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Russia Labels Independent Election Monitor 'Foreign Agent' Ahead Of September Elections
The independent election monitoring group Golos says Russia’s Ministry of Justice has designated it a "foreign agent," a move that is likely to hamper the monitor's work during next month's parliamentary and local elections.
The Russian Ministry of Justice said it entered the Golos movement in the register of "foreign agents" to protect the rights of voters, Interfax reported on August 18. The registry includes organizations that do not have a legal entity in Russia.
Golos has painstakingly documented allegations and evidence of fraud in past elections, including the 2011 parliamentary vote, in which suspicions of widespread rigging on behalf of the ruling United Russia party fueled large protests, and the 2012 presidential ballot that returned Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin after four years as prime minister.
The September 17-19 elections are for members of the State Duma -- Russia's lower house of parliament and a key instrument of Putin's power -- as well as regional and local balloting.
The co-director of Golos, Grigory Melkonyants, told Interfax that the move was "an attack on the largest community of independent election monitors."
He vowed that Golos, which trains election observers and runs a hotline that voters can call to report election violations, will continue its work.
Critics have said the foreign agents law is being used increasingly against independent groups ahead of the election.
The law requires nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign assistance and that the government deems to be engaged in political activity to be registered and to identify themselves as foreign agents, as well as to submit to audits.
Organizations designated as such have to carry out tedious administrative procedures, including clearly indicating their status to the public.
The Ministry of Justice announced plans in February to create a new register of "foreign agents" specifically for movements that do not have registration and legal entities in Russia.
The Ministry of Justice maintains two other registries of "foreign agents" -- one is for NGOs registered in Russia, and the other is for media outlets.
With reporting by Interfax and AFP
- By RFE/RL
Gorbachev Says Lessons Of Failed 1991 Coup Still Relevant Today
On the 30th anniversary of a coup that failed to stop democratic reforms in the Soviet Union and expedited its collapse, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, said Russian society must stand against "usurping power," the phrase often used by critics of Russia's current President Vladimir Putin.
Gorbachev, 90, said that the lessons of the attempted coup of August 1991 "remain important" for modern Russia.
"To stand for democratic principles and rule of law, exclude any possibility for usurping power or inconsiderate actions, that is what the society and state must be responsible for," the former Soviet leader said in a statement published on August 18 on the website of the Gorbachev Foundation. "I believe that the democratic path of Russia's development is the only correct one, that only on this path can our country develop and solve any problems."
On August 18, 1991, a group of Soviet officials placed Gorbachev under house arrest at his dacha in Crimea and declared a provisional government whose aim was to stop his democratic reforms.
The coup failed three days later as mass demonstrations in Moscow and other cities erupted demanding Gorbachev's reforms continue.
Days after the attempted coup failed, several Soviet republics announced their independence from the Soviet Union, which led to the official dissolution of the country in December 1991.
In recent years, Putin has been positioning himself as a leader who established order after the harsh years that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.
State media and Russian state propaganda have also presented Putin as capable of bringing former Soviet republics back under Moscow’s control when commenting on the Kremlin's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea and its support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's east, as well as Russia's support of breakaway regions in Georgia and Moldova.
The reports by state media have also given Gorbachev's critics, who accused him of bringing the Soviet Union to an end, a chance to air their comments.
Gorbachev's statement blamed the State Committee for the Emergency Situation, known by its Russian acronym GKChP, for the collapse of the Soviet Union, saying that the group was responsible for the dramatic developments that finished the country.
"People did not want to return to the old order. In general, all democratic institutions created during perestroika managed to stand the test," Gorbachev said in a subtle poke at Kremlin policies against them.
In recent years, democratic institutions, independent media, opposition politicians, and human rights organizations across the country have been targeted by laws and regulations that many in Russia and beyond say have been created to curb dissent and muzzle free speech.
EU Condemns Belarus's 'Aggressive Behavior' At Border
The European Union has condemned what it called "aggressive behavior" by Belarus, accusing the country of conducting "a direct attack" by pushing asylum seekers across Belarus’s border with the bloc.
EU interior ministers said Belarus is seeking to "instrumentalize human beings for political purposes" after an emergency meeting on August 18 to discuss alarm over illegal border crossings into Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.
"This aggressive behavior...is unacceptable and amounts to a direct attack aimed at destabilizing and pressurizing the EU," they said in a statement after the meeting.
"The European Union will need to further consider its response to these situations in order to increase its effectiveness and to deter any future attempts to instrumentalize illegal migration in this manner," the statement added.
So far this year, more than 4,100 asylum-seekers, most of them from Iraq, have illegally crossed from Belarus into Lithuania alone, but Latvia and Poland also have seen increases in migrants crossing the border from Belarus.
Poland said it had deployed nearly 1,000 troops to its border with Belarus to help border guards cope with a surge of migrants, and Lithuania sent a diplomatic note to Minsk expressing a strong protest against a violation of the Lithuanian border by Belarusian officers.
The migrant movements spiked dramatically after the EU slapped sanctions on Belarus officials in response to authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka ordering a crackdown on opponents and protesters after claiming victory in a vote last year that the West denounced as rigged.
Lukashenka has said that Belarus will no longer stop the flow of migrants into the EU due to the sanctions imposed by the West.
Many of the migrants were believed to have arrived in Belarus on commercial flights from Iraq. Those flights have stopped for now.
Lithuanian authorities have accused Minsk of bringing Iraqi migrants to Belarus, transporting them to the Lithuanian-Belarusian border, and pushing them into the EU member-state.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, who sent the diplomatic note to Minsk, on August 18 called an incident that took place earlier this week , which was recorded, "a provocation."
