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Armenia's Ex-President Kocharian Cleared Of Coup Charges
An Armenian judge has dropped a criminal case against former President Robert Kocharian and his co-defendants over a deadly crackdown on protesters more than a decade ago.
Anna Danibekian, the judge presiding over the two-year trial in Yerevan, threw out the coup charges on April 6, 11 days after the Constitutional Court found “invalid” an article of the Criminal Code under which the accused were being prosecuted.
However, Danibekian ruled that Kocharian and his former chief of staff, Armen Gevorgian, will continue to stand trial on bribery charges which they also deny.
Kocharian, who served as president from 1998 to 2008, and two retired generals, Yuri Khachaturov and Seyran Ohanian, were charged in 2018 with overthrowing the constitutional order.
The charge stemmed from clashes during postelection protests in Yerevan in 2008 during which eight demonstrators and two police officers died.
The 66-year-old ex-president has rejected the allegations against him as political retaliation by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
He was released from detention in June 2020 after paying a record $4.1 million bail.
Pashinian was one of the organizers of the 2008 protest and was ultimately jailed until being released in 2011 under a government amnesty. He came to power in 2018 after leading massive demonstrations that ousted his predecessor.
Danibekian’s decision comes as Armenia prepares for early parliamentary elections in June, triggered by opposition demands Pashinian step down over his leadership during a six-week war with Azerbaijan over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, which ended in what many Armenians felt was a humiliating defeat.
Kocharian, a native of Nagorno-Karabakh, was one of the leaders of the region's separatist forces and was Nagorno-Karabakh’s first de facto president between December 1994 and March 1997.
In January, Kocharian said he would participate in any early elections.
- By RFE/RL
Hertha Berlin Sacks Hungarian Goalkeeping Coach Over Same-Sex Marriage, Immigration Comments
German soccer club Hertha Berlin has fired its goalkeeping coach for his comments about same-sex couples adopting children, immigration, and what he called intolerance of conservative opinions.
The Bundesliga club said on April 6 that the remarks Zsolt Petry made in the Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet do not reflect the team’s values of diversity and tolerance.
Hertha Berlin said that during Petry’s six years with the club he was always open, tolerant, and helpful.
“He never acted in a homophobic or xenophobic way," said CEO Carsten Schmidt in a statement. "Even taking into account the finer details regarding the translation of his remarks, and the fact that several of Zsolt’s remarks from the interview were left out of the publication without consultation, we ultimately concluded that the remarks on the whole do not comply with Hertha BSC’s values.”
In a statement on the club website, the former Hungary goalkeeper, 54, denied he was homophobic or xenophobic and said he regretted his comments about immigration policy.
In the interview published on April 5, Petry suggested Hungarian goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi, who plays for Hertha’s league rival Leipzig, should focus on football instead of getting involved in divisive social issues about same-sex marriage and defending LGBT rights.
He also criticized the narrowing of freedom of speech and liberal intolerance of conservative opinions.
In December 2020, Gulacsi joined a campaign denouncing a constitutional change led by conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban that effectively banned same-sex couples from adopting children.
“As an athlete, I would focus on football in his place and not formulate any position on public, social-policy issues,” Petry said.
“The majority of Hungarian society does not agree with Peter Gulacsi's liberal opinion on rainbow families,” Petry said, adding that while many at home criticized the goalkeeper, “he cannot and should not be condemned just because he spoke his opinion.”
“Yet I do not know what might have caused Peter to stand up for people with homosexual, transvestite, and other gender identities. I sure wouldn’t have stirred up the tempers in his place,” he said.
In another part of the interview, Petry criticized Europe’s migration policies, describing Europe as a Christian continent and immigration policy as a “manifestation of moral decline.”
“I am reluctant to watch the moral degradation sweeping across the continent. Liberals are exaggerating their counteropinions: if you don’t consider migration to be good because a terrible number of criminals have swept Europe, you’re already being cooked for being racist. This is not allowed, the opinion of the other person is less often tolerated, especially if the person represents a conservative position,” he said.
In recent years Orban, has propagated his increasingly conservative ideology, deploying strong language against immigrants and Muslims who he says could upend European culture.
Jailed Crimean Journalist Tells Court He Was Tortured, Coerced To 'Confess' On Russian TV
SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine -- An RFE/RL freelance correspondent arrested in Ukraine's Russia-annexed Crimea has told a court he was tortured with electric shocks, beaten, and threatened with death unless he "confessed" to spying on behalf of Ukraine.
Vladyslav Yesypenko's lawyer on April 6 said his client testified during a closed-door court hearing that the torture lasted two days after his arrest in March on what the defense calls false charges.
"[Yesypenko] told the court that he was tortured in a basement, most likely somewhere in the area of Balaklava, from the moment of his detention until his transfer to the detention center in Simferopol," lawyer Aleksei Ladin said after the hearing.
RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said that the broadcaster is “outraged” to learn what Yesypenko said during his testimony, saying the journalist “must be set free now, and allowed to rejoin his family in Ukraine immediately.”
