A senior U.S. State Department official has said it is time for Ukraine to tackle corruption and weak institutions, including going after Dmytro Firtash, whose natural-gas holdings have made him one of the country's most notorious, and powerful, oligarchs.

The April 8 comments by George Kent, the deputy U.S. assistant secretary of state who oversees Ukraine, come as President Joe Biden makes Kyiv's progress on reforms a greater priority in the bilateral relationship.

Speaking at a meeting of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council, Kent said graft and a weak judiciary made up an "internal threat" in Ukraine, and he compared it with the external threat Kyiv faced from Russia.

Russia has massed a substantial number of forces on its border with Ukraine, and moved others into the occupied peninsula of Crimea. That has raised alarms among Western observers who fear an escalation of the seven-year conflict in eastern Ukraine.

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Kent said that seven years after Ukrainian citizens drove from power the corrupt administration of President Viktor Yanukovych, the judiciary system remained "flawed," while oligarchs continue to call the shots.

"The time has now come...to start making the tough decisions to rein in the influence of oligarchs and the systemic corruption," Kent said.

In his speech, Kent highlighted Firtash, a tycoon who made his initial wealth trading Russian natural gas in the 1990s, as an example of Ukraine's flawed justice system.

Firtash became the official partner of Russian state-controlled gas giant Gazprom in trading firm RosUkrEnergo, the monopoly importer of natural gas to Ukraine during the late 2000s. He made hundreds of millions of dollars during the short lifespan of RosUkrEnergo, which analysts called an unnecessary middleman.

U.S. officials have also alleged thatFirtash has ties to Russian organized crime.

"Everyone knows that he started out as the front for Russian gas interests," Kent said.

In March 2014, U.S. prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging Firtash with corruption in connection with an Indian titanium project that the U.S. aerospace giant Boeing was studying.

U.S. officials have sought Firtash's extradition from Vienna since then. He has denied the charges, saying they are politically motivated.

Ukraine has never charged Firtash with a crime. He continues to make millions of dollars a year in the country's graft-ridden energy industry through his control of gas-distribution companies.

"Why is it that it is the U.S. who indicts and goes after corrupt Ukrainians?" Kent said.

"It's time for the Ukrainian leadership and the justice system -- rather than not making decisions against corrupt oligarchs -- to use Ukrainian institutions to go after corrupt Ukrainians and hold them to account," he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has recently made moves against other powerful business interests, including imposing sanctions on Viktor Medvedchuk, a tycoon close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Zelenskiy's administration has also gone after former officials at PrivatBank, the lender once owned by tycoon Ihor Kolomoyskiy, who is considered to be one of Zelenskiy's main benefactors.

Kolomoyskiy is under criminal investigation in the United States for money laundering. The Justice Department is seeking to seize three U.S. office buildings he allegedly bought with laundered money.

Kolomoyskiy denies the allegations.

But Firtash, unlike Kolomoyskiy, has so far avoided official pressure from the Zelenskiy government.

Firtash has also had a part to play in the political drama surrounding the final years of President Donald Trump.

According to U.S. court filings, in September 2019, Firtash allegedly wired $1 million to the American wife of a Soviet-born businessman named Lev Parnas. Parnas is a former donor to Trump and an associate of Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer.

According to Parnas, and other legal filings, Firtash allegedly provided key documents that Giuliani used to further a discredited claim that Biden engaged in wrongdoing in Ukraine. That claim was a key point of Trump's losing 2020 election fight against Biden.

Parnas has said that in exchange for Firtash's help in the effort to damage Biden, he told Firtash they would make his U.S. legal troubles disappear.

In his speech, Kent also appeared to back a recent move by Zelenskiy to fire two judges from the country's Constitutional Court.

Zelenskiy's decision sparked concern in the West he was reaching beyond his powers and interfering with the independence of the judiciary.

Kent said the integrity of institutions was just as important, adding that corrupt judges lead to "corrupt independent institutions."

The two judges were believed to be beholden to oligarchic interests and blocking critical reforms necessary to put Ukraine on the path toward European integration, Ukrainian anti-corruption advocates claim.

In response to a question on whether the West was failing to stop the flow of corrupt Ukrainian money into its banking system, Kent said recent Justice Department actions against Kolomoyskiy showed the United States is taking a tougher stand on the issue.

As for the external threat, Kent reiterated the Biden administration's stance that the Russian military buildup near Ukraine "is worrisome." He also commended Kyiv for its "restrained and responsible" response to those actions.

Bulgarian officials have announced they are easing restrictions on businesses and other commercial activity, citing improving numbers of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

The Ministry of Health said in guidance published on April 8 that schools and universities would open next week, along with shopping malls, while restaurants will be able to accommodate indoor dining.

As of April 12, the youngest elementary-school grades will return, along with middle- and some high-school grades. Later classes will be allowed if case loads remain low.

Education Minister Krassimir Valchev said that as many as 26 percent of classroom teachers had been vaccinated.

Bulgaria has reported more than 364,000 coronavirus cases and over 14,000 COVID-19-related deaths as of April 8.

Azerbaijan has launched two days of joint military exercises with Turkish forces, saying the drills were aimed at "improving interaction" between the two countries' armed forces.

The exercises, announced on April 8, came almost five months after Azerbaijan fought a brief, but successful, war with Armenian forces over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The mountainous enclave is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but had been controlled by ethnic Armenians since the early 1990s.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement that the drills were aimed at "developing the military decision-making, initiative, and management skills of operational unit commanders."

No further details were given.

Turkey's military command had no comment.

Azerbaijan's battlefield successes in and around Nagorno-Karabakh last fall were in no small part due to the active involvement of the Turkish military, which sent observers and advisers, and helped arm its historic ally with sophisticated aerial drones that pummeled Armenian forces.

The six-week war concluded in November with a Russian-brokered cease-fire, under which a chunk of the region and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani administration after almost 30 years of control by ethnic Armenian forces.

It also resulted in the deployment of around 2,000 Russian peacekeepers.

More than 6,000 people died in the fighting.

The region's final status remains unresolved.

Iranian authorities say COVID-19 cases have surpassed 2 million, with a new daily record of more than 22,000 infections, following the Persian New Year holiday.

