Ukrainian officials have marked the 77th anniversary of the Crimean Tatars’ Stalin-era deportations from Crimea to Central Asia by denouncing what they called their ongoing persecution by Russia.

Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and backed separatists in two of its eastern provinces, sparking a war that has killed more than 13,000 people.

Crimean Tatars, rights activists, and Western governments say Russia has subjected Crimean Tatars and others who opposed annexation to abuse, discrimination, and politically motivated prosecution on false charges.

As Crimean Tatars marked the anniversary of the 1944 deportations, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a statement: "We will not forgive that 70 years [after the deportations] you were forced to leave your home again due to the Russian annexation."

"And those of you who remain [in Crimea] are being persecuted and imprisoned by the occupation authorities," Zelenskiy added.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Russia “continues to systemically suppress the Crimean Tatars."

Russia denies carrying out repressions in Crimea, but regularly announces arrests of alleged Islamist or pro-Ukrainian "terrorists" on the Black Sea peninsula.

The Crimean Solidarity group said that prayers and commemorations of the victims of the 1944 deportations were held on May 18 in towns and villages across Crimea, despite warnings by Russia-imposed authorities not to hold unsanctioned public events.

Commemoration events were also held in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Members of the mostly Muslim, Turkic-speaking indigenous ethnic group of the Black Sea peninsula were deported en masse during World War II, after Stalin accused them of collaborating with Nazi Germany.

Starting on May 18, 1944, some 250,000 people were put on trains -- most of them in the space of two days -- and sent to Central Asia. Tens of thousands died during the journey or after they were left on the barren steppe with few resources.

Crimean Tatars were not allowed to return to Crimea until the late 1980s, when Mikhail Gorbachev conducted reforms in the years before the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

In November 2015, the Ukrainian parliament passed a law declaring May 18 the Day of Commemoration of Victims of the Genocide of the Crimean Tatars.

With reporting by AFP, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, and Crimea.Realities

BATKEN, Kyrgyzstan -- Kyrgyz and Tajik officials have agreed to jointly control law and order along a disputed segment of the border to ease tensions following deadly clashes late last month.

Officials in Kyrgyzstan’s southern region of Batken said on May 18 that a joint checkpoint has been established between the Kyrgyz village of Ak-Sai and Tajikistan's Vorukh district for law enforcement and border guards in the two Central Asian nations to control safety and security in the volatile area.

A day earlier, several Kyrgyz and Tajik nationals were briefly detained along the border.

WATCH: After Kyrgyz-Tajik Clashes, Residents Of Border Area Say Tensions Are All Too Familiar

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The Kyrgyz side claimed that its three citizens were severely beaten while in Tajik custody, threatening to reignite the conflict after deadly clashes erupted on April 28 after the Tajiks tried to install security cameras at a position in the disputed territory.

Batken regional officials also said that a delegation led by the governor, Abdikarim Alimbaev, and a delegation led by the head of Tajikistan's Sughd region, Rajobboi Ahmadzoda, had agreed on May 17 that officials and individuals involved in the beating of the Kyrgyz citizens will be held responsible and face justice.

A member of the Tajik delegation confirmed to RFE/RL on condition of anonymity that the Tajik side agreed to punish its citizens involved in the beating.

According to the official, after that Kyrgyz authorities agreed to allow Tajik citizens and vehicles to pass through territory under Kyrgyz control. There was no official confirmation of that from the Tajik authorities.

The situation along the volatile segment of the border was reported to have calmed with police officers from both sides controlling the area.

Many border areas in Central Asia have been restive since the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. The clashes that started last month left scores of people on both sides dead and injured.

The situation is particularly complicated near the numerous exclaves in the volatile Ferghana Valley, where the borders of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan meet.

In recent decades, there have been many incidents along the border which in some cases involved gunfire.

KYIV -- Ukraine's parliament has voted to dismiss Health Minister Maksym Stepanov over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and approved the resignations of the economy and infrastructure ministers.

Lawmakers ousted Stepanov in a 292-1 vote on May 18, making him Ukraine’s third health minister to be dismissed since COVID-19 hit the country last year.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, who initiated Stepanov's firing, told parliament that the minister was responsible for the "unsatisfactory pace of vaccination" against COVID-19 and failures in vaccine procurement.

Economy Minister Ihor Petrashko and Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Krykliy did not disclose reasons for their decision to leave their jobs in their resignation letters filed to the Verkhovna Rada last week.

With more than 2 million registered coronavirus infections and over 48,000 related deaths, Ukraine is among the European countries most affected by the epidemic.

The country is also lagging in its vaccination efforts, with about 950,000 Ukrainians having received their first vaccine dose as of May 18.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's economy shrank 2 percent in the first quarter of 2021 year-on-year after contracting 4 percent last year.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's cabinet has experienced significant turnover since the former comic took power in 2019.

With reporting by Reuters, Bloomberg, and AFP

Czech President Milos Zeman has apologized over the 1999 NATO bombing of former Yugoslavia, in which his country took part while he was prime minister.

The 78-day U.S.-led bombing campaign forced Serbian troops out of Kosovo, ending a bloody two-year war of the southern province’s independence.

"I would like to use this opportunity to apologize for the bombing of former Yugoslavia," Zeman said on May 18 during a visit to Prague by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

The Czech Republic "desperately" sought partners within the alliance to object to the campaign, but ultimately failed, the 76-year-old Zeman said.

