rferl--2020-09-03--Uzbeks Among Alleged IS Members Apprehended In Turkey

Several Uzbek nationals have been arrested along with dozens of other alleged members and supporters of the Islamic State ( IS ) group in Turkey .
The arrests on September 1-2 in the cities of Istanbul , Adana , Gaziantep , and Hatay were conducted following the arrest of Mahmut Ozden , whom Turkish investigators call the top IS figure in the country .
An official at the Turkish Foreign Ministry told RFE/RL on September 2 that at least 20 Uzbek citizens and other individuals arrested in the special operation by Turkey 's security service , are suspected of providing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ calls `` the amir , '' or ruler , of Turkey .
According to the official , the special operation was held after investigators found the names and addresses of suspects in computers and other electronic devices confiscated from Ozden .
Representatives of two humanitarian organizations based in Turkey also told RFE/RL that there were Uzbek nationals among the suspected IS members arrested by police .
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced on September 1 that Ozden had been apprehended the day before .
The Interior Ministry said later that Ozden and his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Istanbul 's historic Hagia Sofia -- the former Orthodox Christian cathedral and museum that Turkey recently reconverted into a mosque .
IS has conducted many attacks across Turkey , including on a nightclub in Istanbul on January 1 , 2017 , in which 39 people were killed .
Uzbek citizen Abdulkadir Masharipov was identified by Turkish police as the man who carried out that attack and sentenced to life in prison by a Turkish court .
With reporting by CNN Turk and Hurriyet

Several Uzbek nationals have been arrested along with dozens of other alleged members and supporters of the Islamic State (IS) group in Turkey.
The arrests on September 1-2 in the cities of Istanbul, Adana, Gaziantep, and Hatay were conducted following the arrest of Mahmut Ozden, whom Turkish investigators call the top IS figure in the country.
An official at the Turkish Foreign Ministry told RFE/RL on September 2 that at least 20 Uzbek citizens and other individuals arrested in the special operation by Turkey's security service, are suspected of providing assistance to Ozden, whom the IS calls "the amir," or ruler, of Turkey.
According to the official, the special operation was held after investigators found the names and addresses of suspects in computers and other electronic devices confiscated from Ozden.
Representatives of two humanitarian organizations based in Turkey also told RFE/RL that there were Uzbek nationals among the suspected IS members arrested by police.
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced on September 1 that Ozden had been apprehended the day before.
The Interior Ministry said later that Ozden and his people planned a massive terrorist act at Istanbul's historic Hagia Sofia -- the former Orthodox Christian cathedral and museum that Turkey recently reconverted into a mosque.
IS has conducted many attacks across Turkey, including on a nightclub in Istanbul on January 1, 2017, in which 39 people were killed.
Uzbek citizen Abdulkadir Masharipov was identified by Turkish police as the man who carried out that attack and sentenced to life in prison by a Turkish court.
With reporting by CNN Turk and Hurriyet


rferl--2020-09-03--Russian Actor, Kremlin Critic Yefremov Admits Guilt In Deadly Traffic Accident

Russian actor Mikhail Yefremov , an outspoken Kremlin critic who is charged with killing a person while driving under the influence of alcohol , has admitted his guilt .
`` I have a statement to make .
Your honor , I plead guilty , '' Yefremov said as his trial continued on September 3 .
Since the trial started on August 5 , Yefremov had pleaded not guilty , insisting that he could n't remember anything that took place in the evening of June 8 .
The prosecutor at the trial stated on September 3 that Yefremov 's guilt had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ witnesses .
Three witnesses testified that Yefremov was not alone in his car when it hit another vehicle in June , one of whom said Yefremov was not driving his SUV , while one testified that Yefremov came out of the car from the passenger side after the collision .
If convicted , Yefremov , who in recent years has criticized the Kremlin in his one-man performances , faces up to 12 years in prison .
Police say Yefremov was inebriated when he drove his car at high speed into an oncoming lane @ @ @ @ @ @ @ June 8 , hitting another car .
Yefremov did not suffer any injuries in the accident , but the driver of the other vehicle , identified as 57-year-old Sergei Zakharov , was rushed to hospital with multiple injuries and died hours later .
After Zakharov was pronounced dead , Yefremov was charged with `` causing a deadly traffic accident while driving under the influence '' and later placed under house arrest .
Authorities later said that medical tests confirmed that Yefremov had traces of drugs , including cocaine , in his blood at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the 56-year-old Yefremov satirizing President Vladimir Putin and his policies have been very popular in recent years .
With reporting by TASS and RIA Novosti

The prosecutor in the high-profile trial of Russian actor Mikhail Yefremov, an outspoken Kremlin critic who is charged with killing a person while driving under the influence of alcohol, has asked the court to sentence him to 11 years in prison.
Prosecutor Diana Galiullina made the request at Moscow’s Presnensky district court on September 3 after Yefremov admitted he was guilty.
"I have a statement to make. Your honor, I plead guilty," Yefremov said.
Since the trial started on August 5, Yefremov had pleaded not guilty, insisting that he couldn't remember anything that took place in the evening of June 8.
The prosecutor at the trial stated on September 3 that Yefremov's guilt had been proven by testimony from police and witnesses.
Three witnesses testified that Yefremov was not alone in his car when it hit another vehicle in June, one of whom said Yefremov was not driving his SUV, while one testified that Yefremov came out of the car from the passenger side after the collision.
If convicted, Yefremov, who in recent years has criticized the Kremlin in his one-man performances, faces up to 12 years in prison.
Police say Yefremov was inebriated when he drove his car at high speed into an oncoming lane in central Moscow on the evening of June 8, hitting another car.
Yefremov did not suffer any injuries in the accident, but the driver of the other vehicle, identified as 57-year-old Sergei Zakharov, was rushed to hospital with multiple injuries and died hours later.
After Zakharov was pronounced dead, Yefremov was charged with "causing a deadly traffic accident while driving under the influence" and later placed under house arrest.
Authorities later said that medical tests confirmed that Yefremov had traces of drugs, including cocaine, in his blood at the moment of the accident.
Performances by the 56-year-old Yefremov satirizing President Vladimir Putin and his policies have been very popular in recent years.
With reporting by TASS and RIA Novosti


rferl--2020-09-03--Kabul Says Almost All Taliban Prisoners Released, Ready For Talks

KABUL -- Afghan authorities say they expect peace negotiations to start soon after they released the remaining 400 Taliban prisoners they had been detaining , except `` a few '' because of opposition from other countries .
Kabul this week pressed ahead with the release of a group of 400 `` hard-core '' Taliban inmates as part of a prisoner swap that has been key to the launch of stalled peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the militant group in the Qatari capital , Doha .
`` The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has received our commandos held hostage by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the remaining 400 convicts , except the few for which our partners have reservations , '' National Security Council spokesman Javid Faisal tweeted on September 3 .
`` Diplomatic efforts are ongoing .
We expect direct talks to start promptly , '' Faisal added .
Australia and France are reportedly opposed to the release of at least seven Taliban prisoners jailed for killing foreign soldiers in Afghanistan .
An Afghan government source told RFE/RL that the seven would be transferred to Qatar , where they will remain under U.S. surveillance until the issue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as confirming the prisoners had been freed and that those who raised concerns were still in government custody .
It was earlier reported that the Taliban were holding more than 20 Afghan commandos in captivity .
Kabul 's announcement comes as a technical team from the government is in Doha , where the militant group has a political office , to prepare the ground for long-delayed talks to end nearly two decades of war in Afghanistan .
Kabul 's main team of negotiators will also leave for Qatar `` very soon , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ immediately clear when the talks would start .
`` The Afghan government has removed all the obstacles for the direct talks to start , '' said Najia Anwari , a spokeswoman for the State Ministry for Peace Affairs .
`` The negotiation team of the Islamic republic is now in full preparation to attend the talks , '' she added .
The Taliban has said it was willing to begin peace talks after the prisoner exchange is completed , and blamed Kabul for delaying the negotiations .
The process is part of an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ United States in February in an effort to end the Afghan conflict .

