A Russian court has sentenced five Jehovah's Witnesses to between six and six-and-a-half years in prison in the latest crackdown on the religious group, which is banned in the country.

A court in the southwestern city of Volgograd sentenced the five individuals on September 24 after they were found guilty of participating in the activities of an "extremist" organization.

Sergei Melnik, 49, and Igor Yegozaryan, 50, were sentenced to six years in prison, while 50-year-old Vyacheslav Osipov and 43-year-old Denis Peresunko were handed sentences of six years and three months. Valery Rogozin, 59, was given a six-and-a-half year sentence.

According to the indictment, the believers "received recommendations from followers of the confession from abroad, were engaged in missionary work, conducted services, collected donations for them, and also shared religious literature with other members of the community."

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.

For decades, the Jehovah's Witnesses have been viewed with suspicion in Russia, where the dominant Orthodox Church is championed by President Vladimir Putin.

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.

According to the group, dozens of Jehovah's Witnesses have been either convicted of extremism or are in pretrial detention.

The Moscow-based Memorial Human Rights Center has recognized dozens of Jehovah’s Witnesses who have been charged with or convicted of extremism as political prisoners.

Russia has declared two organizations linked to the U.S.-based Church of Scientology "undesirable,” in a move that is likely to lead to the group being banned.

The Prosecutor-General's Office said on September 24 that the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises International and the Church of Spiritual Technology are religious corporations that "pose a threat to the security of the Russian Federation."

The issue will now be taken up by the Ministry of Justice, which could ban the group under laws governing "undesirable" foreign nongovernmental organizations.

The "undesirable" organization law, adopted in May 2015 and since updated, was part of a series of regulations pushed by the Kremlin that squeezed many nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations that received funding from foreign sources -- mainly from Europe and the United States.

Dozens of foreign nongovernmental organizations have been deemed "undesirable" in Russia.

Russian authorities have moved against the Church of Scientology in the past, closing the group’s Moscow branch in 2016. The Justice Ministry has also declared some of the group's literature extremist.

The Church of Scientology was founded in the United States in 1954 by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, and describes itself as a religion. It was first registered officially in Russia in 1994.

Prominent scientologists include Hollywood film stars Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

The group's critics say it is a cult and have accused Scientologists of harassing people who seek to quit.

With reporting by Current Time and Reuters

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has told the United Nations that his country is willing to engage in talks to achieve a sustainable peace in the South Caucasus region following last year's war with neighboring Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Armenia is ready for a constructive dialogue, which should lead to the establishment of sustainable and lasting peace in the region," Pashinian told the UN General Assembly on September 24 in New York.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but the territory and some surrounding areas had been controlled by ethnic Armenian forces since the early 1990s.

The two sides have skirmished regularly over the years.

Internationally mediated negotiations under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), involving the so-called Minsk Group co-chaired by Russia, the United States, and France, have been unable to produce a lasting settlement of the conflict.

In September 2020, Azerbaijan launched a military offensive that resulted in Baku regaining control of the surrounding districts, and much of Nagorno-Karabakh itself.

The sides agreed to a Russian-brokered cease-fire in early November, resulting in in the deployment of 2,000 Russian peacekeepers to the conflict zone.

Some 6,000 people were killed in the fighting. It is unclear how many more prisoners remain in captivity on either side.

Tensions since the signing of the cease-fire have remained high, with scattered reports of exchanges of gunfire.

"We propose to complete the process of the return of prisoners of war, hostages, and other captives without delay," Pashinian said.

"It is also necessary to resume the peace process for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs," Pashinian added

With reporting by TASS

Local media in Serbia report that several people were injured when a public transport bus veered off the street into a children's playground in the capital, Belgrade.

Some reports quoted eyewitnesses as saying the injured included children.

But there was no official confirmation of the number injured as the authorities continued to investigate the afternoon incident in a residential section of the city's Zemun neighborhood.

One video showed a woman scrambling to reach a young child before the red city bus plowed at speed into a parked car.

Images showed smashed equipment where the bus had torn through the playground.

Based on reporting by AP, RTS.rs, Nova.rs, Telegraf.rs, and rs.N1info

Moscow police and city officials have warned the Communist Party against following through with calls for a gathering in the Russian capital on September 25 to protest the results of last weekend's elections.

Russia's media regulator, Roskomnadzor, has also ordered the publishers of the party's website to delete references to such an event, according to two Communist candidates.

Doubts have persisted among rivals of the ruling United Russia party and outside observers over the September 17-19 State Duma elections in the face of bans on opposition candidates and allegations of irregularities that helped propel President Vladimir Putin's allies to a new supermajority.

But Russia's Central Election Commission announced on September 24 that it had validated the election results.

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Commission Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova announced that United Russia won 324 seats in parliament -- 19 fewer than in 2016 but enough to allow it to change the constitution and cement Putin's grip on power ahead of a possible run in the 2024 presidential election.

The Communists have insisted publicly that their event on September 25 is a meeting of deputies and therefore does not require official approval.

But the Moscow mayor's office, the prosecutor's office, and city police have all issued warnings against unsanctioned activities, and said participants will be held accountable.

Reports quote city officials as saying gatherings violate anti-pandemic restrictions.

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Roskomnadzor, meanwhile, sent a letter threatening to block the Communist Party website over its posting of details of the planned gathering.

Many opposition allies of jailed Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny had been barred from running for office and accused the authorities of censorship.

Navalny's Smart Voting election-guide app, intended to evade United Russia's stranglehold on state media and politics, disappeared from the Apple and Google online stores on September 17, the day voting started.

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Moscow police on September 23 detained municipal deputy Sergei Vlasov and two other participants in a Communist Party demonstration on Pushkin Square three days earlier.

Ekho Moskvy quoted opposition Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov as saying he was also detained on September 24.

Meanwhile, Moscow police on September 24 announced the administrative prosecution of 30 participants in the Pushkin Square demonstration against the election results.

A group of independent municipal and regional deputies has launched a petition demanding all results from all of the elections throughout Russia be invalidated due to numerous violations and irregularities in the voting.

With reporting by Ekho Moskvy

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says Tehran will return to negotiations on resuming compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal "very soon."

Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 24, Amir-Abdollahian also described conversations between Iranian and Saudi officials as "constructive" and said Tehran had put forward dynamic proposals toward achieving peace in Yemen.

Iran has held six rounds of talks this year with world powers in Vienna aimed at reviving the nuclear accord, which was abandoned by former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018. The negotiations were suspended in June when hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi was elected as Iran's new president.

A senior U.S. official on September 23 voiced growing frustration at a lack of Iranian movement toward talks on reviving the moribund nuclear agreement with world powers.

"For now there is no positive indication that Iran is prepared to come back to talks," the official was quoted as saying on condition of anonymity, noting that Tehran had not yet named a new negotiator for the meetings.

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But Amir-Abdollahian sought to allay concerns that Tehran intended to abandon the talks.

"We are not seeking to quit the negotiating table," he told the official IRNA news agency on September 24.

"We will certainly pursue a negotiation that serves the rights and interests of our nation."

Later, a senior Iranian official speaking on condition of anonymity said that by "very soon," Tehran "can mean a few days, it can mean a few weeks."

But, the official said, "As soon as we finish the review process, without any time to be wasted, we shall return to the negotiations table."

Amir-Abdollahian's statement came after Raisi earlier this week told the UN General Assembly that Iran wants talks with world powers to revive the deal to lead to the removal of all U.S. sanctions.

Iran considers useful talks "whose ultimate outcome is the lifting of all oppressive sanctions," Raisi said in a prerecorded speech on September 21.

The same day, President Joe Biden told the General Assembly that the United States will return to the nuclear deal "in full" if Tehran does the same and will "engage Iran diplomatically."

Amir-Abdollahian accused Biden of "paradoxical behavior" in pursuing negotiations while imposing new sanctions "[that] has not been, and is not, a positive message or constructive message for the new administration in Tehran."

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP

The European Union is urging Russia to adhere to the norms of "responsible state behavior" after a cyberattack campaign targeted a number of member states.

"Some member states observed malicious cyberactivities, collectively designated as Ghostwriter, and associated these with the Russian state," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement on September 24 on behalf of the bloc.

"Such activities are unacceptable as they seek to threaten our integrity and security, democratic values and principles, and the core functioning of our democracies," he said.

The statement comes after Germany's prosecutor-general opened investigations earlier this month into a number of recent cyberattacks targeting German politicians -- attacks that the German Foreign Ministry has blamed on Moscow.

Russia rejected the allegations, which came ahead of Germany’s parliamentary elections on September 26.

According to Borrell, the Ghostwriter cybercampaign has targeted "numerous members of parliaments, government officials, politicians, and members of the press and civil society in the EU," with the hackers "accessing computer systems and personal accounts and stealing data."

He said the EU and its member states "strongly denounce" these activities, and warned the bloc would "consider taking further steps."

He did not provide further details.

On September 6, the German Foreign Ministry said the government had "reliable information" that the recent series of cyberattacks targeting politicians could be attributed to actors in Russia, "specifically to the Russian military intelligence service," known as the GRU.

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Germany and other EU members have accused Russia of cyberattacks in the past, with Moscow denying any involvement.

Russia's Central Election Commission has validated the results of last week's State Duma elections in the face of opposition allegations of irregularities in favor of the Kremlin-backed ruling United Russia party.

Commission Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova told a news conference on September 24 that United Russia took 324 seats in parliament -- 19 fewer than the last election in 2016 -- giving it a supermajority in the legislature, which allows it to change the constitution amid President Vladimir Putin's efforts to cement his grip on power ahead of a possible run in the 2024 presidential election.

The Communist Party took 57 seats in the vote, Pamfilova said, while A Just Russia-For Truth party received 27. The Liberal Democratic Party secured 21 seats and the New People party won 13. In addition, Rodina, the Party of Growth, and the Civic Platform will send one deputy each. Five independent candidates will also have mandates in the State Duma.

The election commission said the United Russia party won 49.82 percent of the ballots, compared to 18.93 percent for the runner-up Communist Party.

Many critics say the Kremlin carefully managed the elections from the start, with the opposition largely barred from running and a crackdown on government opponents that shows no sign of abating.

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In a major blow to opposition candidates, jailed Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny's election-guide app aimed at eroding United Russia’s stranglehold on politics disappeared from the Apple and Google online stores on September 17, the day voting started. Navalny's associates decried the move as censorship, and slammed the tech giants for bowing to Putin's pressure tactics.

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Navalny App Disappearance Shows Russia's Strength In The Battle Against Big Tech

Meanwhile, a group of independent municipal and regional deputies has launched a petition demanding all results from September 17-19 elections across Russia be invalidated due to numerous violations and irregularities in the voting.

"The brightest opposition politicians were not allowed to participate in the elections under far-fetched and unjust pretexts," the appeal says, adding that "multiday voting led to increased opportunities for massive falsifications."

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Group Of Independent Russian Deputies Launches Petition To Invalidate Elections

The petition also chided Pamfilova for overseeing an election process where the rights of independent observers were "subject to constant illegal restrictions," while restrictions to reporting at polling stations aimed at transparency were shut down, making "the voting process as closed as possible and setting the entire electoral system back a decade."

The election commission chief, however, told reporters on September 24 that the "elections fairly reflect the outcome of the vote."

The Polish border guard service says an Iraqi migrant has died near the country’s frontier with Belarus, the fourth such death in the area over the past week amid a surge in illegal migration across the European Union's eastern flank that officials accuse Minsk of fueling.

In Brussels, the EU executive said on September 24 that allowing border guards of the EU border agency Frontex on the border with Belarus would be "a very good idea."

"It is essential for Poland to carry out border management duties effectively. However, this should not come at the expense of human life. We urge member state authorities to ensure that people at the border are given the necessary care and assistance," a European Commission spokesman told a news conference.

Earlier in the day, the Polish Border Guard announced that a group of immigrants from Iraq was detained last night 500 meters from the border with Belarus.

"One of the men, despite having been resuscitated by a patrol and an ambulance team, died (probably of a heart attack)," it said on Twitter, adding that another person was taken to hospital after testing positive for COVID-19.