"It was lack of courage," he added. “With this plea of forgiveness, I resolved my long-standing trauma, because remorse is liberating.”

Vucic said Serbians will “always be grateful" to Zeman because “what he said about the bombing has never been said before."

Zeman served as prime minister between 1998 and 2002 before taking over as president in 2013. He has favored friendly ties with Russia for years.

The NATO military intervention is hailed in Kosovo as crucial in ending the 1998-1999 Kosovo conflict that left more than 10,000 people dead.

Kosovo declared independence in 2008 but Belgrade does not recognize this.

Most EU nations and the United States have recognized Kosovo's independence, but not by Serbia's allies Russia and China.

Based on reporting by AFP and iDNES.cz

Russian lawmakers gave preliminary backing to new legislation that human rights groups says is part of authorities’ efforts to “annihilate any shred of visible dissent” in the country.

The lower house of parliament on May 18 passed three bills that target individuals who have supported civil society and religious organizations declared extremist or terrorist by authorities, and also widen the scope of an existing law on “undesirable” organizations.

Under one of the measures, individuals involved in the activities of an organization that has been recognized by a court as extremist or terrorist would be barred from running in parliamentary elections for up to five years. The bill also provides for the restriction to apply retroactively.

The effort comes as authorities step up pressure on Aleksei Navalny, the imprisoned anti-corruption lawyer whose foundation Russian authorities are seeking to have declared extremist.

His Anti-Corruption Foundation has already been declared a “foreign agent”-- a punitive designation under a separate law

The new measures, which must undergo two more votes in the State Duma, would effectively impose “new muzzles on individuals who criticize the government,” in particular allies and supporters of Navalny, and bar them from participating in public life, including elections, Amnesty International said in a statement.

“[President] Vladimir Putin’s regime aims to fully purge vocal critics from the civic space,” said Natalia Zviagina, the Moscow director for the London-based watchdog. “The main target of this latest, particularly brazen attack is the movement led by Aleksei Navalny.”

“Having unjustly imprisoned its archfoe, the Kremlin is now targeting all those who had the nerve to support him,” she said.

Amnesty said the two other bills introduce a prohibition on participation in the activities abroad of organizations deemed as “undesirable,” and assign the status of “undesirable” to organizations who are believed to be intermediaries in financial transactions with groups already banned. They also toughen criminal sanctions.

The measures appear aimed at neutralizing Navalny’s organization ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for September. The ruling United Russia party is facing polls showing its support at some of the lowest levels ever.

Leonid Volkov, who led Navalny’s regional network before its dissolution in April, said that up to 200,000 supporters could fall afoul of the draft legislation.

The legislation “proposes that criminal liability should come after only one administrative prosecution, not two as at present, and, in some cases, immediately,” he said.

This bill seems to have been drafted to target Open Russia, a pro-democracy movement founded by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Amnesty said.

“It is another networked structure that has managed to get on its feet in the political vacuum created by Vladimir Putin’s regime. Its activists and supporters have already paid a dear price and now the stakes will be even higher,” Zviagina said.

SKOPJE -- North Macedonia has declared a Russian diplomat persona non grata and communicated the decision to Moscow earlier this week.

"[North Macedonia's] Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in accordance with Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, decided to declare a diplomat at the Embassy of the Russian Federation an undesirable person in the Republic of North Macedonia," the ministry said in a statement on May 18.

"The Ambassador of the Russian Federation [to Macedonia Sergei Bazdnikin] was summoned to the premises of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on May 14, whereupon a note was handed instructing the diplomat to leave the territory of Northern Macedonia within seven days."

The statement gave no further details about the case.

Based on Article 9 of the Vienna Convention, the host nation at any time and for any reason can declare a particular member of the diplomatic staff persona non grata.

The Russian Embassy in Skopje said Moscow was considering "reciprocal measures."

Several other former Soviet bloc countries in Central and Eastern Europe, all of them members of the European Union and NATO, have expelled Russian diplomats last month, triggering reciprocal measures by Moscow.

The series of expulsions began last month when the Czech Republic expelled scores of Russian diplomats over the accusations that Russian spies were involved in a deadly ammunition depot explosion in 2014, prompting a tit-for-tat response from Moscow.

North Macedonia officially became a NATO member in March 2020.

The Balkan country previously expelled Russian diplomats in 2018 in solidarity with Britain, following a nerve-agent poisoning in England that targeted former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal.

With reporting by TASS

Kosovo police have seized a record 400 kilograms of cocaine concealed in a shipment of meat from Brazil and arrested seven people suspected of drug trafficking offenses.

Kosovo police said on May 18 a joint operation with Albanian and Italian police a day earlier intercepted a truck transporting imported meat from Brazil that had passed previously through Italian and Albanian ports.

The cocaine was hidden among the meat packages in a truck that had stopped in Lipjan, a town about 17 kilometers south of the capital, Pristina.

Authorities said it was a record cocaine seizure for Kosovo.

Guns, ammunition, and other items were also seized during the search of the homes of the seven people who were arrested in connection with the case.

More suspects remained at large, police said, adding that the investigation continues.

Kosovo lies on a key transit route for drugs smuggled from the Middle East to Western markets.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on a diplomatic tour that includes his first face-to-face talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, has warned that Washington is concerned over a military buildup in the Arctic, a region gaining in strategic importance among the world's superpowers.

"We have concerns about some of the increased military activities in the Arctic that increase the...prospects of accidents...and undermine the shared goal of a peaceful and sustainable future for the region," Blinken told reporters in Reykjavik on May 18, a day before the start of a meeting of the eight-member Arctic Council in Reykjavik.