"Unfortunately, with 118 new fatalities since yesterday, we have recorded a total of 63,884 coronavirus deaths," Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told state television on April 8, adding that the number of infected people had reached 2,006,934 with 22,586 new cases.

Some critics say they believe the government has suppressed reporting and that the actual numbers are much higher.

RFE/RL's Coronavirus Coverage

Features and analysis, videos, and infographics explore how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the countries in our region.

Iran is battling the Middle East's deadliest coronavirus outbreak, and officials have blamed the latest surge on trips made by millions of Iranians during the Norouz holiday, which ran for two weeks from March 20, despite health guidelines warning them not to travel.

Last year, officials enacted tight restrictions on gatherings and the movement of people across the country during the Persian New Year.

Iran has avoided imposing a full lockdown on its population of 82 million since the pandemic started more than a year ago, resorting instead to temporary bans on travel or businesses.

The country launched its vaccination drive in February.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

TOMSK, Russia -- The former mayor of the Siberian city of Tomsk, Ivan Klyain, has rejected charges of abuse of office and illegal business activities at the start of his trial.

Klyain stated in the courtroom on April 8 that he's not guilty of any of the charges and described allegations by investigators and prosecutors as attempts to put "pressure" on him.

Klyain was arrested in November 2020 with investigators saying at the time that he was suspected of using his post to illegally prevent the construction of a building in 2016-17 on land close to the Tomsk Beer company, which he controls.

The 61-year-old Klyain has served as the mayor of Tomsk since 2013. Before being appointed to the post, he had been the general director of the Tomsk Beer company -- one of the largest breweries in the region -- since 1994.

After becoming mayor, his wife was elected by Tomsk Beer's board of directors as the facility's general director.

In 2013, the Kommersant newspaper wrote that Klyain owned 51 percent of Tomsk Beer, while his spouse and daughters owned 20 percent of the company's shares.

For several years, Klyain declared one of the highest incomes among Russian mayors, according to Moskovsky Komsomolets.

With reporting by TV2

TBILISI – The jailed leader of Georgia's main opposition force has gone on trial in a case that has deepened a protracted postelection political crisis in the South Caucasus country.

Nika Melia's trial opened in Tbilisi on April 8 at a hearing held behind closed doors due to pandemic measures, with hundreds of his supporters gathered outside the courtroom.

A judge granted the defense team's request to lift a ban on the chairman of the United National Movement (ENM) attending the trial, and set the next hearing for April 13.

Melia is accused of organizing "mass violence" during 2019 anti-government protests, and he could face nine years behind bars if convicted.

The 41-year-old politician rejects the charge as politically motivated, which the ruling Georgian Dream party denies.

Georgia has been in the grip of a crisis since parliamentary elections in October, with opposition parties refusing to enter the new parliament to protest what they call the rigging of the vote.

The crisis deepened in February, when a court ordered Melia sent to pretrial detention after he refused to pay an increased bail fee.

Melia's arrest, along with several opposition activists, has sparked mass anti-government protests in Tbilisi demanding their release and snap parliamentary elections.

Two rounds of EU-mediated talks in March between the government and the opposition aimed at de-escalating tensions have failed to produce any breakthrough.

With reporting by AFP

The backer of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine has demanded that Slovakia return thousands of doses after the country's drug regulator said the doses received differed from those being reviewed by the European Union's drug overseer.

The back-and-forth between Bratislava and Moscow on April 8 added further confusion to the ongoing effort to get the Russian vaccine distributed and into people's arms across Europe.

Slovakia, along with Hungary, turned to the Russian vaccine even though it has not been cleared by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Several other EU member states are actively considering it.

SEE ALSO:

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

Slovakia, which received 200,000 batches of Sputnik V last month, has recorded more than 368,000 coronavirus cases and nearly 10,300 COVID-19-related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The Slovak State Institute for Drug Control said on April 7 that there were lingering questions about the efficacy and risks of the Russian vaccine, due mainly to inadequate data from the producer, and that was preventing doses from being rolled out across the country.

On April 8, the institute also said the Sputnik V doses it was examining were not the same as those being reviewed by the EMA, or apparently those that were reviewed in the British medical journal The Lancet.

"Batches of the vaccine used in preclinical tests and clinical studies published in The Lancet journal do not have the same characteristics and properties as batches of vaccine imported to Slovakia," it said a statement.

RFE/RL's Coronavirus Coverage

Features and analysis, videos, and infographics explore how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the countries in our region.

Reuters earlier quoted the institute as saying that an official report was sent to Moscow on March 30, in which the regulator cited "an amount of missing data from the producer, inconsistency of dosage forms, and [the] impossibility of mutually comparing batches used in various studies and countries."

Later on April 8, the Russia Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the sovereign wealth fund that has been the primary promoter of Sputnik V outside of Russia, said it had asked Slovakia to return the doses.

The fund also requested that a batch be sent to a specially certified laboratory for further checks, and in a series of posts to the vaccine's official Twitter account, it accused the Slovak institute of "an act of sabotage" and a "disinformation campaign."

"Unfortunately, in violation of existing contract and in an act of sabotage the State Institute of Drug Control ensured that Sputnik V was tested" at an unauthorized laboratory, the vaccine backers said in one post.

RDIF chief Kirill Dmitriyev, meanwhile, met in Moscow with Slovak Deputy Prime Minister Igor Matovic, who last week was forced to step down as prime minister amid reports of a secret deal to procure 2 million doses of the Russian vaccine.

Afterward, Matovic blasted his opponents in Slovakia on his official Facebook page.

"CONGRATULATIONS, YOU IDIOTS! You have taken the health of millions of people in Slovakia hostage!" he wrote.

The EMA is reviewing data from Russia before it decides whether to authorize the vaccine's use in the EU. The agency has raised questions about possible ethical problems during Sputnik V's clinical trials.

Russian backers of the vaccine, which was registered to great Kremlin fanfare in August despite concerns about underlying data and unfinished clinical trials, insist the issues should not stand in the way of a rollout.

In the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Andrej Babis on April 7 announced the dismissal of a health minister who was reportedly resisting pressure -- including public complaints by President Milos Zeman -- to order Sputnik V.

