The Moscow-based Russian State Humanitarian University (RGGU) seeks to use special software to monitor students' inclination for protest, a group called Roskomsvoboda said on June 17.

According to Roskomsvoboda, its members studied Russia's federal site on state purchases and discovered documents announcing a 12 million ruble ($165,000) tender for software that would allow the university to monitor, compile, and analyze data gathered from students' Internet usage.

According to the document, the monitoring would take place around the clock and alert university officials to any information "of particular interest."

The document said that the software would "analyze in detail material related to education, student life, [and] youth politics posted on Internet websites, social networks, blogs, and forums."

Among other things, the software system is also required to highlight the mention of certain names and groups, activities related to discussions about media reports and social groups, and groups of influence in an effort to analyze tensions among students and their potential for protest.

The goals of the system are described in the documents as "monitoring controlled Internet resources, finding vulnerable parts of controlled Internet resources, preventing leaks of protected data, including service and confidential information, and the creation of reports."

Ukraine has imposed punitive sanctions on Dmytro Firtash, a powerful tycoon indicted by the United States for corruption, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy widens his crackdown against influential elites ahead of his first official visit to Washington next month.

National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danylov on June 18 announced the sanctions against Firtash, who is currently living in Vienna while fighting extradition to the United States.

In announcing the sanctions, Danylov accused Firtash of selling titanium to Russia's defense industry. Kyiv is engaged in a war against Kremlin-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine that has left more than 13,000 people dead since 2014.

Ukraine's security chief also announced sanctions on businessman Pavel Fuchs over his acquisition of more than a dozen natural-gas fields from a former official tied to the government of former President Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted in a popular uprising in 2014.

Firtash and Fuchs have been linked to former President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who sought dirt in Ukraine on President Joe Biden's son, Hunter.

Zelenskiy will meet Biden for the first time in Washington in July.

Danylov did not give details about the sanctions, although they historically freeze an individual's assets inside Ukraine, including bank accounts.

Firtash controls key businesses in Ukraine's chemical, titanium, and natural-gas industries. Forbes this year listed him as the country's 25th-wealthiest individual, with a net worth of $420 million.

The United States indicted Firtash, who is believed to have strong ties to the Kremlin, in March 2014, shortly after Russia seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.

U.S. prosecutors accuse the Ukrainian businessmen of paying bribes to officials in India for licenses to mine titanium, which they planned to sell to U.S. aerospace giant Boeing.

Firtash denies the charges and calls them politically motivated. He is currently seeking a new trial after Austria's Supreme Court upheld his extradition in 2019.

Although he has lived in Austria since 2014, Firtash has continued to prosper financially in Ukraine. He is believed to control around 75 percent of the country's gas-supply companies.

Yuriy Vitrenko, the CEO of the state-owned natural gas company Naftogaz, told RFE/RL earlier this month that he suspected Firtash might be shifting his profits from Ukraine's gas industry to affiliated companies in Western Europe through a scheme known as transfer pricing.

He also expressed concern that Firtash was selling gas he bought at below-market prices from Naftogaz to industrial users in violation of an agreement.

'Hold Them To Account'

George Kent, the deputy U.S. assistant secretary of state who oversees Ukraine, called on Kyiv in April to go after Firtash as part of its anti-corruption agenda.

Kent highlighted Firtash's role as an importer in the 1990s and 2000s of gas from Russia, a business that many officials and analysts have said was rife with graft.

"Why is it that it is the U.S. who indicts and goes after corrupt Ukrainians?" Kent said, referring to the U.S. indictment against Firtash.

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

The Biden administration has made Kyiv's progress on reforms, including fighting corruption, a greater priority in the two countries' relationship.

U.S. officials and analysts have expressed concern about a rollback of Ukraine's reform agenda over the past year, including the dismantling of anti-corruption legislation.

Biden stressed the need for Ukraine to push ahead with tough economic and political changes as well as tackle corruption in a phone call with Zelenskiy on June 7. During the call, Biden extended an invitation to the Ukrainian leader to visit the White House this summer.

SEE ALSO:

Biden Invites Ukrainian President To White House

When asked a day later by Senator Chris Murphy (Democrat-Connecticut) during a Foreign Relations Committee hearing if there were any reforms that the Biden administration wanted to see Ukraine deliver prior to Zelenskiy's White House visit, Secretary of State Antony Blinken cited several, including a desire to see "people engaged in corrupt practices brought to justice."

In an op-ed posted on the website of the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, Zelenskiy said his administration would be taking steps to rein in the power of tycoons like Firtash who wield great influence on Ukraine from behind the scenes.

Ukrainian and Western experts blame the tycoons for blocking crucial economic and political reforms that could put the country on a path toward greater prosperity and European integration. They have called for them to be investigated by an independent judiciary amid concern Zelenskiy's use of sanctions could become a substitute to proper legal institutions.

SEE ALSO:

A Powerful Kremlin Ally Faces A Treason Trial In Ukraine. Ukraine's President Faces A Political Trip Wire.

Zelenskiy's administration in February placed sanctions on Viktor Medvedchuk, a powerful tycoon and politician close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, for allegedly helping the separatists in eastern Ukraine.

