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Iran Harassing Families Of Those Killed In Downed Ukrainian Plane, Says Rights Watchdog
Iranian security agencies have harassed and abused families of the victims of the Ukrainian passenger jet shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) after takeoff from Tehran last year, Human Rights Watch said on May 27.
"Iran's Revolutionary Guard killed 176 people without a shred of accountability, and now Iran's brutal security agencies are abusing victims' family members to squash any hope for justice," said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
Days after official denials in the wake of the January 2020 tragedy, Iran admitted that an IRGC unit had inadvertently shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 when it fired two missiles amid heightened tensions with the United States over the U.S. drone strike that killed top general, Qasem Soleimani, in Baghdad.
Iran's final report into the incident cited "human error" and a broken radar communication system with a military unit as reason the plane was shot down. But Tehran has come under criticism from the UN, Canada, and Ukraine for misleading statements and lack of transparency about the investigation. Iranian authorities have also provided little public information about the 10 people indicted for their role in the incident.
The majority of the victims were Iranians and Canadians, whose families have demanded transparency and accountability. The Iranian government has allocated $150,000 to compensate the family of each passenger, but some families have refused the money.
Human Rights Watch said it spoke to 31 family members of victims and other people with direct knowledge of Iranian authorities' treatment of victims' families. They said that Iranian security agents had arbitrarily detained, summoned, interrogated, tortured, and otherwise mistreated victims' family members.
The agencies also interfered with burial and memorial gatherings in an apparent attempt to crush calls for accountability.
Human Rights Watch said at least 16 people claimed that security agencies threatened them not to participate in media interviews and summoned victims' relatives or friends who attended memorials. In one case, security agents tortured an individual in custody and in another instance threatened a victim’s family member with prosecution for speaking out against authorities.
After Iran admitted its forces shot down the plane, protests that broke out in several Iranian cities were met with rubber bullets, pepper spray, and tear gas. Human Rights Watch said courts have sentenced at least 20 people in connection with the protests.
"Iranian authorities have continued to harass and pressure people speaking out publicly about the government's mishandling of the investigation and demands for accountability," Page said.
"All governments involved in the investigation of downed Flight 752 should ensure that the rights of victims' families are protected to pursue genuine accountability, including holding those responsible criminally liable and providing families with adequate compensation." he added.
- By RFE/RL
Russian Court Fines Twitter, Google, TikTok For Refusing To Delete Content
A Moscow court has fined Twitter 19 million rubles ($259,000) for failing to delete content Russia deems illegal, in the latest chapter of a long-running dispute between authorities and the social network giant.
Russia has already imposed a punitive slowdown on Twitter for refusing to delete content banned by the Russian government since March, part of a broader stand-off between Moscow and big tech companies to beef up what it calls Internet sovereignty.
State communications regulator Roskomnadzor earlier this month partially halted the slowdown after Twitter deleted more than 90 percent of illegal content.
Roskomnadzor claims the content includes posts containing child pornography, drug abuse information, or calls for minors to commit suicide, accusations that Twitter denies.
The Tagansky District Court in the Russian capital said on May 27 that it issued Twitter with fines for six different administrative offenses, totaling 19 million rubles.
Twitter was also fined 8.9 million rubles in April.
TikTok and Google, which had both been fined earlier for similar offenses, received smaller fines on May 27.
Google was fined 3.5 million rubles ($47,700) for the repeated failure of the search engine operator to perform its duties.
The tech giant had already been fined 6 million rubles ($81,700) in three administrative cases on May 25 for the refusal to remove the prohibited content.
Tiktok was fined 1.5 million rubles ($20,425).
On May 25, the Tagansky court also fined Facebook over its failure to delete content deemed by Moscow as illegal.
THe U.S.-based social network giant was told to pay 26 million rubles ($353,000).
That case involved eight reports about material posted on Facebook that Russian authorities wanted Facebook to remove.
Repeat offenses can be punishable by a fine of up to 10 percent of the company's total annual revenue, Roskomnadzor has said, but it is unclear whether it would take such a step.
Roskomnadzor earlier on May 27 said it was not yet planning to slow down the speed of Google or Facebook, as it has done with Twitter, but warned it could take more radical steps.
With reporting by Reuters and TASS
- By RFE/RL
Russian Supreme Court Backs Government In Patent Dispute Over Remdesivir COVID Treatment
Russia's Supreme Court has rejected a lawsuit by U.S. biotech company Gilead Sciences that challenged the right of a Russian government decree to allow a domestic pharmaceutical company to produce a generic version of Gilead’s antiviral drug remdesivir without consent.
The Supreme Court said on May 27 that the government decision to grant Russian drugmaker Pharmasyntez permission to produce and sell the anti-COVID-19 treatment without the consent of the patent holder was valid due to the emergency conditions created during the coronavirus pandemic.
Remdesivir, originally developed to treat hepatitis C, has been approved in the United States and dozens of countries to help treat COVID-19.
Last December, Russia granted Pharmasyntez a compulsory license, which gives a company permission to produce and sell a patented product without the consent of the patent owner for one year.
The decree stipulates that Pharmasyntez must pay Gilead an unspecified amount in compensation, which to date has not been paid.
Pharmasyntez produces remdesivir under the name Remdeform. Earlier this week, Russia shipped Remdeform to India as part of its humanitarian aid contributions to the South Asian country, which is fighting a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Gilead argued in court that it repeatedly expressed its ability to supply the drug to Russia and that the government decree was issued only to save money.
Pharmasyntez has registered Remdeform for a maximum price of 7,400 rubles ($100), while Gilead had offered a rate of 28,000 rubles ($380).
The government contested in court that it had no option but to issue the compulsory license to expedite COVID-19 treatment and that at the time Gilead had not sent an application to reduce the cost of the drug in line with laws on the maximum selling prices for vital and essential medicines.
“Proceeding from this, a critical situation developed when, from January 1, not a single drug could be in the territory of the Russian Federation. At the same time, as of January 1, 2021, there were 7,092 patients who were on artificial lung ventilation. This is a severe form of a disease that required serious treatment. Therefore, under these conditions, the government is taking the decision to grant the right to use several patents for the production of the drug remdesivir, "said the deputy head of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service, Sergei Puzyrevsky.
