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- By Current Time
Four Killed, Two Wounded In Plane Crash In Kazakhstan
Four people were killed and two others seriously wounded when a military plane crashed and caught fire while trying to land in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, on March 13. According to the Emergency Situations Ministry, the AN-26 aircraft, carrying six passengers, was travelling to Almaty from the capital Nur-Sultan when it disappeared from radar screens. Almaty Airport said in a statement that "the plane crashed at the end of the runway," although it did not offer an explanation for the accident. Authorities said the two survivors were hospitalized and their condition was "extremely" serious. RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service says the plane belongs to Kazakhstan’s border control service.
Lukashenka Says Belarus May Submit New Eurovision Entry After Backlash
Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka said his country may submit a new entry to the Eurovision Song Contest after the first one was rejected for being political.
The song I'll Teach You by the band Galasy ZMesta sparked a backlash for singing the praises of Lukashenka with lyrics such as, "I'll teach you how to dance to the tune, I'll teach you to take the bait, I'll teach you to walk the line."
Eurovision organizers on March 11 rejected Minsk’s entry and threatened Belarus with disqualification if it did not submit a modified version of the song or a new entry.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said the song would put the “nonpolitical nature” of the contest in question, and that “recent reactions to the proposed entry risk bringing the reputation of the ESC into disrepute.”
Lukashenka has faced nearly daily protests to step down since the country's presidential election on August 9 handed him another term despite charges the election was rigged.
More than 30,000 people have been arrested, hundreds beaten, and several people killed in the government crackdown on protesters.
Crisis In Belarus
Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.
Calls to kick out Belarus's entrant to the annual Eurovision Song Contest had been growing in the run-up to the event in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam on May 18-22.
"They are starting to press us on all fronts,” Lukashenka said on March 13 in his first remarks on the row. “Even at Eurovision, I see.”
"We'll make another song," he added, according to the presidential press service.
Belarus's national broadcaster, BTRC, on February 9 announced it had selected Galasy ZMesta to represent the country at the contest.
Galasy ZMesta has slammed the country's pro-democracy movement, writing on its website that the group could not stay "indifferent" while "political battles try to break the country we love and in which we are living."
The five-member group has backed Lukashenka, and its front man, Dzmitry Butakou, openly laments the breakup of the Soviet Union.
With reporting by Reuters
Armenian Opposition Activists Rally As PM, President Hold Talks
Opposition supporters have rallied in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Demonstrators shouting "Nikol, you traitor!" and "Nikol, go away!" surrounded the Foreign Ministry building where Pashinian had a meeting on March 13.
Later in the day, protesters rallied outside the residence of Armenia's largely ceremonial president, Armen Sarkisian, where Pashinian also held talks over ways to defuse the political crisis that has gripped the Caucasus country since a war with neighboring Azerbaijan last year.
Pashinian, whose My Step faction dominates parliament, has refused opposition demands to resign but has hinted at accepting early parliamentary elections under certain conditions.
Pashinian, who swept to power amid nationwide protests in 2018, has come under fire since agreeing to a Moscow-brokered deal with Azerbaijan that took effect on November 10, 2020, ending six weeks of fierce fighting in and around the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh that saw ethnic Armenian forces suffer battlefield defeat.
Under the cease-fire, a chunk of Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani administration after almost 30 years of control by Armenians.
Joint Opposition Candidate
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but the ethnic Armenians who make up most of the region's population reject Azerbaijani rule.
They had been governing their own affairs, with support from Armenia, since Azerbaijan's troops and Azeri civilians were pushed out of the region and seven adjacent districts in a war that ended in a cease-fire in 1994.
A coalition uniting 16 opposition parties has been holding anti-government demonstrations in Yerevan and other parts of the country in a bid to force Pashinian to hand over power to an interim government.
Opposition forces want their joint candidate, Vazgen Manukian, to become transitional prime minister to oversee fresh elections.
Sarkisian and Pashinian discussed "the situation in the country [and] ways of resolving it and overcoming the internal political crisis," the president's office said on March 13.
"In this context, they discussed holding early parliamentary elections as a solution," the presidential office said, adding that Sarkisian had called for the meeting.
The leaders of My Step and one of the two opposition groups, Bright Armenia, also accepted Sarkisian's invitation to the March 13 talks, and held meetings with the president later in the day.
The talks included Lilit Makunts, the parliamentary leader of My Step, and Manukian, the former prime minister and ex-defense minister.
The opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) and the Homeland Salvation Movement, an alliance of about a dozen political parties and groups, including the BHK, demanding Pashinian's resignation, would not participate, the president's office said.
Opposition activist Ishkhan Saghatelian said the opposition would only discuss its participation in snap elections if Pashinian stepped down and parliament was dissolved.
Four Killed, Two Seriously Wounded In Plane Crash In Kazakhstan
Four people were killed and two others seriously wounded when a military plane crashed and caught fire while trying to land in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty.
The Emergency Situations Ministry said the two survivors were hospitalized and their condition was "extremely" serious.
The ministry said the AN-26 aircraft, carrying six passengers, was travelling to Almaty from the capital Nur-Sultan when it disappeared from radar screens around 5:20 p.m. local time on March 13.
The plane caught fire after it crashed at Almaty Airport, the ministry said.
Almaty Airport said in a statement that "the plane crashed at the end of the runway," although it did not offer an explanation for the accident.
The plane struck the ground near the village of Kyzyltu, near Almaty.
Video footage showed rows of fire trucks, police vehicles, and ambulances at the crash site.
Condolences
Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.
"On my orders, work has begun to clarify the causes of the plane crash," Toqaev said on Twitter. "Such incidents should not be repeated."
Kazakhstan's National Security Committee said it owned the plane.
The AN-26 is a civilian and military transport aircraft that was produced in the Soviet Union until 1986. Hundreds have remained in service in former Soviet republics and other countries around the world.
The March 13 crash was the latest accident to hit the Central Asian nation’s aviation industry.
