rferl--2020-04-20--U.S. Navy Complains Of Second 'Unsafe' Russian Jet Interception In Four Days

U.S. military officials have complained that a Russian fighter jet came dangerously close to a U.S. surveillance plane in the Mediterranean Sea , the second such encounter in four days in the region .
In its statement on April 19 , the U.S. Navy did not say where exactly the encounter occurred , only that it happened over international waters .
Several aircraft tracking sites said the incident occurred in the eastern Mediterranean , not far from the Syrian coast .
The Russian Su-35 fighter jet approached the P-8A plane twice on April 19 , and during the second time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. plane , the Navy said .
`` The second intercept was determined to be unsafe and unprofessional , '' it said .
A similar encounter occurred in same vicinity on April 15 , the Navy said .
The Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement on Facebook on April 20 , confirming the encounter and saying the Sukhoi jet was dispatched from the Hmeimim air based to meet the U.S. plane , but gave no further details .
The P-8A Poseidon is an anti-submarine , anti-surface-warfare plane .
Russia has a sizable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Tartus , in support of Russian air and ground operations in Syria .
U.S. , NATO , and Russian planes routinely engage in cat-and-mouse flying encounters around the world .
Russian long-range bombers regularly fly close to NATO member borders and U.S. surveillance planes frequently skirt Russian waters in the Baltic and Black seas , monitoring and probing Russian defenses .

U.S. military officials have complained that a Russian fighter jet came dangerously close to a U.S. surveillance plane in the Mediterranean Sea, the second such encounter in four days in the region.
In its statement on April 19, the U.S. Navy did not say where exactly the encounter occurred, only that it happened over international waters.
Several aircraft tracking sites said the incident occurred in the eastern Mediterranean, not far from the Syrian coast.
The Russian Su-35 fighter jet approached the P-8A plane twice on April 19, and during the second time, it came within 8 meters of the U.S. plane, the Navy said.
"The second intercept was determined to be unsafe and unprofessional," it said.
A similar encounter occurred in same vicinity on April 15, the Navy said.
The Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement on Facebook on April 20, confirming the encounter and saying the Sukhoi jet was dispatched from the Hmeimim air based to meet the U.S. plane, but gave no further details.
The P-8A Poseidon is an anti-submarine, anti-surface-warfare plane.
Russia has a sizable naval contingent based at the Syrian port of Tartus, in support of Russian air and ground operations in Syria.
U.S., NATO, and Russian planes routinely engage in cat-and-mouse flying encounters around the world.
Russian long-range bombers regularly fly close to NATO member borders and U.S. surveillance planes frequently skirt Russian waters in the Baltic and Black seas, monitoring and probing Russian defenses.


rferl--2020-04-20--Pakistan Begins Repatriating Laborers Stranded In U.A.E.

Pakistan says it will repatriate thousands more citizens from the United Arab Emirates ( U.A.E . )
, which had threatened to review labor relations if countries did not take back their nationals from the Gulf state due to the coronavirus pandemic .
Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Aisha Farooqui said on April 19 that a third phase of repatriations would begin between April 20 and 28 .
Fourteen flights are scheduled to take Pakistani nationals from the U.A.E .
during this period , the Foreign Ministry said .
Six other flights are planned to repatriate Pakistani nationals from other countries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first Pakistan International Airlines flight carrying 227 `` stranded passengers '' from Dubai and other emirates left for Islamabad on the evening of April 18 , Pakistan 's consulate-general in Dubai said in a Twitter post .
More than 40,000 Pakistani nationals have registered with the Dubai consulate to return home , the U.A.E .
newspaper The National reported .
Pakistan is a major labor supplier to the U.A.E.
, with more than 1 million Pakistanis living and working in the country .
The U.A.E .
said earlier in April it would review @ @ @ @ @ @ @ citizens as thousands of migrant laborers lost jobs or did not receive salaries from employers due to lockdowns imposed over the coronavirus pandemic .
In March , the U.A.E .
suspended all passenger flights , leaving migrants stranded in the country as authorities demanded foreign governments take their citizens .
The U.A.E .
and other Gulf states reliant on foreign labor have reported increased coronavirus infections among low-income migrant workers who often live in crowded conditions .
Pakistan has warned it has limited quarantine and testing facilities to handle repatriated nationals , raising @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the spread of the virus .
The pandemic is likely to impact the remittances Pakistani workers send home .

Pakistan says it will repatriate thousands more citizens from the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), which had threatened to review labor relations if countries did not take back their nationals from the Gulf state due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Aisha Farooqui said on April 19 that a third phase of repatriations would begin between April 20 and 28.
Fourteen flights are scheduled to take Pakistani nationals from the U.A.E. during this period, the Foreign Ministry said. Six other flights are planned to repatriate Pakistani nationals from other countries, including Bahrain and Malaysia.
The first Pakistan International Airlines flight carrying 227 "stranded passengers" from Dubai and other emirates left for Islamabad on the evening of April 18, Pakistan's consulate-general in Dubai said in a Twitter post.
More than 40,000 Pakistani nationals have registered with the Dubai consulate to return home, the U.A.E. newspaper The National reported.
Pakistan is a major labor supplier to the U.A.E., with more than 1 million Pakistanis living and working in the country.
The U.A.E. said earlier in April it would review labor relations with states refusing to evacuate citizens as thousands of migrant laborers lost jobs or did not receive salaries from employers due to lockdowns imposed over the coronavirus pandemic.
In March, the U.A.E. suspended all passenger flights, leaving migrants stranded in the country as authorities demanded foreign governments take their citizens.
The U.A.E. and other Gulf states reliant on foreign labor have reported increased coronavirus infections among low-income migrant workers who often live in crowded conditions.
Pakistan has warned it has limited quarantine and testing facilities to handle repatriated nationals, raising concerns laborers could become a vector for the spread of the virus.
The pandemic is likely to impact the remittances Pakistani workers send home.
With reporting by Reuters


rferl--2020-04-20--Amnesty International Says Executions Fall To Lowest Number In A Decade, But Secrecy Skews Count

Global use of the death penalty has decreased for the fourth-consecutive year and fallen to its lowest level in a decade , according to a new report by Amnesty International ( AI ) .
The number of recorded executions fell to 657 worldwide , 33 fewer than in 2018 , with all carried out in just 20 countries , according to the report published on April 21 .
`` The death penalty is an abhorrent and inhuman punishment , and there is no credible evidence that it deters crime more than prisons terms , '' said Clare Algar , Amnesty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ advocacy , and policy .
`` A large majority of countries recognize this and it 's encouraging to see that executions continue to fall worldwide . ''
However , the human rights watchdog said lack of transparency in reporting executions meant the real number could be much higher .
The figures did not include use of the death penalty in China , for example , by far the world 's greatest executioner .
The number of people executed there is classified , but is believed to be in the thousands .
Iran , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Arabia , with 184 ; Iraq , with at least 100 ; and Egypt , with at least 32 , rounded out the world 's top-five executing countries , according to the report , titled Death Sentences And Executions .
Algar singled out a number of countries for their lack of transparency in using the death penalty .
`` Executions are taking place in secret all over the world , '' Algar said .
`` In countries from Belarus to Botswana and Iran to Japan , executions were being carried out without any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or in some cases the individuals themselves . ''
China , North Korea , and Vietnam continued `` to hide the full extent of their use of the death penalty by restricting access to death penalty information , ” Algar said .
She suggested that the absence of openness was telling .
`` Even countries that are the strongest proponents of the death penalty struggle to justify its use , and opt for secrecy , '' Algar said .
`` Many of them take pains to hide how they use the death penalty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to international scrutiny . ''
One such country is Iran , where the use of the death penalty fell to a historical low , but which AI admonished for the secret execution of two boys who were arrested and convicted at the age of 15 `` on multiple rape charges following an unfair trial . ''
The two were not aware that they had been sentenced to death prior to their executions , and their `` bodies bore lash marks , indicating they had been whipped before their deaths . ''
The number @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at least two from the previous year , when some 253 cases of the death penalty were recorded .
However , four of those killed were below 18 , according to the rights watchdog .
Amnesty International attributed the fall in the overall number of executions in part to `` significant reductions '' in the number of confirmed executions in states such as Egypt , Japan , and Singapore that it said are traditionally strong adherents of the death penalty .
Kazakhstan , Russia , and Tajikistan were among the countries that continued @ @ @ @ @ @ @ according to the report .
And no executions were carried out in Afghanistan for the first time since 2010 .
A `` significant downward trend '' was also reported in Pakistan , where 14 executions were carried out for the second year in a row .
That followed a spike in the use of the death penalty in 2015 .
Of those countries that defied the global trend away from capital punishment , Saudi Arabia , with 184 executions , was criticized for its increased use of the death penalty , `` including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' It marked the highest number of executions in the Middle Eastern country on record .
The report said that the number of executions nearly doubled in one year in Iraq , where the death penalty was employed at least 100 times in 2019 .
The rise was attributed largely to the punishment of individuals accused of being part of the Islamic State extremist group .
The United States continued its 11-year run as the only country to carry out executions in the Americas region , with 22 , but recorded fewer executions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year 2019 in the United States `` was dominated by significant progress towards its abolition at the state level and yet the pursuit of executions by federal authorities . ''