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has said Yesypenko, a freelance contributor to Crimea.Realities, a regional news outlet of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, was suspected of collecting information for Ukrainian intelligence, and claimed that an object "looking like an explosive device" was found in his automobile during his apprehension.
The journalist was charged with “making firearms,” which is punishable by up to six years in prison.
"They tortured him with electric shocks and by beating his legs, his genital area, his body. They beat him to obtain confessions and forced him to incriminate himself.... He said they connected some electric contacts to his ear lobes and his head and then switched on electricity that created excruciating pain. When he was more or less getting used to that pain, they continued increasing the power of the electric current," Ladin said.
Ladin asserted that "all of this had a single goal: self-incrimination."
The lawyer also said that his client testified that he was threatened with death, which would be presented to the public as suicide while he was alone in his cell.
Ladin said that a televised interview, in which Yesypenko "confessed" to spying for Ukraine, was staged, with his client saying he was given a written text to read aloud and then answered questions that people in charge of his detention asked.
The interview was broadcast on March 18, eight days after Yesypenko, who has Ukrainian and Russian dual nationality, was arrested in Ukraine's Russia-annexed Crimea region.
According to Ladin, Yesypenko also said at the trial that he has serious problems with his kidneys and needs medicine for the ailment.
Rights Groups Concerned
Human rights groups have expressed concerns regarding Yesypenko's treatment in custody and his televised "confessions," demanding his immediate release.
Fly has questioned the circumstances under which Yesypenko made his confession, saying it appeared "to be forced and made without access to legal counsel."
"The Russian authorities have similarly smeared RFE/RL Ukrainian Service contributors with false charges in the past. Vladislav is a freelance contributor with RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, not a spy, and he should be released," he said.
Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service has described the arrest as "a convenient attempt to distract the attention of the population away from the numerous internal problems of the peninsula" ahead of the seventh anniversary of its forcible annexation, which was marked on March 18.
The U.S. State Department called Yesypenko's arrest "another attempt to repress those who speak the truth about Russia's aggression in Ukraine."
Graty, a Ukrainian media outlet specializing in police and judicial abuses, quoted a source at Yesypenko's place of detention as admitting that torture has been involved in the case, while the lawyer chosen by the journalist’s family has not been allowed to see him, according to the Crimean Human Rights Group (CHRG).
This suggests that the authorities are trying to cover up evidence that Yesypenko has been "subjected to illegal methods of investigation, including physical and psychological violence," the CHRG said.
Yesypenko was detained on March 10 along with a resident of the Crimean city of Alushta, Yelizaveta Pavlenko, after the two had taken part in an event marking the 207th anniversary of the birth of the Ukrainian poet and thinker Taras Shevchenko the previous day.
Pavlenko was later released.
Russia forcibly seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014, 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.
Rights groups say that since then Russia has moved aggressively to prosecute Ukrainian activists and anyone who questions the annexation.
Moscow also backs separatists in a war against Ukrainian government forces that has killed more than 13,200 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.
Serbian President Opts For Chinese Vaccine In TV Event For Skeptical Public
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has been vaccinated with the Chinese-developed Sinopharm vaccine in a televised event aimed at encouraging skeptical Serbians to get an injection against COVID-19.
While Belgrade's procurement of vaccines has been widely lauded abroad, anti-vaccine sentiment in the country has so far left millions of doses arriving in that Balkan state unspoken for, despite a fresh wave of coronavirus infections.
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“I received the vaccine, and I feel great,” Vucic, 51, said via Instagram. “Thank you our great health workers. Thank you our Chinese brothers.”
Vucic has publicly chided the European Union over its approach to the pandemic, despite tens of millions of dollars in emergency health-care assistance to non-member Serbia.
He has also aggressively touted cooperation with Beijing and Moscow as his administration was arranging major shipments of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine and two Chinese vaccines, Sinopharm and Sinovac.
Serbia has also acquired supplies of the Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines.
With more than 1.5 million Serbians already having gotten at least one injection, it is among Europe's leaders among national vaccine rollouts. But dogged resistance and mistrust have left the sign-up for vaccines stalled despite Serbia's population of nearly 7 million people continuing to suffer heavily, along with other Balkan states.
Last month, Serbian officials opened their vaccination effort to foreigners who wanted to come and get vaccinated there.
With reporting by AP and The Washington Post
- By RFE/RL
Russia Fines TikTok In Latest Challenge To Global Social Media Over Protests
A Russian court has ordered a fine against the popular video-sharing application TikTok in the country's latest major dispute with a global social platform over content allegedly related to political protests.
The Moscow court ruled on April 6 that TikTok failed to delete content that it said was related to unsanctioned demonstrations, according to local reports.
Russian critics of the Kremlin routinely use international social networks, including Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube, to get around state control of the media and reach tens of millions of citizens with their anti-government messages.
Some local reports suggested the TikTok fine -- 2.6 million roubles ($34,000) -- pertained to alleged appeals to minors urging them to join political demonstrations.