In December 2019, 12 of the 98 passengers and crew aboard a Fokker 100 aircraft on a flight operated by Kazakh airline Bek Air crashed near Almaty Airport.
The plane crashed while trying to take off from the Almaty airport en route to Nur-Sultan.
Authorities concluded that the most likely factor for the crash was an accumulation of ice on the plane's wings.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
Opposition, NGO Event Broken Up In Moscow, Dozens Detained
Russian police have stormed a gathering of independent local deputies in the capital and detained dozens of people, reportedly accusing them of taking part in an event organized by an "undesirable" group. A correspondent for RFE/RL's Russian Service said officers arrived at the "Municipal Russia" event about 40 minutes after it began at Moscow's Izmailovo Hotel early on March 13 and started taking people away. The event was organized by the United Democrats project, which is not among the entities on the list of "undesirable" organizations kept by prosecutors. Russia's "undesirable organization" law was adopted in 2015 amid a number of legislative, executive, and other restrictive efforts to curb dissent in the country.
U.S. Media Agency Demands Release Of Belarus Blogger Held On 'False Charges'
The oversight agency for RFE/RL and other U.S. international broadcasters has condemned the Belarusian authorities' decision to heap further charges on detained blogger and RFE/RL consultant Ihar Losik and demanded his release.
The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) statement on March 12 cited "false charges" that have kept Losik in detention for more than 260 days.
"It's unacceptable that reporting on the Belarusian election cost a respected journalist his freedom," USAGM acting Chief Executive Officer Kelu Chao said in a statement. "Belarusian authorities should drop all charges against Ihar and immediately release him."
Losik was detained in June 2020 and accused of using his Telegram channel to "prepare to disrupt public order" and “preparation for participation in riots” ahead of a presidential vote in August that the opposition has said was rigged for Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
Months of unprecedented protests have ensued and been met by thousands of arrests, brutal treatment of detainees, and a ruthless crackdown on media and journalists.
Losik's wife, Darya, said on March 11, citing a lawyer, that her husband had slit his wrists in front of an investigator and lawyer and restarted a hunger strike after learning of the new charges this week.
She said the precise wording of the new charges was unknown and demanded that Lukashenka explain why her husband has been in prison for nine months.
Losik, a 28-year-old consultant for RFE/RL on new-media technologies and a father of a 2-year-old daughter, ended a six-week hunger strike less than two months ago.
RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said after learning of the new charges that "All of us at RFE/RL are deeply distressed by today’s new charges against Ihar, and his deteriorating health situation."
He added: "Journalism is not a crime and Ihar has been unjustly detained for far too long. Ihar and his family should not be tortured in this way.”
Losik was slapped with charges in December 2020 that could result in an eight-year prison term.
In protest, Losik, who has been recognized as a political prisoner by rights activists, launched his initial hunger strike.
After ending that action in late January, a handwritten letter from Losik appeared in mid-February following news of a two-year jail sentence given to two journalists from Belsat, a Polish-funded news organization.
“I have no illusion. I think it’ll be about five more years, and by that time I will have died. I no longer have any desire to do anything,” Losik wrote. “So much has already been done, and all for naught: Nothing influences anybody. I’ll say it honestly: I doubt anything will change.”
Western governments have refused to acknowledge Lukashenka as the winner of the August 9 vote, and imposed sanctions on him and his allies, citing election rigging and the police crackdown.
Lukashenka has refused to step down and says he will not negotiate with the opposition.
- By Current Time
Russian Police Detain Around 200 At Opposition Event In Moscow
Russian police have detained around 200 people, mostly opposition figures and municipal deputies, at an event in Moscow, in the latest crackdown on Kremlin critics ahead of elections later this year.
Police stormed a forum dedicated to discussing parliamentary and local elections in September shortly after it began at Moscow's Izmailovo Hotel on March 13.
Video footage showed police entering the building and taking attendees to police vans waiting outside.
The Interior Ministry said around 200 people were detained. Attendees and observers suggested everyone present at the event had been detained, including several journalists.
Police said those detained were not following coronavirus-related health measures and that the forum had links to an "undesirable organization."
"A significant portion of participants lacked personal protective equipment," the police said in a statement. "Members of an organization whose activities are considered undesirable on Russian territory were among the participants."
Participants from more than 50 regions of Russia had gathered to discuss election strategy at the forum organized by the United Democrats project, which is not on a list of "undesirable" organizations kept by prosecutors.
United Democrats is backed by exiled former oil tycoon and Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose Open Russia movement has been designated an "undesirable organization” since 2017.
"In Moscow, the ENTIRE forum of municipal deputies of Russia was detained!" Khodorkovsky wrote on Twitter. "The dictatorship is discarding the last fig leaves," he wrote, in an apparent suggestion that the Russian government was dropping attempts to present even a facade of democracy.
Later, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the sweeping detentions were made on "dubious grounds."
"We call for an end to the persecution of independent voices," he wrote on Twitter.
Among the detainees were prominent critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin, including senior Open Russia leaders Andrei Pivovarov and Anastasia Burakova, former Yekaterinburg Mayor Yevgeny Roizman, city deputies Ilya Yashin and Yulia Galyamina, and opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza.
OVD-Info, which monitors the detention of political protesters and activists, said that by late evening most detainees had been released but ordered to appear in court at a later date on charges of participating in activities of an "undesirable organization."
Russia's "undesirable organization" law was adopted in May 2015 amid a flurry of legislative, executive, and other restrictive efforts to further curb dissent in the country. One of the effects has been to squeeze many nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations that receive funding from foreign sources and provide grounds to persecute their members.
The detentions were the latest crackdown on Russia's opposition since Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny was arrested, put on trial, and imprisoned in the wake of his January return from Germany, where he had been recovering from a nerve-agent poisoning he blames on Putin and his agents.
Navalny's team accused the authorities of seeking to further intimidate critics ahead of the September elections.