The German state of Bavaria recently announced an agreement to buy 2.5 million doses of Sputnik V pending approval by European regulators.

The Twitter account for Sputnik V later said the RDIF had begun negotiations with the German government "on the advance purchase agreement" of the vaccine.

There was no immediate confirmation of the announcement from the German government.

Last week, Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone, with the registration of Sputnik V vaccines, the possibility of its shipments, and joint production in EU nations being among the topics discussed, according to readouts from Berlin and Moscow.

Russia's own campaign to vaccinate its population with Sputnik V is going unexpectedly slowly, with many Russians resisting calls to get vaccinated, citing government distrust.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has visited the volatile eastern part of the country as rising tensions with Russia over the conflict moved closer to the boiling point.

Zelenskiy's "working trip" on April 8 saw the president meet with Ukrainian servicemen serving on the front lines separating them from Russia-backed fighters and comes after a recent accumulation of photographs, video, and other data suggesting major movements of Russian armed units toward or near Ukraine's borders and into Crimea.

As Zelenskiy toured the area, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged President Vladimir Putin in a phone call to reduce Russia's troop buildup near Ukraine, while Putin in turn accused Kyiv of "provocative actions."

Meanwhile, the White House said it was "increasingly concerned by recent escalating Russian aggressions in eastern Ukraine, including Russian troop movements on Ukraine's border."

"Russia now has more troops on the border with Ukraine than at any time since 2014," when the conflict started, spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. "Five Ukrainian soldiers have been killed this week alone. These are all deeply concerning signs."

In Moscow, the deputy head of Russia's presidential administration, Dmitry Kozak, took the situation a step further, warning that major military hostilities could mark "the beginning of the end of Ukraine."

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Russia annexed 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.

Since then, overwhelming evidence suggests Russia has continued to lend diplomatic and military aid to armed separatists fighting in the eastern Ukrainian region known as the Donbas.

Despite multiple cease-fire agreements, the violence has never really ended with more than 13,000 people killed since April 2014, according to the United Nations, and more than 1 million displaced.

Images released by Zelenskiy's office showed the 43-year-old president in the trenches clad in a helmet and bulletproof vest, handing out awards to soldiers and shaking their hands.

Zelenskiy visited positions where "the largest number of violations" hadtaken place, thanking the soldiers "for defending our land," his office said.

Moscow has called the recent troop movements defensive and says it has no plans to intervene in the conflict, which has seen both sides blame each other for recent violations of a cease-fire agreement.

But when asked whether Moscow would protect Russian citizens in eastern Ukraine, Kozak said on April 8, "It all depends on the scale of the fire."

Western countries have called for restraint after Ukraine raised the alarm over the buildup of Russian forces near the Ukrainian border with Russia. Violence has risen along the line of contact between government forces and separatists in Ukraine's east.

The West is already dealing with the Kremlin on several different fronts, including the poisoning and jailing of opposition figure Aleksei Navalny, Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, and other thorny issues, including Crimea.

Merkel's call on April 8 for a "reduction of these troops reinforcements to de-escalate tensions" came two days after NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called on Zelenskiy "to express serious concern about Russia's military activities in and around Ukraine and ongoing cease-fire violations."

Zelenskiy reportedly told Stoltenberg that a path toward NATO membership was the only way to end war in eastern Ukraine.

He also urged NATO member states to strengthen their military presence in the Black Sea region as a "powerful deterrent" to Moscow.

With reporting by Reuters, TASS, Interfax, and AFP

The closely linked Russian and Belarusian currencies have weakened sharply amid an ongoing slew of seemingly unrelated political and diplomatic challenges for the two post-Soviet neighbors.

Russia's ruble hit a five-month low against the U.S. dollar on April 7 despite hints at a possible monetary tightening by the Russian central bank that could have propped up the currency.

The Belarusian ruble weakened to a record of 2.66 to the dollar the same day, breaking a previous low from February and nearing levels from the weeks just after a disputed election in August 2020.

Both economies have been stymied by Western sanctions, blacklisting, and other punitive measures over their authoritarian leaders' increasingly repressive tactics to quell dissent.

Russian President Vladimir Putin faces increasing international pressure over the poisoning and jailing of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, while Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who had ruled Belarus since 1994, has been condemned in the West for his brutal crackdown on peaceful protests since a dubious reelection claim in August.

Experts also cite fears of escalating conflict near Ukraine's border with Russia, where Moscow has acknowledged a troop buildup as skirmishes intensify in Ukraine six years into a conflict between Russian-backed separatists and forces loyal to Kyiv.

NATO and Western leaders have stepped up contacts with Ukraine's leadership and warned Russia against "provocations."

Currency traders think a Russian interest rate hike is coming but the Russian ruble remains stubbornly low "due to fears over military escalations in Donbas," Credit Suisse analysts wrote in a note this week, referring to the eastern region of the former Soviet republic.

Pandemic Problems

In addition to international sanctions over Moscow's actions in Ukraine, Russia's economy has also been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and low oil prices.

Analysts have suggested Russia's recovery after the pandemic will lag behind those of many other emerging markets amid what they called lingering signs of "fundamental weakness."

In Belarus, tens of thousands of people have been detained in the protests since a presidential election that the opposition and the West say was rigged.

Most of the opposition leadership has been arrested or forced into exile, including opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has been rallying international support for the pro-democracy movement since fleeing to Lithuania.

The West has responded with sanctions on top officials and rejects Lukashenka as Belarus's legitimate leader.

The Belarusian economy was already in a weak position before the political crisis, while the coronavirus pandemic has created additional problems.

Andrei Karpunin, chairman of Belarus's Club of Financial Directors, cited a decrease in remittances from Belarusians working abroad as a major factor in that currency's fall.

But he also predicted that if sanctions continue to dog the economy, Belarusians will have little choice but to withdraw ruble deposits to convert them into hard currency, further hurting the exchange rate.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, AFP, Reuters, and AP

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- The Almaty-based human rights group Dignity, Spirit, Truth says a well-known Kazakh political prisoner Aset Abishev, who is serving a four-year prison term for his links with a banned political group, was placed in solitary confinement after he slit his wrists in protest at his treatment by guards.

