News
Statue Of Iranian Commander Soleimani Torched Hours After Being Unveiled
A statue erected to honor top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani has been torched by unknown assailants hours after it was unveiled in southwestern Iran, domestic media reported on January 6.
Soleimani, who headed the elite Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, was killed on January 3, 2020, in a U.S. drone strike at Baghdad airport.
Earlier this week, a statue to honor him was unveiled in the southwestern Iranian city of Shahrekord. But it was set on fire in the evening, Iranian media reported.
"This treacherous crime was carried out in darkness, just like the other crime committed at night at Baghdad airport," when Soleimani was killed, Shahrekord Friday Prayers Leader Mohammad Ali Nekounam said in a statement published by the semiofficial ISNA news agency.
Iranian authorities have unveiled several sculptures dedicated to Soleimani since his assassination two years ago, and his portraits dot the landscape across Iran.
State broadcaster IRIB condemned the latest attack as an "insulting" act, that comes as Iran marks the second anniversary of Soleimani's killing.
Soleimani was considered a main architect of Iran's Middle East military strategy and his assassination brought the United States and Iran close to a military conflict. Tehran retaliated by launching a missile strike targeting U.S. forces in Iraq.
With reporting by AFP
Doctors Without Borders Leaves Polish-Belarusian Border Zone Without Reaching Migrants
The international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says its teams have left Poland's border with Belarus after being repeatedly denied access by the Polish authorities to the migrants and refugees they went to help.
Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, said it spent three months seeking permission for its emergency response workers to enter the forested border zone where asylum seekers are reportedly stranded in freezing winter weather.
“Since October, MSF has repeatedly requested access to the restricted area and the border guard posts in Poland, but without success,” Frauke Ossig, the group's emergency coordinator for Poland and Lithuania, said in a statement on January 6.
The European Union accuses Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka of flying in migrants and funneling them to the borders of EU member states Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania to retaliate for sanctions the bloc imposed over a sweeping crackdown since last year’s disputed presidential election.
Poland has also taken steps in response to the migrant crisis, including building a barbed wire fence and massing thousands of soldiers along its 400-kilometer border with Belarus. Reporters and humanitarian workers need special permission to enter.
“We know that there are still people crossing the border and hiding in the forest, in need of support, but while we are committed to assisting people on the move wherever they may be, we have not been able to reach them in Poland,” Ossig said.
Based on reporting by AP and dpa
Prominent Iranian Sociologist Prevented From Leaving Country To Conduct Research At Yale
Iranian authorities have prevented a prominent Iranian sociologist from leaving the country to begin a one-year research program at Yale University.
Saeed Madani, a scholar and former political prisoner, said earlier this week that he had been prevented from boarding a flight out of Tehran by the intelligence branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which confiscated his passport.
In a January 4 letter to Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, Madani said he was interrogated by the Intelligence Ministry before his planned departure in early December and told that he was free to travel.
Iranian authorities have in past years prevented a number of activists, journalists, and scholars from leaving the country by confiscating their passports.
Madani has been arrested and sentenced to prison several times in the past over his membership in a banned nationalist-religious opposition group.
- By RFE/RL
Russian Troops Deploy To Timbuktu In Mali After Withdrawal Of French Troops
Russian soldiers have deployed to the city of Timbuktu in northern Mali to train Malian forces at a base vacated by French troops last month, Mali's army spokesperson said on January 6.
Mali's government said last month that "Russian trainers" had arrived in the country, but Bamako and Moscow have so far provided few details on the deployment, including the number of deployed Russians.
Last month, over a dozen Western countries strongly condemned the deployment in Mali of Russian mercenaries working for the Vagner group, accusing Moscow of providing material backing for the fighters.
The countries, who included, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, said the deployment can deteriorate the security and human rights situation in Mali.
The U.S. State Department said last month hat Vagner Group forces “will not bring peace to Mali, but rather will destabilize the country further."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the Vagner Group does not represent the Russian state and is not paid by it. He has also said private military contractors have the right to work and pursue their interests anywhere in the world as long as they do not break Russian law.
Mali's government has denied any deployment of Russian mercenaries, saying “Russian trainers” are in the country as part of a bilateral agreement.
"We had new acquisitions of planes and equipment from [the Russians]," the Malian Army spokesperson told Reuters. "It costs a lot less to train us on site than for us to go over there ... What is the harm?"
He did not say how many Russians had been sent to Timbuktu.
Local residents told Reuters that uniformed Russian men were seen driving around town.
There was no immediate comment from Russian officials.
France helped to recapture Timbuktu from Al-Qaeda-linked militants in 2013. France's withdrawal from the city is part of a significant drawdown of a previously 5,000-strong task force in West Africa's Sahel region sent to battle jihadist groups.
Mali has experienced sustained political instability since 2012. A military transitional government took power in May.
With reporting by Reuters
Serbian Residents Voice Support For Novak Djokovic
Several hundred people demonstrated on January 6 outside the Serbian parliament in Belgrade in support of Novak Djokovic. The world tennis No. 1 has been denied entry into Australia after initially being granted a medical exemption from the country's COVID-19 vaccination requirements so that he could play in the Australian Open. The 34-year-old Serb and public critic of vaccines has been confined to a hotel room in Melbourne since Australian border forces rejected his vaccination exemption.