"We have informed Belarus that the incident has been recorded, and it is our deep concern because we consider it another provocation, a further escalation of an already tense situation," Landsbergis said.
Landsbergis said Lithuania, a member of NATO and the European Union, had also informed officials of the two organizations about the incident.
In the video recording, a group of migrants can be seen coming through high grass followed by a line of Belarusian officers in riot gear moving toward the border. The Belarusian officers then move several meters closer, crossing the border.
Also on August 18, authorities of Latvia, which is also an EU and NATO member, said its border guards prevented 46 illegal migrants from attempting to cross the border from Belarus in the past 24 hours.
The Latvian border guard service also said that another six people had been detained since August 17 after illegally crossing the Belarusian-Latvian border.
With reporting by BNS, Reuters, AP, LETA, Delfi, TASS, and Interfax
Belarusian News Site Goes Offline After Police Raids, Arrest Of Staff
MINSK -- Belarusian police have detained several employees of BelaPAN, a private news agency, as a crackdown on media and civil society in Belarus intensifies following last year's disputed presidential election that handed victory to authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
Belapan’s websites, belapan.by and belapan.com, also can’t be reached from both Belarus and abroad after police in Minsk on August 18 searched the homes of staff and the news agency’s office.
Later in the day, BelaPAN’s director and chief editor Iryna Leushyna, accountant Katsyaryna Boyeva, and former director Dzmitry Navazhylau were detained and placed in prison.
All three are suspected of violating laws against organizing or participating in "actions that grossly violate public order," in an apparent reference to providing news coverage of protests and opposition activities.
Another BelaPAN journalist, deputy editor-in-chief Alyaksandr Zaytsau, was interrogated but released after a search of his home, his wife said on Facebook.
Zaytsau told the Naviny.by news website that police confiscated his cell phone, a PC hard disc, a tablet computer, his journalist documents, and several business cards.
Another journalist from the agency, Iryna Turchyna, said police also searched her home and questioned her.
In January, police searched BelaPAN's headquarters and took away equipment. documents, computer hard discs, and servers, while BelaPAN's former deputy director, Andrey Alyaksandrou, was arrested and charged in January with high treason and organizing mass disorder, a charge referring to months-long mass demonstrations demanding Lukashenka's resignation and a new presidential election.
Last month, several BelaPAN journalists fled the country following another wave of searches by police of homes of independent journalists.
Lukashenka, 66 and in power since 1994, has tightened his grip on the country in recent months in a violent crackdown on dissent that has raised the ire of many Western nations.
According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, 33 media employees are currently behind bars.
The West has not recognized the results of the August 2020 election and does not consider Lukashenka to be the country's legitimate leader. Many countries have imposed several rounds of sanctions against his regime in response to his suppression of dissent in the country.
Kyrgyz Authorities Look Into Abduction Of Educator Who Turned Up In Turkish Custody
BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz authorities have launched a probe into abduction of a Kyrgyz-Turkish educator who was illegally taken to Turkey, where he faces a lengthy prison term on terrorism charges which he and his supporters vehemently deny.
The Prosecutor-General's Office said on August 17 that an investigation was launched into "negligence" and the "violation of border-crossing regulations" by border guards who were on duty when Orhan Inandi was illegally taken out of the country after he was kidnapped in late May.
The disappearance of Inandi, the head of the Sapat educational network in Kyrgyzstan, sparked numerous demonstrations in Bishkek, with protesters demanding the government locate him.
In July, Turkish officials said agents from Turkish intelligence abducted Inandi and brought him to Turkey, describing Inandi as "a top Central Asian leader" of the movement led by U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, a friend-turned-foe of Erdogan whom Ankara blames for a deadly 2016 coup attempt.
Turkey has cracked down hard on alleged members of the Gulen movement, which it considers a terrorist organization, arresting tens of thousands of people and purging the civil service and military. It has also pursued the Gulen movement abroad.
Kyrgyz officials have denied claims they colluded with Turkish intelligence to abduct Inandi. However, some Kyrgyz lawmakers have accused the Central Asian state's security officials and the government of complicity or incompetence in the case of Inandi.
Inandi's lawyer, Halil Ibrahim Yilmaz, told RFE/RL in July that his client said three men speaking fluent Kyrgyz, possibly officers of the Kyrgyz police, security service, or another Kyrgyz state entity, kidnapped him.
Yilmaz told RFE/RL that his client has rejected accusations of being a member of a terrorist group.
Human Rights Watch said in a statement at the time that Turkish and Kyrgyz authorities "abducted and extrajudicially transferred" Inandi to Turkey.
Erbol Sultanbaev, a spokesman for Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, denied the authorities were involved in the abduction, calling the charges “completely absurd."
In a statement, the president's office said it had issued a formal complaint to the Turkish ambassador about the issue. It added that there had been three prior attempts to kidnap the educator, and all had been thwarted.
Inandi, 53, had lived in Kyrgyzstan since 1995 and holds dual Turkish-Kyrgyz citizenship.
Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security (UKMK) chief Kamchybek Tashiev has said that since Inandi kept his Turkish citizenship after he obtained Kyrgyz citizenship, Turkish authorities have a right to prosecute him.
Moscow Police Use Leaked Personal Data To Investigate Navalny Supporters
Moscow police are using leaked online personal data from projects linked to jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny to investigate people who have supported the Kremlin critic.
The OVD-Info website said on August 17 that police had visited some 20 individuals who registered for online projects developed by Navalny associates or donated to Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and his other projects.
According to OVD-Info, police are demanding explanations from the people as to how their names were included in the leaked data related to Navalny's online projects and why they are involved with him.