A leading member of the rights group, Bakhytzhan Toreghozhina, told RFE/RL on April 8 that inmates in the LA-155/14 correctional colony near Almaty had informed her the previous day that Abishev's condition is very serious.

According to Toreghozhina, Abishev, who has been placed in the colony's medical unit for an unspecified illness, cut his wrists on April 7 protesting poor medical assistance and lack of medicine.

"What triggered Aset's move to maim himself was the rude response to his demands by guards who intimidated him, searching his personal belongings on that day. After he cut his wrists, instead of providing him with necessary medical assistance, they locked him in solitary confinement. His life is in danger," Toreghozhina said, adding that her group had called on Kazakhstan's Interior Ministry, the Prosecutor-General's Office, and the Penitentiary Service to immediately intervene in the situation.

Abishev's relatives told RFE/RL that in recent days he was severely beaten by Interior Ministry troops after his belongings were searched during prison-riot drills.

An officer on duty at the LA-155/14 penitentiary, who introduced herself as Alia Kakenova, told RFE/RL that she was not aware of the situation, adding that "all bosses are out of the office."

Abishev was sentenced to four years in prison in November 2018 after a court in Almaty found him guilty of participating in the activities of the banned opposition Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement and financially supporting it.

Abishev has rejected the charges, denying the DVK movement or its founder -- fugitive former banker and a vocal critic of Kazakhstan's government, Mukhtar Ablyazov -- were extremist.

In recent years, many activists across the Central Asian nation have been convicted for their involvement in the activities of DVK and its associate, the Street Party.

Inmates in Kazakh prisons very often maim themselves to protest conditions in penitentiary facilities or violations of their rights.

MOSCOW -- The Moscow City Court has remanded Kira Yarmysh, spokeswoman of jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, under house arrest.

The court also ruled on April 8 to preserve house arrest as the pretrial restriction for a leading member of the Pussy Riot protest group, Maria Alyokhina; a coordinator of Navalny's team in Moscow, Oleg Stepanov; and municipal lawmaker Dmitry Baranovsky.

The four along with six other associates and supporters of Navalny have been charged with publicly urging Moscow residents to violate sanitary and epidemiological safety precautions.

The group was detained in late January on the eve of unsanctioned mass rallies against Navalny's arrest. Most of them were placed under house arrest.

On April 7, the same court eased house arrest to milder restrictions for four persons in the case, including Navalny's brother, Oleg; a lawyer for Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, Lyubov Sobol; and Moscow city lawmakers Lyusya Shtein and Konstantin Yankauskas.

According to the court decision, the four opposition figures are now barred from leaving their homes between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., communicate with other individuals in the case, using any types of communication to discuss issues related to the case, or use regular mail or telegraphic communication.

The house arrest of another Navalny supporter in the case, the chief of the Alliance of Doctors union, Anastasia Vasilyeva, was cancelled in February.

The 10th person in the case, opposition activist Nikolai Lyaskin, is the only one among the group who was not placed under house arrest, but was ordered not to leave Moscow while the investigation is under way.

They all were charged with violating sanitary and epidemiological safety precautions during a pandemic. If found guilty of the charges, each faces up to two years in prison.

The Memorial Human Rights Center in Moscow has recognized the group as political prisoners.

Outraged protesters are intensifying calls for dismissals and other official actions one day after the bodies of a young woman and her suspected abductor were discovered in a case that highlights the ongoing -- but banned -- practice of "bride kidnapping."

One of the bodies, found in a car near a remote field in the Chui district of Bishkek on April 7 after a two-day search, showed signs of strangulation and the other had knife wounds.

Authorities said they suspect a murder-suicide.

Civil society groups and other Kyrgyz have responded with reminders of past tragedies and with urgent calls for authorities and society to crack down on the persistent practice of such kidnappings.

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Demonstrators assembled in several cities on April 8, including in front of the Interior Ministry in the capital, Bishkek, and outside a police station in the southern city of Osh.

In the capital, where the kidnapping took place, protesters are demanding the resignation of Interior Minister Ulan Niyazbekov.

Niyazbekov has not responded to the protesters.

Prime Minister Ulukbek Maripov met with the protesters and said that the activities of Interior Ministry officials in the situation that led to Kanatbekova's death will be investigated.

When Deputy Interior Minister Erkebek Ashirkhojaev visited parliament after noon on April 8 to report on the case, some lawmakers also demanded Niyazbekov's dismissal.

Police said the car at the center of a search since 27-year-old Aizada Kanatbekova was abducted by several people on the streets of Bishkek on April 5 was found in another part of the city two days later.

A surveillance camera caught the moment of the abduction -- in broad daylight at a major intersection -- and the failure of passersby to assist Kanatbekova.

The same car, with the bodies inside, was found by a shepherd.

"A local shepherd saw the car on April 5 and 6 and thought it was stuck in the mud," police said. "Only on April 7 did he approach the car and see the corpses of a woman and a man in the cabin, after which he immediately reported it to the police."

A case was opened under Article 175 of the Kyrgyz Criminal Code on "kidnapping for the purpose of marriage."

The suspect who hoped to press her into marriage is reported to have been 31 years old.

Bishkek police on April 8 identified the suspect as Zamirbek Tenizbaev, who has been convicted in Russia three times on charges of theft, robbery, and extortion.

President Sadyr Japarov condemned bribe-snatching in Kyrgyzstan, saying in a Facebook statement that "all those who take part, or allow a young woman's abduction, must face punishment in accordance with law."

"What happened to Aizada is a tragedy and there's pain not only for her family but for our country in general," he added.

"I want to separately address the Interior Ministry -- law and order in our society must be above everything. Nobody should forget about that.... I am taking Aizada Kanatbekova's case under my personal control. This case must be taken care of to its conclusion," Japarov said, expressing his condolences to the victim's relatives.

Interior Ministry spokesman Ulan Jumakov told RFE/RL on April 8 that three men suspected in taking part in Kanatbekova's abduction had been apprehended.

Meanwhile, Kanatbekova, the only child of a single mother, was buried on April 8 in her native town of Balykchi in the Issyk-Kul region.

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Kyrgyzstan sees thousands of bride kidnappings each year despite its criminalization in 2013.