"It is clear why the forum has been broken up -- authorities are afraid of any competition during elections," the team said on the Telegram messaging app.
The ruling United Russia party is becoming unpopular, it claimed, adding' "Winning even rigged elections is becoming ever more difficult."
Navalny and his supporters have developed a "smart voting" system that is aimed at undoing United Russia’s stranglehold on political power through better coordination of voters at the local level.
With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters
Iran Commander Says Deadly Clash With 'Smugglers' Prompts Attack On Guards
A semiofficial Iranian news agency has reported a clash between border guards and a group of angry protesters near the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran after a shooting incident.
Fars news agency said the border patrol had shot and killed an alleged smuggler aboard a vessel near the port of Kohstak in the coastal Hormozgan Province on March 12 and pursued other boats that fled the area.
The area has been the scene of unrest recently, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has sought to crack down on informal trade in the area.
Many of those now being labeled "smugglers" and drawing deadly responses from authorities have long been accustomed to lax enforcement of cross-border business in gasoline and other goods.
Fars quoted Hormozgan border commander Hossein Dehki as saying guards shot and killed a 31-year-old resident of nearby Sirik while trying to apprehend boats engaged in smuggling.
Dehki said news of the shooting attracted protesters who "attacked the Hormozgan border guards' headquarters at the port of Kohstak and damaged a number of the organization's vessels and naval equipment" and oil-company vehicles.
It also said they had attacked and "seriously injured" several border guards.
Tensions have been high in underdeveloped southern Iran since a clash with alleged fuel smugglers last month in neighboring Sistan-Baluchistan Province resulted in three "smuggler" deaths.
That incident sparked a crowd attack on a local governor's office in Saravan, near the border with Pakistan.
That region is heavily Sunni Muslim, a source of frequent friction with Iran's Shi'a-dominated leadership.
The border commander in Hormozgan, Dehki, said coast guards have seized more than 10 million liters of fuel from smugglers in the past year.
With reporting by AP
- By RFE/RL
U.S. Senators Condemn Russia's 'Assault' On RFE/RL
A bipartisan group of top U.S. senators has called on President Vladimir Putin to halt Russia’s “state-sponsored assault on media freedom” through the targeting of RFE/RL.
In a March 12 statement, Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee took aim at the deteriorating media environment in Russia and a clampdown on U.S.-funded RFE/RL under a controversial "foreign agent" law.
Russia’s state media-monitoring agency Roskomnadzor has opened 260 cases against RFE/RL Russian-language news services for failing to mark written and broadcast materials in accordance with the onerous regulations. A Moscow court has already levied fines totaling some $1 million in 142 cases.
“Long employed to weaken Russian civil society, the Kremlin is now using onerous ‘foreign agent’ laws as a pretext to silence RFE/RL in Russia, pursuing court cases and fines,” Senators Chris Coons (Democrat-Delaware), Mitt Romney (Republican-Utah), Marco Rubio (Republican-Florida), and Bob Menendez (Democrat-New Jersey), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a joint statement.
The senators accused Putin of consolidating control over the media and passing laws to punish critics, while threatening the safety of members of the press.
“In this harsh media environment, RFE/RL has performed an invaluable service to the Russian people, providing them uncensored local news that aims to meet the highest standards of objective journalism,” the senators said.
The string of cases against RFE/RL means that pending appeals, it must pay the fines and come into compliance with regulations or face the potential closure of its operations inside Russia.
'Foreign Agent' Law
Earlier this month the U.S. State Department expressed "deep concern" about what it called Russian government efforts "to clamp down on the exercise of freedom of expression."
The statement came the same day that a Moscow judge rejected five appeals by RFE/RL against fines imposed on the company under the "foreign agent" law.
Russia's so-called "foreign agent" legislation was adopted in 2012 and has been modified repeatedly. It requires nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign assistance and that the government deems to be engaged in political activity to be registered, to identify themselves as "foreign agents," and to submit to audits.
Later modifications targeted foreign-funded media.
In 2017, the Russian government placed RFE/RL's Russian Service on the list, along with six other RFE/RL Russian-language news services, and Current Time, a network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.
At the end of 2020, the legislation was modified to allow the Russian government to include individuals, including foreign journalists, on its "foreign agent" list and to impose restrictions on them.
In December 2020, authorities added five individuals to its "foreign agent" list, including three contributors to RFE/RL's Russian Service. All five are appealing their inclusion on the list.
Roskomnadzor last year adopted rules requiring listed media to mark all written materials with a lengthy notice in large text, all radio materials with an audio statement, and all video materials with a 15-second text declaration.
RFE/RL President Jamie Fly has called the regulations “orders to deface our content platforms and intimidate our audiences.” He added that RFE/RL will continue “to object, protest, and appeal these requirements."
- By RFE/RL
Iran Reports 'Terrorist Attack' On Cargo Ship In Mediterranean Sea
An Iranian state-owned company says one of its cargo vessels was targeted this week by what it called a "terrorist" attack in the Mediterranean Sea, state television reported on March 12.
The report quoted Ali Ghiasian, spokesman for the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines group (IRISL), as saying that the ship was en route from Iran to Europe when its hull was hit with an "explosive device" on March 10.
Ghiasian said the blast set off a small fire that was quickly extinguished and that the ship, named Shahr-e Kord, would continue on its journey after assessing and repairing the damage.
The report said there were no casualties in the blast. It did not blame anyone for the incident, which Ghiasian called a "terrorist action and an example of maritime piracy.”
Reuters quoted two maritime security sources as saying that initial indications were that the container ship had been intentionally targeted by an unknown source.
The incident comes less than two weeks after Israel accused arch enemy Iran of being behind an attack on an Israeli-owned cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman on February 25 -- a charge denied by Tehran.
In a March 12 report quoting U.S. and regional officials, The Wall Street Journal said Israel had targeted at least a dozen vessels bound for Syria that were mostly carrying Iranian oil since late 2019.
