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Progress Made At Iran Nuclear Talks, But More 'Hard Work' Needed, EU Envoy Says
Iran and world powers have made progress in talks to save their 2015 nuclear accord, but “much more hard work" is necessary to rescue the deal, a senior European Union official said on April 20.
EU envoy Enrique Mora made the statement on Twitter on April 20, adding that talks will resume next week.
Discussions in Vienna between Iran, China, Russia, France, Britain, Germany, along with the indirect participation of the United States, are being chaired by the European Union.
“Participants took stock of progress made in the ongoing discussions in Vienna regarding specific measures needed in terms of sanctions lifting and nuclear implementation for the possible return of the U.S. to the JCPOA and its full and effective implementation,” the EU said in a statement, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The joint commission overseeing the talks decided to create a third expert group “to start looking into the possible sequencing of respective measures,” the statement added.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price welcomed the establishment of the working group and agreed that more work remains to be done.
"We have more road ahead of us than we do in the rearview mirror," Price told a regular news briefing.
Abbas Araqchi, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, said on April 20 that while the Vienna talks were moving forward, Tehran would stop the negotiations if faced with "unreasonable demands," time wasting, or irrational bargaining, according to Iranian state media.
The talks are aimed at reviving the Iran nuclear accord abandoned by the United States in 2018.
The EU has been carrying out shuttle diplomacy with U.S. negotiators located in a nearby hotel because Tehran has refused face-to-face talks with Washington.
The EU statement on April 20 reiterated the participants’ resolve to pursue their joint diplomatic effort and the “continued separate contacts of the coordinator with all participants and the United States."
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's envoy to the talks, said on Twitter that the group would seek “practical steps leading to full restoration of the Iranian nuclear deal."
The five world powers and Iran remain parties to the original 2015 accord, which offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for limits on the country's nuclear program. However, since the U.S. withdrew from the deal Iran has consistently breached restrictions imposed under the deal.
Iran has said it will not return to strict observance of the 2015 agreement unless all sanctions reimposed or added by former President Donald Trump are rescinded first.
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has said it is ready to remove "all sanctions that are inconsistent" with the deal, though it has not spelled out which measures it means.
Separately, the Iranian government said on April 20 that it had launched enrichment of uranium to 60 percent fissile purity in order to show its technical capacity after a sabotage attack at a nuclear plant that Tehran has blamed on Israel. But the escalation of enrichment can be quickly reversible if Washington drops sanctions, the government said.
Biden has called Iran's decision to increase uranium enrichment unhelpful but has said the United States is “pleased” that Iran is still participating in indirect talks.
With reporting by Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Prague Asks Allies For 'Solidarity Expulsions' In Diplomatic Dispute With Moscow Over Depot Blast
PRAGUE -- The Czech Republic has called on fellow European Union and NATO members for "solidarity" action to support it amid a diplomatic spat between Prague and Moscow over Czech claims that Russian military agents were behind a deadly 2014 explosion at a Czech arms depot.
"We are calling for collective action by EU and NATO countries aimed at solidarity expulsions," acting Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said on April 20, a day after 18 Russian diplomats identified by Czech intelligence as being intelligence operatives left their posts in Prague, while 20 Czech Embassy employees in Moscow were ordered to leave by Moscow.
The tit-for-tat moves over the Czech allegations have triggered Prague's biggest dispute with Russia since the 1989 end of communist rule, putting the small Central European NATO member at the center of rising tensions between Moscow and the West.
Hamacek told reporters he had summoned Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Zmeyevsky to protest what Prague views as a disproportionate response.
He later said in a Facebook post he had “expected a slightly different reaction from the Russian side” and that the Czech government will discuss further action.
“I am prepared for everything. Even rebuilding relations completely from the beginning. That means, we send [all Russian diplomats] home," the minister wrote.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected Prague’s "baseless accusations” and called the Czech moves "unreasonable and harmful to bilateral relations."
The Czech government has already decided to eliminate Russia's state-run corporation Rosatom from a multibillion-dollar tender to build a new unit at the Dukovany nuclear power plant and to no longer consider buying the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19.
Citing Czech intelligence, the government said that the GRU, Russia's military intelligence, orchestrated the explosion in the eastern town of Vrbetice in 2014. An October 16 blast set off 50 metric tons of stored ammunition, killing two people. Two months later, another explosion of 13 tons of ammunition occurred at the same site.
In connection with the October 2014 blast, Czech police said they were seeking two suspected Russian agents also identified as suspects in the 2018 poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in England.
The Czech ambassador to NATO on April 20 briefed the North Atlantic Council, the alliance’s top decision-making body, about the involvement of GRU agents in the explosion, with the Foreign Ministry saying that it “represents an unacceptable violation of the state sovereignty and national security of the Czech Republic and requires the necessary response.”
The allies “will consult on the situation with the Czech foreign minister later this week,” a NATO official said, adding: “NATO allies stand in solidarity over Russia’s dangerous pattern of destabilizing behavior.”
Meanwhile, the open-source investigation organization Bellingcat said on April 20 that the Russian operation which Czech authorities have linked to the blast in Vrbetice involved at least six operatives from a GRU unit known as 29155.
The investigation, conducted in partnership with The Insider, Der Spiegel, and Respekt.cz, found that the operation was “supervised personally” by the unit’s commander, identified as Colonel General Andrei Averyanov, who “traveled undercover to Central Europe at the exact time of the operation and left back to Moscow mere hours after the explosion.”
Unit 29155 has been linked to a series of attempted assassination plots and other sabotage across Europe, including Skripal's poisoning.
The European Union on April 19 said it stood in “full support and solidarity” with the Czech Republic and expressed concern about “the repeating negative pattern of dangerous malign behavior by Russia in Europe.”
“Russia must stop with these activities, which violate well-established international principles and norms and threaten stability in Europe," Peter Stano, the lead spokesman for the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, said following talks between the bloc’s foreign ministers on the matter.
Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer, and his daughter Yulia nearly died after being exposed to what British authorities later concluded was Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent. A British woman who accidentally came into contact with the substance died.
Britain’s NATO allies responded to the Skripal poisoning by imposing sanctions on Russia and expelling diplomats.
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and TASS
- By RFE/RL
Zelenskiy Invites Putin To Meet In The Donbas For Peace Talks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has invited his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to meet him in eastern Ukraine for talks on calming tensions between the two countries.
"I go there every month. Mr. Putin. I am ready to go even further and invite you to meet anywhere in the Ukrainian Donbas, where the war is going on," Zelenskiy said in a video released on the presidential website on April 20, amid a Russian military buildup along the border with Ukraine and in occupied Crimea.
There was no immediate comment from Russian officials.
The United States and NATO say the Russian military buildup is the largest since 2014, when Moscow illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and backed separatists holding parts of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people.
The Kremlin denies its military movements are a threat and maintains it's a sovereignty issue.
A fragile cease-fire negotiated last summer in eastern Ukraine has also unraveled in recent weeks, with nearly 30 Ukrainian soldiers killed since the start of the year.
In The Trenches And Under Fire In Eastern Ukraine
Earlier on April 20, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for a new round of economic sanctions on Moscow to make it clear that there will be “dire consequences” if it continues its buildup of Russian troops.
“Moscow should hear from every corner, that it's not two sides, Ukraine and Russia, who bear responsibility for the escalation,” Kuleba said in a conference call with reporters. "History proves that only painful economic sanctions can make a difference.”
The cost of preventing Russia's further escalation will be lower than the cost of stopping it and mitigating its consequences, he said, adding that it is critically important to signal this now to influence calculations in Moscow.
The Ukrainian foreign minister said Russian troops continue to arrive near Ukraine’s borders and are expected to reach a combined force of more than 120,000 troops in about a week.
He said the military buildup includes paratroopers, electronic warfare systems, ballistic missiles, and other potentially offensive capabilities.
"This does not mean they will stop building up their forces at that number," Kuleba said.