Global use of the death penalty has decreased for the fourth consecutive year and fallen to its lowest level in a decade, according to a new report by Amnesty International.
The number of recorded executions fell to 657 worldwide, 33 fewer than in 2018, with all carried out in just 20 countries, according to the report published on April 21.
"The death penalty is an abhorrent and inhuman punishment, and there is no credible evidence that it deters crime more than prison terms," said Clare Algar, Amnesty International's senior director for research, advocacy, and policy. "A large majority of countries recognize this and it's encouraging to see that executions continue to fall worldwide."
However, the human rights watchdog said a lack of transparency in reporting executions meant the real number could be much higher.
The figures did not include the use of the death penalty in China, for example, by far the world's most prolific executioner. The number of people executed there is classified but is believed to be in the thousands.
Iran, with at least 251 executions; Saudi Arabia, with 184; Iraq, with at least 100; and Egypt, with at least 32, rounded out the world's top-five countries who carry out the most executions, according to the report.
Algar singled out a number of countries for their lack of transparency in using the death penalty.
"Executions are taking place in secret all over the world," Algar said. "In countries from Belarus to Botswana and Iran to Japan, executions were being carried out without any advance notice to the families, lawyers, or in some cases the individuals themselves."
Absence Of Openness
China, North Korea, and Vietnam continued "to hide the full extent of their use of the death penalty by restricting access to death penalty information,” Algar said.
She suggested that the absence of openness was telling.
"Even countries that are the strongest proponents of the death penalty struggle to justify its use, and opt for secrecy," Algar said. "Many of them take pains to hide how they use the death penalty, knowing it will not stand up to international scrutiny."
One such country is Iran, where the use of the death penalty fell to a historic low, but which Amnesty admonished for the secret execution of two boys who were arrested and convicted at the age of 15 "on multiple rape charges following an unfair trial."
The two were not aware that they had been sentenced to death prior to their executions, and their "bodies bore lash marks, indicating they had been whipped before their deaths."
The number of people executed in Iran fell by at least two from the previous year, when some 253 cases of the death penalty were recorded. However, four of those killed were below 18, according to the rights watchdog.
Amnesty attributed the fall in the overall number of executions in part to "significant reductions" in the number of confirmed executions in states such as Egypt, Japan, and Singapore that it said are traditionally strong adherents of the death penalty.
Kazakhstan, Russia, and Tajikistan were among the countries that continued to respect official moratoriums on executions, according to the report. And no executions were carried out in Afghanistan for the first time since 2010.
A "significant downward trend" was also reported in Pakistan, where 14 executions were carried out for the second year in a row. That followed a spike in the use of the death penalty in 2015.
Of those countries that defied the global trend away from capital punishment, Saudi Arabia, with 184 executions, was criticized for its increased use of the death penalty, "including as a weapon against political dissidents." It marked the highest number of executions on record in the Middle Eastern country.
The report said that the number of executions nearly doubled in one year in Iraq, where the death penalty was employed at least 100 times in 2019. The rise was attributed largely to the punishment of individuals accused of being part of the Islamic State extremist group.
The United States continued its 11-year run as the only country to carry out executions in the Americas region, with 22, but recorded fewer executions and death sentences.
Amnesty said the year 2019 in the United States "was dominated by significant progress towards its abolition at the state level and yet the pursuit of executions by federal authorities."


rferl--2020-04-20--Syria Says It Confronted Israeli Attack On Iran-Backed Forces

Suspected Israeli warplanes targeted Iranian and Iran-backed fighters in eastern Syria near the historic town of Palmyra .
Syrian state media SANA said late April 20 that air defenses “ confronted an Israeli missile aggression ” and “ shot down a number of the hostile missiles before reaching their targets.
” The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights , a UK-based war monitor , said the targets were `` military posts for Iranian militias in the Palmyra desert . ''
There was no immediate confirmation of casualties .
Syrian state media regularly overstates the success of the country 's defenses against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did not comment .
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria in recent years targeting Iranian forces , Syrian government forces , and allied militia .
Western and Israeli intelligence say Iranian forces and allied militia use the eastern Syrian dessert bordering Iraq to transfer fighters and advanced weapons systems to support the Syrian government and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah .
Last week , an Israeli drone fired two missiles at a vehicle carrying members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Syria close to the border with Lebanon .
Hezbollah @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on April 20 came as Iran 's Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif was in Damascus where he met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Syrian counterpart .
Along with Russia , Tehran has provided crucial military support to Assad during the country ’ s civil war , which entered its 10th year last month .
With reporting by AFP , AP , SANA , and Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated that there can be no advancement in the relationship between the United States and Afghanistan's Taliban rulers unless there is an improvement in the treatment of women in the country.
Speaking to reporters on August 15, the two-year anniversary of the Taliban’s seizure of power in Kabul, Blinken said the United States continues to work to hold the Taliban accountable for the commitments that it's made, particularly when it comes to the rights of women and girls.
"We've been very clear with the Taliban -- and dozens of countries around the world have been very clear -- that the path to any more normal relationship between the Taliban and other countries will be blocked unless and until the rights of women and girls among other things are actually supported," Blinken said.
No country has recognized the Taliban-led government, and the United States has avoided direct economic engagement in part over the treatment of women and girls, who have seen their rights drastically curbed by the hard-line Islamists. This includes a ban on women working in local and international nongovernmental organizations and a ban on education beyond the sixth grade.
The Taliban stormed back to power in August 2021 after President Joe Biden withdrew U.S. troops under the terms of an agreement reached in February 2020 between the Taliban and the administration of then-U.S. President Donald Trump.
Blinken defended the pullout and said the United States was not focused on other priorities.
"The decision to withdraw from Afghanistan was an incredibly difficult one, but also the right one," Blinken said. "We ended America's longest war. For the first time in 20 years, we don't have another generation of young Americans going to fight and die."
A number of international human rights organizations earlier on August 15 called the Taliban's two years of rule shameful and worrying.
Amnesty International and several other international human rights organizations demanded in a statement an effective response to the situation, noting the Taliban's strict decrees against human rights in Afghanistan, especially against women and girls.
The organizations said in a statement that in the past two years, the Taliban has increasingly imposed harmful policies against women and girls and religious and ethnic minorities that clearly violate Afghanistan's obligations under international human rights law.
The Taliban has previously rejected reports on the treatment of women as propaganda of international organizations. The militant group's leaders have said they have strengthened all the rights of women in Afghanistan in light of Islamic principles.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman for the Taliban, said in an interview with the AP marking the second anniversary of the Taliban takeover of the country that the Taliban views its rule of Afghanistan as open-ended and as drawing legitimacy from Islamic law. He also suggested a ban on female education will remain in place.
Female activist Soheila Yousefi calls the situation alarming and wants the world to pay attention.
"The international community should take serious action in this regard because the world chose to be silent in these two years and did not take any practical steps. Our request is that they should look at the current situation in Afghanistan, then take a serious and comprehensive review."
The Taliban did not respond to Radio Azadi's questions before the release of the report, but the rulers have spoken of strengthening human rights in Afghanistan, especially the rights of women and girls, according to Islamic principles.
With reporting by AP and AFP


rferl--2020-04-20--U.S. Ambassador Slams Russia For 'Mockery Of Justice' In Whelan Trial

The U.S. ambassador to Russia has accused a Moscow court of making a `` mockery of justice '' after he was denied admission to a closed-door hearing in the trial of Paul Whelan , a U.S. citizen accused by Russia of espionage .
`` It 's a fundamental human right that anyone accused of a crime is presumed innocent and is tried in a fair , impartial , and public hearing , '' Ambassador John Sullivan said in a letter posted on the website of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow on April 20 .
`` The fact that it is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a secret trial – Paul hasn ’ t seen the evidence against him – it makes a mockery of justice , '' Sullivan added .
The ambassador also said that it was `` intolerable '' and `` unacceptable '' that the Russian government had refused to allow Whelan medical treatment for `` serious medical issues . ''
The comments came before a Whelan defense lawyer said that the Moscow City Court had denied a request for his client to be treated by a U.S. doctor .
`` It was determined that Russian doctors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aid , '' attorney Vladimir Zherebenkov told Interfax .
Whelan , a former U.S. Marine who also holds Canadian , Irish , and British citizenship , was charged with spying after security agents arrested him in a December 2018 sting operation , claiming that a flash drive they seized contained state secrets .
Whelan denies the charges and has alleged that he has been ill-treated by guards and that his case is political in nature .
With reporting by Interfax and Reuters

The U.S. ambassador to Russia has accused a Moscow court of making a "mockery of justice" after he was denied admission to a closed-door hearing in the trial of Paul Whelan, a U.S. citizen accused by Russia of espionage.
"It's a fundamental human right that anyone accused of a crime is presumed innocent and is tried in a fair, impartial, and public hearing," Ambassador John Sullivan said in a letter posted on the website of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow on April 20.
"The fact that it is a closed hearing, that it is a secret trial – Paul hasn’t seen the evidence against him – it makes a mockery of justice," Sullivan added.
The ambassador also said that it was "intolerable" and "unacceptable" that the Russian government had refused to allow Whelan medical treatment for "serious medical issues."
The comments came before one of Whelan's defense lawyers said that the Moscow City Court had denied a request for his client to be treated by a U.S. doctor.
"It was determined that Russian doctors have provided him with all necessary qualified aid," attorney Vladimir Zherebenkov told Interfax.
Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who also holds Canadian, Irish, and British citizenship, was charged with spying after security agents arrested him in a December 2018 sting operation, claiming that a flash drive they seized contained state secrets.
Whelan denies the charges and has alleged that he has been ill-treated by guards and that his case is political in nature.
With reporting by Interfax and Reuters


rferl--2020-04-20--Kosovo’s Kurti Accuses U.S. Envoy Of ‘Direct Involvement’ In His Government Collapse

