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- By RFE/RL
Biden Says He Hopes To Meet Putin During Europe Visit In June
U.S. President Joe Biden says he hopes to hold his proposed summit with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, during his planned trip to Europe in June.
"That is my hope and expectation. We're working on it," Biden told reporters on May 4 after a speech about the U.S. response to the coronavirus.
For his first overseas trip since taking office in January, Biden plans to join the other leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) major industrialized nations for a summit in Britain set for June 11-13.
He will then fly to Brussels to participate in a NATO summit on June 14 and attend an EU-U.S. meeting with the bloc’s 27 leaders.
Biden in April offered a meeting in a third country to discuss spiraling tensions over issues including military threats to Ukraine, the SolarWinds cyberattack on U.S. computers, and Russia's treatment of jailed opposition activist Aleksei Navalny.
Putin's top foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, has said that planning for a face-to-face meeting between the two presidents was under way.
"June is being named, there are even concrete dates," Ushakov said on April 25.
Russia last month declared 10 employees at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to be personae non gratae in what it called a "mirror" response to Washington's expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats and wide-ranging sanctions as it moved to hold the Kremlin accountable for actions against the United States and its interests.
Biden has repeatedly stated that while he will be tough on Russia over any hostile policies, he is also seeking to cooperate where the two sides have mutual interests. This includes on such issues as nuclear proliferation, climate change, the Iran nuclear deal, North Korea, and fostering peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Speaking during a trip to London on May 3, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington wants a “more stable, more predictable relationship” with Moscow but that will depend on Kremlin policies and how “recklessly or aggressively” it decides to act.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
Former Belarus Soldiers, Law Enforcement Officers Deprived Of Their Ranks
Belarusian authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka has issued an order to deprive more than 80 former servicemen and law enforcement officers of their ranks accusing them of actions that are “incompatible” with their status, amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent following a disputed election last year.
Citing the presidential office, state news agency BelTa reported that Lukashenka signed the relevant decree on May 4, saying those deprived from their ranks had “discredited” the “honor and dignity of a serviceman and employee."
“They showed disrespect for state symbols, threw away their IDs, took off their shoulder straps, and refused to perform their official duties,” the report said.
Criminal cases have been initiated against a number of them and are being investigated, including for organizing acts of terrorism, the report added.
The 66-year-old Lukashenka, who has run the country since 1994, was officially declared the victor of the August 9, 2020 presidential election by a landslide, triggering almost daily protests demanding that the longtime strongman step down and new elections be held.
The opposition says the vote was rigged, and the West has refused to recognize Lukashenka as the legitimate leader of Belarus.
Security officials have cracked down hard on the demonstrators, arresting thousands, including dozens of journalists who covered the rallies, and pushing most of the top opposition figures out of the country.
Several protesters have been killed in the violence and some rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used by security officials against some of those detained.
With reporting by BelTa
- By RFE/RL
UN Experts Say Jailed Iranian Filmmaker Risks 'Possible Death'
Six United Nations rights experts are calling for the immediate release of imprisoned dissident Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad, who they say is reportedly so ill he risks "serious complications and possible death.”
"We are seriously concerned at the mistreatment of Mohammad Nourizad and his continued imprisonment for expressing his opinion," the independent UN experts said in a joint statement issued on May 4.
“It is clear that Mohammad Nourizad is not in a medical state to remain in prison,” they said, adding that his continued detention and the denial of adequate medical care “may amount to torture.”
The outspoken Nourizad, who has written and directed several films, has since 2019 been serving a prison sentence totaling over 17 years on charges of allegedly insulting Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to Amnesty International.
Nourizad, who has been arrested several times in the past, is among activists who have publicly called for the resignation of Khamenei.
The experts who signed up to the joint statement included the UN special rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in Iran; on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of expression; on rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; on the right to physical and mental health; and on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions.
They pointed out that Nourizad had gone on hunger strikes in detention and refused to take medications to protest his imprisonment and his family's mistreatment by the authorities.
"He has also reportedly attempted suicide in prison, and began to self-harm as a form of protest on February 19," according to the statement.
This was particularly worrying, it said, since he has been diagnosed with a heart condition and has repeatedly lost consciousness in detention.
He also suffers from diabetes, according to Amnesty International, which last month warned that Iranian authorities were "cruelly toying with the life" of Nourizad.
The UN experts said the filmmaker was transferred to Loghman Hakim Educational Hospital in Tehran on April 14 after fainting, and was injected with a substance he did not know the content of and had not consented to.
They added that the Iranian judiciary's own legal medical organization and other medical professionals had reportedly found he should be released.
"The Iranian authorities must release him immediately in line with these medical opinions and give him free access to the required medical care and treatment," they said.
The experts said Nourizad's treatment reflected that of many detained in Iran for "merely exercising their right to freedom of expression," including some who have reportedly died due to denial of adequate medical treatment.
"His case is emblematic of the situation many Iranian political activists face in detention," they said.
With reporting by AFP
EU Formally Delivers COVID-19 Vaccines To Balkans
PODGORICA -- The European Union’s Neighborhood and Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi is on a three-day visit to the Western Balkans to formally deliver EU-funded coronavirus vaccines.
Countries of the region aim to join the 27-nation bloc, but Serbia and other Balkan nations have been turning to China and Russia for much-needed shots as EU member states faced their own vaccination delays. Some politicians in the Balkans have criticized the EU for not coming to the rescue of their countries when help was needed the most.
“We care about Montenegro, we care about the Western Balkans and we care about our friends, the people of Montenegro," Varhelyi said in a speech delivered during a brief stay in Montenegro’s capital, Podgorica, on May 4.
