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- By RFE/RL
Navalny, Wife Describe Extended Visit At Russian Prison Facility
The wife of jailed Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny has completed a so-called "long visit" with her husband six months into his most recent imprisonment.
Such visits can last up to three days at a special prison facility under the Russian penitentiary system and all inmates are eligible from six months into serving their sentence.
Navalny, who has been in a prison in the town of Pokrov about 100 kilometers east of Moscow for six months, posted a photo on Instagram on August 5 showing him smiling widely as he and his wife, Yulia, embrace.
“We reconstructed a dinner at the dacha. And yesterday I was sitting completely happy, looking at a pan of sorrel borscht (in our family it is a cult) and a pan of fried potatoes,” Navalny said on Instagram.
Yulia Navalnaya, who was allowed to stay for three days, also used Instagram to post a message about the visit.
"I spent some time in prison. So cool!" she wrote, saying her husband, who spent 24-days on a hunger strike in April, appeared skinny, tanned, and smiling when he was brought out to greet her in a prison jumpsuit.
“The beloved man is next to you. You reach out and touch [him], still a little surprised that no one is trying to stop you," Navalnaya wrote.
She described the family meeting facilities at the prison as having "a very decent look of a 2-star hotel," with a couple of rooms, a kitchen, and paintings on the walls.
Navalny, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most-vocal critics, is serving 2 1/2 years in jail for parole violations in an embezzlement case he says was trumped up. Navalny's allies accuse the authorities of using the law to crush dissent ahead of Russia’s parliamentary elections in September.
Navalny was arrested in January upon his return from Germany, where he had spent five months recovering from a nerve-agent poisoning in August last year that he blames on the Kremlin -- accusations that Russian officials reject.
A Moscow court in February converted a 3 1/2-year suspended sentence on the embezzlement charge to real jail time, saying he broke the terms of the original sentence by leaving Russia for the life-saving treatment he received in Germany.
The court reduced the sentence to just over 2 1/2 years because of time already served in detention.
Yulia Navalnaya said she brought in everything her husband had told her he was missing and said the guards "carefully inspected the borscht," checking for a mobile phone, and cut into items searching for drugs and sniffing drinks for alcohol.
After the three days were over she said her husband was dressed in a robe again and taken away.
She said Navalny, who recently had his ability to communicate with the outside world further curtailed, sends "warmest greetings to everyone."
According to the Federal Penitentiary Service's regulations, Navalny will be eligible for the next "long visit" by relatives in six months, on condition of "good behavior."
In Russia and most of the former Soviet republics, penitentiary administrations have a right to deprive inmates of "long or short visits" as a punishment for violating internal regulations. "A short visit" is a two-hour talk by phone with relatives via a glass window. "Short visits" are allowed two or four times a year, depending on the penitentiary's security level.
Last week, a court rejected Navalny's lawsuit against a decision that bans his lawyers from bringing mobile phones and laptop computers into the penitentiary during visits.
Russia's media regulator, Roskomnadzor, blocked Navalny’s website in a crackdown against media and civil organizations ahead of the elections.
With reporting by Reuters and dpa
North Macedonia Declares State Of Emergency Due To Spread Of Wildfires
The government of North Macedonia declared a state of emergency on August 5 for the next 30 days due to wildfires across the country, including around the capital, Skopje.
Unusually high summer temperatures and strong winds have stoked deadly fires in parts of southeastern Europe, Russia and Turkey, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and prompting the evacuation of thousands of people.
The EU commissioner for the environment, Virginijus Sinkevicius, said the fires and extreme weather globally over the summer were a clear signal for the need to address climate change.
"We are fighting some of the worst wildfires we’ve seen in decades. But this summer’s floods, heatwaves and forest fires can become our new normality," he wrote in a tweet.
“We must ask ourselves: Is this the world we want to live in? We need immediate actions for nature before it’s too late.”
The EU Atmosphere Monitoring Service said smoke plumes from the region’s wildfires were clearly visible in satellite images, adding that the estimated intensity of the wildfires in Turkey was at the highest level since records started in 2003.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
U.S. Urges Raisi's Iran To Resume Nuclear Talks 'Soon'
The United States has urged Iran to return to talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal after the new hard-line president, Ebrahim Raisi, said he would seek a diplomatic way to end sanctions.
"We urge Iran to return to the negotiations soon," U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a news briefing on August 5. "For us, this is an urgent priority."
Raisi called for a lifting of the sanctions during his inauguration speech earlier on August 5.
"The sanctions must be lifted,” Raisi said. “We will support any diplomatic plan that supports this goal."
"If President Raisi is genuine in his determination to see the sanctions lifted, well that is precisely what's on the table in Vienna," Price said, referring to indirect talks in the Austrian capital on reviving the nuclear accord which former U.S. President Donald Trump exited in 2018 while reimposing tough sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy.
"The opportunity to achieve a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA won't last forever," Price said, referring to the deal by its formal name: the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The talks in Vienna have remained stalled after six rounds.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araghchi, said last month that the next round of nuclear talks must wait until Raisi takes office.
The 2015 nuclear deal imposed significant restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
U.S. President Joe Biden has promised to rejoin the deal if Iran returns to full compliance.
Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Poland Says Belarus Is Letting Migrants Cross Border In 'Hybrid War' With EU
Poland has accused Belarus of sending a growing number of migrants over the border in retaliation for Warsaw's decision this week to give refuge to Belarusian athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya who refused to return home from the Tokyo Olympics and arrived in Warsaw overnight under Polish diplomatic protection.
A deputy interior minister, Maciej Wasik, said on August 5 that Minsk was "waging a hybrid war with the European Union with the help of illegal immigrants.”