BELGRADE -- Kosovo 's acting prime minister , Albin Kurti , has accused a U.S. envoy of being `` directly involved '' in the overthrow of his government less than two months after he took office as premier .
Kurti 's government was brought down in late March by a no-confidence vote initiated by its junior coalition partner late last month , plunging the Balkan country into a political crisis .
Speaking during a video press conference with foreign media on April 20 , Kurti said Richard Grenell -- U.S. President Donald Trump 's special envoy to Kosovo-Serbia talks -- @ @ @ @ @ @ @ partner to quit their alliance .
Kurti , who remains as head of the government in a caretaker role , said his government `` wasn ’ t overthrown for anything else but simply because Ambassador Grenell is in a rush to sign a deal with Serbia which I strongly believe is harmful since it includes territorial exchange . ''
The U.S. ambassador , who has been working on a potential deal for Serbia to recognize Kosovo , denied the accusation on Twitter , saying : “ There has been absolutely no talk of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s never been discussed by anyone else in my presence .
We have said this many times . ''
Kurti also accused Grenell of trying to push through a `` quick deal '' to score political points ahead of the U.S. presidential election later this year , in which Trump is seeking reelection .
An agreement normalizing relations between Kosovo and Serbia would be seen as a diplomatic success for the White House , which has pushed for an agreement to be worked out this year .
Kosovo , a former province @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a move rejected by Belgrade .
There has long been speculation Serbian and Kosovar leaders were considering an agreement that would involve trading pockets of territory as part of a process to normalize relations between the two countries .
Kurti 's political future remains unclear .
President Hashim Thaci has said he would start the process to form a new government this week , while the acting prime minister has called for fresh elections instead .
With reporting by AFP and AP

BELGRADE -- Kosovo's acting prime minister, Albin Kurti, has accused a U.S. envoy of being "directly involved" in the overthrow of his government less than two months after he took office as premier.
Kurti's government was brought down in late March by a no-confidence vote initiated by its junior coalition partner late last month, plunging the Balkan country into a political crisis.
Speaking during a video press conference with foreign media on April 20, Kurti said Richard Grenell -- U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy to Kosovo-Serbia talks -- put "pressure" on the coalition partner to quit their alliance.
Kurti, who remains as head of the government in a caretaker role, said his government "wasn’t overthrown for anything else but simply because Ambassador Grenell is in a rush to sign a deal with Serbia, which I strongly believe is harmful since it includes territorial exchange."
The U.S. ambassador, who has been working on a potential deal for Serbia to recognize Kosovo, denied the accusation on Twitter, saying: “There has been absolutely no talk of land swaps from me -- and it’s never been discussed by anyone else in my presence. We have said this many times."
Kurti also accused Grenell of trying to push through a "quick deal" to score political points ahead of the U.S. presidential election later this year, in which Trump is seeking reelection. An agreement normalizing relations between Kosovo and Serbia would be seen as a diplomatic success for the White House, which has pushed for an agreement to be worked out this year.
Kosovo, a former province of Serbia, declared independence in 2008 in a move rejected by Belgrade.
There has long been speculation that Serbian and Kosovar leaders were considering an agreement that would involve trading pockets of territory as part of a process to normalize relations between the two countries.
Kurti's political future remains unclear.
President Hashim Thaci has said he would start the process to form a new government this week, while the acting prime minister has called for fresh elections instead.
With reporting by AFP and AP


rferl--2020-04-20--Price Of Oil Futures Plummet Below Zero For First Time

Oil futures on April 20 dipped into negative territory for the first time ever as the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic left traders desperate to avoid taking delivery of physical crude .
U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate for May delivery ended trading at minus $ 37.63 per barrel ahead of the April 21 close for futures contracts .
June contracts were still above $ 21 a barrel .
Meanwhile , Brent Crude , the benchmark used by Europe and the rest of the world , was down almost 9 percent at less than $ 26 a barrel .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the ongoing widespread economic slowdown caused by governments imposing restrictions on businesses and individuals in a bid to curtail the spread of the coronavirus .
It also coincides with the surge in supplies by major oil-producing countries that occurred after Russia and OPEC failed in March to agree on a deal to cut production , prompting a price war .
Moscow and Saudi Arabia -- the world 's biggest oil producer -- later reversed course , and reached agreement to limit some pumping , but that has done little to stop the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has begun to worry governments that rely on revenues from oil and gas exports .
That includes both Russia and Saudi Arabia , as well as Venezuela and Iran .
Based on reporting by AFP , AP , the BBC , and Bloomberg


rferl--2020-04-20--Pakistani Army Soldier, Five Militants Reported Killed In North Waziristan

ISLAMABAD -- Militants have attacked a security post in northwestern Pakistan , triggering a shoot-out that killed a soldier and @ @ @ @ @ says .
The army said in a statement on April 20 that the attack took @ @ @ @ @ Miran Shah , the main urban center in the North Waziristan tribal district that borders @ @ @ @ @ also wounded in the battle , it said .
No militant group has immediately commented @ @ @ @ @ Waziristan served as a stronghold for local and foreign militants until 2014 , when Pakistan @ @ @ @ @ massive military operation to clear the region of combatants .
Despite the army ’ s @ @ @ @ @ region on the border of Afghanistan has continued to be the scene of violent attacks @ @ @ @ @ roadside bombs .

ISLAMABAD -- Militants have attacked a security post in northwestern Pakistan, triggering a shoot-out that killed a soldier and five attackers, the military says.
The army said in a statement on April 20 that the attack took place near the town of Miran Shah, the main urban center in the North Waziristan tribal district that borders Afghanistan.
Three soldiers were also wounded in the battle, it said.
No militant group has immediately commented on the statement.
North Waziristan served as a stronghold for local and foreign militants until 2014, when Pakistan’s army launched a massive military operation to clear the region of combatants.
Despite the army’s claims of success, the region on the border of Afghanistan has continued to be the scene of violent attacks, targeted killings, and roadside bombs.


rferl--2020-04-20--Nineteen Pro-Government Forces Killed In Afghan Attacks

KABUL -- Afghan officials say 19 pro-government forces have been killed in Taliban attacks in the northern province of Takhar @ @ @ @ @ local forces operating under the command of the Afghan National Army in Khwaja Ghar district @ @ @ @ @ district chief Mohammad Omar said on April 20 .
Omar said the fighting continued until @ @ @ @ @ The Defense Ministry said the attacks had been repulsed and that the Taliban had suffered @ @ @ @ @ not immediately comment on the assaults .
Fighting has continued across Afghanistan after the Taliban @ @ @ @ @ United States in Doha , Qatar , in late February .
The agreement was intended @ @ @ @ @ prisoner exchanges between the militant group and the government in Kabul -- which have already @ @ @ @ @ talks among Afghans .

The education of girls and women is universally accepted in more than 200 countries and territories, including nearly 50 Muslim-majority nations.
But Afghanistan’s hard-line Islamist Taliban rulers have banned teenage girls from attending school after the sixth grade since they returned to power two years ago. The ban was extended in December to women in universities.
Countless protests by Afghans inside the country, pressure from the international community, and lobbying by Muslim scholars and clerics have failed to convince the fundamentalist Taliban leaders to reopen schools.
Experts are divided over whether the ban is rooted in how the Taliban’s interpretation of Islam is shaped by conservative Pashtun tribal customs and cultural practices or if it is prompted by how senior Taliban ideologues interpret Islamic teachings.
Most Taliban leaders are ethnic Pashtun, Sunni Muslim clerics. Many were educated in Deobandi madrasahs in neighboring Pakistan. Deobandism emerged as a puritanical Islamic revivalist movement in 19-century British Colonial India. Based on the Sunni Hanafi school of jurisprudence, it is a prominent strain among Islamists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Tribal Influences
Sami Yousafzai, a veteran Afghan journalist and commentator, argues that the Taliban restrictions against women are linked to social customs and cultural practices in eastern and southern Afghanistan.
Most Taliban leaders come from various Pashtun rural tribal communities in these regions bordering Pakistan.
"They believe that a woman's place is either inside a house or in a grave," Yousafzai said of the basic Taliban belief influenced by the status of women in the families of clerics and religious leaders in these Pashtun regions.
“Women living in the households of the current Taliban policymakers were never educated and never left their homes,” said Yousafzai, who has tracked the Islamist group since it emerged as a ragtag militia in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar in late 1994. “These women never performed any government or nongovernmental jobs.”
Yousafzai says the Taliban backs policies shaped by this worldview by leaning on Islamic teachings supporting such ideas. He says Taliban leaders rely on sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad that discourage women from leaving their homes.
“Their primary belief is that pubescent girls should not leave home under any circumstance,” he said. “This is why they view women leaving home for education or work as engaging in moral corruption.”
In Afghanistan, a Muslim nation of some 40 million people, activists and rights advocates accuse the Taliban of implementing "gender apartheid" by denying women education, work, freedom of movement, and deciding how they can appear in public.
Most Muslims agree that Islam allows women to get an education. Yet the Taliban publicly says that it will allow girls access to education only after ensuring complete gender segregation and other unspecified conditions.
Almost all Afghan secondary schools were gender segregated and universities imposed a strict separation between men and women after the Taliban takeover.
Yousafzai says in conservative and traditional Muslim societies around the world, some clerics also favor restrictions on women's education, work, and their role in public life. But the governments in those countries usually oppose or limit such ideas.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia -- one of the most conservative Sunni Muslim nations -- has allowed women to drive and granted them freedom of movement without a male guardian. These steps are part of a reform and modernity drive by Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman.
The Taliban ban on education has invited universal condemnation from Muslims globally.
“The Taliban's ban on women's education is not rooted in [the Islamic] Shari’a law but rather reflects cultural biases that contradict the teachings of Islam,” said Salam al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in the United States.
He said that contrary to Taliban practices, “Islam emphasizes the importance of seeking knowledge and encourages all individuals, regardless of gender, to acquire an education.”
Historical Conflict
But Islamic scholars and those who have attempted to convince the Taliban about reopening girls schools offer a different explanation.
John Mohammad Butt, an Islamic scholar and former BBC broadcaster who is the only Westerner to graduate from India’s Darul Uloom Deoband, argues that the Taliban's policy on girls' education is not tribal but shaped by the century-old conflict over modern education.
“The problem is that girls' education in Afghanistan -- indeed, contemporary education in general -- has generally been introduced in Afghanistan in line with a secular agenda,” he said.
In the 1920s, a coalition of conservative clerics and tribal and community leaders deposed reformist King Amanullah Khan. He wanted to modernize Afghanistan along Turkish leader Kamal Ataturk's secular lines and championed modern education and rights for women.
This opposition to modernity and secularism continued, and conservative clerics opposed women's education and work. It became a key part of the Islamist opposition to the pro-Soviet Afghan communist governments after the April 1978 military coup that ended the Afghan monarchy. The mujahedin accused the communists of spreading immorality by promoting women’s education and empowerment.
“This has led to particular wariness on the part of conservative circles in Afghanistan with regard to girls' education,” Butt said.
'Deep Ideological Conviction'
Obaidullah Baheer, a political science lecturer at the American University of Afghanistan, became part of an effort to rescind the ban by talking to the Taliban last year.
But he says the effort failed because “the ban is a matter of deep ideological conviction” for the current supreme leader of the Taliban, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada.
Baheer says that the most prominent Taliban leaders have studied in Pakistani madrasahs and were thus disconnected from village and tribal life.
“They have been indoctrinated by the Deobandi school of thought so that they now enforce the strictest version of Islam on the Afghan population,” he said.
He argues that the ban on girls’ schools is a deliberate policy championed by Akhundzada, who he says has endorsed Taliban Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani's Arabic language book The Islamic Emirate And Its System. In this book, Haqqani supports a fringe Islamic opinion of preferring the choice of one of the Prophet Muhammad's wives, Sawdah Bint Zam'ah, who chose to stay at home until her death.
Baheer says Haqqani ignores his other wives and other female companions that played an active role in many sectors of society and how they served as students and teachers for men.
“This fringe opinion is not held by all Taliban leaders but is one that the current absolute sovereign, the Taliban emir, seems to be convinced of,” he said.
Butt says that even Haqqani has acknowledged the principle that if there is something that women need to act upon, then that is also something that women need to learn about.
“I hope the Taliban authorities will come to realize in the not-too-distant future that education for women will make Afghan women into better Muslims,” he says. “It will enable them to make a stronger contribution to the well-being of their country.”
Two years after grappling with the issue, Western diplomats appear to be encouraging Afghan conservative and clerical circles to find ways to end the ban.
Tom West, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan, recently tweeted that Afghan women must be educated and contribute to the economy to help their country stand on its own two feet.
“If change to policies is made, it will be because Afghans have asked for it, not a result of foreign requests,” he wrote.