Poland and Lithuania are facing a surge in migrants, mainly from Iraq and Afghanistan, crossing over from Belarus in what European officials say is retaliation by Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka for sanctions against him and his regime by the bloc.

The two EU member states have declared states of emergency that deny entry to some border regions to anyone except border guards and security services. They are also building razor wire fences along their border with Belarus.

Warsaw has not invited Frontex staff, saying so far that it can manage the situation.

The Polish Border Guard reported more than 3,500 attempts to cross the border illegally from Belarus last month. More than 5,000 attempts have been recorded since the start of September.

On September 19, the Polish authorities said the bodies of three people who had allegedly tried to enter the country illegally were discovered in the border area with Belarus.

A fourth person was also found dead on the Belarusian side of the border.

Following the deaths, the International Organization for Migration and the UN refugee agency requested immediate access to asylum seekers stranded at Belarus's border with Poland and Lithuania.

The two agencies said in a statement they were “following with growing concern, reports of pushbacks of people at these borders. Groups of people have become stranded for weeks, unable to access any form of assistance, asylum or basic services. Many were left in dire situations, exposed to the elements, suffering from hypothermia. Some were rescued from swamps."

Addressing the UN Human Rights Council on September 24, the world body's human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, called on Belarus's neighbors to protect asylum seekers.

"I take this opportunity to remind all governments that under international law, no one should ever be prevented from seeking asylum or other forms of international protection," Bachelet said, adding that illegal migrants and asylum seekers are entitled to food, water, and medical care.

She also said that any asylum claims should be examined individually.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki insisted that Poland was providing assistance, writing in a Facebook post, "We try to help and save the lives and health of all illegal migrants who have crossed the border into Poland and have been found in time.

The inflow of migrants at the Polish and Lithuanian borders began after the EU imposed several rounds of financial penalties against Lukashenka, his inner circle, and key state-owned companies in response to Lukashenka's brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrators, the opposition, and independent media following a disputed presidential election in August 2020.

The opposition says the election was rigged, while the EU, the United States, and other countries have refused to recognize the official results of the vote and do not consider Lukashenka, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, to be the country's legitimate leader.

Bachelet told the Human Rights Council in Geneva that more than 650 people were believed to be imprisoned on politically motivated charges, and there had been no genuine investigations into police brutality and mistreatment.

Yury Ambrazevich, Belarus's ambassador to the UN rights council, rejected her report as being full of "unfounded statements and false accusations."

U.S. Ambassador Benjamin Moeling denounced what he called the "politically motivated trials and severe sentences that have followed" in Belarus.

With reporting by Reuters

Iranian authorities have confirmed the death of prisoner Shahin Naseri, who had claimed he witnessed the torture of champion wrestler Navid Afkari before his execution on homicide charges.

Prison officials on September 23 said they are investigating the cause of death in Naseri's case.

Two days earlier, the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group quoted "informed sources" as saying Naseri had died under “suspicious circumstances” in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary after being transferred to solitary confinement.

The rights group said the source told it that Naseri had been transferred to an unknown location on the anniversary of the execution of Afkari, who had been convicted of murdering a security guard during mass anti-government protests in 2018.

Afkari was hanged on September 12, 2020, despite an international outcry after he said he was tortured into making a false confession, while his attorney said there was no proof of his guilt. Iran's judiciary dismissed the torture claim.

Naseri claimed he witnessed Afkari being subjected to a heavy beating by two plainclothes agents and that he had heard him screaming.

In an audio message recently obtained by RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, Naseri said he was a witness to “medieval torture” against Afkari.

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He also said that authorities had threatened him not to testify about Afkari.

“We found out today that he was held in solitary confinement in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary to prevent him from making phone calls and giving interviews to news outlets,” IHR quoted an unnamed source as saying on September 22. The source added that Naseri was not suffering from any health issues and that he was not considered suicidal.

A statement by the General Directorate Of Prisons of the Tehran Province issued on September 23 said Naseri died 45 minutes after being taken to a prison clinic where resuscitation efforts, including cardiac massage and artificial respiration, failed to save him.

The statement, which said Naseri was serving a prison term for fraud, theft, and forgery, added that the cause of his death was being probed and will be announced later.

Following the announcement, the head of Iran’s Prisons Organization ordered a special probe into Naseri’s death, the semi-official ILNA news agency reported on September 23. The report said a deputy on health, correction, and education to the Prisons Organization had paid a visit to the Greater Tehran Penitentiary and "closely" examined the death of Naseri while also speaking to his cellmates.

Separately, the police said Naseri was arrested five days after Afkari and that the two men did not have any contact as they were held in separate branches, Naseri for fraud and Afkari for homicide. The police statement said Naseri had a record in several provinces for criminal offenses ranging from fraud, to forgery and theft.

Meanwhile, lawyer Babak Paknia said on Twitter that Naseri had contacted him on September 20 and asked for help. He didn’t offer more details.

Naseri’s death is the latest case of someone dying without official explanation while in custody in Iran.

In a report released on September 15, Amnesty International said it had recorded at least 72 such deaths in custody since January 2010 despite credible reports that the deaths were the result of torture or other ill-treatment, or the lethal use of firearms and tear gas by officials. The rights group said not a single Iranian official has been held accountable for these deaths.

Five climbers died after getting caught in a snowstorm while on the highest mountain in Europe, Russia's Mount Elbrus.

Fourteen other members of the group were rescued in strong winds and low visibility amid temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius, the Emergency Situations Ministry said on September 24.

Eleven of the survivors were taken to hospital.

The September 23 incident occurred when the 19 climbers were at an altitude of over 5,000 meters.

Elbrus, located in Russia's North Caucasus, peaks at 5,642 meters.

The group of climbers came from 11 regions of Russia, Interfax reported.

The company that organized the climb said there were four professional guides accompanying the group.

One of the climbers felt unwell and turned back with one of the guides, it said, while the rest of the group continued to the summit.

A storm struck on their way down and one of the climbers broke a leg, further slowing down the group.