Russian authorities this week backed off slightly from a threat to ban the Twitter social network but have punitively slowed its user connections and announced suits targeting fellow Western digital giants Google and Facebook.
TikTok is owned by China's ByteDance and reports nearly 700 million active users worldwide.
India and Pakistan have banned TikTok in the past, citing politically contentious posts, and then-President Donald Trump sought unsuccessfully last year to ban it in the United States.
Russia’s state communications regulator said on April 5 that it wouldn't ban Twitter amid a dispute over content related to protests but would continue to slow the U.S. social network's speed inside the country until the middle of May.
Imprisoned Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny in January used U.S. social-media networks to organize some of the largest anti-government protests since 2011-12.
A Russian court on April 2 levied a nearly $120,000 fine against Twitter for failing to removes posts related to those protests.
The Russian regulator has also focused its complaints against Twitter over alleged failures to remove child pornography and content the overseers said encourages drug use and suicide among children.
Twitter said it has a zero-tolerance policy regarding child pornography and other content deemed harmful.
Roskomnadzor began slowing the speed of traffic on Twitter last month.
In its April 5 statement, the regulator said it would not ban Twitter yet after it claimed the platform took down 1,900 of 3,100 posts with banned content.
Russia’s efforts to tighten control of the Internet and social media date back to 2012, shortly after the largest anti-government protests in years.
Since then, a growing number of restrictions targeting messaging apps, websites, and social-media platforms have been introduced in Russia.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
Erk, Uzbekistan's First Opposition Party, Says It Will Attempt To Field A Presidential Candidate
TASHKENT -- Uzbekistan's Erk (Freedom) Party, which was banned in the 1990s and its leader forced out of the country and his associates jailed, says it plans to try to field a candidate for president in the election later this year.
According to a party statement on April 5, two members of the party, Salovat Umrzoqov and Jahongir Otajonov, have officially expressed their intentions to try to become the party's candidate for the vote.
It added that the party's Central Committee will decide later which of the candidates will be officially nominated for the poll that is scheduled for October 24.
"The Erk democratic party, which for 30 years has been conducting its activities under pressure and persecutions since it became Uzbekistan's first-ever independent political party to be officially registered with the Justice Ministry in 1991, has decided to nominate its candidate for the upcoming presidential election," the party said in the online statement.
In January 2020, the Uzbek Justice Ministry refused to officially reregister the party, with Justice Minister Ruslanbek Davletov saying at the time that Erk "has remained in the past" and cannot relaunch its activities. It is highly unlikely that Erk will be allowed to officially run a candidate in the October vote.
Well-known Uzbek poet Muhammad Solih, who founded the party, was the only challenger to President Islam Karimov in the Central Asian nation's first post-Soviet vote in 1991.
Independent observers said at the time that about 50 percent of voters supported Solih, but official results said he obtained only 12 percent of the vote.
Election officials proclaimed Karimov the winner, sparking a student demonstration that was brutally dispersed. The number of students killed in the action is still unknown. In the aftermath of the crackdown, all opposition newspapers were shut down and probes were launched against opposition leaders, who had to flee the country.
Solih fled Uzbekistan for Azerbaijan in 1993 and later settled in Turkey, where he has since resided.
Karimov died in 2016 and his successor, President Shavkat Mirziyoev, has been releasing political prisoners as part of a policy of gradually reducing authoritarian control in the county.
Mirziyoev has since positioned himself as a reformer, 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.
Last week, six months ahead of the election and with physical attacks on government critics mounting, the government criminalized the "insult and slander" of the president in digital and online form.
Critics say the move is aimed at muzzling bloggers and others ahead of the election.
Lavrov, Kerry Reportedly Discuss Cooperation On Climate Change
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met briefly in New Delhi, according to Russian media, and discussed the global climate agenda.
According to the reports, based on sources, the meeting occurred on April 6 at a hotel in the Indian capital where the two officials were staying on unrelated trips.
Lavrov is on a working visit to India, while Kerry is in New Delhi in connection with an online climate summit scheduled for April 22-23.
Leaders of 40 countries, including Russia and China, have been invited by Washington to take part in the summit.
Kerry and Lavrov discussed climate change and related issues in a telephone call earlier in February.
Under the new administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, the United States officially reentered the Paris Climate Accord in February, a move welcomed by European leaders.
Former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement in 2017, calling it a "disaster" for America's economy.
Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS
Georgian Prime Minister Gharibashvili Says He Has Tested Positive For Coronavirus
TBILISI -- Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili says he has tested positive for the coronavirus and is in isolation.
Gharibashvili wrote on Facebook on April 6 that he felt "good" and continued to work remotely despite the positive test result.
In the last 24 hours, 897 new cases of COVID-19 were registered in the South Caucasus contry.
As of April 6, the total number of registered cases in Georgia is 284,958, with deaths from the illness at 3,832.
