SOFIA -- The center-right ruling party of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov is projected to win Bulgaria's parliamentary elections with about 25 percent of the vote.

The Alpha Research polling firm put the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party in second place with 17.6 percent of the vote. The protest There Is Such A People party, headed by television personality Slavi Trifonov, placed third with 15.2 percent.

Two other parties -- the mostly ethnic Turkish-backed Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) and the nationalist Bulgarian National Movement (VMRO) -- were also projected to win seats in the 240-seat parliament.

With his Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party's support down from the 33.5 percent it won in elections in 2017, Borisov will now face the difficult task of forming a coalition to secure another four-year mandate.

WATCH: Special crews with ballot boxes visited the homes of quarantined voters. Polling stations in Sofia also adopted strengthened hygiene measures amid the soaring COVID-19 outbreak.

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The 61-year-old Borisov has dominated Bulgarian politics since GERB won the 2009 elections.

But the party's support base has eroded in recent years amid allegations of widespread corruption within the GERB-led government and Borisov's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Emilia Zankina, a Bulgaria expert and dean of Temple University's Rome campus, told RFE/RL that Borisov would likely form a "floating majority" among an "ideologically incongruent" cast of parties, leading to constant bargaining on every issue.

"Forming a stable government will be almost possible," Zankina said. "I don't see this government lasting too long."

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Bulgaria is ranked last among European Union countries on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, and has one of the highest coronavirus death rates in the EU.

Members of GERB have been involved in a series of recent corruption scandals, sparking the country's largest anti-government demonstrations in years.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across the country last summer to protest corruption and the alleged use of the judiciary to target GERB's political rivals.

With reporting by Reuters, dpa, and AP

ASHGABAT -- Turkmenistan's already battered currency slid sharply as black market rates reached 40 manats to the U.S. dollar, down nearly 50 percent since January.

The manat has been under pressure for months now, a slide blamed in part on a decrease in remittances sent by Turkmen migrant workers from Turkey to their families.

In mid-January, the manat was trading on the black market for around 27 or 28 to the dollar.

In recent weeks, however, the currency has slid further, and on April 3, RFE/RL correspondents in the capital, Ashgabat, reported that the manat had reached 38 to the dollar by midday, and 40 by day's end.

The decline has been blamed by experts in part on the recent opening of the Turkmen-Iranian border, which was closed last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Turkmen government has denied the existence of COVID-19 in the country, despite substantial evidence otherwise.

The central bank established an official rate of 3.5 manats per dollar in 2015 and has not changed it since. All currency exchange in cash has been banned since January 2016.

Turkmenistan's tightly controlled economy has been struggling for some time, with government revenues depleted partly due to unsuccessful energy deals and low global prices for natural gas.

The Central Asian country sits on some of the world's largest proven reserves of gas.

The currency crunch began in March 2020, when the government tightened control over foreign currency after China, the main buyer of Turkmen gas, slashed imports and global energy prices plunged.

At the time, the central bank ordered banks to pay salaries of employees of foreign companies, organizations, and entities operating in the country only in manats.

Last month, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov demanded that officials ensure "strict control over the implementation of regulations when converting manat funds into foreign currency at the official rate."

Russia's government has extended a space cooperation agreement with the United States until 2030, one of the few remaining partnerships between Moscow and Washington amid spiraling relations.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin approved and signed the extension on April 3, the government said in a statement.

The original cooperation agreement, signed in 1992 and extended four times previously, laid the groundwork for wide-ranging, space-related projects and research between NASA and Roskosmos, the two countries' space agencies.

That has included joint work on the International Space Station, and Russia's ferrying of astronauts and supplies and equipment to and from the orbiting station. Following the U.S. decision to ground its space-shuttle fleet, Russia's Soyuz and Progress spacecraft became the sole means of transport to get to the station.

That has changed recently as private space companies including SpaceX have neared gaining NASA approval to fly people to the station, a move that will deprive Roskosmos of much-needed revenues.

Bilateral cooperation has continued even as the United States imposed sanctions on Russia for its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, and other punitive measures.

The U.S. Commerce Department last month said it was tightening sanctions on some exports to Russia, but was partially excluding certain items such as those related to aviation and space.

The orbiting station, meanwhile, is approaching the end of its predicted lifespan, having flown about 400 kilometers above the Earth for more than 20 years.

In recent years, the station has been hit with leaks and depressurization concerns.

Roskosmos recently announced an agreement with China to explore building a joint lunar base. And NASA is gearing up for more missions aimed at exploring Mars.

With reporting by Reuters

Iran's Foreign Ministry rejects any "step-by-step" lifting of sanctions imposed against it, the state-funded Press TV quoted the ministry's spokesman as saying on April 3.

"The definitive policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is the lifting of all U.S. sanctions," Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in an interview with Press TV.

U.S. State Department deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter said on April 2 that talks next week in Vienna on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal will focus on "the nuclear steps that Iran would need to take in order to return to compliance" with that agreement.

The United States unilaterally pulled out of the nuclear agreement in 2018 under former President Donald Trump, who reimposed crippling economic sanctions on Tehran.

Iran reacted by gradually reducing its commitments under the deal, including higher uranium enrichment.

U.S. President Joe Biden has signaled his readiness to revive the accord but his administration says Iran must first return to its nuclear commitments.

The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, said on April 2 that Tehran was optimistic about the course of the negotiations in Vienna on April 6, during which Tehran and Washington will negotiate indirectly.

"We are about to get out of the impasse," Salehi said in a conversation on the social-media app Clubhouse.

Earlier, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price called the resumption of negotiations, scheduled in Vienna, "a healthy step forward."

But Price added, "These remain early days, and we don't anticipate an immediate breakthrough as there will be difficult discussions ahead."

Price said next week's talks will be structured around working groups that the European Union was forming with the remaining participants in the accord, including Iran.

The United States, like Iran, said it did not anticipate direct talks between the two nations now. Price said the United States remains open to that idea.

"This is a first step," Biden Iran envoy Rob Malley said on Twitter on April 2. He said diplomats were now "on the right path."

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement on April 3 that he has called on Iran to show a constructive stance in next week's talks in Vienna.

Following a call with his Iranian counterpart,Mohammad Javad Zarif, Le Drian said in a statement that he had asked Iran to refrain from further violations of current nuclear commitments to aid discussions.