He started his regional trip in Serbia on May 3, followed by stops in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, and North Macedonia on May 4. He will travel to Albania and Kosovo the next day.
Last month, the European Commission announced that a total of 651,000 Pfizer-BioNTech doses would be delivered to these countries in weekly instalments until August.
The supplies are funded from a 70 million euro assistance package ($85 million) adopted by the commission in December 2020.
While most of the Western Balkan countries have struggled to get coronavirus vaccines, Serbia has launched a successful inoculation campaign mainly thanks to millions of doses of Russia-developed Sputnik V and China's Sinopharm vaccines, which so far have not received the green light from the EU’s drug regulator.
Montenegro is to receive 42,000 Pfizer vaccines from the EU, following a delivery from China of 200,000 Sinopharm doses that enabled health authorities to launch their mass immunization program on May 4.
By the end of August, the bloc will donate nearly 120,000 Pfizer doses to North Macedonia, where the authorities on May 4 started to use 200,000 Sinopharm jabs, speeding up the country’s faltering vaccination program.
Bosnia-Herzegovina and other nations in the region heavily relied on the World Health Organization’s COVAX sharing scheme that distributes vaccine to less developed nations.
But deliveries were significantly delayed among shortages of the shots and some Balkan countries have been struggling to purchase COVID-19 vaccines directly from manufacturers.
The vaccines supplied by the EU to the region come on top of those provided by COVAX, of which the European bloc is one of the top contributors.
“Together with COVAX we are delivering almost a million doses to the Western Balkans, and this is the beginning,” Varhelyi said in Podgorica, according to a transcript of his speech posted on the European Commission's website.
“We do hope that as more vaccines come into Europe we would be able to convince more and more Member States to share their available dosses with the Western Balkans.”
With reporting by AP
- By RFE/RL
Kazakhstan Extends Suspension Of Visa-Free Visits By Citizens Due To Pandemic
Kazakhstan has extended until December the suspension of visa-free visits for citizens of 54 countries that were introduced last year to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The Central Asian nation’s Foreign Ministry announced on May 4 that the suspension, which expired three days ago, had been prolonged as the country tries to continue to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Kazakhstan introduced visa-free visits in 2012 to 57 nations, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, European Union members, Japan, South Korea, and several countries in Asia, the Middle East, and the Persian Gulf.
The suspension continues for all of those countries, with the exception of Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and South Korea.
As of May 4, the number of registered coronavirus cases in the former Soviet republic with the population of 18.8 million people was 330,071, including 3,762 deaths.
Four Tsikhanouskaya Associates Handed Prison Terms
HOMEL, Belarus -- Four associates of Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms for organizing protests against authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka in the southeastern city of Homel.
Judge Alyaksey Khlyshchankou of the Chyhunachny district court on May 4 sentenced Tatsyana Kaneuskaya, Dzmitry Ivashkou, and Alyaksandr Shabalin to six years in prison each, and Yury Ulasau to 6 1/2 years in prison.
They were found guilty of organizing mass disorder and planning to seize administrative buildings in Homel. Ulasau was additionally found guilty of publicly insulting police officers.
The four were members of Tsikhanouskaya's campaign team and were arrested just days before an August 9, 2020 presidential election as they urged people to demonstrate for independent candidates to be allowed to be registered for the vote.
They all rejected the charges, calling them politically motivated.
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.
Kaneuskaya's sons, Alyaksey and Alyaksandr Kaneuski, said given the current crackdown against dissent by Lukashenka, the prison sentences were expected.
"We do not have real courts, what we have are kangaroo courts. They just carry out whatever they are instructed to do by those who are in power," Alyaksandr Kaneuski said after the sentences were announced.
Dzmitry Ivashkou's wife Svyatlana said she hopes that the four activists "will not stay behind bars too long."
"They all greeted the sentences with smiles. They are holding up quite well. Will we appeal? Well, the state has penalized them and now how does one appeal against the state? We will, for sure, write appeals, but that is to make sure no one in the future says that we gave up and admitted guilt," Svyatlana Ivashkova said, adding her husband and her colleagues had done nothing illegal.
Prior to the election, police detained dozens of activists and politicians as they held rallies to collect the signatures necessary to register independent presidential candidates for the vote.
Tsikhanouskaya became a candidate after her husband, well-known vlogger Syarhey Tsikhanouski, was incarcerated for openly expressing his intention to run for president.
Tens of thousands of Belarusians then took the streets for several months after a presidential poll in which Lukashenka claimed a landslide victory.
The demonstrators, who say the vote was rigged, have demanded Lukashenka step down and new elections be held, but Belarus's strongman has been defiant.
Security officials have arrested thousands in the protests, in a crackdown that has become more brutal with each passing month.
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.
In response to the ongoing crackdown, the West has slapped sanctions on top Belarusian officials. Many countries, including the United States, as well as the European Union, have refused to recognize Lukashenka as the legitimate leader of the former Soviet republic.
Vaccines Donated By EU Arrive In Bosnia-Herzegovina
The first shipment of Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines donated by the European Union to Bosnia-Herzegovina arrived at Sarajevo International Airport on May 4. The delivery of more than 10,000 doses came via EU member state Austria, which is coordinating the EU4Health program's vaccine distribution in the Western Balkans.
Case Against RFE/RL Correspondent Over COVID Reporting Dismissed By Russian Court
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- A Russian court has dismissed a case against an RFE/RL correspondent who was charged with the distribution of "false information about the coronavirus" over an article she wrote about a lack of ventilators for COVID-19 patients.
The lawyer for Tatyana Voltskaya, Leonid Krikun, told RFE/RL that the Gatchino City Court in the northwestern Leningrad region ruled on May 4 that there was no crime committed by the reporter.
