rferl--2020-05-18--COVID-19: 'Coronavirus-Free' Turkmenistan Imposes Restrictions

The global death toll from the coronavirus is more than 315,000 with more than 4.7 million infections confirmed , causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the new respiratory illness .
Authorities in Turkmenistan , where no coronavirus cases have been officially reported , have approved measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the tightly controlled Central Asian state .
State media reports say that President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov on May 15 approved the government 's plan on `` Turkmenistan 's preparedness to stand against the pandemic and ways to rapidly react to it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to impose restrictions on mass gatherings and ban swimming in the Caspian Sea , including in the area of the Avaza resort and near the city of Turkmenbashi .
It is not clear why the restrictions were imposed only there .
Turkmenistan remains the only country in the Central Asian region that has not officially admitted a single coronavirus case .
Experts are skeptical of the claim that there are no cases given the lack of transparency and the absence of an independent media in the country .
The World Health Organization ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ visit to Turkmenistan to assess the situation on the ground of one of the world 's most tightly controlled countries .
Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov has said his country is ready to host the WHO mission .
In Kyrgyzstan , the government has said that because of the cost of implementing measures to slow down the virus spread , financial allocations for several state entities will be cut .
Deputy Finance Minister Ulukbek Karymshakov said on May 18 that funds allocated for the needs of the State Agency for Youth , Physical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by 70 percent .
The agency 's director , Kanat Amankulov , said the move will negatively affect the country 's sports sector and weaken its presentation at international tournaments and championships .
Health authorities said on May 18 that the number of coronavirus cases in the country reached 1,216 , including 14 deaths .
In oil-rich Kazakhstan , authorities in the country 's largest city , Almaty , said on May 18 that boutiques , beauty salons , dry cleaners , and restaurants at shopping malls will resume operations as of May @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lifted the state of emergency imposed over the virus but said all the restrictions will be lifted gradually and differently in regions and cities due to situations there .
On May 18 , Kazakh health authorities said the number of coronavirus cases in the country was 6,440 , including 34 deaths .
In Tajikistan , officials said on May 17 that the number of coronavirus cases in the country was 1,524 , including 39 deaths .
Tajikistan did not officially register a coronavirus case until April 30 , just ahead of a mission @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Still , many in the country doubt the data and believe the government has been underreporting the situation .
In Uzbekistan , some domestic railways and air transportation routes resumed operations on May 18 .
The latest official data in the region 's most populous nation of 32 million says 2,762 coronavirus cases were registered with 12 deaths .
With reporting by RFE/RL 's Kazakh , Kyrgyz , Tajik , Turkmen , and Uzbek services

The global death toll from the coronavirus is more than 315,000 with more than 4.7 million infections confirmed, causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the new respiratory illness.
Here's a roundup of COVID-19 developments in RFE/RL's broadcast regions.
Central Asia
Authorities in Turkmenistan, where no coronavirus cases have been officially reported, have approved measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the tightly controlled Central Asian state.
State media reports say that President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov on May 15 approved the government's plan on "Turkmenistan's preparedness to stand against the pandemic and ways to rapidly react to it."
Berdymukhammedov also approved a plan to impose restrictions on mass gatherings and ban swimming in the Caspian Sea, including in the area of the Avaza resort and near the city of Turkmenbashi. It is not clear why the restrictions were imposed only there.
Turkmenistan remains the only country in the Central Asian region that has not officially admitted a single coronavirus case.
Experts are skeptical of the claim that there are no cases given the lack of transparency and the absence of an independent media in the country.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has been working on possible visit to Turkmenistan to assess the situation on the ground of one of the world's most tightly controlled countries.
Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov has said his country is ready to host the WHO mission.
In Kyrgyzstan, the government has said that because of the cost of implementing measures to slow down the virus spread, financial allocations for several state entities will be cut.
Deputy Finance Minister Ulukbek Karymshakov said on May 18 that funds allocated for the needs of the State Agency for Youth, Physical Culture, and Sports will be cut by 70 percent.
The agency's director, Kanat Amankulov, said the move will negatively affect the country's sports sector and weaken its presentation at international tournaments and championships.
Health authorities said on May 18 that the number of coronavirus cases in the country reached 1,216, including 14 deaths.
In oil-rich Kazakhstan, authorities in the country's largest city, Almaty, said on May 18 that boutiques, beauty salons, dry cleaners, and restaurants at shopping malls will resume operations as of May 25.
The country on May 11 lifted the state of emergency imposed over the virus but said all the restrictions will be lifted gradually and differently in regions and cities due to situations there.
On May 18, Kazakh health authorities said the number of coronavirus cases in the country was 6,440, including 34 deaths.
In Tajikistan, officials said on May 17 that the number of coronavirus cases in the country was 1,524, including 39 deaths.
Tajikistan did not officially register a coronavirus case until April 30, just ahead of a mission by the WHO to the country.
Still, many in the country doubt the data and believe the government has been underreporting the situation.
In Uzbekistan, some domestic railways and air transportation routes resumed operations on May 18.
The latest official data in the region's most populous nation of 32 million says 2,762 coronavirus cases were registered with 12 deaths.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, and Uzbek services


rferl--2020-05-18--Nine Killed In Taliban Suicide Car Bombing In Eastern Afghanistan