"I encouraged Iran to be constructive in the discussions that are set to take place," Le Drian said. "They are meant to help identify in the coming weeks the steps that will be needed in order to return to full compliance with the nuclear deal."

With reporting by Reuters, AP, Press TV, and dpa

A Russian defense industry executive and alleged intelligence officer has been added to the FBI’s most-wanted list for his alleged involvement in the theft of trade secrets from a U.S. aviation company.

The FBI said on April 2 on Twitter it is seeking the arrest of Aleksandr Korshunov, 58, saying he is suspected of conspiring to steal trade secrets from the company to benefit Russia.

Korshunov worked for Russian state-owned aviation company United Engine Corporation (UEC), while also serving as an intelligence officer with Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the FBI said.

UEC appointed Korshunov in 2009 as its director of marketing and sales, the U.S. law enforcement agency said in a statement accompanying the tweet that includes a photo of Korshunov.

Korshunov’s job was to encourage Western aviation companies to work with UEC to advance Russia’s aviation technology, the FBI said.

“It is alleged that, between 2013 and 2018, Korshunov conspired and attempted to steal trade secrets from an American aviation company, the FBI said. “He hired engineers employed by a subsidiary of a large United States aviation company to consult on the redesign of the Russian PD-14 aero engine.”

Korshunov was able to acquire the company’s confidential, protected, and unique engineering patterns, plans, and procedures “for the benefit of Russia,” the FBI said.

Korshunov has been sought by the FBI since August 2019, when he was indicted by the U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was arrested later that month in Italy at the request of the United States.

But his lawyer told TASS that he returned to Moscow in the summer of 2020 “accompanied by Russian law enforcement under arrest.”

Russian authorities said Korshunov was wanted in Russia to face charges of embezzlement and fraud, TASS said.

He was extradited to Russia “under the decision of the Italian Justice Ministry and in accordance with the relevant request,” which Italy’s judiciary had approved before the U.S. sought extradition, the report said.

The original U.S. complaint accused Korshunov and Maurizio Bianchi, the former director of an Italian division of General Electric (GE) Aviation, of hiring former GE employees to prepare a technical report on jet engine accessories using the U.S. company’s intellectual property.

GE Aviation is one of the world’s largest suppliers of civilian and military aircraft engines and has a factory in Cincinnati. It completed the acquisition of an Italian manufacturer of aviation components in 2013.

The Russian Embassy in Washington said its diplomats protested Korshunov's detention after it was announced in 2019, calling it “illegitimate.”

With reporting by TASS

PRISTINA -- The opposition in Kosovo has accused Prime Minister Albin Kurti of trying to stoke instability and provoke snap elections by submitting a surprise bill ahead of a presidential vote.

Kurti’s party Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) on April 2 proposed fast-tracking a law through parliament that would allow Kosovars residing abroad to vote at embassies, potentially strengthening the party's power in future elections.

The bill angered opposition lawmakers who had been expecting to vote for a new president. They narrowly defeated the fast-track proposal by just four votes, but did not get around to voting for a president.

If parliament does not elect a president by April 5, snap parliamentary elections will automatically be called, potentially opening the door for Kurti to increase his hold over the government.

Vetevendosje, a leftist-nationalist party, won 58 out of 120 seats in February’s elections, just three short of the majority needed to rule without a coalition.

Vetevendosje formed a ruling coalition with nine parliamentarians representing non-Serb ethnic minorities.

Easing the ability for Kosovars abroad to vote would benefit Vetevendosje, which won 75 percent of the ballots cast by the diaspora in the February elections.

Kosovars living abroad can only vote by mail, but the process has had complications, reducing actual participation, analysts say.

During past elections, many Kosovars living abroad failed to receive their mail-in ballots. Others received them too late to vote while some mailed-in ballots got lost, the analysts say.

Kosovars abroad accounted for 7 percent of the February vote.

Lumir Abdixhiku, the leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), the former ruling party, lashed out at Kurti for the last-minute election bill.

“Kurti either does not want to resolve this issue [of the presidency] or wants to create political instability to hide his inability to solve major problems,” Abdixhiku told reporters.

LDK had been expected to back Vetevendosje's presidential choice, but that is now uncertain, raising the specter of a snap election.

With reporting by Amra Zejenli

The number of Russians who have died from the coronavirus has surpassed 225,000, the nation’s statistics agency reported on April 2.

The data published by Rosstat covers the 11-month period from April 2020 through February 2021.

The figure puts Russia third globally for the most coronavirus-related deaths after the United States and Brazil, which have reported 553,000 and 325,000 fatalities, respectively, from the disease, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

The Rosstat death toll is more than double the widely reported fatality figure provided by the Russian government's coronavirus task force and which is used by John Hopkins. That figure, which now stands at 99,000, does not take into account deaths that are determined at a later date following an autopsy to have been coronavirus-related.

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The Rosstat data released on April 2 shows that 29,493 more Russians died in February compared with the same month last year, a possible reflection of the monthly coronavirus death toll.

February had one more calendar day last year compared with this year.

Russia is one of the few countries that has developed a vaccination proven to be highly effective at preventing the coronavirus, putting it in a good position to slow its own death toll.

However, many of its citizens have been hesitant to receive a shot of the home-grown Sputnik V vaccine.

As of last week, less than 5 percent of the Russian population had been vaccinated.

Some have blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the vaccine's slow acceptance inside the country.

The Kremlin said Putin received his vaccination on March 23, months after the start of the rollout and behind closed doors.

Global coronavirus statistics are murky and some countries, such as China and Iran, are believed to be underreporting deaths.

SEE ALSO:

Sputnik V: The Story Of Russia's Controversial COVID-19 Vaccine

China, where the coronavirus pandemic originated, has officially reported less than 5,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins.

News agencies last year reported that crematories in some cities in China, the world’s largest country by population, were so busy due to the pandemic that they were operating around the clock.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart for the first time since taking office more than two months ago amid worrying reports of a Russian military buildup on the border with eastern Ukraine.

Biden sought to reassure President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during the April 2 call of “unwavering” U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russian aggression, according to a White House statement.

The U.S. president also called on Zelenskiy to continue to combat the endemic corruption that has crippled the nation’s development.

The call between the two leaders comes as the United States accuses Russia of seeking to intimidate Ukraine with a large buildup of troops at their shared border.