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--2020-09-03--Date Set For Trial Of Alleged Killer of Former Chechen Rebel Commander In Berlin

A date has been set for the trial of a Russian citizen suspected in killing of a Georgian national and @ @ @ @ @ Berlin in last year .
Berlin 's regional court said on September 2 that it @ @ @ @ @ October 7 against 55-year-old Vadim Krasikov , who is charged with killing Zelimkhan Khangoshvili .
@ @ @ @ @ in the head in Berlin 's Kleiner Tiergarten park on August 23 , 2019 .
@ @ @ @ @ separatists in Russia 's North Caucasus region of Chechnya and later resided in Georgia .
@ @ @ @ @ to Germany with his family , where he had been seeking asylum .
German prosecutors @ @ @ @ @ the killing , which Kremlin has denied .
Russian President Vladimir Putin , who will @ @ @ @ @ the day when Krasikov 's trial starts , has publicly called Khangoshvili `` a militant @ @ @ @ @ dozens of people during the military conflict in Chechnya . ''
The investigative website Bellingcat @ @ @ @ @ a contract killer who grew up in Kazakhstan .

A date has been set for the trial of a Russian citizen suspected in killing of a Georgian national and former Chechen rebel commander in Berlin in last year.
Berlin's regional court said on September 2 that it will start the trial on October 7 against 55-year-old Vadim Krasikov, who is charged with killing Zelimkhan Khangoshvili.
.
Khangoshvili was shot twice in the head in Berlin's Kleiner Tiergarten park on August 23, 2019.
Khangoshvili had previously fought alongside separatists in Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya and later resided in Georgia. Years later, he moved to Germany with his family, where he had been seeking asylum.
German prosecutors have accused Russia of ordering the killing, which Kremlin has denied.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will mark his 68th birthday on the day when Krasikov's trial starts, has publicly called Khangoshvili "a militant, involved in killings of dozens of people during the military conflict in Chechnya."
The investigative website Bellingcat has said that Krasikov was a contract killer who grew up in Kazakhstan.
With reporting by Deutsche Welle


rferl--2020-09-03--Russia Resumes International Flights To Egypt, U.A.E., Maldives

MOSCOW -- Russia is resuming international flights with Egypt , the United Arab Emirates ( U.A.E . )
, and @ @ @ @ @ Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed an order , published on September 3 authorizing three flights @ @ @ @ @ capital , Cairo , as well as two flights a week to Dubai , U.A.E.
@ @ @ @ @ 's Velana International Airport .
The frequency of air service to Switzerland are to be @ @ @ @ @ flights a week .
Russia 's anti-coronavirus crisis center will continue to `` monitor the @ @ @ @ @ the list of countries with which air traffic can be resumed , '' according to @ @ @ @ @ service between Russia and other countries was halted at the end of March due to @ @ @ @ @ , regular flights to the Belarusian capital , Minsk , continued until mid-summer .
On @ @ @ @ @ allowed flights to Britain , Tanzania , and Turkey to resume .
Air service was @ @ @ @ @ in mid-August .

MOSCOW -- Russia is resuming international flights with Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), and the Maldives.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed an order, published on September 3 authorizing three flights a week to the Egyptian capital, Cairo, as well as two flights a week to Dubai, U.A.E., and to the Maldives's Velana International Airport.
The frequency of air service to Switzerland are to be increased from one to four flights a week.
RFE/RL's Coronavirus Crisis Archive Features and analysis, videos, and infographics explore how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the countries in our region.
Russia's anti-coronavirus crisis center will continue to "monitor the situation and work on expanding the list of countries with which air traffic can be resumed," according to the order.
Regular air service between Russia and other countries was halted at the end of March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, regular flights to the Belarusian capital, Minsk, continued until mid-summer.
On August 1, the government allowed flights to Britain, Tanzania, and Turkey to resume.
Air service was restored between Russia and Switzerland in mid-August.
With reporting by TASS


rferl--2020-09-03--Iranian Press-Freedom Awardee Sentenced To More Than Four Years In Prison

Iranian journalist Mohammad Mosaed has been sentenced to four years and nine months in prison in what the Committee to Protect Journalists ( CPJ ) described as a further attempt by the authorities to try to `` suppress the truth . ''
Tehran 's Islamic Revolutionary Court also banned Mosaed from conducting journalism activities and from using all communications devices for two years , the journalist tweeted on September 2 .
`` From the judge 's point of view my media activity is 'creating crisis , ' 'instigating an empty-minded audience , ' and 'distorting reality , ' '' wrote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will be honored with the CPJ 's 2020 International Press Freedom Award in November .
CPJ “ strongly condemns ” the harsh sentence handed down to Mosaed for “ simply informing Iranians about events of national importance , ” the New York based media-freedom watchdog 's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator Sherif Mansour said in a statement .
“ Accusing Mosaed of creating a crisis through his reporting is just the latest in the Iranian government 's hypocritical approach to journalism .
Banning Mosaed from using communication devices is a farcical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ desperate the government is to suppress the truth , '' Mansour added .
CPJ quoted a source familiar with the case as saying that Mosaed was sentenced on August 25 , a week after being charged with `` colluding against national security '' and `` spreading propaganda against the system . ''
Mosaed and his lawyer plan to appeal the sentence , according to the source , who said the journalist was charged in connection with two past arrests .
He was first detained in November last year , after he posted on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the government amid widespread protests over high gas prices .
Mosaed was transferred to Evin prison , where he was held for 16 days before he was released on bail .
And in February , he was arrested again and detained for several hours after he posted criticism of the government on social media , according to the CPJ .
While he was in custody , authorities ordered him to delete his Telegram channel and suspended his Twitter account .
CPJ will honor Mosaed and three other International Press Freedom awardees on November @ @ @ @ @ @ @ due to the coronavirus pandemic .
The other awardees who have been `` arrested or faced criminal prosecution in reprisal for their reporting '' are Russian journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva , Shahidul Alam of Bangladesh , and Dapo Olorunyomi of Nigeria .