The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service also argued that Gilead discriminated against Russia by allowed its drug to be produced by seven manufacturers in other countries at sale prices of less than $100.
Before asking for permission from the government, Pharmasyntez had asked Gilead for permission to produce the drug but was denied.
With reporting by Reuters and Interfax
- By RFE/RL
Journalists In Belarus Face 'Disastrous' Situation, Media Watchdog Chief Says After Filing Complaint Over Plane Arrest
The head of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has paid a visit to Lithuania in a show of support for journalists in Belarus, who he said are facing a "disastrous situation."
Christophe Deloire spoke in Vilnius on May 27 following talks with Lithuanian prosecutors who have launched an investigation into the recent forced landing of a Lithuanian-bound flight in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, where authorities immediately arrested a journalist who was on board.
RSF said it filed a complaint in Lithuania on May 25 against Belarusian authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka and any other person investigators identify as responsible for the "hijacking of an aircraft with terrorist intent."
Lithuania's prosecutor-general has announced the launch of an investigation into the incident.
On May 23, Belarusian authorities scrambled a military jet to escort a Ryanair passenger plane, which had departed Athens for Vilnius, to Minsk over what turned out to be a false bomb report.
Once the aircraft landed, police detained journalist and opposition activist Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega, his girlfriend who was traveling with him.
The moves have drawn international condemnation, with the EU cutting air links with the increasingly isolated Eastern European nation. The bloc's foreign ministers are meeting in Lisbon on May 27 to discuss further sanctions on the country.
"It is important to continue acting, to consider every way to support effectively the journalists in Belarus in future because they are now facing a disastrous situation," Deloire said in Vilnius.
"If you want results -- if you want the liberation of the journalist detained today, if you want the end of repression against journalists and generally against the whole civilian population in Belarus -- there are political pressures and economic sanctions that can be put on countries but there is also judicial action," said Deloire.
Lukashenka and his allies are already under a series of Western sanctions over a brutal crackdown on mass protests and independent journalists that followed his disputed reelection to a sixth term in August 2020.
Amid international uproar over the grounding of the Ryanair flight, Lukashenka on May 24 signed into law legal amendments severely restricting civil rights and the free flow of information.
RSF ranked Belarus 158th out of 180 in the world in its 2021 World Press Freedom Index.
With reporting by AFP
- By RFE/RL
Iranian Supreme Leader Backs Disqualification Of Key Presidential Candidates
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has expressed support for the Guardians Council's disqualification of prominent moderate candidates seeking to run in the country's June 18 presidential election.
He also called on Iranians to vote in the election, which comes amid discontent over the economy crippled by U.S. sanctions and calls to boycott the vote due to tough vetting by the Guardians Council and other grievances.
"The honorable Guardians Council did what it ought to do and deemed necessary based on its duties," Khamenei, who has the last say in all matters in the Islamic republic, said on May 27, according to his website.
"Dear nation of Iran, do not pay attention to those who promote that voting is useless...the outcome of the election lasts for years. Participate in the elections," Khamenei was quoted as saying.
The Islamic establishment often uses usually high turnouts in the country’s elections to claim legitimacy.
Many have blasted the hard-line council over the extreme vetting, including Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the founder of the Islamic republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
He was quoted by Iranian media as saying that "if I were in the place of approved candidates, I would withdraw [from the race.]"
Iran's outgoing President Hassan Rohani said on May 26 that he had appealed to Khamenei to intervene and widen the field in next month’s vote.
Rohani, who cannot seek a third term, said during a weekly cabinet meeting on May 26 that he wished the Guardians Council would select more candidates to ensure greater "competition" in the June vote.
The Guardians Council has approved only seven candidates, including two relatively unknown moderates, to run in the vote where, due to the vetting, hard-line judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi is in a dominant position.
Former parliament speaker Ali Larijani who was considered Raisi’s most serious rival, and Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, a reformist, were prevented from running.
With reporting by Reuters
Trial For 16 Accused Of Human Trafficking Opens In Southern Kazakhstan
Sixteen people have gone on trial in southern Kazakhstan in a high-profile case related to human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
A court in the city of Shymkent officially began considering the case on May 27.
The defendants are facing charges including creating and participating in a transnational criminal organization, trafficking people, including minors, and money laundering.
Twelve women are among the accused, who also include citizens of Kyrgyzstan and Russia.
A spokesman from the Shymkent court said there were 38 victims in the case, including two minors.
In February, Kazakh authorities said they were investigating alleged members of a criminal group accused of recruiting young women and girls from southern regions of Kazakhstan and sending them to Bahrain for forced prostitution.
The victims were said to be from low-income families.
- By RFE/RL
Swiss Firm Doesn't See 'Credible Evidence' Backing Belarusian Claim On Plane Diversion
E-mail provider Proton Technologies AG says it has not seen "credible evidence" to back up the claim by Belarus that it received an e-mailed bomb threat before diverting a passenger plane to Minsk.
Authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka has claimed that Belarusian authorities on May 23 received a warning in an e-mail from Switzerland about a bomb on a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius.
The plane was then escorted by a Belarusian fighter jet to Minsk, even though the Vilnius airport was closer.
When the plane landed, a journalist critical of Lukashenka and his girlfriend were immediately detained by police. No bomb was found on the plane, which hours later traveled onward to its original destination.
"We haven't seen credible evidence that the Belarusian claims are true," ProtonMail, a division of Swiss-based Proton Technologies, said in a May 27 statement, adding that the e-mail was sent after the aircraft had been forced to change course.
ProtonMail said it will assist European authorities in any investigation of the incident, which has sparked global outrage.
Belarusian officials have said the e-mail was sent in English via an encrypted e-mail service, purportedly by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Hamas has angrily denied the assertion.
ProtonMail told RFE/RL in an email after the May 27 statement that the copy of an email leaked to the press was not obtained from the company, and due to the encryption utilized by ProtonMail, "we cannot access or verify the contents of the message."
"However, we are able to see when the message was sent, and we can confirm that the message in question was sent after the plane was redirected," it said.
