiple times" to be "actors disseminating false information."
The United Nations has estimated that at least 1 million ethnic Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim indigenous people in Xinjiang have been detained in what it described as "counterextremism centers" in the region.
The UN has also said that millions more have been forced into internment camps, though Beijing insists that the facilities are "vocational education centers" aimed at helping people steer clear of terrorism and allowing them to be reintegrated into society.
Winter Olympics
A group of U.S. senators on February 2 cited the treatment of the Uyghurs, the restrictions of human rights in Hong Kong, and threats against Taiwan in introducing a resolution seeking to remove the 2022 Winter Olympics from China.
The resolution submitted by Senator Rick Scott (Republican-Florida) and six other Republican senators urges the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to rebid the 2022 Winter Olympics.
"Communist China should not be allowed to host the 2022 Olympic Games while simultaneously running concentration camps, violating human rights and systematically oppressing the people of Hong Kong,” Scott said in a statement.
The Biden administration has signaled that it currently has no plans to bar U.S. athletes from participating in the 2022 Winter Olympics.
"We're not currently talking about changing our posture or our plans as it relates to the Beijing Olympics," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a news briefing.
Earlier on February 3, a coalition of 180 rights organizations called for a boycott of the Winter Olympics in an open letter, which said such a move would ensure they "are not used to embolden the Chinese government's appalling rights abuses and crackdowns on dissent."
The coalition said that, since Beijing was awarded the Winter Olympics in 2015, "President Xi Jinping has unleashed an unrelenting crackdown on basic freedom and human rights."
Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying that "politically motivated attempts to interfere or disrupt the preparations of the Games is very irresponsible."
With reporting by AFP and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Former Belarusian Banker, Would-Be Presidential Candidate To Face Trial On February 17
MINSK -- Viktar Babaryka, a former Belarusian banker whose bid to challenge Alyaksandr Lukashenka in last year’s disputed presidential election was halted by his arrest, is due to go on trial on February 17.
The announcement on Babaryka’s Telegram channel on February 4 came shortly after a preliminary hearing at a district court in Minsk earlier in the day at which Babaryka was not present.
Several co-defendants were in court, including six men, who made deals with investigators in hopes of facing lesser charges.
The court case is due to be heard by the Belarusian Supreme Court, a move that was criticized last week by Babaryka’s lawyer, Dzmitry Layeuski, who said that would deny them any chance of appeal in the event of a guilty verdict.
Not long after he announced his intention to run for president, Babaryka, a former senior manager at the Russian-owned Belgazprombank, was arrested in June along with his son, Eduard, on charges of money laundering, bribery, and tax evasion.
Three days before their arrest, Belarusian authorities took control of the bank and detained more than a dozen top executives on charges of tax evasion and money laundering.
All of the accused reject the charges as politically motivated.
Lukashenka was declared the victor of the August 9 election, triggering protests by tens of thousands of Belarusians who say the vote was rigged.
Protests have continued since then to demand the resignation of Lukashenka, who has been in power since 1994.
Security officials have cracked down hard on the demonstrators, arresting thousands and pushing most top opposition figures out of the country.
Several protesters have been killed in the violence and several rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used against some of those detained.
Lukashenka denies voter fraud and has refused to negotiate with the opposition led by Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya who supporters say actually won the August election.
The European Union, the 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 the postelection crackdown.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Belarus Service
Woman Goes On Trial For Sending Money To Mother Of Jailed Bashkir Activist Dilmukhametov
UFA, Russia -- A woman in Ufa, the capital of Russia's Republic of Bashkortostan, has gone on trial on a charge of financially supporting extremism because she sent money to the mother of Airat Dilmukhametov, a prominent opposition activist who was sentenced to nine years in prison on extremism charges last year.
Ilmira Bikbayeva, 59, pleaded not guilty as her trial started at Ufa's Kirov district court on February 4.
Bikbayeva told RFE/RL before the trial that she had sent about 6,000 rubles ($79) to Dilmukhametov’s mother to support her. The funds came in several installments between 2018 and 2019.
Investigators say the money Bikbayeva sent was used by Dilmukhametov for conducting extremist activities.
