News
- By RFE/RL
German Foreign Minister Rejects More Sanctions On Russia Over Navalny Situation
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has rejected additional EU sanctions against Russia over the situation of imprisoned opposition leader Aleksei Navalny.
Speaking to public broadcaster ARD on April 25, Maas said he had doubts whether fresh sanctions on Russia would improve the Kremlin critic’s situation.
"I think the opposite would be the case," Maas said.
The EU already imposed sanctions on Russia over the poisoning and jailing of Navalny. The bloc also has sanctions on Russia for its forcible annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and its role fueling the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
While all those sanctions will remain in place, Maas said it was important to maintain dialogue with Russia and avoid an escalatory cycle of provocations turning into serious confrontation.
Earlier this week, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that the EU would hold President Vladimir Putin and Russian authorities directly responsible if Navalny died in prison amid concerns about his health.
But a day after the French foreign minister’s comments, Navalny announced on April 23 that he was ending a hunger strike he had launched more than three weeks before to protest his medical treatment in prison.
Navalny was arrested in January upon his return to Russia from Germany, where he received life-saving treatment for a poisoning attack in Siberia in August.
He blames the poisoning with a Soviet-style chemical nerve agent on Putin and the Russian security services. The Kremlin has denied any role in the poisoning.
In February, a Moscow court ruled that while in Germany, Navalny had violated the terms of parole from an old embezzlement case that is widely considered to be politically motivated. He is currently serving a 2 1/2-year sentence at a prison outside Moscow.
With reporting by dpa, BR 24, and Deutschlandfunk
- By RFE/RL
Turkmen Succession Speculation As Son Of Leader Takes The Reins For National Horse Day
The 39-year-old son of Turkmenistan's autocratic leader oversaw festivities surrounding a national holiday celebrating local horse and dog breeds, as speculation grows over potential hereditary succession in the secretive Central Asian state.
President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, 66, has appointed his son Serdar to a number of top positions this year, making him the second-most powerful figure in the country.
In a symbolic move earlier this month, Serdar replaced his father as head of the national horse association and was named "honored dog breeder of Turkmenistan."
The local Akhal-Teke horse and Alabai sheepdog play a prominent role in state propaganda, with monuments in the capital Ashgabat devoted to them and untold funds spent on promoting their breeding.
Earlier this year, Berdymukhammedov ordered a national holiday for the Alabai to be celebrated on the last Sunday in April when the country marks the day of the Akhal-Teke horse.
In the past, President Berdymukhammedov led events surrounding the holiday at an elaborate horse track in Ashgabat, in some years participating in races, showing off his horseback skills, and handing out awards to breeders.
For the first time on April 25, state television showed Serdar replace his father’s role in celebrating the Turkmen horse, which the media used in previous years to glorify the president.
It comes just days after Serdar topped the evening news for the first time as media showed him opening a state building housing associations that he heads promoting the Akhal-Teke horse and Alabai sheepdog.
Usually Turkmenistan's evening news is entirely devoted to the latest activities of the president.
It’s unclear why the elder Berdymukhammedov has been taking a back seat in recent days, but it comes as he is mourning the death of his 89-year-old father, a former policeman and educator. That has added an additional layer of speculation that the autocratic leader may be thinking more about his legacy and succession.
In February, the younger Berdymukhammedov received three promotions, becoming deputy premier, a member of the powerful security council, and the auditor general.
Turkmenistan does not have a prime minister, with the elder Berdymukhammedov already president, speaker of the upper house of parliament, and head of government of a state built around his cult of personality.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Turkmen Service and AFP
- By RFE/RL
Top Kremlin Aide Signals Possible Biden-Putin Summit In June
Russian President Vladimir Putin may hold a summit with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden in June, a top Kremlin aide said on April 25.
Biden earlier this month proposed a face-to-face meeting with the Russian leader amid spiraling tensions between the two countries.
The Kremlin has suggested it views the summit offer positively and initial discussions with Washington are under way.
Putin's top foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, said that a final decision on the meeting had not been made but it could happen in June.
"June is being named, there are even concrete dates," Ushakov said on state-run television channel Rossiya-1.
"We will take a decision depending on many factors," said Ushakov, a former Russian ambassador to the United States.
Separately on April 25, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the summit proposal has been “positively perceived and is being considered now.”
A June meeting could potentially coincide with Biden’s planned trip that month to Britain for a G7 summit and the NATO and EU summits in Brussels. The White House has said any Biden-Putin summit would likely be held in a neutral country in Europe, with both Austria and Finland expressing interest in hosting the two leaders.
Tensions between Russia and the United States have continued to worsen over the conflict in Ukraine, new sanctions on Moscow over alleged cyberattacks and election interference, the status of jailed Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny, and a host of other issues.
In March, Russia was enraged after Biden agreed when asked in an interview if he thought Putin was a "killer," prompting Moscow to recall its ambassador to Washington for consultations.
U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan returned to the United States this week for consultations after Moscow recommended that he temporarily leave.
That came as Russia this month declared 10 employees at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to be personae non gratae in what it called a "mirror" response to Washington's expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats and wide-ranging sanctions as it moved to hold the Kremlin accountable for actions against the United States and its interests.
Biden has repeatedly stated that while he will be tough on Russia over any hostile policies, he is also seeking to cooperate where the two sides have mutual interests. This includes on such issues as nuclear proliferation, climate change, the Iran nuclear deal, North Korea, and fostering peace and stability in Afghanistan.
With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and TASS
Albanians Choose New Parliament Under New Electoral Rules
Voting is under way on April 25 in Albania's parliamentary elections, where the ruling Socialist Party of Albania is seeking a third term. RFE/RL filmed early voters in the capital, Tirana. A 2020 constitutional amendment brought in some new electoral rules, such as the introduction of preferential voting.