- By RFE/RL
U.S., Russian Defense Chiefs Discuss 'Risk Reduction' Near Ukraine's Borders
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke on January 6 with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu and discussed "risk reduction near Ukraine’s borders," the Pentagon said in a brief statement.
"We're obviously still very concerned by what we're seeing," a U.S. defense official told Reuters, without commenting on the call itself.
The conversation comes amid Western concerns that Russia's buildup of around 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders could part of preparations for a potential invasion. Moscow has denied it.
Russia has demanded guarantees that Ukraine and other former Soviet countries will not join NATO and that there will be a rollback of the alliance’s military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe.
The West has rejected Moscow’s ultimatums regarding NATO and threatened severe sanctions and other measures if Russia launches a fresh incursion into Ukraine.
Russia illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimea in 2014 and continues to rule the peninsula.
With reporting by Reuters
Ukrainian Court Seizes Property Of Ex-President Poroshenko Following Treason Accusations
A court in Ukraine has frozen property owned by former President Petro Poroshenko as part of a formal investigation into alleged high treason by the former head of state, which he denies.
"The court decided to seize the suspect's property, which belongs to him on the right of ownership," the Prosecutor General's office said in a statement on January 6.
The State Investigation Bureau said last month that Poroshenko had been placed under formal investigation for high treason, accusing him of "facilitating the activities" of separatists fighting government forces in a conflict that has claimed more than 13,200 lives since April 2014.
During his presidency, Poroshenko is suspected of helping the separatists to sell some 1.5 billion hryvnyas ($54 million) worth of coal to Kyiv in 2014 and 2015, it said in a statement.
Poroshenko has denied the allegations while accusing Ukrainian authorities of crossing "a red line" by bringing treason charges against a former head of state.
Last month, prosecutors asked a Ukrainian court to arrest Poroshenko with the possibility of bail set at 1 billion hryvnia ($37 million).
Poroshenko has been outside Ukraine since late December and has yet to comment on the ruling.
The politician, who is now a lawmaker and the leader of the opposition European Solidarity party, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
He has said that he plans to come back to Ukraine on January 17.
Poroshenko's allies said the seizure of assets was a result of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's personal vendetta. Zelenskiy succeeded Poroshenko as president after defeating him in a 2019 election.
"A weak president ... uses manual prosecution, manual investigation, and manual justice to punish opponents," Volodymyr Ariev, a lawmaker from Poroshenko's political party said after the court's decision.
"This unlawful decision aggravates the political crisis in the country," Iryna Gerashchenko, another lawmaker from his party wrote on Facebook.
Ahead of the court's decision on January 6, Poroshenko wrote on Facebook that he "will return to Kyiv" to appear in front of a judge "not to defend myself against Zelenskiy, but to defend Ukraine from incompetent leadership."
Zelenskiy has not commented on the court's decisions but previously denied wanting to wield influence over state prosecutors or the judiciary.
With reporting by Reuters
Ukraine, U.K., Canada, Sweden Announce New Tack On Reparations Over Airliner Downed By Iran
Ukraine and a trio of other affected countries on January 6 announced their abandonment of a two-year effort to negotiate with Tehran over reparations for a passenger airliner mistakenly shot down by Iran's military in January 2020.
Kyiv joined the governments of Britain, Canada, and Sweden in saying their related coordination group would "now focus on subsequent actions to take to resolve this matter in accordance with international law."
Last month they told Iran it had three weeks to reverse its refusal to address the reparation demands.
"Despite our best efforts over the past two years and multiple attempts to resolve this matter through negotiations, the Coordination Group has determined that further attempts to negotiate with Iran ... are futile," the group said in a statement.
They did not specify what steps they would take to address grievances related to the deaths of their nationals among the 176 people killed when Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 was destroyed shortly after takeoff from Tehran.
Iran obfuscated for days but later said its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a branch of the armed forces, accidentally shot down the Boeing 737 because of technical and human error with tensions high between Tehran and the United States.
More than 130 of the passengers had ties to Canada. Citizens or residents of Afghanistan, Britain, Iran, Ukraine, and Sweden were also killed.
Canada said in June that it found no evidence of premeditation in the downing of the airliner.
In May, Human Rights Watch accused Iranian security agencies of harassing and abusing the victims' families to "squash any hope for justice."
A Canadian court last week awarded $84 million and interest to the families of six of the victims.
Based on reporting by Reuters
- By RFE/RL
U.K. Foreign Secretary Announces Kyiv Visit, Says Russia's Only Path Forward Is De-Escalation With Ukraine
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has announced a visit to Kyiv later this month to stress London's "unwavering" commitment to Ukraine amid continuing Russian aggression against its fellow post-Soviet neighbor.
In remarks to Parliament on January 6, Truss called Ukraine a crucial priority and warned against any concessions to Russia, which has reportedly amassed tens of thousands of troops near its western border seven years into a conflict in nearby eastern Ukraine between pro-Kyiv forces and Russia-backed separatists.
Russia is the aggressor with respect to Ukraine, she said, and should end its malign activity.