One of the most notorious cases involved the stabbing death in 2018 of 20-year-old university student Burulai Turdaaly Kyzy by a man who authorities said abducted her for a forced marriage.

Prosecutions for such abductions are rare, but Turdaaly Kyzy's 29-year-old killer was convicted and sentenced to prison.

A women's rights researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW) complained a year later that "it's outrageous that the government hasn't done everything possible to enforce laws that could save women's and girls' lives."

"Passing laws is a good first step, but it is far from enough to ensure real protection," researcher Hillary Margolis said.

Activists say that in addition to occasional deaths, the practice often leads to marital rape, domestic violence, and other traumas.

The UN Development Program estimated in 2019 that about 14 percent of Kyrgyz women under the age of 24 were married under some form of coercion.

The German state of Bavaria has signed an agreement to buy 2.5 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine once it is approved by European regulators.

Markus Soeder, the premier of the southeastern German state, said on April 7 that Bavaria signed a memorandum of understanding for the supply of Sputnik V.

If the Sputnik V vaccine is approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), Bavaria is set to receive around 2.5 million doses through a company that would produce the vaccine in the Bavarian town of Illertissen, Soeder said.

Production in Illertissen could start this year, Bavaria's Health Minister Klaus Holetschek said.

The memorandum includes the possibility of importing the drug as well, Holetschek said, adding, "It is a highly effective vaccine."

The EMA is currently reviewing Sputnik V for authorization. EMA experts are expected to travel to Russia later this month to survey production and storage of the vaccine.

Russia approved Sputnik V for use in August 2020, making it the first vaccine against COVID-19 to be authorized although medical trials had not been completed at that time.

The EMA will investigate those trials and whether they followed "good clinical practices," the Financial Times reported on April 7 citing anonymous sources familiar with the EMA approval process. The sources said there were ethical concerns over how Sputnik V was tested before it was released for general use.

The German government, which has faced criticism for a slow vaccine rollout as it struggles with deliveries and supply, said last month said that it would be open to using Sputnik V if it is approved by the EMA.

Algeria also announced news about Sputnik V on April 7, saying that it would start producing the vaccine in September in partnership with Moscow.

The production will be intended for African countries, the Algeria’s minister for the pharmaceutical industry said on April 7.

The North African country, which already has received 50,000 doses of Sputnik V, said in February it was in talks with Russia to produce the vaccine.

The vaccine will be produced in partnership with state pharmaceutical products firm Saidal, which will get help from an Indian laboratory specialized in the manufacture of vaccines, Benbahmed said.

"Three committees are working on the transfer of the technology provided by the Russian side," Benbahmed said. "Algeria will have its share and responsibility in the vaccination of the African populations."

With reporting by AFP, dpa, and TASS

An attorney for jailed Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny says the Kremlin critic has two herniated disks in his back and has started to lose feeling in his hands.

Olga Mikhailova told the Dozhd television channel that Navalny has refused the prison paramedic’s prescription of the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac and a nicotinic acid -- remedies that she said have not been used in medicine for 30 years.

Navalny, 44, has complained of severe back pain and leg numbness for nearly three weeks, his allies have said. He had an MRI scan on March 24, and prison authorities told the Interfax news agency the next day that his condition was deemed “stable, satisfactory.”

Navalny, who fell critically ill last August after a poison attack that his doctors say he has yet to fully recover from, relayed the result of the MRI scan to his attorneys during their visit on April 7, and Mikhailova said they show he has two herniated disks and a bulging disk.

She added that Navalny’s high fever has subsided since he was moved to the prison sick ward on April 5 with symptoms of a respiratory illness. He still has a cough, she said.

An initial test for exposure to coronavirus came back negative, Mikhailova said, but the results from a second test have yet to be given to Navalny.

Mikhailova also said Navalny’s condition may have been exacerbated by the poor medical care provided to him in the prison colony, one of Russia's most notorious. She said she believed that prison authorities were afraid that a visiting specialist would show that “their awful treatment led to the deterioration in his health.”

Mikhailova and Vadim Kobzev, another member of Navalny's legal team, confirmed that Navalny remained in the medical unit of the colony.

"Aleksei walks by himself. Feels pain when walking. A very disturbing factor is that the disease is clearly progressing in terms of loss of sensitivity in the legs, palms, and hands," he wrote on Twitter.

Navalny declared a hunger strike last week, raising even more concerns about his overall health. He is losing about 1 kilogram a day, Kobzev said.

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

On April 6, Anastasia Vasilyeva, Navalny's personal doctor, who is the head of the Alliance of Doctors union, was rebuffed by prison officials in her efforts to see her patient in the correctional colony in the Vladimir region, some 100 kilometers from Moscow. She was later detained outside the prison, along with at least nine other supporters.

Vasilyeva and most of the Navalny supporters were released after several hours, but on April 8, a local court in the Vladimir region sentenced four of the detained supporters of Navalny to several days in jail. The former leader of Navalny's team in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, Ksenia Pakhomova, was sentenced to nine days in jail, while representatives of the Alliance of Doctors union -- Aleksandr Generalov, Artyom Boriskin, and Valeria Merkulova -- were handed eight-day jail terms each.

Navalny’s imprisonment set off a wave of national protests and, in turn, a violent police crackdown against his supporters.

The European Union, the United States, and Canada imposed a series of sanctions against Russia over the Navalny poisoning, his jailing, and the treatment of protesters by security forces.

"We are worried by reports that Mr Navalny’s health in the penal colony continues to deteriorate," Nabila Massrali, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, said in a written statement on April 8.

"The EU calls on the Russian authorities to grant Mr Navalny immediate access to medical professionals he trusts. The EU will continue to call for Aleksei Navalny’s immediate and unconditional release as we consider his sentencing politically motivated and running counter to Russia’s international human rights obligations. The EU will continue to call on the Russian Federation to urgently investigate the assassination attempt through poisoning on Mr Navalny in full transparency and without further delay, and to fully cooperate with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to ensure an impartial international investigation," she added.

The White House said on April 7 it is "disturbed" by reports that Navalny's health is deteriorating, and urged Russian authorities to ensure his safety and health.

"So long as he is in prison, the Russian government is responsible for his health and well-being," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.