If found guilty, Bikbayeva may face a hefty fine or up to 8 years in prison.
Dilmukhametov, who has insisted that the case against him is politically motivated, was arrested in March 2019 and sentenced to nine years in prison after a court found him guilty of calling to violate Russia's territorial integrity and for making public calls for extremism and to support terrorism.
The charge against Dilmukhametov stemmed from a video statement he made in 2018 urging the creation of a "real" federation in Russia with more autonomous rights given to ethnic republics and regions.
Iranian Diplomat Sentenced To 20 Years For Role In Foiled Bomb Attack
A diplomat has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by a court in Belgium over a foiled bombing in the first trial of an Iranian official for suspected terrorism in the European Union since Iran's 1979 revolution.
Vienna-based diplomat Assadolah Assadi was found guilty on February 4 of attempted terrorism after a plot to bomb a rally of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an exiled opposition group, near Paris in June 2018.
Three other defendants also received jail sentences.
The planned attack on the rally was thwarted by a coordinated operation between French, German, and Belgian security services.
Assadi, who refused to appear in court, invoking his diplomatic status, was arrested while on holiday in Germany and handed over to Belgium.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh "strongly" condemned the sentencing, calling it "illegal and a clear violation of international law, especially the 1961 Vienna Convention," according to state TV.
However, prosecution lawyer Georges-Henri Beauthier said the ruling shows that "a diplomat doesn't have immunity for criminal acts...and the responsibility of the Iranian state in what could have been carnage."
Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said that "the justice system has ruled on facts of terrorism and made a clear statement about it."
Rik Vanreusel, a lawyer for one of the civil parties, said it was "an historic day...a day of justice.”
"We can be proud of brave little Belgium, who decided not to just expel diplomats but to prosecute, imprison, and condemn heinous international acts of terrorism," Vanreusel told reporters.
Iran has repeatedly dismissed the charges, saying the allegations by the NCRI, which Tehran considers a terrorist group, are false.
The NCRI is the political wing of the exiled Iranian opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an exiled opposition group that is seeking to overthrow the Islamic republic.
The 2018 rally's keynote address was given by Rudy Giuliani, an ex-mayor of New York City who has served as former U.S. President Donald Trump's personal lawyer. Newt Gingrich, an erstwhile conservative speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt were also among prominent guests at the event.
The United States considered the MEK a terrorist group until 2012. Its designation was removed following a lobbying campaign and pledges to end its violent militancy. Giuliani is among those who lobbied on its behalf.
French officials have said Assadi was in charge of intelligence in southern Europe and was acting on orders from Tehran.
Two of Assadi's suspected accomplices were arrested in Belgium in possession of explosives and a detonator.
European countries have blamed Iran for other suspected moves against dissidents, including two killings in the Netherlands in 2015 and 2017 and a foiled assassination in Denmark. Tehran has denied involvement.
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP
- By RFE/RL
Zelenskiy Defends Decision To Block TV Channels Controlled By Russia-Linked Magnate
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has met with a group of ambassadors from the Group of Seven (G7) and the European Union to defend his government’s decision to shut several television channels controlled by a Russia-linked magnate, a move supported by Washington but questioned by Brussels and slammed by Moscow.
Zelenskiy told the group in Kyiv on February 3 that the decision to block the 112, NewsOne, and ZIK channels was justified by the need to "fight against the danger of Russian aggression in the information arena."
Relations between Ukraine and Russia deteriorated in 2014 after Moscow annexed the Crimean Peninsula and began supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine. The conflict, now in its seventh year, has killed more than 13,200 people.
The now-blocked channels are believed to belong to Viktor Medvedchuk, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is the godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter. Medvedchuk supports the Opposition Platform for Life, a political party that is popular in Ukraine's southeast and holds a minority in the Ukrainian parliament.
"Sanctions against the media are always a difficult decision for any government except an authoritarian one. This decision was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but one that had been in the works, based on information over a long time from many Ukrainian government agencies. This is by no means an attack on freedom of speech, this is a well-founded decision to protect national security," Zelenskiy said.