- By RFE/RL
Czech President Says There Are Two Theories On 2014 Arms Depot Blast
Czech President Milos Zeman has said there are two theories about what caused the 2014 arms depot blast that has sparked a severe diplomatic rift with Russia, and that both must be investigated.
Speaking for the first time about the incident during a televised address to the nation on April 25, Zeman said that one version of events is that Russian intelligence was involved in the deadly explosion.
The other version, he said, was that the blast was caused by inexpert handling of ammunition.
"I take both lines [of investigation] seriously and I wish that they are thoroughly investigated," Zeman said.
Prime Minister Andrej Babis on April 17 announced that investigators from the Czech intelligence and security services had provided "unequivocal evidence" that there was "reasonable suspicion regarding a role of members of Russian military intelligence GRU's unit 29155 in the explosion of the munition depot in Vrbetice in 2014."
Citing the report by the Czech Security Information Service, Zeman said that there was "neither proof nor evidence" that the two Russian GRU agents being sought regarding possible involvement in the explosion were at the arms depot.
"I hope that we will determine the truth and find out whether this suspicion [of Russian intelligence involvement] is justified," Zeman said. "If that is the case -- although I support fair relations with all important countries -- the Russian Federation would have to pay the price of this presumed terrorist act."
Zeman suggested that eliminating the Russian company Rosatom from consideration in a bid to construct a new nuclear plant would be one possible punishment. However, he also said that if Russia were cleared of responsibility it "could bear serious consequences for our internal politics."
Zeman, whose powers as president are largely ceremonial, has often expressed pro-Russian views and is seen as being friendly toward Moscow.
The blast in Vrbetice on October 16, 2014, set off 50 metric tons of stored ammunition. Two months later, another blast of 13 tons of ammunition occurred at the same site.
In response, the Czech government announced the expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats it considered to be spies, setting off a string of tit-for-tat moves between Prague and Moscow.
In what is considered to be the worst spat between the former Cold War allies since communist rule ended in Czechoslovakia in 1989, the two sides exchanged ultimatums and hiked the number of diplomatic expulsions.
On April 19, Russia announced that 20 employees at the Czech Embassy in Moscow would be expelled.
On April 23, Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek said that the number of people allowed by the Czech Republic and Russia at their respective embassies would be limited to 32, including seven diplomats.
The Czech Foreign Ministry has given Russia until the end of May to cut the number of its personnel at its embassy in Prague by 63 people.
Russia, which has denied any involvement in the arms depot blast, has pledged to respond.
Czech media has reported that the ammunition and weaponry destroyed in the first Vrbetice blast, which killed two people, was intended for Ukrainian forces fighting against Russia-backed separatist troops in eastern Ukraine.
The two Russian intelligence officers sought in relation to the explosion are the same GRU officers accused of a nerve-agent poisoning in England in 2018 that targeted former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal.
Skripal and his daughter survived the attack carried out with what British investigators determined was the Soviet-engineered nerve agent Novichok.
A British woman who accidentally came into contact with the substance died.
With reporting by Reuters and TASS
Armenian PM Steps Down, Sets Stage For Early Parliamentary Vote
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has tendered his resignation, formally freeing the way for parliamentary elections to be held in an effort to defuse a political crisis prompted by the country's war last year with Azerbaijan.
"According to an agreement with the president and political forces, today I’m stepping down in order to hold early parliamentary polls on June 20," Pashinian announced on Facebook on April 25.
Pashinian said he plans to continue to fulfill his duties as prime minister until the vote, and plans to take part in the elections.
"I will be a candidate for the prime minister," said Pashinian, who will run as a candidate for his Civil Contract party. "If people decide that I should resign as the prime minister, I will do their will and if they want me to continue my job as the prime minister, I will also do the people’s will."
The move follows recent changes made to Armenia's Electoral Code that the opposition has said are aimed at helping Pashinian win.
The changes worked out by Pashinian's My Step alliance revamp parts of the Electoral Code introduced in 2016 by the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), two years before Pashinian was swept into office after leading mass protests against the pro-Russia HHK of former President Serzh Sarkisian.
The amendments will switch the Caucasus country's electoral system to a fully proportional one.
To this point Armenians had voted for parties and alliances as well as individual candidates, whereas the next elections will be held only on a party-list basis.
Armenia has been embroiled in a political crisis since Pashinian signed a Russian-brokered cease-fire in November 2020 to end the war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Following talks with the opposition, Pashinian agreed in March to hold the early vote in June.
Opinion polls show that public confidence in Pashinian's government has fallen sharply since then, with its approval rating falling from 60 percent to around 30 percent today.
With reporting by TASS and AFP
- By RFE/RL
U.S. Armenians Welcome Biden Declaration Recognizing Massacre As Genocide
Armenian Americans celebrated President Joe Biden’s decision to formally recognize the massacre of Armenians during World War I as genocide, but the declaration infuriated Ankara, which accused the United States of trying to rewrite history.
Biden on April 24 became the first U.S. president to use the word genocide in a formal statement, and it was issued on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, the anniversary of the start of the massacre in 1915 as the Ottoman Empire unraveled.
The American people honor "all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today," Biden said.
"Over the decades Armenian immigrants have enriched the United States in countless ways, but they have never forgotten the tragic history," Biden said. "We honor their story. We see that pain. We affirm the history. We do this not to cast blame but to ensure that what happened is never repeated."
The White House had avoided using the term genocide for decades for fear of alienating Turkey, a NATO ally and important power in the Middle East. But Biden had promised during his presidential campaign that if elected he would take the largely symbolic step.
Hundreds of people streamed to a hilltop monument in Montebello, California, about 16 kilometers east of downtown Los Angeles, a U.S. hub of the Armenian diaspora, to mark Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
They laid flowers at the monument and recalled relatives who died in the slaughter and deportation of as many as 1.5 million Armenians -- a Christian minority in the predominately Muslim empire.