YEREVAN -- Thousands of supporters of former President Robert Kocharian’s opposition Armenia Alliance have rallied in the center of Yerevan ahead of snap general elections this weekend.

The June 18 demonstration in the capital’s central Republic Square came a day after a similar rally by supporters of caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.

Addressing the crowd, Kocharian hailed his alliance’s "triumphant campaign."

“This is not a struggle for power, this is a struggle to return statehood to our people. "

The rally for Kocharian, who served as president between 1998 and 2008, was the last campaign event before the June 20 vote, which is aimed at resolving a political crisis that has engulfed the country since last autumn's war against Azerbaijan over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

A close race for first place is expected between Pashinian’s Civil Contract party and the newly created Armenia Alliance, and it remains unclear whether either group will be able to control a majority of seats in parliament after the elections -- either on their own or by forming a governing coalition.

There are 21 parties and 4 political alliances competing.

A second-round vote would be held between the top two parties or alliances if nobody is able to form a governing coalition within six days.

SEE ALSO:

Pashinian Supporters Pack Central Yerevan Square Ahead Of Snap Poll

Pashinian, 46, swept to power in 2018 after leading massive demonstrations that ousted his predecessor.

His popularity has plummeted since he signed a Russian-brokered cease-fire deal in November 2020 that halted a six-week war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The deal saw Armenia hand over swaths of territory around the region that ethnic Armenians had controlled since the early 1990s.

The conflict claimed at least 6,900 lives.

Russia says it has notified its partners under the Open Skies arms control treaty that it will leave the group in December, following the departure from the accord by the United States late last year.

"Russia has notified all the member states about its decision to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty six months after sending a notice. Therefore, this will occur on December 18, 2021," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on June 18.

The North Atlantic Council, NATO's principal political decision-making body, said it "deeply" regretted Russia’s move, saying the accord is "an important legally binding instrument which contributes to transparency, security and stability, and mutual confidence in the Euro-Atlantic area."

It also accused Russia of failing to engage "constructively" to resolve outstanding issues of compliance.

The treaty, which entered into force in 2002, allowed its 34 signatories to conduct short-notice, unarmed observation and surveillance flights over one another's territories to collect data on military forces and activities. More than 1,500 flights have taken place under the agreement.

The United States formally withdrew in November 2020 from the verification agreement, which Washington said Moscow "flagrantly violated," six months after giving notice of its pending exit. Moscow denies it has violated the accord.

The administration of Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, said last month it had decided not to reenter the Open Skies Treaty.

In response, President Vladimir Putin signed a law formalizing Russia's withdrawal from the pact earlier in June. Both chambers of Russia’s parliament had earlier approved the move.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on June 18 said the U.S. decision to withdraw from the treaty had "significantly upset the balance of interests" among the pact's members and had compelled Moscow to exit.

According to the North Atlantic Council, Russia "has for many years refused to fully comply with its obligations under the Treaty on Open Skies, by, inter alia, imposing non-compliant flight restrictions over the Kaliningrad region, and near its border with Georgia."

The U.S. pull out was another blow to the system of international arms control that former President Donald Trump had repeatedly scorned, complaining that Washington was being either deceived or unfairly restrained in its military capabilities.

In January, just days after being inaugurated, Biden moved to extend New START, the last major arms-control treaty remaining between Moscow and Washington.

The European Union has reached an agreement on economic sanctions on Belarus, Austria’s government and EU diplomats say, in response to the forced landing of a Ryanair flight last month in Minsk and the arrest of an opposition activist who was onboard.

Austria’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on June 18 that the agreement "is sending a clear and targeted signal against the Belarusian regime's unbearable acts of repression," while Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg tweeted that the sanctions were "robust and targeted."

EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on June 21 will discuss the measure agreed upon by experts tasked with drawing up sanctions designed to hit the regime of longtime authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka "in the wallet," AFP quoted a European diplomat as saying.

If agreed by EU governments at a political level, the sanctions would include a ban on new loans, on EU investors from trading securities or buying short-term bonds, on EU banks from providing investment services, and on EU export credits, according to Reuters.

The news agency said EU experts also agreed on a tighter arms embargo and a ban of exports to Belarus of communications equipment that could be used for spying.

The proposed sanctions also reportedly include a ban on importing potash, a major Belarusian export, as well as restrictions on EU purchases from Belarus of tobacco products, oil, and oil-related products.

The June 18 agreement overcame opposition from Austria to targeting the Belarusian financial sector, amid concerns it could hurt Austrian banks with deep ties to Belarus, diplomats said.

The EU has already responded to the diversion of the Ryanair flight between two EU countries by blocking Belarusian airlines from EU airports and airspace. Europe's aviation regulator has also urged other airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell earlier told members of the European Parliament that the bloc would likely adopt economic sanctions on Belarus this month.

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Belarusian Journalist Seized After Ryanair Jet 'Forcibly' Diverted To Minsk

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On May 23, Belarusian authorities scrambled a military jet to escort the passenger flight over its airspace to land in Minsk in what many countries regard as a "state hijacking." After the plane landed law enforcement immediately arrested opposition blogger Raman Pratasevich and his Russian girlfriend, Sofia Sapega.

Belarus's move came amid a brutal crackdown by Belarusian authorities on demonstrations against the disputed results of a presidential election in August 2020.