Investigators initially demanded a criminal case be launched against Voltskaya regarding her article published on RFE/RL's North.Realities website in April 2020.
In the story, Voltskaya reported on a lack of ventilation units at hospitals treating COVID-19 patients in the city of St. Petersburg, citing an unnamed physician.
After a local court refused to launch a criminal case, Russia's Investigative Committee requested an administrative case against Voltskaya that could have seen her fined or spend several days in jail as punishment.
"The court had an opportunity to close the case because of the statute of limitations, but it looked into it taking into account our motion saying that Voltskaya had a right to express her opinion on an issue important for society and that the preparation of the report and offering it for publication were an expression of the journalist's professional and civil position," Krikun told RFE/RL.
After Voltskaya's article in question was published last year, Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor demanded RFE/RL remove the material from the site, which the broadcaster refused to do.
In August, a court in Moscow fined RFE/RL's Russian Service 300,000 rubles ($4,000) over Voltskaya's article. RFE/RL refused to pay the fine, saying it was confident that the information in the article is valid.
Independent journalists across Russia have faced similar encounters as they worked to cover the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic in its early stages and the Russian government's efforts to cope with it.
In addition, Amnesty International said last month that Russian police have never cracked down so extensively and systematically on journalists as they are in their recent efforts to prevent coverage of protests in support of Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny.
In 2012, Russian lawmakers passed the "foreign agent" law giving authorities the power to brand nongovernmental organizations, human rights groups, and news media deemed to receive foreign funding for political activity as "foreign agents."
Among other things, the law -- which has been expanded several times since -- requires news organizations that receive foreign funding to label content within Russia as being produced by a "foreign agent."
In 2017, the Russian government placed RFE/RL's Russian Service on the list, along with six other Russian-language RFE/RL news services, and Current Time, a network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.
Roskomnadzor has prepared hundreds of complaints against RFE/RL's projects for failure to follow these rules that could result in fines totaling more than $1 million.
RFE/RL has called the fines "a state-sponsored campaign of coercion and intimidation," while the U.S. State Department has described them as "intolerable."
The targeting of RFE/RL has raised concerns that the Russian government may be moving to shutter RFE/RL's operations inside Russia and force its Russian-language services and Current Time out of the country.
Four Men To Face Trial In Deadly Bride-Snatching Case In Kyrgyzstan
BISHKEK -- Four men will face trial in Kyrgyzstan for their role in a deadly bride-snatching case that shocked the Central Asian country in April.
The lawyer for Aizada Kanatbekova's family, Nurbek Toktakunov, told RFE/RL on May 4 that an investigation into the case had been completed and that the materials of the case had been sent to a Bishkek court for trial.
According to Toktakunov, a fifth man, Zamirbek Tengizbaev, will be tried posthumously, as he committed suicide following Kanatbekova's death.
"Tengizbaev will be tried posthumously on charges of murder and rape. An autopsy revealed that the victim was raped. Aizada fought and resisted the assault. Experts found bruises and traces of violence on her arms and legs," Toktakunov said.
Toktakunov also said that he filed papers with the court over the "unprofessional handling of the case" by police and what he called "police attempts to cover up their misdeeds by forging documentation related to the case."
Kanatbekova, 26, was abducted by three men on April 5 and found dead two days later in a car along with the body of her 36-year-old abductor.
Investigators say Tengizbaev strangled Kanatbekova to death with a T-shirt and then killed himself by cutting his carotid artery.
Authorities said at the time that Tengizbaev had been convicted in Russia three times for various crimes.
The case sparked a public outcry as it turned out that police were reluctant to pursue it even though the abduction was recorded on security cameras and the vehicle's make, model and license plate were clearly visible on the recordings.
Relatives of Kanatbekova have described the approach by investigators as "casually dismissive." They say the investigators failed at a crucial juncture as the tragedy unfolded, when the young woman was still alive and able to call them.
More than 40 police officers, including the Bishkek city police chief, were fired following the tragedy.
Fluent in four languages, Kanatbekova was an only daughter and a graduate of the Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University in Bishkek.
Kyrgyzstan sees thousands of "bride kidnappings" each year despite the criminalization of the practice in 2013.
The UN Development Program and rights groups have highlighted the contining prevalence in Kyrgyz society of the practice, which they say often leads to marital rape, domestic violence, and other ills.
One of the most-notorious cases involved the stabbing death in 2018 of 20-year-old university student Burulai Turdaaly Kyzy by a man who was trying to force her into marriage.
- By RFE/RL
Swiss Government Says Diplomat In Iran Suffered Fatal Accident
The Swiss Foreign Ministry (FDFA) says an employee at its embassy in Iran has died in an accident, which Iranian news agencies said was a fall from a high-rise building just outside of Tehran.
"The FDFA and its head Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis are shocked by the tragic death and express their deepest condolences to the family," the ministry said in a statement on May 4.
Cassis said Swiss authorities were in contact with the woman's family. The ministry did not identify the victim, nor did it give details on the incident.
Iranian police said they had opened an investigation into the death.
Iran's Mehr news agency quoted emergency services spokesman Mojtaba Khaledi as saying that the victim was the first secretary at the Swiss Embassy, and was found dead after falling from a high-rise building where she lived in Kamranieh, an affluent suburb on the northern edge of the capital, Tehran.
Khaledi said the diplomat's body was found by a gardener after an employee who arrived at her apartment early on May 4 noticed she was missing.
"The cause of her fall has yet to be determined," Khaledi told Fars.
The diplomat was 51, the semiofficial news agency ISNA reported. Other reports put her age at 52.
The German news agency dpa quoted anonymous sources as saying the woman was a diplomat in the department that represents U.S. diplomatic interests in Iran.
