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- By RFE/RL
Putin Gets Covid-19 Vaccine Shot
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been vaccinated against COVID-19 and is feeling well, RIA said on March 23 citing the Kremlin, as authorities seek to encourage hesitant Russians to get the shot.
The Kremlin said earlier on March 23 that it had deliberately decided not to reveal the name of the Russian-made vaccine which Putin chose to take.
Putin had been criticized for being slow to get vaccinated in a country where there is widespread hesitance over the vaccine.
So far, some 4.3 million people in Russia have received both doses of a two-shot vaccine, which is less than 5 percent of the country's 146 million people, putting Russia behind many other countries in its rollout.
Russia has the world's fourth-highest number of coronavirus infections at 4.4 million, and the seventh-highest death toll from COVID-19 at 94,231.
The country has developed three COVID-19 vaccines -- Sputnik V by the Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow, EpiVacCorona, produced by the Vector Institute in Novosibirsk, and CoviVac, from the Chumakov Centre in St. Petersburg.
In August, Russia approved the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, prompting scientists around the world to question its safety and efficacy because it was registered before the results of Phase 3 studies were made available.
However, peer-reviewed, late-stage trial results published in The Lancet medical journal last month showed the two-dose regimen of Sputnik V was 91.6 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19, about the same level as the leading Western-developed vaccines.
Still, a recent survey by the Levada Center, an independent polling agency, showed that the number of Russians hesitant to get the Sputnik V shot grew in February to 62 percent from 58 percent in December.
The EpiVacCorona and CoviVac vaccines also received regulatory approval before completing late-stage trials.
- By RFE/RL
NATO Affirms Unity In The Face Of 'Aggressive' Russia
NATO foreign ministers have vowed that the Western alliance will continue to adapt in the face of "rising threats and systemic competition," and underlined that "Russia’s aggressive actions constitute a threat to Euro-Atlantic security."
"Assertive and authoritarian powers, and non-state actors, challenge the rules-based international order, including through hybrid and cyber threats, the malicious use of new technologies, as well as other asymmetric threats,” the ministers said in a joint statement issued on March 23 after a first day of talks in Brussels.
Earlier in the day, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is attending the two-day NATO gathering – the first face-to-face meeting of foreign ministers at the Western security alliance since 2019 -- said China's military rise and Russia's attempts to destabilize the West were threats that required NATO to come together.
Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, called "NATO's statements on a threat and aggression emanating from Russia" as "yet another mantra to justify the alliance's existence."
In their statement, the NATO ministers reaffirmed "the enduring transatlantic bond between Europe and North America, with NATO at its heart" -- after four years of doubt and concern among some allies under the previous U.S. administration of President Donald Trump, who often criticized some allies for failing to pay their fair share of the defense burden.
The ministers also committed to Article 5 of NATO's founding treaty, under which an attack against one ally shall be considered an attack against them all.
Noting that members of the 30-nation alliance "are making good progress on fairer trans-Atlantic burden sharing," the NATO ministers welcomed "the efforts made by all Allies in Europe and North America that contribute to our indivisible security."
On his first trip to Brussels, where he is also scheduled to hold talks with European Union leaders as part of U.S. President Joe Biden's efforts to repair transatlantic ties, Blinken vowed Washington would work to rebuild and strengthen NATO.
"The United States wants to rebuild our partnerships, first and foremost with our NATO allies, we want to revitalize the alliance," he told reporters as he met NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian welcomed Blinken's statements, saying that NATO had "rediscovered" itself.
"There will be no European defense without NATO, and there will be no efficient and relevant NATO without Europeans," he said at NATO headquarters.
With reporting by Reuters, dpa, and AP
Russian Consulate Employee Leaves France After Being Questioned In Stolen Bike Scam
An employee of the Russian Consulate in Strasbourg is suspected of selling dozens of stolen bicycles, French media reports said on March 22.
According to the reports, a 40-year-old driver for the Russian diplomatic mission was detained for questioning on February 14 but released 24 hours later as police pursued the investigation.
When police wanted to question the suspect for a second time later in February, they were informed by the consulate that he had returned to Russia for "health reasons."
Police launched the probe after an expensive electric bicycle belonging to the former deputy mayor of Strasbourg, Alain Fontanel, was stolen on a street near Strasbourg's diplomatic quarter.
Fontanel turned to police after he saw his bike offered for sale on the Leboncoin website several days later.
Police contacted the seller who agreed to sell the bike at a site just next to the Russian consulate.
The man had a fake receipt of purchase with a Russian consulate stamp along with Fontanel's bike identified by its serial number later, and three other bikes.
Police found out later that some 300 ads for high-quality bikes had been posted on the Leboncoin site since January 2020, representing a potential value of up to 100,000 euros ($120,000).
The investigation continues as prosecutors weigh whether to proceed with a trial even if the suspect remains out of reach.
Based on reporting by AFP and France Bleu
Montenegrin Secret Service Chief Under Fire After Allegedly Disclosing NATO Ally's Data
PODGORICA – Prosecutors in Montenegro say they have opened a preliminary investigation into the alleged disclosure of classified information by the head of the National Security Agency (ANB), Dejan Vuksic.
"The case is in the preliminary phase," a spokeswoman for the Higher State Prosecutor's Office (VDT) in Podgorica, Lepa Medenica, told RFE/RL on March 23.
The leader of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) and member of the parliament's Security and Defense Committee, Rasko Konjevic, claimed on March 19 that Vuksic violated the law on data secrecy and compromised classified information of a NATO ally by sharing secret data with committee members earlier that day.
According to the deputy prime minister in charge of security matters, Dritan Abazovic, Vuksic "made a mistake" by revealing secret information.
But Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic defended the head of the secret service on March 21, saying that during the Security and Defense Committee meeting he disclosed data from an internal ANB document -- not from a NATO member state.
Some reports said that the classified information dealt with CIA operatives.
Montenegro joined the Western alliance in 2017.