- By RFE/RL
Iran Charges 10 Officials Over 2020 Downing Of Ukrainian Airliner Near Tehran
Iran has charged 10 officials over the crash of a Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) jet that was accidentally shot down last year, killing all 176 people on board.
Gholam Abbas Torki, the former military prosecutor for Tehran Province, said on April 6 that the 10 have been "brought to responsibility," adding that they will face trial to determine "the necessary conclusions" over the incident in January 2020, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported.
Torki, who made the comments at a ceremony where he was handing over the office to his successor, gave no further details.
Tehran initially claimed the passenger plane had crashed, but admitted after several days of secrecy and untrue statements that Flight PS752, which was headed to Kyiv, had been fired on by the country’s air defenses.
Iranian forces say they downed the Boeing 737 after mistaking it for an incoming missile at a time of high tensions with the United States.
Iran later called it a "disastrous mistake" by forces who were on high alert.
Claims by the Islamic Republic that the reason for the shooting was "human error" have been questioned by Ukraine, Canada, and many observers.
Iran's Civil Aviation Organization’s interim report blamed the tragedy on the misalignment of a radar system and a lack of communication between the air-defense operator and his commanders. But Ukraine and Canada have rejected these claims as well.
"The international community will not allow Iran to escape responsibility for the crime of downing a Ukrainian plane," Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Yenin told RFE/RL's Radio Farda in response to the report.
Those who died in the crash included citizens of Afghanistan, Britain, Canada, Germany, Iran, Sweden, and Ukraine.
With reporting by ISNA
- By Current Time
Doctors Blocked From Seeing Navalny As Concern Builds Over Jailed Russian Opposition Leader's Health
Russian prison officials prevented outside doctors from examining jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny after he was moved to a sick ward with a severe cough and temperature amid mounting concern over his health.
Anastasia Vasilyeva, Navalny’s doctor and the head of the Alliance of Doctors trade union, attempted to see Navalny on April 6 but said prison officials refused to meet with her or allow entry into the prison.
Police later detained Vasilyeva and at least nine other supporters gathered outside the prison. Among those detained were three journalists, including a CNN correspondent. The journalists and Vasilyeva were later released. The Alliance of Doctors says it will continue to hold protests outside the prison until Navalny can be seen by independent doctors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's most prominent critic is currently incarcerated in what is known as one of Russia’s toughest penitentiaries, located about 100 kilometers east of Moscow.
Navalny, 44, said in an Instagram post published by his allies a day earlier that he had a “severe cough” and fever of 38.1 degrees Celsius, after a third prisoner in his crowded quarters had been sent to the hospital with suspected tuberculosis.
Navalny has been on hunger strike for nearly a week to protest what he says are deliberate attempts to deprive him of sleep and the failure of authorities to provide proper medical treatment for his back and leg pains. His lawyers say that since entering prison last month Navalny has lost a total of 13 kilograms, including 5 kilograms over the past week.
On April 5, Agnes Callamard, the secretary-general of Amnesty International, said she had written to Putin over Navalny’s “arbitrary arrest and deteriorating health condition.”
“There is a real prospect that Russia is subjecting him to a slow death,” the former UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killing said on Twitter.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Navalny would receive the necessary medical care but no preferential treatment.
“Of course, there can be no talk about special conditions for one of the convicted persons,” Peskov said during a conference call with reporters. “There are certain rules for inmates who get sick. If the illness truly takes place, any relevant treatment will be provided.”
The pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia previously cited the local branch of Russia's FSIN (Federal Penitentiary Service) in reporting that Navalny had been transferred to the colony infirmary and tested for the coronavirus. There were no immediate details about the coronavirus test results.
Navalny’s health condition is potentially precarious because he spent months last year recovering in Berlin from a military-grade nerve agent poisoning while traveling in Siberia. Navalny has accused Putin of ordering security agents to assassinate him with the poison, something the Kremlin denies.
Navalny was arrested at a Moscow airport in January upon his return from Germany on charges of violating his parole, sparking large-scale protests.
A Moscow court in February found him guilty of violating the terms of his 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 AFP, AP, RFE/RL's Russian Service, Current Time, and Reuters
U.S. Military Says It's Watching Russia's Arctic Moves 'Very Closely'
The Pentagon says it is watching Russia's military activities in the Arctic "very closely" as signs mount of Moscow's ongoing efforts to boost its presence in and around its northernmost territories.
The statement by the U.S. military comes amid reports of advanced weapons tests and satellite imagery showing continued buildup of bases, storage, and equipment on Russia's Arctic coastline.
"Without getting into specific intelligence assessments, obviously we're monitoring it very closely," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told a briefing on April 5. "Nobody's interested in seeing the Arctic become militarized."
Rapid melting in the Arctic brought on by climate change has opened increased shipping and resource-exploitation opportunities in polar regions, intensifying a race to project power and defend national interests by coastal and other powers.
The region is also thought to be home to enormous oil and gas deposits.
Russia's navy used nuclear-powered submarines to break through thick Arctic ice late last month in an apparent display of power in the Far North.