"There are both young men and women with children. Belarus is using these immigrants as a living weapon," Wasik told online broadcaster Telewizja wPolsce.
"In recent days we have seen an increase [in migrants], we treat it as a reaction to the granting of asylum to the Belarusian sprinter,” he said.
There was no immediate comment from officials in the Belarusian government.
Tsimanouskaya's decision to defect has ratcheted up tensions with Minsk at a time when the European Union has accused President Alyaksandr Lukashenka of using migrants to hit back against EU sanctions.
The EU on August 5 summoned the Belarusian envoy to protest a refugee problem that Minsk has orchestrated in response to EU sanctions.
In recent weeks, neighboring and fellow EU member state Lithuania has reported a surge in illegal border crossings from Belarus and said Minsk was flying in migrants from abroad and dispatching them into the EU.
Lithuanian and European officials say the migrant flows are being orchestrated by Alyaksandr Lukashenka in retaliation for EU sanctions over his government's crackdown on the opposition following Belarus's presidential election nearly a year ago that was widely regarded as fraudulent.
The Polish Border Guard told Reuters it had detained a group of 71 migrants on the border with Belarus during the night from August 4 to August 5 and another group of 62, mostly Iraqis, on August 4.
That is more that the total of 122 illegal migrants the Border Guard said were detained along the frontier in the whole of last year. Last month, 242 migrants were intercepted.
Wasik said migrants arriving recently had mainly been from Iraq, but also from Afghanistan.
With reporting by Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Iran 'Secretly' Executes Man Arrested At Age Of 15 In 'Cruel Assault' On Child Rights
Amnesty International says Iran this week executed a man who was 15 at the time of his arrest over a fatal stabbing and spent nearly a decade on death row.
In a statement released on August 4, the London-based rights group said Sajad Sanjari was hanged on August 2 in Dizelabad prison in the western province of Kermanshah.
His family learned of Sanjari’s hanging only after a prison official told them to collect the body, Amnesty said.
"With the secret execution of Sajad Sanjari, the Iranian authorities have yet again demonstrated the utter cruelty of their juvenile justice system," said Diana Eltahawy, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
"The use of the death penalty against people who were under 18 at the time of the crime is absolutely prohibited under international law, and constitutes a cruel assault on child rights," she added.
In August 2010, police arrested Sanjari, who was then 15, over the fatal stabbing of a man.
Sanjari said the man had tried to rape him and claimed he had acted in self-defense.
But in 2012 he was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, Amnesty said.
The conviction and death sentence were initially rejected by the Supreme Court in December 2012 over flaws in the investigation process before being upheld in 2014.
Amnesty International has identified more than 80 individuals across Iran who are currently on death row for crimes that took place when they were children.
The rights group said two other convicted juvenile offenders identified as Hossein Shahbazi and Aman Abdolali are currently at risk of imminent execution. The two were arrested and sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were 17.
Amnesty International said it has recorded the executions of at least 95 youth offenders since January 2005.
Iran is among a handful of countries that execute juvenile offenders.
Rights groups have called on Iranian authorities to urgently amend Article 91 of its 2013 Islamic Penal Code to abolish the death penalty for crimes committed by people under 18 in line with Tehran's international obligations.
Iran is one of the world's leading executioners.
U.S. Investor Calvey, Six Co-Defendants Found Guilty Of Embezzlement By Russian Court
A Moscow court has found U.S. investor Michael Calvey and six co-defendants guilty of embezzlement in a high-profile case followed closely by the international business community.
The verdict should have been announced on August 2 but presiding judge Ana Sokova put it off to August 5 without giving any reason for the postponement.
Calvey, the founder of Russia-focused private equity group Baring Vostok, was detained along with other executives in early 2019 on charges he and the other executives deny.
Calvey was charged with embezzlement linked to mid-sized lender Vostochny along with his associate Philippe Delpal, who is a French national, and five others -- Russian citizens Vagan Abgaryan, Ivan Zyuzin, Maksim Vladimirov, Aleksei Kordichev, and Aleksandr Tsakunov.
The case went to trial on February 2, almost two years after their arrests.
All seven were declared guilty by the court of large-scale embezzlement.
The sentencing is still to come in the proceedings as Judge Sokova reads out the verdict.
In his final testimony, Calvey said on July 19 that he and his co-defendants had acted "solely within the law."
He said he believes the case is aimed at pressuring him and his associates from the Baring Vostok private equity group as part of a business dispute over control of Russia's Vostochny Bank.
The case has rattled the investment community in Russia and internationally and prompted several prominent officials and businessmen to voice concerns about the treatment of the executives.
The charges stem from a long-running dispute between Baring Vostok and Vostochny Bank shareholders.
Baring Vostok owned a 52.5 percent in the bank, and prosecutors accuse the defendants of embezzling 2.5 billion rubles ($37.5 million) by persuading Vostochny Bank shareholders to approve a share deal at an unrealistically low price.
The prosecution has asked the court to find Calvey guilty and give him a six-year suspended prison term, adding that Delpal should receive a five-year suspended prison. The others, the prosecution said, should be given suspended prison terms of between four and five years.
Initially placed in pretrial detention, Calvey was subsequently put under house arrest instead.
Baring Vostok is one of the largest and oldest private-equity firms operating in Russia. It was founded in the early 1990s and manages more than $3.7 billion in assets. It was an early major investor in Yandex, Russia's dominant search engine.
Calvey is one of several Americans currently being held in Russia on charges they and their supporters say are groundless.
Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, was sentenced in June 2020 to 16 years on espionage charges that he has vehemently rejected.