Vuksic was appointed to the helm of the secret service in mid-December by Krivokapic’s government in a move strongly opposed by the opposition, which argued that ANB officials should not be members of a political party or carry out political activities.
Vuksic topped the candidate list of the coalition For the Future of Kotor in local elections in August 2020.
The coalition was part of a broader coalition led by the Democratic Front (DF) in the parliamentary vote that was held on the same day and brought Krivokapic to power.
- By RFE/RL
Navalny's Team Announces Spring Push, Aims For Massive Rally To Free Kremlin Critic
The team of jailed Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny is making a new push to free the anti-corruption campaigner with plans for the largest anti-Kremlin protest in Russia's modern history.
In an announcement on Navalny's website on March 23, the team said the date and site of the rally will be announced once at least 500,000 people express their willingness to participate.
The group also launched a special website to register those who would like to take part in the event as part of the push to get Navalny released from prison.
Leonid Volkov, the coordinator of Navalny's network of teams, said that some 60,000 people had signed up to the event within hours of the website going operational.
"You know who our biggest enemy is? No, not Putin. Putin can't stop the wonderful Russia of the future however much he wants to. Our main enemy is indifference, apathy and apoliticism," Volkov said.
Navalny's associates and supporters have been under pressure since the 44-year-old Kremlin critic was arrested on January 17 as he arrived from Germany where he had ben treated for a poisoning attack with what was determined by several European labs as a Novichok-like nerve agent.
Thousands rallied across Russia on January 23 and January 31 in protest at Navalny's detention. Police violently put down the protests, arresting almost 10,000 people in the process.
On February 2, Navalny was found guilty of violating the terms of his suspended sentence relating to an embezzlement case that he has called politically motivated.
The court converted the sentence to 3 1/2 years in prison. Given credit for time already spent in detention, the court said the Kremlin critic would have to serve 2 years and 8 months behind bars.
The ruling sparked new mass protests across the country that were also violently dispersed by police.
Another 1,400 people were detained by police in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other Russian cities on that day.
Navalny is currently being held in Correctional Colony No. 2, known as one of the toughest prisons in Russia.
The push also comes as Russians prepare to head to the polls in parliamentary elections in September where they hope to derail the ruling United Russia party's stranglehold on power.
Navalny and his supporters have developed a "smart voting" system, which is aimed at undercutting United Russia candidates.
Under the system, voters can enter their address into a special app, which will then give them a list of the candidates deemed most likely to defeat their United Russia rivals regardless of their party affiliation.
Bulgarian MEP Says China Imposed Sanctions On Him Over Uyghur's Sakharov Prize
SOFIA – An ethnic-Turkish Bulgarian deputy at the European Parliament has told RFE/RL that he believes China imposed sanctions on him because he helped an imprisoned ethnic-Uyghur economist receive the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
"I think it’s because of my active role in nominating Professor Ilham Tohti for the Sakharov Prize," Ilhan Kyuchyuk told RFE/RL when asked why he was among 10 European individuals blacklisted by Beijing on March 22.
A Chinese court in the far western Xinjiang region's capital, Urumqi, sentenced Tohti to life in prison in 2014 on charges of separatism after a two-day trial. Tohti -- a former university professor who became an outspoken critic of Beijing's policies toward Uyghurs -- had pleaded not guilty.
In 2019, the European Parliament voted to award Tohti the Sakharov Prize.
China’s Foreign Ministry announced that Kyuchyuk was on its tit-for-tat blacklist list after coordinated Western sanctions were imposed against Chinese officials and companies over the abuse of the rights of the mainly Muslim ethnic-Uyghur community in the Xinjiang region.
The Western sanctions -- imposed jointly on March 22 by the United States, the European Union, Britain, and Canada -- were the first such coordinated action against Beijing since U.S. President Joe Biden took office in January.
Activists and UN rights experts say at least a million Muslims have been detained at camps in the remote region.
Beijing initially denied the existence of the camps. But faced with substantial evidence, it now claims the camps are there to provide vocational training. It also says the camps are needed to fight Islamic extremism.
In addition to Kyuchyuk, Beijing sanctioned four other members of the European Parliament – Reinhard Butikofer and Michael Gahler from Germany, Raphael Glucksmann from France, and Miriam Lexmann from Slovakia.
Locked Up In China: The Plight Of Xinjiang's Muslims
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is partnering with its sister organization, Radio Free Asia, to highlight the plight of Muslims living in China's western province of Xinjiang.
Politicians from the Netherlands, Belgium, and Lithuania were also on Beijing’s sanctions list along with two scientists from Sweden.
The Chinese sanctions ban all 10 Europeans from entering China, Hong Kong, or China’s special administration region of Macao. Some companies and organizations the Europeans have connections with are also not allowed to operate in China.
Kyuchyuk is a member of a political party in Bulgaria called the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS).
It was formed after the collapse of communism in response to a brutal crackdown by communist authorities during the 1980s against Bulgaria’s ethnic Turkish population.
Kyuchyuk told RFE/RL that he had lobbied for Tohti to receive the 2019 Sakharov Prize because “Ilham Tohti has always fought for both the majority and the minority to coexist. This is his philosophy -- living together. This is very close to me as a philosophy.”
“I am a person who has always said that there should be an active dialogue between the European Union and China, but this does not preclude an active dialogue on human rights and freedoms,” Kyuchyuk said.
"The information we receive [about Chinese policies] shows that an attempt is being made to erase the cultural and religious identity of the [Uyghur] population," he said.
Kyuchyuk also said that his support for "the protection of human rights and freedoms" does not mean he is supporting "calls for autonomy" by ethnic Uyghurs in China.
Kyuchyuk has called on Josep Borrell, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, to raise the issue of China's rights abuses against Uyghurs during all of his meetings with Chinese officials.
Georgian Deputy Interior Minister Resigns Amid Surveillance Scandal
TBILISI -- Georgian Deputy Interior Minister Kakhaber Sabanadze has resigned amid media reports he ordered the intentional disruption of a gathering of opposition groups and used illegal surveillance to keep track of some politicians.