Washington has also cited the refurbishment of Soviet-era installations, new port construction, search-and-rescue centers, and a fleet of new icebreakers that includes nuclear-powered craft.
Kirby noted that the region "is key terrain that's vital to our own homeland defense and as a potential strategic corridor between the Indo-Pacific, Europe, and the [United States]."
"We're committed to protecting our U.S. national-security interests in the Arctic by upholding a rules-based order in the region, particularly through our network of Arctic allies and partners."
Washington last year boosted aid to Greenland to strengthen military ties in the Arctic region, after a public offer floated by then-President Donald Trump to buy that vast autonomous Arctic island angered Denmark.
China describes itself as a "near Arctic state" as it, too, tries to lay the foundations for greater shipping and mining activities in the region.
Based on reporting by dpa, CNN, and Reuters
Western Public Support For Ukraine Mounts Amid Russian Buildup Near Border
Western expressions of support for Ukraine are growing amid an uptick in violence and an increased Russian troop presence across the border that have heightened concerns of a widening conflict.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on April 6 that he had called Ukraine's president "to express serious concern about Russia’s military activities in and around Ukraine & ongoing ceasefire violations."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reportedly told Stoltenberg that a path toward NATO membership was the only way to end war in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed separatists continue to battle Ukrainian government forces seven years into the conflict.
Zelenskiy also urged NATO member states to strengthen their military presence in the Black Sea region as a "powerful deterrent" to Moscow.
Stoltenberg tweeted that "#NATO firmly supports #Ukraine’s sovereignty & territorial integrity. We remain committed to our close partnership."
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin later misleadingly characterized the situation as a "domestic problem" and said Ukrainian membership in the transatlantic military alliance would make things worse.
Since occupying and annexing Crimea from Ukraine early in 2014, overwhelming evidence suggests Russia has continued to lend diplomatic and military aid to armed separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine, despite denials to the contrary.
"We very much doubt that this will help Ukraine settle its domestic problem," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on April 6. "From our point of view, it will only worsen the situation."
Earlier in the day, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said high-level Russian and U.S. officials had discussed the situation in southeastern Ukraine. That TASS report has not yet been confirmed by U.S. officials.
The Russian report follows a demand a day earlier by the U.S. State Department that Moscow explain "provocations," including military movements in the region.
On April 5, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed "significant concerns" about the Russian buildup near Ukraine's border. In a call with Zelenskiy on April 5, Johnson voiced “unwavering support” for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, Johnson's office said.
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Zelenskiy on April 2 about the buildup in his first call with the Ukrainian leader since taking power in January.
Fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists in two eastern provinces has spiked in recent weeks despite a cease-fire agreement reached in the summer.
Officials in Kyiv reported on April 6 that two more Ukrainian servicemen had been killed by Russia-backed forces in the previous 24 hours. Four soldiers were killed by separatist shelling in late March.
Russia has acknowledged moving troops toward its border with Ukraine in what Moscow says is an exercise. The United States has called it an attempt to intimidate Ukraine.
"Russia's recent actions pose a serious challenge to the security of Ukraine, NATO member states, and the whole of Europe," Zelenskiy reportedly told Johnson during their conversation, adding a call for a stronger physical presence in the region.
He also urged Western nations to impose tougher sanctions on Russia for its destabilizing activities and invite Ukraine into NATO’s Membership Action Plan.
Russia is opposed to Ukraine joining the military alliance and recently warned NATO countries against sending troops to support Ukraine.
Ukraine has been battling the Russia-backed separatists in a low-simmering war since 2014, when unrest in Kyiv toppled Kremlin-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych.
More than 13,000 people have been killed in the ensuring seven years. Russia is demanding Ukraine give the separatist-controlled regions greater autonomy, which would effectively prevent the country from joining NATO.
Ukraine has blamed the Russia-backed separatists for the recent spike in hostilities, while Moscow has pointed the finger at Kyiv.
Some analysts have suggested that the recent actions may be Russia’s way of testing the new Biden administration's commitment to Ukraine.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
- By RFE/RL
Iran, World Powers Hold 'Constructive' Talks Aimed At Reviving Nuclear Accord
Representatives from five world powers met with Iranian officials in Vienna in an effort to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, which the United States abandoned in 2018.
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araqchi, told state television that his April 6 talks with envoys from the remaining parties to the agreement -- Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia -- were “constructive.”
Russia's Vienna-based envoy to international organizations, Mikhail Ulyanov, said they got off to a "successful" start.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said Washington saw the discussions in the Austrian capital as a “constructive” and “welcome step," even though “we are not meeting directly with the Iranians.”
European diplomats are acting as intermediaries facilitating indirect talks between U.S. and Iranian officials, whose delegations are staying in nearby hotels.
U.S. President Joe Biden has signaled his readiness to revive the accord abandoned by his predecessor, Donald Trump, but his administration says Iran must first return to its nuclear commitments. Iran has responded to the reimposition of crippling U.S. economic sanctions by gradually reducing its commitments under the deal, including increasing uranium stockpiles and levels of enrichment.