"Due to the usage of ProtonMail by Belarusian citizens to protect their privacy, attempts have been made by the Lukashenka government to block access to ProtonMail since summer 2020. We condemn these actions, and also the recent actions involving Ryanair flight 4978."
Meanwhile, Lina Beisiene, a spokeswoman for the Lithuanian airports, told the Baltic News Service on May 23 that Lithuanian officials had been notified that the plane's diversion was prompted by a conflict between passengers and the flight crew.
However, she said, Lithuania received no information about a bomb threat or other details from Belarus.
After a wave of pro-democracy protests and Western sanctions following a disputed presidential election in August 2020, the diversion of the Ryanair plane has renewed pressure on Lukashenka, with Western leaders demanding the release of journalist Raman Pratasevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega.
The EU had already begun to cut air links with the increasingly isolated Eastern European country and the bloc's foreign ministers are meeting in Lisbon on May 27 to discuss further sanctions on the country.
The Montreal, Canada-based International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) also will hold an urgent meeting on May 27 to discuss Belarus's move to forcibly divert the Ryanair plane.
With reporting by Reuters and TASS
- By RFE/RL
Belarusian Rights Group Declares Sapega A Political Prisoner
The Belarusian rights group Vyasna has designated Sofia Sapega a political prisoner after a passenger flight she was on from Athens to Vilnius was diverted to Minsk, where she was detained along with her boyfriend, journalist Raman Pratasevich.
The Minsk-based human rights group said Sapega, a Russian national, and four others had been added to its list of political prisoners, as their detention should be considered "as politically motivated persecution in connection with the exercise of freedom of peaceful assembly and expression of their opinion on the announced results of the presidential elections in the Republic of Belarus."
Sapega and Prasatevich, who Vyasna had already declared a political prisoner, have been held in detention since May 23, when their plane was diverted to the Belarusian capital.
In a video circulated by pro-government Telegram channels on May 25, Sapega said she was an editor of an opposition Telegram channel, the Black Book of Belarus, which publishes personal information about security officials who help authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka stay in power in a disputed election last year.
The 23-year-old, who has been remanded in pretrial detention for two months after being charged with a criminal offense, looked uncomfortable and spoke quickly while delivering the comments, prompting opposition officials to say the statements appear forced.
Opposition leaders have said that a similar statement by Pratasevich on May 24 also looked forced and that he appeared to have been tortured. (RFE/RL has decided not to publish or link to either video.)
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Ekho Moskvy on May 27 that a Russian consul was granted access to Sapega.
"We are doing everything to ensure that the Russian national's rights are respected," Zakharova said.
Vyasna said the four others designated as political prisoners are Alyaksandr Khrapko, Ihar Vinokurov, Eduard Kudynyuk, and Alyaksandr Vinyarski. All have been detained for their participation in protests against Lukashenka, whom opposition leaders say rigged a president election in August 2020 to claim his sixth consecutive term in power.
The EU, United States, Canada, and other Western countries have imposed sanctions against the regime of Lukashenka, who has led a violent crackdown on dissent in the country since mass protests broke out over the disputed results of the presidential election.
With reporting by TASS
Khodorkovsky-Founded Opposition Group Says It's Ending Activities In Russia
Open Russia, a pro-democracy movement founded by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, says it has decided to end its operations.
The decision by the Russia-based civic organization was made to protect its supporters from further "harassment" by the Russian authorities due to a bill toughening the law on "undesirable organizations," Executive Director Andrei Pivovarov said on May 27.*
"We do not need new fines and criminal cases, and we want to protect our supporters," Pivovarov told the independent news website MBKh Media, which was also founded by Khodorkovsky.
The move comes after Russian police last week carried out searches of the offices of Open Russia and MBKh in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Open Russia activists have regularly faced pressure from the authorities since its designation as an "undesirable organization" by Russian prosecutors in 2017, including administrative and criminal charges.
The "undesirable organization" law, adopted in May 2015, was part of a series of regulations pushed by the Kremlin that squeezed many nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations that received funding from foreign sources -- mainly from Europe and the United States.
MBKh Media quoted a human rights lawyer who accompanied the police during last week's searches as saying that the raids both on its offices and those of Open Russia were being conducted as part of an investigation into a criminal case against Nizhny Novgorod activist and entrepreneur Mikhail Iosilevich regarding activities with an "undesirable organization."
Iosilevich allegedly provided premises to train election observers prior to regional elections in September.
Amnesty International also protested the move, pointing to Iosilevich's case.
"Open Russia may be gone, but those associated or alleged to be associated with it are still facing heavy reprisals," Amnesty said in a statement on May 27.
"Mikhail Iosilevich, an activist prosecuted and deprived of his liberty solely on suspicion of collaborating with the movement, remains in pre-trial detention while his health deteriorates.
"We insist on his immediate release and an end to all politically motivated prosecutions under the "undesirable organizations" law, Amnesty said.
With reporting by Reuters and MBKh Media
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story called Open Russia a "British-based" pro-democracy movement.
- By RFE/RL
EU Criticizes Russia For Labeling Three German NGOs 'Undesirable'
The European Union has rejected a decision by Russian prosecutors to designate three German nongovernmental groups as "undesirable organizations," calling the move "the most recent example of the Russian authorities' disregard for a vibrant civil society."
"The decision by the Russian prosecutor-general ultimately harms the interests of Russian people and possibilities for open and free dialogue," EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell's spokesman said in a statement on May 27, a day after the designation of Forum Russischsprachiger Europaer e.V., Zentrum fur die Liberale Moderne GmbH, and Deutsch-Russischer Austausch e.V as "undesirable."
The "undesirable organization" law, adopted in May 2015, was part of a series of regulations pushed by the Kremlin that squeezed many nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations that received funding from foreign sources -- mainly from Europe and the United States.
In his statement, Borrell's spokesman Peter Stano said the EU "fully supports the key role played by independent NGOs in developing mutual understanding across borders and improving relations between countries."
"Nothing in the activities of these NGOs justifies this step," he added, calling on the Russian authorities to reverse their decision and to "contribute to the promotion of people-to-people contacts to the benefit of both Russia and the European Union."