It said Israel had used weapons including "water mines" to target the ships.
Israeli officials have not commented on the report, but Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that the country “will continue to fight against terrorism and everything that helps terrorism, including its sources of revenue.”
IRISL was blacklisted by the United States last year over what the State Department described as the transportation of items related to Iran's missile and nuclear programs.
With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters
Poland Expels Belarusian Diplomats As Tensions Continue
Poland has expelled two Belarusian diplomats in what a deputy minister called an act of "reciprocity" as the two sides fight over a recent World War II commemoration and Warsaw's support of pro-democracy activists in Belarus.
Poland's government has repeatedly condemned Alyaksandr Lukashenka and called for increased sanctions against Minsk. Belarus has been the site of nearly daily protests since last August when Lukashenka, in power since 1994, was declared winner of a presidential election that the West and tens of thousands of Belarusians say was rigged.
Poland has also sheltered Belarusian activists who have fled across the border to escape the crackdown on Belarus’s pro-democracy supporters. More than 30,000 people have been detained, hundreds beaten, and several killed, in the Belarusian government crackdown, triggering Western sanctions and refusals to recognize Lukasehnka, 66, as the legitimate leader of Belarus.
"Due to the ongoing unfriendly gestures from Minsk towards Polish diplomats, Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to expel Belarus' General Consul in Bialystok as well as the consul from Warsaw according to the principles of reciprocity," Poland's Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz wrote in a tweet on March 12.
The move comes a day after the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said it had expelled the two diplomats "in connection with the excessive, asymmetric, and destructive response of Poland."
The two senior staff members of the Polish Consulate in the city of Hrodna were given 48 hours to leave the country, the ministry said.
The unofficial, commemorative event at the heart of the dispute took place on February 28 in the southwestern Belarusian city of Brest in honor of so-called "cursed soldiers," Polish fighters who initially fought against Nazi occupation and later turned against Soviet occupiers. The soldiers often acted violently against non-Poles, especially Belarusians.
On March 9, Minsk announced it was expelling the Polish consul, Jerzy Timofejuk, saying he had taken part in the ceremony, prompting Warsaw to also declare a Belarusian diplomat "persona non grata" the next day.
Belarus then responded with the expulsion of the two Polish diplomats on March 11.
Poland's Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz said that Warsaw reserved its right to an "adequate response" to the move.
Belarusian prosecutors said on March 10 that they had opened a criminal case into the Brest event for actions aimed at inciting national, religious enmity, and hate based on nationality, religion, language, as well as actions aimed at glorifying Nazism.
The Foreign Ministry in Minsk said celebrating "war criminals and the justification of genocide against the Belarusian people" was unacceptable.
The Day of Cursed Soldiers has been commemorated in Poland every March 1 since 2011.
Uzbek, Kyrgyz Leaders 'Agree' To Resolve Border Issues In Three Months
TASHKENT -- Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev says he has agreed with visiting Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov on how to proceed to resolve border issues between the two Central Asian countries within three months.
"For the first time in relations between our two nations we have agreed who should do what and when at the border because this is a serious problem that our people are waiting to be fixed" Mirziyoev said on March 12 after holding talks with his Kyrgyz counterpart in Tashkent.
"If everything goes according to the plan, [the issue will be resolved in] three months, which we agreed to be the longest possible time," he added.
The border between the two Central Asian neighbors has been a major bone of contention in bilateral ties since 1991, when they gained independence from the Soviet Union.
Over the past decades, there have been numerous incidents along the border that in some cases involved gunfire.
The situation began to improve following the 2016 death of Uzbekistan's longtime authoritarian president, Islam Karimov.
His successor, Mirziyoev, has said that improving ties with Uzbekistan's neighbors is a major priority of his foreign policy.
Border sections still have an undefined status around the Uzbek exclaves of Sokh and Shahimardan in Kyrgyzstan, as well as around the Kyrgyz exclave of Barak in Uzbekistan.
This is Japarov's third foreign trip since he was elected president on January 10. His first and second trips were made in February and early-March to Russia and Kazakhstan, respectively.
Serbia Shuts Nonessential Shops To Fight Coronavirus Surge
BELGRADE – Serbian authorities have ordered all nonessential shops, as well as bars and restaurants to close this weekend amid a surge in coronavirus infections in the Balkan country.
The restrictions will take effect at 9 p.m. local time on March 12 and will last until March 15, according to the government-appointed crisis body.
All shops and other facilities are to remain closed during the weekend, except food stores, pharmacies, health facilities, and gas stations. All public events will also be suspended.
Pupils in higher primary school grades will switch to online classes next week, senior health official Zoran Gojkovic said.
The Health Ministry has recorded more than 4,500 new coronavirus infections over the past day, and 24 more deaths caused by COVID-19.
Overall, the authorities have recorded more than 507,000 cases and over 4,600 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
More than 1.5 million of Serbia's 7-million-strong population have received at least one shot from China’s Sinopharm, Pfizer-BioNTech, Russia's Sputnik V, or AstraZeneca vaccines -- meaning the country has one of the highest rates of inoculation in Europe.
Armenian President 'Back At Work' After Medical Checkup
YEREVAN -- Armenian President Armen Sarkisian returned to a "working regime" after a medical checkup, his office said late on March 12.
Earlier in the day the presidential administration said Sarkisian had undergone testing at a medical clinic in Yerevan for unspecified complications apparently linked to COVID-19.
"Some complications have appeared in connection with the coronavirus infection sustained by the president of Armenia," his office said. "He is undergoing tests."
In January, while having surgery in London, Sarkisian tested positive for the coronavirus and was treated there before he returned to Armenia the following month.
Sarkisian planned to host talks this weekend with the country's opposition and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on finding a solution to the ongoing political crisis the country has faced after six-week war with Azerbaijan last fall.
That conflict ended with Armenia's losing control over some parts of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region and several adjacent districts of Azerbaijan.