Election officials say Lukashenka won a sixth term, but the European Union, the United States, and other countries refuse to recognize the official result and do not consider Lukashenka to be the country's legitimate leader.

With reporting by Reuters

Residents in Turkmenistan's eastern region of Lebap who owe debts for natural gas are being deprived of the right to purchase subsidized food.

RFE/RL correspondents report from the region that indebted citizens, many of whom have low incomes or medical conditions, have seen their natural-gas supplies cut and been told that their properties could be confiscated.

The development comes amid an already dire economic situation marked by rising unemployment, food and medicine shortages, and overdue salaries and pensions.

Government critics and human rights groups say President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has suppressed dissent and made few changes since he came to power after the death of autocrat Saparmurat Niyazov.

Like his late predecessor, Berdymukhammedov has relied on providing citizens with subsidized goods and utilities to help maintain his grip on power.

The country has seen a dramatic increase in the number of individuals who rely on subsidized food, and prices at state grocery stores have risen.

Each customer is allowed to purchase a liter of cottonseed and sunflower oil, as well as one kilogram of sugar and rice per month in special shops. Sometimes the stores also sell eggs and chicken legs.

Turkmenistan boasts the world's fourth-largest proven natural-gas reserves but it has been mired in an economic slump worsened by the coronavirus pandemic, both of which the Turkmen government has officially denied.

According to Human Rights Watch, Berdymukhammedov, "his relatives, and their associates control all aspects of public life, and the authorities encroach on private life."

SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan -- Authorities in Uzbekistan's southeastern region of Samarkand say they have detained six alleged members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist group banned in 2016 by Uzbekistan's Supreme Court as an extremist organization.

The Interior Affairs Directorate of the Samarkand region says the group was apprehended on June 17 in the district of Urgut.

"Some of the suspects were previously convicted for propagating ideas of terrorist groups," the directorate said.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is a global organization based in London that seeks to unite all Muslim countries into an Islamic caliphate.

The group says its methods for reaching that goal are peaceful.

MOSCOW -- A court in Moscow has postponed an extradition hearing of Alyaksey Kudzin, a Belarusian champion kickboxer who is wanted in Minsk for taking part in mass protests against Belarus's authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

The Moscow Regional Court was scheduled to start Kudzin's hearing on June 18. But it postponed the session for one week after Belarusian human rights organizations and the Moscow Helsinki Group demanded that the court reject Belarus's extradition request.

The court said it would start the hearing after it receives a document from Russia's Foreign Ministry about "the situation around human rights in Belarus."

Kudzin is a world champion in kickboxing and muaythai (Thai boxing). He is wanted by authorities in Belarus for allegedly resisting law enforcement officials.

Last August, Kudzin took part in mass protests in the city of Maladechna near Minsk. The protest was called to challenge official presidential election results that handed a sixth term to Lukashenka.

Kudzin was arrested at the time and sentenced to several days in jail.

SEE ALSO:

World Champion Kickboxer May Face 'Torture, Repression And Even Death' If Extradited From Russia To Belarus

A criminal investigation was launched against him later. But Kudzin fled the country instead of showing up for his trial in Minsk last November.

He first stayed in France. In early 2021 he was arrested at Minsk's request upon his arrival in Russia.

Belarusian authorities filed their extradition request with Russian officials in February.

Austria says it plans to send a million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to the Western Balkans in addition to the doses it is funneling toward the region on behalf of the European Union.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz made the announcement in Vienna on June 18 following a summit with his counterparts from countries of the former Yugoslavia that are not EU member states -- Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia. Albania’s infrastructure minister and EU special envoy Miroslav Lajcak also attended.

In April, Austria already committed to send 651,000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to the six Balkan countries by August on behalf of the EU.

SEE ALSO:

Austria To Send 651,000 Vaccine Doses From EU To Balkans

Speaking at a news conference after the Vienna summit, Kurz said: "Beyond that, we also want to make a contribution bilaterally as the Republic of Austria and we have decided as a government that we will make a million vaccine doses available to the states of the Western Balkans."

The doses are to be delivered between August and the end of the year, the chancellor said, adding that in the beginning it will mainly be doses from the manufacturer AstraZeneca.

A spokesman was quoted as saying that further details -- including which countries would receive the doses or how they would be distributed among them -- would still need to be decided.

A quarter of Austria's nearly nine million people are fully vaccinated.

Kurz reiterated on June 18 that Vienna is in favor of a renewed push for the accession of the six Western Balkan countries to the bloc.

"There is still a lot of necessary reform work, but there has been a lot of progress as well in the last few years, which needs to be recognized," he said.

The EU has already launched accession talks with Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

With reporting by Reuters, exxpress.at, AFP, dpa, and RFE/RL’s Balkan Service

YALTA, Ukraine -- Floods caused by heavy rains have killed a 26-year-old man in Ukraine's Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula.

The man died in the city of Yalta after he was taken away by water and mud, Crimea's Moscow-imposed governor, Sergei Aksyonov, said on June 18.

The identity of the man was not disclosed.

The Russia-imposed mayor of Yalta, Yanina Pavlenko, said that eight local residents were injured.