SEE ALSO:

The Week In Russia: A Junta, A Hunger Strike, And Rumblings In The Donbas 

Russia said earlier on April 2 that its armed forces would hold military exercises close to Ukraine's border to practice defense against attack drones.

More than 50 Russian battalion combat teams comprising 15,000 people were expected to take part in the exercises and practice "interaction with electronic warfare and air defense units," the nation’s Defense Ministry said.

The Russian exercises follow a spike in violence in Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine where government forces have been engaged in a simmering conflict with Kremlin-backed separatists. The seven-year war has claimed more than 13,000 lives.

Kyiv in July reached a cease-fire agreement with the separatists but said recently that they have been “systemically violating” the deal.

A mission under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has reported hundreds of cease-fire violations in the two provinces in recent days.

SEE ALSO:

New Russia Threat Amid Rising Tensions With Ukraine

The spike in violence prompted U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to call their Ukrainian counterparts to express support.

Russia warned Ukraine’s Western allies against sending troops to Ukraine to buttress its ally.

"Ukraine appreciates US support on different levels.... The American partnership is crucial for Ukrainians," Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter following his call with Biden.

Zelenskiy has taken bold steps in recent months to curtail Russian influence in the country and combat corruption, winning cautious praise from the United States.

SEE ALSO:

Ratings, Russia, Reforms: What Is Driving The Ukrainian President's Moves Against Medvedchuk?

The Ukrainian president in February sanctioned lawmaker Viktor Medvedchuk, a powerful tycoon and friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, after the National Security and Defense Council said it suspects him of financially supporting the separatists.

The sanctions freeze Medvedchuk’s assets.

Weeks earlier, Zelenskiy had sanctioned three television stations that critics say spread Russian disinformation inside the country. The sanctions knocked the stations off the air.

SEE ALSO:

U.S. Concerned Over Reported Russian Troop Movements

Russia reacted negatively to the moves against Medvedchuk and the stations.

Last week, Zelenskiy dismissed two judges from the Constitutional Court who had been appointed by Kremlin-friendly former President Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted in 2014 following the Euromaidan protests. The judges had been accused of blocking key anti-corruption reforms that are critical for continued Western financial support to Kyiv.

Biden emphasized his administration’s commitment to “revitalize” the U.S. relationship with Ukraine following a turbulent period under former President Donald Trump.

He said the U.S. backs Zelenskiy’s plan to tackle corruption and implement a reform agenda “based on our shared democratic values that delivers justice, security, and prosperity to the people of Ukraine,” according to the White House statement.

With reporting by AFP and AP

A Russian court has fined Twitter nearly $117,000 for failing to delete what officials describe as banned content amid growing Kremlin pressure on U.S. social-media companies.

The April 2 decision against Twitter is the first in a series of rulings expected in the coming days against U.S. social-media companies in Russia. Cases are currently ongoing against Facebook and YouTube.

The cases all pertain to content published on their platforms in January that called on Russians to protest the arrest of Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny.

Russia’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor described the postings as "inciting teenagers" to take part in "illegal activities" or "unauthorized mass events."

Navalny was detained by Russian police in mid-January upon his return from Germany on charges of violating his parole.

Navalny had been recuperating in Berlin after being poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent during a trip to Siberia in August to investigate local corruption. Navalny has accused officers of Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, of trying to assassinate him with the nerve agent.

Tens of thousands of Russians around the country heeded the calls to protest on January 23 and January 31, making them among the largest anti-government demonstrations in years.

Russia later sentenced Navalny to jail for more than two years in a case he says is aimed at punishing him for surviving the poisoning.

The fines against U.S. social-media companies are part of a larger Kremlin strategy to weaken their influence in Russia, analysts say.

The strategy also includes slowing traffic speed and developing domestic equivalents to YouTube.

The Kremlin controls major media assets, including television, but social-media platforms, which are growing as a source of information for Russians, remain outside its control.

Navalny and his supporters have deftly used YouTube and Twitter to spread his anti-government message to millions of citizens.

Russia last month slowed the speed of Twitter and threatened to ban the social-media service outright.

Twitter at the time said it was "deeply concerned by increased attempts to block and throttle online public conversation."

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Leading human rights groups in Russia have condemned the country’s role in abuses in Syria, including its participation in the bombing of civilian targets.

The condemnation comes in a 198-page report, billed as the first report on the deadly conflict by Russian rights groups, including the prominent Memorial human rights center and several other organizations.

The report includes more than 150 interviews with witnesses and survivors based in Russia, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Germany, Belgium, and other countries.

“Focusing on the plight of these civilians, we conclude that much greater responsibility for Syria’s future lies with all state parties to the conflict, Russia foremost among them,” the report says.

SEE ALSO:

The Week In Russia: A Junta, A Hunger Strike, And Rumblings In The Donbas 

"The overwhelming majority of our interviewees do not see Russia as a savior, but as a destructive foreign force whose military and political intervention helped bolster the war criminal heading their country," the report added.

"Some of the people we interviewed revealed that they or their loved ones had been victims of Russian bombings,” it said.

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The report accuses Russia of abuses in Syria, including bombing civilians indiscriminately and backing Syria's regime, which has been accused of widespread atrocities including the use of chemical weapons.

The report calls on Moscow to conduct independent investigations into the Russian Army's bombardments in Syria and pay compensation to victims.

The authors of the report said it was compiled mainly to present information about human rights abuses in Syria to Russian readers, where “we have the sense that Russian society is not adequately informed about this conflict in which our country has played a key role.”

Russia, along with Iran, has played a critical role in helping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad remain in power despite a 10-year conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said that at least 388,652 people have been killed in the conflict.

With reporting by AFP and The Guardian

The OPEC+ group of oil producing countries, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, has agreed to increase oil output gradually over the next months.

Signaling expectations of rising post-pandemic demand for oil, ministers noted in an April 1 statement "improvements in the market supported by global vaccination programs and stimulus packages in key economies."

The OPEC+ group -- made up of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia -- has been coordinating about 7 million barrels per day (bpd) in production cuts to maintain prices in response to lower demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the latest agreement, OPEC+ countries agreed to increase production by 350,000 bpd in May, 350,000 bpd in June, and 450,000 bpd in July, Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry said.