Pashinian has not said yet if he plans to attend the talks.
With reporting by Interfax
Russia To Use Convicts In Clean-Up Work From Norilsk Arctic Diesel Spill
The chief of Russia's Federal Penitentiary System (FSIN) may use convicts to help clean a contaminated zone of the Arctic following a massive diesel spill.
"I have asked leaders of [FSIN] branches in the regions located in the Arctic zone to continue working [on the issue of using inmates in clean-up operations]," FSIN head Aleksandr Kalashnikov said in Moscow on March 12, adding that the matter had been agreed upon with the authorities of the Krasnoyarsk Krai region and the city of Norilsk.
Last May, more than 21,000 tons of diesel leaked into the Norilsk environment from the tank of a thermal power plant belonging to a subsidiary of Russian metallurgical giant Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel), owned by Russia's richest man, Vladimir Potanin.
The spill sparked an outcry and led to the dismissal in October of Norilsk Mayor Rinat Akhmetchin, who was also sentenced to six months of correctional work for negligence
In the wake of the disaster, President Vladimir Putin ordered a state of emergency after the extent of the spill became known.
On March 10, Nornickel said it had fully paid off more than 146 billion rubles ($1.97 billion) in damages for the spill.
The use of inmate labor in major state projects used to be a regular practice in Soviet times in the former Soviet Union.
Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax
- By RFE/RL
Russia Says Taliban Should Be Part Of Interim Afghan Government
Russia says the Taliban should be included in any interim Afghan government as Moscow prepares to host a conference next week that is meant to move forward the peace process in the conflict-wracked country.
The statement by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova came on March 12, hours after Turkey also announced its intention to host Afghan peace talks in Istanbul next month.
Moscow has invited several regional players, including representatives of the militants for the March 18 conference, which it said is meant to bring new life into stuttering peace talks held in Qatar between the Taliban and Kabul. However, it was unclear if the United States would attend.
"The formation of an interim coalition government should be decided by the Afghans themselves during national reconciliation talks," Zakharova told a news briefing.
"At the same time we have noted that the formation of an interim, inclusive administration would be a logical solution to the problem of integrating the Taliban into Afghanistan's peaceful political life."
Meanwhile, in Ankara, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey had decided to hold the conference in Istanbul at the request of both the Taliban and the Kabul government.
"Both the Taliban and the negotiation delegation, meaning the government side, has asked us to host such a meeting before," Cavusoglu said, without giving a specific date for the meeting.
He added that Turkey considers itself "one of the most-important actors in Afghanistan" and intends to appoint a special envoy to the peace process.
Peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government resumed last month in Qatar after a delay of more than a month amid escalating violence in the war-torn country.
The diplomatic push comes as U.S. President Joe Biden is completing a review of an agreement with the Taliban negotiated by former president Donald Trump's administration to remove the final U.S. troops from the country by May.
Under the latest U.S.-drafted peace plan, the current Afghan government should be replaced with an interim administration until a new constitution is agreed and elections held, but Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has refused to step down in favor of a transitional government.
The U.S. proposal suggests that, under an interim government, the Afghan parliament could either be expanded to include members of the Taliban or suspended until after an election.
Reuters has quoted an anonymous source close to the Taliban as saying that the militants will send a delegation of four or five members to Moscow from its political office in Qatar.
With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and AP
Nur-Sultan Wants China 'To Help Resolve Issues' Raised By Ethnic Kazakhs From Xinjiang
NUR-SULTAN -- Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry says it has asked Chinese authorities to "help resolve issues" raised by ethnic Kazakhs in China, who have been demanding their relatives' release from custody in the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang.
Mukhtar Karibai told reporters in Nur-Sultan on March 12 that the decision "to ask China for help" was made after it became obvious that dozens of ethnic Kazakhs from China, who have been picketing the Chinese Consulate in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, for more than a month "have not been following sanitary regulations to prevent the spread of the coronavirus."
"We have asked the Chinese side to meet with those people and make certain decisions regarding their complaints so that [the protesters] stop gathering [in front of the Chinese consulate] every day," Karibai said.
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Karibai confirmed that some naturalized Kazakh citizens and ethnic-Kazakh Chinese citizens, whose relatives reside in Kazakhstan, have not been able to leave Xinjiang to come to Kazakhstan for some time, adding though that "more than 90 percent of such people have returned to Kazakhstan" by now.
"We are sticking to the international norm, according to which, one country cannot interfere in the internal affairs of another country...But because there is another norm which does not allow the separation of close relatives, we are trying to do what we can to resolve the issue," Karibai said.
"At this point there are 5 to 6 ethnic Kazakhs stuck in Xinjiang who are not able to join their families [in Kazakhstan]. All of them are Chinese citizens. Some media reports say they broke the law in China, and that is why very likely they are being kept in custody there. It might take longer time to solve their issues," Karibai added.
When asked by an RFE/RL correspondent about reports saying that the number of ethnic Kazakhs held in custody in Xinjiang is much higher, Karibai said he could not comment on "unofficial information."
Karibai's statement came one day after the U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan posted an interview on Facebook with Sairagul Sauytbay, an ethnic Kazakh from Xinjiang, who was one of the first individuals to speak publicly about so-called reeducation camps for Xinjiang's indigenous, mostly Muslim ethnic groups.
Sauytbay, who fled China in April 2018 and is currently living in Sweden, repeated that thousands of ethnic Kazakhs, Uyghurs, and other Muslims in Xinjiang were undergoing "political indoctrination" at a network of "reeducation camps," facing "torture and humiliation" there.
On March 10, U.S. Embassy officials met with other ethnic Kazakhs who fled Xinjiang and are currently in Kazakhstan, and discussed their ordeals in China.
The U.S. State Department has said that as many as 2 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of Xinjiang's other indigenous, mostly Muslim, ethnic groups have been taken to detention centers.
China denies that the facilities are internment camps.