IFJ Warns Of Harassment Of Journalists In Iran As Election Campaign Starts
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned Iran's use of the judiciary to harass and prosecute journalists for "simply doing their job" and warned of increased harassment of media workers ahead of a presidential election next month.
The watchdog noted pressure put recently on some journalists who had sought to report on the background and alleged human rights violations committed by Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line cleric in charge of Iran's judiciary, as evidence of growing harassment on independent reporting.
The IFJ said some critical journalists have been subjected to pressure and "a few of them" were summoned to appear before judicial or security authorities.
Raisi is one of seven candidates who have been approved by the Guardians Council to run in the June 18 vote.
"This is yet another example of how the Iranian government uses the legal system to clamp down on independent voices in the country," IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said.
"Iranian journalists must be able to report about the presidential campaign free from judicial warnings and pressures from the authorities," he added.
Earlier this week the Interior Ministry said the council had approved Raisi, Mohsen Rezai, Saeed Jalili, Amirhossein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi, Abdolnasser Hemmati, Mohsen Mehralizadeh, and Alireza Zakani to run in the election.
The exclusion of several high-profile allies of outgoing President Hassan Rohani has put Raisi in a dominant position for the upcoming election.
He's the best-known candidate of the seven hopefuls, has close ties to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and ran against Rohani in the last presidential election, in 2017.
Rohani, a relative moderate whose government is taking part in talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, cannot seek reelection after having served two consecutive four-year terms.
On May 26 he said he has urged Khamenei to widen the field in the campaign to increase competition, which is "the heart of elections."
- By RFE/RL
Turkmenistan Urged To Stop Threatening, Harassing Families Of Exiled Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has joined human rights organizations in urging the authoritarian leadership of Turkmenistan to immediately end the practice of threatening and harassing exiled journalists' family members and allow all Turkmen journalists living abroad to return to the Central Asian country and work there in safety.
Officers of the Ministry of National Security have "harassed and threatened" the relatives of two journalists -- Rozybai Jumamuradov and Devlet Bayhan -- on a number of occasions since March, the New York-based media freedom watchdog said in a statement on May 26.
It cited reports by the independent Vienna-based news site Khronika Turkmenistana, a joint statement by four human rights organizations, as well as Jumamuradov and Bayhan, who spoke to CPJ.
"The abhorrent practice of exerting pressure on journalists in exile by harassing their family members back home must stop immediately," said Gulnoza Said, CPJ's Europe and Central Asia program coordinator.
"Instead of diverting vast resources into tracking and persecuting critical voices, Turkmen authorities should focus on addressing the serious social and political issues that these voices raise."
Earlier this month, four leading human rights groups -- Human Rights Watch, the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights, International Partnership for Human Rights, and Amnesty International – criticized Turkmen authorities for "threatening" the relatives of Jumamuradov, Bayhan, and other exiled dissidents.
President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has long been accused of suppressing dissent and making few changes in the restrictive country since he came to power after the death of autocrat Saparmurat Niyazov in 2006.
Jumamuradov, a former correspondent of RFE/RL in Turkmenistan who currently resides in Turkey, is an outspoken critic of the government. He is a reporter working with Khronika Turkmenistana.
Bayhan is based in Germany, where he says he is applying for refugee status. He collaborates with Khronika Turkmenistana and runs a video blog critical of the Turkmen authorities.
In one episode on May 4, Turkmen security services in Lebap region summoned Jumamuradov's nephew, cursed and shouted at him, and threatened to imprison him and his parents because of their contacts with Jumamuradov, the journalist said.
They also summoned the boy's mother to the police station and interrogated and intimidated her in the presence of her son before releasing them.
On May 17, the school director told Jumamuradov's 16-year-old niece that she could "forget about good grades" in upcoming exams on account of her contact with her uncle and the May 13 statement by the four human rights groups, according to the journalist and Khronika Turkmenistana.
Jumamuradov told CPJ he didn't feel safe in Turkey and was forced to frequently change addresses to evade the Turkmen security services.
The group quoted Bayhan as saying that national security officers had called on his relatives in the Mary region on "numerous occasions" since March 24, threatening to "make their lives hell" unless they convinced him to quit his journalistic and opposition activities.
Two of his relatives were fired from their jobs in early April in retaliation for his activism, he said, and officers warned one of his family members, whose son serves in the army, that he might not return alive unless Bayhan quit his activities.
Azerbaijan Captures Six Armenian Soldiers In Latest Border Incident
Azerbaijani forces have captured six Armenian servicemen amid growing border tensions between the two South Caucasus neighbors after last year's war over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, prompting calls from Washington for both sides to "urgently and peacefully" resolve the issue.
Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said the Armenian soldiers were seized in Azerbaijan's Kalbacar district early on May 27 as they tried to cross the border to place mines on supply routes leading to Azerbaijani Army positions on the border.
The Defense Ministry later said a military vehicle in the Kalbajar district hit a mine near the Armenian border without providing additional information. There were no official reports of casualties.
Armenia’s Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian told a cabinet meeting that the six "abducted" servicemen were planting mines to strengthen the border on Armenian territory and installing warning signs. He rejected Azerbaijan’s claim that the Armenian troops' action was a provocation.
Pashinian suggested that both Armenian and Azerbaijani troops pull back from the disputed border and international observers monitor the area pending a border demarcation agreement.
"If the situation is not resolved this provocation could inevitably lead to a large-scale clash," he said.
However, the Armenian Defense Ministry said that its six soldiers were captured while carrying out engineering work in the border area of Armenia's Gegharkunik region.
"Necessary measures are being taken to return the captured servicemen," the ministry added.
Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian later told a cabinet meeting that the six "abducted" servicemen were planting mines to strengthen the border on Armenian territory and installing warning signs.
Earlier this week, Yerevan and Baku blamed each other for border shoot-outs that Armenia said claimed the life of one of its soldiers.
The U.S. State Department voiced concern about the border incidents, including the detention of several Armenian soldiers by Baku.
"We call on both sides to urgently and peacefully resolve this incident. We also continue to call on Azerbaijan to release immediately all prisoners of war and other detainees, and we remind Azerbaijan of its obligations under international humanitarian law to treat all detainees humanely," it said in a statement on May 27.