"Any further military incursion into Ukraine would bring massive consequences, including coordinated sanctions to impose a severe cost on Russia's interests and economy," Truss said, echoing previous warnings by Western officials. "The U.K. is working with our partners on these sanctions, including high impact measures targeting the Russian financial sector and individuals."
After a conversation with Truss earlier this week, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba's office said Kyiv and its allies were making progress on a comprehensive deterrence package targeting Russia.
Britain, the European Union, and the United States have already imposed multiple rounds of sanctions against Moscow since its forcible annexation of Ukraine's Crimea and the start of the separatist conflict in 2014.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said after a meeting in Washington on January 5 that Russia's military buildup was an "immediate and urgent challenge.”
Talks between U.S. and Russian officials are scheduled for January 9-10 in Geneva and the NATO-Russia Council should meet on January 12.
Russian officials have denied participating in the Ukrainian conflict despite evidence of active troop, weapons, and other involvement.
Moscow has accused the United States and other Western governments of increasingly threatening behavior in the Black Sea and other regions around Ukraine, and said its troop movements are an internal matter.
Truss didn't immediately say when she will travel to Kyiv, where Ukraine's leaders have pleaded for greater political and material assistance to rebuff the Russian threat.
She said there's no justification for Russia's "bellicose" stance and the only way forward is for Russia to de-escalate.
Britain won't accept Russia's campaign of subverting democratic neighbors, Truss said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has also expressed major fears over the effect of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which has had German support and will allow Russia to bypass longtime transit partner Ukraine via the Baltic Sea.
Britain opposes Nord Stream 2, Truss said, "and I'm working with allies and partners to highlight the strategic risks of this project."
"Europe must reduce its dependence on Russian gas," Truss added.
With reporting by Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Renewed Clashes Reported As Troops Open Fire On Kazakh Protesters
Renewed clashes and gunfire continue to rock Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, as police, bolstered by troops from a Russian-led military alliance, try to squelch protests in the Central Asian nation's deadliest uprising in the three decades since it declared independence from the Soviet Union.
RFE/RL journalists in Almaty said security forces, some in armored vehicles, opened fired on the demonstrators on January 6 in Republican Square. According to Aigerim Tuleuzhanova, a representative of the group for the establishment of the Democratic Party, most of those who were in the square were unarmed young people.
Earlier, some witnesses reported an explosion and gunfire near the square.
Troops from the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) were sent to Kazakhstan overnight as violence spread since late on January 4 following protests sparked in part by a spike in fuel prices.
Police said early on January 6 that they had killed “dozens” of protesters and detained around 2,000 people over the past day in violent clashes that prompted President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev to ask the CSTO, a military alliance comprised of several former Soviet republics in the region along with Russia, to enter the country to help “stabilize” the situation.
The Interior Ministry said that 18 security personnel have died in clashes with protesters, with hundreds more injured.
Much of the situation on the ground on January 6 was unclear as the government blocked the Internet and hampered other telecommunication methods.
Still, images of burnt-out cars littering the streets and of buildings, some with smoke billowing out of the windows and pockmarked facades, were emerging to show the depth of the violence that has wracked the country.
Toqaev has blamed foreign-trained "terrorist" gangs but he has also offered no evidence of an international link to the disorder in the post-Soviet Central Asian republic.
The situation in the oil-rich country has sparked international concern, with governments from Washington, Moscow, the United Kingdom and others calling for restraint on all sides.
The U.S. said it was closely monitoring reports about the deployment of troops from the Russian-led CSTO to Kazakhstan and has questions about whether they were legitimately invited to the country.
"We're closely monitoring reports that the Collective Security Treaty Organization have dispatched its collective peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a news briefing on January 6.
"We have questions about the nature of this request and whether it was a legitimate invitation or not. We don't know at this point," Psaki added.
Earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for a “peaceful resolution” to the unrest in the country while the European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, expressed “grave concern” about the situation, insisting civilian rights had to be protected and sounding a warning over foreign military involvement.
In a call with his Kazakh counterpart Mukhtar Tileuberdi, Blinken "reiterated the United States' full support for Kazakhstan's constitutional institutions and media freedom and advocated for a peaceful, rights-respecting resolution to the crisis," the State Department said in a brief statement.
"Rights and security of civilians must be guaranteed. External military assistance brings back memories of situations to be avoided," Borrell wrote on Twitter.
“EU is ready to support in addressing this crisis,” he added.
For her part, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet urged all sides in Kazakhstan to refrain from violence.
"People have the right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression. At the same time, protesters, no matter how angry or aggrieved they may be, should not resort to violence against others," Bachelet said in a January 6 statement, as she called for the release of all those detained solely for exercising their right to peaceful protest.
A spokesman for U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said London was "concerned about the violent clashes" and "following developments closely."
"We are urging against further escalation and want to see a peaceful resolution," the spokesman told reporters on January 6.
The wave of protests erupted in the western region of Mangystau four days ago over a sudden hike in prices for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a popular fuel used in vehicles in the tightly controlled, oil-rich country.
But they have spread to cities and towns across Kazakhstan and broadened to include political grievances.