Kuleba acknowledged that when he called for an increase in sanctions at a meeting with his EU counterparts during a videoconference on April 19, they did not show much interest, but he concluded that they understand that “sectoral sanctions are a matter of time and Russia's behavior.”
After the videoconference on April 19, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called on Russia to pull back its troops.
Borrell said no further sanctions were being proposed or under consideration. Diplomats suggested that for the moment the EU would seek to apply pressure on Russia through more diplomacy.
Top political advisers to the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany held separate talks under the so-called Normandy Format, but diplomats said they yielded no tangible results.
Kuleba also said he wanted a diplomatic solution but that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declined a request for talks.
The minister said that while Ukraine does not want conflict with Russia, the country has experienced Moscow's unpredictability under President Vladimir Putin.
"We in Ukraine have learned one thing about Putin's actions. This lesson is that anything can be expected from the Russian leadership," he said, pointing to Russia's annexation in 2014.
Kuleba also said Russia's military buildup is driven by Putin's desire to resolve the conflict in the Donbas in his country's favor by ultimatum and to bolster domestic support in the face of declining ratings.
He also wants to show that Russia can disregard Western condemnations over its "malign" activities, he said.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
Kyrgyz Man In Hospital For Suspected Poisoning With Toxic Root Promoted By President
BISHKEK -- A Kyrgyz man suspected of consuming a toxic root that had been promoted by President Sadyr Japarov as an "effective" cure to treat COVID-19 has been hospitalized.
Officials from the Bishkek Ambulance Center said on April 20 that a 63-year-old resident of the capital was rushed to the National Cardiology and Therapy Center (UKTB) in serious condition after possibly ingesting aconite root.
On April 15, Japarov said on Facebook that the root has proven to be an "effective" method to treat COVID-19.
The entry contained a video showing men without protective equipment bottling a solution with extracts from the aconite root, warning that drinking the solution while it is cold might result in death.
The next day, Health Minister Alymkadyr Beishenaliev announced at a press conference that such a concoction had been given to 300 coronavirus-infected patients.
He also sipped from a cup containing the poisonous root's extract in front of journalists and said that "the solution is not dangerous to one's health," if it is consumed hot.
The World Health Organization’s mission in the former Soviet republic harshly criticized the idea, saying that there’s no proof aconite root is safe for treatment of any illnesses, including coronavirus infection.
Several physicians who spoke with RFE/RL said use of the root to treat COVID-19 violates Kyrgyzstan’s law on public safety, while a Facebook spokesperson told RFE/RL on April 19 that Japarov's post promoting the toxic root had been deleted.
“We’ve removed this post as we do not allow anyone, including elected officials, to share misinformation that could lead to imminent physical harm or spread false claims about how to cure or prevent COVID-19," Facebook said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Japarov's press service said hours after Facebook's statement that the post was removed by the account's owner and "without external interference," adding that possibilities to use aconite root to treat COVID-19 will be studied by the country’s medical experts.
Aconite root is found in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang and some parts of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
Some people use the root in soups and other meals, believing in its health benefits. But aconite roots contain aconitine, a cardiotoxin and neurotoxin. Consuming aconite root can lead to sickness or even death.
Supporter Of Jailed Former Governor Sentenced In Russia's Far East
KHABAROVSK, Russia -- A court in Russia's Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk has sentenced a supporter of the imprisoned former governor of the Khabarovsk Krai region to one year in a prison settlement for using pepper spray against police at a rally in September 2020.
The Zheleznodorozhny district court on April 20 found Denis Posmetyukhin guilty of resisting police during one of the ongoing rallies that demanded the immediate release of the region's former governor, Sergei Furgal, and sentenced him the same day.
A prison settlement is a penitentiary in which convicts live close to a facility where they work.
Investigators say Posmetyukhin used pepper spray against police officers on September 25, 2020, when law enforcement officers tried to detain Andrei Maklygin, who was driving a minibus that Furgal's supporters called the Furgalomobil and used it during their rallies.
Posmetyukhin said after his sentence was pronounced that he had used pepper spray to stop violence.
"In order to prevent a conflict between the parties, so that the people went to one side and police went to the other, to prevent possible use of firearms against people and so on, I used pepper spray," Posmetyukhin said.
Authorities said after Posmetyukhin's arrest in September that probes had been launched against the police officers involved in the case on the charge of abuse of power.
Located near the Chinese border, Khabarovsk has seen regular protests since Furgal was arrested in July on decades-old, murder-related charges and taken to Moscow.
Furgal has denied the charges, which his supporters say were engineered by his opponents with help from the Kremlin.
Furgal, of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, was elected in 2018 in a runoff that he won handily against the region’s longtime incumbent -- a member of the Kremlin-controlled United Russia party. Supporters believe the charges against him were fabricated.
The protests highlight growing discontent in the Far East over what demonstrators see as Moscow-dominated policies that often neglect their views and interests.
President Vladimir Putin's popularity has been declining as the Kremlin tries to deal with an economy suffering from the coronavirus pandemic and years of international sanctions.
With reporting by Sota Vision
- By RFE/RL
Russia Expels Two Bulgarian Diplomats In Spy Dispute
Russia on April 20 declared two Bulgarian diplomats "personae non gratae" in a tit-for-tat response to Sofia's expulsion of two Russian diplomats last month over suspected espionage.
The announcement, made in a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry, came shortly after Bulgaria's ambassador to Moscow was summoned to the ministry a month after Sofia expelled the two Russian diplomats.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called the expulsion of its diplomats from Bulgaria "baseless."
The expulsions came in March after prosecutors charged six people, including current and former military intelligence officers, with spying for Russia.
The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry declared two Russian diplomats “personae non gratae” on March 22 because they had carried out activities “incompatible” with their diplomatic status.
At the time, the Russian Embassy called the decision “groundless” and said that Moscow “reserves the right to retaliate.”
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.
Last week a Bulgarian arms trader was implicated in a major diplomatic row between Prague and Moscow after Czech intelligence linked Russian military agents to a deadly ammunition depot explosion in 2014 that killed two people.
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 the 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.
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and RIA
- By RFE/RL
U.S. Again Calls On Russia To Allow Doctors To See Hunger-Striking Navalny 'Immediately'
The United States has again urged Russia to allow independent doctors to see Aleksei Navalny as the jailed Russian opposition politician ends the third week of a hunger strike amid concerns that his health is failing badly.
"We call on them to allow for access to necessary and independent medical care immediately," State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a briefing on April 20, after a team of doctors seeking to examine Navalny was again turned away from the prison where he is being treated at an infirmary.
Price added that Russian authorities were responsible for his deteriorating health and said the United States is "certainly looking and will not hesitate to use additional policy tools, should that be in our interest and in the interest of human rights in Russia, in the context of Mr. Navalny."
Anastasia Vasilyeva, Navalny's personal doctor and the head of the Alliance of Doctors union, said a group of physicians came to the penitentiary and requested to see the Kremlin critic, only to wait several hours without success.
In an Instagram post, Navalny described himself as now looking like a "skeleton staggering around his cell," and joked: "They can use me to scare children who refuse to eat: ‘Masha, if you don’t eat porridge, you will be like that man with big ears, shaven head and hollow eyes’.”
President Vladimir Putin's most vocal critic wrote that he was glad to hear from his lawyer about broad sympathy and support for him in and outside Russia.
The lawyers said he had become "very weak" and that "it's hard for him to speak and sit up."
Navalny's health has rapidly deteriorated in recent days and he could suffer cardiac arrest "any minute," Vasilyeva and three other physicians, including a cardiologist, said in a letter to Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service last week as they pleaded for access to Navalny.
Navalny's colleagues and supporters have harshly criticized his transfer to the prison hospital, saying that the correctional colony he was moved to is in fact infamous for its brutal treatment of inmates. His doctors have complained that prison hospitals don't have the proper staff or adequate facilities to treat his ailments.