Another former U.S. Marine, Trevor Reed, was sentenced to nine years in prison in July 2020 after a Moscow court found him guilty of assaulting two police officers.
EU Summons Belarus Envoy, Seeks Iraqi Help Over Migrant Crisis At Lithuania's Border
The European Union has summoned Belarus's top diplomat in Brussels and talked to Iraqi officials about suspending that country's flights to Minsk amid accusations that Belarus has "weaponized" migrants to create problems at the bloc's eastern border.
A spokesperson said the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, summoned the Belarusian envoy on August 5 to protest a refugee problem that Minsk has orchestrated in response to EU sanctions.
"These practices must stop and Belarus must respect its international commitments in combating irregular migration and human trafficking and migrant smuggling," the unnamed commission spokesman was quoted as saying.
Most of the roughly 4,000 migrants detained by Lithuanian border guards at its frontier with Belarus this year are Iraqis.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and other EU officials are reportedly trying to work with the government in Baghdad to stem the flow of Iraqi nationals even as Minsk has pledged to increase direct flights and add more Iraqi cities.
Speculation has arisen that EU interior ministers might convene a rare mid-July meeting to confront the problem at member Lithuania's lightly protected border.
On August 4, Lithuania dismissed Belarusian allegations that an Iraqi man was beaten and died after being turned away at the Lithuanian border, describing it as “disinformation.”
Lithuanian authorities said this week that they had authorized border guards to start pushing back illegal migrants, including with the use of force if necessary.
Lithuanian and European officials say the migrant flows are being orchestrated by Alyaksandr Lukashenka in retaliation for EU sanctions over his government's crackdown on the opposition following Belarus's presidential election nearly a year ago that was widely regarded as fraudulent.
Based on reporting by Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Israel Threatens 'Military Action' Against Iran As Regional Tensions Mount
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on August 5 that his country is prepared to "take military action against Iran."
Israel, the United States, and Britain have accused Iran of involvement in a July 29 attack in the Gulf of Oman on the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned tanker managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime. But no country has provided evidence of its claims.
Iran has denied any involvement in the attack, which the United States and other officials said was carried out by an unmanned drone.
The attack killed one British and one Romanian crewman aboard the Mercer Street.
"We are at a point where we need to take military action against Iran," Gantz said. "The world needs to take action against Iran now."
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh reacted to Gantz's comments by warning that, in the event of military action, Tehran would retaliate.
"In another brazen violation of Int'l law, Israeli regime now blatantly threatens #Iran with military action.," Khatibzadeh said on Twitter on August 5.
"We state this clearly: ANY foolish act against Iran will be met with a DECISIVE response. Don't test us," he added.
In a letter to the UN Security Council, Iran's charge d'affaires in New York called Israel "the main source of instability and insecurity in the Middle East and beyond for more than seven decades."
Tensions have risen in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman since the United States reimposed sanctions on Iran after withdrawing from a 2015 nuclear deal with major powers trading sanctions relief for checks on sensitive activities.
Israel opposes the current international efforts to revive that deal.
It is also seemingly eager to send a tough message to newly inaugurated Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate power in Tehran.
Israeli warplanes struck targets in southern Lebanon overnight on August 4-5 after rocket attacks from the area in the first aerial bombardment by Israel on Lebanese territory since 2006.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, echoing comments from Britain, said on August 2 that there would be a collective response to the attack on the Mercer Street.
Tehran said it would respond swiftly to any threat to its security.
With reporting by AP
'Glory' Day: Convicted War Criminal Receives Local Honor In Serbia
A former Yugoslav commander convicted of crimes against humanity for ethnic cleansing against Kosovar Albanians has been declared an honorary citizen by a town in southern Serbia.
Vladimir Lazarevic served 10 years in prison for his conviction by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague for deportations and other inhumane treatment of ethnic Albanians as the Yugoslav Army's Pristina Corps commander in the late 1990s.
Officials in Pantalej, one of five municipalities composing the town of Nis, announced Lazarevic's award along with 10 others on an annual "glory" day earlier this week.
It did not cite any basis for the honor.
The tribute was backed by the municipal assembly controlled by the ruling national Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of President Aleksandar Vucic.
Lazarevic returned to Nis in December 2015 following his release after serving two-thirds of his Hague sentence.
He was personally welcomed by Serbia's then-ministers of defense and justice and the Serbian Army chief of the General Staff at the time, Ljubisa Dikovic.
Current Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin was also among VIPs in attendance.
Lazarevic greeted sympathizers, saying he had been convicted on the multiple counts of war crimes "without any material evidence."
A representative of the NGO Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Ivan Duric, said this month's honor in Nis suggests Serbian institutions have a long way to go to demonstrate the kind of values and reconciliation efforts that could lead to Serbian membership in the European Union.
"I think there is less and less room for the lies and fraud that Serbia is on the European path and on the path of reconciliation," Duric said.
- By RFE/RL
Belarusian Olympian Reunited With Husband In Poland, Hopes To Return To 'Free' Belarus
The Belarusian sprinter who appealed for international help to avoid being forced home prematurely from the Tokyo Olympics has been reunited with her husband in Warsaw.
Warsaw-based Belarusian opposition politician Pavel Latushko said Krystsina Tsimanouskaya has met with her husband, Arsen Zdanevich, Reuters reported late on August 5.
Tsimanouskaya had said earlier that her husband was on his way to join her. Poland has granted the pair humanitarian visas and has pledged to ensure their safety.
Tsimanouskaya, 24, arrived in Warsaw under Polish diplomatic protection ahead of an expected asylum request.
She said on August 5 that she was grateful to Poland for its help but she still hoped to return to "free" Belarus one day.