Sabanadze announced his decision to step down from the post on March 23 after the Mtavari Arkhi and TV Pirveli television channels published an interview over the weekend with an ex-employee of the State Security Service, Vano Gulashvili, who claimed that a meeting of opposition groups in 2019 in Tbilisi had been disrupted on Sabanadze's orders.
"The allegations must be studied and an unbiased and comprehensive investigation must be conducted to find the truth. Therefore, I am stepping down to secure a fair investigation. I am confident that my decision will be an example for other officials to act in line with high standards of responsibility," Sabanadze wrote. He did not comment directly on the allegations.
The television channels said Gulashvili was interviewed by Mtavari Arkhi in November 2019, after which he was arrested on a charge of disclosing classified data. He is currently being held in detention.
Gulashvili said in the interview that he was following orders handed down by Sabanadze and other Interior Ministry officials in 2014, and that he installed surveillance cameras in the house of former Deputy Defense Minister Ana Dolidze and malware on the laptop of Georgian Muslim leader Vagif Askerov to record his personal life.
The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office said earlier in the day that it had launched a probe into the information provided by Gulashvili.
Dolidze, who is currently the leader of the Movement for the People political group, told RFE/RL on March 23 that she wants a probe launched into how surveillance cameras were installed in her house to determine why they were there, who exactly ordered the surveillance operation, and whether the materials obtained from the cameras were destroyed.
Dolidze added that she wants the Public Defender’s office to be involved in the probe to ensure the rights of Gulashvili are respected during the investigation.
Hungary's Orban Signals Delay In Reopening As Virus Deaths At Record High
Hungary has reported a record number of coronavirus deaths, prompting Prime Minister Viktor Orban to announce a delay in the reopening of the economy.
Hungary has overtaken the Czech Republic for the world's highest per capita death rate for the past seven days, according to the Our World in Data website.
The Central European country on March 23 reported 252 fatalities, a daily record.
The toll comes after a spike in hospitalizations and patients on ventilators threatened to break its overstretched health system despite per capita vaccination rates at the top of European Union nations.
"Until all of our compatriots older than 65 who are registered for vaccination have been inoculated, we will not be able to start with reopening, because their lives would be in imminent danger," Orban said in a Facebook video.
The surge in infections scuppered Orban's tentative plan for a phased reopening of the economy from later this month.
A partial lockdown in effect since November 2020 was extended with the closure of schools and kindergartens.
The Hungarian Medical Chamber warned people on March 22 to limit shopping to once a week, if possible, avoid public transport and postpone any nonessential domestic travel.
Hungary was the first EU country to buy and use Chinese or Russian vaccines as shipments from Western suppliers lagged.
Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on social media on March 23 that a government cargo plane is bringing a second shipment of 180,000 doses of vaccines from Russia. Szijjarto said that once the latest Russian delivery is received, vaccines from Russia and China will have reached 1,776,000 doses.
With reporting by Reuters
Leader Of Belarus Opposition Party Detained Amid Crackdown
MINSK -- The leader of the opposition United Civil Party (AHP) has been detained on unknown charges amid an ongoing crackdown on Belarusians demanding the resignation of the country's authoritarian leader, Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
Mikalay Kazlou, a member of the Coordination Council of the Belarusian Opposition (KRBA), disappeared late in the afternoon on March 22 after he sent a text message to his friend, saying: "If I am not around in 15 minutes that will mean I was detained."
AHP said on Facebook hours later that Kazlou had been placed in a detention center in Minsk.
There has been no official announcement by authorities on the situation, but Kazlou told RFE/RL earlier that Minsk police had launched a probe against him, accusing him of disclosing data related to an investigation after he was questioned as a witness in a case against other KRBA members who are accused of calling for people to illegally seize power.
Kazlou added that he was also accused of refusing to sign a document keeping him from disclosing the details of his interrogation.
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.
Kazlou has led the AHP since 2018. During the presidential election in August last year, his party called on Belarusians not to vote for Lukashenka.
Separately on March 23, a court in the western city of Brest began trying 14 defendants, including one woman, charged with taking part in "mass disorders" over their participation in rallies in the city of Pinsk against the official results of the election, which handed Lukashenka a sixth consecutive term.
If convicted, the defendants face up to eight years in prison each.
The rallies in Pinsk were part of mass demonstrations that have swept across Belarus since the disputed vote.
Lukashenka has directed a brutal postelection crackdown in which almost 30,000 people have been detained, hundreds beaten, several killed, and journalists targeted in the action.
Lukashenka, who has run Belarus since 1994, and top officials have been slapped with sanctions by the West, which refuses to recognize him as the legitimate leader of the former Soviet republic.
- By RFE/RL
Norway Blocks Rolls-Royce From Selling Engine Maker To Russian Company, Cites Security Fears
Norway has announced that it is blocking Rolls-Royce's sale of a Norwegian engine maker to a Russian company over concerns it could allow sensitive technology to end up in Russian hands.
“The sale would strengthen Russian military capabilities in a way that would clearly be contrary to Norwegian and allied security policy interests,” Justice and Public Security Minister Monica Maeland said on March 23 as she outlined to the Norwegian parliament why the move was being taken.
"We now have enough information to conclude that it is absolutely necessary to prevent the sale of the company to a company controlled by a country with which we have no cooperation in the field of security," she added.
The issue arose last year after Rolls-Royce announced it was selling Bergen Engines, which makes and services medium-speed gas and diesel engines for marine and power generation customers, to TMH Group, a privately owned company headquartered in Russia that makes locomotives and rail equipment.
Bergen Engines supplies NATO member Norway's navy, as well as customers from the shipping industry around the world.
The British company, known mainly for its luxury cars and airplane engines, has said it was selling the Norwegian unit, which employs almost 1,000 people, as part of a plan to strengthen its bottom line in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier this month, the sale was temporarily halted, prompting Moscow to issue a stern warning over what it felt were the "anti-Russian implications" of the decision.