Two climbers froze to death and two others lost consciousness and died as they were brought down the mountain, according to the company, which said the guides and some of the participants suffered frostbite.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

Russian health authorities say 828 coronavirus-related deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, a record daily total during the pandemic.

The anti-coronavirus crisis center said on September 24 that 21,379 new coronavirus cases had been found in the past 24 hours, slightly down from 21,438 cases the previous day.

It was the fourth consecutive day the country has seen more than 800 deaths due to the virus in Russia, which has the highest death toll in Europe.

Health officials said growth in new infections was “intense” in 36 of Russia’s 85 regions, and warned the situation could worsen as seasonal respiratory infections spike.

Russian hospitals, meanwhile, are girding for a possible influx of patients.

Last week, President Vladimir Putin went into self-isolation after dozens of members of his inner circle tested positive for COVID-19.

Putin, 68, has described his self-quarantine as a "test" for the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V, which he says he received several months ago.

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has called on the Taliban to form an inclusive government in neighboring Afghanistan with the participation of all political and ethnic groups in order to allay tensions in the war-torn country.

In a prerecorded video message to the UN General Assembly in New York on September 23, Rahmon reiterated his concerns over recent developments in Afghanistan, calling them a "serious threat to regional security and stability."

The Taliban gained control over almost all of Afghanistan’s territory last month following a lightning offensive at the end of a 20-year U.S.-led military presence, triggering alarm among Central Asian states bordering Afghanistan over possible security threats emanating from the country and the potential for tens of thousands of refugees to pour over the border.

The militants have sought to reassure the international community that it poses no threat and suggested that it is now more moderate than during the brutal rule the hard-line Islamist group employed during its first stint in power from 1996 to 2001.

The Taliban promised inclusiveness and a general amnesty for former opponents but has been criticized for forming an all-male government led by hard-line veterans and composed almost entirely of members from the Pashtun ethnic group.

A ban on protests, a crackdown on demonstrators and journalists, and a rolling back of the rights of girls and women also failed to back up the group’s promises to respect human rights.

The international community has warned it would judge the group by its actions, and that recognition of a Taliban-led government would be linked to issues including the treatment of women and minorities.

Tajikistan is one of the few countries in the region that has rejected any talks with the Taliban.

In his address to the UN General Assembly, Rahmon accused the Taliban of not living up to its promises to form an inclusive government and criticized human rights groups for what he called their silence over "violation of the rights of other ethnic groups in Afghanistan."

In Panjshir, a rugged mountain valley northeast of Kabul where an anti-Taliban resistance front is active, the Tajik president accused Taliban fighters of carrying out killings and depriving residents of access to food, electricity, and Internet connection.

Rahmon called for comprehensive talks with the participation of all segments of Afghan society as one of the main conditions for stability in the country.

Afghanistan's ethnic Tajiks, who he said make up 46 percent of the country's population, and other ethnic groups “have the right to have a worthy place in the affairs of state."

While no reliable current data on ethnicity in Afghanistan exists to back up Rahmon's claim, the group Minority Rights says previous estimates have shown ethnic Tajiks comprise about 27 percent of Afghanistan's population, while ethnic Uzbeks are 9 percent and Turkmen 3 percent. The largest group, Pashtuns, are just over 40 percent of the populace.

The Tajik leader also expressed concern about what he called the strengthening of extremist groups such as the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, saying that the country “is on the verge of becoming a hotbed of international terrorism again."

Describing Tajikistan as a "front line" in the fight against terrorism and extremism, Rahmon called for support from the international community.

The top U.S. military officer says the United States should explore ways to expand its military contacts with Russia as a way to increase trust and avoid a miscalculation.

Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said allowing things such as observers at each other's combat exercises would increase transparency and reduce the risk of conflict.

“We need to put in place policies and procedures to make sure that we increase certainty, to reduce uncertainty, increase trust to reduce distrust, increase stability to reduce instability in order to avoid miscalculation, and reduce the possibility of great power war,” Milley said. “That’s a fundamental thing that we should try to do, and I am going to try to do it.”

Milley made the comments on September 23 after meeting his Russian counterpart, General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian General Staff, in Finland on September 22.

Milley said that military contacts between the two powers currently are largely limited to senior leaders such as the defense secretary, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the supreme allied commander for Europe.

But he said allowing military service chiefs to form stronger relationships with their Russian counterparts and allowing observers at exercises are ideas worth exploring.

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Milley, who spoke with an AP reporter and one other reporter traveling with him back to the United States, declined to detail the contents of his talks with Gerasimov, but a statement from the Joint Chiefs of Staff suggested that more open communication was discussed.

“The meeting was a continuation of talks aimed at improving military leadership communication between the two nations for the purposes of risk reduction and operational deconfliction,” the statement said.

Milley said that military-to-military contacts with Russia have worked in the past to de-escalate tense situations. Without being specific, he said there were “a couple of incidents that occurred between us and the Russians over the last two years” that triggered calls between Milley and Gerasimov.

The U.S. and Russia increased cooperation on nuclear security and other defense issues after the end of the Cold War, but the relationship deteriorated after Russia and Georgia fought a brief war in 2008 and Russian troops remained in Georgia's regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Tensions spiked again in 2014 when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and its military intervened in eastern Ukraine.

In response to the invasion of Crimea, Congress in 2016 limited cooperation with Russia, prohibiting “military-to-military cooperation” until Russia ends its “occupation of Ukrainian territory” and “aggressive activities.” The law was later amended to say that it does not limit military talks aimed at “reducing the risk of conflict.”

With reporting by AP

A top manager of Russian natural-gas producer Novatek has been arrested in the United States on tax-evasion charges related to offshore bank accounts allegedly holding tens of millions of dollars.

The U.S. Department of Justice said on September 23 that Mark Gyetvay was arrested after a federal grand jury in Florida indicted him the day before.

Novatek is Russia's biggest independent producer of natural gas. Gyetvay has served as the face of the company to Western investors and is listed as deputy chairman of the management board on the company's website.

Gyetvay is accused of defrauding the United States by concealing his ownership of offshore assets and by failing to pay taxes on millions of dollars of income.

As part of his compensation package as Novatek's chief financial officer from 2003 to 2014, Gyetvay allegedly received stock options or other stock-based compensation.