In June, a court in Moscow labeled FBK and Navalny's other projects and groups extremist and banned them. Under Russian law, cooperation with such groups is considered illegal and may lead to criminal prosecution.
Police have not said how they obtained the people's personal data from Navalny's websites.
One person, who was not identified, told OVD-Info that police asked him to file a legal complaint against Navalny to accuse him of sharing personal data.
Journalist and municipal lawmaker Ilya Azar, whose personal data was among those leaked, wrote on Telegram late on August 17 that police had tried to visit him as well, but he was not at home.
"They talked to [my] neighbors about some personal data leaked on the Internet," Azar wrote.
One such leak took place in April, when the online campaign called "Freedom to Navalny" was reportedly compromised.
Navalny associates said at the time that a former FBK worker had "stolen" all the personal data of those who registered at the pro-Navalny site.
After that leak, the Moscow Metropolitan Company fired dozens of workers whose personal data turned up among the names of Navalny supporters.
Top Muslim Cleric In Uzbekistan Dies Of Complications Caused By COVID-19
Usmonkhon Alimov, Uzbekistan's top Islamic cleric, has died of complications caused by COVID-19 in a Moscow hospital.
Physicians at an intensive-care unit of Clinical Hospital No. 52 in the Russian capital told RFE/RL on August 17 that the chairman of the Spiritual Directorate of Uzbekistan's Muslims died in the facility on August 15 at the age of 71.
According to the doctors, Alimov died of heart complications caused by COVID-19.
Alimov, who was Uzbekistan's grand mufti, was buried in his native Samarkand region in Uzbekistan's southeast on August 16.
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Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev and Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov visited Alimov's home to express condolences to his relatives the same day, local media reported.
The chairman of Russia's Council of Muftis, Ravil Gainutdinov, Mufti of Moscow Ildar Alyautdinov, and the leader of Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya, Ramazan Kadyrov, were among those who officially expressed their condolences to Alimov's relatives.
In recent months, Alimov was involved in promoting incumbent President Mirziyoev by intensively meeting with Muslims at mosques and prayers across the country ahead of the presidential election scheduled for October 24.
- By RFE/RL
Iran Confirms IAEA Report Saying It Has Accelerated Production Of Highly Enriched Uranium
Iran has confirmed a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concluding that the country has expanded its production of weapons-grade uranium to 60 percent purity.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said on August 18 that the actions are in response to the "non-implementation" of the nuclear agreement and U.S. sanctions.
As soon as the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement is implemented in accordance with the nonproliferation treaty (NPT) and U.S. sanctions are lifted, Iran will resume its technical obligations under the agreement, he said on August 18, according to the ISNA news agency.
Iran announced in April that it planned to start enriching uranium at up to 60 percent purity from 20 percent in response an attack on the Natanz nuclear site that it blamed on Israel.
The move was one of a series of steps Iran took in violation of the 2015 nuclear accord after former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the deal and reimposed sanctions.
Talks to salvage the nuclear deal began in April in Vienna, but several rounds have failed to achieve a breakthrough, and the negotiations are currently on hold.
The talks involve representatives of the countries that signed the nuclear deal with Iran -- China, France, Russia, Britain, the U.S., and Germany. The participation of the U.S. envoy is indirect.
A senior European Union official said earlier this month after Iran's new president, Ebrahim Raisi, took office that Iran is ready to resume the talks as soon as early September.
Germany urged Iran on August 18 to return to the negotiating table with a constructive approach.
Under the Iran nuclear accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Tehran was limited to refining uranium to 3.67 percent.
The IAEA also said on August 16 that Iran produced 200 grams of uranium metal enriched up to 20 percent.
Uranium metal can be used to build the core of a nuclear bomb.
Iran announced in January that it intended to research uranium-metal production, saying it was needed for a research reactor. The nuclear deal also banned Iran from producing uranium metal.
"Iran has no credible need to produce uranium metal, which has direct relevance to nuclear weapons development," U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement late on August 16.
Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and any breaches of the JCPOA can be reversed if the United States returns to the accord and drops crushing sanctions.
"If the other parties return to their obligations under the nuclear accord and Washington fully and verifiably lifts its unilateral and illegal sanctions...all of Iran's mitigation and countermeasures will be reversible," Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh was quoted as saying by state media.
President Joe Biden says he wants to return to the deal, but indirect talks in Vienna brokered by the Europeans to get both Washington and Tehran back into compliance with the accord have stalled.
The EU said earlier this month that new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was ready to resume talks and meetings could take place in Vienna in September.
With reporting by AFP, dpa, and Reuters
Armenian Soldier Wounded In Skirmish Along Border With Azerbaijan
An Armenian serviceman was wounded in a skirmish along the border with Azerbaijan, the Armenia Defense Ministry said on August 17, a day after Armenia said two of its soldiers were killed as tensions continue to simmer after last year's war over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The Armenian soldier was wounded when Azerbaijani forces opened fire on Armenian positions in the Sotk area in eastern Gegharkunik Province, the ministry said, adding that one Azerbaijani was killed and one was wounded "as a result of the counteractions carried out by the Armenian side."
Baku denied suffering any military casualties.
Armenia has blamed a string of recent incidents on Azerbaijan, which in turn has claimed that the Armenian side is responsible for starting the flare-ups.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on August 17 that Armenian armed forces periodically fired on Azerbaijani Army positions in the Sadarak region of the Naxcivan exclave, in an incident in which two Armenian soldiers were killed the day before.
The Armenian side "was suppressed by retaliation fire," a ministry statement said.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry condemned what it described as Azerbaijan's "provocative actions" on the border.