"I will be ready to return to Belarus once it is safe for me to do so," she said.
"I did not betray it, it is my homeland."
Tsimanouskaya said she had never met Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has clamped down on the country since a disputed election one year ago, and had nothing to say about him.
But she said "terrible" things have been happening in Belarus.
As an athlete, however, she said she wanted to focus on the Olympics and not get distracted.
Tsimanouskaya has been fighting repatriation by Belarusian officials since they allegedly tried to force her onto a plane home early from Tokyo, where she was still scheduled to compete.
In Warsaw, she said her grandmother had advised her not to return to Belarus because negative media reports were being aired about her there after her refusal to leave Tokyo.
Tsimanouskaya said from Warsaw that her husband was on his way to join her.
Belarus's EU neighbor, Poland, has granted the pair humanitarian visas and has pledged to ensure their safety.
Tsimanouskaya said on August 5 that she now wants to help Belarusians who are in similar situations.
Tsimanouskaya's plight became a major story from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and refocused international attention on repression in Belarus since protests erupted when Alyaksandr Lukashenka claimed victory in a disputed presidential election one year ago.
Lukashenka's son Viktar took over leadership of the Belarusian National Olympic Committee recently from his father in a move that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not recognize.
Other Belarusian athletes, including a former Olympic medalist decathlete and his wife, have reportedly fled life in Belarus since Tsimanouskaya's ordeal began and after Ukraine announced a murder investigation when an exiled Lukashenka critic was found dead this week in Kyiv.
Tsimanouskaya took refuge in the Polish Embassy in Tokyo on August 2 after refusing to allow Belarusian team officials to force her onto a flight to Minsk.
The IOC has reportedly demanded an explanation from Belarus and is "setting up interviews" with Belarus team members, presumably including two officials who were allegedly involved in trying to force Tsimanouskaya out of Tokyo.
The IOC identified those officials as Artur Shumak and Yury Maisevich.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said the disciplinary process that formally opened on August 6 is “determining who needs to be heard.”
Tsimanouskaya told AP in Japan that team officials had “made it clear that, upon return home, I would definitely face some form of punishment.”
She said the tipping point for her was when team managers told her that “other people” had ordered them to send her home from the Olympics and they were “merely ordered to make it happen.”
The head of Belarus's delegation at the Olympics, Dzmitry Dauhalionak, declined to comment, except to say that he has “no words,” according to the AP.
Earlier, Belarus’s National Olympic Committee told a state-run news agency that it was closely monitoring the situation and cooperating with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which has launched an investigation into Tsimanouskaya’s accusations.
Tsimanouskaya dismissed any notion that she had planned to seek a way to depart to a third country and said "I don’t want to get involved in politics."
With reporting by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, AFP, AP, and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
New Iranian President Raisi Sworn In Before Parliament
Ebrahim Raisi took his oath before parliament on August 5 to complete his inauguration making him Iran's new president.
He comes to office facing an economy battered by U.S. sanctions, a growing health crisis, fast-rising regional tensions, and difficult negotiations to revive a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
A former judiciary chief, Raisi has been criticized by the West for his human rights record and has been under U.S. sanctions in part over his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners, as well as over his tenure at the judiciary.
"I will dedicate myself to the service of the people, the honor of the country, the propagation of religion and morality, and the support of truth and justice," Raisi pledged in the ceremony, broadcast live on Iranian TV
On August 3, the controversial former prosecutor was credentialed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate power in Iran, marking the beginning of the transition from the presidency of relative moderate Hassan Rohani.
Rohani's landmark achievement was the nuclear deal with world powers that lifted most sanctions in exchange for curbs on Tehran's nuclear program but he fell woefully short in areas like women's rights where he pledged modest reforms.
U.S. sanctions were reimposed after then-President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018, further hurting Iran’s economy. Tackling the country’s economic woes is expected to be at the top of Raisi's agenda, together with negotiations aimed at reviving the nuclear deal.
"The sanctions must be lifted," Raisi said in his inauguration speech. "We will support any diplomatic plan that supports this goal."
Hours after Raisi's comments, a U.S. State Department spokesman called on Tehran to resume talks on resuscitating the nuclear deal.
"We urge Iran to return to the negotiations soon," Ned Price said at a news briefing on August 5. "For us, this is an urgent priority."
"If President Raisi is genuine in his determination to see the sanctions lifted, well that is precisely what's on the table in Vienna," Price said, referring to indirect talks in the Austrian capital on reviving the nuclear accord.
"The opportunity to achieve a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA won't last forever," Price added, referring to the deal by its formal name: the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Six rounds of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers were held in Vienna between April and June in an attempt to revive the accord. The last round concluded on June 20, with no date set for another.
Highlighting the importance of the ongoing negotiations to revive the deal, EU diplomat and nuclear deal negotiator Enrique Mora was scheduled to be among representatives from the bloc attending the inauguration.
Raisi said after his election victory that he backs talks to revive the deal. Russia, one of the signatories of the deal, sent Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin to the swearing-in ceremony in Tehran.
Iranian media said several foreign officials had been invited to the August 5 ceremony, including the Iraqi president and parliament speakers from Niger, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, and Uzbekistan.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was said to be attending the inauguration, as well as Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Raisi was expected to submit his proposed cabinet immediately after the swearing-in.
Raisi also faces an immediate crisis as the United States, Israel, and Britain have blamed Tehran for a deadly attack on an Israeli-managed tanker off the coast of Oman last week and also indicated that Iran was behind an aborted hijacking attempt on another vessel in the Gulf on August 3. Tehran denies responsibility.