"What we need to avoid is a militarization of the region," he added.

Heading into the trip, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken will “advance efforts to sustain the Arctic as a region of peace, free of conflict, where Arctic Council members collaborate on shared priorities to protect the well-being of Arctic communities and address the ever-growing threat and impacts of the climate crisis.”

The meeting with Lavrov is scheduled to take place on May 20. The Russian Foreign Ministry has said the two will discuss "key issues of mutual relations and the international agenda."

A U.S. intelligence report in April said Moscow is looking to increase its economic and military footprint in the Arctic, taking advantage of global warming’s impact on the vast northern region.

"We've seen Russia advance unlawful maritime claims, particularly its regulation of foreign vessels transiting the Northern Sea route, which are inconsistent with international law," Blinken said at a joint briefing with Iceland's foreign minister on May 18.

Lavrov, however, on May 17 warned Western countries against staking claims in the Arctic.

"It has been absolutely clear for everyone for a long time that this is our territory, this is our land," he said at a press conference in Moscow.

"We are responsible for ensuring our Arctic coast is safe."

The meeting comes amid ongoing tensions between Washington and Moscow over Russia’s military buildup in and around Ukraine, Russian meddling in U.S. elections, and recent cyberattacks blamed on cybercriminals in Russia, and the official indicated that those matters would be addressed.

Blinken and Lavrov are expected to test the Biden administration's proposition of working on areas where Washington and Moscow have mutual interests.

At the end of his trip, Blinken plans to stop in Greenland to meet with the new head of government, Mute Bourup Egede.

The two are expected to discuss their countries’ shared commitment to increase cooperation in the Arctic.

With reporting by AFP and AP

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Rallies in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, by demonstrators demanding their relatives be released from prisons and so-called reeducation camps in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang have entered the 100th day.

Police did not allow a dozen protesters, mainly women, to get close to the Chinese Consulate to stage a rally on May 18, forcing them to hold their action at a distance from the consulate building.

"Our action is not illegal, while China's actions are illegal. China killed my father, is holding my mother and two brothers. I demand my family members to be released at once. I will continue my protest until they are released," protester Aqiqat Qaliolla, told RFE/RL.

Unlike previous protests, the May 18 event was covered by several leading media outlets from the Central Asian state, as it was the 100th day since the rallies started in February.

Since the beginning of the protests, the husband of one demonstrator, Farida Qabylbek, was released from house arrest in Xinjiang in early April and allowed to leave China for Kazakhstan.

SEE ALSO:

A 'Brief Trip' That Lasted 17 Years: Kazakh Reunites With Family After Finally Being Freed In Xinjiang

Qabylbek's husband, Raqyzhan Zeinolla, spent 13 years in a Chinese prison on espionage charges and 18 months in what Chinese officials called a "reeducation camp," after which he was placed under house arrest.

RFE/RL correspondents entered the Chinese Consulate on May 18 and asked security officials if they were aware of the ongoing protest, but the officials refused to comment.

Last week, eight protesters were detained by police and fined for holding unsanctioned public events at the site.

Locked Up In China: The Plight Of Xinjiang's Muslims

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is partnering with its sister organization, Radio Free Asia, to highlight the plight of Muslims living in China's western province of Xinjiang.

The U.S. Embassy on May 12 expressed support for the protesters as they demand information about their relatives in Xinjiang.

"We condemn China's mass imprisonment of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other ethnic minorities. The U.S. Mission stands with those who are seeking information about their family members in Xinjiang. People should not be detained for assembling and expressing themselves peacefully," the U.S. Embassy statement said.

The U.S. State Department has said that as many as 2 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of Xinjiang's other indigenous, mostly Muslim, ethnic groups have been taken to detention centers.

China denies that the facilities are internment camps but people who have fled the province say that thousands of ethnic Kazakhs, Uyghurs, and other Muslims in Xinjiang are undergoing "political indoctrination" at a network of facilities known officially as "reeducation camps."

Kazakhs are the second-largest Turkic-speaking indigenous community in Xinjiang after Uyghurs. The region is also home to ethnic Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Hui, also known as Dungans.

Han, China's largest ethnicity, is the second-largest community in Xinjiang.

MOSCOW -- A military court in Moscow has upheld a lower court's decision to reject a lawsuit filed by jailed Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny against the Main Military Investigative Directorate (GVSU) over its refusal to launch a probe into his poisoning in Siberia with a chemical nerve agent in August.

The Second Western District Military Court took only a few minutes to make the ruling on May 18. Neither Navalny nor his lawyers were present at the hearing.

In the original case, the 235th Garrison Military Court ruled that "the GVSU's decision" not to launch a probe into Navalny's poisoning was "legal and well-grounded," and that Navalny's lawsuit was "not worth of considering."

Judge Andrei Tolkachenko said during that hearing that Siberian Transport Police refused to launch an investigation due to the "absence of a criminal act."

The complaint stems from August 2020, when Navalny fell violently ill on a plane while traveling in Siberia. The aircraft made an emergency landing and President Vladimir Putin's most vocal critic was rushed to a hospital, where doctors worked to keep him alive.

SEE ALSO:

Coup Plots, Poison, Hacking, Sabotage: What Is The GRU’s Unit 29155?

As Navalny lay gravely ill in intensive care, officials said they had not found any evidence of poisoning.