It said the actions had been "accompanied by the threats of the Azerbaijani top leadership toward the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Armenia and use of force against Artsakh," the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh.
The statement was an apparent reference to claims by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev about "historical Azeri lands" in the territory of modern-day Armenia that he made during his visit to the Kelbajar district on August 16.
Kelbajar is one of the districts around Nagorno-Karabakh that Armenian forces withdrew from after a Russian-brokered cease-fire put an end to six weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan last fall in which nearly 7,000 people.
Under the Russian-brokered deal, a chunk of Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani administration.
Aliyev said during his visit to Kelbajar that Azerbaijanis who lived in the provinces in Soviet times and were displaced in fighting nearly three decades years ago were entitled to return and live in the "lands of their ancestors."
Representatives of two opposition factions in the Armenian parliament on August 17 raised concerns over the situation at the border during a special session called to discuss a separate matter.
Seyran Ohanian, the head of the opposition Hayastan faction, urged the government to take a stand, claiming that Azerbaijan takes Yerevan's silence as a sign of weakness.
He said the border situation should be discussed because it is "necessary to dispel any fears that our people have, as our authorities seem to have stopped dealing with this situation."
Hayk Konjorian, the head of the majority Civil Contract faction, said faction members did not address the opposition proposal when they held a closed-door discussion on August 17. But the opposition and ruling party agreed to discuss it during a closed-door meeting on August 18.
Pro-government lawmakers did not comment on Ohanian’s proposal or respond to Aliyev’s recent statements about the Syunik and Gegharkunik provinces of Armenia.
The Syunik, Gegharkunik, and Ararat regions bordering on Azerbaijan have been the locations of border fighting in recent days.
- By RFE/RL
North Macedonia To Temporarily Host 450 Afghans Fleeing Taliban
North Macedonia will take in 450 Afghans fleeing the Taliban and host them while they complete the process of applying for special visas to enter the United States.
They are employees and family members of Afghans who worked in humanitarian and peacekeeping missions, activists from rights organizations, journalists, translators, and students, North Macedonia's government said in a statement on August 17.
Skopje said it will also accept Afghans "who have been supporting NATO troops for the past 20 years, including North Macedonia's military," which contributed soldiers to U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan in 2002-2008.
They are part of a huge international airlift currently under way at Kabul airport to help tens of thousands of people terrified at the prospect of Taliban rule get out of the country. Most of the people fleeing worked alongside the Americans or with other NATO countries as interpreters or in other roles during the nearly 20-year war and fear reprisals from the Taliban.
Most of the 450 Afghans headed to North Macedonia are expected to arrive by the end of the week, depending on conditions at Kabul airport, the statement said.
Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said whether they will be quarantined after their arrival will depend on their vaccination status.
The NATO country is the third in the Western Balkans after Albania, also a NATO member, and Kosovo to have approved a request from the United States to admit Afghan refugees.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani said on August 15 that their countries would temporarily house a number of Afghan refugees whose final destination is the United States.
While in North Macedonia, Albania, and Kosovo, the Afghans are to be vetted by U.S. authorities and will stay until documentation for U.S. immigration visas is arranged.
The Foreign Ministry said most of the 75 registered Macedonian citizens in Afghanistan have been evacuated from the country.
Bujar Osmani said 11 of 14 Macedonian citizens left at the Kabul military base near the airport were to be transferred to the airport to be evacuated on August 17. The other three will leave the country later.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Balkan Service
- By Current Time
Pretrial Restrictions Eased For Two Siberian Teenagers Charged With Terrorism
KANSK, Russia -- A court in Siberia has eased the pretrial restrictions imposed on two teenagers charged with terrorism in a controversial case rights groups have called politically motivated.
Pavel Chikov of the legal-defense organization Agora wrote on Telegram on August 17 that the First Military District Court of Khabarovsk, at a session in the city of Kansk, cancelled the pretrial detention for Denis Mikhailenko and house arrest for Bogdan Andreyev.
Andreyev will be allowed to use the Internet to allow him to finish the 9th grade. Mikhailenko has been barred from going online. A third suspect in the case, Nikita Uvarov, was released by the court in May and has "successfully" finished the academic year, Chikov said.
The three teenagers, all 15, remain suspects in the case.
They were arrested last summer while distributing leaflets demanding the release of a noted young mathematician, Azat Miftakhov, who was arrested in 2019 and sentenced to six years in prison in January on hooliganism charges that rights groups have called politically motivated.
The trio was originally accused of creating a computer game in which a building of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) was supposed to be bombed and of plotting terrorist acts in Kansk "to retaliate" against the imprisonment of activists, including alleged members of the organization called Set (Network), which Russian authorities have labeled as terrorist.
In March, the Investigative Committee dropped most of the charges against the three Siberian teenagers, leaving a single charge against them -- "going through training to conduct terrorist activities." Russia's Criminal Code envisions up to 20 years in prison for individuals found guilty of that crime.
Several people have been found guilty of being members of Network and handed lengthy prison terms in recent years on charges of taking part in the activities of a terrorist group that planned to overthrow the country's authorities. Human rights organizations say the charges are fake, while some of the group's members have claimed they were tortured while in custody.
Russian authorities have been under criticism for what human rights defenders have called fabrications of terrorism cases against youths by Russia’s security services to create an atmosphere of fear among young men and women critical of the government.
Rights organizations have cited the Network case, as well as a high-profile case against a group known as New Greatness, as evidence of the fabrication of legal charges by the FSB against opposition voices.