Ankara insists the deaths were a result of civil strife rather than a planned Ottoman government effort to annihilate Armenians. Turkey also claims fewer Armenians died than has been reported.
Turkey's angry reaction put the government and most of the opposition in rare unity.
"Words cannot change or rewrite history," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted moments after Biden announced his decision. "We will not take lessons from anyone on our history."
Cavusoglu said Turkey "entirely rejects" the U.S. decision, which he said was based "solely on populism," while the opposition denounced it as a "major mistake."
A Foreign Ministry statement issued separately said: "It is clear that the said statement does not have a scholarly and legal basis, nor is it supported by any evidence."
The ministry later summoned U.S. Ambassador David Satterfield to express its displeasure, noting that Biden's decision caused "a wound in relations that is difficult to repair,” the Anadolu state news agency reported.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was less strident in his response, sending a message to the Armenian community and patriarch of the Armenian church calling on him not to allow “the culture of coexistence of Turks and Armenians...to be forgotten."
The issue has been “politicized by third parties and turned into a tool of intervention against our country,” Erdogan said.
Erdogan and Biden agreed during a phone call on April 23 to hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a NATO summit in June in Brussels. Biden placed the call -- his first as president to Erdogan -- in an apparent attempt to soften the blow of his decision.
Biden's message was met with "great enthusiasm" by the people of Armenia and Armenians worldwide, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian wrote in a letter to the U.S. president.
Pashinian in a post on Facebook thanked Biden for "the powerful step towards justice and invaluable support for the descendants of the Armenian genocide victims."
With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
Iranian TV Says Attacked Oil Tanker Was Iranian
Iran's Al-Alam television said an oil tanker that was reportedly attacked on April 24 near Baniyas in Syria was one of three Iranian tankers that arrived recently at the oil terminal.
Syria's Oil Ministry said earlier that a fire broke out on an oil tanker off the Syrian coastal city of Baniyas following what is believed to be a suspected drone attack from Lebanese territorial waters, Syria's state news agency SANA reported.
Firefighting teams managed to extinguish a fire in one of the tanks of the oil tanker, the report said. It provided no further details and did not specify where the tanker was arriving from.
It was not clear who carried out the attack, which caused no casualties, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
There was no immediate reaction from Iranian officials.
There has been a series of mysterious attacks on vessels in recent months.
They have come amid rising tension in the region between Iran, Israel, and the United States.
Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, dpa, and AP
- By RFE/RL
Biden Recognizes WWI-Era Killings Of Armenians As Genocide
U.S. President Joe Biden has formally recognized the massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I as genocide, in a declaration that has infuriated Turkey.
“Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring," Biden said in an April 24 statement that was released on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
“We honor the victims of the Meds Yeghern so that the horrors of what happened are never lost to history. And we remember so that we remain ever-vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms,” Biden added.
With the formal acknowledgment, Biden followed on his campaign promise that if elected he would take the largely symbolic step that marked a break from his predecessors.
An unnamed U.S. official said the move was not meant to place blame on modern-day Turkey.
But Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu immediately criticized Biden's statement.
"Words cannot change history or rewrite it," Cavusoglu said on Twitter. "We will not be given lessons on our history from anyone. Political opportunism is the biggest betrayal of peace and justice. We completely reject this statement that is based on populism. #1915Events."
"This statement of the U.S., which distorts the historical facts, will never be accepted in the conscience of the Turkish people, and will open a deep wound that undermines our mutual trust and friendship," Turkey's Foreign Ministry said separately, adding it rejected and denounced the statement "in the strongest terms."
Minutes before Biden’s announcement, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a message to the Armenian community and patriarch of the Armenian church calling for not allowing “the culture of coexistence of Turks and Armenians...to be forgotten." He said the issue has been “politicized by third parties and turned into a tool of intervention against our country.”
Armenian Response
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in a post on Facebook thanked Biden for "the powerful step towards justice and invaluable support for the descendants of the Armenian genocide victims."
During and immediately after World War I, Ottoman Turks killed or deported as many as 1.5 million Armenians -- a Christian minority in the predominately Muslim empire. Many historians and some other nations, including France and Germany, consider the killings genocide.
Armenians for decades have pressed for the word to be used to describe the killings and deportations, but the label is adamantly rejected by Turkey.
The White House earlier said that Biden spoke with Erdogan on the eve of the announcement.
Ankara insists the deaths were a result of civil strife rather than a planned Ottoman government effort to annihilate Armenians. Turkey also claims fewer Armenians died than has been reported.
Congress voted overwhelmingly in 2019 to recognize the Armenian genocide but the Trump administration made clear that it would maintain the status quo.
Other U.S. presidents have refrained from formally using the term genocide amid worry about damaging relations with Turkey, a NATO ally.
Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, said in a statement ahead of the announcement that Biden would be "effectively ending the longest lasting foreign gag-rule in American history."
Hamparian said the recognition would represent a “powerful setback to Turkey's century-long obstruction of justice for this crime, and its ongoing hostility and aggression against the Armenian people."
He also voiced hope for greater U.S. alignment against Turkish-backed Azerbaijan, which last year fought a six-week war with Armenia, ending with a Russian-brokered cease-fire under which a chunk of Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani administration after almost 30 years of control by ethnic Armenian forces.
With reporting by AFP and Reuters
Kazakhs Protest Against Foreign Ownership Of Land
Several hundred protesters gathered in Almaty on April 24 for an unsanctioned rally to oppose a draft law on land ownership that they say poses a threat to Kazakh sovereignty and national security. According to RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service, the event was organized by the unregistered Democratic Party. Protesters called on the parliament to stop considering amendments to the land ownership legislation that would enable long-term leasing by foreign entities. Opponents fear the amendments would open the door to land ownership for local oligarchs as well as further increase Chinese influence in the country. A strong police presence prevented protesters from marching through the city.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards Says Three Alleged 'Terrorists' Killed In Southeast
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said on April 24 that they had dismantled a "terrorist" cell linked to the Islamic republic’s enemies and killed three of its members in the country's southeast.