Beginning in 2005, Gyetvay allegedly opened the first of two Swiss bank accounts to hold these assets, the Justice Department said. The accounts at one point had a total value of more than $93 million.

"Over a period of several years, Gyetvay allegedly took steps to conceal his ownership and control over the foreign accounts and associated assets, such as removing himself and making his then-wife, a Russian citizen, the beneficial owner of the accounts," the Justice Department said.

The department's news release did not identify Gyetvay's wife. It said Gyetvay, who worked as a certified public accountant (CPA) in the United States and Russia, holds both U.S. and Russian passports.

Despite being a CPA, Gyetvay allegedly did not file his U.S. tax returns on time, did not file all required forms for foreign bank accounts, and some of the tax returns he did file allegedly were false, the Justice Department said.

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Novatek said in a statement on September 24 that it had yet to receive any official notification or requests from the U.S. government on the case.

"Novatek has not received any official inquiries or other documents from the U.S. authorities or other countries regarding Mark Gyetvay. The company is currently investigating the circumstances of the incident. This situation does not and will not affect the company's activities," Novatek said in the statement.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow was watching the case and was ready to provide diplomatic assistance.

However, he added that Russia cannot interfere in the matter as it is an internal U.S. tax issue.

If convicted, Gyetvay faces decades in prison on charges of wire fraud, tax evasion, assisting in preparing a false tax return, and failure to file a tax return.

The United States is one of the few countries that requires its citizens to file and pay taxes on their worldwide income even if they live and earn their money abroad or spend the entire year outside the U.S. This means that high-earning Americans working overseas often must file and pay taxes in both the U.S. and their country of residence.

The U.S. has a progressive tax rate that tops off at 37 percent for single filers earning more than $518,400.

President Joe Biden has proposed doubling the size of the Internal Revenue Service by hiring nearly 87,000 new workers over the next decade as part of a plan to catch tax cheats.

The case against Gyetvay is similar to a case filed last year against Russian-born billionaire Oleg Tinkoff, who was charged with failure to pay taxes on wealth earned abroad.

Tinkoff pocketed a vast fortune when he sold shares in TCS Group Holdings, a digital-financial-services company operating in Russia, in 2013. Tinkoff lived for a period of time in the United States and acquired a passport, obligating him to pay U.S. taxes.

Tinkoff gave up his U.S. passport in 2013 but still owed an "exit tax" that applies when people give up their U.S. citizenship.

With reporting by Reuters

The United States' mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has criticized Russia's recent national elections as taking place under conditions "not conducive to free or fair" voting and called Moscow's claims of outside interference as "baseless allegations" to distract from a flawed process.

Acting U.S. political counselor Andrew Shepard leveled the criticisms in a statement to the OSCE's principal decision-making body, the Permanent Council, on September 23.

"The repressive actions taken by the Russian Government before and during the September 17-19 Duma elections obstructed electoral transparency, hampered independent media coverage of the elections, and prevented genuine opposition participation, severely undermining the credibility of the elections," Shepard said.

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For the first time since 1993, election observers from the OSCE were not present for a Russian vote due to limitations imposed by authorities.

"We regret that the elections took place under conditions not conducive to free and fair proceedings, and that the undue restrictions imposed by the Russian government prevented OSCE observation of the elections," Shepard said.

The Kremlin-backed ruling United Russia party retained its constitutional majority amid bans and curbs on the opposition, along with widespread reports of voting irregularities and ballot tampering on election day.

Shepard said Russian authorities had "targeted independent media in particular" to thwart Russians' choice.

"In 2021 alone," he said, "30 more independent media outlets or individuals were added to the register of 'media foreign agents,'" a reference to a controversial 2012 law that has been amended multiple times to toughen conditions for media and journalists in Russia.

United Russia's announced support slid 6 percentage points from the previous election in 2016 to a fraction under 50 percent, but still left it with a comfortable two-thirds majority in the 450-seat State Duma to enact constitutional changes.

Jailed Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny accused the Kremlin of using "intimidation and repression" to steal the vote.

Shepard cited Russian officials' designation of Navalny organizations as "extremist" as "a new tool to selectively disqualify from running for office thousands of politically engaged Russians who have been associated with those groups."

In the run-up to the voting, Russia accused the United States and tech giants Apple and Google of interference, saying Navalny and his allies' Smart Voting app was "connected in one way or another with the Pentagon."

"We are not aware of any credible evidence or reports that support Russia’s claims of outside election interference," Shepard told the OSCE Permanent Council.

WATCH: Disappearing Ink: Another Item In Russia's Election Bag Of Tricks?

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The Smart Voting app -- a voting guide to mobilize support for candidates with a chance to defeat United Russia rivals -- was removed from Apple and Google stores as voting in Russia began.

"These baseless allegations are designed to deflect attention from the real threat to the integrity of these elections -- the increasingly repressive environment Russian authorities have created to advantage ruling party candidates by obstructing electoral transparency, marginalizing independent media, and preventing opposition participation," Shepard said.

The Association of Independent Municipal and Regional Deputies this week launched a petition demanding all results from the elections across Russia be invalidated due to numerous violations and irregularities in the voting.

Serbia has raised the combat readiness of its troops on the border with Kosovo as a four-day flare-up over mutual recognition of state authority bedevils the Balkan neighbors, with Serbia's president suggesting there are limits to what Belgrade will "tolerate."

The new frictions have dampened hopes that a decade of EU-mediated efforts to normalize relations between the two former Yugoslav entities will achieve a breakthrough anytime soon.

Ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo have been blocking the border since Kosovar authorities on September 20 began strictly enforcing a new policy of removing Serbian license plates from incoming vehicles and replacing them with temporary local plates.

Serbian authorities for years have insisted on the removal of Kosovar license plates that cross their mutual border.

Pristina this week deployed special troops to several major border checkpoints to maintain order as it invoked the new restriction.

But ethnic Serb protesters have blocked two crossings in the north of Kosovo, at Jarinje and Brnjak, as well as roads leading to them.

Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on September 22 his country and Serbia should start recognizing each other's car license plates, adding, “Neither our state or citizens nor Kosovar Serbs or Serbia are interested in incidents and escalation."