After several days, he was flown from Siberia to Germany, where he was diagnosed as having ingested what was confirmed by several European labs as a Novichok-type chemical nerve agent.

Navalny's lawyers filed a lawsuit against several officers of the Federal Security Service who were implicated by the Bellingcat investigative group in the operation to poison him.

However, the GVSU refused to launch a probe into the attack and Navalny's lawyers filed another lawsuit, this time against the investigative directorate's inactivity in the case.

The anti-corruption campaigner has accused Putin of ordering the poison attack, but the Kremlin has denied any involvement.

After receiving treatment in Germany, Navalny returned on January 17 to Moscow, where he was immediately arrested.

On February 2, a court in Moscow ruled that while in Germany, Navalny had violated the terms of parole from an older embezzlement case that is widely considered politically motivated.

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

Navalny's detention set off a wave of national protests and a crackdown against his supporters.

The European Union and the United States have imposed a series of sanctions against Russia over the Navalny poisoning and subsequent detention.

MINSK -- Financial police in Belarus have launched a probe against the country's largest independent online media outlet, Tut.by, in what the United States, human rights groups, and media freedom watchdogs denounced as the Belarusian authorities’ latest move in their crackdown on the country’s pro-democracy movement and free media.

The Department of Financial Investigations (DFR) at the Committee of State Control said on May 18 that the Tut Bai Media group was suspected of "evading taxes in extremely significant amounts" since 2019.

The announcement came shortly after law enforcement officers searched the offices of Tut.by and its affiliates Houser.by and Av.by, as well as the homes of several editors, including the outlet's chief editor, Maryna Zolatava.

SEE ALSO:

Chronicling The Bloody Belarus Crackdown Is An Imperative For This Online News Editor, Despite Pressure

The Tut.by website was inaccessible after the police searches were conducted early in the morning on May 18.

One of the co-founders of Tut.by, Kiryl Valoshin, told RFE/RL that the domain's portal was blocked. According to Tut.by, at least 12 of the site's employees have been detained, including journalists, editors, and accountants.

The Information Ministry said in a statement that access to Tut.by and its affiliates had been restricted due to what it called a "violation of the country's media law," namely by posting items filed by unregistered organizations.

Witnesses said the door in the corridor of the apartment block in Minsk where Zolatava lives was broken in by law enforcement when they raided her apartment in the morning.

“Today's raids are another example of a systematic effort to stifle independent voices and punish journalists for accurately reporting news. Belarusians need and deserve a free press,” U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price tweeted.

The U.S. Embassy in Minsk said in a statement that the Belarusian authorities “have stripped Tut.by of legal status as a media outlet; fined, jailed, and physically attacked its journalists; repeatedly maligned and threatened it; blocked its website; and appear intent on incapacitating it through a malign misuse of the tax laws.”

“Today’s actions against the biggest and the most popular news site of the country are part of a deliberate government policy to restrict uncensored information in the country,” the Belarusian Association of Journalists said in a statement.

Calling the case against Tut.by “a new attempt to silence the most well-known independent media in Belarus,” Christophe Deloire, executive director of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), urged the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to “ensure respect for the right to the freedom to inform" in the country.

Crisis In Belarus

Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.

The blocking of the Tut.by website is "a full-scale assault on the right to freedom of expression and media freedom in Belarus, and leaves a gaping wound in the country’s access to independent sources of information," according to Amnesty International.

The exiled leader of the Belarusian opposition, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, called the move against Tut.by the "premeditated murder of independent media."

"[Belarusian authorities] are killing media...they are killing us on the streets and in jails," Tsikhanouskaya said in her video statement on YouTube.

"We demand an immediate reaction of the European Union, an expedited launch of a program of support of independent media and protection of journalists and help provided to them so that they could continue their work, despite the repressions. We insist that sanctions must be imposed against all who are responsible for the repressions against editorial groups, journalists, and bloggers," she added.

In a statement on Facebook, the European Union delegation to Belarus said that “freedom of the media must be upheld” in Belarus.

Tut.by has been “the flagship of Belarusian journalism for the past 20 years, read and appreciated by most Internet users in the country and many beyond it, as well as by diplomats working with Belarus,” it said.

Belarusian authorities have stepped up their repression of journalists and bloggers ever since the start of mass protests sparked by the August 9 presidential election.

Tens of thousands of people in Belarus have been swept up in the crackdown. Protesters say the election was rigged in favor of Lukashenka, who has ruled Belarus since 1994.

Dozens of reporters have been temporarily detained or jailed over the ensuing nine months.

Following the presidential election, "dozens of socio-political and media sites were blocked in Belarus, and a number of print outlets were forced to stop publishing," according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists.

As of May 18, 16 journalists and other media workers were behind bars, it said.

Lukashenka has insisted he won the August 9 election and has refused to negotiate with the opposition.

Tsikhanouskaya says she was forced to leave Belarus for Lithuania a day after the August 9 poll amid threats to herself and her family.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced he will meet with his Kyrgyz counterpart, Sadyr Japarov, in the resort city of Sochi on May 24.

Speaking at a ceremony to receive credentials from incoming foreign ambassadors on May 18, Putin said that despite "successful" cooperation in several areas, the two sides will seek to strengthen strategic partnership and allied relations.

It will be the second meeting between the two leaders this year.

Japarov's first presidential trip after being elected in January was to Moscow in February, where he discussed bilateral ties with Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, and other top Russian officials.