Armenia had previously accused Azerbaijani troops of crossing several kilometers into its Syunik and Gegharkunik provinces and trying to stake a claim to territory. Azerbaijan insisted that its troops simply took up positions on the Azerbaijani side of the frontier that were not accessible in winter months.
In a statement on May 27, the Armenian Foreign Ministry accused Azerbaijan's military and political leadership of "inflammatory activities" aimed at "further exacerbating tensions, which can seriously undermine regional peace and stability."
Two days earlier, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry accused Armenia of “deliberately fueling tensions…in the border zone” by disseminating “lies.”
The border tensions erupted months after the two South Caucasus neighbors ended a six-week war over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The conflict, which claimed at least 6,900 lives, ended in November with a Moscow-brokered cease-fire that saw Armenia ceding swaths of territory that ethnic Armenians had controlled for decades.
The truce is being monitored by some 2,000 Russian peacekeepers.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but has been controlled by ethnic Armenians since the early 1990s.
The ongoing escalation between Yerevan and Baku comes ahead of Armenian parliamentary elections on June 20.
Pashinian announced the vote under pressure from opposition groups and street demonstrators, who had staged rallies demanding his resignation over his handling of the war.
He rejected the criticism, saying he had no choice but to concede or see his country's forces suffer even bigger losses.
- By RFE/RL
EU Discusses Economic Sanctions On Belarus; G7 Urges Pratasevich's 'Immediate And Unconditional' Release
European Union foreign ministers are discussing possible economic sanctions against Belarus as the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized countries called for journalist Raman Pratasevich's "immediate and unconditional release" amid a wave of international condemnation over Pratasevich's arrest after a flight he was travelling on was diverted to Minsk by Belarusian authorities.
"We will start discussing implementation of the sectorial and economic sanctions," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on May 27 as he entered the meeting between foreign ministers in Lisbon, adding that the hijacking of the plane and the detention of Pratasevich and his girlfriend was completely unacceptable.
Borrell added that work on a new round of sanctions on Belarusian individuals was at an advanced stage, but he didn't provide more details.
Several ministers have said EU sanctions should target sectors that most benefit the Belarusian leadership, such as the oil and potash sectors.
"It is clear that we will not be satisfied with small sanctions steps, but that we aim to target the economic structure and financial transactions in Belarus significantly with sanctions," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters in Lisbon.
"We really need to find the sectors, the companies, who actually benefit the regime, but not hurting the people," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said, suggesting the oil-products sector was an option.
Another possibility floated would be the potash sector, according to Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jean Asselborn.
Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka and his allies are already under a series of Western sanctions over a brutal crackdown on mass protests that followed his disputed reelection to a sixth term in August 2020.
Meanwhile, foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) major industrialized nations called on May 27 for Pratasevich's "immediate and unconditional release."
"We demand the immediate and unconditional release" of Pratasevich, "as well as all other journalists and political prisoners held in Belarus," a joint statement published by the British government said.
The ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain, and the United States, along with the European Union "condemn in the strongest terms the unprecedented action by the Belarusian authorities," the statement added.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) agreed on May 27 to probe the forced grounding of the plane. The ICAO's 36-nation governing council acted after the United States and several allies demanded an investigation into the incident.
The ICAO would produce an interim report by June 25, said Irish Transport Minister Eamon Ryan. It will be a fact-finding investigation designed mainly to determine whether international aviation rules were breached. The ICAO has little scope to punish member states other than by suspending voting rights.
The Ryanair flight was diverted after Lukashenka ordered a MiG-29 fighter jet to accompany the aircraft because Belarusian authorities had received information there was a bomb on board the plane.
The threat turned out to be a hoax, though some critics have questioned the veracity of whether there was really a warning at all.
Europe's aviation regulator has already urged all airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace for safety reasons after the EU began to cut air links with the increasingly isolated Eastern European nation.
Belarusian national flag carrier Belavia said it had been forced to cancel flights to seven European countries and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad until October 30 due to flight bans.
In his first public comments about the incident, Lukashenka vehemently dismissed the outrage on May 26 and accused the West of crossing "many red lines" with its reaction to the incident.
In an address to parliament, the Belarusian strongman, who has ruled the country since 1994, warned that Belarus was on the brink of an "icy war" with its enemies trying to undermine his rule.
Lukashenka continues to enjoy support from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is hosting him for a meeting on May 28.
Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said May 26 there was no reason to doubt Lukashenka's version of events.
The 26-year-old Pratasevich is facing charges of being behind civil disturbances, an offense punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
He was a key administrator of the Telegram channel Nexta-Live, which has been covering the protests that broke out in Belarus following last year's presidential election.
With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and RFE/RL's Belarus Service
Ukraine Unhappy With Lack Of Progress In Joining NATO As Kyiv Is Not Invited To Summit
Ukraine has decried the lack of progress in NATO's "open-door" policy to Ukrainian membership and said it could not comprehend why it wasn't invited to the bloc's summit next month.
NATO meets on June 14 in Brussels in a push to improve transatlantic ties under U.S. President Joe Biden amid growing tensions with Russia.
"We understand the desire of the allies to hold a closed summit ... but we do not understand how it is possible not to invite Ukraine," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on May 26.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy earlier this month called on NATO to beef up its presence in the Black Sea region and asked Washington to back Kyiv's bid for a NATO membership action plan at the summit.
Zelenskiy's plea came as Russia earlier this year deployed more than 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine and in occupied Crimea -- the biggest mobilization since Moscow seized the Ukrainian peninsula in March 2014 and war broke out in eastern Ukraine.
The buildup prompted alarm in Western capitals over Moscow's intentions amid an uptick in fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Kremlin-backed separatists in the country's east. The conflict has killed more than 13,000 people since April 2014.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Helga Schmid, the secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe who was visiting the Ukrainian capital, Kuleba said Kyiv was grateful to NATO for its "constant confirmation of the open-door policy," but added that not a single step had been taken to implement it.
At a 2008 summit in Bucharest, NATO said that Ukraine could potentially become a member in the future.