But Serbian Defense Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said on a visit to the Raska and Novi Pazar garrisons on September 23 that Serbian troops there were on high alert as the standoff persisted.

Stefanovic was accompanied by the chief of the Serbian General Staff, General Milan Mojsilovic.

Kosovar officials have disputed Serbian media reports suggesting ethnic Serb protesters were beaten by police.

Kosovo Police spokesman Baki Kelani said that apart from the presence of barricades reinforced by gravel, the situation was largely calm.

On Serbian television, President Aleksandar Vucic was quoted as saying he was "concerned" and warning against violence targeting Serbs in Kosovo.

“We have made clear what are the boundaries by which we will tolerate violence by [Kosovar Prime Minister] Albin Kurti and his special forces," Vucic said on September 23. “Both the Europeans and Americans know that. We have said very precisely what our next moves will be, and in which order they will be made."

Ethnic Albanian guerrillas fought a 1998-99 war for independence for Kosovo and its nearly 2 million inhabitants from Serbia, now home to around 7 million people.

Serbia refuses to recognize the 2008 declaration of sovereignty by its former province, whose independence is recognized by around 110 countries but whose presence in some international organizations is still prevented by the impasse.

With reporting by AP

The United States is permitting a company owned by a Ukrainian tycoon to sell a Texas building the government froze as part of a civil money-laundering case so that it can pay down the property’s back taxes and other debts.

The Justice Department last year accused billionaire Ihor Kolomoyskiy along with his partner of embezzling money from their Ukraine-based Privatbank and then laundering the proceeds through shell companies to purchase U.S. commercial buildings worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Justice Department sued to seize three of the buildings, including one each in Ohio, Kentucky, and Texas. Kolomoyskiy denies the accusations and has filed for arbitration, saying the United States has no basis to expropriate his assets.

In a September 22 filing, U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke granted a Justice Department request to allow Kolomoyskiy’s firm to sell a Dallas building that was once home to Electronic Data Systems, the company founded by former presidential candidate Ross Perot.

Centurion American, a North Texas-based real estate firm, has agreed to buy the property for $23.3 million, according to the court filing. The sale is expected to be completed on September 27, court filings show.

After debts and taxes are paid, the remaining proceeds from the sale will be held in an interest-bearing escrow account maintained by the United States pending the outcome of the civil case.

The property owed more than $425,000 in property taxes, late penalties, and community association fees as of September 16, court documents show.

“This Court finds that an interlocutory sale of the Property is necessary and appropriate to preserve the value of the Property before the conclusion of the pending forfeiture proceedings,” Cooke said in her ruling.

The immediate sale will mitigate the risk of market fluctuations as well as the cost of maintaining the property in good condition.

The Texas property is currently unoccupied and thus unable to generate revenue to cover its maintenance costs, taxes, and association fees.

Kolomoyskiy is one of the most powerful tycoons in Ukraine with assets ranging from oil and gas to metals and media. His television stations backed the candidacy of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during the 2019 campaign and he is reported to have close ties to his administration.

A senior U.S. official has expressed growing impatience at a lack of Iranian movement toward talks on reviving a moribund nuclear agreement with world powers and cited fears of a "Plan B" that keeps Tehran on a dangerous atomic path.

But the unnamed official also said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had not attached any date to when U.S. patience might run out on the negotiations, which include EU officials and other signatories to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA).

Negotiations in Vienna since U.S. President Joe Biden was inaugurated in January pledging to revive the JCPOA have seemingly stalled, in part due to an Iranian election that installed hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi.

"For now there is no positive indication that Iran is prepared to come back to talks," the official was quoted as saying on condition of anonymity, noting that Tehran had not yet named a new negotiator for the meetings.

The source added that the United States is "not in the business of putting down hard deadlines."

Biden told the UN General Assembly this week, "We're prepared to return to full compliance if Iran does the same."

"The 'Plan B' we are concerned about is the one Iran may be contemplating where they want to continue their nuclear program," the unnamed U.S. official said.

The United States and other Western governments and intelligence agencies have accused Tehran of trying to build a nuclear bomb-making capacity, a charge Iranian officials have consistently rejected.

The 2015 JCPOA de-escalated friction between Tehran and Washington, but Iran has staggered and regional tensions have soared since Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the deal three years ago and reimposed crippling sanctions.

With reporting by Reuters

The Taliban says two high-ranking Kyrgyz officials have traveled to Kabul for talks with the group’s leadership, the most-senior Central Asian delegation to meet with the militants since they seized power in mid-August.

The acting foreign minister in the Taliban-led government, Amir Khan Muttaqi, met with the deputy chairman of Kyrgyzstan’s Security Council, Taalatbek Masadykov, and the head of the Foreign Policy Department of the Kyrgyz presidential administration, Jeenbek Kulubaev, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted on September 23.

There was no immediate comment from Kyrgyz officials.

Muttaqi "welcomed them and thanked them for their assistance. He also stressed the need for continued cooperation and assistances," Mujahid wrote, adding that the emphasis of the meeting was "bilateral relations and continued cooperation."

The Taliban spokesman also posted photos of the meeting.

The meeting comes as the international community faces a growing dilemma over whether to recognize the Taliban as the rulers of Afghanistan following the hard-line Islamist group’s takeover.

World powers have opened up channels of communication with the group but made clear this does not mean recognition, which would allow its officials to represent the country in international organizations and funds to be unblocked for Afghanistan as the war-torn country faces a looming economic crisis and humanitarian disaster.

On September 21, the acting head of Afghanistan's Taliban-led government, Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund, met in Kabul with representatives from Russia, China, and Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Central Asian states bordering Afghanistan have been concerned about security threats emanating from the country and the potential for tens of thousands of refugees to pour over the border.

The Taliban has sought to reassure neighboring countries that it poses no threat since gaining control over almost all of Afghanistan’s territory following a lightning offensive at the end of the 20-year U.S.-led military presence.

Earlier this week, the president of neighboring Uzbekistan told the UN General Assembly in New York that the Central Asian country has resumed the supply of oil and electricity to Afghanistan.