Iran's oil minister, Bijan Zanganeh, confirmed the group would boost output by a total of 1.1 million bpd by July.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak told the Rossia-24 TV channel that his country would increase oil production by 114,000 bpd in the May-to-July period within the OPEC+ framework.

However, with coronavirus case surges in Europe and elsewhere potentially impacting energy demand, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman cautioned that any decision could be "tweaked" in the alliance's monthly meetings.

Before the meeting, Abdulaziz said that "the reality remains that the global picture is far from even, and the recovery is far from complete."

Saudi Arabia, which in previous OPEC+ talks had agreed to make steep cuts to maintain oil prices, will phase out its additional voluntary cut by 250,000 bpd in May, 350,000 bpd in June, and 400,000 bpd in July.

Oil prices have been on a run in the past six months, with benchmark WTI and Brent crude jumping from around $40 per barrel in November to above $60 today.

Novak was more optimistic about rising demand.

"Today, there are figures that are much more positive concerning the market, including the level of stocks, which have considerably fallen as demand increases," Novak said.

"Vaccination is already yielding positive results so that demand is recovering," he added.

With reporting by AFP, Bloomberg, Reuters, and TASS

Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has lost significant weight in prison, his allies said, even before the Kremlin critic launched a hunger strike this week.

In an April 1 post on Navalny's Telegram channel, his team said Navalny weighed 93 kilograms when he arrived at prison last month and is now at 85 kilograms. The statement said he blames the weight loss primarily on sleep deprivation from being woken by guards eight times per night.

Navalny declared a hunger strike on March 31, saying prison officials are withholding medical care and interrupting his sleep. He has complained of acute pain in his back and some numbness in his legs.

One of President Vladimir Putin's fiercest critics, the anti-corruption campaigner was taken into custody at a Moscow airport in January after recovering abroad from a nerve-agent poisoning in Russia that Western countries and international rights groups have linked to the Russian state. He is now serving time in a notorious prison outside Moscow on a sentence widely seen as politically motivated.

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Russia's prison authorities reject accusations of mistreating the 44-year-old.

"Correction facility officers strictly respect the right of all inmates to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep," Reuters quoted prison authorities as saying late on March 31. It said safeguards included visual checks at night.

"...Navalny is being provided with all necessary medical care in accordance with his current medical conditions," it said.

Doctors who are trusted by Navalny's close associates have been standing by, urging authorities to respond to appeals for Navalny's care.

"The doctor is still not allowed to see him. There is no diagnosis in the medical book, and there is no doctor's conclusion," said the post on Navalny's Telegram channel.

Meanwhile, the post said that instead of a doctor, a crew from the Kremlin-backed RT news channel came to the prison to film.

“Today, instead of a doctor, a wretched propagandist from the RT channel [Maria] Butina arrived, accompanied by video cameras. She yelled that this was the best and most comfortable prison,” the post stated.

Butina served 18-months in a U.S. prison after admitting to working as an unregistered foreign agent. Upon returning to Russia in 2019, she began working for RT.

"Navalny told her off in front of a line of prisoners for 15 minutes, calling her a parasite and servant of the thieves in power," the post said.

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5 Things To Know About Russian Opposition Leader Aleksei Navalny

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Navalny's imprisonment has caused a chorus of international criticism, with the United States and its allies demanding his release and vowing to continue to hold those responsible for his poisoning to account.

Navalny's incarceration after his return in mid-January despite sparked major protests around the country and a swift crackdown.

Navalny has said the assassination attempt by poisoning, which forced doctors to put him into a medically induced coma for several weeks, was ordered by Putin -- an allegation rejected by the Kremlin.

A Moscow court in February ruled that while in Germany after his medical evacuation, Navalny had violated the terms of parole from an older embezzlement case that is widely considered to be politically motivated.

His suspended 3 1/2-year sentence was converted into jail time, though the court reduced that amount to 2 1/2 years for time already served in detention.

With reporting by Reuters

The Armenian parliament has adopted changes to the country’s Electoral Code that the opposition says are aimed at helping Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian win snap elections expected in June.

The amendments, announced on March 24 by Pashinian, whose My Step faction dominates the National Assembly, will switch the Caucasus country's electoral system to a fully proportional one.

Armenians have until now voted for parties and alliances as well as individual candidates. In the last two general elections, parliament seats were equally distributed among candidates picked through national party lists and individual races.

The amendments adopted on April 1 mean that the next election will be held only on a proportional, party-list basis. Only by pro-government lawmakers voted for the changes.

No one from the opposition faction Bright Armenia participated in the vote, while lawmakers from the opposition Prosperous Armenia faction boycotted the parliamentary meeting.

Following talks with the opposition, Pashinian on March 18 agreed to hold early general elections on June 20 in an effort to defuse a political crisis sparked by a war late last year with Azerbaijan over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Armenia has been in the grip of political upheaval since November, when Pashinian signed a Moscow-brokered cease-fire agreement with Azerbaijan that ended six weeks of fighting in and around Nagorno-Karabakh.

Under the deal, 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.

The opposition held demonstrations in a bid to force Pashinian to step down over his handling of the war, during which more than 6,000 people were killed.

But the prime minister, whose My Step faction dominates parliament, has refused to resign, agreeing to early elections instead.

Representatives of Iran and world powers have decided at a virtual meeting on Iran's nuclear accord to convene in Vienna on April 6, the European Union, which coordinates the nuclear talks, said in a statement.

The statement added that Iran and major powers who signed the accord were ready to welcome the return of the United States to the deal.

The chair of the group -- which includes the European Union, China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain, and Iran -- said that the participants “emphasized their commitment to preserve the JCPOA and discussed modalities to ensure the return to its full and effective implementation," according to a statement after their virtual meeting on April 2, referring to the acronym for the accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The statement said participants would meet in the Austrian capital "in order to clearly identify sanctions lifting and nuclear implementation measures, including through convening meetings of the relevant expert groups."

The statement also said that the group’s coordinator “will also intensify separate contacts in Vienna” with all participants of the nuclear agreement and the United States.

In Tehran, state media quoted deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi as saying that any “return by the U.S. to the nuclear deal does not require any negotiation and the path is quite clear.”

“The U.S. can return to the deal and stop breaching the law in the same way it withdrew from the deal and imposed illegal sanctions on Iran,” Araqchi added.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter that there will be no meeting between Tehran and Washington.

"No Iran-U.S. meeting. Unnecessary," Zarif wrote.