'Difficult' Talks
Iran says that the United States violated the deal by withdrawing and imposing sanctions, so Washington must act first.
“Lifting U.S. sanctions is the first and the most necessary action for reviving the deal," Araghchi told state media. “Iran is fully ready to reverse its activities and return to complete implementation of the deal immediately after it is verified sanctions are lifted."
Ahead of the talks, Washington predicted the meetings would be "difficult" and steered clear of talk of a breakthrough, while Tehran insisted that it is "neither optimistic nor pessimistic" and will not abandon its demand that U.S. sanctions be lifted before it acts.
After the April 6 talks, Ulyanov tweeted that two expert-level groups on sanctions lifting and nuclear issues were tasked "to identify concrete measures to be taken by Washington and Tehran" to restore the deal.
The Russian envoy wrote in a separate tweet that it would take “some time” to restore the nuclear agreement.
"How long? Nobody knows. The most important thing after today's meeting of the Joint Commission is that practical work towards achieving this goal has started," he wrote.
Speaking to journalists, he later said that another meeting may be organized in Vienna on April 9 after consultations of the two expert groups on April 7-8.
Earlier, Iranian media quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh as saying the other parties to the deal can negotiate with the United States but Iran won’t engage in direct talks.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on April 5 that the United States does not “underestimate the scale of the challenges ahead."
“These are early days,” Price said. “We don't anticipate an early or immediate breakthrough, as these discussions, we fully expect, will be difficult."
Under the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA), economic sanctions on Iran were eased in return for curbs on the country’s nuclear program, which Tehran denies is for weapons development.
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, dpa, TASS, and Interfax
- By RFE/RL
Russia Backs Down From Threat To Ban Twitter, But Will Slow It Until Mid-May
Russia's state communications regulator has backed down from banning Twitter amid a dispute over content on its platform.
However, it said on April 5 that it will continue to slow the speed of the U.S. social network inside the country until the middle of May.
Russia has been engaged in a fight with U.S. social media, including Twitter, over content it deems prohibited, such as calls to join political protests.
Russian critics of the Kremlin use social networks, including Twitter and YouTube, to get around state control of the media and reach tens of millions of citizens with their anti-government messages.
A Russian court on April 2 levied a nearly $120,000 fine against Twitter for posts related to anti-government protests in January.
The Russian regulator has also focused its complaints against Twitter over the network's apparent failure to remove child pornography as well as content encouraging drug use and suicide among children.
Twitter said it had a zero-tolerance policy regarding child pornography and other content deemed harmful.
Roskomnadzor began slowing the speed of traffic on Twitter last month as a response to what it called Twitter's refusal to remove content it deemed impermissible. It threatened to ban the network if it did not comply.
In its April 5 statement, the regulator said it would not ban Twitter yet after it claimed the platform took down 1,900 of 3,100 posts with banned content.
Rokomnadzor said Twitter had sped up the removal of content following a Russian request to 81 hours. However, that is still below the 24-hour time limit stated in the law.
Twitter said in a statement that it had been in contact with Roskomnazdor but did not confirm it had taken down 1,900 posts.
"It was a productive discussion about how we can both work to ensure that reports of such illegal content are dealt with expeditiously," Twitter said.
Russia's efforts to tighten control of the Internet and social media date back to 2012, shortly after the largest anti-government protests in years.
Since then, a growing number of restrictions targeting messaging apps, websites, and social media have been introduced in Russia.
With reporting by AP and dpa
- By RFE/RL
Navalny Moved To Sick Ward As Fellow Inmates Hospitalized With Suspected Tuberculosis
Jailed Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny has been moved to a sick ward after complaining of a cough and temperature, the Izvestia newspaper has reported.
Earlier in the day, Navalny said in an Instagram post that a third prisoner in his quarters had been sent to the hospital with suspected tuberculosis.
In the post, Navalny said prison doctors had officially diagnosed him with a "severe cough" and a temperature of 38.1 degrees Celsius, which indicates a slight fever.
President Vladimir Putin's most prominent critic, 44, is currently incarcerated in Correctional Colony No. 2, about 100 kilometers from Moscow, which is known as one of the toughest penitentiaries in Russia.
Navalny said his prison unit consists of 15 people, three of whom have been hospitalized with suspected tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis is a potentially serious infectious disease that mainly affects the lungs and is spread from person to person through tiny droplets released into the air mainly via coughing and sneezing.
It has largely been eradicated in developed countries and a person with a healthy immune system often successfully fights it.
In his April 5 post, Navalny said his prison unit had been malnourished with clay-like porridge and frozen potatoes. He is currently on a hunger strike to demand better conditions.
Malnutrition and weight loss undermine an immune system's ability to fight tuberculosis.
Navalny had previously complained of acute back and leg pain as well as not being allowed to sleep by his guards.
Navalny criticized recent news reports by state-owned media that he is serving in a prison with comfortable conditions.