A Taliban car-bomb attack targeting an intelligence base in eastern Afghanistan with a stolen military Humvee killed at least nine people and wounded dozens on May 18 .
Arif Noori , spokesman for the provincial governor in eastern Ghazni Province , said two suicide bombers detonated the stolen vehicle filled with explosives near the entrance to the base .
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack , saying the incident killed or wounded `` tens '' of special forces .
An official in the Ghazni Province administration , Wahidullah Jumazada , said the attack `` targeted the National Directorate of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jumazada put the death total at nine , saying both of the attackers were among the dead .
He and other officials put the number of injured at at least 40 .
`` Most of the victims are intelligence personnel , '' Jumazada added .
The attack comes a day after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his political rival , Abdullah Abdullah , reached a power-sharing agreement ending a months-long political feud following disputed elections in September 2019 .
The political deal overcomes one hurdle preventing Kabul from launching direct talks with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ peace effort .
The Taliban has ramped up attacks in recent weeks despite a pledge to reduce violence , while Islamic State militants also continue targeting Afghan security forces and civilians .
On May 14 , the Taliban detonated a truck close to a military building in Gardez city in southeastern Paktia Province , leaving five dead and 20 injured , including military personnel and civilians .
Last week , the Taliban attacked a military checkpoint in the Alishang district of eastern Laghman Province that left dozens dead or wounded .
The Taliban @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Ghani 's ordering Afghan forces to go on the offensive against the militant group .
With reporting by AFP and AP

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--2020-05-18--Iran Warns U.S. Of 'Firm Response' Over Interference Against Venezuela-Bound Fuel Tankers

Iran has warned the United States against conducting “ piracy ” in the Caribbean as five Iranian tankers laden with fuel sail toward Venezuela .
The tankers ’ voyage comes as a senior U.S. official told Reuters on May 14 that the United States was considering what action it could take in response to Iran 's shipment of fuel to crisis-stricken Venezuela .
In a letter to United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on May 17 , Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned the United States about “ sending troops to the Caribbean Sea with the aim of interfering with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Venezuela.
” Zarif wrote that the United States must “ give up bullying on the world stage ” and respect international maritime law , calling any U.S. move “ piracy and a major peril to international peace and security , ” according to a statement on the Foreign Ministry website .
Abbas Araqchi , Iran ’ s deputy foreign minister , summoned the Swiss ambassador in Tehran and issued a similar warning .
He told the Swiss , who represent U.S. interests in Iran , that any U.S. threat against the tankers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and firm response.
” Unilateral U.S. sanctions have targeted Iran and Venezuela ’ s oil industry and other sectors , depriving Tehran of much-needed cash and adding pressure on Venezuela ’ s badly managed economy .
Tehran has already helped President Nicolas Maduro by flying planes with chemicals for refineries amid a gasoline shortage , a symptom of economic and political chaos in Latin America 's one-time largest oil producer .
With both countries under U.S. sanctions , there is little to stop them from directly trading or bartering with each other outside @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. State Department 's Venezuela envoy , last month alleged that Venezuela is paying Iran in gold to help its troubled energy sector and denounced growing cooperation between Washington 's two adversaries .
The five Iranian tankers are estimated to be carrying at least $ 45.5 million in fuel .
Four of the vessels -- Petunia , Fortune , Forest , and Faxon -- are already in the Atlantic after passing through the Suez Canal and Mediterranean , according to ship tracking service MarineTraffic .
One of the vessels , the Clavel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of May 18 .
The latest tensions come after the U.S. Navy in April accused Iran of harassing its ships in Persian Gulf .
Iran last year seized ships off its waters and Britain briefly seized an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar to prevent it from shipping oil and fuel to Syria in violation of sanctions .
The United States has accused Tehran of attacking several vessels in the Persian Gulf .
Tensions between the two countries escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from Tehran ’ s nuclear deal with world powers in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ AP , and Reuters

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--2020-05-17--Daghestan's Health Minister Says More Than 40 Doctors Have Died Of COVID-19, Pneumonia

Daghestan ’ s top health official has said more than 40 doctors have died from either the coronavirus or `` community-acquired pneumonia '' as many raise questions about the accuracy of Russia ’ s reported cases and deaths from COVID-19 .
Daghestan Health Minister Dzhamaludin Gadzhiibragimov , in an interview with a local blogger on May 16 , also said that more than 13,000 people in the impoverished North Caucasus republic are currently suffering from COVID-19 or pneumonia .
The republic ’ s coronavirus center had reported just 3,280 cases of COVID-19 as of May 16 and only 29 deaths @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people have died of “ community-acquired pneumonia.
” However , a severe case of COVID-19 can lead to pneumonia , opening the possibility for a case of the coronavirus to be diagnosed as pneumonia .
Russia has been accused of lowering its COVID-19 mortality rates by ascribing deaths to pneumonia .
The country has more than 272,000 registered cases of COVID-19 but only 2,537 deaths , which is one of the lowest death rates .
In the United States , COVID-19 is listed as the cause of death for anyone who perishes while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reporting by TASS and Interfax