In March, the two presidents launched the Jerooy gold refining plant, a mine operated by Russia's Alliance Group. Jerooy is Kyrgyzstan's second-largest gold deposit, holding nearly 90 tons of gold and 25 tons of silver, with annual gold output eventually reaching 5.5 tons.

Gold and other natural resources are a lynchpin of the Central Asian state's weak economy, which sends hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to Russia each year.

With reporting by TASS

SHYMKENT, Kazakhstan -- A Kazakh activist arrested in January in the southern city of Shymkent for his alleged ties with two banned opposition groups has gone on trial.

The prosecutor at the Qaratau district court said on May 18 at the start of the trial of 46-year-old Nurzhan Mukhammedov that he was charged with having links with the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement and the Koshe (Street) party.

He is also charged with insulting traffic police.

Mukhammedov, who took part in the trial via video link from a detention center due to coronavirus precautions, rejected the first charge.

He admitted to insulting traffic police, saying that they were "illegally" attempting to violate his constitutional right to free movement.

About 20 people gathered in front of the court building to express their support for Mukhammedov, saying that his trial was politically motivated.

SEE ALSO:

Kazakh Activist Starts Hunger Strike In Detention

Mukhammedov, who is known as a vocal critic of the government, held two hunger strikes while in custody, demanding all charges against him be dropped.

He has been fined and sentenced to jail terms between five days and 15 days for his previous participation in several unsanctioned rallies. Human rights organizations in Kazakhstan have recognized Mukhammedov as a political prisoner.

Several activists in the Central Asian country have been handed prison terms or parole-like sentences in recent years for their support or involvement in the activities of the DVK and its associatd Koshe party, as well as for taking part in unsanctioned rallies organized by the two groups.

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

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

MINSK -- Belarus's authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka has signed into law legislation that allows police and security forces to shoot at demonstrators.

The law, endorsed by Lukashenka on May 17, frees law enforcement officers from responsibility for damages inflicted on protesters by physical attack, firearms, combatant and special equipment if in such cases the actions are deemed "legal."

The law is part of a broad legislative move approved by lawmakers in April that severely restricts civil rights and the free flow of information amid a crackdown on the country's pro-democracy movement.

Tens of thousands of Belarusians have rallied across the country since a presidential election in August 2020 that Lukashenka claims to have won but opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya and her supporters have deemed fraudulent.

The demonstrators have demanded Lukashenka's resignation and fresh elections, but Belarus's strongman has been defiant. Security officials have arrested thousands and forced Tsikhanouskaya and other top opposition figures out of the country.

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Five Belarusian Opposition Figures: Where They Are, What Fates They Face

Several protesters have been killed in the violence and some rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used against some of those detained.

Lukashenka, who has run Belarus since 1994, and other top officials have been slapped with sanctions by the West, which refuses to recognize him as the legitimate leader of the country.

Crisis In Belarus

Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.

According to the new law endorsed by Lukashenka, police can also ban taking recordings of the dispersal of unsanctioned demonstrations, search the personal belongings and vehicles of individuals, and obtain citizens' personal data without a warrant.

The law also says that officials, law enforcement officers, judges, members of electoral bodies, and pro-government journalists are eligible for state protection, including a secured job change and plastic surgery if they face a threat to their lives, health, and property.

Though the size and frequency of demonstrations have waned in recent months, Lukashenka has ramped up the crackdown on activists and independent journalists.

Many media outlets and websites have come under pressure for covering the demonstrations and reporting on police brutality.

On May 18, financial police searched the central and regional offices of media outlets Tut.by and Hoster.by, which have closely followed the violent crackdown.

According to the websites' staff, police also searched the homes of editors for the two websites.

TASHKENT -- An Uzbek opposition politician says his party has begun a new signature drive to get registered for an autumn presidential election after its first attempt was rejected.

Khidirnazar Allaqulov told RFE/RL that Uzbekistan's Justice Ministry last week rejected his application to register his Haqiqat va Taraqqiyot (Truth and Development) Social Democratic Party, claiming many of the signatures collected by party activists for registration were invalid.

The ministry's "letter says that 27 people who signed the papers supporting our party had deceased. The ministry also said that 2,044 individuals who signed the papers later asked the ministry to cancel their signatures, as they did not know the purpose of the signature drive," Allaqulov said.

He added that the ministry's letter was "controversial," since it said it rejected the registration yet continued to check signatures.

Ministry officials confirmed to RFE/RL that Allaqulov's application had been rejected due to an insufficient number of signatures.

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev took over the country after his authoritarian predecessor Islam Karimov's death was announced on September 1, 2016.

Since then, Mirziyoev has positioned himself as a reformer, releasing political prisoners and opening his country to its neighbors and outer world, though many activists have cautioned that the reforms have not gone far enough.

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

Many supporters of Allaqulov and his party told RFE/RL in early April that they were forced by local authorities across the country to withdraw their signatures from the new party's registration application.

Allaqulov told RFE/RL that he and his associates had started collecting new signatures for the party's registration, as legislation allows a new application one month after the initial application was rejected.

He added that to avoid pressure on his party's supporters, he and his colleagues will also collect signatures from Uzbek citizens residing abroad.

Allaqulov announced the creation of the Truth and Development Social Democratic Party and his plans to run for the presidency in June 2020.

On March 31, about 20 men attacked Allaqulov in the hall of his apartment block, demanding he "give up politics" and vacate an office in Tashkent rented by his party.