According to Zelenskiy, the sanctioned TV channels have long been actively used for disinformation campaigns in Ukraine aimed at undermining reforms and Ukraine's course toward European and Euro-Atlantic integration.
"Ukraine has perhaps the largest concentration of free broadcasters and media in the region," Zelenskiy said, adding that the Ukrainian authorities were acting in strict accordance with the law.
The three blocked TV channels, which broadcast mainly in Ukrainian, issued a statement denouncing the ban as "political repression." Medvedchuk called the presidential order illegal and said he would appeal.
"With one stroke of a pen, Zelenskiy threw out 1,500 journalists and other employees of the three stations into the street and deprived millions of people of the right to receive objective information," he said in a statement.
The U.S. Embassy voiced support for Ukraine's efforts "to counter Russia's malign influence, in line with Ukrainian law, in defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity."
"We must all work together to prevent disinformation from being deployed as a weapon in an information war against sovereign states," it said in a statement on Facebook.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced the blocking of the three stations as a violation of media freedom and of international standards.
"The authorities' decision to impose such restrictions on the media should be in the focus of attention of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and other international organizations," Peskov said during a conference call with reporters on February 3.
The EU questioned the move, suggesting it could sacrifice media freedom in Ukraine.
In a written statement on February 3, a spokesperson for 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.
Fire Kills Four People At COVID-19 Hospital In Southeastern Ukrainian City
ZAPORIZHZHYA, Ukraine -- A fire at a hospital treating COVID-19 patients in Ukraine's southeastern city of Zaporizhzhya has killed four people.
The regional police directorate told RFE/RL on February 4 that a probe has been launched into the deadly blaze overnight that took the lives of three patients and a nurse.
According to police, two other patients were hospitalized with burns,
The Zaporizhzhya regional administration said that a special commission will be formed to look into the tragedy, adding that all hospitals treating COVID-19 patients will be inspected for fire safety in the immediate future.
Deadly fires caused by violations of safety regulations or faulty wiring are common in former Soviet republics.
On January 21, a fire at an unregistered nursing home in Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv killed 15 people.
Kazakh Activist Boqaev Demands New Constitution At Rally Held After His Prison Release
ATYRAU, Kazakhstan -- Maks Boqaev, a well-known Kazakh rights activist and outspoken government critic, has been released from prison and he immediately held a rally demanding a new constitution for the Central Asian nation.
The 48-year-old activist, who was recognized as a political prisoner by Kazakh rights groups, held the rally in the western city of Atyrau on February 4, just hours after leaving the prison where he served almost five years on an extremism charge he says was politically motivated.
"I express my gratitude to the people and international organizations that supported me. Without the people's support, I would have been destroyed [by officials.] Even my bones would be untraceable...There have been no changes in the country so I will continue my civil activities," Boqaev said after he left the prison and came to Atyrau's central Isatai-Makhambet square.
Boqaev was highly critical of January 10 parliamentary elections, which he called "fake" given no opposition groups were allowed to take part in them.
"Unfortunately, [Kazakhstan's former President Nursultan] Nazarbaev has turned our constitution into toilet paper. What we need is a new constitution. This is what we must demand from Nazarbaev and [Kazakhstan's current President Qasym-Zhomart] Toqaev," Boqaev said, adding that such a demand will be put forward at rallies he plans to hold each weekend.
"If the government remains deaf, we will set up tents at squares in all of the cities," Boqaev said.
Dozens of activists and journalists from Kazakhstan’s other regions came to greet Boqaev upon his release. Some, however, were blocked by police on their way to Atyrau and not allowed to reach the city.
Boqaev was arrested and sentenced 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, European Union, and the United Nations had 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.
- By RFE/RL
Biden Says Deeply Concerned By Navalny Jailing As Senators Introduce Sanctions Bill
President Joe Biden called the jailing of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny a “matter of deep concern” to the United States and its allies as a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation to sanctions officials complicit in his poisoning.
“Mr. Navalny, like all Russian citizens, is entitled to his rights under the Russian constitution. He’s been targeted for exposing corruption. He should be released immediately and without condition,” Biden said February 4 in his first foreign policy speech since taking office last month.