The severity of the situation prompted Navalny's team to call for nationwide protests on April 21 that Russian authorities have looked to stifle in recent days by rounding up Navalny's supporters and members of his teams across Russia, while authorities issued thinly veiled warnings over unsanctioned rallies.
Vasilyeva and two other doctors -- Yaroslav Ashikhmin and Aleksei Erlikh, spent more than seven hours outside the prison checkpoint waiting to meet the prison warden to get his permission to enter the penitentiary.
A duty officer at the checkpoint kept saying that they would meet with the warden, or one of his deputies, at some point, but in the end, Vasilyeva and her team were informed that the time for meeting with prison officials had ended and there was no way for them to enter the facility.
"We were not allowed to get in. We waited since 9 a.m. They pulled our legs, giving us empty promises, meanwhile, our doctors cancelled their appointments [to come here]. Extreme disrespect an intimidation of doctors. Obvious threat to Aleksei [Navalny's] life and health," Vasilyeva wrote on Twitter.
Navalny was moved from his prison to a hospital in another correctional facility over the weekend, with his condition listed as "satisfactory" by prison authorities, the same designation they gave him days before he launched his hunger strike on March 31 to protest the lack of treatment he was getting over acute back and leg ailments.
Since then, his wife has warned that his weight was down to 76 kilograms, 17 less than when he entered the notorious Correctional Colony No. 2, about 100 kilometers from Moscow.
Lawyer Olga Mikhailova and one of her colleagues were able to get access to Navalny on April 20, and said Navalny had agreed to a glucose drip that he was given on April 18.
However, they also noted that nurses had failed multiple times to find his vein, citing that as evidence that the prison infirmary was not up to providing proper medical care.
"Medical care in this particular case is not being given," Mikhailova said.
Navalny's case has further isolated Moscow at a time when U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has announced tougher economic sanctions against the Kremlin and the Czech Republic, a member of NATO and the European Union, has expelled Russian spies, accusing Moscow of playing a role in a deadly 2014 explosion at an ammunition storage depot.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on April 20 expressed concerns over the health of the jailed opposition politician.
"The German government, together with others, is pressing for him to receive adequate medical treatment," Merkel told the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Navalny was arrested in January on his arrival from Germany, where he was treated for a poisoning in Siberia in August last year with what was defined by European labs as a nerve agent. He has accused Putin of ordering the poisoning, which the Kremlin has denied.
A Moscow court in February converted a 3 1/2-year suspended sentence on a charge that Navalny and his supporters call politically motivated to real jail time, saying he broke the terms of the original sentence by leaving Russia for Germany for the life-saving treatment he received.
The court reduced the time Navalny must spend in prison to just over 2 1/2 years because of time already served in detention.
As Navalny's supporters tried to build support for the rallies, security officials across the country sprung into action in an attempt to scare off protesters.
In a thinly veiled warning, Moscow authorities, who have broken up previous rallies and arrested thousands of people, said on April 20 that the protests were "unauthorized."
Meanwhile, police in the city of Kurgan in Russia's Urals Federal District on April 20 detained a coordinator of Navalny's team in the city, Aleksei Shvarts, on a charge of repeatedly violating the law on organizing public events such as the April 21 rallies.
The day before, two members of Navalny's team in the southern city of Krasnodar, Alipat Sultanbegova and Maryam Dadasheva, were detained for announcing the April 21 rally.
A member of Navalny's team, Anton Overin, in the Siberian city of Ulan-Ude, disappeared on April 20 after he visited the city administration, where he planned to ask permission to hold a pro-Navalny rally on April 21. His colleagues suspect he was detained by law enforcement.
In the town of Berezniki in the Perm region, police visited local activist Artyom Faizullin on April 20 to question him regarding the pro-Navalny rally scheduled for April 21, but Faizullin refused to answer any questions, citing Article 51 of the constitution. The article says a person cannot be compelled to testify against themselves.
With reporting by OVD-Info, MBKh Media, Reuters, and Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland
Kazakh Activist Sentenced For Supporting Banned Opposition Movement
QYZYLORDA, Kazakhstan -- A court in southern Kazakhstan has handed a parole-like sentence to an activist for supporting the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement, one of several activists sentenced for supporting the opposition group in recent years.
The Court No. 2 in the southern city of Qyzylorda on April 20 sentenced Muratbai Baimaghambetov to two years of "freedom limitation" and 170 hours of community work.
Baimaghambetov, who was arrested in September 2020, told RFE/RL that he will appeal the sentence.
The activist is known for his rights activities in the region.
While in pretrial detention, human rights organizations in Kazakhstan recognized Baimaghambetov as a political prisoner.
Several activists in the Central Asian nation have been handed "freedom limitation" and prison sentences in recent years for their support or involvement in the activities of DVK and its associate, Koshe (Street) party, as well as for taking part in unsanctioned rallies organized by the two groups.
DVK is led by Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive former head of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank and outspoken critic of the Kazakh government. Kazakh authorities labeled DVK as extremist and banned the group in March 2018.
Human rights groups have said Kazakhstan’s law on public gatherings contradicts international standards as it requires preliminary permission from authorities to hold rallies and envisions prosecution for organizing and participating in unsanctioned rallies even though the nation’s constitution guarantees its citizens the right of free assembly.
- By RFE/RL
Russian Prosecutor Blasted For Calling Navalny Organizations 'Extremist'
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has sharply criticized a "scandalous" request by Russian prosecutors to have the Anti-Corruption Foundation of imprisoned opposition politician Aleksei Navalny banned as an “extremist” organization.
"If the designation is imposed, these organizations’ activities would be banned, and their staff members and supporters could face criminal prosecution and possible prison time," the New York-based watchdog said in a statement on April 19.
On April 16, the Moscow prosecutor’s office asked the Moscow City Court to label as “extremist” three organizations tied to Navalny -- the Anti-Corruption Foundation, the Citizens’ Rights Protection Foundation, and Navalny’s regional headquarters. Prosecutors said the organizations were “engaged in creating conditions for destabilizing the social and sociopolitical situation under the guise of their liberal slogans.”
"The prosecutor’s office should immediately withdraw its request and end this latest attempt to silence and oppress any opposition and dissent in the country," the statement said.
Under Russian law, membership in or funding of an “extremist” organization is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
“Pursuing an extremist label against these organizations takes the Kremlin’s persecution of vocal critics to a new low,” said Hugh Williamson, HRW's Europe and Central Asia director.
"It is ill-founded, scandalous, and another sign of the Kremlin’s rejection of fundamental democratic rights and determination to hold onto power at all costs.”
The move is the latest in a series of assaults on Navalny since he suffered a nerve-agent poisoning attack in August 2020. He and his supporters blame that attack on Federal Security Service (FSB) operatives acting at the behest of authoritarian President Vladimir Putin.
Amnesty International in a statement on April 17 also criticized the move.
“Tens of thousands of peaceful activists and the staff of Aleksei Navalny’s organizations are in grave danger,” Natalia Zviagina, head of Amnesty’s Moscow office, said in the statement. “If their organizations are deemed ‘extremist’ they will all be at imminent risk of criminal prosecution.”
The Amnesty statement also decried Russia’s “long history of abusing ‘anti-extremism’ legislation and said that if the courts grant the prosecutors’ request on labelling Navalny’s organization “extremist,” “the result will likely be one of the most serious blows for the rights to freedom of expression and association in Russia’s post-Soviet history.”
Navalny spent weeks in Germany recuperating from the attack. When he returned to Russia in January, he was arrested and later sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison on charges he says were trumped up to hinder his political activity.
Navalny has been on a hunger strike in prison since March 31, demanding he be examined by his own doctor amid what his supporters have described as a “deliberate campaign” by prison officials to undermine his health.
- By RFE/RL
U.S. Ambassador To Moscow Returning To Washington 'For Consultations' Amid Rising Tensions
U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan says he will be returning to the United States for consultations this week amid rising tensions between Washington and Moscow.