SEE ALSO:

New Uzbek Opposition Party Runs Into The Same Wall As Its Predecessors

On May 4, a court in Tashkent found Allaqulov guilty of slander for accusing the group of attacking him and ordered him to pay a $470 fine.

The next presidential election will be held on October 24. Mirziyoev, who is expected to run for a second term, has not officially announced whether he plans to run.

None of the five parties represented in parliament have nominated a presidential candidate.

Aeroflot has canceled nearly all flights to Turkey in June in an extension of a suspension of flights imposed last month because of concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.

The airline said on May 17 that the suspension would remain in place pending a decision from the Russian government to resume flights to and from Turkey, a popular tourist destination for Russians.

Aeroflot said in a statement that it stopped sales and canceled all flights to Turkey for June except two flights per week permitted by the coronavirus task force.

Russia last month restricted flights to and from Turkish cities until June 1, citing a growing number of COVID-19 cases in Turkey.

Aeroflot spokesman Mikhail Demin told reporters that the company was ready to revise its schedule and increase the number of flights and open sales if the decision changed.

"We, like other carriers, are awaiting the decision of the government headquarters," he added, according to TASS.

Earlier on May 17, the Izvestia newspaper, citing a letter from Aeroflot, said the extension of the suspension would last until June 30.

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, citing an airline industry source, also reported that Russia had decided to extend the ban until June 30, but a separate source told Reuters that Moscow had yet to decide.

Ibrahim Kalin, a top adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Turkish Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy were in Russia on May 17 to discuss tourism, vaccine shipments, and other issues, state-owned Anadolu agency reported.

Russia is watching the case numbers and easing of measures in Turkey closely, Kalin told Anadolu after talks with authorities.

"We reached an agreement for the Russian vaccine to come to Turkey as soon as possible as well as steps to be taken for the tourism season, the starting of flights, and speeding up the process," he said.

With reporting by Reuters, TASS, and Anadolu

The United States will send millions more COVID-19 vaccines to other countries to help those struggling to get their populations vaccinated, President Joe Biden has announced.

Biden said the move is also aimed at restoring U.S. leadership in the global fight against the pandemic, noting efforts by China and Russia to use their donation programs to gain influence around the world.

Biden confirmed that 20 million more doses will be released over the next six weeks, bringing the total to be shipped by the end of June to 80 million and making the United States the leader in vaccine donation.

Speaking at the White House on May 17, Biden said 80 million will be five times more than any other country has shared.

"Russia and China...have donated 15 million doses. You know, there's a lot of talk about Russia and China influencing the world with vaccines. We want to lead the world with our values with this demonstration of our innovation, ingenuity, and the fundamental decency of American people," he said.

Biden added, "Just as democracies led the world in the darkness of World War II, democracy will lead the world out of this pandemic." But he said the United States would "not use our vaccines to secure favors from other countries."

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The United States, the country worst hit by the pandemic, has made strides in its vaccination program and has now administered more than 272 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, according to federal data updated on May 17.

RFE/RL's Coronavirus Coverage

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

Cases of COVID-19 and deaths have fallen to their lowest rates in months.

The 20 million additional doses announced on May 17 will include doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson&Johnson vaccines and will be on top of 60 million AstraZeneca doses the United States had already planned to give to other countries.

The AstraZeneca vaccine has not yet been authorized for use in the United States.

The White House has not provided any details about what countries will receive the shots.

The boost follows pressure on the United States to donate more vaccine to the COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme aimed largely at poorer countries, many of which have barely begun inoculation programs.

Biden's announcement came as many Western countries announced more lifting of restrictions, including a shortened nightly curfew in Italy and a decision in New York state to lift a mask mandate in most public spaces for people fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

In India, a current hot spot of the pandemic caused by a surge in infections that has overwhelmed the country's health-care system, some 90,000 Indian doctors who earned their medical degrees from Russia, China, and Ukraine have urged the government to put them to work instead of standing idle while waiting for local licenses.

Graduates from overseas medical schools have to pass local exams in India before they are allowed to practice. Some are waiting to take the exams next month. Others have already cleared the exams and are waiting for their licenses to be issued.

Najeerul Ameen, president of All India Foreign Medical Graduates Association, said the doctors must be allowed to work at such a critical juncture in the fight against the pandemic.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP

The head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has denied that his agency was behind the SolarWinds cyberattack, which was blamed on Moscow by both U.S. and British intelligence officials and resulted in U.S. sanctions against Russia.

In the attack, which was discovered in December, hackers slipped malicious code into updates of network-management software made by the U.S. company SolarWinds, which was then downloaded by several branches of the U.S. government and several U.S. and European corporations.

The move led to the compromise of nine U.S. federal agencies and hundreds of private-sector companies.

"The claims are like a bad detective novel," SVR Director Sergei Naryshkin told the BBC in Russian on May 18. Naryshkin is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Asked by the BBC if the SVR was responsible for the SolarWinds attack, Naryshkin retorted that he would be "flattered" if the SVR had been responsible for such an attack but that he could not "claim the creative achievements of others as his own."

Russia's spy chief suggested that the tactics of the operation were similar to those used by U.S. and British intelligence agencies.

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Naryshkin also disclosed that contact has been reestablished between the SVR and the head of Britain's MI6 secret intelligence service. He voiced hope that a face-to-face meeting will soon take place.