Russian airborne troops are being transferred to Kazakhstan as part of a CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Force, the organization said in a statement on its website, adding that leading units from Russia’s contingent “have already begun to fulfill the assigned tasks.”
The speed at which the Russian troops arrived on the scene in Kazakhstan was seen by some analysts as another sign of the Kremlin's strategy to act quickly to safeguard its sphere of influence in the ex-Soviet Union.
In the past 15 months Russia has backed Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the authoritarian ruler of Belarus who has faced a massive popular uprising, and acted as an intermediary to stop a war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. It also continues to support separatists in a war in eastern Ukraine and has recently massed tens of thousands of troops near the border with Ukraine, raising fears of a possible invasion.
Timothy Ash, senior strategist at Bluebay Asset Management, said the popular protests in Kazakhstan are a “threat” to Russian President Vladimir Putin and “an affront to his vision of autocracy and sovereign democracy.”
“He hates colored revolutions as these make him fearful that Russians could in turn rise up to overthrow him,” Ash said in a note to his subscribers, adding that Putin also fears “the prospect of a more liberal Kazakhstan turning to the West – he still sees Kazakhstan as falling under the Russian strategic umbrella.”
The CSTO’s Collective Peacekeeping Force will also include troops from the other CSTO members: Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
The CSTO statement said the main tasks of the force will be “the protection of important state and military facilities, assistance to the forces of law and order of the Republic of Kazakhstan in stabilizing the situation and returning it to the legal field.”
On January 5, Toqaev sacked the government, declared a nationwide state of emergency, and appealed for intervention by the CSTO after thousands of anti-government protesters clashed with police and stormed government buildings.
Angry demonstrators, some of whom were armed with rubber truncheons, sticks, and shields, set fire to a presidential residence and the mayor’s office in Almaty, where protesters also seized control of the airport, prompting the temporary suspension of all flights.
Video recordings circulated on social media purportedly showed several bodies of protesters on the streets. RFE/RL could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.
Police engaged in pitched battles with the protesters, using tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets to try to disperse the crowds, but were largely unsuccessful.
The operations of RFE/RL's Kazakh Service have been restricted, and its journalists said both Internet and telephone services had deteriorated markedly.
State television reported on January 6 that the National Bank of Kazakhstan has suspended all financial institutions.
In a major move to distance himself from the past, Toqaev on January 5 removed his predecessor, 81-year-old Nursultan Nazarbaev, from the powerful post of head of the country's security council and relieved a longtime Nazarbaev associate of his post as chairman of the National Security Committee (KNB).
Nazarbaev had retained wide authority through the post since stepping down in 2019 as president after three decades in power, the last Soviet-era Communist Party boss still ruling an ex-Soviet state.
With reporting by AFP, dpa, Reuters, AFP, and RFE/RL's Kazakh Service
- By RFE/RL
Australian Judge Postpones Hearing On Djokovic Vaccine Exemption To Next Week
An Australian judge has postponed until next week world tennis No. 1 Novak Djokovic's appeal against his deportation as the furor continues over a canceled local exemption that would have allowed him to defend his title at this month's Australian Open.
The 34-year-old Serb and public critic of vaccines will spend at least another night confined to a hotel room in Melbourne, where he has been held since Australian Border Force officials on January 6 rejected an initial medical exemption from COVID-19 restrictions to enter the country.
Australian Federal Circuit Court Judge Anthony Kelly initially said a filing error had delayed Djokovic's request for an injunction against deportation, before adjourning the hearing process to January 10.
The two-week Australian Open tennis tournament, one of world tennis's premier events with a global audience of hundreds of millions, is scheduled to start on January 17.
Djokovic, a 20-time Grand Slam singles champion who won the last three Australian Opens, has repeatedly stated his opposition to vaccination since the COVID-19 pandemic began nearly two years ago but has never disclosed his vaccine status.
Djokovic's announcement that he'd been granted an exemption and was headed to Melbourne was met with outrage among some Australians, who have been among the world's most tightly limited populations but are seeing a huge spike in COVID-19 cases since the omicron variant appeared about a month ago.
Longtime rival Spaniard Rafael Nadal said that "in some way I feel sorry for him" but added that "he knew the conditions" many months ago.
"He made his own decisions and everybody is free to take their own decisions, but then there are some consequences," Nadal said.
Nadal, Djokovic, and Switzerland's Roger Federer, who won't be in Australia, are all tied with 20 Grand Slam titles each.
The debate around vaccine mandates has gained steam since omicron's appearance, including when French President Emmanuel Macron suggested on January 5 that he wanted to "piss off" vaccine holdouts by limiting their access to public places.
"Djokovic failed to provide appropriate evidence to meet the entry requirements to Australia, and his visa has been subsequently canceled," the Australian Border Force said in a statement on January 6.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Instagram that he spoke with Djokovic over the phone and told him that "the whole of Serbia is with him and that our authorities are undertaking all measures in order that maltreatment of the world's best tennis player ends as soon as possible.”
Many Serbians rallied behind Djokovic when he organized a regional tennis tournament in June 2020 amid massive lockdowns during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in multiple infections, including his own.