He invited state media correspondents to come stay the night in his prison with tuberculosis-infected cellmates.
Russian police arrested Navalny in January upon his return from Germany on charges of violating his parole, sparking large-scale protests.
The anti-corruption fighter had been recuperating in Berlin for several months after being poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent.
Navalny has accused agents of Russia's Federal Security Service of attempting to assassinate him with the poison.
A Moscow court in February found him guilty of violating the terms of his 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.
Navalny's imprisonment has drawn a chorus of international criticism, with the United States and its allies demanding his unconditional release and vowing to continue to hold those responsible for his poisoning to account.
Putin Signs Constitutional Changes That Allow Him To Rule Until 2036
MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a controversial bill that opens the door for him to potentially remain in power until 2036.
The bill, which was recently approved by the lower and upper chambers of parliament, aligns the election laws with constitutional changes approved by voters last year.
One of the constitutional changes resets Putin's term-limit clock to zero, allowing him to seek reelection when his current term expires in 2024, and again in 2030 if he wishes.
Under the current election laws, a president is forbidden from seeking a third consecutive six-year term. Putin is currently in his second consecutive six-year term.
The constitutional amendments were initiated in January 2020 by the 68-year-old Russian leader, who has been running the country as prime minister or president since late 1999.
The nationwide vote for the amendments held last summer sparked protests in Moscow that were dispersed by law enforcement.
According to the results of a poll by the independent Levada Center last month, 41 percent of Russians do not want Putin to stay in power after his current term expires in 2024.
Ukraine Assured Of EU's 'Unwavering' Support
EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell has assured the Ukrainian government of "unwavering EU support" in the conflict with Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country.
Borrell said on Twitter on April 4 that he spoke by phone with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and added that he was "following with severe concern the Russian military activity surrounding Ukraine."
He said the matter would be further discussed at the next meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Borrell's call with Kuleba comes after a call on April 2 between U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which Biden sought to reassure Zelenskiy of "unwavering" U.S. support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Ukrainian and Russian-backed separatists in the Donetsk region have accused each other of attacks over the weekend.
The tensions come after Ukraine alleged last week that Russia had been massing troops at their shared border.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded by saying that Russia was "moving troops within its own territory at its own discretion, and this shouldn't concern anyone."
Russia, which annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014, has consistently denied involvement in the fighting in eastern Ukraine's Luhansk and Donetsk regions despite significant evidence to the contrary.
"Russia is not interested in any conflict with Ukraine, especially a military one," Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told state news agency RIA Novosti in response to the recent allegations.
Germany, Russia, France, and Ukraine are part of the so-called Normandy Format set up to try to resolve the Ukraine conflict.
Germany and France recently expressed concern about the "growing number of cease-fire violations."
"We are closely monitoring the situation and in particular Russian troop movements and call on all sides to show restraint and to work towards immediate de-escalation," they said in a statement.
Based on reporting by dpa
Bulgarian PM's Party Set To Come In First, But May Struggle To Form New Cabinet
SOFIA -- Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's center-right party is set to come in first in the country’s April 4 parliamentary elections, but it could struggle to form a ruling coalition after parties behind large-scale, anti-government protests last summer won a large share of the vote.
With nearly all of the ballots counted, the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party was ahead with 26 percent of the vote, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said, putting it on track for its worst performance since Borisov formed it about 15 years ago.
There Is Such A People, a new, anti-establishment party formed by popular Bulgarian talk-show host Stanislav Trifonov, was running second with 17.9 percent, followed by the Socialist Party, the successor to the Communist Party, with 15 percent, the CEC said.
The mostly ethnic Turkish-backed Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) and the liberal, Western-leaning grouping Democratic Bulgaria were next with 9.9 percent and 9.7 percent of the vote, respectively.
Get Up! Get Out!, a new, center-left alliance launched by former Ombudsman Maya Manolov, received 4.8 percent of the vote.
No other party received more than the 4 percent minimum required to enter parliament.
The results were a clear blow for the GERB party and the Socialist Party, which posted its worst parliamentary election performance since the collapse of communism in 1989.
The GERB party is expected to get about 70 seats in the 240-seat legislature, but it will need at least 121 seats to form a new, stable government. That will not be easy, analysts said.
Nationalist parties, the GERB party’s main coalition partners over the past four years, did not receive enough votes to enter parliament. Several of the parties that did make it into parliament have vowed not to work with the GERB party.
As the outcome of the election became clear, Borisov, 61, called on his opponents to join forces to form a government.
“I offer you peace. I offer that we put together experts and people who will undertake the [government] responsibilities,” Borisov said in a video on Facebook.
In a clear knock at his novice opponents like Trifonov, Borisov claimed he was better positioned to lead the Bulgaria, especially in a time of crisis.
“You have no expertise. You have no people. You don't understand things. You need to learn, while our potential is huge,” Borisov told his opponents.
Borisov has served as prime minister for nearly the entire period since 2009 with a brief stint out of office in 2013-14.