Switzerland has represented the United States diplomatically in Iran since Washington and Tehran cut ties in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa, Fars, and ISNA
Kyrgyz-Tajik Border Area Calm As Finger-Pointing Continues
BISHKEK -- The situation on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border remains stable after deadly clashes in recent days as both sides continue to blame each other for the violence.
Kyrgyzstan's Interior Ministry said on May 4 that police were in control of the situation in the southwestern Batken Province that borders Tajikistan's Sughd Province a day after both sides announced the withdrawal of military units from the border.
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According to the ministry, Kyrgyz experts are working on liquidating unexploded shells near the village of Aktatyr after fighting broke out over water facilities in territory claimed by both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Deputy Health Minister Aliza Soltonbekova said on May 4 that a total of 36 Kyrgyz citizens died, 189 people were injured, and 58,000 were evacuated during the violence that erupted on April 28 and lasted for almost three days, Kyrgyz officials say, over the Tajik move to install surveillance cameras on the disputed part of the border.
According to Soltonbekova, 51 injured people remain in hospitals in Bishkek and 49 individuals injured in the clashes are being treated in hospitals in the Batken region.
Tajik authorities have not published information on casualties but correspondents of RFE/RL's Tajik Service have reported from the area that at least 18 Tajik citizens, including 10 military personnel, were killed, 90 people were injured, and a number of private houses were destroyed or damaged in the villages of Khojai Alo and Somoniyon during the armed clashes.
Like many other border areas in Central Asia, almost half of the 970-kilometer-long Kyrgyz-Tajik border has not been demarcated, leading to tensions over the past 30 years.
The latest fighting was the heaviest in years and raised fears of a wider conflict between the two impoverished neighbors.
The European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and Russia have all urged both sides to respect the cease-fire agreement.
Both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan host Russian military bases.
Prosecutors from both Central Asian states have launched criminal cases into the deadly violence, accusing each other of deliberately "encroaching" into each other's territory.
U.S.'s Blinken Says If Russia Moves Toward More Stable Relations, 'So Will We'
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Washington wants a stable relationship with Moscow but that will depend on Kremlin policies and how aggressively it decides to act.
Speaking on May 3 after meeting with his British counterpart in London, Blinken repeated past statements from President Joe Biden and the previous administration, saying that the United States did not want to escalate tensions with Russia.
"President Biden's been very clear for a long time, including before he was president, that if Russia chooses to act recklessly or aggressively, we'll respond," he said.
"But we're not looking to escalate: We would prefer to have a more stable, more predictable relationship," he said. "And if Russia moves in that direction, so will we."
Blinken's comments on Russia come as tensions continue to grow over issues including military threats to Ukraine, the SolarWinds cyberattack on U.S. networks, and Russia's treatment of jailed opposition activist Aleksei Navalny.
Blinken's meeting with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab comes as ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) countries gathered in person for the first time in two years.
In addition to Russia, other subjects on the G7 agenda include the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, Iran's nuclear program, and a trade deal in the wake of London's withdrawal from the European Union.
At a news conference, Raab said Britain stood "shoulder to shoulder" with the United States on issues such as Afghanistan and Iran. He said London also agreed China needs to adhere to international commitments.
On China, Blinken said the West was not trying to restrain Beijing.
"It is not our purpose to try to contain China or to hold China down," he said.
Based on reporting by Reuters, dpa, and AP
- By RFE/RL
Top U.S., U.K. Diplomats Play Down Talk Of Deals With Iran On Prisoner Swaps
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab have discussed issues related to Iran ahead of the start of a G7 ministers meeting in London but continued to downplay rumors swirling of imminent prisoner swaps with Tehran.
The United Kingdom currently chairs the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrial countries and is involved in ongoing multilateral efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement that curbed Iranian nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Both Washington and London have dismissed or downplayed disputed reports from Iran of deals for prisoner swaps and the unfreezing of billions of dollars in assets.
Both Washington and London have nevertheless acknowledged their ongoing efforts to seek the release of nationals held in Iran, but avoided linking them to other issues.
"I am determined to bring every detained American home," Blinken said alongside Raab in London after describing reports of a deal on a prisoner swap as "not accurate."
Iran is known to be holding at least four Americans: father and son Baquer and Siamak Namazi, environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, and entrepreneur Emad Shargi.
The British Foreign Office downplayed Iranian reports on May 2 that a deal had been reached to exchange disputed assets for the release of dual British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been held in Iran since 2016.
British officials on May 3 suggested the leaked reports were "disinformation" and sought to avoid linking a 400 million-pound ($550 million) historical debt to prerevolutionary Iran to Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case.
"It's incumbent on Iran unconditionally to release those who are held arbitrarily and, in our view, unlawfully, and the reports, I'm afraid, are not yet accurate in terms of the suggestion of her imminent release," Raab said on May 3.
The U.S. State Department on May 2 rejected as "not true" unsourced Iranian reports claiming a deal on a prisoner swap and $7 billion in frozen Iranian assets had been agreed.
The Iranian reports suggested Iranian nationals jailed in the United States might also be part of a deal.
The Guardian newspaper quoted "sources inside" Tehran's Evin prison as saying two dual Iranian-American prisoners had been moved to a new location inside the facility where past inmates were put prior to release. But that information could not immediately be confirmed.
The UN Security Council permanent members plus Germany wrapped up a third round of high-level talks on May 1 focused on bringing the United States and Iran back into full compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that President Donald Trump pulled out of in 2018.
Prisoner swaps were a feature of the JCPOA nearly six years ago.
With reporting by AP and BBC
Soldiers Mark Orthodox Easter In Shumy, Ukraine
Ukrainian military personnel marked Orthodox Easter in the town of Shumy in the east of the country. The soldiers paid tribute to their fallen comrades, then delivered Easter gifts to other soldiers on the front line, where the situation was relatively calm.