He submitted to an application process for a medical exemption ahead of this year's Australian Open, but has never said what his medical issues are.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned that Djokovic would be on the “next plane home” if his evidence for being exempted from COVID-19 vaccination rules was deemed insufficient.
More than 90 percent of Australia's over-16 population is fully vaccinated, but some people still cannot travel interstate or globally because of current measures.
With reporting by the BBC and dpa
- By RFE/RL
U.S., Europe Show Unified Front Ahead Of Talks On Russia's Military Buildup Near Ukraine
The United States and its EU partners stepped up warnings of major consequences if Russia invades Ukraine as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock to Washington on January 5 for a meeting dominated by upcoming talks with Russia.
Blinken said he and Baerbock emphasized the “preference to pursue diplomacy and de-escalation” to deal with Russia's troop buildup near Ukraine.
“We would far prefer a diplomatic path and diplomatic solution to the situation,” Blinken said, adding that the talks would “test Russia’s willingness to take that path.”
Baerbock said she and Blinken agreed "on the importance of finding a good path forward to finding a solution together for the process of dialogue.” She emphasized that Germany’s position is that there is no alternative to a political solution.
The meeting took place ahead of talks scheduled to take place next week between U.S. and Russian officials in Geneva and a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council.
Russia wants the talks to discuss its demands for security guarantees against expanding the NATO alliance eastward to include Ukraine and other former Soviet republics such as Georgia.
Russia made the demands after its military buildup raised fears of a repeat of 2014 when Moscow seized the Crimea Peninsula and a Russia-backed insurgency broke out in eastern Ukraine that has since claimed more than 13,000 lives.
Blinken said there is a “real question” of whether Russia is serious about diplomacy and de-escalation, and Germany and the United States “see Russia’s actions toward Ukraine as an immediate and urgent challenge to peace and stability in Europe."
He and Baerbock condemn the military buildup “as well as Russia’s increasingly harsh rhetoric as it continues to push the false narrative that Ukraine seeks to provoke [Russia].”
He likened that to “the fox saying it had no choice but to attack the henhouse because somehow the hens presented a threat.”
Baerbock said she and Blinken “jointly reiterated that Russian actions and activities come with a clear price tag, and a renewed violation of Ukrainian sovereignty by Russia would have severe consequences.”
Western officials have hinted at severe economic sanctions, including a near total cutoff from the international financial system, but there have been very few specifics, and Blinken again declined to discuss them.
"I’m not going to telegraph them publicly, but I can tell you with great confidence that a tremendous amount of work has been done already. There is very strong coordination and collaboration and very strong agreement on measures that would be taken in the event of renewed Russian aggression against Ukraine,” he said.
Blinken also said that the future of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline would be affected if Russia invades Ukraine.
“From our perspective, it’s very hard to see gas flowing through that pipeline for it to become operational if Russia renews its aggression on Ukraine," he said.
The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is complete but has not yet begun delivering Russian gas to Germany because it has not received approval from German regulators.
Asked if Germany is ready to cancel the pipeline, Baerbock said only that the new government backed an understanding reached last year with the United States that Germany would “take effective measures together with our European partners should Russia use energy as a weapon."
As Baerbock visited Washington, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was in Ukraine.
Borrell told a joint news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba that Kyiv and Brussels have a common goal to ease tensions through “diplomatic means.”
Borrell earlier paid a visit to the contact line in eastern Ukraine where Russia-backed separatists have battled Ukrainian government forces.
"The conflict on the borders is on the verge of getting deeper and tensions have been building up with respect to the European security as a whole," Borrell said.
"Any military aggression against Ukraine will have massive consequences and severe costs," Borrell said.
Kuleba said he was glad the EU foreign policy chief had a chance to visit the contact line and "feel the consequences of the conflict with his own eyes."
With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
Belarus Summons Polish Charge D'Affaires Over Diplomat's Expulsion
Poland says that Belarus has summoned the Polish charge d'affaires in Minsk to inform Warsaw about the expulsion of a Polish diplomat.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms the fact that the charge d'affaires was called in in a case related to the expulsion of a Polish consul," spokesman Lukasz Jasina said in a statement on January 5.
Jasina said the expelled diplomat was the Polish consul in the border city of Brest. The spokesman added that “steps are being taken to verify the information provided and to clarify the situation."
There were no immediate comments from the Belarusian authorities.
Tensions have been running high between the two neighbors over a migrant crisis that the European Union and Poland say was engineered by Belarus in retaliation for Western sanctions against the authoritarian government of Aleksandr Lukashenka.
They accused Minsk of waging a “hybrid attack” against the EU, luring thousands of migrants to Belarus from the Middle East and other regions, with the promise of help to get to Western Europe, to use them as pawns to destabilize the 27-nation bloc.
Belarus has denied the charge.
Poland took a tough stance in response to the migrant crisis, building a barbed-wire fence and massing thousands of soldiers along its 400-kilometer border with Belarus.
In some cases, Warsaw has been accused of pushing back migrants to Belarus, in a policy criticized by human rights groups.