The White House also reiterated that it considers Navalny's imprisonment "politically motivated and a gross injustice," and urged Russian authorities to "take all necessary actions to ensure his safety."

Navalny’s health condition is potentially precarious because of his exposure to a nerve-agent last August in Siberia. He has accused President Vladimir Putin of ordering security agents to assassinate him, something the Kremlin denies.

He was imprisoned after returning to Russia in January from his recuperation in Germany.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said Navalny would receive the necessary medical care but no preferential treatment.

A lawyer who has gained wide popularity for his investigations into official corruption and his slashing wit, Navalny was arrested at a Moscow airport in January on charges of violating his parole, sparking large-scale protests.

A Moscow court found him guilty of violating the terms of his parole from an older embezzlement case that the European Court of Human Rights in 2017 ruled was "unfair." His 3 1/2 year suspended sentenced was converted to prison time.

With reporting by TASS, Reuters, AFP, The Washington Post, The Guardian, RFE/RL's Russian Service, and Idel.Realities.

Armenia's prime minister has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for help in releasing dozens of prisoners of war captured by Azerbaijan during last year’s brief war over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Speaking on April 7 during a trip to Moscow, Nikol Pashinian also said Armenia was interested in acquiring more Russian-made Sputnik-V vaccines.

Last fall's war between Armenia and Azerbaijan was waged over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave that is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but has been controlled by ethnic Armenians since the early 1990s.

The six-week war concluded with a Russian-brokered cease-fire, under which a chunk of Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani administration after almost 30 years of control by ethnic Armenian forces.

The agreement also led to the deployment of around 2,000 Russian peacekeepers along frontline areas and a land corridor connecting the disputed territory with Armenia.

More than 6,000 people died in the fighting.

The final status of Nagorno-Karabakh remains unresolved.

There are no official figures of how many Armenian POWs are being held by Azerbaijan, but the RBC news agency said there were about 140 Armenians still being held in Azerbaijan. It's unclear how many Azerbaijani POWs there are.

"I would like to note that in this context there is a very important issue that has not yet been settled," Pashinian told Putin. "This is a question of prisoners of war, hostages and other detainees."

“As we have repeatedly discussed…all hostages, prisoners of war, and other detainees should be returned to their homeland, but, unfortunately, we still have detainees in Azerbaijan,” the Armenian prime minister added.

In his meeting with Putin, Pashinian said the first shipment of 15,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine was expected to arrive in Armenia on April 6, but the country needs more than 1 million doses in all.

"The first shipment was, so to speak, a symbolic shipment. We hope to acquire a large amount of the Russian vaccine, because it has proven its efficacy," he said.

Pashinian’s trip to Moscow came as Armenia prepares for early parliamentary elections in June, triggered by opposition demands the prime minister step down over his handling of the war with Azerbaijan.

With reporting by Reuters

Georgian rescuers have recovered the bodies of four people who drowned in the Inguri River after trying to sneak across the administrative border separating the breakaway Abkhazia region from Tbilisi-controlled territory, to avoid coronavirus quarantine rules.

The four, identified as residents of Abkhazia’s Gali district, drowned as they tried to cross into the Zugdidi region, authorities said on April 7.

Three bodies were initially recovered, while a fourth was found hours later.

Georgia’s State Security Service said the deaths "once again demonstrated the inhuman and criminal nature of the occupation [of Abkhazia], for which the Russian Federation bears full responsibility."

Since 2017, a bridge over the Inguri has been the only route for people looking to cross the administrative border with Abkhazia. That border was hardened after the brief 2008 war in which Russian forces occupied Abkhazia and another Georgian region, South Ossetia. In 2017, the number of administrative checkpoints was cut from six, to one.

Most people living in the Gali district are ethnic Georgians who maintain close contacts with the other side of the river. Many of them must regularly cross the bridge to buy groceries and receive their pensions or medical treatment.

According to the Democracy Research Institute, Abkhazia residents must quarantine for five days when crossing into Tbilisi-controlled territory as part of COVID-19 measures.

The result is some Gali district residents try to sneak in undetected.

"We call on the Georgian government to immediately lift the quarantine, which endangers the lives of people," the institute said in a statement.

After the 2008 war, Moscow recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent. Only a handful of other countries, however, have followed the Kremlin's lead, which has kept Russian forces in both regions.

Georgia has reported more than 268,000 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic and 3,650 COVID-related deaths.

With reporting by JamNews

A court in Moscow has upheld fines imposed by Russia's media-monitoring agency against RFE/RL's Russian-language services for alleged violations of the country's controversial "foreign agent" laws.

On April 7, the Tverskoi District Court upheld 5.5 million rubles ($70,700) in fines, rejecting RFE/RL's appeals against them.

In all, the Roskomnadzor state monitoring agency has filed 390 protocols against RFE/RL for failing to mark its materials distributed in Russia as the product of a Russian-government-designated "foreign agent." The court has so far upheld about 260 of the protocols with total fines approaching $1 million.

RFE/RL has not complied with the labeling requirements.

Roskomnadzor issued a statement saying RFE/RL must pay the fines within 60 days. If the company fails to pay, the agency warned it could "restrict access" to RFE/RL's websites in Russia.

RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said that the broadcaster was "being targeted by the Russian authorities because we continue to provide a growing audience in Russia with objective news and information at a moment when the Kremlin is trying to limit the Russian people’s access to information."

"We will not abandon our audience no matter how many illegitimate fines the Russian authorities impose on us. We will continue to fight these attacks on our journalistic independence through all possible means," he added.

RFE/RL continues to appeal the fines and has said it would do so at the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.

One day earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Moscow had imposed "invasive labeling requirements and fines" in order to "drive RFE/RL out of Russia."

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U.S. Secretary Of State Expresses Concern Over Russian Attempts To Restrict RFE/RL

Russia's so-called "foreign agent" legislation was adopted in 2012 and has been modified repeatedly. It requires nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign assistance and that the government deems to be engaged in political activity to be registered, to identify themselves as "foreign agents," and to submit to audits. Later modifications of the law targeted foreign-funded media.

In 2017, the Russian government placed RFE/RL's Russian Service, six other RFE/RL Russian-language news services, and Current Time on the list.