Relations between Washington and Moscow have entered a new phase of heightened tensions recently with U.S. President Joe Biden announcing punishing sanctions over cyberattacks, election interference, and threats against U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
Further souring the mood has been the issue of the health of jailed Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny, Russia's buildup of troops along the border in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, and new allegations of Russian involvement in a deadly explosion at a munitions depot in the Czech Republic in 2014.
"I believe it is important for me to speak directly with my new colleagues in the Biden administration in Washington about the current state of bilateral relations between the United States and Russia," Sullivan was quoted on April 20 as saying by embassy spokeswoman Rebecca Ross.
"Also, I have not seen my family in well over a year, and that is another important reason for me to return home for a visit. I will return to Moscow in the coming weeks before any meeting between Presidents Biden and [Vladimir] Putin," he added.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki later told reporters that it is "absolutely the intention" for Sullivan to return to Russia after visiting his family and members of the new administration.
"He'll return to Moscow soon," she said.
State Department spokesman Ned Price told a news briefing that the ambassador's return to Washington is coming at an "opportune time" as the administration formulates "a new approach to Moscow."
'Serious Consultations'
Sullivan's announcement comes after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier this week said that Putin's top foreign-policy aide, Yury Ushakov, had recommended that Sullivan return to Washington to conduct "serious consultations."
Russia's envoy to the United States last month returned to Moscow for consultations after Biden suggested that he believes Putin is a murderer.
Sullivan's announced departure also comes a day after U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan discussed with his Russian counterpart, Nikolay Patrushev, bilateral issues, “regional and global matters of concern,” as well as “the prospect of a presidential summit” between the two countries’ presidents.
Sullivan and Patrushev, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, agreed in their telephone call on April 19 "to continue to stay in touch," National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said in a statement, which came after the Kremlin announced that Putin planned to speak later this week at an online summit on climate change organized by the United States.
Patrushev and Sullivan "discussed the preparations” for a potential summit between Putin and Biden, as well as “possible directions for the development of Russian-U.S. cooperation," Russia's Security Council said in a statement, according to Russian news agencies.
Biden has proposed to meet the Russian leader face-to-face to discuss bilateral relations. Putin has not yet indicated whether he would accept that invitation.
"I will return to Moscow in the coming weeks before any meeting between Presidents Biden and Putin,” Ambassador Sullivan said in his statement.
With reporting by AFP and Reuters
Austria To Send 651,000 Vaccine Doses From EU To Balkans
European Union member Austria said on April 20 that it plans to send 651,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to six countries in the Western Balkans by August as part of an EU scheme to provide assistance to neighboring countries and Africa.
Vienna said that this first distribution of doses may be followed by others.
The European Commission in January announced plans for a vaccine-sharing mechanism, with Austria serving as the mechanism's coordinator for the Western Balkans.
Among the six Western Balkans countries, Serbia has one of the highest vaccination rates in Europe.
But the other five -- Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Kosovo have had less success. The shortage of vaccines has even led to street protests in Bosnia.
"With this initiative we are showing that we are not leaving the region behind," Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told a news conference.
Schallenberg, whose government faces growing public frustration with the slow pace of vaccinations in his own country, said the doses will not be taken away from Austria's quota.
"There is absolutely no connection here to the provision of vaccines in Austria and in other (EU) member states," he said.
"These doses are not from a national quota. These are vaccine doses that the EU explicitly secured from the beginning for the purpose of passing them on to partners."
Schallenberg said the vaccines will be distributed from early next month based on which countries need them most.
Bosnia will get the biggest share with 214,000 doses, followed by Albania with 145,000, and North Macedonia with 119,000. Serbia is last with 36,000.
With reporting by Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Eastern Europe, Central Asia Rank Near Bottom In Press Freedom
Unprecedented crackdowns on reporters covering protests in Belarus and the obstruction of reporting on the war over Nagorno-Karabakh were among the factors that kept Eastern Europe and Central Asia at the bottom of the 2021 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
But the Paris-based media freedom watchdog said of all the somber developments in its latest ranking, released on April 20, the most disturbing for the future of press freedom in the region was the evolution in Russia, which the watchdog said followed “a political model involving ever greater repression of independent journalists and media.”
Russian police have never cracked down so extensively and systematically on journalists as they did in their efforts to prevent coverage of protests in support of Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny, RSF said.
Navalny is now in the third week of a hunger strike in a Russian prison as his anti-corruption foundation calls on Russians to take part in another round of demonstrations backing him later this week.
Independent media in Russia, which fell one spot to 150 in the ranking of 180 countries, also fought for months to report the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic and to combat the government’s claims and erroneous figures.
RSF noted that there was a “contagious” desire to control information to varying degrees across all of Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
“Following the Russian model, other governments used the need to combat disinformation about COVID-19 as grounds for imposing additional curbs on press freedom,” RSF said.
This included Tajikistan, which fell one position to 162, where any “false” or “inaccurate” information about serious infectious diseases appearing in the media became punishable by a fine of up to twice the minimum monthly wage or 15 days in prison, RSF said.
“The aim was clearly to make journalists self-censor any information about the pandemic that did not come from official sources,” RSF said.
Of the other Central Asian republics, only Kyrgyzstan’s ranking at 79 was in the top half. Kazakhstan improved two positions to 155; Uzbekistan fell one position to 157; and Turkmenistan improved two slots to 178, outranking only two other totalitarian countries: North Korea and Eritrea.
RSF also spotlighted Belarus, which slipped five positions to 158, noting that journalists working for independent media in the country were targeted by the police following the contested presidential election in August 2020.
An unprecedented wave of protests has gripped Belarus since authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka was declared the winner of the vote, which the opposition says was rigged and which the West does not recognize as legitimate.
RSF said journalists working in the country faced censorship, mass arrests, harassment, and violence, and authorities have begun raising the stakes by bringing more serious charges against them and subjecting them to sham trials.
In addition, the Internet was completely inaccessible for three days after the election and then intermittently in the following months, RSF said.
Internet shutdowns also hampered the work of journalists in Azerbaijan during the war with Armenia over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, during which at least seven journalists were injured and reporting was obstructed, RSF said.
Azerbaijan improved one position in the ranking to 167, while Armenia fell in the ranking two slots to 63.
The overall ranking placed Norway at the top for the fifth year in a row. Finland held second place, while Sweden moved up one to third and Denmark moved down one to fourth.
RSF also expressed dismay that only 12 of the Index’s 180 countries can claim to offer a favorable environment for journalism.
- By RFE/RL
U.S. Revokes License Allowing Transactions With Belarus State Firms
The U.S. State Department said on April 19 it would not renew a special license authorizing transactions with nine state-owned Belarusian companies.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the action is a consequence of a "flagrant disregard for human rights and Belarus's failure to comply with its obligations under international human rights law."
The U.S. Treasury Department first issued the license to the nine state-owned companies in 2015. They include fertilizer giant Grodno Azot, oil firm Belneftekhim, and oil refiner Naftan.
The license, which allows U.S. persons to engage in certain transactions with the enterprises, had been renewed annually since 2015 through last year due to notable progress on human rights, particularly the release of all political prisoners during this time, Blinken said.
But Washington decided that an extension this year would go against U.S. values and the Belarus Democracy Act, Blinken said.
He added that the nine companies finance and support strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka's government, "facilitating its violent repression of the Belarusian people and repeated rejection of the rule of law."
The State Department signaled last month that it would not renew the license citing the human rights situation.
The Treasury Department now says that companies using the general license will have to wind down transactions with the Belarusian firms by June 3 or face penalties.
Blinken’s statement noted that there are more than 340 political prisoners currently detained in Belarus.