Emilia Zankina, a Bulgaria expert and dean of Temple University’s Rome campus, told RFE/RL prior to the election that it would be “almost impossible” for the GERB party and Borisov to form a ruling coalition because the parties expected to make it into parliament were so “ideologically incongruent.”
"I don’t see this government [under the GERB party] lasting too long," she said.
Parvan Simeonov, a Sofia-based political analyst for Gallup International, told RFE/RL on April 5 that the weak performance by the GERB party and the Socialists Party -- the nation’s two dominant parties since the late 2000s -- indicates a strong preference in Bulgarian society for change.
The analyst said the three parties behind the anti-corruption protests in the summer -- There Is Such A People, Democratic Bulgaria, and Get Up!, Get Out! -- could potentially form a ruling coalition government with the tacit support of the Socialist Party.
“There still could be some behind-the-scenes arrangement [to keep Borisov in power], but I think Bulgarian society would not let him form another government,” said Simeonov, adding there could be more protests if the prime minister seeks to hang on.
If the six parties are unable to form a coalition government, the constitution requires the president to appoint an interim government to prepare for new parliamentary elections later in the year.
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, and dpa
Iran Rules Out Any Negotiations With U.S. Unless Sanctions Lifted
Iran says it will not engage in negotiations with the United States at the planned talks in Vienna next week on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and global powers.
"We will not talk directly or indirectly with the United States in Vienna," Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on April 4, denying reports that indirect negotiations would take place between the two countries.
"Iran's policy in this regard is clear and simple: the United States must return to the Vienna nuclear agreement, fulfil the deal in accordance with the treaty, and lift sanctions against Iran," said Araqchi, who heads the Iranian delegation.
On April 3, Iran's Foreign Ministry rejected any "step-by-step" lifting of sanctions imposed against it, saying "the definitive policy of Iran is the lifting of all U.S. sanctions."
Diplomats from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and Iran will take part in the EU-brokered talks in Vienna on April 6. The six countries have remained in the accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which bound Iran to nuclear restrictions in return for relief from U.S. and international sanctions.
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.
Based on reporting by dpa, IRNA, and AP
Kosovo's Parliament Elects Reformist Lawyer Osmani As President
PRISTINA -- Kosovo's parliament has elected Vjosa Osmani, the candidate of the ruling Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) movement, as the country's new president.
With 71 votes, Osmani was elected on the third ballot. Eighty-two deputies participated in the voting, but 11 ballots were disqualified. Osmani's opponent, Nasuf Bejta, did not secure any votes.
Osmani, a 38-year-old reformist lawyer, has been rated Kosovo's most popular politician. She was backed by Prime Minister Albin Kurti and the leftist Vetevendosje movement.
"Today, Kosovo has once again elected a woman president," Osmani told the lawmakers after the vote.
"All young girls who may be watching us at this moment should always remember the following: Girls have their place wherever they want to be, wherever they dream of being, wherever they work hard to be…. Everything is possible and all your dreams can come true."
Shortly after the vote, U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo Philip Kosnett sent his congratulations.
"The U.S. remains committed to close partnership with the Republic of Kosovo to build a future of peace, justice, and prosperity for all citizens," he wrote on Twitter.
The election came one day after parliament failed to elect a president because it was unable to muster the 80 votes required to form a quorum. In two rounds of voting on April 3, 78 and 79 deputies participated.
If parliament had failed to elect a president by April 5, snap parliamentary elections would automatically have been called, potentially opening the door for Prime Minister Albin Kurti to increase his hold on the government.
Vetevendosje won 58 out of 120 seats in February's elections and formed a ruling coalition with nine members representing non-Serb ethnic minorities.
Ahead of parliament's adjournment late on April 3, Kurti and Osmani were able to cobble together the necessary majority as opposition and Serbian members boycotted the vote.
U.S. Ambassador Philip Kosnett urged all members of parliament to take responsibility and participate in the session.
"The U.S. Government position remains unchanged. We support an Assembly vote for President,” Kosnett said on Twitter. "We call on all members of the Assembly to fulfill their responsibilities to the people of Kosovo by participating in the vote to ensure a quorum."
The opposition last week accused Kurti of trying to stoke instability and provoke snap elections by submitting a surprise bill ahead of the presidential vote.
Vetevendosje 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 during that day's session. They narrowly defeated the fast-track proposal by just four votes but did not get around to voting for a president.
With reporting by Amra Zejneli and AFP
Bulgaria's Ruling Party Projected To Win Poll, But Faces Tough Coalition Challenge
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.
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."
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
Turkmen Currency Slides Sharply To New Lows
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."
- By RFE/RL
Russia Extends Space Cooperation With U.S. Until 2030
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
- By RFE/RL
Iran Rejects 'Step-By-Step' Lifting Of Sanctions Ahead Of Vienna Talks
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
- By RFE/RL
U.S. Adds Russian To FBI Most-Wanted List For Alleged Theft Of Industrial Secrets
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
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