Earlier this year, Russian courts began imposing large fines against RFE/RL for failing to mark its articles with a government-prescribed label as required by rules adopted in October 2020.

Roskomnadzor last year adopted rules requiring listed media to mark all written materials with a lengthy notice in large text, all radio materials with an audio statement, and all video materials with a 15-second text declaration.

RFE/RL has called the fines "a state-sponsored campaign of coercion and intimidation." Human Rights Watch has described the foreign agent legislation as "restrictive" and intended "to demonize independent groups."

The fines against RFE/RL come as the Russian government is moving to strengthen the so-called foreign agent laws.

On April 7, the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, passed in its third reading a law about the participation of designated "foreign agents" in elections. If the measure becomes law, individuals who were affiliated with a designated "foreign agent" organization or media outlet at any point in the previous two years would have to announce that fact on their campaign materials.

In addition, "foreign agent" NGOs and media outlets would be barred from campaigning for any candidate or party or advocating any position on referendums

On April 5, President Vladimir Putin signed into law additional restrictions on nongovernmental organizations that have been listed as "foreign agents."

Under the new law, the government has the right to conduct spot audits of such organizations whenever they receive a report that the organization has participated in an event involving foreign NGOs that have been designated "undesirable" in Russia.

The new law also obligates designated "foreign agent" organizations to present the program of all activities to the government in advance and gives the Justice Ministry the power to ban any activities entirely or partially in advance. Failure to comply with the new law could result in the liquidation of the listed NGO.

The changes come as Russia prepares for national elections to the State Duma, which must be held by September 19.

Aside from RFE/RL, the only other foreign media organizations to have been designated under the foreign agent law are VOA and a small, obscure Czech web portal.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and Interfax

BUDAPEST -- Hungary has begun reopening shops and services on after more than one quarter of its population was inoculated with at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

However, some medical experts and medical experts urged caution after the country recorded its highest daily death toll yet from COVID-19.

The authorities reported 311 new coronavirus-related deaths on April 7, bringing the total to more than 22,400.

The country has recorded nearly 700,000 infections since the start of the pandemic, with more than 12,000 patients still in hospital and over 1,400 of them on ventilators.

"I hope we will see a plateau in the near future, the data gives us hope...but the numbers are still very high," said Cecilia Muller, Hungary's chief medical officer.

Muller told reporters that the April 7 record daily death tally was partly due to a lag in data reported from hospitals over the Easter holidays.

Under the partial reopening on April 7, shops that had been closed since early March were allowed to open again but with limited numbers of customers. Restaurants are open for takeaway or delivery services only.

The overnight curfew in place since November now starts two hours later.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced the easing of the lockdown measures on April 6, after Hungary reached 2.5 million first-dose vaccinations -- a benchmark that the government had set for when a gradual reopening could move forward.

With reporting by Reuters and AP

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has announced plans to seek a coalition government after his center-right party placed first in the country’s parliamentary elections, though he cautioned he was "unlikely to succeed."

Following the April 4 vote, Borisov's center-right GERB party will be the largest party in parliament but far short of a majority, with some 26.1 percent of ballots won.

Coming in second with 17.7 percent was a new, antiestablishment party formed by popular Bulgarian talk-show host Stanislav Trifonov, while the Socialist Party and the mostly ethnic Turkish-backed MRF came third and fourth, respectively.

"We are obliged to our voters, who put us first, to propose an option. From the comments that I hear, this is unlikely to succeed," Borisov told his outgoing cabinet on April 7.

The long-serving prime minister said he was ready to back Trifonov to form a government in order to avoid new elections that he said could harm Bulgaria's ability to tap EU coronavirus recovery funds, battle a surge in new infections, and restart its battered economy.

"If they need it, I am ready to have 10 deputies ready to back them,” he added.

He made the comments after two small protest parties and the Socialists rejected his offer to form a technocrat cabinet to lead the country through the coronavirus crisis until the end of the year.

Trifonov's movement has said it would not get into any governing deal with GERB or the Socialist Party, or the MRF.

Borisov said that, if rivals wanted snap elections, the best way forward was to agree on a new constitution that could address changes in the electoral system and then call a vote for a grand national assembly that should approve it.

Borisov, 61, has served as prime minister for nearly the entire period since 2009 with a brief stint out of office in 2013-14.

With reporting by Reuters

NUR-SULTAN -- The Kazakh parliament's lower chamber has approved the first reading of a bill banning the purchase and rental of farmland by foreigners in the Central Asian nation ahead of the expiration of a moratorium on land sales this summer.

Agriculture Minister Saparkhan Omarov said at a session of the Mazhilis on April 7 that current agreements on farmlands rented by some foreign companies or joint ventures with foreign capital will expire in the 2022-2025 period and will not be extended.

The move comes after President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev proposed the ban in late-February.

The five-year moratorium on selling and leasing Kazakh agricultural land to foreigners was introduced in 2016 after thousands demonstrated in unprecedented rallies across the tightly-controlled nation, protesting the government’s plan to attract foreign investment into the agriculture sector by opening up the market.

The protests stopped after the government withdrew the plan, but two men who organized the largest rally in the western city of Atyrau, Talghat Ayan and Maks Boqaev, were sentenced to five years in prison each after being found guilty of inciting social discord, knowingly spreading false information, and violating the law on public assembly.

Ayan was released on parole in April, 2018, and Boqaev was released in February this year,

TALGHAR, Kazakhstan -- A court in southern Kazakhstan has handed a parole-like sentence to an activist for his links with the banned Koshe (Street) Party, one of several supporters of the opposition movement to be sentenced in recent months.

The Talghar district court in the southern Almaty region sentenced 36-year-old Erkin Sabanshiev on April 7 to one year of "freedom limitation" after finding him guilty of participating in the activities of the opposition Koshe Party, which has links with another outlawed party, the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement.

Sabanshiev was banned from using the media or the Internet to conduct political and social activities for three years.

Sabanshiev, who was arrested and charged six months ago, told RFE/RL after his sentence was pronounced that he will appeal the ruling.