rferl--2020-04-20--Russian Opposition Activist Kotov's Prison Term Shortened

A Russian court has cut the four-year prison term of an opposition activist imprisoned for repeatedly taking part in unsanctioned rallies .
The Moscow City Court ruled on April 20 that Konstantin Kotov 's term must be lowered by 2 1/2 years .
Kotov reiterated at the hearing at the court that he does not consider his participation in the rallies as a crime .
`` My duty as a human and a citizen is to defend innocent people .
I do not shirk [ that duty . ]
This is my third final statement in a courtroom .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ again .
As many times as necessary for my acquittal , '' Kotov said .
His lawyer , Maria Eismont , demanded the case against Kotov be closed and the charge dropped .
Amnesty International Russia ’ s Director Natalia Zviagina called the court decision to uphold Kotov ’ s conviction “ a profound injustice , ” saying the activist has spent more than eight months behind bars “ simply for taking part in peaceful protests.
” “ The fact remains that he should never have been detained at all .
Konstantin Kotov @ @ @ @ @ @ @ must be acquitted and freed , ” Zviagina added .
The 35-year-old computer programmer was detained on August 10 for taking part in a rally to demand opposition and independent candidates be put on the ballot for the Moscow City Duma election that was held on September 8 .
The barring of the would-be candidates sparked a wave of protests in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia last summer , some of which were violently suppressed by police as thousands were briefly detained , sparking international condemnation .
Kotov was one of several activists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what has been dubbed the Moscow Case .
His conviction and sentencing on September 5 sparked a public outcry in Russia because of its severity .
On January 25 , amid protests against Kotov 's imprisonment , President Vladimir Putin ordered the Prosecutor-General 's Office to review the legality of the sentencing .
Two days later , Russia 's Constitutional Court ruled that case must be reviewed .
Based on reporting by Novaya Gazeta and Rapsinews

A Russian court has cut the four-year prison term of an opposition activist imprisoned for repeatedly taking part in unsanctioned rallies.
The Moscow City Court ruled on April 20 that Konstantin Kotov's term must be lowered by 2 1/2 years.
Kotov reiterated at the hearing at the court that he does not consider his participation in the rallies as a crime.
"My duty as a human and a citizen is to defend innocent people. I do not shirk [that duty.] This is my third final statement in a courtroom. I am ready to repeat it again and again. As many times as necessary for my acquittal," Kotov said.
His lawyer, Maria Eismont, demanded the case against Kotov be closed and the charge dropped.
Amnesty International Russia’s Director Natalia Zviagina called the court decision to uphold Kotov’s conviction “a profound injustice,” saying the activist has spent more than eight months behind bars “simply for taking part in peaceful protests.”
“The fact remains that he should never have been detained at all. Konstantin Kotov is a prisoner of conscience, he must be acquitted and freed,” Zviagina added.
The 35-year-old computer programmer was detained on August 10 for taking part in a rally to demand opposition and independent candidates be put on the ballot for the Moscow City Duma election that was held on September 8.
The barring of the would-be candidates sparked a wave of protests in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia last summer, some of which were violently suppressed by police as thousands were briefly detained, sparking international condemnation.
Kotov was one of several activists punished with prison following the protests in what has been dubbed the Moscow Case.
His conviction and sentencing on September 5 sparked a public outcry in Russia because of its severity.
On January 25, amid protests against Kotov's imprisonment, President Vladimir Putin ordered the Prosecutor-General's Office to review the legality of the sentencing.
Two days later, Russia's Constitutional Court ruled that case must be reviewed.
Based on reporting by Novaya Gazeta and Rapsinews


rferl--2020-04-20--Djokovic Worried Coronavirus Vaccination May Be Required For Return To Tennis

World No .
1 Novak Djokovic says he 's not sure what he will do if tennis players are required to have vaccines against the coronavirus once the sport returns to the court .
Speaking during a Facebook livestream from Spain where he is isolated with his family during the pandemic , the Serbian player said he is opposed to vaccinations in general and `` wouldn ’ t want to be forced by someone to take a vaccine in order to be able to travel . ''
“ But if it becomes compulsory , what will happen ?
I will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he said in the April 19 chat with several other Serbian athletes on Orthodox Easter .
As with most of the global sporting world , the tennis season has been waiting to resume since halting play in early March .
Both the men 's ATP and women 's WTA tours have said play is suspended until at least mid-July .
With almost 2.5 million cases confirmed worldwide and over 166,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19 , the illness caused by the coronavirus , the world is racing to find a vaccine to treat the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some in the tennis world for all players to be vaccinated when the season eventually resumes .
“ Hypothetically , if the season was to resume in July , August , or September , though unlikely , I understand that a vaccine will become a requirement straight after we are out of strict quarantine and there is no vaccine yet , ” the 32-year-old said .
“ I have my own thoughts about the matter and whether those thoughts [ on being vaccinated ] will change at some point , I don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Some people like Djokovic refuse vaccinations because of concerns about side-effects or industry ethics .
But medical professionals say vaccines , which train the immune system to prevent people developing a disease , such as COVID-19 , are safe and vital to at least controlling outbreaks of viral illnesses .
Experts note that if enough people become immune , the coronavirus wo n't be able to spread as easily , thus limiting the need for other measures such as social distancing .
Currently dozens of groups around the world , including major pharmaceutical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccine .
Some are already running trials on humans .
Djokovic started the 2020 season with a bang , winning the Australian Open in January for his 17th Grand Slam title .

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic says he's not sure what he will do if tennis players are required to have vaccines against the coronavirus once the sport returns to the court.
Speaking during a Facebook livestream from Spain where he is isolated with his family during the pandemic, the Serbian player said he is opposed to vaccinations in general and "wouldn’t want to be forced by someone to take a vaccine in order to be able to travel."
“But if it becomes compulsory, what will happen? I will have to make a decision," he said in the April 19 chat with several other Serbian athletes on Orthodox Easter.
As with most of the global sporting world, the tennis season has been waiting to resume since halting play in early March. Both the men's ATP and women's WTA tours have said play is suspended until at least mid-July.
With almost 2.5 million cases confirmed worldwide and over 166,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, the world is racing to find a vaccine to treat the illness.
There have been calls from some in the tennis world for all players to be vaccinated when the season eventually resumes.
“Hypothetically, if the season was to resume in July, August, or September, though unlikely, I understand that a vaccine will become a requirement straight after we are out of strict quarantine and there is no vaccine yet,” the 32-year-old said.
“I have my own thoughts about the matter and whether those thoughts [on being vaccinated] will change at some point, I don’t know," he added.
Some people like Djokovic refuse vaccinations because of concerns about side-effects or industry ethics.
But medical professionals say vaccines, which train the immune system to prevent people developing a disease, such as COVID-19, are safe and vital to at least controlling outbreaks of viral illnesses.
Experts note that if enough people become immune, the coronavirus won't be able to spread as easily, thus limiting the need for other measures such as social distancing.
Currently dozens of groups around the world, including major pharmaceutical companies, are trying to develop a vaccine. Some are already running trials on humans.
Djokovic started the 2020 season with a bang, winning the Australian Open in January for his 17th Grand Slam title.