Relations between Norway and Russia, which share a border in the Arctic, have eroded since Moscow illegally annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014.
Since then the countries have pushed a military build-up in the north on both sides of the border and an increase in military maneuvers.
With reporting by Norway Today, Reuters, and dpa
- By RFE/RL
Blinken Warns Germany Of Possible Sanctions Over Nord Stream 2
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the Nord Stream 2 pipeline being built from Russia to Germany is against the European Union's own interests and warned Berlin of possible sanctions over the project.
"President (Joe) Biden has been very clear, he believes the pipeline is a bad idea, bad for Europe, bad for the United States, ultimately it is in contradiction to the EU's own security goals," Blinken said on March 23 as he met with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels.
Germany is pushing for the pipeline's completion despite sustained U.S. opposition for over more than a decade.
U.S. officials argue that the pipeline, which is intended to transport 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually directly from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea, will make Europe too dependent on Russian energy supplies. It will also bypass Ukraine, a Western ally, potentially depriving it of valuable transit fees.
Blinken mentioned a U.S. law that required the United States to impose sanctions on companies participating in the Nord Stream 2 project, which he said "has the potential to undermine the interests of Ukraine, Poland, and a number of close partners and allies."
Blinken said he will warn his German counterpart Heiko Maas of possible sanctions at their first face-to-face meeting on March 23.
So far, Washington has only imposed sanctions on the Russian company KVT-RUS, which operates the pipe-laying vessel Fortuna. These measures were announced by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump shortly before the end of its term in January.
Blinken last week denounced the pipeline as a "Russian geopolitical project intended to divide Europe and weaken European energy security."
The pipeline is already around 95 percent completed, and could be finished by September, according to experts.
Supporters of the gas pipeline have long accused the United States of undermining the project in order to increase sales of their liquefied gas in Europe.
With reporting by AFP and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Human Rights Watch Calls On Uzbekistan To Ensure Gay Rights
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says gay men in Uzbekistan face arbitrary detention, prosecution, and imprisonment and has called on the Central Asian nation's government to guarantee their rights and decriminalize same-sex sexual conduct.
In a statement issued on March 23, HRW said gay men in the former Soviet republic, a current member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, face "homophobia, threats, and extortion" and the criminalization of same-sex sexual conduct remains "a significant stain" on Tashkent’s record.
"Uzbekistan should decriminalize same-sex sexual conduct by repealing Article 120 of the criminal code and excluding any provisions criminalizing same-sex conduct from its new criminal code," the HRW statement said.
The rights watchdog also called on Tashkent to "investigate attacks and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity, including threats made by law enforcement officers...and hold those responsible to account."
"Uzbekistan’s international partners should press Uzbekistan to decriminalize same-sex sexual conduct in keeping with its obligations to uphold key human rights standards," the HRW's statement said.
HRW emphasized that a draft of Uzbekistan's new Criminal Code, published on February 22, still addresses same-sex sexual conduct as a crime, as the legislation only changes the article's number from 120 to 154 and not the wording.
“Criminalization of same-sex sexual conduct is fundamentally incompatible with international human rights norms and keeping it on the books contributes to an environment of fear and hostility for LGBT people in Uzbekistan,” Hugh Williamson, director of the Europe and Central Asia division at HRW, said.
“If Uzbekistan wants to show the world it is serious about respecting human rights, parliament should decriminalize consensual same-sex conduct before it adopts a new Criminal Code.”
Uzbekistan and neighboring Turkmenistan are the last former Soviet republics where same-sex consensual sex conduct is officially a crime, but sexual minorities still face firmly entrenched social taboos across the region.
- By RFE/RL
China, Russia In Show Of Unity Amid Western Criticism, Sanctions
The foreign ministers of China and Russia have met in a display of unity and called for a summit of permanent members of the UN Security Council amid Western sanctions against them over human rights violations and repression of political dissent.
Wang Yi and Sergei Lavrov rejected Western criticism at a joint news conference in Beijing on March 23, with Lavrov saying that Russia and China view the United States as trying to rely on Cold War-era military political alliances in an attempt to destroy international legal architecture.
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In a joint statement, Lavrov and Wang again rejected what they called outside interference in their domestic affairs and claimed that "there is no single standard for the democratic model."
"It is necessary to respect the legitimate rights of sovereign states to independently determine their own path of development. Interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states under the pretext of 'promoting democracy' is unacceptable," the joint statement said.
Wang sharply criticized coordinated sanctions brought by the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States against Chinese officials over human rights abuses in China’s far western Xinjiang region targeting the mainly Muslim ethnic Uyghur community.
The EU sanctions imposed on China are similar to the Magnitsky Act -- the U.S. legislation that authorizes the U.S. government to sanction those it sees as human rights offenders, freeze their assets, and ban them from entering the United States.
The two foreign ministers also called in their statement for a summit of permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Wang and Lavrov first met on March 22 in the southern Chinese city of Nanning, where they accused Washington of interference in other countries’ affairs and urged it to rejoin the Iran nuclear agreement, which former President Donald Trump left in 2018.
Mutual Sanctions
Russia and China, which are signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, both maintain close relations with Tehran.
“Countries should stand together to oppose all forms of unilateral sanctions," Wang said. “These measures will not be embraced by the international community."
Wang's comments came as Beijing, in a tit-for-tat move, announced its own sanctions on 10 EU individuals and four entities that it accused of seriously harming China's sovereignty and interests over Xinjiang.
Wang and Lavrov's statement, which insisted on "the inviolability of the system of international relations" and respect for international law, came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the European Union of "confrontational policies" in a phone call with European Council President Charles Michel.
The phone call came the same day the EU imposed sanctions on two Chechen officials over rights abuses in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Chechnya.
Michel again called on Putin to release opposition politician Aleksei Navalny and “proceed with a transparent investigation into the assassination attempt” on the jailed Kremlin critic, who was poisoned in August 2020 and was thrown in jail upon his return to Russia following life-saving medical treatment in Germany.