Russia’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) described the discussions as “businesslike” and said they will continue.

“The impression is that we are on the right track but the way ahead will not be easy and will require intensive efforts. The stakeholders seem to be ready for that,” Mikhail Ulyanov, Moscow's ambassador to the IAEA, said on Twitter on April 2.

The online meeting was chaired by senior European Union diplomat Enrique Mora on behalf of EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

The nuclear deal was meant to provide relief for Iran from international sanctions in exchange for limitations on its nuclear program, which Tehran says is strictly for civilian energy purposes.

But the United States unilaterally pulled out of nuclear agreement in 2018 under former President Donald Trump, who reimposed crippling economic sanctions on Tehran.

U.S. President Joe Biden has signaled his readiness to revive the accord, but his administration insists Iran must first return to its nuclear commitments, most of which Tehran has suspended in response to U.S. sanctions.

Iran’s commitments include limits on the amount of enriched uranium it can stockpile and the purity to which it can enrich it.

Iran began restricting International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections of its nuclear facilities in February.

On March 21, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Washington must lift all sanctions if the United States and its allies want to see Iran return to its commitments under the deal.

The announcement of the virtual meeting on April 2 came as a report by the IAEA said that Iran had breached more of its commitments.

The confidential report, obtained by Reuters and dated March 31, said Iran had begun enriching uranium using advanced machines at its underground Natanz plant, in violation of the agreement.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

The European Union has accused Moscow of launching a "conscription campaign" in the Russia-controlled Ukrainian region of Crimea, in a move that the bloc said violated international law.

The EU's strongly worded statement came as Ukraine accused Russia of massing troops near their shared border, an accusation rejected by the Kremlin.

"Today, the Russian Federation has launched yet another conscription campaign in the illegally-annexed Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to draft residents of the peninsula in the Russian Federation Armed Forces," the EU said in a statement on April 1.

Observers noted that Russia has in the past conducted military call-ups in the springtime.

The bloc said the Russian military conscription drive in Crimea was "another violation of international humanitarian law."

It stressed that "the Russian Federation is bound by international law, and obliged to ensure the protection of human rights on the peninsula" and reiterated "the EU does not and will not recognize the illegal annexation" of Crimea.

Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014, sending in troops and staging a referendum denounced as illegitimate by the international community after Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted amid a wave of public protests.

Moscow also backs separatists in a war against Ukrainian government forces that has killed more than 13,000 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.

The EU has imposed several rounds of sanctions on individuals and entities accused of undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban met his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki, and Italian right-wing Lega party chief Matteo Salvini on April 1 to try to lay the groundwork for a new European political grouping.

Orban's right-wing Fidesz last month quit the center-right European People's Party (EPP), two weeks after walking out of the alliance's group in the European Parliament.

"We are going to launch a new platform, an organization, a process which will give those citizens who believe in a traditional Europe the representation that they deserve," Orban said ahead of the meeting with Morawiecki and Salvini in Budapest.

After the meeting, Orban welcomed "the first step of a long road together."

"We have agreed to continue the work. We will meet in May, either in Rome or in Warsaw. The date will depend on the pandemic," the Hungarian leader told a joint news conference.

Fidesz's exit from the EPP put an end to years of debate inside the conservative European-wide group about whether Orban's party should be allowed to remain, given Brussel's concerns about the rule of law in Hungary.

In his search for new allies, Orban has turned to Morawiecki's Law and Justice (PiS) party, as well as the anti-immigration and euroskeptic Salvini.

"Today it is necessary to discuss building a strong group which will defend the traditional, normal values on which European civilization has developed," Morawiecki said before setting off for the Hungarian capital.

Salvini said earlier this week that if non-EPP right-wing groups were to join forces they could form the second-largest grouping in the European Parliament -- after the EPP itself -- and gain sizable clout.

After the meeting, Salvini spoke of a "path which begins today and which will continue in several stages in different European capitals, expanding the group."

Orban has a very close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and has spoken up against EU sanctions on Russia. Hungary became the first EU country to use a Russian vaccine for COVID-19.

Salvini is also pro-Russia, but that may not sit well with Morawiecki and could cause unease among other potential allies, diplomats say.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Moldovan President Maia Sandu has said that almost 700 doses of COVID-19 vaccines intended for health-care workers and the critically vulnerable have instead been diverted to public officials and family members, including employees of the Defense Ministry and regional authorities,

"A first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech has been given to 688 people in the 'relatives' category," Sandu told Moldova's Jurnal TV on March 31.

Moldova, one of Europe's poorest countries, has lagged behind the rest of the continent in the vaccination campaign and welcomed donations from friendly governments.

The first batch of 14,400 doses of Pfizer vaccines from the global COVAX scheme arrived in Moldova last month. So far, the country of 4.5 million has received 110,970 doses of various vaccines.

Sandu said Health Ministry data showed that doses went to hundreds of ineligible people from the Defense Ministry, regional officials' relatives, and even doctors' families.

"This is shameful and it discourages our efforts to obtain more vaccine donations from abroad," Sandu said.

The Defense Ministry in a statement on April 1 rejected the accusation, calling it an "erroneous data interpretation," and arguing that the people inoculated under the "other personnel" category in the Health Ministry records are actually health workers from military units.

Moldova's Health Ministry said on April 1 that it would check information that regional authorities and their relatives were jumping the queue.

Ninel Revenco, an official at the national vaccination campaign, said the health ministry had established a commission to investigate possible violations.

"The Health Ministry launched an investigation to determine if there were irregularities in the vaccination process. For this, the lists of all vaccinated will be checked," Revenco told a news conference, without providing details of violations.

Local media reported that out-of-order vaccinations occurred in the northern town of Edinet and in Cantemir in the southern part of Moldova.

Moldova started vaccinations on March 2 and so far around 40,000 medical workers and doctors have received a first shot.

The country sandwiched between EU member Romania and Ukraine has reported 230,241 coronavirus cases and 4,960 deaths so far.

With reporting by Reuters, RFE/RL's Moldovan Service, unimedia.md, and news.yam.md

Russia's prison authority on April 1 rejected accusations of mistreatment of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, one day after the anti-corruption campaigner and frequent Kremlin critic announced a hunger strike to protest alleged abuses in custody.

The 44-year-old Navalny has complained of medical care being withheld for serious ailments and near constant interruptions by prison guards at night to deny him sleep.