The IRGC mounted a "successful operation" in Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan Province and ambushed the "terrorist cell linked to the global arrogance," an IRGC statement published on Iranian news sites, said.
RFE/RL could not independently verify the claim.
Iran generally uses the term "global arrogance" to refer to the United States or its allies.
"Three of the terrorists were killed and their weapons, ammunition and communications equipment were seized," the statement added.
The IRGC said the group had "entered the area some time ago for sabotage and terrorist operations," without providing further details or evidence.
Sistan-Baluchistan, one of Iran’s poorest provinces, is a volatile area near Iran's borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan where drug smugglers and militant groups operate.
With reporting by AFP and Tasnim
Kazakhs Rally In Almaty Against Changes To Land Ownership
Around 200 protesters gathered in Almaty on April 24 for an unsanctioned rally to oppose a draft law on land ownership that they say poses a threat to Kazakh sovereignty and national security.
Rallies were planned in other cities, too, but many of the organizers abandoned the protests after authorities blocked permits to gather, citing COVID-19 risks.
The Kazakh parliament’s lower chamber, the Mazhilis, earlier this month approved the first reading of a bill banning the purchase and rental of farmland by foreigners in the Central Asian nation ahead of the expiration of a moratorium on land sales this summer.
The five-year moratorium was introduced in 2016 after thousands demonstrated in unprecedented rallies across the tightly controlled nation, protesting the government’s plan to attract foreign investment into the agriculture sector by opening up the market.
Agriculture Minister Saparkhan Omarov said at a session of parliament on April 7 that current agreements on farmlands rented by some foreign companies or joint ventures with foreign capital will expire in the 2022-25 period and will not be extended.
The move comes after President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev proposed the ban in late February.
The protests stopped after the government withdrew the plan, but two men who organized the largest rally in the western city of Atyrau, Talghat Ayan and Maks Boqaev, were sentenced to five years in prison each after being found guilty of inciting social discord, knowingly spreading false information, and violating the law on public assembly.
- By RFE/RL
Lukashenka Said Ready To Sign Contingency Decree On Presidential Powers
Belarusian state media say Alyaksandr Lukashenka has said he will sign a decree that would vest presidential powers in the country's Security Council if he is unable to function as president.
Many governments already consider Lukashenka's claim to the presidency illegitimate since a disputed reelection in August 2020 and with a brutal crackdown continuing against opposition protests eight months after the vote.
His critics have dismissed previous pledges by Lukashenka for future constitutional changes and elections as stalling tactics.
As Western sanctions and calls for a new election and Lukashenka's exit have mounted, the authoritarian five-term president has increasingly looked to Moscow for support.
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.
No details were disclosed of a meeting between Lukashenka and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who recognized Lukashenka's claim of electoral victory, on April 22 in Moscow.
“Our teams are continuing to work to develop the legislation for the union state,” Putin said during the talks, in reference to a decades-old bilateral agreement that envisages a union with closer political, economic, and security ties.
The Belarusian Security Council is made up of hand-picked Lukashenka backers.
In his April 24 announcement, state news agency Belta reported, Lukashenka said the prime minister would head the Security Council in his absence.
Much of the leadership of the already hounded Belarusian political opposition has been jailed or forced to leave the country.
Lukashenka's clampdown has included thousands of detentions and a massive security presence to dissuade protests, as well as strictures and expulsions to hinder journalists trying to report on the unprecedented movement to oust Lukashenka from leadership of the post-Soviet republic of more than 9 million people.
Meeting the new U.S. ambassador to Belarus in neighboring Lithuania on April 21, exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya said she wanted to see Belarus "independent, free, and building friendly and mutually beneficial relations with all countries, first and foremost with our neighbors, but with other ones, too."
Tsikhanouskaya, who ran after her husband was jailed after announcing his own candidacy for president, left Belarus under pressure from the authorities shortly after the August 2020 vote.
The Moscow summit with Putin came in the wake of a purported plot to remove Lukashenka that allegedly involved a blockade of Minsk, power cuts, cyberattacks, and an assassination attempt against Lukashenka. Security forces in Moscow claimed to have arrested several alleged coup plotters in Moscow earlier this month.
The embattled opposition Coordination Council and other pro-democracy forces this week published a memorandum criticizing Lukashenka's efforts to "deepen integration" with Russia at this juncture.
With reporting by Reuters
- By AFP
Armenians March To Mark Ottoman Massacre Anniversary
Thousands of Armenians marched in Yerevan on April 23 to commemorate World War I-era mass killings of their kin by Ottoman forces, a bloodletting which U.S. President Joe Biden might reportedly recognize as genocide. The annual torch-lit march was held on the eve of the 106th anniversary of the massacres in which -- Armenians say -- up to 1.5 million ethnic Armenians were killed as the Ottoman Empire collapsed. So far about 30 countries have recognized the events as "genocide," a characterization which Turkey objects to.
- By RFE/RL
EU 'Rejects' Russian Labeling Of Meduza Media Outlet As 'Foreign Agent'
The European Union has dismissed Russian authorities' labeling of Latvia-based independent news outlet Meduza as a "foreign agent" and urged Moscow to end its "systematic infringement" of basic rights and freedoms for the political opposition and other Russians.
Russia's Justice Ministry announced the step -- which requires organizations to label themselves as "foreign agents" and subjects them to increased government scrutiny and regulation -- against the 7-year-old Meduza outlet a day earlier.