"When we in Ukraine are accused of too slow reforms, what can we say about the adoption and implementation of the decisions of the alliance, which have been covered with dust for 13 years?" Kuleba said.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price recently restated the U.S. policy of supporting an "open door" to NATO for countries meeting "the standard for membership".
But Ukraine still must "implement the ... reforms necessary to build a more stable, democratic, prosperous and free country," Price said.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
Iranian President Says Cryptocurrency Mining 'Must Stop' Until September
Iranian President Hassan Rohani has announced a four-month ban on all cryptocurrency mining in response to unplanned power cuts that have hit major Iranian cities.
In televised remarks on May 26, Rohani said “cryptocurrency activities and mining cryptocurrencies must stop" across Iran until September 22.
Iranian officials have repeatedly blamed unlicensed cryptocurrency miners for using vast amounts of electricity -- draining the power grid and raising air pollution levels in many cities.
The operations are an enormous energy drain because they use banks of high-powered computers to try to unlock complex numerical puzzles related to international financial transactions.
When successful, cryptocurrency miners create units of so-called digital coins that can be traded globally without the scrutiny and restrictions of traditional financial markets.
Facing tough U.S. economic sanctions, Iran in August 2019 eased restrictions on cryptocurrencies to circumvent the traditional financial markets it is blocked from using.
As a result, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin that are “legally” mined in Iran can now be used to finance imports from other countries.
Meanwhile, Iran's subsidized energy has made power-sucking mining operations cheaper there than in other countries.
Iranian authorities admit that this has caused thousands of "illegal" cryptocurrency farms to sprout up.
Rohani said on May 26 that "illegal" cryptocurrency miners who have access to subsidized power are now consuming up to seven times more power than those with permits for legal cryptocurrency operations.
Iran introduced rolling blackouts on May 23 to reduce pressure on the national power grid.
National electricity company spokesman Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi said on May 22 that licensed cryptocurrency miners have already voluntarily shut down their operations to ease the burden.
On May 25, Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian issued an apology to Iranians for "shortcomings and pressures" that have resulted in unexpected blackouts.
Ardakanian said Iran's power grid was overburdened because a drought has reduced hydropower generation while unexpectedly warm weather has raised demand for air conditioning.
With reporting by AFP
Kosovar War Victims Exhumed From Serbian Mass Grave
The government of Kosovo has announced the completion of the exhumation of bodies from an open-pit mine in Serbia. The remains of at least nine individuals were recovered, including two identified as victims of a 1999 massacre carried out by Serb forces in the Kosovar village of Rezalla.
Tajik Opposition Leader Steps Down Citing Health Issues After Latest Attack
Rahmatillo Zoirov, the leader of Tajikistan's opposition Social Democratic Party for more than two decades, has stepped down citing lingering health issues stemming from an attack he suffered last year.
"My health has been wrong for a few years," the 64-year-old lawyer told RFE/RL’s Tajik Service on May 26.
"Last September, I was severely beaten. The pain in my legs has not disappeared since then. So I wrote a letter to the Political Council asking that the conference not take place and release me. I have to be treated. "
One of the few opposition figures still remaining in Tajikistan, Zoirov was assaulted in September in an incident he describes as politically motivated.
He was also attacked in November 2017 by a couple who called him a “traitor” as one of them beat him with a metal pipe.
Although his party is officially registered in Tajikistan, it has never been represented in parliament.
President Emomali Rahmon has been criticized by international human rights groups for years over his disregard for religious freedoms, civil society, and political pluralism in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic.
Russian Lawmakers Give Final Approval To Law Barring Navalny Allies From Seeking Office
Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, has approved the third and final reading of a bill that would ban supporters and members of "extremist" organizations from being elected to any post, a move making it virtually impossible for anyone connected to jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny from gaining public office.
Under the draft bill approved on May 26, leaders and founders of organizations declared extremist or terrorist by Russian courts will be banned from running for elective posts for a period of five years.
Other members of employees of such organizations will face a three-year ban.
The legislation still requires the approval of parliament’s upper chamber, the Federation Council, as well as President Vladimir Putin's signature.
The measure appears to be a thinly veiled attempt at neutralizing Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), which Russian authorities are seeking to have declared extremist ahead of parliamentary elections in September.
“Vladimir Putin’s regime aims to fully purge vocal critics from the civic space,” Natalia Zviagina, the Moscow director for Amnesty International, said during the legislative process.
“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,” Zviagina said.
The FBK has already been declared a “foreign agent,” a punitive designation under a separate law.
The law appears to be retroactively applicable since it only involves restricting a person's rights, legal analysts say.
The ruling United Russia party is facing polls showing its support at some of the lowest levels ever.
Navalny's regional headquarters have been instrumental in implementing a Smart Voting strategy -- a project designed to promote candidates who are most likely to defeat those from United Russia in various elections.
Navalny, Putin’s most-vocal critic, is currently serving a prison sentence on embezzlement charges that he says were trumped up because of his political activity.
The 44-year-old has been in custody since January when he returned to Russia following weeks of medical treatment in Germany for a nerve-agent poisoning in August 2020 that he says was carried out by operatives of the Federal Security Service (FSB) at the behest of Putin. The Kremlin has denied any role in the poisoning.
Since his jailing, the Kremlin has stepped up its campaign against Navalny and his associates, many of whom have fled the country in fear of being arrested.
Armenia, Azerbaijan Trade Blame For New Border Shoot-Out
Azerbaijan and neighboring Armenia have blamed each other for a border shoot-out that Yerevan says claimed the life of one of its soldiers amid renewed tensions between the two South Caucasus neighbors after last year's war over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said the serviceman was killed on May 25 “as a result of a shoot-out that followed the opening of fire by Azerbaijani troops" in Armenia's Gegharkunik district. It said the situation was now "calm" after the skirmish.
Conversely, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry accused Armenian forces of firing across the border at its troops.
Azerbaijani forces did not return fire and there were no casualties, the Azerbaijani ministry said in a statement.
The clashes erupted months after the two South Caucasus neighbors ended a six-week war over Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict, which claimed some 6,000 lives, ended in November 2020 with a Moscow-brokered cease-fire that saw Armenia ceding swaths of territory that ethnic Armenians had controlled for decades.