Russian authorities have refused to launch an investigation into Navalny’s poisoning in Siberia.
Earlier this month, the United States and the European Union imposed coordinated sanctions against seven senior Russian officials over Navalny's poisoning and imprisonment.
Relations between Washington and Moscow took a further hit on March 18 after Putin shot back at U.S. President Joe Biden’s description of him as a killer during a television interview.
With reporting by AP, Reuters, and TASS
- By RFE/RL
U.S. Condemns Attacks Against Saudi Territory From 'Iranian-Aligned' Groups
The U.S. State Department says Secretary of State Antony Blinken has “strongly condemned” recent attacks against Saudi territory from “Iranian-aligned groups” in the region, and discussed cooperation to end the war in Yemen in a call with Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister.
During his March 22 conversation with Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Blinken also “reiterated our commitment to supporting the defense” of U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, the department said in a statement.
It said the two discussed “their close cooperation to support the efforts of UN Special Envoy Griffiths and U.S. Special Envoy Lenderking to end the conflict in Yemen, starting with the need for all parties to commit to a cease-fire and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid."
The phone call came as Saudi Arabia presented a new peace initiative to end the Yemeni conflict, widely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, including a nationwide cease-fire under UN supervision and the reopening of air and sea links.
The offer was welcomed by the UN and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government based in the southern port of Aden, but the Iranian-aligned Shi’ite Huthi rebels said the initiative provided "nothing new" as did not appear to go far enough to lift a blockade.
Deputy State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter welcomed the commitment of Riyadh and Yemen's internationally recognised government to a cease-fire and negotiations.
The Saudi initiative would include the reopening of Sanaa airport, and would allow fuel and food imports through Hodeidah port, both of which are controlled by the Huthis.
Saudi Arabia has been under increasing pressure to put an end to the six-year Yemeni conflict since U.S. President Joe Biden signaled Washington would no longer support Riyadh's military intervention in the country.
Yemen was plunged into a civil war in 2015 that has killed some 130,000 people and displaced more than 3 million Yemenis.
The Huthis have launched drone and missile attacks targeting the Saudi kingdom's oil infrastructure and other sites.
Earlier this month, the UN said around 16 million Yemenis, more than half the population, were going hungry. Of those, 5 million are on the brink of famine.
In its statement, the U.S. State Department said Blinken and his Saudi counterpart also discussed “the importance of stabilizing the Yemeni economy.”
The state secretary “underscored the importance of continued progress on human rights and expressed support for Saudi Arabia’s ongoing social and economic reforms,” it said.
With reporting by Reuters and AP
- By RFE/RL
In Coordinated Effort, West Sanctions China For Rights Violations In Xinjiang
The United States, Britain, and Canada have joined the European Union in announced sanctions against Chinese officials and companies over human rights violations against the mainly Muslim ethnic-Uyghur community in China's Xinjiang Province.
The concerted effort on March 22 were what British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called part of “intensive diplomacy” to pressure Beijing as evidence of rights abuses in the province grows.
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The EU sanctions were imposed on four Chinese officials and a construction company, prompting Beijing to slap retaliatory restrictions on 10 European officials.
Raab said the sanctions by Britain, the United States, and Canada will be imposed immediately and include travel bans and asset freezes against four officials.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that “a united transatlantic response sends a strong signal to those who violate or abuse international human rights, and we will take further actions in coordination with likeminded partners.”
“We will continue to stand with our allies around the world in calling for an immediate end to [China's] crimes and for justice for the many victims," Blinken said.
The EU's Official Journal on March 22 listed travel bans and asset freezes on Chen Mingguo, director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau and deputy chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) People’s Government, former deputy head of the XUAR legislature Zhu Hailun, as well as Wang Mingshan and Wang Junzheng -- two high-level officials in the Chinese administration of XUAR.
Chen was guilty of "arbitrary detentions and degrading treatment inflicted upon Uyghurs and people from other Muslim ethnic minorities, as well as systematic violations of their freedom of religion or belief," the Official Journal said.
Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Public Security Bureau (XPCC) was targeted with sanctions, the EU said. XPCC is in charge of implementing all policies "relating to security matters, including the management of detention centers," the Journal said.
In a tit-for-tat move, Beijing immediately announced sanctions on 10 EU individuals, including German politician Reinhard Buetikofer -- the co-chair of the European Parliament's Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China IPAC -- and four entities that it accused of seriously harming China's sovereignty and interests over Xinjiang.
China's Foreign Ministry also urged the EU in a statement to "correct its mistake" and not to interfere in China's internal affairs.
France's Foreign Ministry denounced the sanctions imposed by China and condemned "unacceptable comments" from the Chinese ambassador in Paris in recent days, including "insults and threats toward lawmakers and a French researcher."
Locked Up In China: The Plight Of Xinjiang's Muslims
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is partnering with its sister organization, Radio Free Asia, to highlight the plight of Muslims living in China's western province of Xinjiang.
It said the ministry would summon Ambassador Lu Shaye to remind him of "the elementary rules as set out by the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations."
China, which denies any human rights violations in Xinjiang, has said internment camps for Uyghurs provide vocational training and education against extremism.
The move by the EU marked the first time that the bloc has sanctioned China since imposing an arms embargo in 1989 following the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy crackdown.
All 27 EU members agreed to the punitive measures. However, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto called them "harmful" and "pointless."
Hungary is at odds with Brussels over rule-of-law violations and has sought closer relations with both Russia and China, including the acquisition of anti-COVID-19 vaccines.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
Jailed Belarus Blogger Losik's Pretrial Detention Extended
MINSK -- A court has extended the pretrial detention of Ihar Losik, a popular blogger and RFE/RL consultant jailed in Belarus since last June on charges his supporters say are trumped up.
The blogger's wife, Darya Losik, told RFE/RL on March 22 that her husband's pretrial detention had been prolonged until May 25.
"We have just learned about the extension of his time in custody. Unfortunately, I do not know if it’s somehow linked with new charges. But we were told that he will spend at least two more months behind bars," Darya Losik said.