Daghestan’s top health official has said more than 40 doctors have died from either the coronavirus or "community-acquired pneumonia" as many raise questions about the accuracy of Russia’s reported cases and deaths from COVID-19.
Daghestan Health Minister Dzhamaludin Gadzhiibragimov, in an interview with a local blogger on May 16, also said that more than 13,000 people in the impoverished North Caucasus republic are currently suffering from COVID-19 or pneumonia.
The republic’s coronavirus center had reported just 3,280 cases of COVID-19 as of May 16 and only 29 deaths. Gadzhiibragimov said that more than 657 people have died of “community-acquired pneumonia.”
However, a severe case of COVID-19 can lead to pneumonia, opening the possibility for a case of the coronavirus to be diagnosed as pneumonia.
Russia has been accused of lowering its COVID-19 mortality rates by ascribing deaths to pneumonia.
The country has more than 272,000 registered cases of COVID-19 but only 2,537 deaths, which is one of the lowest death rates.
In the United States, COVID-19 is listed as the cause of death for anyone who perishes while infected with the disease.
Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax


rferl--2020-05-17--Independent Bulgarian TV Station Accuses PM Of 'Spreading False Rumors' About Its Relationship With

Independent Bulgarian TV Station Accuses PM Of 'Spreading False Rumors' About Its Relationship With Exiled Oligarch

SOFIA -- An independent Bulgarian television station has accused Prime Minister Boyko Borisov of `` spreading false rumors '' after he insinuated it was working at the behest of an exiled oligarch .
On May 16 , Borisov twice referred to the U.S.-owned bTV as `` Bozhkov TV , '' a reference to Vasil Bozhkov , the nation 's wealthiest businessman who has been in self-imposed exile in Dubai since January following charges of tax fraud , attempted bribery , and organized crime .
Companies belonging to Bozhkov , who built his fortune on gambling and lottery operations , had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including bTV .
However , that changed after the parliament decided in January 2020 to restrict lottery operations to state-owned companies , shutting Bozhkov ’ s most profitable business .
“ We find it alarming what Prime Minister Borissov is calling bTV , ” the Sofia-based station said in a statement later that evening .
“ The management of the company has neither had close contact with Mr. Bozhkov nor received any money from him.
” As the first private nationwide television channel in Bulgaria , bTV is part of Central European Media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the U.S.-based telecommunications and media giant AT & T .
Borisov has tightened his control over the nation ’ s media since taking power in 2009 , raising concerns in Western capitals about freedom of the press in the former communist country .
Bulgaria ranked 111 globally in Reporters Without Borders ’ latest annual survey of national media freedom .
The watchdog called Bulgaria `` the black sheep of the EU '' for its weak press freedom .
On May 15 , Bozhkov published what he claims are screenshots of his conversations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they have been in close contact , raising questions about corruption inside Borissov ’ s government .
The screenshots allegedly show Bozhkov and Goranov discussing the activities of the State Commission for Gambling , which oversees some of Bozhkov 's business operations .
Goranov and the Ministry of Finance declined to comment on the screenshots but did not deny their veracity .
Bulgarian media , including bTV , covered news of Bozhkov ’ s conversations with Goranov .
Yet , Borisov aimed his anger at bTV , the most influential news outlet in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not under government control .
The bTV network ’ s two largest competitors are Bulgarian National Television , which is funded and directly controlled by the government , and Nova TV , which was acquired by Kiril Domuschiev , a businessman who is seen as being loyal to Borisov .

SOFIA -- An independent Bulgarian television station has accused Prime Minister Boyko Borisov of "spreading false rumors" after he insinuated it was working at the behest of an exiled oligarch.
On May 16, Borisov twice referred to the U.S.-owned bTV as "Bozhkov TV," a reference to Vasil Bozhkov, the nation's wealthiest businessman who has been in self-imposed exile in Dubai since January following charges of tax fraud, attempted bribery, and organized crime.
Companies belonging to Bozhkov, who built his fortune on gambling and lottery operations, had been major advertisers for Bulgarian media, including bTV. However, that changed after the parliament decided in January 2020 to restrict lottery operations to state-owned companies, shutting Bozhkov’s most profitable business.
“We find it alarming what Prime Minister Borissov is calling bTV,” the Sofia-based station said in a statement later that evening. “The management of the company has neither had close contact with Mr. Bozhkov nor received any money from him.”
As the first private nationwide television channel in Bulgaria, bTV is part of Central European Media Enterprises, which is 75 percent owned by the U.S.-based telecommunications and media giant AT&T.
'Black Sheep Of The EU'
Borisov has tightened his control over the nation’s media since taking power in 2009, raising concerns in Western capitals about freedom of the press in the former communist country.
Bulgaria ranked 111 globally in Reporters Without Borders’ latest annual survey of national media freedom. The watchdog called Bulgaria "the black sheep of the EU" for its weak press freedom.
On May 15, Bozhkov published what he claims are screenshots of his conversations with Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov that indicate they have been in close contact, raising questions about corruption inside Borissov’s government.
The screenshots allegedly show Bozhkov and Goranov discussing the activities of the State Commission for Gambling, which oversees some of Bozhkov's business operations. Goranov and the Ministry of Finance declined to comment on the screenshots but did not deny their veracity.
Bulgarian media, including bTV, covered news of Bozhkov’s conversations with Goranov. Yet, Borisov aimed his anger at bTV, the most influential news outlet in the country and one that is still not under government control.
The bTV network’s two largest competitors are Bulgarian National Television, which is funded and directly controlled by the government, and Nova TV, which was acquired by Kiril Domuschiev, a businessman who is seen as being loyal to Borisov.


rferl--2020-05-17--Tajik Villagers Block Road To Protest Lack Of Government Aid Following Floods