Earlier this month, Armenia accused Azerbaijani troops of crossing several kilometers into its Syunik and Gegharkunik provinces and trying to stake a claim to territory. Azerbaijan insisted 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.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but has been controlled by ethnic Armenians since the early 1990s.
Belarus Opposition Says It's Preparing New Stage Of Protests Against Lukashenka
Belarus's opposition says it is preparing to stage a “new phase” of active protests against authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has faced renewed international pressure over the country's diversion of a civilian airliner and arrest of a dissident journalist who was a passenger on the flight.
In a joint statement on May 26, exiled opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the Coordinating Council that was set up by opposition leaders following a disputed presidential election last year, and other pro-democracy groups said that they “are united in assessing that Belarus has become a ‘black spot’ on the world map as a result of the reckless actions of the illegitimate regime."
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.
Emphasizing that "the regime is on the verge of total isolation as never before," the statement said "there's nothing more to wait for -- we have to stop the terror once and for all."
The announcement comes three days after Belarus forced a Ryanair flight traveling between EU members Greece and Lithuania to land in the capital, Minsk, and detained journalist and opposition activist Raman Pratasevich and his girlfriend.
The moves have triggered international condemnation, with Western leaders demanding the release of Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega and the EU cutting air links with the increasingly isolated Eastern European nation.
The EU, United States, and other Western nations have already imposed sanctions against the regime of Lukashenka, who has led a violent crackdown on dissent in the country since mass protests broke out over the disputed results of the August 2020 presidential election.
The Belarusian opposition and the West say the election was fraudulent and don’t recognize the result. The opposition says Tsikhanouskaya was the true winner of the vote.
Kyrgyzstan 'Temporarily' Bars Tajik Passengers After Deadly Border Clashes
Authorities at Kyrgyzstan's main international airport have barred dozens of Tajik citizens flying from neighboring Tajikistan from entering the country in an incident likely to further sour relations between the two Central Asian neighbors whose disputed border witnessed last month its worst fighting in the past three decades.
The flight, operated by Tajikistan’s carrier Somon Air, flew back to the capital, Dushanbe, early on May 26 with the 177 Tajik nationals who had been denied entry by the Kyrgyz Border Service at Bishkek’s Manas airport due to a temporary closure of the border for citizens of Tajikistan.
The 177 Tajiks were stranded at the airport for four hours before being sent back to Tajikistan, while nine citizens of other countries were allowed to stay in the Kyrgyz capital after the aircraft landed at Manas late on May 25.
The Tajik Foreign Ministry’s press service told RFE/RL that the ministry had not received any information from Kyrgyzstan that it would not accept the Dushanbe-Bishkek flight.
Abubakr Shodiev, the Tajik consul in Bishkek, said he tried to solve the problem through negotiations with the Kyrgyz authorities, but he was told that the Somon Air plane should return to Tajikistan.
About 100 other Tajik citizens who have flown in from different cities of Russia or are in transit are currently stuck in the transit zone of the Bishkek airport.
Some of them told RFE/RL they hadn’t been informed about the closure of the borders of Kyrgyzstan for citizens of Tajikistan ahead of their flights.
On May 24, the State Border Service of the State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan said that there were "temporary" entry and exit restrictions for individuals and goods from Tajikistan as of May 21.
The statement said the restrictions applied to five land checkpoints located on the border between the two countries, but did not say anything about air traffic.
The incident comes weeks after border clashes between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan that saw border troops open fire on each other and left dozens of people dead and dozens of homes destroyed.
Kyrgyzstan reported 36 deaths from the violence in late April, mostly civilians.
Tajik officials said 19 of its citizens died in the clashes.
- By RFE/RL
Rohani Urges Iran's Supreme Leader To Open Election To More Candidates
Outgoing Iranian President Hassan Rohani says he has urged the country’s supreme leader to widen the field in next month’s presidential election after only seven candidates were approved and several of his high-profile allies were rejected.
Rohani said during a weekly cabinet meeting on May 26 that he wished the Guardians Council would select more candidates to ensure greater "competition" in the June vote.
"The heart of elections is competition. If you take that away, it becomes a corpse," Rohani said.
"I sent a letter to the supreme leader yesterday on what I had in mind and on whether he can help with this," he added.
The Interior Ministry announced on May 25 that the Guardians Council had approved Ebrahim Raisi, Mohsen Rezai, Saeed Jalili, Amirhossein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi, Abdolnasser Hemmati, Mohsen Mehralizadeh, and Alireza Zakani to run in the June 18 vote.
The list -- chosen from some 590 would-be candidates -- was as notable for who wasn’t on it as it was for those who were included.
Ali Larijani, a prominent conservative voice and former parliament speaker who later allied himself with Rohani, was eliminated from the race, along with current Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, a reformist, and former hard-line President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.
The decision by the Guardians Council, which did not explain why candidates were included or excluded from the list, puts Raisi, a hard-line cleric in charge of Iran's judiciary, in a dominant position for the upcoming election.
He's the best known of the seven hopefuls, has close ties to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and ran against Rohani in the last presidential election in 2017.
The Guardians Council has in the past disqualified many moderate presidential hopefuls.
Rohani, a relative moderate whose government is taking part in talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, cannot seek reelection after having served two consecutive four-year terms.
With reporting by AFP and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Europe's Aviation Regulator Urges Avoidance Of Belarus Airspace As Lukashenka Lashes Out At West
Europe's aviation regulator has urged all airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace for safety reasons as the country’s authoritarian leader, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, defended his decision to use the military to help force the diversion of a civilian aircraft traveling between EU members Greece and Lithuania to land in the capital, Minsk, where authorities immediately arrested a journalist and his girlfriend.
Amid international condemnation over the incident that some world leaders called a "state hijacking," the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said on May 26 it was advising EU airlines, as well as non-EU carriers flying to or from the bloc, to avoid Belarusian airways except in emergencies.
The announcement came as Lukashenka told lawmakers in Minsk that he "acted lawfully" to protect people as Belarusian authorities had received a bomb scare from Switzerland, which proved to be a false alarm.
After a wave of pro-democracy protests and Western sanctions following a disputed presidential election in August 2020, the diversion of the Ryanair plane has renewed pressure on Lukashenka, with Western leaders demanding the release of journalist Raman Pratasevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega.