In Step Toward Snap Polls, Armenian Lawmakers Reject Pashinian's Candidacy As New PM
Armenia's parliament has rejected the candidacy of acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian as the new head of government, in an agreed first step toward holding snap parliamentary elections.
Pashinian resigned on April 25, clearing the way for parliamentary elections to be held, in an effort to defuse a political crisis prompted by the outcome of the country's war last year with Azerbaijan.
"One lawmaker voted in favor, three against, and 75 lawmakers abstained. Pashinian is not elected as prime minister," speaker Ararat Mirzoyan announced after the vote on May 3.
A second special parliamentary session is expected to take place on May 10. If Pashinian fails to secure the support of lawmakers for a second time, parliament will be dissolved and President Armen Sarkisian will schedule early elections for next month.
Pashinian has said he plans to continue to fulfill his duties as prime minister until the vote, and plans to take part in the elections.
The move follows recent changes made to the Electoral Code that the opposition has said are aimed at helping Pashinian win.
The changes, worked out by Pashinian's My Step alliance, revamp parts of the Electoral Code introduced in 2016 by the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), two years before Pashinian was swept into office after leading mass protests against the pro-Russian HHK of former President Serzh Sarkisian.
The amendments will change the country's electoral system to a fully proportional one.
Up until now, Armenians have voted for parties and alliances as well as individual candidates, whereas the next election will be held only on a party-list basis.
Disastrous Defeat
Armenia has been embroiled in a political crisis since Pashinian signed a Russian-brokered cease-fire in November to end the war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Pashinian agreed in March to hold the early vote next month. He has indicated that he favors the date of June 20 for the elections.
Opinion polls show that public confidence in Pashinian's government has fallen sharply since then, with its approval rating falling from 60 percent to around 30 percent last month.
Pashinian has come under fire since agreeing to a Moscow-brokered deal with Azerbaijan that took effect on November 10, ending six weeks of fierce fighting in and around the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh that saw ethnic Armenian forces suffer battlefield defeat.
Under the cease-fire, part of Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani administration after almost 30 years of control by Armenians.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but the ethnic Armenians who make up most of the region's population reject Azerbaijani rule.
With reporting by TASS and Reuters
Noted Belarusian Lawyer Who Defended Independent Journalists Leaves Country
MINSK -- Belarusian lawyer Syarhey Zikratski, who has defended independent journalists during the ongoing police crackdown on dissent following a disputed presidential election last year, has left the country for Lithuania after his license to practice law was withdrawn in late March.
Zikratski announced his decision to leave Belarus in a Facebook post on May 3, saying that while abroad he will "do everything" he can "to change the situation in Belarus."
In an interview with RFE/RL, Zikratski said that he is already in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, along with his wife and two children. He said his family has been under enormous stress since rallies started after the August 9 presidential election that returned authoritarian Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has run the country since 1994, to power. The opposition says the vote was rigged.
"My departure is not about permanent residence [abroad.] As soon as it is possible to go back to Belarus, we will immediately do so," Zikratski said, stressing that after his license was withdrawn, he could not continue doing his job.
Zikratski gained prominence in recent months after he defended several independent journalists, including reporters for the BelaPAN and Belsat news agencies, as well as the program director of the Belarusian Press Club, Ala Sharko. All faced prosecution for their coverage of mass demonstrations in which hundreds of thousands of people have demanded Lukashenka's resignation.
On March 24, a Justice Ministry commission stripped Zikratski of his license, saying that he lacks the proper qualifications. Zikratski's supporters say the move was made because of his activities, namely defending prominent independent journalists.
The 66-year-old Lukashenka was officially declared the victor of the presidential election by a landslide. That has brought people onto the streets on an almost daily basis since as they demand that the longtime strongman step down and new elections be held.
Security officials have cracked down hard on the demonstrators, arresting thousands, including dozens of journalists who covered the rallies, and pushing most of the top opposition figures out of the country.
Several protesters have been killed in the violence and some rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used by security officials against some of those detained.
Lukashenka has denied any wrongdoing with regard to the election and refuses to negotiate with the opposition on stepping down and holding new elections.
The European Union, United States, Canada, and other countries have refused to recognize Lukashenka as the legitimate leader of Belarus and have slapped him and senior Belarusian officials with sanctions in response to the “falsification” of the vote and postelection crackdown.
- By RFE/RL
EU Summons Russian Envoy, Condemns Travel Ban On Brussels Officials
The European Union has summoned Russia's ambassador in Brussels to condemn Moscow's retaliatory decision to bar eight of the bloc's officials from entering the country.
EU officials informed Ambassador Vladimir Chizhov at the meeting "of the strong rejection and firm condemnation by the EU institutions and EU member states of this decision, which was purely politically motivated and lacks any legal justification," according to the European Commission, the EU's executive.
They also noted Russia's expulsion last month of Czech diplomats after Prague threw out alleged Russian intelligence officers over suspected Moscow involvement in a deadly explosion at an ammunition depot in Vrbetice in 2014.
The EU side expressed "grave concern for the cumulative impact of all these decisions on the relations between the EU" and Russia.
Brussels also said the 27-member bloc reserves the right to respond with appropriate measures.
Russia's EU mission said Chizhov "provided additional explanations" on measures taken "in retaliation against the European Union's unilateral decisions."
"The importance was stressed of diplomatic actions to straighten out the current unhealthy situation in the dialogue between Moscow and Brussels," the mission said. "The Russian side reaffirmed its readiness for this work."
Last week, Russia's Foreign Ministry banned eight EU officials, including Vera Jourova, Czech vice president for values and transparency at the European Commission; David Sassoli, the president of the European Parliament; and Jacques Maire, a member of the French delegation at the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly.