rferl--2020-04-20--Rights Defenders Accuse Kazakh Authorities Of Using Coronavirus Restrictions To Stifle Dissent

ALMATY , Kazakhstan -- Rights defenders in Kazakhstan say the government is using restrictions imposed to slow the coronavirus outbreak to crack down on dissent .
Several leading civil and human rights activists in the Central Asian nation were arrested over the weekend on charges of distributing fake news about the pandemic .
Almaty-based human rights activist Marzhan Aspandiyarova told RFE/RL on April 20 that the activists were arrested on what she called politically motivated charges .
`` The authorities are using the state of emergency to arrest , persecute , and muzzle prominent and well-known activists .
This is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ else , '' Aspandiyarova said .
Activists known for their criticism of the government , Alnur Ilyashev , Arman Shuraev , and Ulan Shamshet , were arrested over the weekend and charged with violating coronavirus restrictions and spreading fake news about COVID-19 .
Ilyashev was senetnced to two months in jail on April 18 , after a court in Almaty found him guilty of the charges .
Shuraev , Shamshet , and several other activists detained days earlier on the same charges are still awaiting trial .
The director of Kazakhstan 's Bureau @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told RFE/RL on April 20 that all those arrested were very active in social networks and by arresting them , the authorities are trying to remove them from social-media platforms .
`` The authorities are simply eager to isolate potential leaders .
What we have in our country is an authoritarian system and the authoritarian regime by such measures tries to preserve control and minimize any challenges they may face , '' Zhovtis said .
The Adil Soz ( A Just Word ) group in Almaty that defends the rights of journalists and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In an open letter addressed to Prosecutor-General Ghizat Nurdauletov , the group demanded the immediate release of all those arrested .

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Rights defenders in Kazakhstan say the government is using restrictions imposed to slow the coronavirus outbreak to crack down on dissent.
Several leading civil and human rights activists in the Central Asian nation were arrested over the weekend on charges of distributing fake news about the pandemic.
Almaty-based human rights activist Marzhan Aspandiyarova told RFE/RL on April 20 that the activists were arrested on what she called politically motivated charges.
"The authorities are using the state of emergency to arrest, persecute, and muzzle prominent and well-known activists. This is what real repression looks like, nothing else," Aspandiyarova said.
Activists known for their criticism of the government, Alnur Ilyashev, Arman Shuraev, and Ulan Shamshet, were arrested over the weekend and charged with violating coronavirus restrictions and spreading fake news about COVID-19. Ilyashev was sentenced to two months in jail on April 18, after a court in Almaty found him guilty of the charges.
Shuraev, Shamshet, and several other activists detained days earlier on the same charges are still awaiting trial.
The director of Kazakhstan's Bureau for Human Rights, Yevgeny Zhovtis, told RFE/RL on April 20 that all those arrested were very active in social networks and by arresting them, the authorities are trying to remove them from social-media platforms.
"The authorities are simply eager to isolate potential leaders. What we have in our country is an authoritarian system and the authoritarian regime by such measures tries to preserve control and minimize any challenges they may face," Zhovtis said.
The Adil Soz (A Just Word) group in Almaty that defends the rights of journalists and bloggers has expressed concerns over the arrests.
In an open letter addressed to Prosecutor-General Ghizat Nurdauletov, the group demanded the immediate release of all those arrested.


rferl--2020-04-20--Iran, Syria Criticize U.S. For Keeping Sanctions During Coronavirus Pandemic

Iran 's foreign minister has held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as both countries grapple with the coronavirus outbreak .
Photographs posted to the Iranian government 's Twitter account showed Assad and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wearing masks and gloves as they met on April 20 in the Syrian capital , Damascus .
The two men used the meeting to criticize the United States for not lifting sanctions imposed on both countries .
Syria and Iran , its closest ally in the region , are under U.S. sanctions that they both say are affecting their fight against the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ criticized Tehran for its alleged support of extremist violence in the Middle East , testing of ballistic and nuclear weapons , and support for Assad .
Along with Russia , Tehran has provided crucial military support to Assad during the country ’ s civil war , which entered its 10th year last month .
More than 400,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the conflict began .
The civil war has devastated Syria 's health system , and aid workers and rights activists have warned the government is incapable of preventing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meeting with Assad , Zarif said Washington ’ s “ real agenda in not lifting its cruel sanctions on countries fighting this disease has now become clear , '' according to a statement from Tehran .
Syria ’ s presidency quoted the Syrian leader as criticizing the United States for keeping economic sanctions in place on countries like Syria and Iran `` despite these exceptional humanitarian conditions . ''
Iran ’ s economy is suffering under intense U.S. sanctions after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from Tehran 's 2015 nuclear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dismissed the idea of lifting sanctions , saying they do not block humanitarian aid and medical equipment from reaching sanctioned countries .
Zarif also met with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem in Damascus .
Iran is one of the Middle Eastern countries worst hit by the coronavirus epidemic .
More than 5,200 people have died in Iran with more than 83,500 reported cases , according to official figures .
But many Iranians and international experts think the government has intentionally underreported the extent of the pandemic in the country .
Syria ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deaths , all in or around Damascus , though most experts believe the number is far higher .
For weeks , government officials denied any threat , allowing Shi'ite pilgrims from Iran and Iraq to visit shrines near Damascus .
Fighters , allied with the Syrian military , traveled back and forth from those countries .
By early March , restrictions began with a partial closure of borders and shrines .
With reporting by AFP and AP