"RFE/RL condemns in the strongest terms the extension by Belarusian authorities, without explanation, of Ihar Losik’s time in pretrial detention for another two months," RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said.
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"Ihar, his wife, his daughter, and his RFE/RL colleagues are waiting impatiently for this injustice to end, and for Ihar to be where he should have been all along -- free, with his family," he added.
On March 11, Losik was informed of additional unspecified charges that have never been made public. After hearing of the charges, he slit his wrists and launched a four-day hunger strike.
Losik's lawyer, Dzmitry Lepretar, has said he cannot talk about the charges due to an agreement with investigators.
Losik, who has already spent 270 days in pretrial detention, had been charged initially with allegedly using his popular Telegram channel to "prepare to disrupt public order" ahead of an August 9 presidential election that incumbent Alyaksandr Lukashenka subsequently claimed he won by a landslide amid allegations of widespread fraud.
Since then Belarus has witnessed daily protests against the result. More than 30,000 people have been detained, hundreds beaten, several killed, and journalists targeted in a government crackdown on demonstrators.
Lukashenka and top officials have been slapped with sanctions by the West, which refuses to recognize him as the legitimate leader of Belarus.
Hunger Strike
Losik, a consultant for RFE/RL on new-media technologies, ended his hunger strike less than two months after he first went on a six-week hunger strike to protest the original charges that he allegedly used his video blog to help organize riots to protest the election results.
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.
News of the new charges against the 28-year-old father of a 2-year-old daughter prompted RFE/RL President Jamie Fly to urge Lukashenka to release Losik immediately so he can be reunited with his family.
“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,” Fly wrote, adding that RFE/RL was "deeply distressed" by the new charges and Losik's deteriorating health situation.
Fly repeated that call in remarks delivered remotely on March 22 to the Kalinowski Conference on the political crisis in Belarus, adding that Losik and RFE/RL's Belarus Service, known locally as Svaboda, had been targeted by the Lukashenka government because of their commitment to "the truth."
The oversight agency for RFE/RL and other U.S. international broadcasters has condemned the Belarusian authorities' decision to heap further charges on Losik and has demanded his release.
The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) statement on March 12 cited "false charges" that have kept Losik in detention.
"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."
- By RFE/RL
European Council President Tells Putin EU-Russian Relations At 'Low Point'
European Council President Charles Michel has told Russian President Vladimir Putin that relations between the European Union and Russia are “at a low point” with disagreements in “many areas,” which the Russian leader blamed on the bloc's "confrontational policies."
Michel and Putin spoke by telephone on March 22 after the EU imposed sanctions on two Chechen officials over rights abuses in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Chechnya and ahead of a video conference of EU leaders on March 25-26 set to address EU-Russia ties.
"President Michel expressed the view that EU-Russia ties are at a low point and confirmed the EU's approach of the five guiding principles, based on the EU's core values," the European Council said in a statement, acknowledging that there is “currently disagreement in many areas.”
It said EU-Russian relations “can only take a different direction if there is sustained progress on issues like the implementation of the Minsk agreements” aimed at putting an end to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Moscow-backed separatists has killed more than 13,000 people since April 2014, as well as “stopping hybrid and cyberattacks” on EU member states, and “respect for human rights.”
Michel reiterated the EU's call on Russia to release opposition politician Aleksei Navalny and “proceed with a transparent investigation into the assassination attempt” on the jailed Kremlin critic.
Russian authorities have refused to launch an investigation into Navalny’s poisoning in Siberia with a nerve agent last August.
According to a Kremlin statement, Putin “gave an appraisal of the unsatisfactory state of Russia-EU ties which has emerged due to unconstructive, often confrontational policies of our partners."
The Russian leader stressed that Russia was ready to "resume normal depoliticized" ties with the EU if there's a will to do so in Brussels.
Speaking after an EU foreign ministers meeting, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that Russia "is drifting towards an authoritarian state and away from Europe, and Europe must draw the consequences of that.”
EU leaders “will continue the discussion on this important but difficult relationship later this week,” Borrell added.
The comments came as the EU imposed sanctions on two Chechen officials accused of involvement in the “torture and repression” of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Chechnya and other individuals suspected of being opponents of the Moscow-backed regional leader, Ramzan Kadyrov.
Abuzayed Vismuradov and Ayub Katayev were targeted with asset freezes and visa bans, the EU said in its Official Journal on March 22, under the EU's new human rights sanctions regime that came into effect in December.
Rights groups have accused predominantly Muslim Chechnya of targeting sexual minorities, including the use of abductions, torture, and extrajudicial killings. Kadyrov has denied the allegations.
Katayev currently heads the Chechen Interior Ministry’s branch in the city of Argun, while Vismuradov serves as Chechnya’s deputy prime minister, commander of the Terek military unit that allegedly has been linked to the roundup of gay men in the region, and Kadyrov’s “unofficial” bodyguard.
Vismuradov, Katayev, and Kadyrov have already been sanctioned by the United States over their involvement in gross human rights violations in Chechnya. Kadyrov was blacklisted by the EU in 2014 over his support for Russia’s forcible annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region.
Apart from the two Chechen officials, the EU also imposed sanctions on individuals and entities from China, Eritrea, Libya, North Korea, and South Sudan.
With reporting by AFP and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
U.S. Supreme Court To Hear Case On Reinstating Death Penalty For Boston Marathon Bomber
The U.S. Supreme Court says it will consider reinstating the death sentence for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, agreeing to hear an appeal filed by the administration of former President Donald Trump.
The court said on March 22 that it had "granted permission" for an appeal filed by the Trump administration to be heard, but gave no further details.
Tsarnaev, an ethnic Chechen who was born in Kyrgyzstan, was convicted in 2015 of killing three people and injuring hundreds of others during the 2013 Boston Marathon.
An appeals court in Boston last July overturned the death sentence that had been handed to the 27-year-old and ordered a new trial to determine what penalty he should receive. The court found that the judge who oversaw the case did not sufficiently vet jurors for biases.