Kazakhs are the second-largest Turkic-speaking indigenous community in Xinjiang after Uyghurs. The region is also home to ethnic Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Hui, also known as Dungans.
Han, China's largest ethnicity, is the second-largest community in Xinjiang.
Navalny Moved To New, Unknown Location, His Lawyers Say
Lawyers for Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny say he has been moved from a detention center in the Vladimir region, northeast of the Russian capital, to an undisclosed location amid a call from Western countries for his immediate release.
Navalny, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, was sent to prison last month to serve 2 1/2 years over alleged parole violations related to an embezzlement case he and rights activists say was trumped up for political reasons, something the authorities deny.
Navalny's lawyers said in a tweet on March 12 that they showed up at Detention Center No. 3 in Kolchugino at the start of the work day, only to be run around and deceived before being informed several hours later "that Aleksei had left."
The TASS news agency quoted on unnamed source in law enforcement as saying he had been moved to a penitentiary in nearby Pokrov, but was in quarantine, which can last as long as 15 days under Russian law.
Russian authorities typically do not provide information about the transfer of prisoners until after they reach their destination and by late afternoon Navalny's lawyers reiterated that they still did know his whereabouts.
"Aleksei's lawyers went to IK-2 in Pokrov. There they were told that there was no information about the delivery of Navalny, and in general the institution had 'a short day.' It was 15:30 local time. Where Aleksei is is still unknown and the FSIN [Federal Penitentiary Service] is clearly going to hide it as long as possible," a tweet from Navalny's certified Twitter account said.
On March 3, Navalny said that he had been moved to Detention Center No. 3 in the town of Kolchugino, though it was expected that eventually he would be moved to a penal colony in the nearby city of Pokrov, 100 kilometers east of Moscow. The colony is known as one of the toughest in the European part of the Russian Federation.
As news of his transfer broke, dozens of countries, including the United States, called for his immediate release and an investigation into his poisoning last year with a military-grade nerve agent.
Navalny was detained at a Moscow airport in January immediately upon returning from Berlin, where he had been recovering from what several Western labs determined was a poisoning attempt using a Novichok-type nerve agent that saw him fall ill on a flight in Siberia in August 2020.
Russia has denied involvement, but Navalny has said the assassination attempt was ordered by Putin.
A Moscow court in February ruled that, while in Germany, Navalny had violated the terms of parole from an older embezzlement case that is widely considered politically motivated.
His suspended 3 1/2-year sentence was converted into jail time, though the court reduced that amount to 2 1/2 years for time already served in detention.
Navalny’s detention set off a wave of national protests and a crackdown against his supporters.
The European Union and the United States imposed fresh sanctions against Russia over the Navalny case.
On March 12, the representative for Poland read out a statement to the United Nations Human Rights Council that said the actions against Navalny by Russian authorities were "unacceptable and politically motivated."
"We call on the Russian Federation for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Navalny and of all those unlawfully or arbitrarily detained, including for exercising their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, freedom of opinion and expression, and freedom of religion or belief," the joint statement said.
It was signed by 45 countries, most of which were European but also included Australia, Canada, and Japan, along with the United States.
With reporting by Reuters
Uzbek Blogger Pleads Not Guilty At Preliminary Hearing In High-Profile Extortion Case
TASHKENT -- Uzbek blogger Otabek Sattoriy has pleaded not guilty to all charges at a preliminary hearing in a high-profile extortion and slander case that sparked harsh criticism of Uzbek authorities by domestic and international human rights groups earlier this year.
After Sattoriy, investigators, and witnesses gave statements on March 11, the Muzrabot district court in the southern Surxondaryo region set March 17 as the trial's start date.
Before entering the courtroom, Sattoriy told journalists that his case was fabricated in a country known for its poor treatment of a free press.
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"I reject all the charges. The whole case has been fabricated, based on lies. I did not take any money from anyone. Because I have always raised the problems faced by ordinary people, the case has become high-profile," Sattoriy said.
The 40-year-old blogger was charged with extortion, slander, and insult, which his supporters and rights defenders have characterized as retaliation by the authorities for his critical reporting.
Sattoriy is known to be a harsh critic of the regional governor, Tora Bobolov. In one of his latest posts in his Halq Fikiri (People's Opinion) video blog, 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."
Since his arrest in late January, Sattoriy has been tried in a separate case and was found guilty of defamation and distributing false information. According to the Prosecutor-General's Office, the blogger was ordered to pay a fine for the offenses.
The Prosecutor-General's Office also rejected criticism by human rights organizations, saying that Sattoriy’s arrest was lawful.
Uzbekistan is ranked 156th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' 2020 World Press Freedom Index.
Bulgaria Suspends AstraZeneca Vaccine Rollout Amid Safety Concerns
Bulgaria has temporarily halted inoculations with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine amid growing concerns over its safety.
The Bulgarian government said in a statement on March 12 that the rollout of the vaccine is suspended until the European Medicines Agency sends a written statement dispelling all doubts about its safety.
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"Until an accurate and clearly confirmed diagnosis comes in writing from the European Medicines Agency that the AstraZeneca vaccine may or may not be given, [health officials] will stop it," Prime Minister Boyko Borisov was quoted as saying by the government's information service.
The World Health Organization said on March 12 that it is assessing reports of blood coagulation problems faced by some people in the European Union who received doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from a particular batch.
AstraZeneca said on March 11 that it had found no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis -- marked by the formation of blood clots -- in safety data of more than 10 million records, even when considering subgroups based on age, gender, production batch, or country of use.
Nonetheless, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Italy, and Romania have postponed or limited the rollout of their quota of AstraZeneca vaccines after isolated reports of recipients developing blood clots.
Thailand followed suit on March 12, an abrupt decision that led to the embarrassing spectacle of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha abruptly canceling his own televised inoculation.
Australia, Mexico, and the Philippines said they would continue their rollouts as they had found no reason to alter course. Canada said there was no evidence the vaccine causes adverse reactions.