DUSHANBE -- Dozens of Tajiks affected by some of the worst flooding and mudslides in years have blocked a key road in a rare instance of public protest in the authoritarian Central Asian nation .
The protesters halted traffic on May 17 along the Bokhtar-Dushanbe road , which connects the nation ’ s capital with the center of Khatlon Province .
The road continues on to a border bridge with Afghanistan .
Residents of the Khuroson district have been severely impacted by devastating floods and mudslides in recent days with dozens of homes in three villages partially or fully destroyed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been injured from the natural disaster .
Meanwhile , residents have been forced to spend nights outside without emergency aid , they said .
The head of the local police is negotiating with the protesters .
Large demonstrations have been rare in Tajikistan -- which has been run for more than a quarter century by authoritarian leader President Emomali Rahmon -- since the end of its civil war in 1997 .
The protest comes amid complaints over the government ’ s response to the COVID-19 pandemic .
Tajik authorities , who for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the nation , claim that only 204 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and only 36 have died as of May 16 .
However , civil activists claim that the number of deaths alone already exceeds 200

DUSHANBE -- Dozens of Tajiks affected by some of the worst flooding and mudslides in years have blocked a key road in a rare instance of public protest in the authoritarian Central Asian nation.
The protesters halted traffic on May 17 along the Bokhtar-Dushanbe road, which connects the nation’s capital with the center of Khatlon Province. The road continues on to a border bridge with Afghanistan.
Residents of the Khuroson district have been severely impacted by devastating floods and mudslides in recent days with dozens of homes in three villages partially or fully destroyed.
One person has died and several have been injured from the natural disaster.
Meanwhile, residents have been forced to spend nights outside without emergency aid, they said.
The head of the local police is negotiating with the protesters.
Large demonstrations have been rare in Tajikistan -- which has been run for more than a quarter century by authoritarian leader President Emomali Rahmon -- since the end of its civil war in 1997.
The protest comes amid complaints over the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tajik authorities, who for weeks denied that the coronavirus had reached the nation, claim that only 204 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and only 36 have died as of May 16 .
However, civil activists claim that the number of deaths alone already exceeds 200


rferl--2020-05-17--U.S. To Send Ventilators To Russia Amid Surge In Coronavirus Cases, VOA Reports

The United States will donate 200 medical ventilators to Russia after the country saw a spike in new coronavirus cases @ @ @ @ @ VOA ) has reported .
The first 50 ventilators will be shipped to Moscow next @ @ @ @ @ on May 26 , the news agency said on May 16 , citing U.S. government @ @ @ @ @ with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on May 8 , U.S. President Donald Trump offered @ @ @ @ @ as it reported record new cases of COVID-19 .
Trump later said that Putin accepted @ @ @ @ @ a Kremlin readout of the call made no mention of that .
Russia has not @ @ @ @ @ Russia now has the second-highest total of reported COVID-19 cases after a surge of new @ @ @ @ @ .
The United States has the largest number of reported cases globally .
Russia in @ @ @ @ @ United States as cities like New York faced a shortage .
Washington said it had @ @ @ @ @

The United States will donate 200 medical ventilators to Russia after the country saw a spike in new coronavirus cases, Voice of America (VOA) has reported.
The first 50 ventilators will be shipped to Moscow next week with the remaining arriving on May 26, the news agency said on May 16, citing U.S. government communications.
During a call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on May 8, U.S. President Donald Trump offered to send the nation ventilators as it reported record new cases of COVID-19.
Trump later said that Putin accepted the offer.
However, a Kremlin readout of the call made no mention of that. Russia has not confirmed the VOA report.
Russia now has the second-highest total of reported COVID-19 cases after a surge of new infections over the past month. The United States has the largest number of reported cases globally.
Russia in April sent ventilators to the United States as cities like New York faced a shortage. Washington said it had paid for the equipment.
Based on reporting by VOA


rferl--2020-05-19--Iranian Parkour Athlete Reportedly Detained After Posting Romantic Instagram Photos

Iranian parkour athlete and photographer Alireza Japalaghy has been detained , his brother said on May 18 .
Japalaghy reportedly @ @ @ @ @ before his arrest that he had been summoned by security officials just days after he @ @ @ @ @ where he was seen kissing an unidentified woman who was wearing a sports bra and @ @ @ @ @ the Iranian capital .
The images , titled The Dawn Of Tehran , were posted @ @ @ @ @ page , which has more than 100,000 followers , and were accessible as of midday @ @ @ @ @ to Islamic laws enforced in Iran , women have to cover their hair and body @ @ @ @ @ and women are banned from mingling in public .
Public displays of affection between married @ @ @ @ @ Islamic republic , where morality police often issues warning against “ inappropriate behavior.
” In @ @ @ @ @ Iranians have been detained for their posts on social media , including dance videos and @ @ @ @ @ by RFE/RL ’ s Radio Farda and the BBC


rferl--2020-05-19--Eight Paramilitary Troops Killed In Pakistan Bombings, Shooting