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--2020-09-03--Russian PM In Minsk As Belarus Looks To Ally For Help

MINSK -- Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has arrived in Minsk as Belarus 's beleaguered authoritarian leader , Alyaksandr Lukashenka , pivots to Moscow to overcome weeks of protests and international isolation over an election widely viewed as rigged .
Unprecedented daily protests against Lukashenka since the August 9 vote are being closely watched in Russia , which for years has pushed for closer economic and political integration between the two ex-Soviet countries despite finding an often difficult and resistant partner in the Belarusian leader .
The protests and associated crackdown have also upended Lukashenka 's nascent rapprochement with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ used to balance ties with its much larger eastern neighbor .
Mishustin 's visit to Minsk is to pave the way for a meeting between Lukashenka and Russian President Vladimir Putin within the next two weeks , Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow on September 2 .
`` This underlines our mutual disposition to further develop equal , mutually beneficial relations , including within the framework of the union state , '' said Lavrov , who was meeting with Belarusian Foreign Minister Uladzimer Makey .
Lavrov criticized `` destructive '' Western @ @ @ @ @ @ @ warned that Moscow would respond `` firmly and with dignity '' to any attempts to destabilize Belarus or loosen its strong ties to Russia .
Makey thanked Russia for supporting Minsk in the face of what he described as protests orchestrated from abroad .
Separately , Belarusian Defense Minister Viktar Khrenin will visit Russia on September 4 .
Khrenin will take part in a meeting of defense ministers of post-Soviet countries , his office said in a statement .
Hundreds of thousands of citizens have taken to the streets across Belarus to protest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lukashenka more than 80 percent of the vote .
The protesters are calling on Lukashenka to step down after 26 years in power , release all political prisoners , and hold free and fair elections .
In response , Lukashenka has intensified a crackdown on protesters and mobilized the army , claiming NATO members are plotting a `` color revolution '' to topple him and planning to use Belarus as a geopolitical launching pad to undermine Russia .
On September 3 , the official BelTa news agency reported that Lukashenka had appointed new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ service , the Security Council , and the State Control Committee .
Meanwhile , the Interior Ministry said that 24 people were detained the previous day for taking part in unregistered protests across the country .
Sixteen of them will remain in custody until courts hear their cases , the ministry said .
News has emerged that two members of the opposition Coordinating Council 's presidium will be tried again for allegedly violating the law on organizing mass events .
Volha Kovalkova and Syarhey Dyleuski , who is also a strike organizer , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ September 3 after serving 10 days in jail on a similar charge .
The Coordination Council said another detained member of its presidium , Lilia Vlasova , had been charged with tax evasion , according to Interfax .
The authorities have also launched a case against Viktar Kuvshinau , a manager of software company PandaDoc in Minsk , for alleged financial crimes , his wife said .
Kuvshinau had helped teachers who were members of election commissions and witnessed instances of fraud to file complaints with law enforcement agencies .
He also assisted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ finding a new post .
PandaDoc CEO Mikita Mikado has launched an initiative to help law enforcement officers who leave the service .
Analysts say Putin is struggling with the difficult balancing act of calculating whether Russia can extract demands from an increasingly weak Lukashenka with its interest in not isolating a Belarusian public and opposition that is so far not hostile to Russia .
Putin last week raised the possibility of sending military support if Belarus `` starts to get out of control '' and `` extremist elements in Belarus cross the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' In an interview with RFE/RL on August 28 , Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya , the self-exiled presidential candidate who has become an unlikely leader of the Belarusian opposition , said deploying Russian forces in her country would be a mistake .
`` This is our internal problem , an internal issue that Belarusians must resolve with the Belarusian government , '' said Tsikhanouskaya , who claims to have won 60 to 70 percent of the vote .
George Kent , U.S. deputy assistant secretary overseeing policy toward Belarus at the State Department , said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2 that the United States and its allies would have a tough response if Russia intervened in Belarus .
He said that if Moscow thought relations with the West the last few years had been bad , `` it can get worse . ''
Lukashenka 's government has `` lost all legitimacy in the eyes '' of the Belarusian people and it would be `` catastrophic '' for Russia 's image in Belarus to intervene militarily on his behalf , he said .
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on September 2 that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ end to the violent crackdown by Belarus 's government on opposition supporters and was in consultation with its transatlantic partners over a response .
The European Union has been working on a list of individuals to target with sanctions .
With reporting by AFP , Reuters , and dpa

MINSK -- Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin held talks in Belarus on September 3 as authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka pivots to Moscow to overcome weeks of protests and international isolation over an election widely viewed as rigged.
Unprecedented daily protests against Lukashenka since the August 9 vote are being closely watched in Russia, which for years has pushed for closer economic and political integration between the two ex-Soviet countries despite finding an often difficult and resistant partner in the Belarusian leader.
The protests and associated crackdown have also upended Lukashenka’s nascent rapprochement with the West, which the Belarusian president had used to balance ties with its much larger eastern neighbor.
Mishustin's one-day visit to Minsk focused on economic and energy issues, the two sides said. During a meeting with Lukashenka, Mishustin noted progress in strengthening the two countries' union agreement envisaging close political, economic, and military ties.
The visit paves the way for a planned meeting between Lukashenka and Russian President Vladimir Putin within the next two weeks, officials have said. Separately, Belarus's Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin will visit Russia on September 4.
Hundreds of thousands of citizens have taken to the streets across Belarus to protest the "rigged" results that gave Lukashenka more than 80 percent of the vote. The protesters are calling on Lukashenka to step down after 26 years in power, release all political prisoners, and hold free and fair elections.
In response, Lukashenka has intensified a crackdown on protesters and mobilized the army, claiming NATO members are plotting a "color revolution" to topple him and planning to use Belarus as a geopolitical launching pad to undermine Russia.
"The country is working, although many, especially our neighbors, would like us to collapse," Lukashenka said after meeting with the Russian prime minister, referring to the European Union states bordering Belarus and ongoing protests.
"This lesson should incentivize the two brotherly countries, Belarus and Russia, to draw relevant conclusions," he said. "And to reach agreements on many issues on which we previously could not agree.”
Analysts say Putin is struggling with the difficult balancing act of calculating whether Russia can extract demands from an increasingly weak Lukashenka with its interest in not isolating a Belarusian public and opposition that is so far not hostile to Russia.
Putin last week raised the possibility of sending military support if Belarus "starts to get out of control” and “extremist elements in Belarus cross the line and begin acts of looting.”
George Kent, U.S. deputy assistant secretary overseeing policy toward Belarus at the State Department, said at a conference in Washington on September 2 that the United States and its allies would have a tough response if Russia intervenes in Belarus.
He said that if Moscow thinks relations with the West the last few years have been bad, "it can get worse."
Lukashenka's government has "lost all legitimacy in the eyes" of the Belarusian people and it would be "catastrophic" for Russia's image in Belarus to intervene militarily on his behalf, he said.
In response to Mishustin’s visit, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the self-exiled presidential candidate who has become an unlikely leader of the Belarusian opposition, suggested any agreements between Lukashenka and Russia would be void.
“Sovereignty cannot be the subject of negotiations or bargaining. I doubt that any decisions and agreements that can be signed by Lukashenka will be recognized by the new government. The reason for this is known: the people have refused to trust Lukashenka,” she said via her Telegram channel.
Tsikhanouskaya, who claims to have won 60 to 70 percent of the vote, has previously told RFE/RL that the Belarusian opposition has no issues with Russia and would like every country to respect its sovereignty and the will of the people.
Earlier on September 3, the official BelTa news agency reported that Lukashenka has appointed new heads for the country’s KGB security service, the Security Council, and the State Control Committee. Retaining the loyalty of the security forces, who have helped him crack down hard on dissent, is vital to Lukashenka maintaining control of the situation.
Thousands of people have been detained during protests after the election. UN human rights investigators said on they had received reports of hundreds of cases of torture, beatings, and mistreatment.
Meanwhile, another 10 people were detained at peaceful protests on September 3, the Vyasna human right center said.
As authorities try to stifle the spread of information, they have revoked the accreditation of many Belarusian journalists and deported some foreign journalists. Several Belarusian journalists were detained earlier this week and charged with taking part in unsanctioned protests.
Two popular TV anchors who resigned from state TV in solidarity with the protesters have also been detained. One, BT TV presenter Dzmitry Kakhno, was sentenced on September 3 to 10 days of administrative arrest for participating in an unauthorized rally.
On the evening of September 3, about 70 journalists demonstrated outside the Interior Ministry's headquarters in Minsk, calling for the detained journalists to be released.
News also emerged that two members of the opposition Coordinating Council’s presidium will be tried again for allegedly violating the law on organizing mass events. Volha Kovalkova and Syarhey Dyleuski, who is also a strike organizer, were to be released from detention on September 3 after serving 10 days in jail on a similar charge.
The Coordination Council said another detained member of its presidium, Lilia Vlasova, had been charged with tax evasion, according to Interfax.
The authorities also have launched a case against Viktar Kuvshinau, a manager of software company PandaDoc in Minsk, for alleged financial crimes, his wife said.
Kuvshinau had helped teachers who were members of the election commission and witnessed instances of fraud to file complaints to law enforcement agencies. He also assisted those who had lost their job with finding a new post.
PandaDoc CEO Mikita Mikado has launched an initiative to help law enforcement officers who will leave the service.
With reporting by AFP, TASS, Interfax, AP, Reuters, and dpa