A Moscow court on February 2 sentenced Navalny to nearly three years in prison for violating the terms of parole while in Germany where he was recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he and supporters say was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Biden said the United States “will not hesitate to raise the cost on Russia” for its “aggressive actions,” including the poisoning its own citizens.
A day earlier, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced legislation to impose fresh targeted sanctions on Russian officials found to be complicit in the poisoning of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny.
Backing the legislation -- known as Holding Russia Accountable for Malign Activities Act -- were Marco Rubio (Republican-Florida), Chris Coons (Democrat-Delaware), Ben Cardin (Democrat-Maryland), Mitt Romney (Republican-Utah), Chris Van-Hollen (Democrat-Maryland), and Dick Durbin (Democrat-Illinois).
Rubio called Navalny’s sentencing “outrageous” and said the legislation “will impose a cost on Putin, and his thugs, for their corruption and targeting of opponents.”
The bill directs the administration to determine if the Kremlin has violated U.S. laws prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons.
Navalny fell ill in Siberia in late August and was put in an induced coma and evacuated to Berlin. Within days, German doctors and military scientists determined that he had been targeted with a substance related to Novichok, a powerful military-grade nerve agent first developed by the Soviet Union.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed blood and urine samples from Navalny contained a chemical agent from the banned Novichok group.
Separately, Senator Roger Wicker (Republican-Mississippi) and Cardin on February 3 introduced legislation to widen the scope of U.S. sanctions against individuals who commit human rights violations and corruption to include their immediate family members.
The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Reauthorization Act -- named after Sergei Magnitsky, the Moscow lawyer who died in Russian police custody in 2009 while investigating high-level corruption -- would also repeal its 2023 "sunset clause," keeping the sanctions intact indefinitely.
Since the passage of the Global Magnitsky Act in 2016, the United States has placed sanctions on 244 individuals from 33 countries under the law, including many from Russia. The act has angered the Kremlin, which lobbied for its repeal.
Human Rights First, an independent advocacy group, called the Magnitsky Act "a powerful and effective foreign policy tool" and said the reauthoritization "is a step in the right direction."
Nemtsov Assassination
The Holding Russia Accountable bill also requires a report on the assassination of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead at close range on the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge, near the Kremlin in central Moscow, on February 27, 2015.
In June 2017, a Russian court sentenced a former Chechen battalion leader Zaur Dadayev to 20 years in prison for killing Nemtsov.
Four other Chechens were found guilty of involvement in the killing and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 11 to 19 years.
Critics, including relatives and colleagues of Nemtsov, say Russian authorities failed to determine who ordered the killing.
The Holding Russia Accountable legislation is similar to an earlier effort by nearly the same group of senators in October.
In a statement announcing the bill, Coon said that Putin's government "has a long and sordid history of using murder and attempted murder to silence Russian citizens at home and abroad" who call out abuses by the Kremlin.
The senator also denounced the police crackdown on citizens who peacefully took to the streets to show their support for Navalny.
"Instead of listening to their real grievances, Putin's security forces have responded with unbridled brutality and arrested thousands," he said.
More than 11,000 people across Russia have been detained since January 23 for taking part in protests to support Navalny, according to the independent monitoring group OVD-Info. The protests have been some of the largest in the past decade.
Romney described the Navalny trial as a "sham" and said that "strong leaders do not have to jail their adversaries to maintain power."
The senator from Utah said the United States must hold Putin's government accountable for its "shameless attempt to silence the voice of the Russian people fighting against corruption and for freedom and truth."
Their bill would block any U.S. assets the perpetrators have, prevent them from doing business with U.S. persons, and stop them from receiving a U.S. visa.
While viewed as an important political statement, analysts say the sanctions against individual officials will have little to no impact on Russia.
In recent years, as relations with the West worsened, Russia passed laws banning some officials, including members of the security services, from owning foreign assets -- such as property or bank accounts -- to prevent them from being compromised by such sanctions.