Seven paramilitary troops have been killed in separate attacks in Pakistan 's southwestern province of Balochistan , the military said on May 18 .
An eighth soldier was killed in a roadside bombing in the country 's northwest .
Six military personnel died and at least four more were wounded when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb while on patrol in an overnight attack in the Bolan area of Balochistan .
`` Six [ paramilitary ] Frontier Corps personnel were killed in a roadside bomb blast while four others were wounded and have been sent to hospital , '' Deputy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The incident happened some 80 kilometers southeast of the provincial capital , Quetta , late on May 17 .
Mureed Baloch , a spokesman for the separatist United Baloch Army , claimed responsibility .
In a statement , he said the group targeted Pakistani soldiers assigned to protect engineers of an oil and gas facility in the region .
One soldier was killed later in an exchange of fire with militants in the Mand area of the Kech district of the same province , Pakistan ’ s Inter-Services Public Relations ( ISPR @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wing , said in a statement .
Separately , police said that at least one soldier was killed and three were wounded in a roadside bombing in the country 's northwestern North Waziristan tribal district on May 17 .
Attacks on Pakistani security forces in the restive Balochistan region bordering Afghanistan and Iran and the tribal districts bordering Afghanistan have increased over the past few months .
Six Pakistani soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb attack in Balochistan near the border with Iran on May 8 .
On May 7 , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ soldiers in the town of Mir Ali in the country 's North Waziristan tribal district .
Pakistan conducted a massive military operation in North Waziristan in June 2014 and later the country 's security forces declared that the area had been cleared of militants .
In Balochistan , Pakistan is struggling with ethnic Baloch separatists while the Waziristan region has recorded a spike in incidents of violence involving Taliban remnants .
The violence in Balochistan , Pakistan ’ s largest and most volatile province , is seen as a reaction by separatists to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ linking its Xinjiang Province with the Arabian Sea through a network of roads and rail tracks .
The proposed $ 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor plan is meant to give Beijing access to markets in the Middle East , Europe , and Africa through the shortest overland and sea route .
With reporting by dpa , AP , and dawn.com

Seven paramilitary troops have been killed in separate attacks in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan, the military said on May 18. An eighth soldier was killed in a roadside bombing in the country's northwest.
Six military personnel died and at least four more were wounded when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb while on patrol in an overnight attack in the Bolan area of Balochistan.
"Six [paramilitary] Frontier Corps personnel were killed in a roadside bomb blast while four others were wounded and have been sent to hospital," Deputy Commissioner Bolan Murad Kasi told the media.
The incident happened some 80 kilometers southeast of the provincial capital, Quetta, late on May 17.
Mureed Baloch, a spokesman for the separatist United Baloch Army, claimed responsibility. In a statement, he said the group targeted Pakistani soldiers assigned to protect engineers of an oil and gas facility in the region.
One soldier was killed later in an exchange of fire with militants in the Mand area of the Kech district of the same province, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, said in a statement.
Separately, police said that at least one soldier was killed and three were wounded in a roadside bombing in the country's northwestern North Waziristan tribal district on May 17.
Attacks on Pakistani security forces in the restive Balochistan region bordering Afghanistan and Iran and the tribal districts bordering Afghanistan have increased over the past few months.
Six Pakistani soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb attack in Balochistan near the border with Iran on May 8.
On May 7, the military reported the death of two Pakistani soldiers in the town of Mir Ali in the country's North Waziristan tribal district.
Pakistan conducted a massive military operation in North Waziristan in June 2014 and later the country's security forces declared that the area had been cleared of militants.
In Balochistan, Pakistan is struggling with ethnic Baloch separatists while the Waziristan region has recorded a spike in incidents of violence involving Taliban remnants.
The violence in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest and most volatile province, is seen as a reaction by separatists to China's investment plans in the region linking its Xinjiang Province with the Arabian Sea through a network of roads and rail tracks.
The proposed $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor plan is meant to give Beijing access to markets in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa through the shortest overland and sea route.
With reporting by dpa, AP, and dawn.com


rferl--2020-05-19--Jailed Belarusian Blogger With Presidential Ambitions Gets Additional 15-Day Jail Term

MINSK -- A jailed Belarusian blogger , Syarhey Tsikhanouski , who intended to take part in the August presidential election , has been given an additional 15-day jail term for what a court in the southeastern city of Homel called the `` organization of an unsanctioned mass gathering . ''
The Soviet District Court on May 18 announced the ruling but did not specify what event Tsikhanouski had been convicted of organizing .
Tsikhanouski is the owner of a popular channel on YouTube called The Country For Life that challenges Belarusian authorities .
He was initially detained on May 6 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for taking part in unsanctioned rallies against Belarus 's integration with Russia in December .
Tsikhanouski and subscribers to his YouTube channel planned to organize a rally called Anti-Parade in the eastern city of Babruysk on May 9 to challenge President Alyaksandr Lukashenka 's decision to hold a massive military parade on Victory Day in Minsk despite the coronavirus pandemic .
On May 15 , the Central Election Commission rejected Tsikhanouski 's registration documents for his candidacy for the presidential election scheduled for August 9 .
Lukashenka , who has led the former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intentions to seek reelection to a sixth term .
He said in November 2019 that he could also stand in 2025 , while adding : `` I wo n't cling onto my seat with my cold dead hands . ''
It 's unclear who will run against Lukashenka .