"Rivers overflowed their banks. The city's central part is being flooded," Pavlenko said in a statement. "Residents are being evacuated. Most importantly, the city's central area is fully closed now... There are mudslides in different parts near the city. Work to clean up the roads is under way."

Pavlenko also said the entrance to the city was completely closed because "the uncontrolled amounts of water simply sweep off vehicles and people."

Heavy rains overnight flooded all underground passages in the city, leading municipal authorities to suspend public transportation.

On June 17, the Crimean city of Kerch was also flooded by heavy rains.

Aksyonov introduced a state of emergency across the entire peninsula on June 17 as heavy rains continued.

Belarusian Foreign Minister Uladzimer Makey has met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow to discuss the status of Russian citizen Sofia Sapega -- the girlfriend of the detained Belarusian opposition activist Raman Pratasevich.

Lavrov told journalists on May 18 that Makey informed him about the legal cases in Belarus against Sapega and another Russian citizen, Yegor Dudnikov.

Dudnikov was arrested in Minsk in May after joining mass protests against Belarus's authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

"The Russian Embassy in Minsk keeps this matter under special control," Lavrov said, adding that he hopes the situation with Sapega and Dudnikov "will be solved soon." He did not elaborate.

Belarusian authorities on May 23 pulled Sapega and Pratasevich from a civilian airliner meant to fly from Athens to Vilnius after a Belarusian military plane diverted the flight and forced it to land in Minsk.

The diversion of the Ryanair flight by the Belarusian warplane has been condemned internationally as a state hijacking and has prompted Western sanctions against Belarus.

But a Belarusian court on June 14 rejected Sapega's appeal to be released, ruling that her arrest was legal under Belarusian law.

Sapega's lawyer, Alyaksandr Filanovich, says criminal charges have been filed against her. But he has not elaborated, saying he is under a court order not to release details about the case to the public.

The Vyasna human rights center in Minsk says Belarusian authorities have charged Sapega with organizing and preparing activities that violate civil order, organizing "mass disturbances," and inciting hatred.

In an interview with the Kommersant newspaper in late May, Makey said Lukashenka could decide to pardon Sapega or transfer her to Russia to serve a sentence.

The European Union has responded to the diversion of the Ryanair flight between two EU countries by blocking Belarusian airlines from EU airports and airspace. Europe's aviation regulator also has urged other airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace.

Russia has backed Lukashenka's regime in the case.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Lukashenka on May 28 -- pushing for further integration between Moscow and Minsk within a so-called Union State.

The decades-old bilateral agreement envisages a union with closer political, economic, and security ties between Russia and Belarus.

With reporting by TASS and Interfax

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has dismissed speculation that Turkey could build a military base in Azerbaijan as "rumors."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a visit to Baku this week that he hasn't ruled out the possibility Ankara could build a military base in Azerbaijan under an agreement he and President Ilham Aliyev signed on June 15.

The so-called Susa Declaration on Allied Relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey calls for stepped-up cooperation between Ankara and Baku in the military sphere.

Lavrov was questioned by journalists on June 18 about the possibility of a Turkish base in Azerbaijan after he'd met in Moscow with Belarusian Foreign Minister Uladzimer Makey.

Lavrov said the topic had not been discussed, adding "we do not comment on rumors."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on June 18 that Moscow is closely monitoring developments around a potential Turkish base in Azerbaijan.

Such a move by NATO-member Turkey could require Russia to take steps to ensure its own security and interests.

Peskov said Russia was in close contact with Turkey on stabilizing the situation in the South Caucasus after last fall's six-week war between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Ankara provided Azerbaijan with both diplomatic and military support during the conflict.

Turkey is now jointly operating a cease-fire monitoring center with Russia under the terms of the Russian-brokered cease-fire agreement that brought an end to the fighting last November.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. But ethnic Armenians who make up most of the region's population still control part of the territory and reject Baku's rule.

With reporting by Reuters and TASS

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- A 79-year-old Russian scientist placed under house arrest after being charged with high treason has been hospitalized after suffering a heart attack.

Valery Mitko was taken to a hospital in St. Petersburg on June 17 after suffering a heart attack in his home, his lawyer Anton Golubev said.

Mitko was placed under house arrest in February 2020 on suspicion of transferring classified materials to China during regular visits he made there as a teacher.

Mitko has denied the charges. He and his lawyer insist that the only materials he took to China were related to his scientific and teaching work.

According to Russian media reports, Mitko stands accused of delivering top secret information to China about hydroacoustic research and the detection of submarines.

Treason charges against Russian researchers and scientists have become common in recent years.

With reporting by MBKh Media

MOSCOW -- Russian authorities have detained two opposition municipal lawmakers from Moscow and St. Petersburg, in a possible attempt to thwart them from running in September's elections.

Police in Moscow detained Ketevan Kharaidze early on June 18, a month after the municipal lawmaker from the opposition Yabloko party announced that she intends to run for a seat in the lower house of parliament, the State Duma.

Kharaidze was detained after police searched her apartment, according to her election campaign chief, Yekaterina Uspenskaya.

Uspenskaya said that before being taken away for questioning, Kharaidze told her neighbor police had confiscated her telephone, a computer, and two 5,000-ruble ($70) banknotes found in a pocket of her coat that Kharaidze said she had not put there.