rferl--2020-09-03--Russia Denies Involvement As UN Slams Arms Shipments, Foreign Mercenaries In Libya

The top UN official for Libya says foreign backers of the war-wracked country 's rival governments have ramped up weapons shipments in violation of an international arms embargo .
The interim UN envoy for Libya , Stephanie Williams , told the Security Council on September 2 that these shipments were exacerbating conflict and constitute `` an alarming breach of Libya ’ s sovereignty , a blatant violation of the UN arms embargo . ''
Since UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last briefed the Security Council on July 8 , around 70 resupply flights landed in eastern airports and three cargo ships @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of strongman Khalifa Haftar , Williams said .
She said another 30 such flights were sent to western Libya to help forces loyal to the UN-recognized Government of National Accord ( GNA ) based in the capital , Tripoli .
Nine cargo ships also docked in western Libya .
The UN mission in Libya `` continues to receive reports of large-scale presence of foreign mercenaries and operatives , '' she said .
Libya has been torn by civil war since a NATO-backed popular uprising ousted and killed the country 's longtime dictator , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Russia has been helping Haftar 's self-styled Libyan National Army ( LNA ) in the east of the country in its fight against the GNA .
France , Egypt , and the United Arab Emirates also back Haftar 's forces .
Turkey , which has deployed troops , drones , and Syrian rebel mercenaries to Libya , supports the government in Tripoli , alongside Qatar and Italy .
Russia 's UN envoy , Vasily Nebenzya , rejected any Russian interference in Libya .
`` Not a single Russian serviceman is currently in Libya @ @ @ @ @ @ @ military has accused Moscow of supplying Russian mercenaries and military hardware to Libya in an attempt to gain a foothold in the North African country .
The Pentagon has said that Russia is using the Vagner Group , a private Russian paramilitary organization believed to be close to the Kremlin , as a `` proxy ” in Libya .
Addressing the Security Council , U.S .
Ambassador Kelly Craft slammed the presence of Russian mercenaries linked to the Kremlin .
`` There is no place for foreign mercenaries or proxy forces in Libya @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proxy Vagner Group , which is fighting alongside '' Haftar , she said .
The Security Council is discussing a resolution renewing the mandate of the UN political mission in Libya .
A vote is scheduled for September 14 .
With reporting by AP , AFP , and Reuters

The top UN official for Libya says foreign backers of the war-wracked country's rival governments have ramped up weapons shipments in violation of an international arms embargo.
The interim UN envoy for Libya, Stephanie Williams, told the Security Council on September 2 that these shipments were exacerbating conflict and constitute "an alarming breach of Libya’s sovereignty, a blatant violation of the UN arms embargo."
Since UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last briefed the Security Council on July 8, around 70 resupply flights landed in eastern airports and three cargo ships unloaded weaponry at eastern ports in support of strongman Khalifa Haftar, Williams said.
She said another 30 such flights were sent to western Libya to help forces loyal to the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) based in the capital, Tripoli. Nine cargo ships also docked in western Libya.
The UN mission in Libya "continues to receive reports of large-scale presence of foreign mercenaries and operatives," she said.
Libya has been torn by civil war since a NATO-backed popular uprising ousted and killed the country's longtime dictator, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, in 2011.
Russia has been helping Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) in the east of the country in its fight against the GNA.
France, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates also back Haftar's forces.
Turkey, which has deployed troops, drones, and Syrian rebel mercenaries to Libya, supports the government in Tripoli, alongside Qatar and Italy.
Russia's UN envoy, Vasily Nebenzya, rejected any Russian interference in Libya. "Not a single Russian serviceman is currently in Libya," he said.
The U.S. military has accused Moscow of supplying Russian mercenaries and military hardware to Libya in an attempt to gain a foothold in the North African country.
The Pentagon has said that Russia is using the Vagner Group, a private Russian paramilitary organization believed to be close to the Kremlin, as a "proxy” in Libya.
Addressing the Security Council, U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft slammed the presence of Russian mercenaries linked to the Kremlin.
"There is no place for foreign mercenaries or proxy forces in Libya, including the Russian Ministry of Defense proxy Vagner Group, which is fighting alongside" Haftar, she said.
The Security Council is discussing a resolution renewing the mandate of the UN political mission in Libya. A vote is scheduled for September 14.
With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters


rferl--2020-09-03--West Mulls Response After Germany Says Nerve Agent Used To Poison Kremlin Critic Navalny