However, as Moscow steps up what officials call "malign activities," pressure is growing to impose tougher penalties, such as imposing sanctions on Kremlin-friendly oligarchs, government debt, banks, and banning the sale of a wider range of U.S. technology to the country, all of which could have a more noticeable impact on the Russian economy.
But Biden made clear he wouldn’t stick with his predecessor’s policy of failing to speak out publicly on malign Russian actions and imposing costs immediately.
“The days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia's aggressive actions -- interfering with our elections, cyber attacks, poisoning its citizens -- are over,” he said.
With reporting by Reuters
Bulgarian Alcohol Tycoon Transferred To House Arrest Ahead Of Elections
SOFIA -- A Bulgarian court has released alcohol tycoon Minyu Staykov after nearly 2 1/2 years in detention due to deteriorating health.
The 59-year-old businessman was transferred to house arrest on February 2 and will be required to wear an ankle bracelet while his case continues.
Staykov, the owner of Vinprom Karnobat, was arrested in September 2018 on charges of tax fraud, money laundering, and failing to pay excise taxes on cigarettes.
When his eight-month detention expired in May 2019, he was charged with large-scale fraud with the use of European Union funds.
Despite being held for nearly 30 months, Bulgaria has yet to try him before a court. Staykov maintains his innocence.
Marshall Harris, the managing director of Alexandria Group, a Washington-based lobbying firm hired last year by Staykov, said the government of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov may have released his client to improve its image ahead of national elections in April.
"They are cleaning up their behavior because they are going to be under increased scrutiny. Borisov is going to do everything he can to look good before then," he said.
Harris said the European Parliament is also looking at rule-of-law abuses by the Borisov government.
Staykov is one of several Bulgarian tycoons who have been charged over the past few years by the Prosecutor-General’s Office with crimes in what critics call an asset grab by members of Borisov’s government.
The Bulgarian Prosecutor-General’s Office has also gone after Plamen and Atanas Bobokov, brothers who own major energy assets; oligarch Nikolay and Evgenia Banev, who made a fortune during the privatizations of the 1990s; and Vetko and Marinela Arabadjiev, who own hotels, among other business people.
Bulgaria was rocked by anti-corruption protests last year as disgruntled citizens took to the streets to call for the resignation of Borisov's government as well as Prosecutor-General Ivan Geshev.
The Bobokovs also hired Harris last year to lobby Congress on their behalf.
In material prepared for Capitol Hill, Harris described their clients as victims of Bulgaria’s "democratic decline and devolution into a criminal state," including the capture of privately held assets by extralegal means.
With reporting by Todd Prince in Washington
- By RFE/RL
Russia, Iran Among Leading States Practicing Repression Abroad, Says Rights Watchdog
Russia and Iran are among the top authoritarian states extending their tentacles of repression abroad to target exiles, a new report by Freedom House says.
The report published on February 4, says the Russian government "conducts highly aggressive" transnational repression activities abroad, relying "heavily" on assassination as a tool to target former insiders and other individuals perceived as threats by the Kremlin.
The Russian campaign accounts for seven of 26 assassinations or assassination attempts identified globally by the U.S.-based nongovernmental organization between 2014 and 2020.
The group says the Iranian regime has been linked to five assassinations or assassination attempts in three countries, and plots were thwarted in at least two others. The campaign targeted dissidents and journalists the authorities often labelled "terrorists."
Pakistan, Azerbaijan, and all five Central Asian republics -- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan -- are also among countries that target their nationals abroad, using tactics such as assaults, detentions, and unlawful deportations.
'Pattern Of Violence And Intimidation'
According to the report, titled Out Of Sight, Not Out Of Reach, human rights activists, dissidents, as well as their families "face a worldwide pattern of violence and intimidation perpetrated by the authoritarian regimes they hoped to avoid by fleeing abroad."
Freedom House says there have been at least 608 cases of direct, physical transnational repression since 2014 against victims in 79 host countries.
China "conducts the most sophisticated, global, and comprehensive campaign of transnational repression in the world," the report says. Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are also identified as leading states targeting their nationals abroad.