Authorities so far have not announced the reason for the search or detention of the opposition candidate. A court on June 19 will determine a measure of restraint.

According to OVD-Info group, which monitors the detention of political protesters and activists, Kharaidze's lawyer tried unsuccessfully for several hours to meet with her client.

A few hours before Kharaidze's was taken into custody, police in St. Petersburg detained municipal lawmaker Maksim Reznik on drug-possession charges after searching his home, his summer house, and his mother's apartment

A court on June 18 then ordered Reznik to stay under house arrest for two months, shutting him off from all communication except with his lawyer and some family.

"House arrest is a way to impede the political activities of Maksim Reznik and his election campaign" to run for the legislative assembly in St. Petersburg, a statement on the politician's Telegram channel said.

Reznik had previously taken part in events to support political prisoners in Russia.

He has said that he had been threatened recently by unknown men who'd said he would be targeted in a drug investigation unless he publicly criticized the jailed opposition politician and Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny.

Reznik's arrest came after his nephew, Ivan Dorofeyev, was charged with distributing illegal drugs.

Dorofeyev's mother says investigators pressured her son to testify against Reznik.

The September 19 elections will be for the State Duma as well as nine regional governors and 39 regional parliaments.

With reporting by OVD-Info

Former Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister Taiyrbek Sarpashev has been arrested as part of an investigation into alleged corruption during the development of the Kumtor gold mine project.

The State Committee for National Security (UKMK) says Sarpashev was detained on June 17 on corruption charges.

The UKMK says Sarpashev is suspected of lobbying in the interests of the Canadian firm Centerra Gold by securing legislation that allowed the company to work at higher elevations of the mountains where the mine is located. Kyrgyz officials say that work resulted in environmental damage on two glaciers.

Other recent arrests in the case by Kyrgyz authorities include former Prime Minister Omurbek Babanov, former presidential staff chief Daniyar Narymbaev, and several former and current parliamentary deputies.

The giant Kumtor gold mine project has been the focus of international attention in recent months as Bishkek has moved to take over temporary control of its operations.

Centerra calls Kyrgyzstan's actions "wrongful and illegal."

On May 16, the Canadian firm said it had "initiated binding arbitration to enforce its rights under long-standing investment agreements with the government."

Centerra’s claims will be adjudicated at arbitration proceedings in Stockholm that are conducted under the rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

President Sadyr Japarov has said it was necessary to take over from Centerra Gold in order to remedy environmental and safety violations.

According to a law approved on May 14, Kyrgyzstan's government can take control for up to three months of any company that operates under a concession agreement in Kyrgyzstan if that firm violates environmental regulations, endangers the local environment or lives of people, or causes other significant damage.

Centerra's Kyrgyz subsidiary, Kumtor Gold Company (KGC), Kyrgyzstan's biggest taxpayer, is the only firm in the country that operates under a concession agreement.

On May 17, the head of a Kyrgyz state investigative commission announced that Centerra Gold's mining concession agreement was being revoked over what he called "corruption" and "violations of safety and environmental regulations."

Centerra's chief executive officer, Scott Perry, says Kyrgyzstan's leadership "has acted with astonishing speed" since the beginning of 2021 "to undermine the basis on which the Kumtor mine has been operated."

He said Kyrgyz officials have "refused to engage with us on any matters it considers to be the subject of dispute."

Centerra also has accused Kyrgyz law enforcement of intimidation -- including police visits to the homes of several senior KGC managers and a May 15 raid of KGC's office in Bishkek.

Canada, Britain, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have all criticized Kyrgyzstan's moves against Centerra.

Japarov's sudden rise to power in October 2020 after being freed from jail in the midst of a political crisis was particularly bad news for Centerra.

As an opposition politician during the past decade, Japarov led an unsuccessful bid in parliament and at street demonstrations to nationalize the mine.

He oversaw several chaotic rallies against the company -- including a 2013 rally in which a provincial governor was kidnapped. That incident was the basis of Japarov's 2017 arrest and 11-year prison sentence on hostage-taking charges.

The Kremlin on June 18 blamed a fresh surge in COVID-19 infections on "overwhelming nihilism" among Russians.

Meanwhile, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced an extension until June 29 of restrictions imposed earlier this week.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia's vaccination campaign had clearly not been as effective as desired. He said President Vladimir Putin was closely monitoring the situation.

Sobyanin earlier announced the closure of Moscow's Euro 2020 fan zone and a ban on gatherings of more than 1,000 people.

"I didn't want to do this, but we have to," Sergei Sobyanin wrote on his website. "Starting today, we will limit mass events to a maximum of 1,000 people."

"We are temporarily stopping all mass entertainment events and we'll also have to close dance halls and fan zones," he wrote, referring to the Euro 2020 fan zone outside of the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow.

Peskov told reporters that "overwhelming nihilism, a low vaccination rate, and the deviousness of the infection itself" were the cause of Moscow's record surge in infections.

Peskov was echoing the opinion of Anna Popova, the head of Russia's health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor. On June 17, she also had blamed the spike in daily infections on Russians' disregard for preventative measures.

"[The infection growth] is linked to three reasons that are completely clear," she told Rossiya-1 TV. "The first is total nihilism for the measures that we used to protect ourselves from the coronavirus for a long time."