MINSK -- A jailed Belarusian blogger, Syarhey Tsikhanouski, who intended to take part in the August presidential election, has been given an additional 15-day jail term for what a court in the southeastern city of Homel called the "organization of an unsanctioned mass gathering."
The Soviet District Court on May 18 announced the ruling but did not specify what event Tsikhanouski had been convicted of organizing.
Tsikhanouski is the owner of a popular channel on YouTube called The Country For Life that challenges Belarusian authorities.
He was initially detained on May 6 and sent to jail for 15 days for taking part in unsanctioned rallies against Belarus's integration with Russia in December.
Tsikhanouski and subscribers to his YouTube channel planned to organize a rally called Anti-Parade in the eastern city of Babruysk on May 9 to challenge President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's decision to hold a massive military parade on Victory Day in Minsk despite the coronavirus pandemic.
On May 15, the Central Election Commission rejected Tsikhanouski's registration documents for his candidacy for the presidential election scheduled for August 9.
Lukashenka, who has led the former Soviet republic since 1994, has expressed intentions to seek reelection to a sixth term.
He said in November 2019 that he could also stand in 2025, while adding: "I won't cling onto my seat with my cold dead hands."
Belarus abolished presidential term limits in a referendum in 2004.
It's unclear who will run against Lukashenka.


rferl--2020-05-19--COVID-19: Russia's Prime Minister Back At Work; Pakistan Court Lifts Restrictions On Malls

The global death toll from the coronavirus is almost 319,000 with more than 4.8 million infections confirmed , causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the new respiratory illness .
The Kremlin said on May 19 that Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has returned to work after recovering from COVID-19 , the illness caused by the coronavirus , as total infections in Russia approached 300,000 .
A decree signed by President Vladimir Putin published on the Kremlin 's website annulled his previous ruling appointing Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov as acting prime minister due @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on April 30 announced he had tested positive for the virus .
He held several online meetings with his government while in the hospital .
Mishustin 's reinstatement came after health officials reported 9,263 new infections in Russia over the past 24 hours , bringing the total to 299,941 , the second-highest in the world after the United States , as officials said new cases were dropping off .
Russia has reported 2,837 deaths , a number met with skepticism by critics who say fatalities are being underreported .
Other high-ranking Russian officials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including Putin 's spokesman , Dmitry Peskov , Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova , and Construction Minister Vladimir Yakushev .
Pakistan 's Supreme Court has ordered the government to lift some of the remaining restrictions imposed on businesses to slow the spread of the coronavirus .
The court order affects shopping malls and businesses that have been closed on weekends .
The ruling said that as long as markets were open , there was no justification to shut shopping malls , and it found no `` justifiable rational or reasonable '' basis for businesses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The court said the virus `` apparently is not a pandemic in Pakistan '' and questioned why fighting it was `` swallowing so much money.
” With the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holidays on the coming weekend , transport and retail shopping are expected to draw massive crowds .
Pakistani authorities allowed markets to reopen last week in a phased lifting of a countrywide lockdown , and they were immediately packed with customers , with few signs of social distancing or masks covering the nose and mouth .
Doctors have expressed concern about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quickly spread and overwhelm the health system .
Pakistan has reported 42,125 COVID-19 cases and 903 deaths , according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University .
While those totals are low compared to many other countries , the numbers have risen sharply this month .
But authorities , including Prime Minister Imran Khan , have said the rise in cases has been lower than projected .
The court 's order , which is binding , was issued using its broad authority to rule without waiting for a case to come before it @ @ @ @ @ @ @