With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
Armenia Announces Military Drills To Coincide With Exercises By Rival Azerbaijan
YEREVAN -- Armenia has announced it will hold military drills next week that will coincide with similar maneuvers by rival and neighbor Azerbaijan.
Last fall, the two nations fought over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts that had been occupied by ethnic Armenian forces for almost three decades. The conflict ended with a peace deal that allowed Baku to reinstate its control over the districts and some parts of the breakaway region.
"According to the plan of the first half of 2021, the armed forces of Armenia will hold tactical and professional maneuvers on all operative directions with the involvement of combined armed groups and special troops," the Armenian Defense Ministry said on March 12.
The ministry added that 7,500 troops, 200 missile and artillery units, some 100 armored vehicles, more than 90 anti-aircraft units, and various aircraft would be involved in the exercises.
On March 10, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry announced plans for military maneuvers from March 15 -18.
According to the ministry, the drills would include up to 10,000 troops, about 100 tanks and other armored vehicles, up to 200 missile and artillery units, up to 30 aircraft units, and drones of different types.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on March 12 that the planned exercises do not pose a threat to the South Caucasus region.
"According to the data we have, the maneuvers... have been planned beforehand with a purpose to polish the military preparedness of the troops, and they do not impose any risks for stability and security in the region," Zakharova said.
The six-week war last year ended with a Russia-brokered agreement on November 10, resulting in the deployment of 2,000 Russian peacekeeping forces to the conflict zone.
Many Armenians have seen the accord as a humiliation and have taken to the streets to demand Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian step down. He has refused to resign.
With reporting by TASS and Interfax
- By RFE/RL
Kazakh Authorities Abused Rights Of Activist Who Criticized Coronavirus Response, Watchdog Concludes
The Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ) has urged Kazakh authorities to review the conviction of activist Alnur Ilyashev, who was handed a parole-like three-year sentence and banned from social or political activism for five years for openly criticizing the Kazakh government's response to the coronavirus.
"[Ilyashev's] conviction is an example of how Kazakhstan is using COVID-19 as a pretextual ground to clamp down on speech, in particular on the Internet -- often the only space left for dissent during the pandemic," CFJ's TrialWatch Fairness Report, released on March 11, said.
The CFJ is a human rights watchdog founded by Hollywood star George Clooney and his wife, Lebanese-British lawyer Amal Clooney.
Ilyashev, who used social media to criticize Kazakhstan’s ruling Nur-Otan party, led by former President Nursultan Nazarbaev, was convicted of spreading “false information” about the coronavirus in June 2020.
An Almaty court found Ilyashev guilty of the “dissemination of knowingly false information that threatens public order during the state of emergency” implemented because of the coronavirus pandemic. The trial was held online due to coronavirus precautions.
Ilyashev was detained on April 17, 2020, after he wrote on Facebook that authorities in Kazakhstan, including Nur-Otan, were corrupt and had been incompetent in their response to the coronavirus.
“This case shows the pitfalls of virtual trials. The defendant’s rights were repeatedly violated as a result of poor connectivity and the authorities’ failure to provide a way for him to consult with his lawyers. Kazakhstan needs to take immediate steps to ensure that virtual proceedings protect the rights of defendants,” said Vania Costa Ramos, the TrialWatch expert who authored the report along with staff at the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights.
The report also concluded that Ilyashev "was kept in arbitrary pretrial detention and denied medical care while in custody, in violation of his right to humane treatment."
The CFJ's report says that Ilyashev has exhausted all possibilities to appeal his sentence in Kazakhstan, adding that if Kazakhstan’s prosecutor-general does not take action, the "CFJ will work with Mr. Ilyashev and his counsel to submit a communication to the United Nations Human Rights Committee."
Ilyashev had been helping to organize protests against the government since 2019 and took the Almaty mayor's office to court, unsuccessfully, after his requests to hold peaceful public meetings were rejected dozens of times.
Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, who was handpicked by Nazarbaev in March 2019 following almost three decades of his rule, has pledged reforms in the energy-rich Central Asian country.
In May 2020, Kazakhstan reformed laws on protests that define how many people can attend a demonstration, what venues are available for rallies, and what permission is needed to conduct such public events.
Critics say the law falls short of international human rights standards and is replete with numerous restrictions and bureaucratic hurdles to prevent protests.
Nazarbaev still maintains key positions of power, including head of Nur-Otan and the country’s influential Security Council.
Kazakh Authorities Withdraw Permission To Hold Rally By Kazakh Lawyers, Citing COVID-19 Fears
ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Authorities in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, have withdrawn permission given to local lawyers to hold a protest rally on March 13, citing precautions over the coronavirus pandemic.
On March 12, one day before the scheduled rally, Almaty's sanitary and epidemiology control department announced that the rally had been canceled over fears it could become a "super-spreader" event.
"Almaty has been included into 'the red zone' level of the epidemiology situation and holding any mass events in the city may lead to an abrupt increase of COVID-19 patients among residents," Saduaqas Baighabylov, the deputy chief of the department, said.
The lawyers planned to protest a government-proposed bill amending the law on their activities and judicial assistance. They said they had yet to be notified officially about the plan to withdraw permission for the rally, which was granted to them on March 9.
"[On March 10] we met with city officials, police, and the mayor of Almaty's Medeu district. There was no word about the cancelation. On the contrary, they offered us their assistance in preparations for the rally. We have an official document from city authorities saying that the rally is allowed. We do not have any other documents at this point and, therefore, legally we have the full right to hold the rally," one of the lawyers, Gulnara Zhuaspaeva, told RFE/RL on March 11.
The lawyers say the bill outlined by the Justice Ministry would "kill the independent practice of law," as its statutes do not correspond to "the standards of self-regulation of judicial consultants' groups." If adopted, the amendments "would force independent lawyers to join state-controlled bodies and pay significant fees," they said.