A polytechnic school in Russia’s Tatarstan, a region some 900 kilometers east of Moscow, is using manufacturing facilities that are part of a nearby special economic zone to assemble Iranian attack drones and are increasingly turning to underage students as laborers, many of whom often work in exploitative conditions.
The revelations at Alabuga Polytechnic University raise troubling implications about the lengths that Russian authorities are going to in order to boost the war effort and how the advanced Iranian weaponry -- which is increasingly used to bombard Ukrainian cities and has only recently begun to be manufactured inside Russia -- could contribute to escalating tensions and rising civilian casualties.
The use of underage students as drone factory workers and the details of the manufacturing facilities were first reported by Russian independent media outlets Protokol and Razvorot, which published a series of investigations in July.
Since then, RFE/RL’s Idel.Realities has spoken with students who describe grueling working conditions and interviewed dozens of parents whose children have been enrolled at Alabuga Polytechnic University -- some as young at 15 -- who say that their children were forced to work exceedingly long hours, often without proper breaks or meals, and under hostile conditions that have deeply affected their mental health.
“My son enrolled and 2 1/2 months later he called for me to take him away,” Zhanna, who asked to be identified only by her first name to protect against reprisals for speaking about the operation, told RFE/RL. “He said to me on the phone, ‘Come and get me or I’ll die,’ so I picked him up immediately.”
Zhanna, who asked that her underage son’s name also not be used, says that she sent him from Nizhny Novgorod to study at Alabuga Polytechnic University in 2022 because of its reputation as a leading technical institution inside Russia.
The school offered students -- often between the ages of 15-18 -- an opportunity to get vocational training as part of a dual program that combines a classroom education with practical work experience. Students were also promised an opportunity to work and earn a locally competitive salary of up to 70,000 rubles ($700) a month as part of the work experience program that could further their career growth.
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
But, instead, those enrolled were encouraged and in some cases pressured into working at the drone facility, where the salaries of the mostly underage laborers are contingent on meeting tough production quotas.
“This is a textbook definition of what constitutes exploitation,” Sergei Podsytnik, an investigative journalist at Protokol who worked on the series of reports, told RFE/RL. “[Students] assemble drones, with the work taking priority over their studies.”
The pressure to fulfill these quotas has allegedly led to strenuous back-to-back days -- with some shifts lasting up to 15 hours -- with little time for sleep or adequate sustenance. Overtime work is often unpaid, further highlighting potential labor violations. Exhausted students also reported not always meeting their quotas, which led to them not earning the salary initially promised by the school. Many students came from disadvantaged backgrounds and relied on their earnings to cover costs for tuition, room, and board and would send the remainder home.
Other parents, such as Marina, said she decided to take her daughter out of the program when she discovered that she was working in apparent unsafe conditions and that staff from the school had instructed students not to tell their parents about the drone assembly work.
“This was the last straw for me,” Marina, who also asked for her identity to be concealed, told RFE/RL. “This is a dangerous production process that involves dangerous chemicals. They also forbid the kids from telling everything to their parents.”
RFE/RL sent multiple requests for comment to various staff and administrators at Alabuga Polytechnic University but received no replies.
Making Iranian Drones In Russia
The complicated and concerning dynamic at Alabuga Polytechnic University stems from growing military cooperation between Iran and Russia that has accelerated since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Iran has said it provided drones to Russia before the start of the war, but not since. However, U.S. intelligence officials have warned for months of continued deliveries and deepening cooperation between Moscow and Tehran, saying the two sides were exploring how to set up a manufacturing plant for Iranian drones inside Russia.
According to The Wall Street Journal, an Iranian delegation visited Yelabuga in Tatarstan on January 5, touring a potential site for such a factory at the Alabuga special economic zone close to Alabuga Polytechnic University. U.S. officials released satellite images in April of the plant being built.
Russia already possesses an array of unarmed aerial vehicles, or UAVs, which are used mainly for surveillance and artillery spotting, but has turned increasingly to Tehran for attack drones.
After being forced to abandon Ukrainian territory that its troops captured in the early stretches of the war, Moscow shifted to a strategy of relentless air assaults on Ukrainian cities. These attacks often rely on a combination of cruise missiles and self-detonating drones packed with explosives to knock out electricity and running water for the civilian population in Ukraine.
So far, Iran has provided Russia mostly with so-called "suicide" drones, known as the Shahed-136, that contain a modest amount of explosives that can detonate when the drones crash into targets, military experts say.
In acquiring its own domestic assembly line, Russia could dramatically increase its stockpile of the relatively inexpensive but highly destructive weapons systems.
WATCH: Russia has resorted to using Shahed-136 drones from Iran in its war on Ukraine. Ukraine says it's already downed many of the drones, which work by slamming into their intended target, laden with explosives. Ordinary Ukrainians say they can already recognize the sound of the drones, which use two-stroke engines like lawnmowers or motorbikes. Iran has denied supplying the drones to Russia.
The arrangement also offers substantial economic and political benefits for Iran, which has sought to portray itself as neutral in the Ukraine war. The appearance of Iranian-made drones over Ukrainian cities, however, has triggered threats of new economic sanctions from the West. The United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom have also all issued rules in recent months designed to cut off the flow of drone components to Russia and Iran.
The Washington Post reported in November 2022, citing unnamed U.S. intelligence officials, that the agreement to deliver Iranian drone schematics and materials for manufacture in Russia resulted from Iranian leaders believing that the arrangement would allow Tehran to avert new sanctions.
Foreign Recruitment And Patriotic Education
Alabuga Polytechnic University is formally not a college. All of its students are officially enrolled at nearby Yelabuga Polytechnic College, with the Alabuga institution existing on paper as a specialized program for students looking to break into high-tech industries.
Currently, about 1,000 students are studying at Alabuga Polytechnic University, with several hundred of them -- most of whom are between the ages of 15 and 17 -- involved in assembling the Iranian drones.
In addition to the work on the drones, there are other signs that point to blurred lines in Russia between the education system and the country’s military amid the war in Ukraine.
According to current and former Alabuga Polytechnic University students, team-building and organized extracurricular activities through the school often take on a “patriotic” character that may be designed to expose students to official government narratives of international events or echo talking points from state television.
Organized paintball games have become a mainstay for students, especially first-year arrivals, in which they are encouraged to compete against one another and then play together against more experienced outside players. Teachers and administration officials regularly refer to paintball as being part of a “patriotic” education needed to complement the technical aspect of their studies.
In one instance, a group of new students competed in paintball as Soviet soldiers against outside players who were dressed as troops from Nazi Germany in a capture-the-flag competition meant to simulate the World War II battle of Stalingrad. According to one student, the Nazi flag contained the compass symbol used by the NATO military alliance instead of the swastika used by Nazi Germany.
Other instances of political teachings from staff are more direct. In a recording obtained by RFE/RL from June 16, a senior administrator can be heard telling the teenagers that NATO launched a hybrid war against Russia back in 2011 and that it has slowly become more overt. The man then goes on to tell students that their hard work and exceeding long days at the drone factory are part of a nationwide struggle against the West and that their patriotism will be rewarded.
Several students and parents identified the man in the recording as Timur Shagivaleev, the director-general of the special economic zone where Alabuga Polytechnic University and the drone factory operate.
Shagivaleev did not respond to RFE/RL’s request for comment.
The man in the recording then goes on to tell students not to take holidays and to continue working “even if it's mom's birthday,” before ending his speech with, “Long live our great country.”
WATCH: Amid a new wave of Russian drone attacks on Ukraine, analysts in Kyiv are gaining useful intelligence from a collection of downed Russian aerial weapons. They have been studying the remains of Iranian Shahed drones and Russian Kinzhal missiles, among others.
Multiple current and former students told RFE/RL that students who work in the drone factory are often praised by staff, while those who have refused or asked to be reassigned due to the high workload are often publicly shamed. In some instances -- according to recordings heard by RFE/RL -- staff even encourage students to bully others who are not deemed “patriotic” enough.
According to Protokol and Razvorot’s investigations, Alabuga Polytechnic University has also turned toward recruiting foreign students to enroll. The majority of them come from African countries, but also from Central Asia and Azerbaijan, where they are promised “world class” salaries as part of the dual-track world experience program.
However, these foreign students are then given low-skill and menial tasks around the campus and the special economic zone, such as janitorial work, and are also paid lower salaries than initially promised.
Written by Reid Standish based on reporting by RFE/RL’s Idel.Realities


rferl--2020-04-21--Uzbek Ex-Boxing Federation Chief Fails In Bid To Get Off U.S. Sanctions List

Uzbek businessman Gafur Rakhimov has failed in his bid to have his name removed from a U.S. sanctions list for @ @ @ @ @ trafficking .
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on April 20 @ @ @ @ @ Rakhimov ’ s lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Treasury for putting his name on @ @ @ @ @ The sanctions bar U.S. citizens and companies from doing business with Rakhimov , who used @ @ @ @ @ Boxing Association ( AIBA ) before stepping down amid the controversy .
He has publicly @ @ @ @ @ his name of “ false accusations.
” With reporting by Sputnik and Urdu Point

Uzbek businessman Gafur Rakhimov has failed in his bid to have his name removed from a U.S. sanctions list for alleged links to international heroin trafficking.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on April 20 that it would not support Rakhimov’s lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Treasury for putting his name on the list in 2012.
The sanctions bar U.S. citizens and companies from doing business with Rakhimov, who used to lead the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) before stepping down amid the controversy.
He has publicly announced his intention to clear his name of “false accusations.”
With reporting by Sputnik and Urdu Point


rferl--2020-04-21--Opera Singer Arrested For Initiating Anti-Government Rallies In Russia’s North Ossetia

VLADIKAVKAZ , Russia -- Authorities in Russia 's North Caucasus region of North Ossetia have arrested opera singer Vadim Cheldiyev for initiating anti-government rallies .
Cheldiyev 's lawyer , Batraz Kulchiyev , told Current Time on April 21 that his client had launched a hunger strike to protest his two-month pretrial arrest .
Cheldiyev , who permanently resides in St. Petersburg , has called on North Ossetians to publicly protest coronavirus measures in the region and demand the resignation of regional leader Vyacheslav Bitarov and his government .
In a video statement posted on social networks , Cheldiyev claimed that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the dangers of the coronavirus in the region so that they can `` steal '' from ordinary people .
He gives no evidence of wrongdoing .
His video statements led to his detention in St. Petersburg last week .
He was charged with spreading fake news about the coronavirus and brought to North Ossetia over the weekend .
Investigators say that , during his transfer to North Ossetia , Cheldiyev punched a guard twice in the face , prompting the additional charge of assaulting a law enforcement officer .
Kulchiyev told RFE/RL on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he attacked the officer and rejects the other charge as well .
Police in North Ossetia said on April 21 that 39 protesters were detained a day earlier when about 2,000 people gathered in the central square of the regional capital , Vladikavkaz , demanding Bitarov 's resignation .
The rally lasted for several hours and police violently dispersed it by the end of the day .
Before the rally was dispersed , Bitarov and dozens of the protesters discussed local measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus in North Ossetia .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ initiative group '' consisting of representatives of the protesters will be created to look into problems caused by the coronavirus .
He promised that families with low incomes and individuals who lost their jobs because of the pandemic will receive `` all necessary assistance from the government . ''
However , on April 21 , Bitarov condemned the rally in a statement .
`` Some people ignore [ COVID-19 ] recommendations , instructions , they violate laws .
In doing so , ignorant citizens endanger not only their own health but the health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such an irresponsible attitude to be unacceptable as it poses a threat to the republic 's population , '' Bitarov said .
Bitarov also stressed that his government was doing all it can to provide families affected by the pandemic with assistance , adding that 152 families had received financial support .
As of April 1 , the number of coronavirus cases in North Ossetia was reported as 177 , including two deaths .

VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia -- Authorities in Russia's North Caucasus region of North Ossetia have arrested opera singer Vadim Cheldiyev for initiating anti-government rallies.
Cheldiyev's lawyer, Batraz Kulchiyev, told Current Time on April 21 that his client had launched a hunger strike to protest his two-month pretrial arrest.
Cheldiyev, who permanently resides in St. Petersburg, has called on North Ossetians to publicly protest coronavirus measures in the region and demand the resignation of regional leader Vyacheslav Bitarov and his government.
In a video statement posted on social networks, Cheldiyev claimed that the authorities in North Ossetia are exaggerating the dangers of the coronavirus in the region so that they can "steal" from ordinary people. He gives no evidence of wrongdoing.
His video statements led to his detention in St. Petersburg last week. He was charged with spreading fake news about the coronavirus and brought to North Ossetia over the weekend.
Investigators say that, during his transfer to North Ossetia, Cheldiyev punched a guard twice in the face, prompting the additional charge of assaulting a law enforcement officer.
Kulchiyev told RFE/RL on April 21 that his client denies that he attacked the officer and rejects the other charge as well.
Police in North Ossetia said on April 21 that 39 protesters were detained a day earlier when about 2,000 people gathered in the central square of the regional capital, Vladikavkaz, demanding Bitarov's resignation.
The rally lasted for several hours and police violently dispersed it by the end of the day.
Before the rally was dispersed, Bitarov and dozens of the protesters discussed local measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus in North Ossetia.
Bitarov said later that a special "initiative group" consisting of representatives of the protesters will be created to look into problems caused by the coronavirus.
He promised that families with low incomes and individuals who lost their jobs because of the pandemic will receive "all necessary assistance from the government."
However, on April 21, Bitarov condemned the rally in a statement.
"Some people ignore [COVID-19] recommendations, instructions, they violate laws. In doing so, ignorant citizens endanger not only their own health but the health of their loved ones. I consider such an irresponsible attitude to be unacceptable as it poses a threat to the republic's population," Bitarov said.
Bitarov also stressed that his government was doing all it can to provide families affected by the pandemic with assistance, adding that 152 families had received financial support.
As of April 1, the number of coronavirus cases in North Ossetia was reported as 177, including two deaths.
With reporting by Caucasian Knot