Iran is also battling the Middle East's deadliest outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 4 million cases and upward of 92,000 deaths.
Raisi's presidency consolidates power in the hands of conservatives following their 2020 legislative election victory, which followed the disqualification of thousands of reformist or moderate candidates.
Iran's powerful election vetters disqualified hundreds of applicants to run in the June 18 presidential election, including strong potential rivals from among moderates.
With reporting by AFP, Reuters, IRNA and PressTV
Tokyo Organizers Apologize After Olympic Announcer Calls Ukrainian Medalists 'Russian'
The organizers of the Tokyo Olympics have apologized after an announcer misidentified Ukraine's artistic swimming medalists as being Russian.
The Ukrainian pair of Marta Fiedina and Anastasiya Savchuk won bronze in their duet free routine event on August 4, finishing behind pairs from the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and China.
However, Fiedina and Savchuk were named as ROC competitors by a French-language announcer, causing embarrassment for the organizers.
“It was purely an operational mistake,” organizing committee spokesman Masa Tanaka said of the error on August 4 at the Olympic pool.
The mistake is sensitive because of years-long diplomatic tensions between Ukraine and Russia. The Ukrainian region of Crimea was forcibly annexed by Russia in 2014.
Fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists continues in eastern Ukraine near the shared border between the countries.
Announcements at Olympic venues are typically done in Japanese, English, and French.
At this year’s Euro 2020 tournament, an outline of Ukraine’s national border, including Crimea, was woven into the national football team’s jersey.
Russian football officials complained to UEFA, which allowed the map outline to stay while asking for a slogan to be removed from inside the collar of the jersey.
UEFA rules have prevented Ukrainian and Russian national and club teams from being drawn to play against each other for security reasons since 2014.
During the Olympic opening ceremony on July 23, a Russian TV network cut to commercials just before the Ukrainian athletes entered behind their national flag. The broadcast returned after the Ukrainian team had passed.
Based on reporting by AP and dpa
Russian Opposition Politician Shlosberg Returned To Ballot By Regional Election Commission
Russian opposition politician Lev Shlosberg of the Yabloko party and his colleague Nikolai Kuzmin have been returned to the list of candidates running for deputy in the Pskov regional parliament.
The local Yabloko office in Pskov reported the move on August 4, one day after the two were barred from running in the upcoming election.
Some politicians in the western Russian region said the decision to bar them was tied to Shlosberg and Kuzmin's support for jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, whose network of organizations in June was deemed by the authorities as "extremist."
Also in June, the Moscow City Court handed down its ruling preventing people associated with Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and his collection of regional political offices from seeking public office.
The election commission in Pskov said on August 4 that a decision of the Moscow City Court to ban the activities of Navalny’s headquarters, which was the basis for the removal of Shlosberg and Kuzmin as candidates, had not yet come into force.
Shlosberg is one of the best-known figures in the liberal Yabloko party and a regional lawmaker who has openly criticized the Russian government for years.
Russia's election on September 19 will choose members of the State Duma, 39 regional parliaments, and nine regional governors.
In the run-up to the elections, the Kremlin has cracked down on opposition political figures and independent media.
Khodorkovsky-Backed Media, Legal Aid Groups Shut Down After Russia Blocks Them
Two online publications and a legal aid group backed by exiled Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky announced they were ceasing operations on August 5 after the sites were blocked by Russian authorities.
Open Media and the MBKh news sites and the Human Rights Postcards legal aid group made their closures known via social media, citing ongoing risks to employees and other factors.
The closures mark just the latest curb on independent media and opposition supporters by President Vladimir Putin's Russia ahead of parliamentary and local elections next month.
Open Media announced its decision via its Telegram channel. MBKh's former editor in chief Veronika Kutsyllo made its closure announcement in a Facebook post.
Roskomnadzor's blocking of Open Media and MBKh is the latest move against independent media ahead of parliamentary and local elections in September.
Both Open Media and MBKh Media were unavailable for the users of most Russian Internet providers from late on August 4.
The outlets said they had not received any notification from authorities explaining why they were blocked.
Open Media said in a statement on August 5 that it had received a grant from Khodorkovsky but never worked with “undesirable” organizations. Still, the outlet said it would shut down as “the risks for the project's staff members are too high.”
Khodorkovsky said in a statement on August 5 that the recent “political repressions” show “the regression of Putin's regime and Putin personally towards the outdated Soviet model, adjusted for his personal greed.”
Khodorkovsky, formerly Russia's richest man, moved to London after spending 10 years in prison in Russia on charges widely seen as political revenge for challenging Putin politically.
According to Russia’s state registry of blocked websites, access to the news outlets was restricted on orders of the Prosecutor-General’s Office on August 3.
The registry referred to a law allowing the blocking of websites that incite mass unrest, extremist activities, or participation in unauthorized rallies.
Russia in recent weeks has designated a number of independent media outlets and journalists as “foreign agents” or “undesirable” -- labels that imply an attempt to discredit the journalists or that apply additional government scrutiny.
The widening crackdown ahead of the September 19 elections has targeted media regarded by authorities as hostile and foreign-backed.
Russian authorities last month labeled some journalists from the Open Media outlet as "foreign agents."
The so-called "foreign agent" law 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.
Numerous investigative media organizations, including RFE/RL’s Russian Service, six other RFE/RL Russian-language news services, and Current Time, the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA, are among the news organizations that have been labeled “foreign agents.”