He said the country’s "regression" on human rights “is exemplified by the detention of political hopefuls like Syarhey Tsikhanouski, courageous activist leaders like Maryya Kalesnikava, and independent media experts like Ihar Losik -- who are but three among the hundreds of Belarusians unjustly imprisoned by the Lukashenka regime for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
Losik, 28, is a popular blogger and RFE/RL consultant who has been in pretrial detention since June 2020 on charges widely considered trumped up.
Blinken also called on Belarusian authorities to "immediately and unconditionally release all those unjustly detained or imprisoned.” He also said the United States is committed to working with the international community "to further promote accountability for those responsible for human rights violations and abuses in Belarus.”
Lukashenka claimed to win a sixth term in an August election that the opposition says were rigged and that have not been recognized internationally.
With reporting by AFP and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
EU Mediates Deal To End Georgia's Political Crisis
Georgia's ruling party and part of the opposition signed an EU-mediated deal on April 19 to end months of political crisis in the Caucasus country.
Georgia was plunged into political paralysis after the ruling Georgian Dream party won parliamentary elections in October 2020, in a vote the opposition said was unfair and fraudulent.
The opposition has boycotted the new parliament and staged protests demanding new elections.
The EU, backed by the United States, has played a mediating role in resolving the crisis in the small country with ambitions of strengthening ties with the West.
“This agreement is not the finish line. This agreement is the starting point for your work towards consolidating Georgia's democracy and taking Georgia forward on its Euro-Atlantic future,” said EU Council President Charles Michel via video link as he joined the signing at the presidential palace in Tbilisi.
Michel, who has led the EU mediation, said he will fly to Tbilisi on April 20 to strengthen the deal and boost ties with Georgia.
The U.S. Embassy welcomed the compromise and called on all sides to fully implement it.
“While the signing of this agreement is a significant step, ending months of negotiations, we recognize that its implementation is equally important,” the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.
Under the agreement, several opposition parties agreed to enter parliament.
The deal stipulates that early parliamentary elections be called in 2022 if Georgian Dream gets less than 43 percent in upcoming local elections. It also sets the rules for power-sharing in parliament, outlines reforms to the judicial system, and suggests reforms to the Central Election Commission.
However, the largest opposition force, the United National Movement (ENM), did not sign the agreement.
Salome Samadashvili, the only ENM leader to sign the agreement, suggested the party would join when Michel arrives and ENM Chairman Nika Melia is released from jail.
Melia was detained in February for breaking parole terms related to charges of inciting violence during protests that erupted in 2019, a case the opposition says is political.
Melia’s arrest exacerbated the country’s political crisis, leading to the prime minister's resignation and condemnation from the West.
The agreement suggests Melia will be released, with a clause pledging to resolve cases of "perceived politicized justice" through amnesties or similar measures within a week.
With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and RFE/RL's Georgian Service
- By RFE/RL
Public Banned From Court In Case Against Navalny's Foundation
A Moscow court has banned the public from a hearing in a case brought by Russian prosecutors to label jailed Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny’s anti-corruption organization and its regional offices as "extremist" organizations.
The court ruled on April 19 that the case involved a state secret, but Ivan Zhdanov, the director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), said the Prosecutor-General’s Office had no evidence on which to base its claim.
Zhdanov also said the decision means Navalny’s associates will not be able to view the evidence filed in the case until the day of the hearing, set for April 26, in a special unit of the Moscow City Court. Only lawyers involved in the case can get access to the materials now.
The latest move against Navalny’s opposition movement comes as Navalny is in the third week of a hunger strike. The imprisoned opposition leader was transferred on April 19 to a correctional facility hospital amid intensifying pressure from the West.
Russian prosecutors last week accused the FBK, Russia’s largest opposition network, of working to create conditions for “changing the foundations of the constitutional order.”
It said the FBK operates "under the guise of liberal slogans” as it engages “in creating conditions for the destabilization of the social and sociopolitical situation."
The extremist label, if approved, would severely limit Navalny’s allies and activists from organizing, criminalizing such things as calling for or participating in protests. Navalny's aides and organizations are already subject to frequent police raids and arrests over their political activities.
The decision to close the proceeding comes as Navalny’s aides are pushing for massive nationwide anti-government protests on April 21.
"Before each of us the question arises: are we ready to do something to save the life of a person who has been risking it for us for many years," said Leonid Volkov, the coordinator of the network of Navalny's teams across Russia.
Navalny was sentenced in February to 2 1/2 years in prison on charges he says were politically motivated. He was arrested in January after returning from Germany, where he was treated for a poison attack with a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group.
- By RFE/RL
Top U.S., Russian Officials Discuss Possible Biden-Putin Summit Amid Heightened Tensions
Amid heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow, U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan has discussed with his Russian counterpart bilateral issues, “regional and global matters of concern,” as well as “the prospect of a presidential summit” between the two countries’ presidents.
Sullivan and Nikolay Patrushev, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, agreed in their telephone call on April 19 "to continue to stay in touch," National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said in a statement, which came after the Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin planned to speak later this week at an online summit on climate change organized by the United States.
Patrushev and Sullivan "discussed the preparations” for a summit between Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden, as well as “possible directions for the development of Russian-U.S. cooperation," Russia's Security Council said in a statement, according to Russian news agencies.
Biden has proposed to meet the Russian leader face-to-face to discuss bilateral relations. Putin has not yet indicated whether he would accept that invitation.
Last month, Biden also invited Putin and other world leaders to the virtual summit on climate change on April 22-23.
But since then relations between Washington and Moscow have entered a new phase of heightened tensions, with Biden announcing punishing sanctions over cyberattacks, election interference, and threats against U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
Further souring the mood -- and raising questions over whether Putin would attend the summit -- has been the issue of the health of jailed Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny, Russia's buildup of troops along the border in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, and new allegations of Russian involvement in a deadly explosion at a munitions depot in the Czech Republic in 2014.
At the upcoming virtual summit, Putin will "outline Russia's approaches in the context of forging broad international cooperation aimed at overcoming the negative effects of global climate change," the Kremlin said in a statement on April 19.
Paris Agreement
The first day of the summit coincides with Earth Day and will "underscore the urgency -- and the economic benefits -- of stronger climate action,” the White House said on March 26 in announcing the summit.
Biden also invited Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has not yet said whether he will take part.
The gathering is meant to highlight Washington’s renewed commitment to stemming climate change, and build toward the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) this November in Glasgow, Scotland, the White House said on March 26.
Biden rejoined the 2015 Paris Agreement on his first day in the White House, reversing former President Donald Trump's exit from the landmark climate accord.
The White House has said that climate change is one area where it may be possible to cooperate with China and Russia, even as ties are strained over many other issues.
The United States and China agreed that stronger pledges to fight climate change should be pursued in line with the Paris Agreement, according to a joint statement issued on April 17 after U.S. climate envoy John Kerry visited Shanghai.
"The United States and China are committed to cooperating with each other and with other countries to tackle the climate crisis, which must be addressed with the seriousness and urgency that it demands," the joint statement said.
Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and RIA Novosti
Facebook Removes Kyrgyz President's Post Promoting Toxic Root To Fight COVID
Facebook has removed Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov's controversial post promoting a toxic root for treatment of COVID-19, calling it "misinformation."
Japarov's post in question, in which he announced that his country found an "effective" method to treat COVID-19, was posted on Facebook on April 15.
The entry contained a video showing men without protective equipment bottling the solution with the extracts of the aconite root, warning that drinking the solution while it is cold might result in death.
The post was later deleted from Facebook.
In answer to electronic enquiries from RFE/RL over the disappearance of the post, a Facebook spokesperson said on April 19 that the company removed Japarov's post.
“We’ve removed this post as we do not allow anyone, including elected officials, to share misinformation that could lead to imminent physical harm or spread false claims about how to cure or prevent COVID-19," the Facebook statement said.
On April 16, Health Minister Alymkadyr Beishenaliev announced at a press conference that a solution with extracts of aconite root had been given to 300 coronavirus-infected patients.
He also sipped from a cup containing the poisonous root's extract in front of journalists and said that "the solution is not dangerous for one's health."