Sobyanin had said this week that the Russian capital was facing a new, more aggressive and infectious coronavirus variant.

Sobyanin this month ordered mandatory vaccinations for a number of service workers in the city and declared this week a nonworking week. Businesses will return to work on June 21.

On June 17, authorities in three other Russian regions -- the broader Moscow region, the Siberian region of Kemerovo, and the Far East region of Sakhalin -- said they planned to introduce the compulsory coronavirus vaccinations in the service sector, including in retail, education, and health care.

Critics of the requirement say there is no legal basis for companies to pressure staff to get shots in order to meet the decrees and avoid penalties.

Russia was among the first countries in the world to roll out a vaccination campaign, but there is widespread hesitancy to get a shot.

WATCH: Facing A COVID-19 Surge, Moscow Makes Vaccines Mandatory For Some Workers

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Facing A COVID-19 Surge, Moscow Makes Vaccines Mandatory For Some Workers

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As of early June, only 12 percent of Russia’s 146-million population had received at least one dose.

Even in Moscow, only 15 percent of the city's population of 12 million has been vaccinated.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on June 17 that the situation was "extremely difficult" and the country must “step up the vaccination pace."

"Experts speak of the emergence of new strains that not only spread rapidly, but also lead to serious complications," he said.

Authorities say the so-called delta variant that hit India hard and has since spread around the world is behind the rise of cases in Russia.

The delta variant is believed to be faster-spreading than other strains of the virus and there is some evidence to suggest it causes higher hospitalization rates.

Russia has reported almost 5.3 million confirmed virus cases and nearly 128,000 deaths, although real figures are believed to be much higher.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, dpa, and Interfax

The Kremlin says President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree setting September 19 as the date for elections to Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma.

The decree inked on June 17 will enter into effect from the moment of its official publication, which under Russian law must occur within five days after its signing by the president.

The upcoming ballot will also include direct elections of nine regional governors and elections to 39 regional parliaments.

The elections were already expected to take place in September.

Iranians voted for a new president among a small and heavily vetted field of candidates dominated by hard-line conservatives.

Ultraconservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi is expected to win the June 18 poll easily, after many potential rivals were barred from running by the powerful Guardians Council overseen by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

According to the Interior Ministry, first results are expected on June 19 in afternoon and final results should be released on June 20.

Raisi, 60, heads Iran's judiciary and was one of the judges in 1988 who oversaw a series of speedy trials in which thousands of political prisoners were sentenced to death and executed.

Human rights organizations say he is guilty of crimes against humanity, and the United States has placed him under sanctions.

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Ebrahim Raisi: The 'Killer' Who Could Be Iran's Next President

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Analysts have suggested that a win for Raisi would signal the rise of anti-Western hard-liners to the detriment of pragmatists like outgoing two-term President Hassan Rohani, a key architect of the moribund 2015 nuclear deal under which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Both Tehran and Washington have said they want to restore the deal, which was abandoned in 2018 by the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump. Negotiations to revive the accord restarted in April.

But Khamenei has said that he wants "actions, not promises" from the five world powers who originally signed the accord with Tehran, which has steadily flouted terms of the agreement by rebuilding stockpiles of enriched uranium and increasing its ability to enrich it to higher levels of purity.

At the same time, the Guardians Council, appointed directly by Khamenei, eliminated the vast majority of potential reformist candidates, bolstering Raisi's chances.

Raisi's main challenger is Abdolnaser Hemmati, the only relative moderate left in the race after another moderate candidate quit the race on the last day of the campaign. Two hard-liners also dropped out of the race on the last day, leaving four candidates for voters to choose from.

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What You Need To Know About Iran’s Presidential Election

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Hemmati, 64, served as Iran's central bank chief before he was dismissed in order to run for president.

Public opinion polls suggest Hemmati's support is in the single digits even after he gained some momentum late in his campaign by criticizing state restrictions and reaching out to reform-minded Iranians.

Two more hard-liners, Mohsen Rezai, a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, who served as parliament's first deputy speaker, remain in the race.

Turnout is being watched closely by observers, who see it as a referendum on the ruling theocracy's handling of a growing number of crises, including an economy hit hard by punitive sanctions reimposed under Trump. Inflation has reached nearly 40 percent and the official unemployment rate stands at 11 percent.

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Hardship And Homelessness Amid Iran's Presidential Race

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Analysts say the vote could produce the country’s lowest-ever turnout, casting doubts over the popular legitimacy of the winner.

Khamenei has encouraged Iranians to participate in the election, while lashing out at unidentified "enemies" he claims are discouraging people from taking part.

State television reported that in some polling stations voting was extended by two hours -- to 2 a.m. local time on June 19 -- to allow late-comers to cast ballots.

Earlier, state TV had shown long queues outside polling stations in several cities, but RFE/RL's Radio Farda obtained several videos that appeared to show few voters at polling stations in Tehran and other cities. The authenticity of the clips could not be verified.

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Iranian Presidential Election: Videos Of Polling Stations Show Low Voter Turnout

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Contrary to state media reports, one voter who did not give her full name, told Reuters on June 18 that polling stations were "almost empty" in the central Iranian city of Yazd.