With reporting by AP and Reuters
Serbian President: Solutions In Bosnia Can Only Be With Consent Of All Three Constituent Peoples
In the Serbian capital, Belgrade, President Aleksandar Vucic met with the leader of Bosnia's Serb entity, Milorad Dodik. Vucic said that the agreement of all three constituent peoples of Bosnia -- Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks -- is the essence of the 1995 Dayton peace accords rather than imposed solutions. The August 4 meeting came after political representatives of Serbs in Bosnia started boycotting the work of state institutions following an amendment to the state's Criminal Code prohibiting the denial of genocide.
- By Ray Furlong and
- Current Time
'Undesirable' And 'Foreign': How Russia Is Muzzling The Media In An Escalating Crackdown
Recent weeks have seen a spate of police raids on independent media companies and the homes of journalists in Russia, as part of an intensifying crackdown. Kremlin-critical media face fines, arrests, and violence. Some journalists are relocating to other countries to avoid an increasingly hostile environment.
- By RFE/RL
Iranian Hospitals Overflow As Number Of Reported COVID-19 Cases Passes 4 Million
The number of reported coronavirus cases in Iran surpassed 4 million on August 4 amid a vicious wave of infections driven by the highly contagious delta variant.
Iran registered 39,357 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total since the pandemic started to 4,019,084, the Health Ministry said.
It recorded 409 deaths over the same period, bringing the official death toll to 92,194.
The real number of infections and deaths in the country of 83 million people is believed to be significantly higher.
The worst-hit country in the Middle East has struggled to contain the pandemic despite authorities imposing repeated restrictions.
The vaccine campaign has also been slow to get off the ground. More than 11 million people have received a first vaccine dose, but only 2.8 million have received the necessary two jabs, according to the Health Ministry.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered that "necessary measures" be taken on August 2 to contain what authorities warn is a "fifth wave" of the country's outbreak after Health Minister Saeed Namaki requested a two-week shutdown.
Iranian Interior Minister Rahmani Fazli said on August 4 that the proposal to shut the country needed more consideration in the coming days and that a decision would soon be made.
Incoming President Ebrahim Raisi chaired a meeting of Iran's COVID-19 task force for the first time on August 4 just a day after his inauguration, his office said.
Reports from multiple cities suggest many hospitals have reached their full capacity while health workers are being pushed to their limits due to the high number of COVID-19 patients, with intensive care stations and emergency rooms overflowing.
Iranian health officials warn that less than 40 percent of the population follows health protocols such as wearing face masks and social distancing.
With reporting by AFP, IRNA and ISNA
- By RFE/RL
OSCE Will Not Send Election Observers To Russia Following 'Major Limitations'
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will not send observers to Russia’s upcoming elections for the first time in nearly three decades due to "major limitations" imposed by Russian authorities.
The OSCE said on August 4 that Russian authorities restricted the number of election observers the intergovernmental body could send, ostensibly due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"We very much regret that our observation of the forthcoming elections in Russia will not be possible," said Matteo Mecacci, the director of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR).
"The insistence of the Russian authorities on limiting the number of observers we could send without any clear pandemic-related restrictions has unfortunately made today’s step unavoidable," he added.
The OSCE is one of the world’s premier election-observing bodies, sending experts throughout its 57 participating member states to determine whether elections are free and fair. The OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly also sends short-term election observer missions.
On September 19, Russians will vote to choose members of the lower house of parliament, or State Duma, and 39 regional parliaments, as well as nine regional governors.
In the run-up to the elections, the Kremlin has cracked down on opposition political figures and independent media.
Several opposition figures have also been barred from competing in the vote, most of them affiliated with the political network of jailed Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny.
The OSCE had been invited to observe the Russian elections, but the number of allowed observers was later restricted to 60 due to what Russian authorities cited as the deteriorating pandemic situation in the country. The OSCE had assessed earlier this year that it needed 80 long-term and 420 short-term observers.
The OSCE said there were no pandemic-related entry restrictions or rules about operating and moving within the Russia that would justify not deploying a full election observation mission. It also noted that it had sent election observers to numerous other countries since the pandemic began.
"I am very disappointed that limitations imposed by the national authorities prevent the OSCE from providing the Russian voters with a transparent and authoritative assessment of their elections, as we have been doing consistently since 1993," OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly President Margareta Cederfelt said.
"The OSCE was limited to sending only a small fraction of the observers we had intended, and this simply does not enable us to carry out our work in an effective and thorough manner."
- By RFE/RL
Iran Sentences German And British Dual Nationals To More Than 10 Years In Prison
An Iranian Revolutionary Court has sentenced two dual nationals, German-Iranian Nahid Taghavi and British-Iranian Mehran Raouf, to more than 10 years in prison.
The defendants’ lawyer, Mostafa Nili, on August 4 announced the verdict on Twitter.
"Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced Ms. Nahid Taghavi and Mr. Mehran Raouf to 10 years in prison for participating in the management of an illegal group and to eight months in prison for propaganda activities against the regime," Nili wrote.
The sentences can be appealed.
Iran’s judiciary has not publicly confirmed the sentences, which were delivered behind closed doors.
Mariam Claren, Taghavi’s daughter, acknowledged the sentence against her mother, saying she was innocent and "imprisoned...like thousand[s of] other political prisoners."
Taghavi, 66, was arrested in Tehran in October while on a family visit and spent nearly five months in solitary confinement in the capital's notorious Evin prison, in a case rights groups say amounts to politically motivated hostage taking.
Taghavi, a trained architect who lived in the German city of Cologne for nearly four decades, was active in supporting women's rights and freedom of expression in Iran, according to the Germany rights group IGFM.
Germany's Foreign Ministry said it was aware of the case, but that it had only limited access to Taghavi.
The New York-based Center for Human Rights In Iran condemned the sentence for Taghavi and Raouf and said they added to growing concerns over a worsening human rights situation in Iran.