North Macedonia Expels Russian Diplomat, Second Since May, No Reason Given
North Macedonia has expelled a Russian diplomat, the second since May, without giving an explanation over why the move was taken.
Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said on August 17 that Russia's ambassador was summoned last week and informed of the decision to expel a "senior" Russian diplomat, whose identity and rank were not disclosed.
Osmani added that the country was prepared to take "all appropriate measures and activities" to protect its security and the security of its allies.
Commenting on the move, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko said Moscow will undertake reciprocal measures.
"Certainly, as it is usual in such cases in diplomatic relations, there will be corresponding steps on our side too," Grushko said.
In May, Macedonia expelled another unnamed Russian diplomat. Two years before that, a Russian diplomat was expelled for "domestic security reasons" and in solidarity with Britain over the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England.
Based on reporting AFP, TASS, and Interfax
- By RFE/RL
Moscow Court Levels More Fines Against Google For Failing To Delete Banned Content
A Moscow court has leveled more fines against Google for violating Russia's rules on banned content.
The five fives handed to the U.S. technology giant on August 17 amount to a total 14 million rubles ($190,398), a minute fraction of the company’s $180 billion in revenue last year.
The magistrate court of Moscow's Taganka district found Google "guilty of committing five administrative offenses" and sentenced it to fines of 4 million rubles, 1.5 million rubles, 5 million rubles, 1.5 million rubles, and 2 million rubles, the court’s press service said.
Google did not immediately respond to RFE/RL's request for comment. A spokesperson for Google confirmed the first two fines but gave no additional comment, Reuters said.
The latest penalties come less than three weeks after the court fined Google 3 million rubles ($40,750) for its refusal to localize the personal data of its users in Russia.
The court previously fined Google 9.5 million rubles ($129,249) under three administrative protocols for refusing to delete prohibited information.
The fines are part of an effort by Moscow to force foreign firms to open offices in Russia and store Russians' personal data on its territory. Moscow claims it is trying to rein in Western tech giants and bolster what it calls its Internet "sovereignty."
But many critics say authorities are trying to quell dissent ahead of parliamentary elections in September.
The court last month fined Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram for failing to delete content that Moscow deems illegal.
In May, Russia's communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, demanded that Google delete what it said was prohibited content on its YouTube channel or face being fined. Roskomnadzor had demanded that YouTube remove about 5,000 "prohibited" videos, of which it said some 3,500 incite "extremism."
With reporting by Reuters and TASS
Three Pilots Die After Military Plane Crashes Near Moscow
Three crew members have died after a military plane crashed during a test flight near Moscow on August 17.
Russia's United Aircraft-Building Corporation (OAK) said the only operational prototype of the IL-112V military cargo plane crashed near the town of Nikolskoye, killing three crew members aboard.
OAK also said that the plane most likely crashed after one of its engines caught fire.
A video taken by a witness of the crash shows flames on the right side of the plane as it approaches an airfield. It then loses control and crashes into a wooded area.
Investigative Committee spokeswoman Yelena Markovskaya said investigators had been sent to the site to probe the accident.
The Il-112V is the first military transport aircraft to have been developed "from scratch" in Russia in the post-Soviet period.
Its development began in the early 1990s and faced constant difficulties due to a lack of funding.
The plane was expected to be shown at the international military and technical forum Army 2021 in the Moscow region. The forum runs from August 22 to August 28.
With reporting by Interfax and TASS
- By RFE/RL
Navalny's Request To Cancel His Status Of 'Inclined To Escape' Rejected
The Moscow City Court has rejected a request by imprisoned opposition leader Aleksei Navalny to annul his designation as being as a "flight risk," which subjects him to hourly nighttime checks while he is incarcerated at a penal colony.
The court on August 17 upheld previous lower-court rulings backing a decision by Moscow's Matrosskaya Tishina detention center in February to label the outspoken Kremlin critic a person inclined to escape.
In late May, Navalny asked a court in the Vladimir region, where he is serving his prison term, to halt the nighttime checks, saying the measure amounted to "torture."
The court rejected his appeal at the time. Navalny's lawyers then turned to Moscow's Preobrazhensky district court, requesting the status be removed. That court also rejected Navalny's request on June 25.
Navalny, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most vocal critics, was arrested in January upon his return from Germany, where he had spent five months recovering from a nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin --an accusation that Russian officials reject.
He is serving a 2 1/2-year prison sentence on embezzlement charges that he says were trumped up because of his political activities.
After his arrest, Navalny was labeled a flight risk, which he and his supporters challenged, saying that his return to Russia of his own will, knowing that he likely faced imprisonment, showed he had no intention of fleeing.
The opposition leader went on a 24-day hunger strike in prison to protest a lack of medical treatment for severe back pain and numbness in his legs, ending it in April after getting the medical attention he demanded.
With reporting by TASS and Interfax
Merkel Blasts Belarus For 'Using Refugees' To Undermine EU Security
Germany has again accused Minsk of using refugees as political tools as the European Union pledged to shore up the bloc's border with Belarus to stop a surge in illegal crossings.
In recent months Lithuania has seen a surge of mostly Iraqi migrants crossing into the EU country from neighboring Belarus. In recent weeks Latvia and Poland have witnessed a similar wave, prompting authorities in the EU member states to beef up their border security and start pushing back illegal migrants.
Poland, the Baltic states, and EU officials have said the migrant flows are being orchestrated by Minsk in retaliation for sanctions over his government's crackdown on the country's pro-democracy movement following a disputed presidential election in August 2020.
Authoritarian Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka "is using refugees, for example from Iraq, in a hybrid way to undermine security," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on August 17 at a news conference with the Estonian prime minister in Berlin amid growing concerns within the EU that thousands more migrants will seek to enter the bloc following the Taliban's seizure of power in Afghanistan.