Western governments are considering coordinated action against Russia after Germany said gravely ill Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny was poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent .
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on September 2 that Germany notified its EU and NATO partners about the issue in order to decide on `` an appropriate , joint reaction . ''
`` It is certain that Aleksei Navalny is the victim of a crime .
He was meant to be silenced and I condemn this in the strongest possible terms , on behalf of the German government , '' Merkel said , calling it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Earlier , the German government said special tests conducted at a German military laboratory showed `` unequivocal evidence '' of the presence of a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group .
The Soviet-style poison is suspected of being used in other attempts to silence outspoken Kremlin opponents .
The latest in a long line of attacks on Kremlin critics sent tensions between Moscow and the West soaring , with Russia facing a chorus of condemnation and calls to conduct a transparent investigation .
The Kremlin called on Germany for a full exchange @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Novichok allegations were not backed up by evidence .
Merkel said there were now `` some very serious questions that only Russia can and must answer . ''
The head of the German parliament 's for Foreign Affairs Committee , Norbert Roettgen , called for Europe to take a clear , tough , and unified line on the issue .
`` Now we have again been brutally confronted with the inhuman reality of [ Russian President Vladimir ] Putin 's regime , '' he told the ARD public broadcaster late on September @ @ @ @ @ @ @ NordStream 2 project , an underwater Baltic Sea pipeline to bring natural gas from Russia to Germany , Roettgen , a member of Merkel 's ruling conservatives , said , `` There must be a European response . ''
`` We must pursue hard politics , we must respond with the only language Putin understands -- that is gas sales , '' he said .
Last week , Merkel rejected the idea that the Navalny case should be linked to Nord Stream 2 , which is opposed by the United States .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` completely reprehensible '' and said Washington would work with allies `` to hold those in Russia accountable , wherever the evidence leads , and restrict funds for their malign activities . ''
In Congress , lawmakers called on the Trump administration to impose congressionally mandated sanctions on Russia .
`` The president of the United States must coordinate a strong international response to this latest aggression along with our partners and allies , '' said Democratic Senator Bob Menendez , the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee .
NATO also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conduct a `` full and transparent investigation . ''
`` I utterly condemn the use of a military-grade nerve agent , '' NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Twitter .
`` We 'll consult with Germany and all NATO allies on the implications . ''
The EU 's top diplomat , Josep Borrell , described the poisoning as an `` assassination attempt '' and said any use of chemical weapons was `` a breach of international law . ''
France , Italy , Canada , the United Kingdom , and other countries also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ joint response .
Navalny ’ s poisoning has echoes with the case of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the British city of Salisbury in 2018 .
A British investigation determined that the Skripals had been poisoned with Novichok and alleged that the attack was carried out by Russian state agents .
Referencing the Skripal case , British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was `` outrageous '' that a chemical weapon was used against Navalny .
`` We have seen first-hand the deadly consequences of Novichok in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Russian government must now explain what happened to Mr. Navalny -- we will work with international partners to ensure justice is done . ''
The British government expelled 23 Russian diplomats after Moscow refused to cooperate with an investigation into the Skripal poisoning .
The United States and other European states expelled dozens of Russian diplomats in a coordinated response .
Navalny , 44 , fell ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow on August 20 , forcing the plane he was traveling on to make an emergency landing in Omsk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hospital before being evacuated to Germany .
He is in a medically induced coma in an intensive-care unit at Charite Hospital in Berlin and is on a respirator .
Navalny , who has been attacked several times in the past , was visiting the Siberian cities of Novosibirsk and Tomsk for his latest investigation into government corruption before he fell ill. Navalny 's team published the results of their Siberian investigation on August 31 , claiming that 18 out of 50 lawmakers in Novosibirsk were owners or represent owners of construction companies .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ have said that the Russian state was behind the poisoning .
Leonid Volkov , a Navalny aide , said on Twitter that the use of Novichok was like leaving Putin 's signature at the scene of the crime .
Ivan Zhdanov , another close Navalny ally , said on Twitter that Novichok could be administered only by Russia 's intelligence agencies .
Novichok would only be available to the `` richest and most powerful , '' said Mark Galeotti , an expert on Russia 's security services at the Royal United Services Institute @ @ @ @ @ @ @ blog post .
`` No local FSB officer or city mayor would be likely to be able to access such a nerve agent .
Instead , someone would presumably need to be able to access the modern successors to the old Soviet 'Kamera ' poisons lab , '' Galeotti said , noting the SVR foreign intelligence service or FSB security service likely had access to Novichok .
In Moscow , Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on September 2 said Russia was `` ready and interested in fully cooperating and exchanging information on the matter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ refused to conduct a criminal investigation into the allegation that Navalny was poisoned , saying that no hard evidence had been found .
Russian doctors in Omsk initially said they did not find any evidence of poisoning in Navalny .
The doctors updated their findings on September 2 , saying the activist had carbohydrate metabolism complications and pancreatitis .
Peskov reiterated that message , claiming there were no poisonous substances found in Navalny before his transfer to Germany on August 22 .
Meanwhile , the Russian Embassy in Germany said so far `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and called on all sides to refrain from `` politicization of this incident . ''
With reporting by AFP , dpa , AP , and Reuters

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing growing pressure to toughen her stance toward Russia after her government announced that it had "unequivocal evidence" showing gravely ill Kremlin-critic Aleksei Navalny had been poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent.
German politicians and media are urging Merkel, in particular, to abandon the Nord Stream 2 project, an underwater Baltic Sea pipeline nearing completion that would bring gas from Russia to Germany.
"Diplomatic rituals are no longer enough," Norbert Roettgen, the head of the German parliament's foreign affairs committee, tweeted on September 2.
"After the poisoning of Navalny we need a strong European answer which Putin understands: The EU should jointly decide to stop Nord Stream 2," said Roettgen, a candidate to be the next leader of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party.
Meanwhile, the top-selling Bild daily issued an appeal to abandon the pipeline, saying that pursuing it was "tantamount to us financing Putin's next Novichok attack."
"The apparent attempted murder by the mafia-like structures of the Kremlin can no longer just give us cause for concern, it must have real consequences,” Green parliamentary group leader Katrin Goering-Eckardt said.
Chorus Of Condemnation
Russia faces a chorus of condemnation and calls to conduct a transparent investigation after a team of German specialists said they had found that a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group was used against Navalny, who is in intensive care in a Berlin' hospital. The Soviet-style poison is suspected of being used in other attempts to silence outspoken Kremlin opponents.
The latest condemnation came on September 3 from the European Council, which said in a statement that the EU condemns the "assassination attempt" on Navalny "in the strongest possible terms" and called for a joint international response.
Meanwhile, NATO's press service said that the North Atlantic Council will hold a special meeting on September 4 to discuss the Navalny case. Following the discussions in Brussels, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will make a statement to the media, it said on September 3.
The Kremlin on September 3 reiterated its stance that Russia should not be blamed for Navalny's condition.
"We would not want our partners in Germany and other European countries to rush to some sort of judgement," Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, told reporters.
“There is no reason to accuse the Russian state."
Merkel said that Germany has notified its EU and NATO partners about Navalny’s “attempted murder by poisoning” in order to decide on "an appropriate, joint reaction."
She said there are now "some very serious questions that only Russia can, and must, answer."
Merkel added that any German or European response to the poisoning depends on whether Russia helps clear up the case.
Last week, the German chancellor rejected the idea that the Navalny case should be linked to Nord Stream 2, a project that has drawn the ire of the United States and some European partners.
NATO, Britain, France, Italy, Canada, the United States, and other countries have called for an investigation and threatened a joint response.
European Commission spokesman Peter Stano urged Russia to carry out an independent probe to bring any perpetrators to justice and that the bloc would react based on Moscow's next steps.
"We want to see a credible, through investigation that brings clear answers to all questions," Stano said, adding: "It's difficult to speak about punishment if you don't have [those] responsible at this stage."
In The Hague, the head of the world chemical weapons watchdog expressed "grave concern" over Navalny’s case and said it was ready to help any member country that asked for its assistance.
"States party to the Chemical Weapons Convention deem the use of chemical weapons by anyone under any circumstances as reprehensible and wholly contrary to the legal norms established by the international community," said Fernando Arias, the director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The European Council statement called on Russia to cooperate with the OPCW to ensure an impartial international investigation. It also said the use of chemical weapons was "completely unacceptable under any circumstances" and violates international law and international human rights standards.
The U.S. National Security Council called the poisoning "completely reprehensible" and said Washington would work with allies "to hold those in Russia accountable, wherever the evidence leads, and restrict funds for their malign activities."
In Congress, lawmakers called on the Trump administration to impose congressionally mandated sanctions on Russia.
"The president of the United States must coordinate a strong international response to this latest aggression along with our partners and allies," said Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Peskov said on September 3 that Moscow was "undoubtedly interested in determining the cause of what happened" to the Kremlin foe, and reiterated that Germany should officially present its findings to Russia.
"So far we have received no information," he said.
Navalny’s poisoning has echoes with the case of former Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the British city of Salisbury. A British investigation determined that the Skripals had been poisoned with Novichok and alleged that the attack was carried out by Russian state agents.
The British government expelled 23 Russian diplomats after Moscow refused to cooperate with an investigation into the Skripal poisoning. The United States and other European states expelled dozens of Russian diplomats in a coordinated response.
Infographic: A Timeline Of Russian Poisoning Cases
Navalny, 44, fell ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow on August 20, forcing the plane he was traveling on to make an emergency landing in Omsk, where he spent two days in hospital before being evacuated to Germany. He is in a medically induced coma in an intensive-care unit at Charite Hospital in Berlin and is on a respirator.
Navalny, who has been attacked several times in the past, was visiting the Siberian cities of Novosibirsk and Tomsk for his latest investigation into government corruption before he fell ill.
Navalny's team published the results of their Siberian investigation on August 31, claiming that 18 out of 50 lawmakers in Novosibirsk were owners or represent owners of construction companies.
From the beginning, allies of Navalny have said that the Russian state was behind the poisoning.
Russia has previously refused to conduct a criminal investigation into the allegation that Navalny was poisoned, saying that no hard evidence had been found.
Russian doctors in Omsk initially said they did not find any evidence of poisoning in Navalny. The doctors updated their findings on September 2, saying the activist had carbohydrate metabolism complications and pancreatitis.
With reporting by AFP, dpa, AP, and Reuters