The World Health Organization’s mission in the Central Asian nation harshly criticized the idea, saying that there’s no proof aconite root is safe for treatment of any illnesses, including coronavirus infection.
Several physicians who spoke with RFE/RL said use of the root to treat COVID-19 violates Kyrgyzstan’s law on public safety
Aconite root is found in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang and some parts of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
Some people use the root in herbal soups and meals, believing in its health benefits. But aconite roots contain aconitine, a cardiotoxin and neurotoxin. Consuming aconite root can lead to sickness or even death.
Fighting Escalates In Eastern Ukraine; One Ukrainian Soldier Killed
Ukrainian Army positions came under fire early on April 19 from territory controlled by Russia-backed separatists near Horlivka in eastern Ukraine. The army said in a statement that one Ukrainian soldier was killed and another wounded after their positions were attacked with automatic grenade launchers on April 18. The latest violence comes amid escalating tensions prompted by a Russian troop buildup near its border with Ukraine.
Lawyer Sees Navalny At Prison Hospital, Warns He Looks 'Bad'
A lawyer for jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, who is in the third week of a hunger strike, says his client looks "bad," raising further concerns over the Kremlin critic's health after he was transferred to a correctional facility hospital amid intensifying pressure from the West.
Lawyer Aleksei Liptser met briefly with Navalny on April 19 and said that even though the situation was "only getting worse," the 44-year-old anti-corruption campaigner said he was determined to continue his hunger strike even though his health was failing.
"The lawyer got to see Navalny for just a few minutes, then he was kicked out with officials citing the end of the working day.... Civilian doctors are still not allowed to see him, and he is not stopping his hunger strike," the coordinator of the network of Navalny's teams across Russia, Leonid Volkov, wrote on Twitter.
Reuters quoted Liptser as saying that Navalny had again been denied a doctor of his choice.
Just before the weekend, Navalny's personal doctor and three other physicians, including a cardiologist, pleaded for access to the 44-year-old in a letter to the Federal Penitentiary Service, saying he could suffer cardiac arrest at "any minute."
Kira Yarmysh, Navalny's spokeswoman, warned over the weekend that the Kremlin critic -- who months earlier fell gravely ill after a poison attack with a chemical nerve agent -- could die within "days" if action wasn't taken soon.
Navalny's case has further isolated Moscow at a time when U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has announced tougher economic sanctions against the Kremlin and the Czech Republic, a member of NATO and the European Union, has expelled Russian spies, accusing Moscow of playing a role in a deadly 2014 explosion at an ammunition storage depot.
Russia's prison service said in a statement that a decision had been taken to transfer Navalny, to a nearby prison hospital and that he was in "satisfactory" condition and was being given "vitamin therapy" with his consent.
Volkov said Navalny was actually moved to the new location on April 18, "as usual, without them telling anyone."
Speaking just ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers from the EU's 27 members, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Russian authorities are "responsible for the health situation of Mr Navalny" and should allow doctors to visit him at the hospital.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that what happens to the Kremlin foe in custody "is the responsibility of the Russian government" and the international community will hold the authorities accountable.
"In the interim, our objective is of course continuing to...push for his release and reiterate our view that he must be treated humanely," Psaki said.
Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said the Russian authorities "cannot escape the global scrutiny that their appalling treatment of Aleksei Navalny has invited."
“We address all of our supporters, national governments, and international bodies to join our call for Navalny’s immediate release, and urgent medical attention by independent doctors of his choice to save his life,” Struthers added.
The announcement of the move and the designation of his condition as "satisfactory" did little to allay the fears of Navalny's associates.
The assessment of his health, some noted, was the same as the one given before Navalny launched a hunger strike that has seen his weight drop sharply to 76 kilograms, 17 kilos less than when he entered the notorious Correctional Colony No. 2, about 100 kilometers from Moscow.
Others warned of the conditions at the facility where Navalny had been transferred.
"That hospital is located on the territory of the maximum security Correctional Colony No. 3.... That place is used to break certain inmates, and even those inmates who were dying [of illnesses] tried to avoid being transferred to that facility. There are no physicians or nurses there. I do not know how [Navalny] is going to receive treatment there," Dmitry Dyomushkin, an outspoken Russian nationalist who once served time in the Correctional Colony No. 2 told Current Time on April 19.
Some Russian media reports cited other former inmates in the past who backed up Dyomushkin's comments about Correctional Colony No.3.
"Aleksei was not transferred to a hospital -- he was transferred to another penal colony - to IK-3, to a prison where TB [tuberculosis] is treated! This is not at all a hospital where they can diagnose and prescribe treatment for his problems. We urgently demand to be allowed to hold a consultation by us, the doctors who have treated him," the team of Navalny's personal doctor, Anastasia Vasilyeva, said on Twitter on April 19.
Last week Vasilyeva was detained and then fined for showing up at the prison, where she asked to be allowed to examine Navalny.
Navalny was arrested in January on his arrival from Germany, where he was treated after being poisoned in Siberia in August 2020 with what was defined by European labs as a Novichok nerve agent. He has accused Putin of ordering the poisoning, which the Kremlin has denied.
A Moscow court in February converted a 3 1/2-year suspended sentence on a charge that Navalny and his supporters call politically motivated to real jail time, saying he broke the terms of the original sentence by leaving Russia for Germany for the life-saving treatment he received.
The court reduced the time Navalny must spend in prison to just over 2 1/2 years because of time already served in detention.
A close ally of Navalny's on April 19 rang the alarm about the opposition leader's health, saying there was "no hope" of good news.
"We don't know what happened to him over the weekend because the lawyers aren't allowed to visit him then. I hope we will get some news today but I'm very afraid to receive bad news," Lyubov Sobol told Ekho Moskvy radio station.
Sobol said Navalny was "under heavy psychological pressure and hard physical conditions in the penal colony," where he was placed in a group of inmates who cooperate with the prison administration and who keep him constantly under surveillance, regularly reporting to the administration about him."
On April 18, Navalny's allies called on people to stage massive protests across the country on April 21 before Navalny is harmed "irreparably."
Early on April 19, Vladimir Milov, a close associate of Navalny, announced he had fled the country to keep from getting arrested.
He said that his efforts were focused on gathering international support in order to press the Russian authorities to release Navalny.
With reporting by Reuters and Current Time
Activist Investigating Gold Mining Attacked In Russia's Bashkortostan
BAIMAK, Russia -- An outspoken environmental activist who has been looking into illegal gold mining in Russia's Bashkortostan region says he was viciously beaten by unknown attackers in the town of Baimak.
Ildar Yumagulov was hospitalized with two broken legs after three men attacked him 200 meters away from a police station on April 18.
He told RFE/RL that two masked men in black clothing beat him with baseball bats and that when he managed to escape the attack, a third masked man appeared and knocked him down to allow the attack to continue.
"They beat me with baseball bats, targeting my legs, breaking them. One leg was fully smashed, surgery is planned for tomorrow," Yumagulov said, adding that the attackers did not say a word during the attack.
Bashkortostan's Interior Ministry has not commented on the attack.
According to Yumagulov, the attack is most likely linked to his latest activities on gold mining in the Urals, where, according to him and his colleagues, mining companies are violating environmental safety norms.
Yumagulov's colleague, Ilsur Irnazarov, told RFE/RL that unknown individuals were suspected of following Yumagulov and his car for several weeks before the attack.
"We're certain the attack is linked to Ildar Yumagulov's public activities and his civil stance.... It was an act of intimidation to scare Ildar and all enviromental activists of the Urals and our republic in general," Irnazarov said.
Yumagulov is known for his various activities against uncontrolled gold mining in Bashkortostan.
In recent weeks he was working on finding details of possible plans by a gold-mining company to start a mine in the Baimak district of the republic.