The decision to include Almaty in the "red zone" -- which designates areas that are reporting high coronavirus caseloads -- was made on March 10.
Public demonstrations used to be rare in the Central Asian nation but have become a bit more frequent in recent months, though most are held without permits.
As of March 12, the number of registered coronavirus cases in Kazakhstan was officially reported as 221,669, including 2,837 deaths.
Former RT Reporter Says He Was Asked To 'Spy' On Navalny In German Hospital
A German journalist who used to work for Russia's state-controlled television channel RT says he was asked by his employer to spy on Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny while he was undergoing treatment in Germany after being poisoned in Siberia.
Daniel Lange has described to German media how he was instructed to use his journalistic credentials to test how close he could get to the ward where Navalny was recovering in Berlin's Charite hospital and "carefully take photos of the extensive military presence" at the medical facility.
Lange told RFE/RL on March 11 that his assignment "made no [journalistic] sense" and eventually prompted him to break his contract with RT Deutsch -- the German branch of the state-controlled outlet.
Lange has said that he and a colleague were tasked with testing how far they could get inside the Charite building, how many “checkpoints” they could cross undetected, and how close they could get to Navalny in the intensive care unit without being noticed.
“I stated several times that I was not a secret agent and asked what they would do with me in Russia if I secretly photographed soldiers in front of a military hospital. Then there was always no answer or reaction and a new assignment followed," Lange told RFE/RL.
Lange says that he deliberately drew attention to himself while at the hospital, telling the police there that he was a journalist with "RT from Russia." He says he was then given another assignment: keeping an eye on Navalny’s chief of staff Leonid Volkov and Navalny's head of investigations, Maria Pevchikh.
"Finding the whereabouts of Volkov based on a photo from an apartment was not only ridiculous...it also made no journalistic sense," Lange told RFE/RL. “Volkov was not hidden in Berlin and gave interviews. If you had wanted an interview with him, you would have made an official request or bought video material from an agency."
Lange also told RFE/RL that he and his cameraman were instructed by the outlet's new management to "show all the filth of Germany," not in reports but in short clips.
"I was now commissioned directly to show only those pictures that show a negative image of Germany," he said. "Not an extensive report on the heroin scene in Berlin, but a clip that shows junkies and misery and does not explain anything or inform the viewer. That's when I made the decision to go, and also to report on how it goes behind the scenes."
RT said on March 10 that it intends to sue the German tabloid Bild, where Lange first made his allegations.
Announcing its lawsuit against Bild, RT hinted that the allegations could be part of a campaign against the Russian television network in Germany.
Lange this week published a book -- titled Inside RT Deutsch: Putin’s Media Army In Germany -- in which he recalls his two years of working for the outlet. The book includes the story about RT’s alleged attempt to spy on Navalny.
The Kremlin critic was arrested on January 17 upon his return to Russia from Germany, where he received life-saving treatment from a nerve-agent poisoning while traveling in Siberia in August.
Navalny has insisted that his poisoning was ordered directly by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The FSB security service and the Kremlin have denied any role in the poisoning.
Last month, a Moscow court ruled that, while in Germany, Navalny had violated the terms of parole from an old embezzlement case that is widely considered to be politically motivated. Navalny's 3 1/2-year suspended sentence from the case was converted to a jail term, though the court said he will serve 2 1/2 years in prison given time already served in detention.
With reporting by bild.de and Meduza.io
CLARIFICATION: This story has been amended so that quotations correspond with the original interview, which was conducted in English.
- By RFE/RL
U.S. State Department, Turkey Condemn Parole Of Armenian Assassin Of Turkish Consul
An Armenian man in a California prison for the 1982 assassination of the Turkish consul general to Los Angeles will be released on parole, in a decision that drew a rebuke from the U.S. State Department and the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
Hampig “Harry” Sassounian, an ethnic Armenian immigrant to the United States, was convicted in 1984 for shooting dead Turkish diplomat Kemal Arikan when he had stopped at a traffic light in Los Angeles.
A member of an Armenian militant organization that carried out a string of attacks on Turkish interests across the globe, Sassounian was sentenced to life in prison without parole, but an appeals court later overruled that judgment.
In 2002, prosecutors cut a deal that made Sassounian, who is now 58, eligible for parole in exchange for a declaration renouncing terrorism and admitting guilt.
He had applied for parole on several occasions but was unsuccessful until a judge recently granted it.
A spokeswoman for California Governor Gavin Newsom, who had previously opposed granting parole, told AFP he had decided not to challenge the ruling.
"The governor has carefully weighed the factors in this case and will not pursue an appeal," the spokeswoman said.
The decision drew a sharp response from the Turkish Foreign Ministry, which has had its diplomats killed in the 1970s and '80s by Armenian militants seeking revenge for the World War I-era massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
“This grave decision, that could not be reversed despite all attempts of the U.S. administration, is in conflict with the universal principles of law and the understanding of justice,” the Foreign Ministry said, adding that 58 Turkish citizens, including 31 diplomats, have lost their lives as a result of attacks carried out by “Armenian terrorist organizations.”
The State Department issued a statement saying it was “deeply disappointed” by the parole decision.
"Attacking a diplomat is not only a grave crime against a particular individual, it is also an attack on diplomacy itself. To ensure the safety of the dedicated U.S. diplomats serving around the world, it has been the long-standing position of the United States to advocate that those who assassinate diplomats receive the maximum sentence possible, and that they serve those sentences without parole or early release,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
During and immediately after World War I, as many as 1.5 million Armenians were killed or deported from Anatolia. Many historians, Armenia, and more than 30 countries consider the killings genocide.
As the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, Turkey objects to the use of the word genocide.
Ankara says that about 500,000 Armenians died as a result of civil strife, disease, and starvation rather than a planned Ottoman government effort to annihilate them. Turkey also asserts that hundreds of thousands of Muslims died in Anatolia at the time due to combat, starvation, cold, and disease.
With reporting by AFP
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