"We are closely coordinating with our European partners on everything. We will also try to take a common position because this hybrid kind of confrontation, as used by Belarus, is an attack on all of us in the European Union," Merkel said.
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.
A draft statement from an extraordinary summit of EU interior ministers on August 17 says the bloc stands ready to provide additional border officers and funding to tackle the migrant surge on Lithuania's border with Belarus.
The document is subject to change until a final statement is released after the meeting.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda signed a decree on August 13 that calls for deploying members of the armed forces to the border to counter the increase in illegal migration.
The EU has said that it hopes for a stabilization of the situation after Iraq suspended flights from Baghdad to Minsk earlier this month.
Earlier this year, Lukashenka vowed to send drugs and migrants into Europe after the bloc imposed a new round of sanctions on Belarus because Minsk forced a Ryanair flight to land on its soil to arrest opposition blogger Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega, his Russian girlfriend.
Belarus and Lithuania, one of the staunchest critics of the authoritarian ruler, share a nearly 680-kilometer-long frontier that serves as an external border of the EU. Less than 40 percent of this frontier is monitored by electronic surveillance.
On August 17, Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite said in a statement that border guards from Belarus entered Lithuania as they pushed dozens of migrants across the frontier into the EU member country.
"We cannot tolerate such brazen provocation when 12 Belarusian guards crossed the Republic of Lithuania's border today," Bilotaite said.
As of August 3, 4,026 individuals had illegally crossed into Lithuania from Belarus since January 1, compared with only 74 for all of last year.
With reporting by Reuters
Five Crimean Tatars Detained In Russia-Annexed Crimea
Russian authorities have detained five Crimean Tatars after their homes were searched in Ukraine's Russian-controlled Crimea region.
The Crimean Solidarity public group told RFE/RL on August 17 that the searches were conducted at the homes of Raif Fevziyev, Dzhebbar Bekirov, Zaur Abdullayev, Rustem Murasov, and Rustem Tairov. All five men were detained later.
Fevziyev is an imam, a Muslim preacher, in the village of Strohonivka near Crimea's capital, Simferopol. The other four men are practicing Muslims residing in different villages near the city of Sevastopol.
No reason for the searches was given.
Ukrainian Ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova condemned the Russia-imposed authorities' actions and called on the international community to "react to illegal actions of occupying authorities and increase pressure on the Russian Federation to stop its violation of human rights on the territory of temporarily occupied Crimea."
The search and detentions came a day after a court in Russia sentenced four Crimean Tatars to prison terms between 12 and 18 years on extremism charges, namely for being members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic group that is banned in Russia but is legal in Ukraine.
Since Russia seized Crimea in 2014, Russian authorities have prosecuted dozens of Crimean Tatars for allegedly belonging to Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Moscow’s takeover of the peninsula was vocally opposed by many Crimean Tatars, who are a sizable minority in the region.
Exiled from their homeland to Central Asia by the Soviet authorities under dictator Josef Stalin during World War II, many Crimean Tatars are very wary of Russia and Moscow's rule.
Rights groups and Western governments have denounced what they describe as a campaign of repression by the Russian-imposed authorities in Crimea who are targeting members of the Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatar community and others who have spoken out against Moscow's takeover of the peninsula.
Russia took control of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 after sending in troops, seizing key facilities, and staging a referendum dismissed as illegal by at least 100 countries. Moscow also backs separatists in a war against government forces that has killed more than 13,200 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.
- By Current Time
Moscow Train Driver Fired For Supporting Navalny Gets Job Back
A Russian court has reinstated a Moscow subway train driver who was fired in May after he joined an online campaign to support jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny.
The driver, Vladimir Shlyapkin, said on August 16 that the court in Orekhovo-Zuyevo near the capital ordered the Moscow Metropolitan Company to allow him back to work, and pay compensation for the period of time he was unemployed as well as pay damages.
Shlyapkin said he plans to go back to work on August 17.
Last month, a court in another city near Moscow, Sergiyev Posad, ordered the Moscow Metropolitan Company to reinstate accountant Maksim Kirilenko, who was fired for a similar offense.
Overall, 42 workers at the company sued for being fired after they joined the online pro-Navalny campaign earlier this year.
A Moscow municipal lawmaker, Mikhail Timonov, said earlier that the Moscow subway administration had decided to fire hundreds of its workers, whose names or those of their relatives were among individuals who expressed their support to Navalny on the Internet.
The online campaign called "Freedom for Navalny" was launched in late March by the Kremlin critic's associates.
In mid-April, Navalny's associate Leonid Volkov said that a former worker at Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation had "stolen" all personal data of those who registered at the pro-Navalny site.
Navalny was arrested on January 17 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he went through a life-saving treatment for poisoning with a Novichok-type nerve agent that he says was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin has denied any role in the incident, which was the latest of numerous attacks on Navalny.
More than 10,000 people were rounded up during nationwide rallies protesting Navalny's arrest organized in more than 100 Russian towns and cities on January 23 and January 31.
On February 2, Navalny was convicted of violating the terms of his suspended sentence related to an embezzlement case that he has called politically motivated. The remainder of Navalny's suspended sentence, 2 1/2 years, was then replaced by a real prison term.
That ruling sparked new protests that were also forcibly dispersed by police.
More than 1,400 people were detained by police in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other Russian cities during those demonstrations.
New Legislation Allows Tajik Men To Pay To Avoid Army Service
DUSHANBE -- Tajik men will be able to legally avoid serving their mandatory two-year stint in the country's armed forces by paying a fee to the Defense Ministry.