The EU had already begun to cut air links with the increasingly isolated Eastern European nation even before the EASA warning on May 26.
Airlines such as Air France, Lufthansa, and Singapore Airlines have already begun rerouting flights to avoid Belarusian airspace, and Latvia on May 26 became the latest European country to announce it won’t authorize any departing or arriving flights that cross Belarusian airspace. The Transport Ministry said it had also banned Belarusian airlines from entering Latvian airspace.
"The circumstances surrounding this action cast serious doubts on the respect shown by Belarus for international civil aviation rules," the EASA said in a safety bulletin.
"The actions undertaken by Belarus amounted to an increased safety risk for the [Ryanair] flight and put into question the ability of Belarus to provide safe air navigation services."
On May 26, a Belarusian passenger plane flying from Minsk to Barcelona turned back after Poland said it may not be able to enter French airspace.
Belarusian state carrier Belavia flight 2869 from Minsk had been scheduled to land in Barcelona on May 26 in the afternoon.
"This pilot received information from us that the French airspace was blocked ... and he may have a problem with entering," Polish Air Navigation Services Agency spokesman Pawel Lukasiewicz said by telephone.
Belarusian Foreign Ministry spokesman Anatol Hlaz called the move "air piracy."
Meanwhile, the North Atlantic Council, NATO's principal political decision-making body, says it supports calls for an urgent independent investigation into Belarus’s forced diversion of the Ryanair passenger jet.
"This unacceptable act seriously violated the norms governing civil aviation and endangered the lives of the passengers and crew," the allies said in a statement on May 26.
Besides calling for a probe into the matter, including by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the North Atlantic Council backed "measures taken by Allies individually and collectively in response to this incident."
It also urged Belarus to "immediately and unconditionally" release Pratasevich and Sapega, calling the journalist's arrest "an affront to the principles of political dissent and freedom of the press."
"NATO Allies call on Belarus to respect fundamental human rights and freedoms, and to abide by the rules-based international order," the statement said.
The UN Security Council is set to meet behind closed doors later on May 26, but diplomats were quoted as saying it was unlikely council members would agree on a collective statement because of Russia’s unwavering support for Lukashenka.
Authorities in both Belarus and Russia have dismissed the outrage over the May 23 incident, saying Minsk had acted within the law when the plane was diverted.
Lukashenka, who has ruled Belarus since 1994 and has been dubbed "Europe's last dictator," lashed out at the West, accusing it of crossing "many red lines" with its reaction to the incident, and warned that Belarus was on the brink of an "icy war" with its enemies trying to undermine his rule.
"As we predicted, our ill-wishers at home and abroad have changed their methods of attacking the state. They have crossed many red lines and crossed boundaries of common sense and human morality," Lukashenka said as he addressed members of parliament.
'Concerning Confession'
The 26-year-old Pratasevich is facing charges of being behind civil disturbances, an offense punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
He was a key administrator of the Telegram channel, Nexta-Live, which has been covering the protests that broke out in Belarus following last year’s presidential election.
A video released on May 24 showed Pratasevich "confessing" to having organized anti-government demonstrations.
European leaders, suspecting that the comments were made under duress, called the video "concerning," while exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya said the footage showed Pratasevich had been tortured.
Belarusian officials did not immediately comment on the torture allegations but have consistently denied abusing detainees even though rights groups have documented hundreds of cases of what they describe as abuse and forced confessions during the sometimes violent crackdown on pro-democracy opponents of Lukashenka since the disputed election.
Sapega, a 23-year-old Russian citizen, was studying for a master's degree at the European State University in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Belarusian authorities remanded her in pretrial detention for two months after being charged with a criminal offense, her lawyer said on May 25.
In another video circulated by pro-government Telegram channels, Sapega said she was an editor of an opposition Telegram channel, the Black Book Of Belarus, which publishes personal information about security officials who help Lukashenka stay in power.
Sapega looked uncomfortable and spoke quickly while delivering the comments, prompting opposition officials to again say the statements appear forced.
Amid the controversy, EU leaders continue to look to the bloc's officials to draw up unspecified new sanctions against Minsk and to work out a way to ban Belarusian airlines from the bloc's skies.
If all such measures are fully implemented, Belarus would be almost completely isolated from air travel with flights reaching it only by passing over its eastern border with Russia.
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 government of EU member Latvia on May 26 announced it had banned Belarusian airlines from entering its airspace and told all aircraft landing or taking off from its airports to avoid Belarusian airspace.
The EU, United States, Canada, and other Western countries have already imposed sanctions against the regime of Lukashenka.
The Belarusian opposition and the West say the August presidential election was fraudulent and don’t recognize the result. The opposition says Tsikhanouskaya was the true winner of the vote.
In a joint statement on May 26, Tsikhanouskaya, the Coordinating Council that was set up by opposition leaders following a disputed presidential election last year, and other pro-democracy groups said that they “are united in assessing that Belarus has become a ‘black spot’ on the world map as a result of the reckless actions of the illegitimate regime."
With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and Current Time
Three Dead After Japanese Fishing Boat Collides With Russian Freighter
Officials in Japan say three crew members of a Japanese crab fishing vessel have died after a collision with a Russian cargo ship off the northern island of Hokkaido.
The Japanese vessel capsized following the May 26 collision in the Sea of Okhotsk, north of Hokkaido.
The Russian ship rescued all five crew members, but three were confirmed dead after arriving at the port of Mombetsu, Japanese government spokesman Katsunobu Kato said.
Japanese media identified the Japanese ship as the 9.7-ton Daihachi Hokko Maru, based in the Japanese port of Mombetsu on Hokkaido Island.
The 662-ton Russian freighter AMUR, registered in Nevelsk on the Sakhalin Island, was said to be carrying crabs to the Japanese port.
Japanese authorities said they were investigating the incident.
According to the Kyodo News agency, a Japanese patrol ship escorted the Russian vessel to Mombetsu.
The Russian Embassy in Japan said that "the embassy and the Russian consulate general in Sapporo will render all necessary assistance” to the Russians on board the AMUR vessel.
Based on reporting by AP, dpa, and TASS
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