"We reject the decision by the Russian authorities to include independent media outlet Meduza on the list of 'foreign agents,'" the EU's diplomatic service said in a statement on April 24.
The bloc cited the media's duty to "report on issues of public interest" and state authorities' "obligation...to ensure they can do so in an atmosphere free of fear and intimidation."
"It is extremely concerning that Russian authorities continue to restrict the work of independent media platforms, as well as individual journalists and other media actors," the bloc's spokesperson said. "It goes against Russia's international obligations and human rights commitments."
Meduza was formed in 2014 by the former chief editor of Lenta.ru, Galina Timchenko, after she and most of Lenta.ru’s editorial staff left following an ownership change.
According to the independent Medialogia monitoring site, Meduza was among the top 10 most-cited Russian-language Internet sources in 2020 and was No. 1 in the ranking of most-linked-to in social-media posts.
The same day that the designation was ordered against Meduza, the Justice Ministry added the little-known, Moscow-based First Anti-Corruption Media project, which describes itself as “a federal media outlet specializing in the fight against corruption in Russia,” to the same registry.
Russia’s so-called “foreign agent” legislation was adopted in 2012 and has been modified repeatedly. One of its modifications targets foreign-funded media.
In 2017, the Russian government placed RFE/RL’s Russian Service on the list, along with six other RFE/RL Russian-language news services, and Current Time, a network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.
At the end of 2020, the legislation was modified to allow the Russian government to include individuals, including foreign journalists, on its “foreign agents” list and to impose restrictions on them.
"It is the European Union’s longstanding position that the so-called 'foreign agent' law contributes to a systematic infringement of basic freedoms, and restricts civil society, independent media, and the rights of political opposition in Russia," the EU said. "Democracy is a universal value that includes respect for human rights as enshrined in international law."
The Russian state media monitor Roskomnadzor last year adopted rules requiring listed media to mark all written materials with a lengthy notice in large text, all radio materials with an audio statement, and all video materials with a 15-second text declaration. The agency has prepared hundreds of complaints against RFE/RL’s projects for failure to follow such rules that could result in fines totaling more than $1 million.
RFE/RL has called the fines “a state-sponsored campaign of coercion and intimidation,” while the U.S. State Department has described them as “intolerable.”
- By RFE/RL
Biden Statement Expected As Armenians Mark Genocide Remembrance Day
U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to make an announcement on April 24 amid speculation that he will recognize the massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I as genocide.
Biden, who as a presidential candidate pledged that if elected he would take the largely symbolic step, is expected to release the statement on April 24, Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on April 23 she had nothing to release about Biden’s campaign pledge, and State Department deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter said only that reporters could expect an announcement on April 24.
During and immediately after World War I, Ottoman Turks killed or deported as many as 1.5 million Armenians -- a Christian minority in the predominately Muslim empire. Many historians and some other nations, including France and Germany, consider the killings genocide.
Armenians for decades have pressed for the word to be used to describe the killings and deportations, but the label is adamantly rejected by Turkey.
The White House said that Biden spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the eve of the expected announcement.
Reuters quoted sources familiar with the conversation as saying that Biden told Erdogan that he intended to recognize the mass killing and forced deportations of Armenians as genocide in a statement to be issued on April 24.
A White House statement about the call however said only that Biden conveyed his "interest in a constructive bilateral relationship with expanded areas of cooperation and effective management of disagreements."
The leaders also agreed to hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a NATO summit in June in Brussels “to discuss the full range of bilateral and regional issues,” the statement added.
Erdogan’s office said during the call that "both leaders agreed on the strategic character of the bilateral relationship and the importance of working together to build greater cooperation on issues of mutual interest.”
Ankara insists the deaths were a result of civil strife rather than a planned Ottoman government effort to annihilate Armenians. Turkey also claims fewer Armenians died than has been reported.
Congress voted overwhelmingly in 2019 to recognize the Armenian genocide but the Trump administration made clear that it would maintain the status quo.
Other U.S. presidents have refrained from formally using the term genocide amid worry about damaging relations with the NATO ally.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has warned that if Biden recognizes the killings as genocide, it would sour bilateral relations.
Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, said in a statement that Biden would be "effectively ending the longest lasting foreign gag-rule in American history."
Hamparian said the recognition would represent a “powerful setback to Turkey's century-long obstruction of justice for this crime, and its ongoing hostility and aggression against the Armenian people."
He also voiced hope for greater U.S. alignment against Turkish-backed Azerbaijan, which last year fought a six-week war with Armenia, ending with a Russian-brokered cease-fire under which a chunk of Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani administration after almost 30 years of control by ethnic Armenian forces.
With reporting by AFP and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
U.S., Turkish Presidents Speak Amid Speculation Over Possible Biden Recognition Of Armenian Killings As Genocide
Joe Biden has spoken by phone with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan amid speculation that the U.S president will recognize the massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I as genocide -- a largely symbolic move that would likely infuriate Ankara and step up already high tensions between the two NATO allies.
The White House and the Turkish presidency accounts of the April 23 call, the first direct communication between the two leaders since Biden's inauguration in January, made no mention of the issue.
But Reuters quoted sources familiar with the conversation as saying that Biden told Erdogan that he intended to recognize the mass killing and forced deportations of Armenians as genocide in a statement on April 24.
State Department deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter told reporters: “When it comes to the Armenian genocide, you can expect an announcement tomorrow." She declined to reveal details.
Earlier this week, media reports said Biden would likely use the word "genocide" as part of a statement on April 24 when Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day annual commemorations are held around the world.
However, sources warned that given the importance of bilateral ties with Turkey, a key NATO member, the U.S. president may still choose to drop the "genocide" term at the last minute.
As a presidential candidate, Biden pledged that if elected he would recognize the Armenian genocide, saying “silence is complicity." But he has not given a timeline for delivering on the promise.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has warned that such a move would “harm” bilateral relations.