"To condemn two peaceful, elderly people to prison under sham charges at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is raging throughout the country reveals the cruelty of the Iranian judicial system," Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the rights group said in a statement.
"These sentences indicate that the Iranian security establishment isn’t content with unlawfully harassing, jailing, and muzzling people, it also wants to endanger their lives," he added.
The human rights group Amnesty International has said Taghavi is a political prisoner whose right to a fair trial had been denied.
Raouf, a 64-year-old labor rights activist who lived between Iran and Britain, was arrested in Tehran last October, according to Amnesty.
Amnesty said in February that Raouf was being held in "prolonged solitary confinement, in violation of the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment."
In recent years, Iranian authorities have jailed dozens of dual nationals, including journalists, academics, and human rights defenders.
Rights activists accuse Iran of trying to win concessions from other countries through such arrests. Tehran, which does not recognize dual nationality, denies holding people for political reasons.
"The noticeable accumulation of cases in which dual nationals are imprisoned without specific allegations of offenses indicates that the intent is to put pressure on the governments concerned," said Dieter Karg, an Iran expert at Amnesty International in Germany, in February.
With reporting by AFP, AP, dpa, and Reuters
Lithuania Rejects Claims Iraqi Man Died At Border As Belarusian 'Disinformation'
Lithuania has dismissed Belarusian allegations that an Iraqi man was beaten and died after being turned away at the Lithuanian border, describing it as "disinformation."
EU member Lithuania has faced a surge of mostly Iraqi migrants in recent months, prompting authorities this week to start pushing back illegal migrants and giving border guards authority to use force.
Lithuanian and European officials say the migrant flows are being orchestrated by Alyaksandr Lukashenka in retaliation for EU sanctions over his government's crackdown on the opposition following Belarus's presidential election nearly a year ago that was widely considered to be fraudulent.
Belarusian border guards claimed on August 4 that they found an Iraqi man in "serious" condition near the border with Lithuania and he "died in the arms of the border guards," according to Lukashenka's Telegram channel.
"The president was immediately informed of this shocking murder of an Iraqi returning from Lithuania," the channel said.
But Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite said such reports were "clear misinformation."
"A hybrid attack is being carried out against Lithuania and the dissemination of such disinformation are examples of this," the minister told reporters, adding that similar attempts to spread false news would likely be attempted in the future.
"It's nonsense, Brothers Grimm's tales," she added.
More than 4,000 migrants have been detained by Lithuanian authorities so far this year, officials say, compared to a total of 81 in 2020. Most have attempted to cross the 679-kilometer Lithuanian-Belarusian border in the past month.
More than two-thirds of them are Iraqi nationals who appear to have arrived in Minsk via increased direct flights from Baghdad.
Asked whether force had been used against any migrants trying to enter the country, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said she had no information about "any excesses."
"I am not aware of any information about any excesses that would have taken place in Lithuania or on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border. The Belarusian government is responsible for what is happening in Belarus,” she told reporters after a government meeting.
Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas said of the reports about the death of an Iraqi man that it amounted to further provocation by the Belarusian government.
“In fact, by organizing that whole illegal journey, involving their officials in this activity, I think that they cannot always control the situation themselves,” Anusauskas said.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Belarus Service and Baltic News Service
More Kazakh Activists Sentenced Over Ties To Fugitive Banker's Banned Political Group
AQTOBE, Kazakhstan -- A court in northwestern Kazakhstan has sentenced an activist to two years of parole-like terms over ties to the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement amid an ongoing crackdown on support for that group and the associated Koshe (Street) party.
The DVK is led from abroad by fugitive former banker Mukhtar Ablyazov, the former head of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank and an outspoken critic of the Kazakh government.
Judge Zhanas Quanyshev, in a court in the city of Aqtobe on August 4, also barred the convicted man, Asqar Qalasov, from using social networks for the duration of his sentence.
Qalasov was detained in late March and placed under house arrest.
He rejects the charges against him, calling them politically motivated.
Also on August 4, another court in the Central Asian nation's southern city of Shymkent rejected an appeal filed by activist Nurzhan Mukhammedov against a similar sentence for his association with the DVK.
Mukhammedov was sentenced to two years of curbs on his freedom on the same charge in June.
He told RFE/RL that he will appeal the sentence.
A day earlier, a court in Kazakhstan's capital, Nur-Sultan, sentenced activist Erbol Eskhozhin to 2 1/2 years in prison over his alleged links to the DVK.
A number of Kazakh activists have been convicted in recent years for their involvement in the activities of the DVK and the Koshe Party and for participation in rallies organized by those groups.
Kazakhstan banned the DVK in March 2018 after deeming it an extremist organization.
Human rights groups have said Kazakhstan’s law on public gatherings violates international standards as it requires preliminary permission from authorities to hold rallies and envisions prosecution for unsanctioned rallies, despite constitutional guarantees on the right to free assembly.
- By RFE/RL
Firefighters Battle Major Blazes In Russia, Southeastern Europe, Turkey
Unusually high summer temperatures and strong winds have stoked deadly wildfires in parts of Russia, Turkey, and southeastern Europe, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and prompting the evacuation of thousands of people.
Pushed to the limit, Russian emergency services received additional help from the military to fight devastating forest fires in the east of the country.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on August 4 that additional technical equipment would be delivered to the isolated Siberian Republic of Sakha, also known as Yakutia.
Authorities say 173 fires are still raging in the region and that the situation remains difficult.
More than 2,500 members of the emergency forces are trying to prevent flames from spreading to several villages where thick smoke is blanketing the region.
Firefighting efforts in Yakutia covered a region of more than 8,000 square kilometers, authorities said.