A government resolution enforcing legislation allowing Tajik men between the ages of 18 and 27 to pay the equivalent of $2,200 in order to avoid conscription was made public on August 16.
The new regulations were approved by lawmakers earlier this year.
Those who choose to pay the fee will still have to go through a one-month military training session but avoid the full two-year service requirement.
According to the new regulation, men who graduate from universities that offer military training in addition to their regular studies will be granted officer ranks only if they serve at least one year in the armed forces. Until now, such officer ranks were awarded immediately after graduation.
The new regulation also bans those who did not serve in the army from working as officials in the prosecutor’s offices, courts, customs, anti-corruption agencies, and governmental executive entities.
Tajikistan inherited a Soviet-era conscription system, according to which every male between 18-27 years of age must serve in the army for two years. Conscription takes place every spring and fall.
In recent years, Tajik men have been trying to avoid army service due to the conditions and hazing faced by young conscripts, which prompted the authorities to organize special raids to round up men who did not fulfill their duty and force them into service. That policy sparked a public outcry and sharp criticism by human rights defenders.
- By RFE/RL
Russian Rights Group Memorial Documents 410 Political Prisoners
The number of political prisoners in Russia has increased to at least 410, the Moscow-based Memorial Human Rights Center said.
In its latest updated accounting of political prisoners released on August 16, Russia’s leading human rights group said its list is “only a minimum estimate of the number of political prisoners” languishing in jail or under house arrest.
“In reality, there are undoubtedly significantly more political prisoners and other persons imprisoned for political reasons,” it said.
Of documented political prisoners, 329 people were deprived of liberty for exercising their right to freedom of religion and 81 for other political reasons.
At the beginning of the year, there were 349 names on the list.
The most prominent new political prisoner is opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, who was jailed in January after returning from life-saving treatment in Germany for a nerve-agent poisoning that he says was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a claim the Kremlin has denied.
Memorial said that in addition to Navalny, numerous supporters of the Kremlin critic are also political prisoners, as well as journalists from the student magazine Doxa who reported on protests against the imprisonment of the opposition leader.
Others added to the list include activists and potential opposition candidates for September’s parliamentary elections.
“Many potential candidates were prosecuted on a variety of illegal and unfounded charges,” Memorial said.
Meanwhile, Memorial said “pressure on believers does not stop,” as 78 new names were added to the list for practicing their religion.
In particular, Muslims accused of membership in the banned Tablighi Jamaat and Hizb ut-Tahrir were targeted, and repression against Jehovah's Witnesses has “significantly increased,” Memorial said.
From just January to August, Memorial documented 46 new cases of Jehovah's Witnesses either being placed under house arrest or put behind bars.
Russia labeled the Jehovah’s Witnesses an extremist group and banned it in 2017, leading to a wave of court cases and prison sentences against its members.
The Christian group is known for door-to-door preaching, close Bible study, rejection of military service, and not celebrating national and religious holidays or birthdays.
- By RFE/RL
U.S. Concerned About Iran's Uranium Metal Production
The United States is urging Tehran to “cease its nuclear escalations” and return to negotiations aimed at reviving a 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers after the UN atomic watchdog reported that Iran continues to produce uranium metal.
"Iran has no credible need to produce uranium metal, which has direct relevance to nuclear weapons development," U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement late on August 16.
Price's statement came in response to a report issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna to member nations that noted inspectors have confirmed Iran produced 200 grams of uranium metal enriched up to 20 percent.
Uranium metal can be used to build the core of a nuclear bomb.
Iran announced in January that it intended to research uranium metal production, saying the advanced fuel was needed for a research reactor. Germany, France, and Britain stated that they were "deeply concerned" by the announcement.
Under the Iran nuclear accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Tehran committed to not produce uranium metal. But it breached that promise as one of a series of steps it took in violation of the JCPOA after former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the deal and reimposed sanctions.
U.S. President Joe Biden says he wants to return to the deal, but indirect talks in Vienna brokered by the Europeans to get both Washington and Tehran back into compliance with the accord have stalled.
The 2015 deal, whose parties also included France, Britain, Germany, Russia, and China, set an easing of sanctions against Tehran in return for curbs on its nuclear program, which Iran claims is strictly for civilian purposes.
Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and AP
Belarusian Activist Who Slit His Own Throat In Court Gets Lengthy Prison Term
MINSK -- A Belarusian activist who slit his own throat during a court hearing in June has been sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison.
Stsyapan Latypau, 40, whom Belarusian rights organizations have recognized as a political prisoner, was found guilty by Minsk Soviet district court of organizing events that violate public order, resisting law enforcement, and committing fraud. Latypau was sentenced the same day.
Latypau rejected all charges.
Latypau was detained in mid-September last year as he tried to stop police and workmen from painting over a mural in a residential courtyard that showed off the opposition's red and white colors.
The courtyard had become known as Change Square, hosting nightly events drawing protesters angry at authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka's claim of victory in a disputed presidential election in August.
Latypau is one of tens of thousands of Belarusians to be detained for protesting the election results, which the West has refused to accept.
Lukashenka, in power since 1994, has tightened his grip on the country in recent months in a violent crackdown on dissent that has raised the ire of many Western nations.
Rights groups say there is considerable evidence of torture being used by authorities on detainees.
The West does not consider Lukashenka to be the country's legitimate leader and has imposed several rounds of sanctions against his regime.
Navalny's Spokeswoman Handed Parole-Like Sentence In 'Sanitary Case'
MOSCOW -- A Moscow court sentenced Kira Yarmysh, the spokeswoman of jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, to 18 months of so-called "restricted freedom," a parole-like sentence, for allegedly calling for the violation of anti-pandemic restrictions.