Navalny was quickly taken into custody at a Moscow airport in January after recovering abroad from a nerve-agent poisoning in Russia that Western countries and international rights groups have linked to the Russian state.

Now, the prison service for Correctional Colony No. 2 outside Moscow where Navalny is serving a sentence widely viewed as politically motivated has been quoted as saying guards were following guidelines to respect inmates' sleep and that Navalny was getting medical care.

"Correction facility officers strictly respect the right of all inmates to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep," Reuters quoted prison authorities as saying late on March 31. It said safeguards included visual checks at night.

"These measures do not interfere with convicts resting," it added. "...Navalny is being provided with all necessary medical care in accordance with his current medical conditions."

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But doctors who are trusted by Navalny's close associates have been standing by helplessly, urging authorities to respond to appeals for Navalny's care.

Navalny this week declared a hunger strike in a handwritten note to lawyers, saying he was being deprived of proper medical treatment as fear among his associates mounted over his state of health just months after being in a coma following the poison attack.

Last week, he said he had received nothing more from prison doctors than ibuprofen, despite being in acute pain from leg and back ailments.

In an Instagram post on March 31, he said the pain had worsened and that he had lost some sensitivity in both legs. He also said he was being awakened up to eight times a night.

“I have the right to call a doctor and get medicine. They don't give me either one or the other,” he said in the post, which was published through his lawyers.

"I have declared a hunger strike demanding that the law be upheld and a doctor of my choice be allowed to visit me.... So I'm lying here, hungry, but still with two legs.”

SEE ALSO:

Jailed Kremlin Critic Navalny Announces Hunger Strike To Protest Treatment In Russian Prison

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on March 31 that the United States and its allies and partners have continually called for Navalny’s release and will continue to seek to hold accountable those who are responsible for his detention and attempts on his life.

“We’ve been very clear that Aleksei Navalny is a political prisoner,” Price said at a briefing. “His detention is politically motivated.”

Hundreds of Russian physicians on March 29 demanded authorities provide immediate medical assistance to Navalny amid the growing concerns.

SEE ALSO:

Another Doctor At Omsk Hospital Where Navalny Was Treated Dies

Navalny's incarceration after his return from Berlin in mid-January despite clear warnings from Russian officials sparked major protests around the country.

Navalny has said the assassination attempt by poisoning that forced doctors to put him into a medically induced coma for several weeks was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin -- an allegation rejected by the Kremlin.

A Moscow court in February ruled that while in Germany after his medical evacuation, Navalny had violated the terms of parole from an older embezzlement case that is widely considered to be politically motivated.

His suspended 3 1/2-year sentence was converted into jail time, though the court reduced that amount to 2 1/2 years for time already served in detention.

With reporting by Reuters

DUSHANBE -- Jailed Tajik opposition veteran Hikmatullo Saifullozoda has reportedly been moved to a prison hospital after the 70-year-old is said to have shown signs of heart trouble.

Saifullozoda's wife, Farogat Sanginova, told RFE/RL on April 1 that she visited the prison after her husband missed his regular weekly call to her.

"The prison administration told me that he was placed in the penitentiary's hospital. They said they will treat his heart first and prepare him for surgery," Sanginova said.

Sanginova previously said a chronic medical condition had worsened after her husband survived COVID-19 while in custody.

But the Tajik prison administration rejected her statements, saying that Saifullozoda's life was not in danger.

Saifullozoda is a onetime member of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan Party (IRPT), which was labeled as extremist and banned in 2015.

Dozens of IRPT officials and supporters have been prosecuted and many imprisoned in recent years, drawing criticism of President Emomali Rahmon's government from rights groups.

Saifullozoda was arrested in 2015 and sentenced to 16 years in prison after a court found him guilty of involvement in a purported insurrection against Rahmon's government led by Army General Abduhalim Nazarzoda.

The IRPT, long an influential party with representatives in the Tajik government and parliament, has denied any links to the deadly events and called the imprisonment of its members and leaders politically motivated.

Activists and rights groups say Rahmon, who has ruled Tajikistan since 1992, has used the security forces and other levers of power to sideline opponents and suppress dissent.

DUSHANBE -- A deputy health minister in Tajikistan has been dismissed after confusing North and South Korea and forgetting the names of UNICEF and World Health Organization (WHO) representatives alongside him at a press conference in Dushanbe.

President Emomali Rahmon reportedly relieved Samariddin Alizoda of his duties on March 31, less than two weeks after the gaffes were caught on video, going viral and spawning online mockery.

Multiple sources at the Health Ministry told RFE/RL that Alizoda was fired as a result of his performance at the March 18 press conference, where he announced plans by authorities to roll out the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine against COVID-19.

Commenters on the Internet used words like "disastrous" to describe Alizoda's inability to recall or pronounce the names of WHO representative Viktor Arshavsky and UN children's fund envoy Osama Makkawi.

"AstraZeneca vaccine was developed in England [and] is being produced in Belgium, also in India and North Korea," Alizoda also announced.

After journalists corrected him to say it was South Korea, Alizoda replied: "Yes, South, South Korea," adding, "Well, what's the difference? Korea is Korea."

Many of those in attendance broke into laughter.

Alizoda did not react to the swarm of jokes, memes, and criticism on social networks and publicly got the AstraZeneca injection as part of the official rollout on March 23.

The 55-year-old doctor of medical science was appointed to the post in May 2020 as coronavirus infections were surging in Tajikistan.

Before the appointment, Alizoda had stints in the Health Ministry and served as chief of the Tajik State Sanitary and Epidemiological Control Service.

Amid allegations from Ukraine that Russia has been massing troops at their shared border, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that any attempts at a "new war" in eastern Ukraine would end up destroying that country.

The threat lands as Moscow and Kyiv trade blame over a recent spike in violence in the yearslong conflict between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists.

Kyiv claims the separatists are "systematically violating a cease-fire” agreed in July and blames Russia for a purported build-up of Russian military forces near their shared border -- an accusation rejected by the Kremlin.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted on April 1 that he had spoken with Helga Schmid, the secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), “on Russia’s systemic aggravation of security situation in the east or Ukraine & in Crimea."

He also welcomed this week’s extension for another year of the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, saying the pan-European organization “should closely follow Russian moves.”