Several of Sabanshiev’s supporters were not allowed to attend the hearing on April 7. One of them, Aidyn Nusipaliev, was detained by police and later in the day sentenced to 15 days in jail for "organizing an unsanctioned rally."

Several activists across the Central Asian nation have been handed "freedom limitation" sentences in recent months for their involvement in the activities of the Koshe Party and DVK, as well as for taking part in rallies organized by the two groups.

DVK is led by Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive former head of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank and an outspoken critic of the Kazakh government. Kazakh authorities labeled DVK extremist and banned the group in March 2018.

Human rights groups have said Kazakhstan’s law on public gatherings contradicts international standards as it requires preliminary permission from authorities to hold rallies and envisions prosecution for organizing and participating in unsanctioned rallies even though the nation's constitution guarantees its citizens the right of free assembly.

Visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Islamabad on April 7 that Russia will provide unspecified military equipment to Pakistan as the two countries increase cooperation to fight terrorism.

Russia and Pakistan will also conduct joint naval and land exercises, he said.

Lavrov's two-day visit marks the first to Islamabad by a Russian foreign minister in nearly a decade and is widely regarded as part of an effort to foster deeper bilateral relations that have warmed only recently.

Lavrov's meetings with Pakistani officials followed a stop in rival neighbor India and were expected to touch on efforts to establish peace in another neighboring country, Afghanistan.

“We stand ready to strengthen the anti-terrorist potential of Pakistan, including by supplying Pakistan with special military equipment,” Lavrov said.

Moscow has recently sought to assert greater influence in conflict-torn Afghanistan as the United States and other Western powers try to extricate themselves from a two-decade war.

Russia is also helping to construct a gas pipeline between Pakistan's port city of Karachi and eastern Lahore.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Islamabad welcomes Russian expertise on rail and energy-sector modernization.

Qureshi also said Pakistan will purchase 5 million doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, which is being used in dozens of countries but has run into regulatory delays in the European Union.

Pakistan’s security establishment is seen as close to the Afghan Taliban, which is fighting the central government in Kabul amid stalled intra-Afghan peace talks, and is said to wield leverage to influence that militant group’s actions.

A May 1 deadline is approaching for U.S. and other foreign troops to leave Afghanistan in line with an agreement Washington signed with the Afghan Taliban in Qatar in February 2020.

Afghanistan has seen a nationwide spike in bombings, targeted killings, and violence on the battlefield as common ground evades peace negotiators in Qatar.

U.S. President Joe Biden has warned that the May withdrawal deadline will be difficult to meet, raising the prospect that the entire agreement with the Taliban will unravel.

Later this month, Taliban and Afghan government representatives are expected to gather for a U.S.-backed international conference in Turkey meant to give new impetus to peace talks.

With reporting by AP and dpa

As international talks to revive a major nuclear agreement with world powers continued in Vienna, Iranian President Hassan Rohani said that he hoped negotiations led to a "renaissance" of the 2015 deal.

The day-old talks are U.S. President Joe Biden's first major effort to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA) since taking office on pledges to curb Iran's nuclear program following his predecessor's withdrawal from the agreement three years ago.

"Once again, all parties have come to the conclusion that there is no better alternative," Rohani said in a statement on April 7, referring to the JCPOA, which was reached over hard-liners' opposition in the Austrian capital five years ago. ."Thus, we can hope for a renaissance of the Vienna nuclear agreement."

The U.S. and Iranian sides have publicly clashed over the order of possible concessions on U.S. sanctions and Iranian nuclear activities before a new deal can be achieved.

Rohani staked heavy political capital on the 2015 deal during his first presidential term despite resistance from hard-liners allied with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate political and religious power in Iran.

"The U.S. says it wants to return to the agreement," Rohani said. "Fine, let's see how serious they are."

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said after the first day of talks on April 6 that Washington saw the discussions in Vienna 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.

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araqchi, told state television that his 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 the negotiators got off to a "successful" start.

Ulyanov also said two expert-level groups on sanctions lifting and nuclear issues had been tasked "to identify concrete measures to be taken by Washington and Tehran" to restore the deal.

The Russian envoy predicted in a separate tweet that it would take "some time" to restore the nuclear agreement.

With reporting by dpa

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia -- The father of Ivan Zhdanov, the director of jailed Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), has been remanded in custody on a charge of abuse of office, which he and his supporters reject.

The Rostov regional court on April 7 upheld an earlier decision by a lower court in the city of Rostov-on-Don to keep 66-year-old Yury Zhdanov in pretrial detention at least until May 21.

Yury Zhdanov, who took part in the hearing via a video link from the detention center, and his lawyers requested the court transfer him to house arrest due to his age and the danger of getting infected with the coronavirus while in custody.

SEE ALSO:

Navalny Tests Negative For COVID, Losing Weight From Hunger Strike, Says Lawyer

Zhdanov said at the hearing that many of those in his cell are sick. He said earlier that the cell he is kept in is so overcrowded that inmates have to sleep in shifts due to the limited number of beds.

Yury Zhdanov was sent to pretrial detention after police searched his home on March 26.

His son said last week that he had "no doubts that the criminal case was launched because of me and my activities." He called his father's arrest "absolutely a new level of villainy and turpitude from the [Russian] presidential administration."

According to Zhdanov, before retiring last summer his father worked as an official in a remote town for several years.

Investigators now accuse Yury Zhdanov of recommending the town’s administration provide a local woman with a subsidized apartment, though it later turned out that the woman's family had previously received housing allocations.

The apartment was later returned to municipal ownership in accordance with a court decision and no one among those who made the decision was held responsible.

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Pole Dancing And Fancy Toilet Brushes: Millions Watch Navalny Video On Alleged 'Putin Palace'

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Navalny's FBK is known for publishing investigative reports about corruption among Russia's top officials, including President Vladimir Putin.

The latest report focused on a lavish Black Sea mansion that Navalny's team called "a palace for Putin," capturing worldwide attention with almost 116 million views on YouTube.

The report showcases a luxurious, 100 billion ruble ($1.32 billion) estate near the popular holiday town of Gelendzhik that it said Putin effectively owns via a complex trail of companies.

The Kremlin has denied the report, saying "one or several [businessmen] directly or indirectly own" the property, adding that it "has no right to reveal the names of these owners."