A survey conducted by the Iranian Student Polling Agency suggests that only 42 percent of the country’s 59 million registered voters planned to cast ballots. If prediction holds true, it would be a massive decline compared to the 73 percent turnout for Iran's last presidential election in 2017.

The highest turnout for an Iranian presidential election since the Islamic revolution of 1979 that brought the current theocracy to power was 85.2 percent in 2009. The lowest was 50.6 percent in 1993.

Solat Mortazavi, a representative of Raisi's campaign headquarters, said there had been "disruptions" in the voting process at some polling centers in southern Tehran.

But Interior Minister Abdolrahman Fazli said the election was proceeding smoothly at all 70,000 polling stations despite early reports of problems.

Hossein Hassanpour, a deputy police chief in Iran's northern province of Gilan, said 27 people were detained early on June 18 for endangering "the health and security of the elections." He did not provide further details.

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'I'm Through With Politics': Outrage And Apathy Ahead Of Iran's Presidential Vote

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Many Iranians have said they will not be voting due to severely restricted choices. They also cited frustration over the economy, state repression, and disillusionment with politicians who have failed to bring change.

“They’re offering five bananas, saying 'Choose any fruit you want,'" one Iranian man complained during a recent open tribune in the central city of Isfahan. "How can you pick an orange from five bananas?”

If no candidate wins an overall majority on June 18, the two with the most votes will go head to head in a second-round runoff.

SEE ALSO:

What Iranian Foreign Policy Could Look Like Under President Raisi

Despite the attention paid to the election, it is the supreme leader, not the president, who has the last say on Iran’s nuclear and foreign policies.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, dpa, and AFP

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has welcomed a decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to accept, on a priority basis, the legal case that the Moscow bureau of the broadcaster brought to it last month against the Russian government.

RFE/RL said in a statement on June 17 that the decision, taken by the Strasbourg-based court a day earlier, has now also been formally communicated to the government of Russia.

The ECHR’s decision to grant “priority” status -- which it reserves for the most important, serious, and urgent cases -- within a month of its filing means that the case will likely proceed more quickly than ordinary cases.

The Russian government has until October 5 to submit its response in the case to the ECHR, the international court of the Council of Europe, Europe’s main human rights forum.

In their legal filing, RFE/RL and Andrey Shary, the general director of RFE/RL's Russian operations, are challenging Russia’s “foreign agent” laws, which have resulted in fines worth millions of dollars being imposed on them since January.

The law mandates that RFE/RL label itself a “foreign agent,” a term that in Russian, RFE/RL says, connotes that it is an enemy of the state. The label must be placed on all of its media content in the country or severe financial, and potentially criminal, punishment could be levied.

The case argues that Russia’s actions violate the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of the press protected by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In addition, it says that left unchecked, Russia’s campaign of imposing severe punishments on RFE/RL over its stand on labeling its content will have a "profound chilling effect" on what is left of the country’s independent media.

In recent weeks, Russia has already added independent media outlets such as the Latvian-based Meduza, Moscow-based First Anti-Corruption Media (PASMI), and Netherlands-based VTimes.io to its list of “foreign agents.” VTimes closed its operations on June 12 due to the designation, saying it made the venture economically unviable.

“The clear intent of the Kremlin’s campaign against RFE/RL and other independent media in Russia is to force these outlets to either abandon freedom of speech and journalistic integrity, or to abandon the profession," RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said in the statement.

"Given the imminent risk of irreparable harm to RFE/RL’s operations in Russia and the importance of the issue of information choice for the Russian people, we welcome the fact that the European Court of Human Rights has given the case priority,” he added.

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

Later modifications targeted foreign-funded media. In 2017, the Russian government placed RFE/RL's Russian Service on the list, along with six other RFE/RL Russian-language news services and Current Time. The Russian Service of VOA was also added to the list.

Since January, Russian regulators have issued hundreds of administrative cases against RFE/RL and Shary in Russian courts, carrying fines that may eventually total more than $3 million.

Russian court bailiffs have visited RFE/RL’s Moscow bureau twice to notify the organization about enforcement proceedings for the fines arising from the broadcaster’s refusal to label its content.

RFE/RL’s Russian bank accounts have also been frozen by court order. RFE/RL has appealed every one of the hundreds of cases, but not a single court has upheld the legal challenges or decreased the levels of fines imposed by Roskomnadzor, the Russian telecommunications watchdog.

U.S. President Joe Biden raised the issue of Kremlin pressure against RFE/RL's Russian-language services at a June 16 summit with President Vladimir Putin.

RFE/RL is an editorially independent media company funded by a grant from the U.S. Congress through the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Each week, nearly 7 million people access RFE/RL's news portals in Russia.

Last year, Russia passed a law giving its national legislation precedence over international treaties and rulings from international bodies in cases when they conflict with the Russian Constitution, in what critics said was a move intended to override ECHR rulings.

Bulgaria's leaders have expressed their strong support for North Macedonia's road to joining the European Union, a departure from Sofia's earlier objections to North Macedonia starting talks to join the bloc.

"Our aim is to create a favorable environment of trust, friendship, and open dialogue that will help our specialists to sit down and find the correct solutions," Bulgarian caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Yanev said on June 17 following discussions in Sofia with a Macedonian delegation headed by Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.

The start of North Macedonia's accession talks was blocked by EU member Bulgaria in 2020 due to disputes over history, national identity, and language.