Legal analysts expect the case will be heard in the fall, setting up a test for President Joe Biden, who has expressed his opposition to capital punishment. The Trump administration carried out 13 federal executions in its final six months in office, including three in the last week of the former president's term.
A federal jury found Tsarnaev guilty of all 30 counts he faced and sentenced him to death in just over two years after the attack at the finish line of the marathon.
Tsarnaev's brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, died in a gunbattle with police a few days after the bombings.
The defense acknowledged that the brothers carried out the attack but sought to portray Tamerlan as the radicalized mastermind and Dzhokhar as the impressionable younger brother.
Prosecutors said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was just as culpable in the attack, which the perpetrators said was meant to punish the United States for its wars in Muslim countries.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev came to the United States in April 2002 on a tourist visa but never left the country. He and his parents were subsequently granted political asylum.
Putin Says He Will Get Vaccinated Against Coronavirus On March 23
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he will get vaccinated against the coronavirus on March 23.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added that Putin, who has been criticized for being slow to get vaccinated in a country where there is widespread hesitancy over the vaccine, will get "one of the three" Russian-made injections, but did not say which one.
Peskov added that Putin's vaccination will not be a public event.
Putin said it was vital to ramp up production of vaccines for domestic use. So far, some 4.3 million people in Russia have received both doses of a two-shot vaccine, which is less than 5 percent of the country's 146 million people, putting Russia behind many other countries in its rollout.
Russia has the world's fourth-highest number of coronavirus infections at 4.4 million, and the seventh-highest death toll from COVID-19 at 94,231.
The country has developed three COVID-19 vaccines: Sputnik V by the Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow; EpiVacCorona, produced by the Vector Institute in Novosibirsk; and CoviVac, from the Chumakov Center in St. Petersburg.
In August, Russia approved the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, prompting scientists around the world to question its safety and efficacy because it was registered before the results of Phase 3 studies were made available.
However, peer-reviewed, late-stage trial results published in The Lancet medical journal last month showed the two-dose regimen of Sputnik V was 91.6 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19, about the same level as the leading Western-developed vaccines.
Still, a recent survey by the Levada Center, an independent polling agency, showed the number of Russians hesitant to get the Sputnik V shot grew in February to 62 percent from 58 percent in December.
The EpiVacCorona and CoviVac vaccines also received regulatory approval before completing late-stage trials
With reporting by TASS and Interfax
- By RFE/RL
Extension Of Belarus Opposition Figure's Pretrial Detention Upheld
A court in Minsk has upheld an extension of the pretrial detention of Belarusian opposition figure Maryya Kalesnikava, who faces national-security charges after she urged people to protest against a disputed presidential election that left Alyaksandr Lukashenka in power.
"The Minsk City Court rejected Maryya Kalesnikava's appeal. [Kalesnikava's pretrial] term in the detention center was extended until May 8. Support Masha with letters, express solidarity," a would-be Belarusian presidential candidate Viktar Babaryka, who himself is on trial on corruption charges that he denies, said in a statement on Telegram on March 22.
The appeal came after Kalesnikava's pretrial detention was extended in early March.
Kalesnikava is a key member of the Coordination Council, a body set up by the political opposition in Belarus to try to facilitate the transfer of power in the country following a presidential election in August 2020 that the opposition says was rigged and the West has refused to accept.
Kalesnikava was arrested in September 2020 and charged with calling for actions aimed at damaging the country's national security via media and the Internet -- namely calling on people to protest against the election results.
In February, Kalesnikava was additionally charged with conspiracy to seize power and creating and leading an extremist group.
Kalesnikava, who rejects the charges as politically motivated, could be sentenced to up to 12 years in prison if convicted.
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.
Babaryka, a former Belarusian banker whose bid to challenge incumbent Lukashenka in the election was halted by his arrest on corruption charges, reiterated his not guilty plea as his trial resumed on March 22 following an almost one-month break.
After he announced his intention to run for president, Babaryka, a former senior manager at the Russian-owned Belgazprombank, was arrested in June 2020 along with his son Eduard on charges of money laundering, bribery, and tax evasion.
Mass demonstrations have swept across Belarus since the disputed August 9 vote that gave Lukashenka a sixth consecutive term.
Lukashenka has directed a brutal postelection crackdown in which almost 30,000 have been detained, hundreds beaten, several killed, and journalists targeted.
Lukashenka, who has run Belarus since 1994, and top officials have been slapped with sanctions by the West, which refuses to recognize him as the legitimate leader of the former Soviet republic.
Bulgaria Expels Two Russian Diplomats Over Espionage Ring
SOFIA -- Bulgaria’s government has given two Russian diplomats 72 hours to leave the country, after the authorities uncovered the latest in a string of Moscow-linked spy scandals.
The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry declared the Russian diplomats “personae non gratae” on March 22 because they had carried out activities “incompatible” with their diplomatic status.
The Russian Embassy called the decision “groundless” and said that Moscow “reserves the right to retaliate.”
It expressed "regret that once again this unfounded action by the Bulgarian authorities will not contribute to constructive dialogue between Russia and Bulgaria."
Bulgaria has close cultural, historical, and economic ties with Russia, the country's main energy partner. But relations between Sofia and Moscow have been hit by several spy scandals in recent years.
On March 19, Bulgarian authorities in the NATO member state announced they had busted an espionage group passing military secrets to Russia.
Prosecutors said six people, including former and current military intelligence officers, were detained and charged for passing classified information about Bulgaria, NATO, and the EU to the Russian Embassy in Sofia.
The Sofia Military District Court has ordered five of them remanded in custody, while another suspect was released on bail, according to BTA news agency.
Since October 2019, the EU and NATO member state has expelled five diplomats and employees of the Russian Embassy accused of conducting intelligence work.
Minsk Police Refuse Security For Freedom Day Rally
MINSK -- Organizers of the annual Freedom Day event in Minsk say city police have officially refused to agree to provide security for the participants on March 25, dealing the group a major blow to holding a rally to mark the 103rd anniversary of the short-lived Belarusian People's Republic, which existed for less than a year in 1918.