rferl--2020-09-04--Bulgarian Government Resists Calls To Resign As Nearly Two Months Of Protests Turn Violent

SOFIA -- Bulgaria ’ s weeks-long political crisis deepened on September 3 as the ruling conservative GERB party rebuffed calls to resign following violent anti-government protests the night before .
Thousands of protesters shouting “ Mafia ” and “ Resign ” took the streets of central Sofia again demanding the resignation Prime Minister Boyko Borisov ’ s government and Prosecutor-General Ivan Geshev .
Protesters appeared even more angry and motivated , a day after police clashed with people participating in one of the biggest rallies in nearly two months of anti-government protests .
`` The goal of Borisov , Geshev @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forces is to instill fear , but they will not succeed .
Not this time , '' Borislav Sandov , one of the leaders of the extra-parliamentary Green Movement , told protesters after he had been detained the night before .
Earlier in the day , one of the organizers of the protest , Arman Babikyan , called the events of the previous night `` an ugly theatrical production of power . ''
On September 2 , several thousands of people joined the so-called Grand National Uprising in response against what protesters say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government and judicial system .
Violence led to scores of injuries and the arrest of 126 people , including what police described as more than 60 football hooligans .
Riot police fired pepper spray against protesters who threw eggs , tomatoes , and stones , while in the evening some protesters threw firecrackers and small bombs at police .
Health officials said almost 200 people were injured , including 120 police officers .
Several journalists were also injured by police , drawing condemnation from media watchdogs and rights groups .
On the evening @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Radev slammed the government ’ s “ disproportionate police violence against protesters and journalists ” and repeated protesters ’ demands that Borisov ’ s government resign .
“ I call on both the protesters and the police to remain calm and not allow themselves to be drawn into a scenario for the survival of the government compromised by corruption and violence , ” Radev said in a televised address .
“ The protest is the only possible and justified civil action against the abduction of Bulgarian democracy.
” `` We will not resign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bikov from Borisov 's GERB party told parliament earlier .
`` This would mean that every future government could be brought down by representatives of the criminal contingent , '' Bikov said .
Borisov has pledged to resign before his third term expires in March if lawmakers approve his call for the election of a grand national assembly tasked with voting on a new constitution .
In an attempt to appease protesters , he has also sacked several key ministers .
The proposal for a new constitution has little chance of advancing as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ needed to pass it .
Critics view the constitutional changes as window dressing and an attempt to buy time to maintain power .
“ The attempt to push through a ridiculous but status-friendly Constitution with the power of money and under the cover of police shields is a criminal encroachment on the future of Bulgaria .
These actions risk throwing the country into a long-term impasse , ” Radev said in his address .
Opinion polls show that more than 60 percent of Bulgarians support demands for Borisov and Geshev to resign and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

SOFIA -- Bulgaria's weeks-long political crisis deepened on September 3 as the ruling conservative GERB party rebuffed calls to resign following violent anti-government protests the night before.
Thousands of protesters shouting “Mafia” and “Resign” took the streets of central Sofia again demanding the resignation Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s government and Prosecutor-General Ivan Geshev.
Protesters appeared even more angry and motivated, a day after police clashed with people participating in one of the biggest rallies in nearly two months of anti-government protests.
"The goal of Borisov, Geshev, and those who sent the security forces is to instill fear, but they will not succeed. Not this time," Borislav Sandov, one of the leaders of the extra-parliamentary Green Movement, told protesters after he had been detained the night before.
Earlier in the day, one of the organizers of the protest, Arman Babikyan, called the events of the previous night "an ugly theatrical production of power."
On September 2, several thousand people joined the so-called "Grand National Uprising" in response against what protesters say is oligarchic control over Bulgaria's government and judicial system.
Violence led to scores of injuries and the arrest of 126 people, including what police described as more than 60 soccer hooligans.
Riot police fired pepper spray against protesters who threw eggs, tomatoes, and stones, while in the evening some protesters threw firecrackers and small bombs at police.
Health officials said almost 200 people were injured, including 120 police officers.
Several journalists were also injured by police, drawing condemnation from media watchdogs and rights groups.
On the evening of September 3, Socialist-backed President Rumen Radev slammed the government’s “disproportionate police violence against protesters and journalists” and repeated protesters’ demands that Borisov’s government resign.
“I call on both the protesters and the police to remain calm and not allow themselves to be drawn into a scenario for the survival of the government compromised by corruption and violence,” Radev said in a televised address. “The protest is the only possible and justified civil action against the abduction of Bulgarian democracy.”
"We will not resign after these excesses," parliament deputy Toma Bikov from Borisov's GERB party told parliament earlier.
"This would mean that every future government could be brought down by representatives of the criminal contingent," Bikov said.
Borisov has pledged to resign before his third term expires in March if lawmakers approve his call for the election of a grand national assembly tasked with voting on a new constitution.
In an attempt to appease protesters, he has also fired several key ministers.
The proposal for a new constitution has little chance of advancing as Borisov lacks the two-thirds majority in parliament needed to pass it. Critics view the constitutional changes as window dressing and an attempt to buy time to maintain power.
“The attempt to push through a ridiculous but status-friendly constitution with the power of money and under the cover of police shields is a criminal encroachment on the future of Bulgaria. These actions risk throwing the country into a long-term impasse,” Radev said in his address.
Opinion polls show that more than 60 percent of Bulgarians support demands for Borisov and Geshev to resign and for immediate parliamentary elections to be called.
With reporting by AFP


rferl--2020-09-03--Serbia, Kosovo Leaders Make 'Progress' In First Day of White House Talks