rferl--2020-04-21--COVID-19: Serbia To Ease Some Lockdown Measures

The global death toll from the coronavirus is more than 170,000 with some 2.5 million infections confirmed , causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the new respiratory illness .
The Serbian government will loosen strict lockdown measures implemented last month to slow the spread of the coronavirus .
Some small businesses and markets including car mechanics , shoemakers , dry cleaners , bookshops , and other services will be allowed to reopen on April 21 .
The government said businesses must enforce strict prevention measures such as wearing a face covering , gloves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cafes , restaurants , schools , and kindergartens will remain closed .
A night curfew will be shortened by one hour and an around-the-clock lockdown for people aged 65 and above will also be eased , allowing them to leave their homes for 30-minute walks on three evenings a week .
`` The government also calls on employers in the construction industry to resume work ... while adhering to protection measures and rules of social distancing , '' the government said in a statement .
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced last month some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ part of a state of emergency to slow the spread of the virus .
Over the weekend , the government imposed an 84-hour curfew to prevent socializing during Orthodox Christian Easter on April 19 .
Serbia has reported 6,630 coronavirus infections and 125 fatalities .
Based on reporting by AFP , Interfax , and Reuters

The global death toll from the coronavirus is more than 171,000 with some 2.5 million infections confirmed, causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the new respiratory illness.
Here's a roundup of COVID-19 developments in RFE/RL's broadcast regions.
Belarus
The World Health Organization (WHO) is urging the Belarusian government to introduce measures to ensure physical distancing in order to slow down the spread of the coronavirus in the country.
The recommendations were made on April 21 by a team of WHO experts who visited Belarus earlier this month to assess the country's response to the pandemic.
The number of reported coronavirus cases in Belarus is "growing rapidly," the statement said, with 6,723 cases and 55 deaths reported by the authorities as of April 21.
Despite the growing outbreak, authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has derided global concerns over COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, as "mass psychosis" and said that there was no need for strict measures to slow the spread of the virus.
In stark contrast to other European countries that have adopted strict lockdown measures to contain the epidemic, Belarus's borders remained open, factories, shops, and restaurants conduct business as usual in the country, and spectators are permitted to attend sports events, including matches in the national soccer league.
Churches remained open for Orthodox Easter on April 19, and schools were allowed to reopen this week after an extended spring break.
However, the Health Ministry has encouraged citizens to reduce their social contacts.
In their statement, the WHO experts said Minsk needed to postpone "large gatherings," including sporting, religious, and cultural events, and place in quarantine "contacts of confirmed patients and people potentially exposed to the virus," they said in a statement.
They said the authorities should also introduce options "for teleworking, and distance learning for schools, universities and other educational institutions," suspend "nonessential business," and reduce "nonessential movements, especially for high-risk groups."
Tajikistan
As the coronavirus pandemic has already infected more than 2.5 million people across the world and killed over 171,000, civil rights activists in Tajikistan are raising concerns about a possible unreported outbreak of the virus in the country.
Tajikistan has not officially declared any cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the virus, but experts are skeptical of the claim, given the lack of transparency within the government and a lack of independent media.
Underscoring the level of distrust toward Tajikistan's authorities, 18 local civil-rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and individual activists on April 20 asked the Health Ministry to answer a series of questions to help clarify the epidemiological situation in the country.
In an open letter, the NGOs asked the ministry to publish statistics on cases of pneumonia, tuberculosis, and other respiratory illnesses for the first quarter of 2019 and 2020 in order to make a comparative analysis.
In recent weeks, a number of deaths in Tajikistan that were officially attributed to pneumonia, tuberculosis, and influenza have sparked concerns about a possible coronavirus outbreak in the Central Asian country.
The 18 NGOs also raised concerns about the reliability of Chinese and Russian testing kits used in Tajikistan for coronavirus.
"Do the [testing kits] have an international certificate of quality and are they certified in Tajikistan? Were they approved by [the World Health Organization]?" their letter asks.
Elsewhere in Central Asia, authoritarian Turkmenistan also has not officially declared any coronavirus cases.
In neighboring Uzbekistan, officials have reported 1,657 confirmed cases and six deaths.
The official number of people infected in Kazakhstan stands at 1,967, with 19 deaths.
In Kyrgyzstan, 590 people have officially been infected, seven of whom died.
Georgia
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has signed a decree to extend until May 22 a state of emergency that had been declared in a bid to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The presidential decree, which was signed on April 21, is to come into force after parliament approves it.
Zurabishvili explained her decision by saying that the virus was expected to continue spreading in the South Caucasus country for "the next two-three weeks."
She also said that Georgia had been able to "control" the extent of the epidemic since a one-month state of emergency was declared on March 21.
Georgian health authorities have reported 408 confirmed coronavirus cases, including four deaths. More than 4,700 people are currently in quarantine.
Parliament speaker Mamuka Mdinaradze has said that the ruling majority in parliament would support the extension of the state of emergency, which includes a night curfew and the closure of nonessential shops, restaurants, and cafes.
A nationwide ban on driving cars and other private vehicles has also been imposed.
Serbia
The Serbian government will loosen strict lockdown measures implemented last month to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Some small businesses and markets including car mechanics, shoemakers, dry cleaners, bookshops, and other services will be allowed to reopen on April 21.
The government said businesses must enforce strict prevention measures such as wearing a face covering, gloves, and disinfecting. Shopping malls, cafes, restaurants, schools, and kindergartens will remain closed.
A night curfew will be shortened by one hour and an around-the-clock lockdown for people aged 65 and above will also be eased, allowing them to leave their homes for 30-minute walks on three evenings a week.
"The government also calls on employers in the construction industry to resume work... while adhering to protection measures and rules of social distancing," the government said in a statement.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced last month some of the strictest measures in Europe as part of a state of emergency to slow the spread of the virus.
Over the weekend, the government imposed an 84-hour curfew to prevent socializing during Orthodox Christian Easter on April 19.
Serbia has reported 6,630 coronavirus infections and 125 fatalities.
Armenia
Authorities have sealed off a small town and an adjacent village in Armenia’s northwestern Shirak province after 18 employees of a local hospital tested positive for the coronavirus.
All roads leading to the town of Maralik were blocked by police checkpoints on April 20.
“We only let through people with special permission,” a policeman manning one of the checkpoints told RFE/RL.
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian, who is overseeing the enforcement of the coronavirus-related state of emergency in Armenia, announced the decision to lock down Maralik and the adjacent village of Dzorakap on April 18 after 18 coronavirus cases were confirmed among the 61-member staff of a local hospital.
The head of the regional administration’s health-care department, Leyli Aslanian, told RFE/RL on April 20 that two local residents have died from COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, one of whom was the father of an infected nurse working at the Maralik hospital.
Health authorities in Armenia said on April 21 that the number of registered coronavirus cases in the country totaled 1,401, including 24 deaths.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Armenian, Belarus, Georgian, and Tajik services, AP, AFP, Interfax, and Reuters


rferl--2020-04-21--Coronavirus Outbreak Amplifying Threats To Press Freedom, Media Watchdog Finds

The coronavirus pandemic is expanding threats to media freedom around the world , where authoritarian regimes such as China and Iran are stifling details of the outbreak , Reporters Without Borders ( RSF ) says in its annual press freedom rankings .
The outbreak is `` highlighting and amplifying the many crises '' already casting a shadow on press freedom , the Paris-based RSF said on April 21 , adding that the pandemic had encouraged some regimes to `` take advantage of the fact that people are stunned '' to impose measures `` that would be impossible to adopt in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Korea were placed at the bottom of the list of 180 countries .
Norway topped the index for the fourth year in a row , and Finland was again the runner-up .
The report , titled Entering A Decisive Decade For Journalism , Exacerbated By Coronavirus , said China and Iran -- in 177th and 173rd place , respectively -- were censoring major coronavirus outbreaks .
The communist regime in Beijing `` maintains its system of information hyper-control , whose negative effects for the entire world have been seen during the coronavirus public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pointing to accusations that China concealed the initial extent of the outbreak .
Russia , in 149th place , is continuing `` efforts to control the Internet , using ever more elaborate methods , '' the report said , pointing to legislation that would allow the country to disconnect the Russian Internet from the rest of the world .
RSF said `` the closure of the national Internet '' is already a reality in Turkmenistan , where the few users are allowed to view only a highly censored version of the Internet , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is checked .
It also pointed to media censorship in EU member Hungary , where right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban 's government has passed a special law on false information that was a `` completely disproportionate and coercive measure . ''
`` Almost everywhere in Eastern Europe and Central Asia , strongmen are consolidating their grip on news and information , '' RSF said .
Published annually by RSF since 2002 , the World Press Freedom Index analyzes factors such as media independence , self-censorship , the legal framework , and transparency based @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