The EU imposed sanctions last month on two Russians accused of persecuting gay and lesbian people in the southern Russian region of Chechnya. The EU also slapped sanctions on four senior Russian officials close to President Vladimir Putin the same month.
Russia's Foreign Ministry has accused the EU of fomenting anti-Russian "hysteria."
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
- By RFE/RL
HRW Says Proposed Legal Changes Threaten Freedoms In Kyrgyzstan
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says legal amendments being considered by Kyrgyz lawmakers would put the political opposition and human rights groups at greater risk in the Central Asian nation.
The rights group said in a statement on May 3 that the amendments -- proposed by the Interior Ministry and approved by Kyrgyz lawmakers in the first reading last month -- would broaden the scope for the criminal prosecution of organizations deemed “extremist" to include those found to incite “political enmity,” along with national, ethnic, or racial enmity, and to make financing such “extremist” organizations a criminal offense.
“Adding vague language about ‘extremism’ and ‘political enmity’ to Kyrgyz law will open the door to abuse, putting peaceful groups critical of government policy at enormous risk,” said Syinat Sultanalieva, Central Asia researcher at HRW. “Kyrgyz authorities should not introduce overbroad criminal law provisions that endanger freedom of association and speech.”
The draft law will enter into force after it passes two more parliamentary readings and is signed by President Sadyr Japarov, who took over the former Soviet republic in the wake of a deep political crisis sparked by mass protests against official results of parliamentary elections in October that led to resignation of Japarov's predecessor, Sooronbai Jeenbekov.
HRW said in the statement that it had found that, despite some reforms, existing Kyrgyz laws on countering extremism have been applied unevenly and that its overly broad definition allowed for its misuse against political opponents, journalists, and religious and ethnic minorities.
"The Kyrgyz Criminal Code already contains articles that provide severe penalties for political crimes, such as attempting to violently overthrow the government," the HRW statement said.
“Following months of political tensions, the Kyrgyzstan government should show its citizens and the world that it still supports strong human rights standards. These amendments to the legal codes should be rejected if Kyrgyzstan hopes to stay true to its international human rights commitments,” Sultanalieva said.
Japarov has praised the constitutional changes, which he initiated, saying they are needed to create a strong central branch of government to "establish order."
In a March report, the watchdog Freedom House singled out Kyrgyzstan as being among nations recording the biggest losses in scores for political rights and civil liberties.
The report said Japarov has "advanced a new draft constitution that could reshape Kyrgyzstan's political system in the mold of its authoritarian neighbors."
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan Withdraw Military Units From Border After Deadly Armed Clashes
BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have completed the withdrawal of their military units from border areas as part of an agreed pullback following a series of deadly clashes last week.
The Kyrgyz Border Service said on May 3 that the situation in the area is calm and stable after the withdrawal of the military units.
"The sides have completed the withdrawal of additional military units and equipment from the border.... The joint military commission consisting of officers from the defense structures of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan continue inspecting the areas left by the additional military forces and equipment," the Border Service statement said.
On May 2, the head of Tajikistan's State Committee for National Security, Saimumin Yatimov, said while visiting the country's Vorukh exclave within Kyrgyzstan that Tajik military forces had been withdrawn from the border.
Kyrgyzstan says that during the April 28-29 clashes, 36 Kyrgyz citizens were killed, including a 5-year-old boy, 183 were injured, and 50,000 people fled the area.
According to Bishkek, 78 private homes, two schools, one medical point, two border checkpoints, a kindergarten, 10 gasoline stations, a police building, and eight shops were destroyed in Kyrgyzstan's southwestern region of Batken.
While the situation on the ground appeared calmer, moves behind the scenes threaten to keep tensions simmering.
The Tajik Prosecutor-General's Office said on May 3 that it had launched a probe against a group of Kyrgyz military personnel, accusing them of "instigating or conducting an aggressive war," and the "murder of two or more people while carrying out their duties."
In a statement, the prosecutor claimed that Kyrgyz border guards incited Kyrgyz villagers to throw stones at Tajik workers involved in the "agreed" installation of surveillance cameras at a water-distribution point near Tajikistan's Vorukh exclave within Kyrgyz territory. It added that they also tried to cut down a pole upon which a Tajik worker was perched as he was installing a camera.
The statement comes a day after the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry said it had launched 11 criminal cases into "mass disorder, crimes against peace, hooliganism, the destruction and damage of private property, Illegal border crossings, and murder."
The Committee for Emergencies in Tajikistan's northern Sughd region said on May 3 that during the clashes, 14 private houses were destroyed, while two houses and a maintenance building were damaged in three neighborhoods of the city of Isfara.
According to the committee, a school building and a private house were partially damaged in the village of Ovchikalacha in the Bobojon Gafurov district.
The statement did not mention human losses.
However, correspondents from RFE/RL's Tajik Service in the area have reported that at least 16 Tajik nationals were killed and at least 90 were injured.
The violence apparently followed a dispute over the installation of surveillance cameras at a water distribution point near the Vorukh exclave, drawing in security forces from both countries.
Homes, Schools Destroyed After Worst Violence In Decades On Kyrgyz-Tajik Border
Kyrgyz security officials at one point accused Tajik forces of using MI-24 helicopter gunships to shoot at Kyrgyz villages.
The meeting of the Tajik and Kyrgyz delegations followed a telephone conversation between Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rahmon.
The European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and Russia have all urged both sides to respect the cease-fire agreement.
Both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan host Russian military bases.
Human Rights Watch has called for an immediate investigation to hold either side responsible for laws-of-war violations against civilians.