Turkish Objections
During and immediately after World War I, Ottoman Turks killed or deported as many as 1.5 million Armenians -- a Christian minority in the predominately Muslim empire. Many historians and some other nations consider the killings genocide.
Turkey objects to the use of the word genocide to describe the killings. Ankara claims the deaths were a result of civil strife rather than a planned Ottoman government effort to annihilate Armenians. Turkey also claims fewer Armenians died than has been reported.
Moves to recognize the killings as genocide have stalled in the U.S. Congress for decades, and U.S. presidents have refrained from formally using the term amid intense lobbying by Ankara.
During his April 23 call with Erdogan, Biden called for “a constructive bilateral relationship with expanded areas of cooperation and effective management of disagreements," the White House said in a statement.
It said the two leaders agreed to meet one-on-one on the sidelines of a NATO summit in June to discuss their two countries' relations.
Erdogan’s office said that "both leaders agreed on the strategic character of the bilateral relationship and the importance of working together to build greater cooperation on issues of mutual interest.”
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
Two Iranians Handed Death Sentences For 'Insulting Prophet'
Two Iranians have been sentenced to death for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad, according to a news outlet that covers news in Iran.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported on April 22 that the two men were arrested and transferred to prison in Arak, the capital of Markazi Province, in May 2020.
An Arak court convicted the pair of “insulting the prophet,” which carries the death penalty, the report said.
It was not clear what the charge stemmed from.
One of the two men was identified as Yusef Mehrdad, a father of three, who was reportedly held in solitary confinement for two months following his arrest.
He is facing a number of other charges, including insulting Iranian leaders and acting against national security.
The second man has not been identified by HRANA.
In 2017, Iran dropped a death sentence handed to a man convicted of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a series of Facebook posts. The sentence had been condemned by rights groups and activists.
Amnesty International said in its annual review of the death penalty published earlier this week that Iran executed at least 246 people last year, remaining the world’s second top executioner after China.
The London-based human rights watchdog said recorded executions in Iran continued to be lower than previous years, but the country “increasingly used the death penalty as a weapon of political repression against dissidents, protesters, and members of ethnic minority groups, in violation of international law.”
Tajikistan Says It Didn't Issue Passport Allegedly Used By Russian Agent Implicated In Czech Blast
DUSHANBE -- Tajik authorities say they didn't issue a passport that was allegedly used in 2014 by a Russian agent implicated in a deadly arms depot explosion in the Czech Republic.
Last weekend, the Czech government alleged that two people who entered the country as Russian citizens, Ruslan Boshirov and Aleksandr Petrov, used a Tajik passport issued to Ruslan Tabarov and a Moldovan passport issued to Nicolaj Popa to access an arms depot in the village of Vrbetice in 2014. The Czechs say the two are responsible for an explosion that occurred the same day they went to the depot, killing two people.
In a statement on April 23, Tajikistan's Interior Ministry said that it had never issued a passport to a person born in 1975 with the name Ruslan Tabarov.
The statement came three days after Moldova's Agency for State Services said that a Moldovan passport allegedly used by the other Russian agent implicated in the 2014 blast had been issued to a different person, but doctored to change the original name on the passport to Nicolaj Popa, born in 1979.
Czech authorities also allege that the two suspects were members of Russian military intelligence (GRU) and the same agents wanted for the poisoning attempt of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury in 2018.
The faces on the passports -- identified as Ruslan Tabarov from Tajikistan and Nicolaj Popa from Moldova -- matched those of Petrov and Boshirov, who were captured on video in Britain.
The Bellingcat investigative group has identified Boshirov and Petrov as GRU operatives Anatoly Chepiga and Aleksandr Mishkin, respectively.
The results of the Czech investigation have led to a major diplomatic standoff between Prague and Moscow, including the mass expulsion of embassy staff from the missions of both countries.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Moldovan Service
- By RFE/RL
Russia Labels Meduza Media Outlet As 'Foreign Agent'
The Russian government has designated the Latvia-based independent Meduza news outlet as a foreign agent -- a move that will require it to label itself as such and will subject it to increased government scrutiny.
The Russian Justice Ministry made the announcement on April 23 on its website, while Meduza confirmed the news in a tweet.
"Hi, everyone! We’re Russia’s latest 'foreign agent!'" the media outlet wrote, though in a later post it said it rejected the designation and will appeal the move, adding that its chances of success "are slim."
In addition, the Justice Ministry added the little-known Moscow-based First Anti-Corruption Media project, which describes itself as “a federal media outlet specializing in the fight against corruption in Russia,” to the foreign-agent registry.
The Justice Ministry did not offer any explanation for its action.
Russia’s so-called “foreign agent” legislation was adopted in 2012 and has been modified repeatedly. It requires nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign assistance and that the government deems to be engaged in political activity to be registered, to identify themselves as “foreign agents,” and to submit to audits. Later modifications of the law targeted foreign-funded media.
Human Rights Watch has described the legislation as “restrictive” and intended “to demonize independent groups.”
Meduza was formed in 2014 by the former chief editor of Lenta.ru, Galina Timchenko, after she and most of Lenta.ru’s editorial staff left following an ownership change.
According to the independent Medialogia monitoring site, Meduza was among the top 10 most-cited Russian-language Internet sources in 2020 and was No. 1 in the ranking of most-linked-to social-media posts.
The general director of First Anti-Corruption Media, Dmitry Verbitsky, wrote that he did not understand why his company had been listed since it does not receive any foreign funding. He said the company would appeal its listing.
In 2017, the Russian government placed RFE/RL’s Russian Service on the list, along with six other RFE/RL Russian-language news services, and Current Time, a network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.
At the end of 2020, the legislation was modified to allow the Russian government to include individuals, including foreign journalists, on its “foreign agents” list and to impose restrictions on them.