Based on reporting by Reuters
Protests Continue In Provincial Kazakh Cities Amid State Of Emergency
As protests in Almaty grabbed the headlines, they also continued in provincial Kazakh towns such as Aqtau and Aqtobe on January 5, after President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev declared a state of emergency in parts of the country. Unrest has spread quickly since demonstrations began in the western Kazakh region of Mangystau on January 2 over a sudden hike in prices for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a popular fuel used in vehicles in the oil-rich country.
- By RFE/RL
U.S. Treasury Places New Sanctions On Bosnian Serb Leader Dodik
The U.S. Treasury Department says it has expanded sanctions on Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who has led a campaign to strengthen a secessionist bid to withdraw from state-level institutions despite warnings from the West.
The Treasury Department made the announcement on its website on January 5, saying it had added television station Alternativna Televizija, which is linked to Dodik, to the sanctions list as well. It gave no further details.
Bosnia consists of a Serbian entity, a Muslim-Croat entity, and a central government that ties both together in a fragile state.
Dodik was elected in October 2018 as the Serbian member of Bosnia's multiethnic three-person presidency. He has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from state-level institutions, describing Bosnia as "an experiment by the international community" and an "impossible, imposed country."
Most recently, he led a campaign that saw lawmakers vote on December 10 to start a procedure for Bosnia-Herzegovina's Serb-dominated entity to withdraw from the Bosnian Army, security services, tax system, and judiciary.
They also voted on a declaration that calls for the drafting of a new constitution for the entity, Republika Srpska, and states that "all laws imposed" by the international high representative for Bosnia are "unconstitutional."
Bosnia has been in a protracted political crisis over secessionist moves by Republika Srpska, reviving fears that the peace deal which ended a 1992-95 war could unravel and threaten regional stability.
The U.S.-brokered Dayton peace accords created two highly autonomous entities that share some joint institutions: Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat federation. The country is governed and administered along ethnic lines established by the agreement, with a weak and often dysfunctional central government.
The U.S. Treasury Department first imposed sanctions against Dodik in 2017, saying he was actively obstructing efforts to implement the 1995 Dayton accords.
The sanctions allowed U.S. authorities to block access by Dodik to any of his property or assets that are under U.S. jurisdiction.
Kazakh Security Forces Clash With Anti-Government Protesters In Almaty
Protesters and security forces clashed In Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, in the early hours of January 5, amid intensifying anti-government demonstrations in the Central Asian country. Protests first erupted in the western region of Mangystau on January 2 over a sudden hike in fuel prices and later spread to cities across the country. As violence spiraled, President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev declared a state of emergency.
Djokovic's Australian Open Vaccine Exemption Triggers Outcry
Many Australians have reacted angrily to news that Serbia's Novak Djokovic, the top-ranked men's tennis player, will play in the upcoming Australian Open after receiving a medical exemption over his coronavirus vaccination status.
Amid the controversy, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on January 5 that Djokovic will be on the “next plane home” if his evidence for being exempted from Covid-19 vaccination rules is deemed insufficient.
The 34-year-old Serb, who is looking for a record 21st Grand Slam title at the Australian Open beginning in Melbourne on January 17, has previously signaled his opposition to the vaccine and has never revealed his inoculation status.
He applied to an independent panel of experts for a medical exemption, but has never said what his medical issues are.
Australia is seeing tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases for the first time after enduring some of the world's strictest restrictions.
More than 90 percent of Australia's over-16 population is fully vaccinated, but some people still cannot travel interstate or globally because of current measures.
Djokovic, Spain's Rafael Nadal, and Switzerland's Roger Federer are all tied with 20 Grand Slam titles each. Nadal will compete in Melbourne after recovering from COVID-19. Federer will not be at the tournament as he continues to recover from knee surgery.
Based on reporting by the BBC and dpa
Police Fire Stun Grenades On Protesters In Kazakhstan
Kazakh police used stun grenades in the early hours of January 5 as hundreds of protesters tried to storm the mayor's office in the country's biggest city, Almaty. Protesters and security forces have clashed in several of Kazakhstan's main cities as demonstrations intensify in the Central Asian country following a steep rise in energy prices.
Rockets Fired Near Baghdad Base Housing U.S. Troops Amid Iran Tensions
A rocket attacked has rocked an Iraqi military base that houses U.S. soldiers near the airport in Baghdad amid heightened tensions around the anniversary of the 2020 killing of a top Iranian general and a senior Iraqi militia leader in a U.S. drone strike.
Iraqi military officials confirmed four Katyusha rockets landed near the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center at the Baghdad International Airport on January 5, adding there were no casualties.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Iraq's military said in a statement that a rocket launcher had been found in a district in western Baghdad near the airport.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a January 3, 2020, strike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, who headed the elite Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and his Iraqi lieutenant, Abu Hamid al-Muhandis, in response to a spate of attacks against U.S. interests in Iraq.
As the second anniversary of the attack neared, U.S. officials warned repeatedly of possible retaliatory attacks against targets associated with the coalition in both Iraq and Syria.
The coalition fighting the Islamic State in Syria said on January 4 that it had carried out strikes against an "imminent threat" to a U.S. base in northeastern Syria.
Although the U.S.-led international coalition announced the end of its "combat mission" in Iraq in December, some 2,500 U.S. and 1,000 coalition troops remain in the country to advise and train Iraqi security forces.