Tensions between Russia and the West continue to grow over issues including the SolarWinds cyberattack but also the military threats to Ukraine, and Russia's treatment of jailed opposition activist Aleksei Navalny.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has already imposed sanctions and expelled Russian diplomats over the multiple U.S. complaints about Russia's activities, prompting Moscow to respond with tit-for-tat measures against U.S. diplomats.

With reporting by BBC and Reuters

White House national-security adviser Jake Sullivan has phoned the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to express concern over recent tensions between the two countries, the White House has said in a statement.

Sullivan spoke with caretaker Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev after Armenia accused Azerbaijan of sending troops across the border and trying to stake claim to territory.

Azerbaijan has denied the accusation and said its forces only defended their side of the frontier.

Sullivan "emphasized that military movements near un-demarcated borders are irresponsible and provocative," National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said in the statement.

"He welcomed the ongoing communication between the two sides and both leaders' commitment to resolving this issue peacefully," Horne said.

Sullivan also "underscored the need for the two countries to conduct formal discussions to demarcate their international border."

Yerevan accused Azerbaijani forces of moving 3 1/2 kilometers into Syunik Province early on May 12 and of breaching two other sections of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border the next day.

Azerbaijan insists that its troops did not cross into Armenia and simply took up positions on the Azerbaijani side of the frontier that were not accessible in winter months.

It added that the border between the two South Caucasus states wasn't demarcated after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Armenia formally appealed on May 14 to the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to hold consultations on the border dispute.

Sullivan conveyed the U.S. commitment to achieving regional reconciliation through bilateral engagement and as a co-chair of the Minsk Group.

Co-chaired by Russia, the United States, and France, the Minsk Group still has an international mandate to mediate a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

With reporting by Reuters

Amnesty International has marked the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersex-phobia, and Transphobia by renewing its calls on Iran to repeal laws criminalizing consensual same-sex relations.

The London-based human rights watchdog said in an analysis published on May 17 that the recent "horrifying" killing of a 20-year-old gay man in Iran "has shed new light on how the criminalization of consensual same-sex sexual conduct and gender nonconformity perpetuates systemic violence and discrimination" against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people (LGBT).

The killing also "highlights the urgent need for the Iranian authorities to enact and implement laws to protect the human rights" of LGBT people from discrimination, harassment, assaults, and other abuses from state and nonstate actors. it said.

Alireza Fazeli Monfared was reportedly killed on May 4 by his half-brother and cousins who dumped his body under a tree near Ahvaz the capital of the southwestern province of Khuzestan.

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Authorities said that Fazeli Monfared's throat was slit and announced an investigation, but no suspect has been arrested so far.

Amnesty International urged the authorities to "promptly conduct an independent, impartial and effective criminal investigation into the murder" and "bring those responsible to account in fair trials and without recourse to the death penalty."

"Investigations must examine whether the crime was motivated by hostility and prejudice on the grounds of his gender identity and sexual orientation."

Amnesty quoted individuals who had known Fazeli Monfared as saying he had faced "years of homophobic and transphobic harassment and death threats by several male relatives."

The sources said he had never reported such incidents to the police "out of a fear of facing violence and prosecution at the hands of the authorities."

Iranian laws criminalize consensual same-sex relations, including through the application of the death penalty, and flogging, and ban clothing, hairstyles, and other forms of gender expression that do not conform to strict gender "norms" enforced by the establishment, according to Amnesty International.

"These laws foster a permissive climate for homophobic and transphobic hate crimes and legitimize violent, including deadly, attacks against people on the grounds of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity," Diana Eltahawy, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at the group, said in a statement.

"The Iranian authorities' brazen disregard for the lives and safety of LGBT people and the prevailing climate of impunity for such crimes raise the alarm that his murder could go unpunished."

MOSCOW -- City authorities have refused to approve a public exhibition marking the centenary of the late Russian human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov.

Proposed by the Moscow Sakharov Center, the exhibition was titled Andrei Dmitriyevich Sakharov: Anxiety and Hope.

It was planned to open on May 17, four days ahead of Sakharov's 100th birthday, as a series of street displays in Moscow.

The proposed exhibition was meant to include photographs of Sakharov taken by Soviet and Russian photographers, as well as quotes from his memoirs, articles, and speeches.

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The Moscow government's Department of Culture announced on March 23 that it was ready to provide photo display stands for the exhibition.

But the Sakharov Center said a model of the exhibition that it sent to the Department of Culture had been rejected.

The organization, which has not received an official letter with a reason for the decision, says it is now seeking a formal explanation.

It said a representative from the Department of Culture first informed the Sakharov Center on April 30 that the content of the exhibition was unacceptable.

But the organization said it was given another reason for the rejection on May 14, when a representative of the department said the exhibition stands were needed for another project -- an exhibition commemorating the Battle of Moscow, which took place from October 1941 to January 1942, and the May 9, 1945 World War II victory against Nazi Germany.

"We consider both the decision itself, whoever made it, and the wording of the refusal to be unconvincing and shameful," a Sakharov Center statement said.

"Andrei Dmitriyevich Sakharov is not threatened with historical oblivion," but officials in Moscow are trying to "fence off the legacy of one of their best sons," it said.

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Bosnia-Herzegovina's predominantly Serbian entity, Republika Srpska, and neighboring Serbia have launched the construction of a hydropower plant on the Drina River despite opposition from environmental organizations and Bosnia's central government.

The prime ministers of Republika Srpska and Serbia, Radovan Viskovic and Ana Brnabic, on May 17 laid the foundation stone for the construction of the at least 93-megawatt (MW) Buk Bijela dam and plant, near the eastern Bosnian town of Foca.