The Russian state media monitor Roskomnadzor last year adopted rules requiring listed media to mark all written materials with a lengthy notice in large text, all radio materials with an audio statement, and all video materials with a 15-second text declaration. The agency has prepared hundreds of complaints against RFE/RL’s projects for failure to follow such rules that could result in fines totaling more than $1 million.
RFE/RL has called the fines “a state-sponsored campaign of coercion and intimidation,” while the U.S. State Department has described them as “intolerable.”
With reporting by Reuters and RIA
Russia's FSB Detains Members Of Islamic Group In Siberia
Security authorities in the Siberian cities of Kemerovo and Novosibirsk say they have apprehended an unspecified number of alleged supporters of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic group.
Human rights groups have criticized the government's "abuse" of counterterrorism laws and the use of "secret witnesses" and other methods in prosecuting critics and religious groups to silence dissent.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) said on April 21 that alleged members of the group that was banned in the country in 2003 "carried out anti-constitutional activities based on the doctrine of the creation of a world caliphate."
Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is also banned in Central Asia, says its movement is peaceful.
The FSB did not say how many suspects have been apprehended.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is a global organization based in London that seeks to unite all Muslim countries into an Islamic caliphate, but it says its methods for reaching that goal are peaceful.
Russia's detention of some younger alleged members of the group has sparked protests by parents who say their children have been arrested on political grounds.
Based on reporting by TASS and Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Navalny Says He Will End Hunger Strike
Jailed Russian opposition politician Navalny says he is ending a hunger strike he launched last month over his medical treatment in prison saying he had "achieved enough."
The Kremlin critic, who began his hunger strike on March 31, confirmed in an Instagram post on April 23 that his health is ailing and that he continues to demand that he be examined by his personal doctors for acute pain in his back and legs.
Navalny was moved from the prison he is incarcerated in to the infirmary at another nearby penitentiary last weekend after Anastasia Vasilyeva, Navalny's personal doctor and the head of Russia's Alliance of Doctors union, and three other physicians, including a cardiologist, said in a letter to the Federal Penitentiary Service that his condition had rapidly deteriorated and he could suffer cardiac arrest "any minute."
Navalny's doctors said in a statement on April 23 they had examined his medical results, and recommended that he is transferred to a "modern" hospital in Moscow where a full diagnosis could be established with the involvement of Western specialists.
"What we saw cannot be described simply with the words 'bad' and 'unprofessional' -- is monstrous. Tomorrow we will publish a full-fledged analysis," Vasilyeva tweeted.
"One thing we know for sure: Aleksei must immediately undergo recovery at a hospital. Otherwise he will die," she added.
The previous day, the doctors urged Navalny to end the hunger strike, saying that if it "continues even a little longer, we will simply no longer have a patient to treat."
"Doctors, whom I fully trust, yesterday issued a statement saying that you and I had achieved enough to stop my hunger strike," Navalny said in the post, referring to a statement published on the Mediazona website on April 22 by his doctors.
"To tell you sincerely, their words, saying that the tests show that 'in a short time there will be no one to treat'… seem worth paying attention to," he added.
The 44-year-old said he has been examined twice by "civilian doctors" and that he will take 24 days to gradually return to a normal eating routine.
"I am losing sensitivity in parts of my arms and legs and I want to understand what is causing it and how to treat it," Navalny said.
"According to the guidelines, it will take another 24 days to end the hunger strike, and they say this will be even harder. So, wish me luck."
In his statement on Instagram, Navalny said he especially wanted to thank the people who joined his hunger strike, including representatives of the Mothers of Beslan, a group uniting the majority of mothers of 189 children killed in the 2004 standoff between hostage-takers and Russian security forces in the North Caucasus city of Beslan.
"One more reason [to stop the hunger strike] that became probably even more important to me was the move of several people, including representatives of the Mothers of Beslan, to start a hunger strike in solidarity with me. My eyes watered when I read about it. I don't even know these people and they are doing that for me. My friends, my heart is full of love and gratitude to you, but I do not want someone to physically suffer because of me," Navalny wrote.
More than 100 people signed up on Facebook to join in a mass hunger strike in solidarity with Navalny, including five parents whose children died in the 2004 school siege in Beslan, the legacy of which still resonates in Russia's North Ossetia region.
"They've taken a man hostage and are destroying him. Our children were also taken hostage in 2004 and no one saved them," one of them, Ella Kesayeva, told the Novaya gazeta newspaper on April 21 in explaining why the parents joined the hunger strike.
Navalny's move comes two days after thousands of Russians from Vladivostok in the Far East to Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea joined protests called by leaders of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), who feared he could be harmed "irreparably" if he doesn't get adequate medical treatment.
OVD-Info, which monitors the detention of political protesters and activists, reported almost 2,000 detentions across the country, with about half the detentions in St. Petersburg, in what Amnesty International described as being part of a "shocking crackdown on basic freedoms."
Police detained at least 10 journalists and harassed others in relation to their coverage of protests, according to media freedom watchdogs.
Navalny was arrested on January 17 upon his return to Russia from Germany, where he received life-saving treatment for a poisoning attack in Siberia in August.
He has insisted that his poisoning with a Soviet-style chemical nerve agent was ordered directly by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin has denied any role in the poisoning.
In February, a Moscow court ruled that while in Germany, Navalny had violated the terms of parole from an old embezzlement case that is widely considered to be politically motivated.
Navalny's 3 1/2-year suspended sentence from the case was converted to a prison term, though the court said he will serve 2 1/2 years in prison given time already served in detention.
The United States and European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia over the Navalny affair and the government's crackdown on demonstrators earlier this year at rallies protesting Navalny's arrest.
Germany Urges Serbia, Kosovo To Work Harder To Normalize Ties
Germany has called on Serbia and Kosovo to step up efforts toward a normalization of their relationship, more than two decades after Belgrade lost control of its former southern province in 1999.