Former Navalny Coordinator In St. Petersburg Detained Ahead Of Rallies
The former coordinator of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny's team in Russia's second-largest city, St. Petersburg, has been detained two days before announced rallies to demand the Kremlin critic's release from prison amid reports his health is rapidly deteriorating.
Denis Mikhailov wrote on Telegram that he was detained early on April 19 for taking part in an unsanctioned demonstration on January 31 protesting Navalny's arrest.
If found guilty, Mikhailov could face up to 15 days in jail.
The current leader of Navalny's team in the city, Irina Fatyanova, was sentenced to 10 days in jail on the same charge last week.
Mikhailov's detainment came a day after Navalny's supporters announced their plan to hold mass rallies across Russia on April 21 to demand Navalny's immediate release.
Navalny, 44, was arrested in January on his arrival from Germany, where he was treated for a poisoning in Siberia in August with what was defined by European labs as a nerve agent. He has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering the poisoning, which the Kremlin has denied.
A Moscow court in February converted a 3 1/2-year suspended sentence on a charge that Navalny and his supporters call politically motivated to real jail time, saying he broke the terms of the original sentence by leaving Russia for Germany for the life-saving treatment he received.
The court reduced the time Navalny must spend in prison to just over 2 1/2 years because of time already served in detention.
Navalny went on a hunger strike in late March in protest of what he said was the refusal of prison authorities to allow him to receive proper medical care for acute back and leg pain just months after he recovered from the poison attack that nearly took his life.
The health of Putin's most vocal critic has rapidly deteriorated in recent days and he could suffer cardiac arrest "any minute," according to his personal doctor and three other physicians, including a cardiologist, who pleaded for access to Navalny in a letter to Russia's Federal Prison Service.
- By RFE/RL
EU Warns Russian Military Buildup Could 'Spark' Conflict As Ukraine Talks Yield Few Results
Talks between top advisers to the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany to cool tensions in eastern Ukraine yielded few tangible results, diplomats said on April 19, as the EU warned a Russian military buildup near Ukraine's borders could “spark” a larger conflagration.
Speaking after EU foreign ministers were briefed by Ukraine's foreign minister, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called on Russia to pull back troops amassed near Ukraine’s border and in occupied Crimea amid concerns over Moscow’s intentions.
A fragile cease-fire negotiated last summer in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed separatists has unraveled in recent weeks, leaving at least 30 Ukrainian soldiers killed since the start of the year. On April 19, Ukraine’s army said one soldier was killed and one more wounded after their positions were attacked with automatic grenade launchers on April 18.
"The risk of further escalation is evident," said Borrell.
“It is the highest military deployment of the Russian army on the Ukrainian borders ever. It’s clear that it’s a matter of concern when you deploy a lot of troops," Borrell said. “Well, a spark can jump here or there.”
Borrell said more than 150,000 Russian troops had gathered near Ukraine and in Crimea, but the EU’s foreign policy service later issued a correction putting the figure at more than 100,000 troops.
The United States and NATO say the Russian military buildup is the largest since 2014, when Moscow illegally annexed Crimea and backed separatists in the east of Ukraine in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people.
The Kremlin denies its military movements are a threat and maintains its a sovereign issue.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the EU to prepare "a new set of sectoral sanctions" against Russia in talks with his counterparts from the 27-nation bloc.
But Borrell said no further sanctions were being proposed or under consideration. Diplomats suggested that for the moment the EU would seek to apply pressure on Russia through more diplomacy.
But the diplomatic front appeared to make little, if any, progress.
Top political advisers to the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany held separate talks under the so-called Normandy Format, but diplomats said they yielded no tangible results.
The Normandy Format has brought together the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Following the political advisers meeting, a Ukrainian statement said all sides reaffirmed their commitment to reaching a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine and would continue to work on the issue.
The talks come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron met in Paris last week. They were joined by German Chancellor Angela Merkel via video link.
Zelenskiy said while in Paris that the goal of the political advisers meeting was to revive implementation of the so-called Minsk Agreements, aimed at reaching a durable cease-fire in eastern Ukraine leading to steps towards a political solution to the conflict.
Zelenskiy has said he is seeking a four-way summit under the Normandy Format that would include Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine's position is that a cease-fire is a basic precondition for the implementation of the Minsk agreements and would pave the way for the implementation of other difficult provisions of the agreements, such as local elections in the separatist-controlled Donbas and control over the Ukrainian-Russian border.
With reporting by AFP, AP, dpa, and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
EU 'Fully Supports' Prague In Spying Dispute With Moscow
The European Union says it stands in “full support and solidarity” with the Czech Republic amid a diplomatic spat between Prague and Moscow over Czech claims that Russian military agents linked to the 2018 Skripal nerve-agent poisoning in Britain were behind an earlier explosion at a Czech arms depot that killed two people.
The EU “is deeply concerned about the repeating negative pattern of dangerous malign behaviour by Russia in Europe,” the lead spokesman for the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on April 19 following talks between the bloc’s foreign minister on the matter.
The spokesman, Peter Stano, said in a statement that “Russia must stop with these activities, which violates well-established international principles and norms and threaten stability in Europe."
The previous day, Russia ordered 20 Czech Embassy employees in Moscow to leave the country in response to the Czech government’s expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats it identified as being intelligence operatives. Both sides sent government planes on April 19 to take the envoys and their families home.
The tit-for-tat move and Czech allegations have triggered its biggest dispute with Russia since the 1989 end of communist rule, putting the small Central European NATO member at the center of rising tensions between Moscow and the West.
The foreign ministers of the so-called Visegrad Group consisting of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia condemned “all activities aimed at threatening security of sovereign states and its citizens," according to a statement published on the website of the Polish Foreign Ministry.
The ministers said that they “stand ready to further strengthen our resilience against subversive actions at both national level and together with our NATO allies and within [the] EU.”
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the decision to expel the Russians was based on "unequivocal evidence" provided by Czech investigators pointing to the involvement of Russian military intelligence agents in the 2014 blast in the eastern town of Vrbetice.
Babis said the 2014 attack was "not an act of state terrorism" but was aimed at a shipment to a Bulgarian arms trader, without naming the individual.
“We’re a sovereign state and it’s unacceptable for foreign agents to conduct such operations here,” he said.
The October 16, 2014 explosion in Vrbetice set off 50 metric tons of stored ammunition, killing two people. Two months later, another blast of 13 tons of ammunition occurred at the same site.
The Kremlin on April 19 called the Czech moves "provocative and unfriendly."
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that in addition to the expulsions, the Czech Embassy in Moscow will no longer be allowed to employ Russian citizens.
"It's been decided both with regard to the United States of America and the Czech Republic, that they won't be able to employ citizens of our country any longer. This factor has played an especially important role, in particular, for the Czech Embassy and for the organization of its work in Moscow. They employed a very large number of Russian citizens," she said in an interview on Rossia-1 television.
Acting Czech Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said Russia's reaction was "stronger than we had expected" as "more diplomats than the number of intelligence officers we expelled."
Czech Industry Minister Karel Havlicek said the government would eliminate Russia's state-run corporation Rosatom from a multi-billion-dollar tender to build a new unit at the Dukovany nuclear power plant.
Babis specifically mentioned a unit of Russia's GRU military intelligence known as Unit 29155.
That unit has been linked to a series of attempted assassination plots and other sabotage across Europe, including the 2018 poisoning of Sergei Skripal in the English city of Salisbury.
Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer, and his daughter Yulia, nearly died after being exposed to what British authorities later concluded was Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent. A British woman who accidentally came into contact with the substance died.
Britain's NATO allies responded to the Skripal poisoning by imposing sanctions on Russia and expelling diplomats.
While the government unveiled its case, Czech police announced they were seeking two suspected Russian agents carrying various passports, including Russian documents in the names of Aleksandr Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov.
The names match those of the two men whom Britain has blamed for the Skripal poisonings.
The open-source-investigation organization Bellingcat identified the suspects as GRU agents Aleksandr Mishkin and Anatoly Chepiga.