The project is expected to take four years to complete and cost 200 million euros ($243 million). It is the first phase of a larger joint project that would include building two more hydropower plants on the upper stretch of the Drina in Bosnia.

Buk Bijela will be the largest and most important of the three planned power plants, with a dam length of nearly 200 meters.

"We are proud that we are building it with Serbia...it means life, connection, survival, and prosperity," Viskovic told reporters.

The Bosnian War ended in a U.S.-brokered peace agreement in 1995 that divided Bosnia into two entities -- the Muslim and Croat federation and Republika Srpska -- held together by joint central institutions.

Bosnian Foreign Minister Bisera Turkovic warned Serbia that its role in the Buk Bijela project, which has not been approved by Bosnia's central authorities, could damage bilateral ties.

"The Serbian authorities must know that, by entering the Buk Bijela project...they risk not only economic damage but also do not contribute to good neighborly relations," Turkovic tweeted.

Environmentalists from Bosnia, Serbia, and Montenegro, which all have borders on the Drina, have also opposed the project, saying it would damage the environment.

Brnabic defended the project, saying it would generate electricity using renewable resources and that thermal power plants need replacing.

"Everything has an impact on the environment and I think that care should be taken to keep that impact as small as possible," she said.

In December 2020, members of Bosnia's parliament launched a Constitutional Court case against Republika Srpska's decision to issue a concession for the construction of the three hydropower plants, saying decisions on state property such as rivers on international borders can only be made at the state level.

A case about the Buk Bijela dam is also pending at the Espoo Convention Implementation Committee due to Bosnia's failure to consult Montenegro about the environmental impact of the plants.

Bosnia's energy production capacity consists of 2,083 MW from larger hydropower plants and 2,065 MW in coal-fired thermal power plants, according to Reuters. Small hydropower plants, wind, solar, and biomass accounts for a further 112.15 MW.

With reporting by Reuters and Balkan Insight

BATKEN, Kyrgyzstan -- Several Kyrgyz and Tajik nationals were briefly detained along a disputed segment of the border between the two Central Asian states as tensions in the area continue to simmer.

Authorities in Kyrgyzstan's southern region of Batken said that residents in the Kyrgyz village of Ak-Sai on May 17 stopped three Tajik nationals and turned them over to local police to investigate whether they were legally in the country.

Meanwhile, authorities said that three Kyrgyz citizens were detained on the territory of Tajikistan's Vorukh exclave within Kyrgyz territory the same day.

However, Zubaidullo Shomadov, a spokesman for the government of the nearby Tajik city of Isfara, told RFE/RL that two, not three Kyrgyz were detained.

According to the Batken regional officials, several hours later all of the detained individuals were released on both sides of the border. Shomadov also confirmed that all of the detained individuals had been released after talks between officials.

The deputy chief physician of the Batken regional hospital, Ulukbek Aijigitov, told RFE/RL that the three Kyrgyz nationals released from Tajik custody had been beaten in custody, were diagnosed with injuries such as concussions and sustained multiple bruises.

The incident took place about three weeks after deadly clashes in areas between Kyrgyz and Tajik military left scores of casualties on both sides.

The conflict broke out on April 28 and lasted for almost three days after the Tajiks tried to install security cameras on disputed territory.

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Many border areas in Central Asia have been restive since the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.

The situation is particularly complicated near the numerous exclaves in the volatile Ferghana Valley, where the borders of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan meet.

In recent decades, there have been many incidents along the border, which in some cases involved gunfire.

A Moscow court has upheld a fine imposed on Twitter over its refusal to remove posts related to unsanctioned rallies at which demonstrators expressed their support for jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny.

The Taganka district court on May 17 ruled that a decision last month to fine Twitter 3.2 million rubles ($43,200) for leaving the posts, which urged teenagers to take part in pro-Navalny rallies in January, was correct and that Twitter's complaint against the ruling "was not satisfied."

On April 2, an arm of the court also ordered Twitter to pay two other fines -- one of 3.3 million rubles and one of 2.4 million rubles -- bringing the total penalty imposed on Twitter at 8.9 million rubles ($126,150). Twitter has appealed the two other fines as well, with rulings still pending.

The court also said on May 17 that it had registered four new protocols against Facebook on similar accusations. Fines for those protocols could total 16 million rubles, which along with the previous protocols against the social network would bring the total amount to 56 million rubles ($750,000).

Russian officials said earlier in May that they had also filed similar protocols against Google.

The moves are the latest in a major dispute Moscow has with global social-media platforms over content allegedly related to political protests.

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Russian critics of the Kremlin routinely use international social networks to get around state control of the media and reach tens of millions of citizens with their anti-government messages.

Navalny in January used U.S. social-media networks to organize some of the largest anti-government protests in almost a decade.

Russian authorities have gone as far as to threaten to ban social-media networks. Even though they have recently backed away from such threats, Russian regulators have punitively slowed user connections.

However, Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor said on May 17 that Twitter had started removing some of the banned content and therefore restrictions on its access across Russia had been partially lifted.

"It was decided not to block Twitter services and remove restrictions to access it in fixed networks, while continuing to keep Twitter traffic slow on mobile devices," Roskomnadzor said in its statement, adding that Twitter must remove all content declared by the regulator as banned for a full cancellation of all of the restrictions imposed on the social network.

With reporting by Interfax, TASS, and RIA Novosti