"The time is right for continuing the normalization process -- and to achieve results," Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said at a live-streamed news conference after meeting Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade on April 23.
"It is important not to hold this dialogue just for dialogue's sake, there must be results. Germany stands ready to help in this respect," Maas added.
For his part, Vucic said that Serbia wants to reach a compromise solution with Kosovo and was ready to continue the dialogue.
"Serbia is not looking for excuses to refuse to reach a compromise," Vucic said, adding that Belgrade believes that a frozen conflict is always in danger of being reignited.
Serbia was forced to cede control over Kosovo in 1999 after a U.S.-led NATO campaign ended Belgrade's crackdown against Kosovo's ethnic Albanian separatists. More than 10,000 people died in the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict.
Kosovo declared independence in 2008 but Belgrade does not recognize this. Most EU members and the United States have recognized Kosovo's independence, but not Serbia's allies Russia and China.
Vucic, in an April 22 interview from Belgrade with the Washington-based Atlantic Council think tank, said he was also actively seeking stronger ties with the United States.
Vucic, who has met U.S. President Joe Biden five times, described the U.S. president as "politically the best prepared man I ever talked to."
Vucic, however, admitted there are difficulties in the bilateral relationship, especially differing views on peace talks with Kosovo.
Biden has considerable Balkan experience and was engaged with the region while serving as vice president from 2009 to 2017.
With reporting by Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Russia Announces Start Of Troop Pullback From Occupied Crimea
Russia says it has started moving troops from the annexed Ukrainian region of Crimea to their permanent bases following a major buildup around the areas of eastern Ukraine that had raised concerns in Kyiv and the West.
A senior U.S. defense official said on April 23 that the United States is seeing some Russian personnel withdrawing, but added: "It's a bit too soon to tell exactly what forces are withdrawing and exactly what equipment appears to be left behind.”
Moscow's announcement of the troop redeployment alone is "insufficient to give us comfort," the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“But I can just tell you, we're looking very, very closely," the official said.
The Russian troop buildup came amid stepped-up violations of a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine, where fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 13,000 people since April 2014, and prompted the West to urge Moscow to pull its forces back.
Ukraine and many other countries refuse to recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014, and consider it a violation of international law and Russian-signed agreements safeguarding the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on April 23 that "military units and groups [in Crimea] are moving to railway stations and airports, boarding military vessels, railway platforms, and military aircraft” following the conclusion of large-scale military drills.
The ministry also announced that more than 20 ships from its Black Sea fleet had returned to their permanent base after taking part in military exercises near Crimea.
The statements came a day after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered the withdrawal from areas close to the Ukrainian border, where thousands of military personnel had been brought in recent weeks for what Moscow described as a "snap inspection of military personnel."
Shoigu said that the objectives of the snap inspection "have been fully achieved" and that the troops would return to their bases by May 1.
However, it was unclear from Shoigu's announcement if the return order covered all of the troops involved in the buildup near Russia's southern border and in Crimea.
The Defense Ministry has said that its drills involved more than 60 ships, over 10,000 troops, around 200 aircraft, and about 1,200 military vehicles.
But the military hasn't reported the total number of additional troops that have been moved to the region.
Josep Borrell, the EU's top diplomat, said on April 19 that Russia had massed some 100,000 troops near the border, while Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned on April 20 that the Russian buildup across the border was continuing and was "expected to reach a combined force of over 120,000 troops" in about a week if it didn't stop.
Russia has argued that it has the right to deploy its forces anywhere on its territory and claimed that they don't threaten anyone.
Shoigu said the military had to be ready to respond quickly in case of "unfavorable" developments arising from NATO's DEFENDER-Europe 21 exercises, an annual, U.S. Army-led, multinational joint exercise across 26 countries in Europe and Africa, including Estonia -- which shares a border with Russia -- Bulgaria and Romania.
Last week, Russia announced the closing of large areas of the Black Sea near Crimea to foreign naval ships and state vessels until November, prompting protests from Ukraine and raising Western concerns.
Moscow also announced restrictions on flights near Crimea this week, arguing that they fully conform with international law.
Moscow also warned Kyiv against trying to retake by force its territories controlled by the separatists, saying that Russia could step in to protect civilians in the region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on April 21 signed an order allowing the call-up of reservists for military service without announcing a mobilization.
With reporting by TASS, Interfax, Reuters, AP, and AFP
- By RFE/RL
Moscow Expels Five Polish Diplomats After Russians Expelled By Warsaw
Russia has expelled five staff members at Poland's embassy in Moscow in a tit-for-tat move after Warsaw declared three Russian diplomats in Poland personae non gratae for violating their diplomatic status.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on April 23 it had summoned Poland's ambassador to Russia, Krzysztof Krajewski, to the ministry in Moscow where he was informed of the decision.
It said the move, which gives the Polish diplomats until May 15 to leave Russia, was made because Warsaw was "consciously pursuing a course toward the further degradation and destruction of our bilateral relations."
Poland's Foreign Ministry described Russia's decision as “another example of aggressive policies” and “a deliberate gesture meant to inflame relations with the neighbors and the entire international community."
The ministry said it reserved the right to “an appropriate response."
The Polish government expelled the three Russian Embassy staff members on April 15 for violating their diplomatic status and "conducting activities harmful to Poland."
Russia's move to expel Polish diplomats came as Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania ordered the expulsion of a total of four Russian diplomats.
The three Baltic countries said they acted in solidarity with the Czech Republic, which is engaged in a tense diplomatic showdown with Moscow involving the expulsions of scores of diplomats over Russia's alleged role in a deadly 2014 explosion at a Czech arms depot.
The Czech Republic, the Baltic states, and Poland are all European Union and NATO members.
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