Like many other border areas in Central Asia, almost half of the 970-kilometer-long Kyrgyz-Tajik border has not been demarcated, leading to tensions for the past 30 years.
Britain Says G7 To Consider Mechanism To Counter Russian Disinformation
Britain is proposing an international effort to counter Russian propaganda and disinformation, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on May 2.
Raab will host a meeting of the foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations on May 3-5, its first in-person meeting in two years, with tensions with Russia high on the agenda.
Britain will ask the G7 to come together to develop “a rapid rebuttal mechanism" against Russian "lies and propaganda or fake news,” Raab told reporters ahead of the meeting.
While he didn’t provide specifics, Raab said the idea is to "come together to provide a rebuttal -- and frankly to provide the truth -- for the people of this country but also in Russia or China or around the world.”
The members of the G7 are Britain, the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. Britain has also invited representatives from Australia, India, South Korea, and South Africa to some of the meetings.
Russia used to be part of what was the G8, but its membership was suspended in 2014 due to Moscow’s forcible annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
British, U.S., and European officials accuse Russia of spreading disinformation on a range of issues, including elections, COVID-19 vaccines, and NATO.
At the G7, Raab will present Foreign Office-funded research showing pro-Russian trolls are targeting newspapers in democracies to try to create the impression that the public supports Russian aggression toward Ukraine, the Sunday Times reported.
"Pro-Russian trolls are posting comments on Ukraine and other areas, both to influence opinion here but to be played back in the Russian media," Raab told the newspaper.
The London summit will also discuss expanding access to COVID-19 vaccines around the world, supporting girls' education, setting climate action goals, and preventing famine.
Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and the Sunday Times
'They Tortured Him': Wife Of Detained Crimean Journalist Yesypenko Demands His Release
The wife of detained Crimean journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko is demanding his immediate release and called his arrest a "deliberate attack on freedom of speech." Kateryna Yesypenko said her husband had been tortured with electric shocks and falsely accused of being a spy. Yesypenko is a freelance contributor to Crimea.Realities, a regional news outlet of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that is known locally as Radio Svoboda. He was detained on March 10 after covering an event marking the 207th anniversary of the death of Ukrainian poet and thinker Taras Shevchenko in the city of Simferopol on Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
- By RFE/RL
Iran Detentions In Spotlight As U.K. Alleges 'Torture,' U.S. Rejects Report Of Prisoner Swap
U.S., U.K., and Iranian officials have all dismissed or otherwise downplayed unconfirmed reports out of Iran that suggested deals had been struck to swap prisoners against the backdrop of high-profile nuclear talks over Iran's nuclear activities.
The United States said reports of an agreement to exchange prisoners and free up billions in Iranian assets were "not true," while British officials avoided linking a U.K. national's case to current talks, and an Iranian envoy said a U.S. exchange was "not confirmed."
The renewed focus on Westerners held in Iran emerged a day after the parties to a 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran wrapped up a third round of tense talks on May 1 focused on bringing the United States and Iran back into full compliance with the deal.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on May 2 said that dual British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been held in Iran since 2016, is being held "unlawfully" and "being treated in the most abusive" way.
"I think it amounts to torture the way she's being treated, and there is a very clear, unequivocal obligation on the Iranians to release her," Raab told BBC television on May 2.
Raab spoke by telephone with former charity worker Zaghari-Ratcliffe on April 28, days after her lawyer announced that she had been sentenced to another year in prison in Iran for spreading "propaganda against the system."
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was already serving a five-year sentence for plotting the overthrow of Iran's government, a charge that she, her supporters, and rights groups deny.
Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, has accused Tehran of holding Zaghari-Ratcliffe as a diplomatic ploy.
Iranian state TV on May 2 quoted an anonymous source as saying a deal had been agreed for the United Kingdom to pay hundreds of millions of pounds for the release of Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
The 400 million pound ($552 million) sum mentioned seems to correspond to a British debt to Tehran that predates Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The Foreign Office responded to the report of a possible swap by saying Britain continues "to explore options to resolve this 40-year-old case and we will not comment further as legal discussions are ongoing."
The claims of a prisoner swap appeared in Iranian media in the hours before a nationally broadcast speech by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in which he made no mention of such a deal.
Later, Iran's envoy to the United Nations was quoted by a state-affiliated website called the Young Journalists Club as saying such news was "not confirmed."
"The news of the agreement for the release of American prisoners [in Iran] is not confirmed," the website quoted envoy Majid Takht Ravanchi as saying.
The U.S. State Department denied the reports suggesting a deal including a prisoner swap had been made between Washington and Tehran.
"Reports that a prisoner swap deal has been reached are not true," U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said. "As we have said, we always raise the cases of Americans detained or missing in Iran. We will not stop until we are able to reunite them with their families."
The unsourced reports said four Iranians and "four American spies who have served part of their sentences" would be traded and $7 billion in frozen Iranian funds released.
Even after the U.S. denial, an Iranian anchorwoman on state TV told viewers that "some sources say four Iranian prisoners are to be released and $7 billion are to be received by Iran in exchange for releasing four American spies."
Iran is known to be holding at least four Americans: father and son Baquer and Siamak Namazi, environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, and entrepreneur Emad Shargi.
U.S. President Joe Biden has stated his aim of rejoining the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal his predecessor Donald Trump abandoned in 2018 to reimpose sanctions on Iran.
Biden's chief of White House staff, Ron Klain, told CBS on May 2 that "unfortunately" the report of a swap was "untrue."
"We're working very hard to get them released," Klain said. "We raise this with Iran and our interlocutors all the time, but so far there's no agreement."
With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters
Cease-Fire Said Holding After Worst Violence In Decades On Kyrgyz-Tajik Border
Both sides have reported calm on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border as a day-old cease-fire appeared to be holding and more than 40 people were being mourned from some of the worst clashes in decades on their disputed frontier.