"The scale and violence of these attacks underscore the danger that people face even after they flee repression," Freedom House President Michael Abramowitz said in a statement, adding that putting an end to the practices is "vital to protecting democracy and rolling back authoritarian influence."
The report says the Kremlin commonly uses assassination in its transnational repression efforts. It cites the case of former intelligence officer Aleksandr Litvinenko, who died following radiation poisoning in London in 2006, while a nerve agent was used in the attempted assassination of former intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England in 2018.
"At a minimum, in Ukraine, Bulgaria, Germany, and the United Kingdom, the Kremlin has shown a willingness to kill perceived enemies abroad,” it says, adding that these attacks “also come against the backdrop of numerous unexplained deaths of high-profile Russians in exile, their business partners, and other potential targets of the Russian state."
The Russian government is also responsible for "assaults, detentions, unlawful deportations, and renditions in eight countries, mostly in Europe."
Russia is responsible for 38 percent of all public Red Notices in the world, making it the “most prolific abuser” of the Interpol notification system that Freedom House says the Kremlin uses to harass and detain exiles.
'Sophisticated' Campaigns
Russians abroad who are engaged in political opposition also face "surveillance and sophisticated hacking campaigns," which are paired with control over key cultural institutions operating abroad, including the Russian Orthodox Church, in an effort to exert influence over the Russian diaspora.
Meanwhile, Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya, employs "a brutal direct campaign to control the Chechen diaspora" in what Freedom House describes as "a unique example of a subnational regime operating its own transnational repression campaign."
Of the 32 documented physical cases of Russian transnational repression, "a remarkable 20 have a Chechen nexus,” according to the report, which notes that three Chechen exiles have been murdered in Europe over the last two years.
Freedom House says Tehran has resumed assassinations of exiles in Europe and Turkey in recent years following a lull in the 2000s.
It cited the case of former Iranian intelligence officer Masud Molavi, who was gunned down in Istanbul in November 2019, a killing ascribed by Turkish and U.S. officials to the Iranian government.
In Belgium, an Iranian diplomat charged with plotting to bomb an exiled opposition group's gathering is currently standing trial.
Meanwhile, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has led "operations to kidnap exiles from other countries and forcibly repatriate them," with Freedom House citing the "particularly outrageous" case of opposition journalist Ruhollah Zam, who was executed in Iran in December 2020 after being "abducted" from Iraq.
Tehran has used in some cases “a combination of bilateral pressure and co-optation of other countries' institutions to achieve detentions and deportations," it says, adding that Iranian authorities also used Interpol to harass exiles "even though the clear lack of judicial independence in the country should limit the credibility of its notices."
The Iranian state uses other tactics to pressure those involved in opposition politics or independent journalism, including smear campaigns such as the creation of fake news websites that mirror real ones and falsification of statements by journalists in order to discredit them.
Coercion By Proxy
In January 2020, Reporters without Borders (RSF) counted 200 Iranian journalists living overseas who had been threatened, including 50 who had received death threats.
These threats are frequently paired with coercion by proxy in which family members within Iran are threatened or detained in order to silence exiles.
Iranian authorities also run highly "sophisticated" spyware campaigns, with Iranians abroad receiving "complex spear-phishing attempts."
In Central Asia, Freedom House says Tajik exiles have "faced the largest wave of transnational repression" in the former Soviet Union during the period under study spanning the period from January 2014 through November 2020, as the government of President Emomali Rahmon “consolidated power at home and targeted the opposition that fled abroad.”
"Thirty-eight of 129 coded incidents from the region originated from Tajikistan, showing extensive detentions as well as unlawful deportations, renditions, an assault, an unexplained disappearance, and one assassination,” it says.
Azerbaijani authorities also "aggressively target" opposition figures and journalists abroad, having conducted five renditions -- from Ukraine, Georgia, and Turkey -- since 2014. In four of those cases, the victim was a journalist or a journalist's spouse.
Kazakhstan’s transnational repression has focused on political opposition figures and former insiders, especially Mukhtar Ablyazov, a fugitive former banking official and outspoken critic of the government, his family, and associates.