The coronavirus pandemic is expanding threats to media freedom around the world, where authoritarian regimes such as China and Iran are stifling details of the outbreak, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says in its annual press freedom rankings.
The outbreak is "highlighting and amplifying the many crises" already casting a shadow on press freedom, the Paris-based RSF said on April 21, adding that the pandemic had encouraged some regimes to "take advantage of the fact that people are stunned" to impose measures "that would be impossible to adopt in normal times."
Turkmenistan and North Korea were placed at the bottom of the list of 180 countries. Norway topped the index for the fourth year in a row, and Finland was again the runner-up.
The report, titled Entering A Decisive Decade For Journalism, Exacerbated By Coronavirus, said China and Iran -- in 177th and 173rd place, respectively -- were censoring major coronavirus outbreaks.
The communist regime in Beijing "maintains its system of information hyper-control, whose negative effects for the entire world have been seen during the coronavirus public health crisis," it said, pointing to accusations that China concealed the initial extent of the outbreak.
Russia, in 149th place, is continuing "efforts to control the Internet, using ever more elaborate methods," the report said, pointing to legislation that would allow the country to disconnect the Russian Internet from the rest of the world.
RSF said "the closure of the national Internet" is already a reality in Turkmenistan, where the few users are allowed to view only a highly censored version of the Internet, often in public outlets where their identity is checked.
It also pointed to media censorship in EU member Hungary, where right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government has passed a special law on false information that was a "completely disproportionate and coercive measure."
"Almost everywhere in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, strongmen are consolidating their grip on news and information," RSF said.
Published annually by RSF since 2002, the World Press Freedom Index analyzes factors such as media independence, self-censorship, the legal framework, and transparency based on a questionnaire filled out by experts.
With reporting by AFP


rferl--2020-04-21--U.S. Nominates First Ambassador To Belarus In Over A Decade

The United States has named its first ambassador to Belarus in more than a decade in the latest sign of warming relations between the two countries .
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on April 20 that he intended to nominate career diplomat Julie Fisher , a top State Department official for Europe , to the embassy in Minsk .
Fisher previously held assignments at NATO and served in Russia , Georgia , and Ukraine .
The Senate must first approve her appointment , but it ’ s unclear when hearings will be held as lawmakers are grappling with the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trail .
The United States recalled its ambassador to Minsk in 2008 when authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka ordered a reduction of U.S. diplomatic staff in the country .
The deterioration in relations came after Washington imposed sanctions in response to human rights abuses and a political crackdown around the 2006 Belarusian presidential election .
Since then , both countries ' embassies have been represented at the chargés d'affaires level .
In the first visit to Belarus by a top U.S. diplomat since 1994 , Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in February met with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ States sought closer ties with the country .
The rapprochement between the United States and Belarus comes as Minsk balances political and economic reliance on neighboring Russia with a desire to foster closer ties with the West .
While the United States says Belarus doesn ’ t need to choose between Moscow and Washington , Pompeo said in February that the United States `` wants to help Belarus build its own sovereign country . ''
Pompeo also said the United States would continue to push for human rights reforms while developing economic ties @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time Belarus has been in a long-running pricing dispute with Russia .
The row over oil comes amid a broader dispute between Moscow and Minsk in which Lukashenka has accused the Kremlin of trying to pressure Belarus into a deeper union with Russia .
The United States and Belarus first announced plans to exchange ambassadors in September 2019 when top State Department official David Hale met with Lukashenka in Minsk .
Washington , in another boost to its ties with Belarus , on January 31 omitted it from a list of countries under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ possible inclusion .
The United States and the European Union also eased sanctions on Belarus in 2016 .

The United States has named its first ambassador to Belarus in more than a decade in the latest sign of warming relations between the two countries.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on April 20 that he intended to nominate career diplomat Julie Fisher, a top State Department official for Europe, to the embassy in Minsk.
Fisher previously held assignments at NATO and served in Russia, Georgia, and Ukraine. The Senate must first approve her appointment, but it’s unclear when hearings will be held as lawmakers are grappling with the coronavirus pandemic and will later hit the election trail.
The United States recalled its ambassador to Minsk in 2008 when authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka ordered a reduction of U.S. diplomatic staff in the country.
The deterioration in relations came after Washington imposed sanctions in response to human rights abuses and a political crackdown around the 2006 Belarusian presidential election. Since then, both countries' embassies have been represented at the chargés d'affaires level.
In the first visit to Belarus by a top U.S. diplomat since 1994, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in February met with Lukashenka in Minsk and said the United States sought closer ties with the country.
The rapprochement between the United States and Belarus comes as Minsk balances political and economic reliance on neighboring Russia with a desire to foster closer ties with the West.
While the United States says Belarus doesn’t need to choose between Moscow and Washington, Pompeo said in February that the United States "wants to help Belarus build its own sovereign country."
Pompeo also said the United States would continue to push for human rights reforms while developing economic ties, including U.S. oil exports at a time Belarus has been in a long-running pricing dispute with Russia.
The row over oil comes amid a broader dispute between Moscow and Minsk in which Lukashenka has accused the Kremlin of trying to pressure Belarus into a deeper union with Russia.
The United States and Belarus first announced plans to exchange ambassadors in September 2019 when top State Department official David Hale met with Lukashenka in Minsk.
Washington, in another boost to its ties with Belarus, on January 31 omitted it from a list of countries under a travel ban after earlier signaling its possible inclusion.
The United States and the European Union also eased sanctions on Belarus in 2016.
With reporting by AFP


rferl--2020-04-20--Kosovo's Kurti Accuses U.S. Envoy Of 'Direct Involvement' In Collapse Of His Government

BELGRADE -- Kosovo 's acting prime minister , Albin Kurti , has accused a U.S. envoy of being `` directly involved '' in the overthrow of his government less than two months after he took office as premier .
Kurti 's government was brought down in late March by a no-confidence vote initiated by its junior coalition partner late last month , plunging the Balkan country into a political crisis .
Speaking during a video press conference with foreign media on April 20 , Kurti said Richard Grenell -- U.S. President Donald Trump 's special envoy to Kosovo-Serbia talks -- @ @ @ @ @ @ @ partner to quit their alliance .
Kurti , who remains as head of the government in a caretaker role , said his government `` wasn ’ t overthrown for anything else but simply because Ambassador Grenell is in a rush to sign a deal with Serbia , which I strongly believe is harmful since it includes territorial exchange . ''
The U.S. ambassador , who has been working on a potential deal for Serbia to recognize Kosovo , denied the accusation on Twitter , saying : “ There has been absolutely no talk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s never been discussed by anyone else in my presence .
We have said this many times . ''
Kurti also accused Grenell of trying to push through a `` quick deal '' to score political points ahead of the U.S. presidential election later this year , in which Trump is seeking reelection .
An agreement normalizing relations between Kosovo and Serbia would be seen as a diplomatic success for the White House , which has pushed for an agreement to be worked out this year .
Kosovo , a former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2008 in a move rejected by Belgrade .
There has long been speculation that Serbian and Kosovar leaders were considering an agreement that would involve trading pockets of territory as part of a process to normalize relations between the two countries .
Kurti 's political future remains unclear .
President Hashim Thaci has said he would start the process to form a new government this week , while the acting prime minister has called for fresh elections instead .
With reporting by AFP and AP


rferl--2020-04-20--Price Of Oil Futures Plummets Below Zero For First Time

Oil futures on April 20 dipped into negative territory for the first time ever as the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic left traders desperate to avoid taking delivery of physical crude .
U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate for May delivery ended trading at minus $ 37.63 per barrel ahead of the April 21 close for futures contracts .
June contracts were still above $ 21 a barrel .
Meanwhile , Brent Crude , the benchmark used by Europe and the rest of the world , was down almost 9 percent at less than $ 26 a barrel .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the ongoing widespread economic slowdown caused by governments imposing restrictions on businesses and individuals in a bid to curtail the spread of the coronavirus .
It also coincides with the surge in supplies by major oil-producing countries that occurred after Russia and OPEC failed in March to agree on a deal to cut production , prompting a price war .
Moscow and Saudi Arabia -- the world 's biggest oil producer -- later reversed course and reached agreement to limit some pumping , but that has done little to stop the drop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ begun to worry governments that rely on revenues from oil and gas exports .
That includes both Russia and Saudi Arabia , as well as Venezuela and Iran .
Based on reporting by AFP , AP , the BBC , and Bloomberg


rferl--2020-04-22--Pirates Take Russian, Ukrainian, and Bulgarian Hostages Off West Africa Coast

Pirates have attacked a Portugal-flagged container ship off the coast of Benin and kidnapped eight crew members , including three @ @ @ @ @ and the Bulgarian captain .
Shipping firm Transeste said pirates boarded the Tommi Ritscher vessel @ @ @ @ @ coast of the West African country .
Eleven crew members were able to hide in @ @ @ @ @ and were later freed in a joint Benin Navy and Nigerian Special Forces operation .
@ @ @ @ @ members remain missing and are now believed to have been kidnapped by the pirates , @ @ @ @ @ on April 21 .
The Russian Embassy in Benin and Togo confirmed three Russian citizens @ @ @ @ @ Bulgaria 's Foreign Ministry said the pirates also captured the Bulgarian captain of the ship @ @ @ @ @ its citizens was kidnapped .
The Gulf of Guinea is a center of global pirate @ @ @ @ @ kidnapping for ransom .
With reporting by AFP , TASS , and Reuters

Pirates have attacked a Portugal-flagged container ship off the coast of Benin and kidnapped eight crew members, including three Russians, one Ukrainian, and the Bulgarian captain.
Shipping firm Transeste said pirates boarded the Tommi Ritscher vessel on April 19 off the coast of the West African country.
Eleven crew members were able to hide in the ship’s citadel and were later freed in a joint Benin Navy and Nigerian Special Forces operation.
"Regrettably, eight crew members remain missing and are now believed to have been kidnapped by the pirates," the Hamburg-based firm said on April 21.
The Russian Embassy in Benin and Togo confirmed that three Russian citizens were among the hostages.
Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry said the pirates also captured the Bulgarian captain of the ship. Ukraine said one of its citizens was kidnapped.
The Gulf of Guinea is a center of global pirate attacks, looting, and kidnapping for ransom.
Based on reporting by AFP, TASS, and Reuters