WASHINGTON -- Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti said his meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on September 3 at the White House was a “ big step ” toward concluding an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia .
But Vucic objected to what he said was Kosovo 's effort to force Serbia to recognize the independence of its former territory , and it was unclear what to expect from the second day of talks scheduled to take place on September 4 .
Hoti told reporters that regardless of what was discussed on the first day , Kosovo ’ s goal is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we have taken one big step.
” `` I can assure you one thing .
Harmful and unacceptable agreements on Kosovo have never and will not come from the White House , “ Hoti said .
Vucic said he objected to a document that “ contained an article about recognition ” presented during the talks .
`` We thought it should not be in a document about economic normalization , that we could n't accept it .
People from the Trump administration listened what we had to say , they were fair and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ article is no longer there , '' he told reporters after the session ended .
He thanked the American hosts for `` being ready to hear Serbia 's objections.
” “ We will see if we will be able to reach an agreement , '' he said .
Earlier in the day , Richard Grenell , the U.S. special envoy for Serbia and Kosovo negotiations , said that it was “ not true ” that he had presented Vucic with a document to sign regarding Kosovo 's independence .
Hoti also said `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economic cooperation .
He did not provide details , but said the second day of talks on September 4 will include an announcement .
The U.S. National Security Council characterized the talks as a “ very good round of discussions.
” White House national-security adviser Robert O ’ Brien said on Twitter after the talks that the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia made “ real progress.
” The United States has stressed that the talks focus on economic development and job creation , a special adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump said on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reporters .
The official said tackling political disputes between Serbia and Kosovo has failed to yield results , and the United States aims to focus on tangible economic issues that will help people on the ground .
The official said the United States is also focused on implementing the air , rail , and motor agreements between the two sides that were already reached .
Ethnic Albanian majority Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 in a move rejected by Belgrade .
Both Kosovo and Serbia , which aspire to join the European @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the West to reboot negotiations .
Washington stepped up its involvement in Serbia-Kosovo negotiations last year in a process that runs parallel to nearly a decade of EU-mediated normalization efforts .
The EU-brokered talks have produced multiple agreements seeking to normalize relations in the region , although many of them have not been implemented .
In July , Vucic and Hoti held their first face-to-face negotiations in 20 months under an EU-mediated dialogue process after Kosovo lifted import tariffs on Serbian goods .
At those talks , the two sides focused on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well as economic cooperation .

A former top FBI counterintelligence agent pleaded guilty to charges related to his work for notorious Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, changing his plea after federal prosecutors filed new, reduced charges of conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Russia by working for the billionaire industrialist.
The move by Charles McGonigal, made on August 15 before a federal judge in New York City, ends a prosecution that had stunned the FBI, where McGonigal had investigated Russian influence operations for years while climbing the bureau’s ranks.
The 55-year-old also still faces a separate set of foreign agent charges in Washington, D.C., related to work he did for Albanian officials.
McGonigal, who retired as head counterintelligence in the FBI's New York bureau in 2018, was originally indicted in January by a grand jury on more serious charges of money laundering and violating U.S. sanctions.
Prosecutors alleged that McGonigal and a former Russian diplomat with whom he was associated, were paid more than $200,000 to do work for Deripaska, a wealthy Russian metals tycoon who has long been seen as a Kremlin insider. Deripaska was hit with sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2018.
U.S. authorities said McGonigal was hired to dig up negative information on Vladimir Potanin, a rival oligarch to Deripaska. McGonigal and the former diplomat, Sergei Shestakov, also worked to try and get Deripaska removed from U.S. sanctions lists.
Shestakov has pleaded not guilty to the more serious charges than had been originally filed against McGonigal.
They "attempted to conceal Deripaska's involvement by, among other means, not directly naming Deripaska in electronic communications, using shell companies as counterparties in the contract that outlined the services to be performed, using a forged signature on that contract, and using the same shell companies to send and receive payment from Deripaska," the Justice Department said in a press release after McGonigal entered his plea.
McGonigal could receive up to five years in prison when he is sentenced in December.
The separate case filed in Washington, D.C., by federal prosecutors centers on work McGonigal allegedly did on behalf of a former Albanian intelligence officer, for which he was paid $225,000.
McGonigal also allegedly lied to the FBI about his contacts with foreign nationals and foreign travel while he was still employed by the bureau.
Deripaska also faces charges of violating U.S. sanctions through real estate deals and a complicated scheme under which he allegedly arranged for his girlfriend to travel to the United States to give birth to two of their children.


rferl--2020-09-03--Kyrgyzstan Registers 15 Parties For October Parliamentary Elections

A parliamentary election campaign Kyrgyzstan is set to officially begin on September 4 , with 15 political parties to contest @ @ @ @ @ Kenesh , or the Supreme Council .
The elections will take place on October 4 @ @ @ @ @ Elections Commission ( CEC ) said on September 3 that applications by two parties , @ @ @ @ @ had been rejected as they didn ’ t meet the requirements .
The CEC cited @ @ @ @ @ in the documents – including the list of candidates – submitted by Butun Kyrgyzstan .
@ @ @ @ @ unable to provide the registration fee of 5 million soms ( $ 63,500 ) .
@ @ @ @ @ , Mekenim Kyrgyzstan , and Kyrgyzstan as well as the opposition Ata Meken are widely @ @ @ @ @ the race .
No party is allowed to hold more than 65 seats in the @ @ @

A parliamentary election campaign Kyrgyzstan is set to officially begin on September 4, with 15 political parties to contest 120 seats in the Jogorku Kenesh, or the Supreme Council.
The elections will take place on October 4.
Kyrgyzstan’s Central Elections Commission (CEC) said on September 3 that applications by two parties, Aktiv and Butun Kyrgyzstan, had been rejected as they didn’t meet the requirements.
The CEC cited "violations" and discrepancies in the documents – including the list of candidates – submitted by Butun Kyrgyzstan. The newly established Aktiv was unable to provide the registration fee of 5 million soms ($63,500).
Pro-government parties, including Birimdik, Mekenim Kyrgyzstan, and Kyrgyzstan as well as the opposition Ata Meken are widely expected to do well in the race.
No party is allowed to hold more than 65 seats in the Supreme Council.


rferl--2020-09-03--U.S. Senators Seek Sanctions On Russia For Election Interference

Democratic senators are urging the U.S. Treasury Department to impose sanctions on Russian organizations and individuals for interfering in the 2020 presidential election , saying such a `` direct message '' to Russian President Vladimir Putin is long overdue .
Eleven senators sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on September 3 , asking him to `` immediately '' place sanctions on a range of Russians .
The letter says the Treasury Department should identify those to be targeted by the sanctions and include people within the government of Russia if they are found to be responsible for election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ show Moscow is seeking to damage former Vice President Joe Biden 's candidacy .
Led by Senator Ron Wyden ( Democrat-Oregon ) , the senators asked Mnuchin to work with U.S. intelligence to identify Russians involved in election meddling .
`` There is virtually no national security threat more serious than that posed by those who would undermine confidence in , and the effective operation of , our democratic elections , '' the letter says .
The letter cites a U.S. counterintelligence statement on August 7 describing the activities of `` Kremlin-linked '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia 'establishment . '
'' The August 7 statement provides “ ample basis for imposing sanctions , ” the Senators said in their letter .
Democrats have expressed frustration that President Donald Trump 's administration has taken no action since the August 7 statement , which also said China and Iran would prefer to undermine Trump , according to the intelligence community ’ s assessment .
They are alarmed in part because previous assessments by U.S. intelligence organizations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidential campaign in 2016 .
Democrats also have expressed outrage over a decision by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe not to provide briefings to members of the House Intelligence Committee on election meddling .
Ratcliffe , who cited leaks as the reason , said written summaries would replace the briefings .
Democrats also were angered to learn that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ( DHS ) decided in July to withhold the circulation of an intelligence report warning that Russia was trying to portray candidate Biden as mentally unstable .
DHS @ @ @ @ @ @ @ September 2 , saying the agency held up the memo because it lacked necessary context and evidence .
The draft bulletin dated July 7 and obtained by ABC News said Russian state media RT , Sputnik , and a Russian proxy website between September 2019 and May 2020 posted allegations about what they described as Biden ’ s `` poor mental health.
” With reporting by AFP and ABC News