In an interview aired on Channel One later in the day, Lavrov quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying "not so long ago, and the statement remains topical today, too, [that] those who attempt to start a new war in Donbas will ruin Ukraine."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia was "moving troops within its own territory at its own discretion, and this shouldn't concern anyone."

"We need to stay on guard" in the face of "intense activity" of NATO troops "on the perimeter of Russian borders," he told reporters.

Following Lavrov and Peskov's statements, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price warned Moscow against "intimidating" Ukraine.

"We're absolutely concerned by recent escalations of Russian aggressive and provocative actions in eastern Ukraine," Ned Price told reporters.

"What we would object to are aggressive actions that have an intent of intimidating, of threatening, our partner Ukraine."

Russia, which forcibly annexed Crimea in 2014 after long denying the presence of its troops there, has consistently denied involvement in the fighting in eastern Ukraine's Luhansk and Donetsk regions despite significant evidence to the contrary.

SEE ALSO:

U.S. Concerned Over Reported Russian Troop Movements

The OSCE’s Ukraine mission has reported hundreds of cease-fire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk in recent days in a simmering conflict that has claimed more than 13,000 lives since April 2014.

Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014 after sending in troops and staging a referendum denounced as illegitimate by at least 100 countries after Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted amid a wave of public protests.

In an address to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on March 31, U.S. charge d’affaires Courtney Austrian welcomed the extension of the OSCE mission's mandate, and reaffirmed Washington’s unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s "sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, including its territorial waters."

Austrian called "on Ukraine, Russia, and the forces Russia arms, trains, leads, and fights alongside, to ensure that the SMM has unfettered movement throughout the entire territory of Ukraine," including Crimea, and to "guarantee the safety and security" of international monitors while they carry out their duties.

"Attacks, threats, and intimidation of any kind against SMM monitors," as well as "attempts to interfere" with their operations are "unacceptable, inconsistent with [the mission’s] mandate, and must end."

Also on March 31,, U.S. General Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke with General Valery Gerasimov, the Russian Armed Forces chief of staff, and General Ruslan Khomchak, chief of the general staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Pentagon said.

SEE ALSO:

Four Ukrainian Soldiers Killed By Separatist Shelling

Defense Department spokesman John Kirby later said that "Russia's destabilizing actions undermine the de-escalation intentions that had been achieved through an OSCE-brokered [cease-fire] agreement back in July of last year."

"We are discussing our concerns about this increase in tensions and cease-fire violations and regional tensions with NATO allies," Kirby told a briefing.

The Ukrainian military said on March 26 that four Ukrainian soldiers were killed and two others wounded in shelling in Donetsk, bringing the total number of Ukrainian servicemen reported killed since December to 19, according to AFP.

Khomchak on March 30 accused Moscow of building up its military presence near the Ukraine-Russia border “under the guise of preparing for strategic exercises.”

The buildup is in addition to thousands of troops in combat brigades, regiments, and supply units deployed in Donetsk and Luhansk with the support of Russian regular troops, the Ukrainian Army chief said in an interview with Voice of America.

“We are preparing for all possible provocations and reactions to the actions of the enemy,” Khomchak said.

SEE ALSO:

NATO Warplanes Scrambled Amid 'Unusual Peak' In Russian Air Activity

Khomchak first made the accusations of a Russian military buildup in a speech to Ukraine's parliament on March 30.

The comments drew a response from Russian President Vladimir Putin during a March 30 videoconference call with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Kremlin said.

Putin placed the blame for tensions on Ukraine and urged Kyiv to enter into direct dialogue with local separatist forces.

A statement from the French presidency indicated that during the videoconference call Macron and Merkel urged Putin to take steps to de-escalate.

"The need for Russia to make a determined commitment to stabilize the cease-fire in Ukraine and work out a way out of the crisis while respecting the Minsk Agreements was underlined," the Elysee Palace said.

Germany, Russia, France, and Ukraine are part of the so-called Normandy Format set up to try to resolve the Ukraine conflict.

With reporting by Reuters, Interfax, and TASS

TBILISI -- Veteran Russian journalist and television host Vladimir Pozner has cut short a visit to Georgia to celebrate his 87th birthday after harassment from local activists and opposition groups angry over his stance on Georgian territorial integrity.

Local critics pelted Pozner's bus with eggs, cut power to the venue hosting his feast, and accused him of being a "Kremlin propagandist" during their frenzy on March 31 and April 1.

Pozner, a dual Russian-U.S. national, reportedly left the country early on April 1, while many in his dozens-strong contingent were fined for allegedly breaking anti-pandemic restrictions as they tried to stay one step ahead of the demonstrators.

The extraordinary events prompted Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili to speak out to defend his Georgian Dream government's decision to permit the visit, saying that Pozner had a valid negative COVID-19 test on entry and did not appear to have broken local laws aimed at opposing Russia's military occupation of its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Pozner was traveling in a private visit on his U.S. passport, Gharibashvili said.

Gharibashvili, who took power last month amid an intraparty rift, blamed the opposition National Movement and its supporters and said the incidents had "employed the most destructive force" and "damaged the international image of our country."

Russian troops have been in Abkhazia and South Ossetia since a five-day war between Russia and Georgia in 2008 before Moscow backed those regions' independence.

Pozner's tormenters said they don't want Pozner in their country and criticized Georgian Dream for allowing him to come.

In 2010, Pozner said that "Georgia lost [Abkhazia] forever" and the area "will never be Georgia's territory again." He also blamed Tbilisi for the situation that led to the deadly Russian-Georgian conflict.

Opposition supporters and other critics of Pozner's presence rallied outside his hotel in Tbilisi following his arrival on March 31.

In some cases, demonstrators holding placards calling Pozner a "Kremlin propagandist" and "[Russian President Vladimir] Putin's ideologist" clashed with police.

They cut off electricity to a venue hosting a dinner event at least twice, and some reportedly tried to force their way into the hotel.

Pozner and his entourage left a second hotel early on April 1 surrounded by police, who accompanied them to Tbilisi's international airport.

Pozner complained that he "came to [Georgia] not to talk about politics but to mark" his birthday.

The Interior Ministry said on April 1 that Pozner and 31 of his 41 associates were fined 2,000 laris ($585) each for violating sanitary regulations introduced over the coronavirus pandemic while moving between the two hotels.