Scans of the passports used by the two -- published by Bellingcat -- showed Chepiga used a Tajik document to enter the Czech Republic.
The Tajik Foreign Ministry told RFE/RL that it was investigating the report.
"We learned about [the Tajik passport used by Chepiga] from the media and started our investigation. We can't yet make any comments until the end of the investigation," an official at the ministry said.
The fresh dispute adds to a growing list of issues between the West and Moscow, including Russia's military buildup near Ukraine's borders and in occupied Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Last week, the United States hit Moscow with major new sanctions and expelled 10 diplomats over alleged election interference, cyberattacks, and other perceived hostile activities. Russia responded by ordering a raft of measures and telling an equal number of U.S. diplomats to leave.
The United States, Britain, NATO, and the EU threw their support behind the Czech decision and pledged their support.
Babis said the 2014 attack targeted "ammunition that had already been paid for and was being stored for a Bulgarian arms trader," Babis said on Czech Television, adding that the arms trader had later been the target of an assassination attempt in 2015.
The Czech news magazine Respekt reported that the ammunition and weaponry that was destroyed was intended for Ukraine, which in 2014 was battling Moscow-backed fighters in eastern Ukraine. A Bulgarian arms trader named Emilian Gebrev was reportedly the organizer of the arms deal with Ukraine, Respekt said.
Bulgarian officials have said Gebrev was targeted with a substance similar to the chemical nerve agent Novichok. In January 2019, Bulgarian prosecutors charged three Russians, including a top GRU officer, in absentia in connection with that case.
"We have been informed by our embassy [in Prague] that they [Czech authorities] are working on a few investigative versions," Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva told state broadcaster BNT on April 19.
"One of them is that the delivery [of the blown-up munitions] was for a Bulgarian arms dealer. We are speaking about Emilian Gebrev. They are also working on another investigative version about an arms delivery to Syria."
In a press statement, Gebrev denied that his company had been reexporting ammunition from the Czech Republic to Ukraine in 2014. But he made no comment on whether the ammunition or related materials belonged to his company EMCO. Gebrev did not respond immediately to calls by RFE/RL’s Bulgarian Service to clarify.
The EMCO statement, issued on April 19, said it has been documented that the company "has never exported ammunition originating in the Czech Republic to Ukraine" and is willing to cooperate with any investigation in the case.
"In the period months before, during and at least one year after the explosions in the Czech Republic, EMCO did not and did not plan to transport property from the warehouses in question, either to Bulgaria or to any other country," the company statement said, noting that "to date, no investigative body has approached EMCO for information on the matter.
"Assumptions about the motives and causes of the explosions must be clarified by the Czech investigating authorities. As can be seen from the public statements made so far, including by officials, a number are contradictory and some even mutually exclusive," it added.
Viktor Yahun, who was the deputy chief of the Ukrainian Security Service, said that Kyiv in October 2014 had sought to acquire ammunition from Bulgaria around the time of the Czech depot explosions.
"This businessman who was poisoned and was allegedly poisoned by the Russian intelligence services, he was searching for such ammunition in the countries of the former Warsaw Pact, and the best place for their transit storage before sending to Ukraine was, in fact, the Czech Republic," Yahun said in an interview with RFE/RL.
"After the explosions, both Czech law enforcement and we ourselves had suspicions that it might not have been a coincidence," he said.
Outgoing Bulgarian Defense Minister Krassimir Karakachanov confirmed to RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service that Gebrev was dealing with old arms and ammunition that are no longer used by the army.
Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek told Czech Television on April 18 that investigators believe the explosion had occurred earlier than planned. According to Hamacek, the blast had been scheduled to take place once the ammunition transport arrived in Bulgaria.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service, AP, Seznam Zpravy, Reuters, TASS, CTK, and Interfax
- By RFE/RL
Top Iranian General Hejazi Dies At 65
A high-ranking general responsible for Iran's regional military activities and an architect of its repressive internal security apparatus has died.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) announced on April 18 that Brigadier General Mohammad Hosseinzadeh Hejazi died of heart disease at the age of 65. The statement provided no further details about his death.
Hejazi served as deputy commander of the IRGC's Quds Force, an elite unit leading Iran's operations in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.
Hejazi was appointed deputy commander of the Quds Force in January 2020 after leading the IRGC's activities in Lebanon, where Iran backs its Shi'ite ally Hizballah.
A statement from the IRGC said he was also active fighting against the so-called Islamic State and "Takfiri terrorists," meaning he played a role in Iraq and Syria.
Born in 1956 in the city of Isfahan, Hejazi joined the IRGC after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and was involved in suppressing a Kurdish uprising and then held various command positions during the Iran-Iraq War.
In one of his most prominent positions, the ultra-hard-liner led IRGC's paramilitary Basij force from 1998 for almost nine years. During this time, he helped turn the omnipresent domestic security force and its affiliated vigilante organizations into a tool to crack down on dissent and reformist politicians.
With reporting by AP and Tasnim
- By RFE/RL
Watchdog Accuses China Of Crimes Against Humanity In Xinjiang
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says China's communist government is committing crimes against humanity in its treatment of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim people in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.
The Chinese leadership is responsible for widespread and systematic policies of mass incarceration, torture, and cultural persecution, among other offenses, HRW said in a report published on April 19, urging coordinated international action to impose sanctions on those responsible, advance accountability, and press the Chinese government to reverse course.
The United States has used the word genocide to describe the treatment of the Uyghurs.
China denies genocide. It has described Xinjiang as an internal matter and rejected abuse allegations. Beijing claims internment camps in the region provide vocational training and help fight Islamic extremism.
The report, titled "Break Their Lineage, Break Their Roots": China's Crimes Against Humanity Targeting Uyghurs and Other Turkic Muslims, documents a wide array of human rights violations such as: mass arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances, mass surveillance, cultural and religious erasure, separation of families, forced returns to China, forced labor, and sexual violence and violations of reproductive rights.
"Acts of torture include interrogation in 'tiger chairs' using electroshock and other violent means of interrogation, and beatings, prolonged solitary confinement, sexual violence, and deprivation of food or water that are arbitrarily inflicted on detainees," the report says.
The abuses are "part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against a population," says the report put together with assistance from Stanford Law School's Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic.
"Chinese authorities have systematically persecuted Turkic Muslims -- their lives, their religion, their culture," said Sophie Richardson, China director at New York-based HRW.
"Beijing has said it's providing 'vocational training' and 'deradicalization,' but that rhetoric can't obscure a grim reality of crimes against humanity," Richardson said.
The report lists a number of acts that it says represent "cultural persecution," such as: the razing of mosques and other religiously or culturally important sites, the involuntary implantation of contraceptive devices in Turkic Muslim women, and the forced indoctrination of Turkic Muslims both inside and outside of camps.
The report notes that in recent years, the level of official oppression of Turkic Muslims has reached "unprecedented levels," adding higher levels of forced labor, broad surveillance, and unlawful separation of children from their families to methods already in use like mass detention and restrictions on practicing Islam.
"It's increasingly clear that Chinese government policies and practices against the Turkic Muslim population in Xinjiang meet the standard for crimes against humanity under international criminal law," said Beth Van Schaack, from the Stanford Center for Human Rights and International Justice.
"The government's failure to stop these crimes, let alone punish those responsible, shows the need for strong and coordinated international action," Van Schaack said.
The authors of the report urge the UN Human Rights Council to establish a body invested with authority to probe allegations of crimes against humanity, identify officials responsible for abuses, and come up with ways to hold them accountable.
The report recommends imposing visa and travel bans as well as targeted sanctions on those responsible for crimes committed against people in Xinjiang, as well as trade restrictions and other moves to end the use of forced labor in China.
"It is increasingly clear that a coordinated global response is needed to end China's crimes against humanity against Turkic Muslims," Richardson said. "That China is a powerful state makes it all the more important for holding it accountable for its unrelenting abuses."
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