With reporting by AFP and Reuters
EU's Borrell Warns Of 'Massive Consequences' For Moscow If Russia Attacks Ukraine
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has reiterated support for Kyiv, saying the bloc has a strong commitment to "massive consequences" for Russia if it were to attack its neighbor again.
Speaking during a trip to Ukraine on January 5, Borrell told a joint news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba that Kyiv and Brussels have a common goal to ease tensions with Russia through “diplomatic means.”
The visit, the first by the EU’s top diplomat to the contact line in eastern Ukraine where Russia-backed separatists have battled Ukrainian government forces in a nearly eight-year war that has claimed the lives of more than 13,200 people, comes ahead of a week of intense international diplomacy over Moscow’s military buildup near the former Soviet republic's border.
"The conflict on the borders is on the verge of getting deeper and tensions have been building up with respect to the European security as a whole," Borrell said of Russia's buildup of around 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders, which the West fears could be part of preparations for a potential invasion, something Moscow denies.
"Any military aggression against Ukraine will have massive consequences and severe costs," Borrell said. "And we are coordinating with the U.S., with NATO, and other like-minded partners in order to work for de-escalation," he added, noting that any talks on security in the area must include Europe and Ukraine.
NATO has announced a virtual meeting of foreign ministers from its 30 member nations on January 7 to discuss the crisis after Moscow demanded sweeping security guarantees from the United States and its allies.
The extraordinary meeting will be followed by talks between U.S. and Russian officials in Geneva on January 9-10 and a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council on January 12.
The council, the main forum for dialogue between the two sides, has met only sporadically since 2014, when Russia invaded and annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.
The NATO-Russia Council meeting will be followed the next day by discussions under the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which includes the United States and its NATO allies, as well as Russia and Ukraine.
Russia’s demands include guarantees that Ukraine and other former Soviet countries will not join NATO and a rollback of the alliance’s military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe.
The West has rejected Moscow’s ultimatums regarding NATO and threatened Moscow with severe sanctions and other measures if it launches a fresh incursion into Ukraine.
With reporting by AFP, Interfax, and Reuters
Russian-Led Security Bloc To Send Peacekeeping Forces To Kazakhstan, Armenian PM Says
ALMATY -- Peacekeepers from a Russian-led regional security alliance will be sent to Kazakhstan to help stabilize the country, the prime minister of Armenia announced on January 5 after an unprecedented wave of unrest in the oil-rich Central Asian nation that was sparked by a fuel price hike.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Facebook that the decision to deploy peacekeepers from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) for a limited period had been taken in response to an appeal from Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev. Armenia is chairing the CSTO in 2022.
Pashinian's statement added that the decision was made "due to the threat to the national security and sovereignty of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which arose as a result of external interference."
The CSTO is a military alliance made up of forces from Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
Pashinian did not say how many peacekeepers would be sent or when they would arrive.
Toqaev earlier on January 5 declared a nationwide state of emergency and stripped his predecessor of a powerful leadership role after thousands of anti-government protesters clashed with police and stormed government buildings.
Toqaev said that he had appealed to the CSTO to assist Kazakhstan in responding to what he called a “terrorist threat.”
Angry demonstrators, some of whom were armed with rubber truncheons, sticks, and shields, set fire on January 5 to a presidential residence and the mayor’s office in the country’s largest city, Almaty, where protesters also seized control of the airport, prompting the temporary suspension of all flights.
The Interior Ministry claimed eight police and national guard troops were killed and 317 people were wounded during the unrest across the country but offered no details.
Toqaev didn’t mention any civilian deaths, but video recordings circulated on social media purportedly showed several bodies of protesters on the streets. RFE/RL could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.
Police engaged in pitched battles with the protesters, using tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets to try to disperse the crowds, but were largely unsuccessful.
Communications monitors reported a "national-scale" Internet blackout, while RFE/RL journalists in the country said both Internet and telephone services had deteriorated markedly.
Toqaev said what he described as foreign-trained terrorists and bandits were seizing buildings, infrastructure, and weapons in Kazakh cities. They had taken control of the Almaty airport and five aircraft there, including foreign planes, the president said as he made a second televised speech in the space of a few hours on January 5.
"It is actually no longer a threat. It is an undermining of the integrity of the state. And, most importantly, it is an attack on our citizens who are asking me...to help them urgently," Toqaev said.
Toqaev sacked the government earlier on January 5 and later declared the state of emergency in a bid to squelch the protests, which erupted in the western region of Mangystau three days ago over a sudden hike in prices for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a popular fuel used in vehicles in the oil-rich country, along with general discontent over issues such as corruption, unemployment, and low wages.
In a major move to distance himself from the past, Toqaev also removed his predecessor, 81-year-old Nursultan Nazarbayev, from the powerful post of head of the country's Security Council.
Nazarbayev had retained wide authority through the post since stepping down in 2019 as president after three decades in power, the last Soviet-era Communist Party boss still ruling an ex-Soviet state. Some protesters laid the blame for many of the country's problems on him, with demonstrators in the city of Taldyqorghan, the capital of Almaty Province, toppling a statue of the former leader.