Ryhor Kastusyou, chairman of the opposition Belarusian Popular Front (BNF) party, told RFE/RL on March 22 that the police cited pandemic restrictions and "ongoing calls from several extremist channels in Telegram" to hold unsanctioned street protests on the day, March 25, as the reasons for refusing to provide security.
That reference appears to refer to a statement from Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who on Telegram called for Belarusians to continue their nationwide protests with street rallies on March 25 against Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has run the country since 1994.
Kastusyou said that there wasn't enough time to appeal the decision in court, and that without police security it was unlikely organizers would receive official permission from the city executive committee to hold their event.
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.
Tsikhanouskaya is currently in Lithuania, where she relocated for security reasons after the presidential election that she and her supporters say she won.
Lukashenka's victory declaration has sparked protests that have seen tens of thousands take to the streets demanding that he leave.
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 some were handed prison terms. Rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used against some of those detained.
Authorities appear to be continuing their crackdown ahead of Freedom Day with the March 21 arrest in Minsk of Ihar Barysau, chairman of the opposition Social Democratic Party and one of the initiators of the March 25 public event, on an unknown charge.
In the eastern city of Mahilyou, activist Raman Davydau, who has applied to the city administration to hold a Freedom Day event in his city, says he was officially warned by local prosecutors of possible criminal repercussions for holding unsanctioned public events.
Kastusyou says he and others who asked Minsk city authorities for the permission to hold an event might be also detained before March 25.
Belarusian KGB Chief Ivan Tertel has said that his team is "aware of plans to destabilize the situation in the country on March 25-27," while Deputy Interior Minister Mikalay Karpyankou has stated that "any unsanctioned rallies will be dispersed in a tough manner" similar to how law enforcement dispersed the mass protests against the official results of the August presidential poll that handed victory to Lukashenka.
Lukashenka has denied any wrongdoing and refuses to negotiate stepping down and holding new elections.
The European Union, United States, Canada, and other countries have refused to recognize Lukashenka, 66, as the legitimate leader of Belarus and have slapped him and senior Belarusian officials with sanctions in response to the “falsification” of the vote and postelection crackdown.
New Chinese Vaccine Approved For Emergency Use In Hungary
Hungary has become the first EU country to approve for emergency use China's CanSino Biologics coronavirus vaccine.
The move came as new infections are spiking in the Central European country even though vaccine import and usage rates already are among the highest in the European Union.
Hungary's National Institute of Pharmacy and Nutrition (OGYEI) also gave emergency approval to CoviShield, the Indian version of the AstraZeneca jab, Surgeon General Cecilia Muller told a news briefing on March 22.
"We are in a race against time," Muller said. "We will search the four corners of the world for as many doses of proper, efficient, and safe vaccines as possible."
She said both shots are “viral vector” vaccines, made with a "cold," harmless virus.
If both jabs are also approved for mass use by the National Health Center, Hungary, which has already been using Chinese and Russian vaccines as well as Western ones, will have seven sources to procure vaccines from. No further details about the deal were immediately available.
Hospitalization rates are at record levels in Hungary, prompting some medical facilities to call in untrained volunteers to help them cope with an overwhelming influx of patients.
The surge in infections poses a big challenge for right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who pledged to ease tough lockdown measures once the inoculation rate reached 2.5 million people, or 25 percent of Hungary's population.
Muller said that 16 percent of the population, or 1.59 million people, had already had their first shot of a vaccine, but added that the current surge in infection was in an "extraordinarily dynamic phase."
With reporting by Reuters
Kosovo's New Parliament Convenes For First Time Since February 14 Election
Kosovo lawmakers gathered in Pristina for the first parliamentary session since the country held a snap election on February 14. The parliament is expected to meet again in the coming days to vote on a new prime minister. Albin Kurti, the leader of the Self-Determination Movement, has been nominated for the post.
Kyiv Police Probe Rally Backing Jailed Ex-Leader Of Radical Group
KYIV -- Police in Kyiv have launched a probe into protests by supporters of Serhiy Sternenko, the controversial former leader of a far-right Ukrainian paramilitary group who was sentenced to seven years in prison on robbery and illegal weapons charges last month in a high-profile abduction case.
The Kyiv police department said on March 21 that the investigations were being launched into hooliganism and the damage done to the building of the president's office by Sternenko's supporters the previous day.
According to the police statement, one of the protesters, an individual born in 1995 whose identity was not disclosed, was arrested for possessing an illegal weapon.
On March 20, hundreds of Sternenko's supporters rallied in front of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office with torches and fire-crackers demanding the immediate release of Sternenko and several other pro-Ukrainian activists.
During the rallies, the walls of the building were painted with graffiti while firecrackers and flash grenades were thrown into the building’s windows.
The president's office estimated damages caused by the protesters to the late-19th century building at 2 million hryvnyas ($71,500).
A court in Kyiv on February 23 found Sternenko, who once led the Right Sector group in the city of Odesa, guilty of kidnapping, robbery and the possession of an illegal weapon in a case involving the abduction of a local lawmaker in 2015.
The court at the time ruled that, due to the statute of limitations, Sternenko could not be sentenced for kidnapping. It did, however, sentence him to seven years in prison on the other two charges.
Sternenko is also a suspect in another high-profile case that has been challenged by his supporters for years.
He is accused of premeditated murder and of possessing an illegal-bladed weapon in the killing of a man almost three years ago.
Sternenko claims he acted in self-defense while being attacked by two men late in the evening on May 26, 2018.
As he fought off the attackers, suffering numerous head injuries and a cut to his arm in the process, Sternenko injured one of the assailants who later died in hospital.
Investigators say that, after Sternenko defended himself using his knife, the attackers fled the scene. But Sternenko, whose life and health were no longer in danger, then reportedly chased one of them and stabbed him several times, inflicting wounds that led to the man's death, investigators say.
The attack was the third against Sternenko in three months.
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