The global death toll from the coronavirus is almost 319,000 with more than 4.8 million infections confirmed, causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the new respiratory illness.
Here's a roundup of COVID-19 developments in RFE/RL's broadcast regions.
Afghanistan
The son of Ahmad Shah Masud, the revered anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban commander, says he and several members of his family have tested positive for the coronavirus.
In a May 19 post on Twitter and Facebook, Ahmad Masud said his COVID-19 symptoms were not "so serious," while warning that this did not mean that the virus should not be taken seriously.
Masud said he and several family members received the results of their coronavirus tests conducted a few days ago on May 19. He said they will go into quarantine for two weeks.
Masud, 31, called on his countrymen to follow health protocols and guidelines by the Health Ministry to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Masud, who was 12 when his father, known as the Lion of Panjshir, was assassinated by Al-Qaeda suicide bombers, said last year that he wanted to work to galvanize anti-Taliban groups.
"Let's defeat the coronavirus by working together and respecting guidelines," Masud wrote on Facebook on May 19.
The outbreak has so far killed 178 Afghans and infected over 7,600, according to official figures.
The actual numbers are likely to be significantly higher, as few tests are being carried out in the war-ravaged country.
Earlier this month, Health Minister Ferozuddin Feruz tested positive for the coronavirus. His condition was reported as "stable" by his spokesman, who said he self-isolated at home.
Central Asia
Kyrgyzstan will ramp up its industry on June 1 by allowing all factories to resume operations, after being shut for more than two months as authorities tried to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The government said in a statement on May 19 that while industry will resume, some restrictions will stay after June 1, namely the holding of cultural, sports, and scientific events will remain banned.
Additionally, operations at entertainment facilities, playgrounds, Internet clubs, computer game centers, and kindergartens will also remain suspended.
As of May 19, the number of coronavirus cases in Kyrgyzstan was reported as 1,243, including 14 deaths.
In neighboring Tajikistan, religious leaders announced on May 18 that traditional mass prayers in the country's mosques devoted to the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday this weekend will be canceled due to the pandemic.
Eid al-Fitr is celebrated for two or three days after the end of Ramadan -- the month during which Muslims do not eat and drink during the daytime.
Tajik health authorities said on May 18 that 1,729 coronavirus cases were recorded in the country, with 14 deaths.
In Kazakhstan, President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev signed a decree on establishing a state medal, "Khalyq Alghysy" (People's Gratitude), that will be awarded to individuals for their contributions in the fight against the coronavirus.
Kazakh health authorities said on May 19 that there were 6,751 confirmed cases, including 35 deaths.
The latest figures in Uzbekistan, on May 19, were 2,802 positive tests, including 13 deaths.
Turkmenistan remains the only country in the region that has not officially registered a single coronavirus case yet.
Experts are skeptical of the claim that there are no cases, given the lack of transparency and independent media in the country.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has been working on a possible visit to Turkmenistan to assess the situation on the ground of one of the world's most tightly run countries.
Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov has said his country is ready to host the WHO mission.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria says it has agreed with neighboring Greece and Serbia to ease travel restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus as of June 1.
"We have agreed with Greece from June 1 to allow travel without quarantine for people traveling for business, family, or humanitarian reasons," Prime Minister Boyko Borisov told reporters on May 19.
Speaking after taking part in a conference call with the Greek, Romanian, and Serbian leaders, Borisov said Sofia and Belgrade agreed similar arrangements.
He also expressed hope that Romania would soon join the initiative.
Bulgaria closed its borders to most travelers in mid-March as part of its lockdown measures. Diplomats, seasonal workers, and returning Bulgarian nationals have been admitted to the country but have to spend two weeks in quarantine.
Bulgaria eased its lockdown this week as the number of new infections decreased. The European Union member state reported 24 new cases on May 19, bringing the total to 2,259 cases, including 112 deaths.
From June 1, travelers will have to sign a declaration at the borders with Greece and Serbia that they do not have coronavirus symptoms, Borisov said.
"The goal is to create conditions for a restoration of travel and tourism between the citizens of the four countries without imposing a 14-day quarantine, while observing all hygienic requirements for security and deterrence of the coronavirus," the prime minister said.
Bulgaria is also holding talks with Austria and Germany to ease travel restrictions, he added.
Russia
The Kremlin said on May 19 that Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has returned to work after recovering from COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, as total infections in Russia approached 300,000.
A decree signed by President Vladimir Putin published on the Kremlin's website annulled his previous ruling appointing Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov as acting prime minister due to Mishustin’s illness.
Mishustin on April 30 announced he had tested positive for the virus.
He held several online meetings with his government while in the hospital.
Mishustin's reinstatement came after health officials reported 9,263 new infections in Russia over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 299,941, the second-highest in the world after the United States, as officials said new cases were dropping off.
Russia has reported 2,837 deaths, a number met with skepticism by critics who say fatalities are being underreported.
Other high-ranking Russian officials have tested positive for the virus, including Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova, and Construction Minister Vladimir Yakushev.
Pakistan
Pakistan's Supreme Court has ordered the government to lift some of the remaining restrictions imposed on businesses to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The court order affects shopping malls and businesses that have been closed on weekends.
The ruling said that as long as markets were open, there was no justification to shut shopping malls, and it found no "justifiable rational or reasonable" basis for businesses to be ordered to shut on weekends.
The court said the virus "apparently is not a pandemic in Pakistan" and questioned why fighting it was "swallowing so much money.”
The ruling "puts more lives at risk" and "reflects a broader attempt by Pakistani federal authorities to trivialize the impact" of the outbreak, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Pakistan has reported nearly 45,000 COVID-19 cases, including more than 960 deaths, but HRW said the actual count was almost certainly much higher, given "minimal testing."
With the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holidays on the coming weekend, transport and retail shopping are expected to draw massive crowds.
Pakistani authorities allowed markets to reopen last week in a phased lifting of a countrywide lockdown, and they were immediately packed with customers, with few signs of social distancing or masks covering the nose and mouth.
Doctors have expressed concern about the reopening, saying the virus could quickly spread and overwhelm the health system.
The court's order, which is binding, was issued using its broad authority to rule without waiting for a case to come before it.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Bulgarian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, and Uzbek services, Reuters, and Dawn


rferl--2020-05-19--Russian Vodka Trademarks Become Pawn In Long-Running Yukos Legal Feud

Shareholders in the former Russian oil giant Yukos say a Dutch court has granted them the local rights to the trademarks of two iconic vodka brands controlled by the Russian state .
The seizure of the Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya trademark rights is the shareholders ’ most recent move to obtain billions of dollars in damages from the Russian government , a spokesman for the shareholders said on May 18 .
It comes after the shareholders obtained a court order in early May to seize 18 registered brands in the Netherlands belonging to Russia , the spokesman , Jonathan Hill , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ big brand names of these are Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya vodka , '' said Hill , adding that the order was also effective in Belgium and Luxembourg .
If Russia does not pay the compensation award by September 24 in accordance with Dutch enforcement rules , `` then we are able to put these trademarks to a public auction , '' Hill said .
The spokesman said the Russian state was informed of the move last week .
However , Andrei Kondakov , head of the International Legal Defense Center , which represents Moscow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quoted by TASS as saying neither the Foreign Ministry nor the Russian Embassy in the Netherlands had been informed .
The rights to the two vodka brands belong to the state-owned Soyuzplodoimport company , which considers the seizure of the trademarks illegal and plans to appeal .
A representative of the company is quoted by TASS as saying the company is “ confident that the seizure of trademarks will be canceled in a judicial proceeding . ''
The latest twist in the long-running case comes after a Dutch appeals court reinstated an international @ @ @ @ @ @ @ must pay $ 50 billion compensation to shareholders in Yukos .
The February 18 decision overturned a 2016 ruling by a district court in The Hague that canceled the compensation order on the grounds that the Permanent Court of Arbitration ( PCA ) did not have jurisdiction because the case was based on an energy treaty that Russia had signed but not ratified .
Russia 's Justice Ministry has lodged an appeal at the Dutch Supreme Court to contest the appeals court ’ s decision .
Yukos went bankrupt in 2006 after oil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ President Vladimir Putin and the government began demanding billions of dollars in alleged back taxes .
Most of Yukos ' assets were absorbed by the state-owned oil producer Rosneft .
Former shareholders in Yukos have for years been trying to recover damages .
With reporting by AFP , Reuters , and TASS