Violence was also reported on January 5 in the northern city of Aqtobe, where police fired tear gas on protesters who tried to enter the regional government building by force.
Protests also continued in other cities and towns, including Aqtau, Zhanaozen, and Oral, where dozens of people were reportedly detained.
Limits appeared to have been imposed on the Internet to limit the ability of demonstrators to mobilize, with web monitoring group NetBlocks reporting a nationwide “blackout.”
Messenger apps Telegram, Signal, and WhatsApp were all said to be unavailable in Kazakhstan, while the website of RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service and those of independent media that reported on the protests also appeared to be blocked.
According to the Interior Ministry, more than 200 people were detained during a previous night of unrest in Almaty and elsewhere, but observers say that number appears to be underestimated.
A decree order published on the presidential website in the morning of January 5 said Toqaev had accepted the resignation of the cabinet headed by Prime Minister Asqar Mamin, in line with the constitution.
First Deputy Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov was appointed as interim prime minister, and current members of the government will continue their duties until a new cabinet is formed, according to the order.
Before its resignation, the government announced it was restoring the price cap of 50 tenge ($0.11) per liter, or less than half the market price, in Mangystau.
Demonstrators in Aqtau and Zhanaozen argued that that the removal of some officials wouldn't bring lasting results and called for the dissolution of parliament, where no genuine opposition political forces are represented, and new limits to presidential powers, among other things.
Zhanaozen was the scene of a 2011 police crackdown against oil workers protesting over pay and working conditions that claimed the lives of at least 16 workers.
In addition to replacing the prime minister, Toqaev appointed a new first deputy chairman of the National Security Committee (KNB) to replace Samat Abish, a nephew of Nazarbaev.
The United States and the United Nations urged Kazakh authorities to show “restraint” in dealing with the protests.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the United States supports "calls for calm" and said protesters should be able to "express themselves peacefully.”
The United Nations also called for all parties to "exercise restraint, refrain from violence, and promote dialogue."
Kazakhstan’s Central Asian neighbors Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan said they were “closely” and “anxiously” following the situation.
With reporting by AFP, dpa, Reuters, and AFP
Son Of Putin Ally Lands Top KHL Post Despite No Ice Hockey Coaching Experience
The son of a Russian billionaire close to President Vladimir Putin has landed the head coaching job at one of the country’s top ice hockey teams despite little, if any, experience.
Roman Rotenberg, who has never served as a coach or played the game professionally, was named to the top post at SKA St. Petersburg, one of the premium teams in the largely Russian Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
Roman Rotenberg is the son of Boris Rotenberg, one of Russia’s richest businessmen and a childhood friend of Putin. He was sanctioned along with other members of Russia’s inner circle by the EU and the United States in 2014 after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.
Owned by the Russian state-controlled energy giant Gazprom, SKA is one of the KHL’s wealthiest teams. SKA’s president is Gennady Timchenko, another Russian tycoon with ties to Putin.
In a statement posted to its website on January 4, SKA described Rotenberg’s appointment as “improving staff management.”
The man he replaced, Valery Bragin, will remain at SKA in another role.
Roman Rotenberg has never played or coached professional ice hockey. In 2019, he did receive a coaching license from a state-run university in Siberia.
Last September, the 40-year-old told the sports channel Match TV that he’d watched 800 hockey games since 2014 and considers this to be “serious experience.”
Roman Rotenberg also serves as the vice president of Russia’s Ice Hockey Federation, where his uncle Arkady Rotenberg chairs the board of directors.
With reporting by Meduza
People Detained During Kazakh Fuel Protests
Kazakh police and collaborators in plain clothes detained men gathering in the streets of the city of Shymkent as protests against a fuel price increase continued on January 4. In the cities of Aqtobe and Oral, police tried to prevent demonstrators from marching in the streets. The crowd in Aqtobe chanted "Old man, go away!" in reference to the country's longtime leader, Nursultan Nazarbaev, who stepped down as president in 2019 but has retained influence. Protests have spread across Kazakhstan since January 2 after the prices of liquefied natural gas -- widely used as fuel for vehicles -- more than doubled.
Czech Ex-Soldier Sentenced For Fighting With Russia-Backed Separatists In Ukraine
A former member of the Czech Army has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for fighting on the side of pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Martin Sukup, 49, was found guilty on January 4 by the Prague City Court on charges linked to terrorism, Czech media reported.
His lawyers said they would appeal the ruling, maintaining their client is innocent.
Sukup was tried in absentia as he is believed to be in eastern Ukraine.
Sukup is reported to have traveled to eastern Ukraine in 2014 when Russia seized control of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and began backing separatists in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. At least 13,200 people have died in the conflict.
Moscow has consistently rejected accusations that it is actively involved in the eastern Ukrainian conflict despite years of evidence to the contrary, including Russian troops being captured in the war zone.
Prosecutors said Sukup had joined separatists in the Donetsk region, and was active from June 2014 until at least May 2018, including taking part in especially bloody fighting against Ukrainian forces in Kramatorsk and Horlivka.
Prosecutors said Sukup left an incriminating trail on social media, including posing with so-called medals for his role in “liberating Donbas,” as the industrial heartland of eastern Ukraine is also called.
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