“It is impossible to isolate Afghanistan and leave it within the range of its problems,” Shavkat Mirziyoev said.

The Taliban has asked to address world leaders at this week's UN General Assembly meeting in New York City and said it was nominating a new UN permanent representative, Mohammad Suhail Shaheen.

The UN Secretariat said it has forwarded the request to the credentials committee for consideration.

Afghanistan is scheduled to give the last speech on the final day of the UN General Assembly meeting on September 27. It wasn't clear who would speak if the UN credentials committee were to give the Taliban Afghanistan's seat.

An investigation by RFE/RL has uncovered indirect ties between the chairman of Kazakhstan's monopoly gas trader, KazTransGas, and emergent companies that have benefited from massive business deals linked to the state -- including a multibillion-dollar, 20-year contract to process so-called associate gas from KazTransGas.

Public documents showing KazTransGas Chairman Kairat Sharipbaev and other current or former statutory figures in Kazakh businesses raise the specters of industrial self-dealing or favorable state treatment for past Sharipbaev start-ups and an obscure business partner who figures in some of those same companies.

It is unclear whether Sharipbaev directly profited from his discreet personal relationship with the eldest daughter of ex-leader Nursultan Nazarbaev, whose unrivaled influence has barely waned since he retreated from his presidential duties two years ago.

But Sharipbaev's appointment to the chairmanship at KazTransGas and his rising business fortunes have coincided with reports of a long-term relationship with Nazarbaev's eldest daughter, Darigha -- possibly including a marriage that has never been publicly confirmed.

Decades of accusations of rampant clientelism in Central Asia's wealthiest post-Soviet republic is buttressed by evidence of a tight circle of elites close to Nazarbaev's family enriching themselves through undisclosed personal and business networks.

In one of the starkest examples of a little-known entity with indirect ties to Sharipbaev profiting from key services, a firm called GPC Investment was chosen to supervise the construction of a $860 million plant to process associated gas for KazTransGas.

GPC Investment is only two years old and has just five registered employees.

Seemingly corresponding to that government-assisted deal, GPC Investment's tax payments -- a frequent barometer of profits -- skyrocketed to around 500 million tenges, or about $1.17 million, in the first half of 2021, from a mere 400,000 tenges the previous year.

Processing "associated gas" has become increasingly lucrative as natural-gas prices soar, but also as global pressure mounts to minimize environmental damage from fossil fuels and squeeze additional resources out of the byproducts of crude-oil extraction.

Kazakhstan has rushed to capitalize, with much of that business so far going either to a firm called Gas Processing Company or to GPC Investment thanks in significant part to KazTransGas.

Public documents say Gas Processing Company was founded by an individual named Aset Nurdos, and that GPC Investment is run by Nurdos.

The enigmatic 34-year-old Nurdos has turned up atop several of Sharipbaev's former companies -- including one called Astana Group that since February has listed his daughter, Korlan Sharipbaeva, as its founder.

Sharipbaev and Nurdos both also appear as statutory members of a company called Intergas Central Asia, where Sharipbaev led marketing and trade efforts in the early 2000s.

A company originally founded by Sharipbaev in 2014, Innovation Invest, subsequently listed Nurdos as its founder.

RFE/RL's Kazakh Service investigation could not locate any Aset Nurdos, and calls to the telephone numbers listed for Nurdos on commercial documents were out of service.

Sharipbaev declined to respond to RFE/RL’s questions -- including questions about Nurdos's identity, their business relationship, or activities involving firms founded by Sharipbaev or run by Sharipbaev's daughter.

Rise To Power

The 58-year-old Sharipbaev has risen from his roots as a soil scientist and greengrocer to become one of the most influential men in Kazakhstan.

His two-decade career in the gas industry culminated in November 2020 when he took up the chairman's post at KazTransGas, which delivers natural gas to more than half of Kazakhstan's 18 million residents.

The state-owned oil and gas company KazMunayGas spun off KazTransGas in March, when ownership was transferred to the Kazakh state's sovereign wealth fund, known as Samruk-Kazyna.

Around the same time, video appeared online showing Sharipbaev and Darigha Nazarbaeva, a former deputy prime minister and current lawmaker, at the center of what appeared to be a wedding celebration.

Amid a frolicking group of around 20 other people tossing flower petals and singing a traditional wedding song known as "Jar-Jar," Sharipbaev hoists Nazarbaeva into his arms in the style of many modern Kazakh weddings.

It was unclear when the video was made or by whom. But it has strengthened rumors dating back to at least 2013 that the two had quietly wed.

Shortly before his death in London in August 2020, at the age of 29, Darigha's son from a previous marriage, Aisultan Nazarbaev, referred to Sharipbaev as "my mother's current husband."

But while they have occasionally appeared together at public functions, neither has publicly confirmed they are married.

Open government sites don't currently list Sharipbaev as owning or controlling any commercial entities outside of his role at KazTransGas.

But major deals and activities involving entities linked to Nurdos and KazTransGas or state-controlled companies have continued apace.

Gas Processing Company already owns one of the associated-gas processing plants that are cropping up in oil-rich western Kazakhstan, at Kozhasai in the Aqtobe region.

In late 2018, then-President Nazarbaev helped mark its opening. It reportedly processes around 300 million cubic meters of associated gas annually before selling about 70 percent of its output abroad.

In June, Nurdos's GPC Investment began construction on a new, $860 million associated-gas processing plant at the Kashagan field, in Kazakhstan's Atyrau region.

The Kazakh newcomer GPC Investment was selected for the project by the Kazakh government despite initial suggestions that international energy companies like Eni, Total, Shell, Exxon Mobil, China's CNPC, or Japan's Inpex might be in the running.

Sharipbaev attended the ground-breaking ceremony at Kashagan on behalf of KazTransGas.

Five months earlier, in late December 2020, soon after Sharipbaev's appointment at KazTransGas, the Kazakh government approved a resolution clearing the way for KazTransGas to receive 1 billion cubic meters of associated gas from Kashagan.

Two days later, on December 31, a consortium including state-held KazMunayGas signed a deal pledging to give the same amount of associated gas to KazTransGas, which would transfer it to GPC Investment's new plant.