Yarmysh tweeted on August 16 that the Preobrazhensky district court also cancelled her house arrest.
A prosecutor had asked the court to sentence Yarmysh to two years of "restricted freedom" on the charge of publicly calling for the violation of restrictions imposed by the authorities to try to stem the spread of the coronavirus by urging people to take part in unsanctioned rallies to support Navalny in January.
Earlier this month, Navalny's brother Oleg was found guilty of the same charges and handed a one-year suspended sentence and a one-year probation period.
Two Navalny associates, Nikolai Lyaskin and Lyubov Sobol, were found guilty in the same case and given parole-like sentences -- one year and 18-month, respectively. Media reports saying that Sobol fled Russia after that have not been confirmed either by her or her associates.
A participant in the January rally, Dani Akel, was fined 100,000 rubles (almost $1,400) on similar charges.
Other individuals charged in the case include municipal lawyers Dmitry Baranovsky and Lyusya Shtein; the chief of the Physicians' Alliance NGO, Anastasia Vasilyeva; a leading member of the Pussy Riot protest group, Maria Alyokhina; and a coordinator of Navalny's team in Moscow, Oleg Stepanov.
Most of them are under house arrest or curfew.
Aleksei Navalny was arrested on January 17 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he was treated for poisoning with a Novichok-type nerve agent that he says was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin has denied any role in the incident, which was the latest of numerous attacks on Navalny.
More than 10,000 people were rounded up during nationwide rallies protesting Navalny's arrest organized in more than 100 Russian towns and cities on January 23 and January 31.
On February 2, Navalny was convicted of violating the terms of his suspended sentence related to an embezzlement case that he has called politically motivated. The remainder of Navalny's suspended sentence, 2 1/2 years, was then replaced by a real prison term.
That ruling sparked new protests that were also forcibly dispersed by police.
More than 1,400 people were detained by police in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other Russian cities during those demonstrations.
Four Crimean Tatars Jailed On Extremism Charges In Russia
A Russian court has handed lengthy prison terms to four Crimean Tatars for being members of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic group.
According to the Crimean Solidarity human rights group, the Southern District Military Court in the city of Rostov-on-Don on August 16 sentenced Ruslan Mesutov and Lenur Khalilov to 18 years in prison each, Ruslan Nagayev to 13 years, and Eldar Kantimirov to 12 year in prison.
The four men were arrested in June 2019 after their homes were searched.
Ukraine's ombudswoman, Lyudmyla Denisova, protested against the court's "illegal" ruling and urged the international community to "force the Russian Federation to stop groundless detentions and rigged trials of illegally detained Ukrainian citizens."
"By illegally trying Crimean Tatars and other Ukrainian citizens, the occupier-country Russian Federation violates the norms of international law, the European Convention on Human Rights, basic freedoms and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," Denisova wrote on Telegram.
Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, and since then Moscow-imposed authorities have prosecuted dozens of Crimean Tatars for allegedly belonging to Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Rights groups and Western governments have denounced what they describe as a campaign of repression by the authorities installed in Crimea, who are targeting members of the Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatar community and others who have spoken out against Moscow's takeover of the peninsula.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is banned in Russia as a terrorist organization but operates legally in Ukraine.
However, Moscow imposed its own laws on the Crimean Peninsula after the annexation.
Russia took control of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 after sending in troops, seizing key facilities, and staging a referendum dismissed as illegal by at least 100 countries.
Moscow also backs separatists in a war against government forces that has killed more than 13,200 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.
- By RFE/RL
Two Armenian Troops Killed In Latest Shoot-Out Along Azerbaijani Border
Armenia says clashes along the border with Azerbaijan have left two of its troops dead as tensions continue to simmer between the two countries after last year's war over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said a skirmish that left one military officer dead took place on August 16, claiming Azerbaijani forces "provoked" the Armenians when they tried to advance their positions inside Armenian territory at the Yeraskh section of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan's Naxcivan exclave, which is sandwiched between Armenia and Iran.
The ministry added that a day earlier its forces managed to repel Azerbaijani military units that allegedly also tried to enter Armenian territory at the Sevlich section of Armenia's Syunik region, and that one Azerbaijani soldier was killed.
According to the ministry, Azerbaijan "attempted another provocation" on the evening of August 16, opening fire and claiming the life of another Armenian soldier.
"This was the second Armenian soldier to die during this day," the ministry said, adding that the Azerbaijani side had also suffered losses.
Referring to the incidents, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said in a statement that the clashes were started by the Armenian side and denied any casualties among its military personnel.
In a separate statement, the Azerbaijani ministry alleged that Armenian forces also opened fire on positions in the Kalbacar district and the city of Susa.
Long-running tensions between the two South Caucasus states turned to war last year over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but had been controlled by ethnic Armenians since the early 1990s.
Some 6,000 people were killed in six weeks of fighting that ended in a Moscow-brokered cease-fire deal.
Under the accord, a chunk of Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani administration.
The agreement also resulted in the deployment of around 2,000 Russian peacekeepers, and provided for an exchange of POWs and other detainees.
Several prisoner exchanges have since taken place.
On August 14, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with CNN Turk television that his country did not want a new war with Armenia, as Baku has accomplished "its historic mission."
Last week, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said Yerevan was ready to resume talks with Baku on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and expects specific proposals from the OSCE Minsk Group, consisting of Armenia, Azerbaijan, France, Russia, and the United States.
With reporting by CNN Turk and RFE/RL's Armenian and Azerbaijani services
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