His initial hotel, Vinotel, was reportedly fined 10,000 laris ($2,925) for hosting a birthday party for Pozner and his companions, since public gatherings at restaurants are banned by coronavirus restrictions.

Gharibashvili called the protests "actions that violated civilized norms and Georgian standards."

Major protests by thousands of people were sparked in Tbilisi in June 2019 after Russian lawmaker Sergei Gavrilov spoke in Russian from the speaker's chair of the Georgian parliament during an international meeting of Orthodox-minded lawmakers.

The resulting protest outside parliament descended into violence when riot police fired tear gas, rubber bullets, and water cannons.

More than 240 people were injured in that crackdown, including more than 30 journalists and 80 policemen.

With reporting by civil.ge

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled in favor of a journalist from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service who has battled against the handover of her smartphone data to authorities in what the court agreed is an essential defense of a free press and privacy in democratic society.

Natalia Sedletska, who hosts the award-winning investigative TV program Schemes, has been locked in a three-year effort to protect her phone data from seizure by Ukrainian prosecutors investigating a leak of state secrets nearly four years ago.

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The ECHR concluded that Sedletska should be protected from the data search under Article 10 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and stressed the importance of protection of sources for a functioning free press.

"[T]he court is not convinced that the data access authorization given by the domestic courts was justified by an 'overriding requirement in the public interest' and, therefore, necessary in a democratic society," the decision read.

Sedletska turned to the European rights court after a Ukrainian court ruling in 2018 gave authorities unlimited access to 17 months of her smartphone data.

Schemes had reported on several investigations involving senior Ukrainian officials, including Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko, during the period in question.

Sedletska has argued that the Ukrainian ruling contravened domestic law and Kyiv's commitments to a free press.

Her application to the ECHR sought protection from the seizure of her communications data as such judicial action was not "necessary in a democratic society," and was grossly disproportionate and not justified by any "overriding requirement in the public interest."

The ECHR agreed and stressed that "the protection of journalistic sources is one of the cornerstones of freedom of the press."

"RFE/RL applauds this ruling, which protects the confidentiality of journalistic communications and sets limits for executive power,” RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said in connection with the April 1 decision. "The work of investigative journalists, by its nature, is hard and often dangerous.

"Credible investigative journalism cannot be done in an atmosphere of official impunity, and without the certainty that exchanges between source and journalist will remain private."

The prosecutors pressed for access to Sedletska's phone data in connection with a criminal investigation into the alleged disclosure of state secrets to journalists in 2017 by Artem Sytnyk, director of the country's National Anti-Corruption Bureau.

On August 2018, Kyiv's Pechersk district court approved a request by the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General’s Office to allow investigators to review all of Sedletska's mobile-phone data from a 17-month period.

The European Parliament in 2018 passed a resolution expressing "concern" at the Ukrainian ruling and stressing the importance of media freedom and the protection of journalists' sources.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the watchdog groups Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders have also backed Sedletska's arguments.

Schemes is a corruption-focused TV program produced by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and Ukrainian Public Television. It had a combined audience across its two channels of more than 10 million last year.

TASHKENT -- Health authorities in Uzbekistan kicked off a mass vaccination campaign against COVID-19 on April 1 with the first residents of Tashkent and regional capitals getting their shots.

Live Map: The Spread Of The Coronavirus

Updated constantly with the latest figures

The Health Ministry said on Telegram that people in district capitals and smaller settlements will start getting vaccinated on May 1, while vaccine doses will arrive in more remote areas in June.

The ministry said the British-Swedish Vaxzevria (formerly known as AstraZeneca) and the Chinese-Uzbek ZF-UZ-VAC 2001 vaccines are initially being used to guard against COVID-19 among the country's 32 million people.

The initial rollout is for individuals older than 65, medical personnel, people with chronic diseases, teachers of schools and kindergartens, and law enforcement and military personnel.

An official statement says that "3,138 vaccination centers and 862 mobile medical brigades have been set up across the country for the vaccination campaign...[and] more than 4,000 doctors and more than 11,000 nurses are involved in the vaccination program."

As of April 1, the number of officially registered coronavirus cases in Uzbekistan is 83,050, including 630 deaths.

Neighboring Kyrgyzstan also started its mass vaccination program this week.

Six months ahead of a planned presidential election and with physical attacks on government critics mounting, Uzbekistan has criminalized "insult and slander" of the president in digital and online form.

The Uzbek Justice Ministry announced the immediate implementation of the defamation clauses via Telegram on March 31 and said offenders could face up to five years in prison.

It cited amendments to that post-Soviet Central Asian republic's Criminal Code and legislation signed the previous day by President Shavkat Mirziyoev, who took over in a disputed handover after the death of his long-serving predecessor in 2016.

The changes also threaten up to five years in prison for public calls for mass disorder and violence and up to 10 years in prison for doing so in groups using media, telecommunication networks, or the Internet.

Mirziyoev's first term expires later this year, but he is expected to run for a second term.

He took over as head of the Central Asia's most populous state, with 32 million citizens, after authoritarian leader Islam Karimov's death was announced in September 2016.

Mirziyoev has since positioned himself as a reformer, releasing political prisoners and opening his country to its neighbors and the outside world, although many activists say the changes have not gone nearly far enough.

Although Mirziyoev has said he is not against having opposition political groups in Uzbekistan, it has been nearly impossible for genuine opposition parties to get registered since the country gained independence in late 1991.

As if to underscore the problem as the new clampdown on defamation came into effect, unknown assailants attacked activists for a freshly created opposition group called Truth And Development on April 1 while supporters were gathering signatures in support of registration by the Justice Ministry.

The attackers beat activists and destroyed tables and chairs set up outside the new party's offices.

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Meanwhile, international watchdog group Human Rights Watch (HRW) on March 31 urged Uzbek authorities to find and punish those responsible for a "vicious attack" this week on a blogger and popular critic of the government, Miraziz Bazarov.

Bazarov had recently spoken out for LGBT rights before he was attacked by a group of men outside his home in Tashkent on March 28.

“The police should thoroughly and impartially investigate this violent assault on Miraziz Bazarov, examining all possible motivations,” HRW Europe and Central Asia Director Hugh Williamson said, adding, "At a time when homophobia is on the rise in Uzbekistan, it’s critical for the authorities to bring those responsible to justice."

The next presidential election in Uzbekistan will be held on October 24.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Uzbek Service