Freedom House counted five cases of transnational repression by Kyrgyz authorities, including four involving the targeting of ethnic Uzbeks who fled Kyrgyzstan following clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan in 2010. The four were detained at Bishkek's requests in Russia but eventually released following legal challenges.
- By RFE/RL
From Jail, Navalny Tells Russians To Overcome Fear As EU's Top Diplomat Flies To Moscow
Jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny called on Russians to overcome fear and free the country from "a bunch of thieves in power" as an aide promised major protests ahead of national parliamentary elections in September.
In his first major comments since a court this week ordered him to serve a prison sentence, Navalny said in a February 4 Instagram post that “iron doors slammed behind my back with a deafening sound, but I feel like a free man because I feel confident I'm right and thanks to support from you and my family."
U.S. President Joe Biden expressed his support for Navalny later in the day, calling the jailing of the Putin critic a “matter of deep concern to us and the international community” and demanding Russia release him “immediately and without condition.”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was expected to deliver a similar strongly worded message during his visit to Russia from February 4-6.
The Kremlin continues to reject Western and domestic criticism over its jailing of Navalny and a crackdown on his supporters, calling it foreign interference in its internal affairs.
Navalny was sentenced on February 2 to almost three years in jail for violating the terms of parole while recovering in Germany from a nerve-agent poisoning in August that the Kremlin critic accuses President Vladimir Putin of ordering.
The detention of the popular activist upon his return to Russia in mid-January sparked some of the largest anti-government protests in a decade as hundreds of thousands assembled in more than 100 cities around the country. Police detained some 10,000 people in total during the January 23 and January 31 protests.
More than 1,400 people were also detained when demonstrators took to the streets following the court's order to send Navalny to prison. Many of Navalny's aides have been detained, fined, or put under house arrest.
Leonid Volkov, a close aide to Navalny, called for fresh demonstrations later in the year rather than on the weekend of February 6-7 to give the opposition more time to prepare.
"We will properly organize them and definitely hold another big one in spring and summer," he said in a YouTube live stream.
Russia will hold key parliamentary elections on September 17. Navalny and his team are encouraging citizens to vote for politicians running against candidates from the pro-Putin United Russia party.
In his Instagram post, Navalny said his imprisonment was “Putin's personal revenge" for Navalny surviving and exposing the assassination attempt.
“But even more than that, it's a message from Putin and his friends to the entire country: ‘Did you see what we can do? We spit on laws and steamroll anyone who dares to challenge us. We are the law,'” he wrote.
Ahead of Borrell’s visit, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists on February 4 that Russia rejected outside interference in its internal affairs.
"We do not intend to pay any attention to such statements regarding the application of our laws to those who violate them, as well as regarding the rulings of our Russian court," Peskov said.
"We are ready to explain these issues further, but we are not ready to discuss them with anybody," he added, according to the Interfax news agency.
However, Russia is a member of the Council of Europe and a signee to the European Convention on Human Rights, obliging it to observe the rule of law. The Kremlin repeatedly abuses its obligation by interfering in politically sensitive court cases and arresting people on trumped-up charges.
Peskov also defended the police crackdown on demonstrators who have been demanding the release of Navalny.
"There are no repressions," he said. "There are measures which the police are taking regarding those who break the law."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on February 3 accused the West of “going overboard” in its reaction to the ruling.
Biden said the United States “will not hesitate to raise the cost on Russia” for its malign activities and will coordinate with allies on actions.
Borrell, for his part, put Moscow on notice in a statement ahead of his visit, saying the European Union would discuss “implications and possible further action” at an upcoming meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers.
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.
Calls are growing for the EU to boost travel bans and asset freezes it slapped on six Russian officials and one entity in October over the poisoning of Navalny.
Relations between the EU and Russia deteriorated over Moscow’s illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea in 2014 and its ongoing support to separatists in eastern Ukraine. There are other concerns about its involvement in Belarus and conflicts in Syria, Libya, and other countries.
With reporting by AFP and TASS
Convicted British Academic Escapes Iran Over Mountains
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
- By RFE/RL
EU Questions Ukrainian President's Sanctions On TV Stations
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.
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.
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