A joint Kyrgyz-Tajik military commission reported finding an unexploded rocket embedded in a residence in the area as the group inspected the scene of 24 hours of intense violence on April 28-29.
Kyrgyzstan is observing two days of official mourning for 34 people who died in Batken Province. One hundred and seventy-eight more were reported injured on the Kyrgyz side, seven of them still in grave condition.
Some 30,000 Kyrgyz villagers were reportedly evacuated from their homes.
Fifteen people were thought to have been killed on the Tajik side and 90 more injured, according to RFE/RL's Tajik Service, although Tajik authorities did not disclose casualty figures.
The Kyrgyz Interior Ministry said in a statement on May 2 that "the situation in all districts and villages of Batken Province on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border is stable and calm."
The violence followed a dispute over the installation of surveillance cameras at a water-distribution point near Tajikistan's Vorukh exclave, drawing in security forces from both countries.
Kyrgyz security officials at one point accused Tajik forces of using MI-24 helicopter gunships to shoot at Kyrgyz villages.
Kyrgyz reports say about 100 structures, including dozens of homes, three border checkpoints, a medical center, a police station, and two schools, were damaged.
The heads of national security for the post-Soviet, Central Asian neighbors agreed to the pullback during a crisis meeting on May 1.
The meeting of the Tajik and Kyrgyz delegations followed a telephone conversation between Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rahmon.
The European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and Russia have all urged both sides to respect the cease-fire agreement.
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan both host Russian military bases.
Human Rights Watch has urged an immediate investigation to hold either side responsible for laws-of-war violations against civilians.
Like many other border areas in Central Asia, almost half of the 970-kilometer-long Kyrgyz-Tajik border has not been demarcated, leading to tensions for the past 30 years.
- By RFE/RL
Journalists, Writers Come To Defense Of Russian Rights Lawyer
More than 80 Russian journalists, writers, historians, and translators have issued an open letter in support of prominent defense attorney Ivan Pavlov, who was detained in Moscow on April 30 and accused of disclosing classified information about the ongoing investigation of former journalist Ivan Safronov.
"The persecution of Ivan Pavlov and the seizure of confidential case files is an act of terror directed not only at Pavlov but at the entire law community and an attempt to drive Pavlov out of the Ivan Safronov case," the open letter published on May 2 said.
The signatories of the letter represent the Moscow PEN Club and the Free Speech Association.
Pavlov, 50, is one of Russia's leading human rights lawyers and the head of the legal-aid foundation Team 29. Law enforcement officers searched the Team 29 office in St. Petersburg, the home of the group's IT specialist, and the apartment of Pavlov's wife.
Safronov is accused of treason and has been in pretrial detention since July 2020. Authorities say he gave classified information about Russian arms sales in the Middle East to the Czech Republic, an accusation that Safronov denies.
Pavlov has also been representing the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), which was created by imprisoned opposition politician Aleksei Navalny and which Russian authorities are pushing to have declared an "extremist" organization.
In a statement on April 30, Amnesty International described Pavlov as "one of the country's most courageous lawyers" and said his detention was "a travesty of justice."
Pavlov also defended physicist Viktor Kudryavtsev, who was also charged with treason. Kudryavtsev died of cancer on April 29 as his trial was pending.
Pavlov told journalists that the 14 months Kudryavtsev spent in pretrial detention had "completely damaged his health." The case was "an example of how the secret services are literally killing Russian science in general," he added.
- By RFE/RL
Russia Says Half A Million Passports Issued In Eastern Ukraine In Last Two Years
Russia's Interior Ministry says that more than 527,000 people in parts of eastern Ukraine where Moscow-backed separatist formations are waging a war against Kyiv have been granted Russian citizenship over the past two years.*
The ministry's press service made the announcement on May 2 to the state news agency TASS.
It said around 40 percent of applications had been rejected, citing expulsions or restrictions on entry to Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in April 2019 issued an order for a simplified and expedited citizenship process for residents of those areas.
Moscow's policy of handing out citizenship in Ukraine has come under intense international criticism as a bid to further destabilize the area, where more than 13,000 people have been killed since the fighting started in April 2014.
Ukraine has condemned the Russian naturalization of Ukrainian citizens as part of a hybrid-warfare campaign being waged by Moscow and a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty.
Russia has provided military, economic, and political support to the separatists in parts of Ukraine's Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Moscow maintains it is not involved in Ukraine's domestic affairs.
The developments come at a time of heightened tensions between Russia and Ukraine in recent weeks, when Russia launched a major military buildup along its border with Ukraine and in the Black Sea Ukrainian region of Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
On April 8, Putin's deputy chief of staff, Dmitry Kozak, said Russia could "be forced to come to the defense" of Russian citizens in Ukraine, a statement that was repeated the following day by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
In November 2020, Peskov said, "Russia has always protected and will continue to protect the interests of Russians, regardless of where they live."
Viktor Vodolatsky, deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma's Committee on CIS Affairs and Eurasian Integration, told TASS on April 24 that Russia could issue up to 1 million new passports to Ukrainians by the end of the year.
On March 20, a Russian presidential decree came into force banning non-Russian citizens from owning land in most of Crimea.
"The European Union does not recognize the illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by Russia, which is a clear violation of international law," said an EU statement at the time.
"Therefore the European Union does not recognize this decree and considers its entry into force as yet another attempt to forcibly integrate the illegally annexed peninsula into Russia."
With reporting by TASS, UNIAN, and The Atlantic
*CORRECTION: A previous version of this story gave an incorrect time frame for the issuing of Russian passports to residents of eastern Ukraine.
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