Democratic senators are urging the U.S. Treasury Department to impose sanctions on Russian organizations and individuals for interfering in the 2020 presidential election, saying such a "direct message" to Russian President Vladimir Putin is long overdue.
Eleven senators sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on September 3, asking him to "immediately" place sanctions on a range of Russians.
The letter says the Treasury Department should identify those to be targeted by the sanctions and include people within the government of Russia if they are found to be responsible for election interference.
They say U.S. intelligence reports show Moscow is seeking to damage former Vice President Joe Biden's candidacy.
Led by Senator Ron Wyden (Democrat-Oregon), the senators asked Mnuchin to work with U.S. intelligence to identify Russians involved in election meddling.
"There is virtually no national security threat more serious than that posed by those who would undermine confidence in, and the effective operation of, our democratic elections," the letter says.
The letter cites a U.S. counterintelligence statement on August 7 describing the activities of "Kremlin-linked" actors who are using a "range of measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia 'establishment.'"
The August 7 statement provides “ample basis for imposing sanctions,” the Senators said in their letter.
The call for sanctions came the same day that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent a memo to election officials warning that “Russia is likely to continue amplifying criticisms of vote-by-mail and shifting voting processes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic to undermine public trust in the electoral process.”
ABC News, which obtained the memo, reported DHS’s intelligence arm concluded Russian state media and proxies will likely "promote allegations of corruption, system failure, and foreign malign interference to sow distrust in democratic institutions and election outcomes."
As in 2016, the Russians are often amplifying sentiments already present in U.S. politics.
Ahead of the November 3 election, President Donald Trump has repeatedly railed against mail-in voting as prone to fraud.
Multiple studies have debunked the notion of pervasive voter fraud and in the vote-by-mail process.
Political scientists say greater voter turnout and extensive use of mail-in voting could hurt Trump at the polls.
Democrats have expressed frustration that the Trump administration has taken little action to address intelligence reports, which have also indicated China and Iran would prefer to undermine Trump.
They are alarmed in part because previous assessments by U.S. intelligence organizations showed that Russian interference benefited Trump's presidential campaign in 2016.
Democrats also have expressed outrage over a decision by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe not to provide briefings to members of the House Intelligence Committee on election meddling. Ratcliffe, who cited leaks as the reason, said written summaries would replace the briefings.
Democrats also were angered to learn that the DHS decided in July to withhold the circulation of an intelligence report warning that Russia was trying to portray candidate Biden as mentally unstable.
DHS spokesman Alexei Woltornist defended the decision on September 2, saying the agency held up the memo because it lacked necessary context and evidence.
The draft bulletin dated July 7 and obtained by ABC News said Russian state media RT, Sputnik, and a Russian proxy website between September 2019 and May 2020 posted allegations about what they described as Biden’s "poor mental health.”
With reporting by AFP and ABC News


rferl--2020-09-03--U.S. Sanctions 11 Companies It Says Have Enabled Sales, Shipments Of Iranian Oil

The United States has imposed sanctions on 11 foreign companies for their alleged help in the export of Iranian oil and petrochemical products in violation of U.S. sanctions .
The Treasury Department said on September 3 the sanctions have been imposed on six companies based in Iran , the United Arab Emirates ( U.A.E . )
, and China .
The United States said Iran 's petroleum industry is a major source of revenue for the Iranian regime to fund terrorism and other destabilizing activities in the Middle East .
The six companies have enabled the shipment and sale of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Triliance Petrochemical , which was blacklisted in January by the United States .
The companies `` support Triliance 's continued involvement in the sale of Iranian petrochemical products , including efforts by Triliance to hide or otherwise obscure its involvement in sales contracts , '' the State Department said in a statement .
Among the six companies is Iran 's Zagros Petrochemical Company , which the Treasury Department said agreed to sell Triliance hundreds of thousands of tons of Iranian petrochemicals this year .
The State Department also imposed sanctions on five other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iran 's petroleum and petrochemical industry and on three executive officers of the companies .
`` Our actions today reaffirm the United States ' commitment to denying the Iranian regime the financial resources it needs to fuel terrorism and other destabilizing activities , '' U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in the statement .
The move freezes any U.S. assets of the companies and individuals sanctioned and generally bars Americans from dealing with them .
The new sanctions add to a long list imposed by the United States since President Donald Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 2018 .


rferl--2020-09-03--Serbia, Kosovo Leaders In White House For Talks That Focus On Economy, Job Creation

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovar Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti have arrived at the White House to attend a meeting as part of long-running negotiations between the Balkan rivals .
`` The United States is ready to facilitate # EconomicNormalization !
” the U.S. National Security Council said on September 3 in a tweet signed by national-security adviser Robert O ’ Brien showing photos of Vucic and Hoti arriving and being greeted by Richard Grenell , the U.S. special envoy for Serbia and Kosovo negotiations .
The United States has stressed that the talks on September 3 and 4 will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a special adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump said on September 1 during a call with reporters .
The official said tackling political disputes between Serbia and Kosovo has failed to yield results , and the United States aims to focus on tangible economic issues that will help people on the ground .
The official said the United States was also focused on implementing the air , rail , and motor agreements between the two sides that have already been reached .
However , Serbia ’ s Finance Minister Sinisa Mali told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' has been put high on the agenda of the talks , and all 16 points on a list of topics to be discussed are political , not economic .
`` Economic topics are obviously not a priority as we expected , '' said Mali , who is a member of the Serbian delegation in Washington .
`` This is the worst proposal we have seen so far in the history of our talks with the Albanians .
But we will not give up and we will fight , '' Mali said , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ delegation was `` great ” but Serbia will `` fight for every sentence and every word '' during the talks in Washington .
Kosovo , which has an ethnic-Albanian majority , declared independence from Serbia in 2008 in a move rejected by Belgrade .
Grenell said on Twitter shortly after the talks began that it was “ not true ” that he had presented Vucic with a document to sign regarding Kosovo 's independence .
Both Kosovo and Serbia , which aspire to join the European Union , have been facing mounting pressure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Washington stepped up its involvement in Serbia-Kosovo negotiations last year in a process that runs parallel to nearly a decade of EU-mediated normalization efforts .
The EU-brokered talks have produced multiple agreements seeking to normalize relations in the region , although many of them have not been implemented .
In July , Vucic and Hoti held their first face-to-face negotiations in 20 months under an EU-mediated dialogue process after Kosovo lifted import tariffs on Serbian goods .
At those talks , the two sides focused on issues of missing and displaced persons as @ @ @ @ @

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--2020-09-03--Afghan President Visits Flood-Hit Parwan Province, Pledges Urgent Aid Package

CHARIKAR , Afghanistan -- Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has pledged an urgent aid and recovery package to the residents of Parwan Province , which has been hit by heavy flooding in recent days .
During a visit to Parwan ’ s capital , Charikar , on September 3 , Ghani said that his government `` will make a sizeable investment '' into various projects to help rebuild roads , clean canals , and provide financial help to those affected by the floods .
`` We ’ ve received a proposal from the province to allocate 90 million Afghanis ( about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ canals [ destroyed by the floods ] , and we ’ re providing this money immediately , '' Ghani told a gathering in Charikar .
Heavy rainfall that caused floods and mudslides killed some 200 people in Afghanistan ’ s northern and eastern regions , the disaster management agency said .
Parwan was the area most heavily affected by flooding that displaced thousands of large rocks , causing deaths and injuries , destroying entire homes , and burying people under the rubble .
Parwan officials say 157 people were killed and 130 wounded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unaccounted for .