In February, GPC Investment struck a deal to "extract and process crude gas" for KazTransGas that is worth "50 or more percent of the total assets of KazTransGas," or upward of $2 billion.

Officials from the Kazakh sovereign wealth fund declined to disclose its terms, citing "trade secrets."

Russia's domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB), has ratcheted up the charges against jailed Crimean Tatar politician Nariman Dzhelyal over the alleged sabotage of a pipeline last month.

Authorities in Ukraine's Russian-occupied Crimea region detained Dzhelyal and four other Tatar activists in early September, accusing them of sabotaging a gas pipeline near the regional capital, Simferopol, a charge dismissed by Kyiv as fabricated.

Dzhelyal is the deputy chairman of the Crimean Tatar's self-governing assembly, the Mejlis, which was banned in Crimea following Russia's annexation of the peninsula in 2014.

He was initially accused of complicity in committing sabotage, but his lawyer said on September 23 he was later reclassified as a full participant in the alleged plot.

Dzhelyal is now accused of committing sabotage as part of an organized group, as well as the illegal acquisition or storage of explosives, according to lawyer Mykola Polozov.

He faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.

The FSB has also accused Ukrainian military intelligence of procuring an explosive device and promising a cash reward of $2,000 to the alleged saboteur to plant it.

Since Russia occupied Crimea, the authorities have prosecuted dozens of Crimean Tatars amid what rights groups and Western governments have described as a campaign of repression against members of the Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatar community and others who have spoken out against Moscow's takeover of the peninsula.

SEE ALSO:

More Than 50 Crimean Tatars Detained In Russia-Annexed Crimea

Russia has also backed separatists in a war against Ukrainian government forces that has killed more than 13,200 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.

The EU called for the release of the five Crimean Tatar activists, saying it "considers the detentions to be politically motivated and illegal under international law."

The United States called on "the Russian occupation authorities" to immediately release Dzhelyal and "at least 45 other Crimean Tatars,” while accusing Moscow of politically motivated raids and detentions targeting the Mejlis and its leadership.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the case against the five Tatar activists was in retaliation for the inaugural summit of the Crimean Platform, an international initiative to bring about the restoration of Ukrainian-Russian relations by ending the Russian occupation of Crimea.

A court in Belarus has extended the pretrial detention of Sofia Sapega, who was arrested along with her boyfriend, opposition blogger Raman Pratasevich, in Minsk after authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka ordered a passenger plane they were on diverted as it flew over the country.

Sapega's mother told the Deutsche Welle news agency by phone on September 23 that her daughter will remain under house arrest until December 25, according to a court ruling.

She added that she was in daily contact with her daughter, who is treating the situation "philosophically" with the hope that "everything will work out."

Sapega, a Russian citizen who lived most of her life in Belarus, and Pratasevich, who is Belarusian, were moved from the prisons where they were being held to house arrest on June 25.

They were arrested on May 23 after Belarus scrambled a military jet to escort a Ryanair passenger flight over its airspace to land in Minsk in what many countries regard as a "state hijacking."

After the plane landed, law enforcement immediately arrested the two, who were flying from Athens to Vilnius.

Pratasevich faces charges of being behind civil disturbances that followed a disputed presidential election in August 2020, an offense punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

He was a key administrator of the Telegram channel Nexta-Live, which has been covering mass protests denouncing the official results of the election, which handed Lukashenka a sixth presidential term.

The charges against Sapega are less clear. She faces criminal offenses but the details of her transgressions have not been released.

Belarusian authorities released a video of Sapega, a law student studying for her master's degree in Vilnius, where she says that she edits Black Book of Belarus, a Telegram channel that has published the personal information of security officials.

Belarus has designated the channel as an extremist group. But critics say she made the statement under duress.

Lukashenka's regime has been under international pressure since it launched a brutal crackdown on the political opposition and independent media in the wake of the disputed 2020 election.

The protesters say the election was rigged, while the EU, the United States, and other countries have refused to recognize the official results of the vote and do not consider Lukashenka to be the country's legitimate leader.

The United States, the European Union, Britain, and Canada have slapped several rounds of coordinated sanctions on Belarus in response to the mounting repression against the political opposition and the free media.

With reporting by Deutsche Welle

Ukrainian lawmakers have approved a draft bill directed at limiting the influence of oligarchs, the day after a car carrying a top aide of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who pushed for the reform, was riddled with bullets as it traveled through a village.

The second and final reading of the proposed legislation -- known as "the oligarch law" -- was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on September 23.

The draft law, which must still be signed by Zelenskiy, would introduce a legal definition for an oligarch, create a register of tycoons, and impose limitations on their activities such as blocking them from financing political parties.

Zelenskiy's team has suggested anger at the law could be behind an attempt to assassinate Serhiy Shefir, a top aide and close friend of the president, on September 22. Shefir was not injured, but his driver was hospitalized with gunshot wounds.

SEE ALSO:

Gunfire Rips Through Car Carrying Aide To Ukraine's President

The United States has long called on Ukraine to tackle the handful of tycoons who wield enormous political influence from behind the scenes to the detriment of the country and its citizens.

However, critics of the law have warned that the proposed legislation opens the door for subjective targeting.

According to the bill, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council would make the final determination of whether an individual meets the criteria of a person having significant economic or political influence in public life, or oligarch.

The Council of Ministers, members of the central bank, the Defense Council, the Anti-Monopoly Ministry, or the Security Service (SBU), have the right to submit the name of a tycoon for review by the council.

A Russian court has rejected jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny's appeal to annul his designation as a "flight risk," which subjects him to hourly nighttime checks while he is incarcerated.

Navalny's lawyer, Vadim Kobzev, told Interfax on September 23 that the Vladimir regional court had refused to grant the Kremlin critic's request, upholding previous lower court rulings.

In late May, Navalny turned to the courts to halt the nighttime checks, saying the measure amounted to "torture."

The anti-corruption campaigner was arrested in January upon his return from Germany, where he had spent five months recovering from a near-fatal 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 free will, knowing that he likely faced imprisonment, showed he had no intention of fleeing.

He 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.

Based on reporting by Interfax