Fires destroy huge swaths of wild forests in Russia every year, with environmental activists blaming a worsening situation on climate change.
A heat wave across southern Europe, fed by hot air from North Africa, has led to wildfires from the Mediterranean coast of Turkey to the Balkans.
In Bulgaria, two forestry workers were killed and another one was injured on August 4 as forest fires multiply across the country.
Two people also died in forest fires in Albania and Kosovo.
Extreme weather across southern Europe has fueled wildfires in Greece, Turkey, Italy, Albania, Kosovo, and across the Mediterranean region.
Serbia's Ambassador To Russia Dies 'Suddenly' In Belgrade
BELGRADE -- Serbia's Foreign Ministry on August 4 announced the sudden death of Belgrade's ambassador to Russia, 71-year-old former military analyst and journalist Miroslav Lazanski.
It said only that he had "passed away suddenly," but Serbian media cited officials as blaming his death on a heart attack at his home in Belgrade.
"His dedication, commitment, and devotion as the ambassador of our country will be remembered, as will his numerous activities aimed at further improving the cooperation and friendship between Serbia and Russia," the ministry said in a statement.
Lazanski was appointed as Belgrade's top envoy to Russia in July 2019.
He was a longtime journalist for the prominent Serbian daily Politika and a military analyst who had reported from conflict zones in Iran and Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Africa, and the Middle East.
Lazanski had also reported during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s from what are now Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, and Kosovo, and from Ukraine's Crimea, which Russia invaded and annexed in 2014.
He was also a frequent commentator for Russia's state-run media organization Sputnik.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who along with his ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) allies has fostered close relations and a strategic partnership with Moscow, expressed his condolences.
"Serbia has lost a great man, its ambassador to the Russian Federation, one of the best experts on geopolitical opportunities, military strategy, and tactics, an exceptional journalist and publicist and, above all, a good man," Vucic wrote.
In a July 2020 report on "Russian interference" in North Macedonia, Bellingcat researchers linked Lazanski to a Moscow effort to "create a strip of militarily neutral countries" in the Balkans.
Bellingcat said that Russian and Serbian intelligence officers "formed a connection" with Lazanski and asserted that "Macedonian counterintelligence also implicated Lazanski as one of the main pro-Kremlin propagandists in the country."
In July, Lazanski was at the center of an unconfirmed Serbian report claiming he had accused neighboring NATO member Montenegro of preventing weapons donated to Belgrade by Russia from being delivered. The Montenegrin Defense Ministry reportedly denied that such permission had even been requested.
The Foreign Ministry said Lazanski's funeral would be held in Belgrade on August 6.
With reporting by AP
Former Navalny Staffer's Documents Officially Accepted By Election Authorities After Hunger Strike
MURMANSK, Russia -- Election officials in Russia's northwestern city of Murmansk have officially accepted registration documents from the former leader of jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny's team after she waged a hunger strike over alleged obstruction.
Violetta Grudina said on August 4 that she had received an official letter from election officials confirming that her papers pursuant to her potential candidacy were received.
The registration's deadline is August 9 and Grudina told Current Time that she hopes her candidacy will be officially registered soon.
Last week, Grudina launched a hunger strike, saying that Murmansk authorities were creating artificial obstacles to bar her from running for a city council seat in next month's elections.
Russia holds national and local voting in elections seen as a key test of opposition pushback against tightening restrictions of public criticism and dissent, including the increasing use of loosely written laws on "foreign agents" against the media and NGOs and the ongoing jailings of Navalny and his allies.
Grudina, who was forcibly placed in a COVID-19 treatment facility in mid-July, has said all of the documents she compiled to register with the city's election commission while in the hospital disappeared.
She said she gave the files to the hospital’s chief physician to pass on to her legal representative, who was supposed to register her candidacy with election officials.
Grudina said that same chief physician, Arkady Amozov, recently registered as a candidate for the ruling United Russia party.
A court in Murmansk ruled on July 15 that Grudina must stay in a COVID-19 facility after testing positive for the coronavirus.
She called the court's decision politically motivated, insisting that she had recovered from COVID-19 long ago and did not require hospitalization.
On September 19, Russians will vote to choose members of the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, and 39 regional parliaments, as well as nine regional governors.
In the run-up to the elections, the Kremlin has cracked down -- sometimes brutally -- on opposition political figures and independent media.
In early June, a Moscow court labeled Navalny’s political network “extremist,” a move his team has called a sign of a “truly new level” of lawlessness in the country.
Days earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had endorsed a law banning leaders and founders of organizations declared "extremist" or "terrorist" by Russian courts from running for elective posts for a period of five years. Other members or employees of such organizations face three-year bans.
With the country mired in economic woes that have seen a decline in real incomes and rising inflation, the United Russia party has been polling at historic lows.
According to independent pollster Levada Center, just 27 percent of Russians support the ruling party, down from 31 percent a year ago.
Man Detained After Threat To Blow Up Ukrainian Government Building
KYIV -- Police in Ukraine have arrested a man after an hours-long standoff that began when the suspect entered the building that houses the national government in Kyiv with "an object that resembled an explosive device" and threatened to detonate it.
The chief of the Ukrainian National Police, Ihor Klymenko, identified the suspect as a veteran of the war against Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's east.
He said the suspect had been wounded twice in that fighting, including suffering a head injury.
Klymenko said an investigation was under way and the man's motives were still unclear.
Special police forces were called to the scene around 10 a.m. after "an unknown man entered the building of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, took out an object looking like an explosive device from his pocket, and threatened to detonate it,"police said.
Klymenko said the suspect threatened two security guards and a government administration employee.
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