Bulgaria wants North Macedonia to formally recognize that its language has Bulgarian roots, while Skopje has said any question of its identity and language are not negotiable.

Sofia's decision to block the start of EU accession talks was backed by all of Bulgaria's political parties in parliament, and the current caretaker government is powerless to change the position. However, it could prepare changes to legislation that could be approved by the new parliament that will be voted in during early elections in July.

While a joint commission of historians have failed to resolve the standoff, the two neighboring countries have recently renewed efforts to resolve their differences, and the trip to Sofia by Zaev and other high-ranking Macedonian officials was seen as an opportunity for a breakthrough.

The North Macedonia delegation included the country's deputy prime minister for EU affairs, Nikola Dimitrov, and Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani.

Zaev met with representatives of Bulgaria's main parties, as well as Prime Minister Yanev and President Rumen Radev.

"I am convinced that today's meetings here in Sofia will bring about only good for both brotherly nations," Zaev said after he and Yanev agreed to put an end to the recent hateful rhetoric between the two countries.

"I appeal on the brotherly Bulgarian nation -- through its leaders -- to continue to help the Republic of North Macedonia on our path toward the European Union. We have no alternative," Zaev added.

President Radev called the improvement of bilateral relations with North Macedonia "of extraordinary importance," and said that "it is our duty to arrange things in a way so that our peoples are given a joint European future and the possibility to engage in mutual contact much more freely."

With reporting by AP and Balkan Insight

Thousands of supporters of Armenian caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian gathered in the center of Yerevan as he staged his last campaign rally ahead of early parliamentary elections this weekend.

Addressing his supporters packing Yerevan’s central Republic Square on June 17, Pashinian said security, law, and justice, as well as economic and human development would be his priorities if he returns to his post after the June 20 vote.

"Higher standards of justice and law create new opportunities for economic development," he said.

The June 20 poll is aimed at resolving a political crisis that has engulfed the country since last fall’s war against Azerbaijan over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. There are 21 parties and four political alliances competing.

A close race for first place is expected between Pashinian’s Civil Contract party and the newly created Armenia Alliance of former President Robert Kocharian.

But it remains unclear whether either group will be able to control a majority of seats in parliament after June 20 -- either on their own or by forming a governing coalition.

A second-round vote would be held between the top two parties or alliances if nobody is able to form a governing coalition within six days.

Pashinian, 46, swept to power in 2018 after leading massive demonstrations that ousted his predecessor.

His popularity has plummeted since he signed a Russian-brokered cease-fire deal in November 2020 that halted a six-week war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The deal saw Armenia hand over swaths of territory around the region that ethnic Armenians had controlled since the early 1990s.

The conflict claimed at least 6,900 lives.

Note: This article was amended to correct Nikol Pashinian's age.

Amnesty International says Belarusian health workers who participated in anti-government demonstrations or spoke out against official accounts are facing "brutal reprisals."

Health workers in Belarus have been at the "front line of the country's human rights crisis" stemming from mass protests against the results of its presidential election in August 2020, the London-based human rights watchdog said in a June 17 briefing.

The group said that “dozens of health workers have been dismissed amid the government’s crackdown on critics, with many barred from medical employment, while countless others have faced threats and prosecution.”

Health workers have paid a "heavy price," including the loss of their livelihoods and human rights, for treating injured protesters and exposing the government's attempts to downplay the bloodshed caused by its violent crackdown on dissent, said Bruce Millar, Amnesty's deputy director of campaigns for the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Office.

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 crackdown has contributed to a "catastrophic situation" at medical facilities around the country, Millar said.

"The Belarusian authorities’ intolerance of peaceful dissent is eroding the health-care system and the medical community, amid a global pandemic," he said. "Doctors and nurses are among those who have paid an incredible human price for their professionalism and for showing human compassion.”

Rights groups recorded the arrests of thousands of protesters following the nationwide anti-government protests that erupted after strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka was declared the winner of the August 9 election. As of the end of 2020, the Vyasna Human Rights center had documented the testimonies of 1,000 people who had been tortured while in custody.

MOSCOW -- A Moscow court has sentenced a member of the Russian protest group Pussy Riot to 15 days in jail on the charge of disobeying police orders.

The court issued the ruling against Veronika Nikulshina on June 17 after she refused to go to a police station for questioning.

Police told the court they intended to question Nikulshina about whether she was planning any activities to disrupt Euro 2020 soccer events in St. Petersburg.

Nikulshina and several other members of Pussy Riot were sentenced to 15 days in jail for interrupting the 2018 World Cup final in Moscow between France and Croatia by running onto the field wearing fake police uniforms.

The group says such stunts are aimed at challenging government policies and raising awareness of human rights issues.

Pussy Riot came to prominence in 2012 when its members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, burst into Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral to protest ties between the Russian Orthodox Church and then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Their protest, the performance of a song they described as a "punk prayer," took place as Putin was campaigning for his return to the presidency.

Two were convicted on a charge of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" and sentenced to two years in a penal colony.

Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were close to completing their sentences when they were granted amnesty in December 2013.

Two dismissed their amnesty as a propaganda stunt aimed at improving Putin's image abroad ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi.

With reporting by Mediazona