Shareholders in the former Russian oil giant Yukos say a Dutch court has granted them the local rights to the trademarks of two iconic vodka brands controlled by the Russian state.
The seizure of the Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya trademark rights is the shareholders’ most recent move to obtain billions of dollars in damages from the Russian government, a spokesman for the shareholders said on May 18.
It comes after the shareholders obtained a court order in early May to seize 18 registered brands in the Netherlands belonging to Russia, the spokesman, Jonathan Hill, told AFP.
"The two best-known big brand names of these are Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya vodka," said Hill, adding that the order was also effective in Belgium and Luxembourg.
If Russia does not pay the compensation award by September 24 in accordance with Dutch enforcement rules, "then we are able to put these trademarks to a public auction," Hill said.
The spokesman said the Russian state was informed of the move last week.
However, Andrei Kondakov, head of the International Legal Defense Center, which represents Moscow's interests in the case, was quoted by TASS as saying neither the Foreign Ministry nor the Russian Embassy in the Netherlands had been informed.
The rights to the two vodka brands belong to the state-owned Soyuzplodoimport company, which considers the seizure of the trademarks illegal and plans to appeal.
A representative of the company is quoted by TASS as saying the company is “confident that the seizure of trademarks will be canceled in a judicial proceeding."
The latest twist in the long-running case comes after a Dutch appeals court reinstated an international arbitration panel’s ruling that Russia must pay $50 billion compensation to shareholders in Yukos.
The February 18 decision overturned a 2016 ruling by a district court in The Hague that canceled the compensation order on the grounds that the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) did not have jurisdiction because the case was based on an energy treaty that Russia had signed but not ratified.
Russia's Justice Ministry has lodged an appeal at the Dutch Supreme Court to contest the appeals court’s decision.
Yukos went bankrupt in 2006 after oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky fell out with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the government began demanding billions of dollars in alleged back taxes.
Most of Yukos' assets were absorbed by the state-owned oil producer Rosneft. Former shareholders in Yukos have for years been trying to recover damages.
With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and TASS


rferl--2020-05-19--UN Calls For Reduction In Violence As U.S. Envoy Meets Taliban

The United Nations on May 19 called for an immediate reduction of violence in Afghanistan , warning that civilian deaths by both the Taliban and Afghan security forces are on the rise , as the U.S. special peace envoy opened another round of talks with the Taliban to press the militant group to start talking with the Kabul government .
The statement from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan ( UNAMA ) , which also voiced concern about the stepped-up attacks and brutality of assaults claimed by Islamic State ( IS ) militants , came after a horrific attack @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Afghan capital that killed 24 people , including two infants and several young mothers .
The Taliban denied involvement in the attack , which has not been claimed by any group , while Washington said the assault bears all the hallmarks of Afghanistan ’ s IS affiliate -- targeting the country ’ s minority Shii'tes in an area of Kabul that IS militants have repeatedly attacked in the past .
UNAMA said in the statement that the Taliban killed 208 civilians last month and also said that operations by Afghan forces in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Parties have committed to finding a peaceful solution and should protect the lives of all Afghans and not jeopardize people ’ s hope for an end to the war , ” said UNAMA chief Deborah Lyons .
She added that “ intra-Afghan peace negotiations need to start as soon as possible . ''
The Taliban has ramped up attacks in recent weeks despite a pledge to reduce violence , a tactic that it may be employing to strengthen its negotiating position .
Meanwhile , IS militants also continue to conduct deadly attacks Afghan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by UNAMA came as U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad prepared to open another round of talks with the Taliban to press it to start talking to the newly reconciled Afghan political leadership in Kabul .
Khalilzad was scheduled to also visit Kabul , the U.S. State Department said in a statement on May 18 .
Khalilzad will meet in Doha with Taliban representatives to discuss implementation of the agreement “ and press for steps necessary to commence intra-Afghan negotiations , including a significant reduction of violence , ” the statement said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ officials in Kabul “ to explore steps the Afghan government needs to take to make intra-Afghan negotiations begin as soon as possible , ” the statement said .
During the meetings , Khalilzad will continue to reinforce the U.S. view that “ the best path to end the conflict is for all parties to sit together and negotiate an agreement on the political future of Afghanistan , ” the statement said .
Khalilzad ’ s departure came after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his political rival , Abdullah Abdullah , reached a power-sharing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government 's efforts to reach a peace deal with the Taliban .
The power struggle had been one of the main impediments to the start of intra-Afghan negotiations to end more than 18 years of war .
The talks were to begin on March 10 under a February 29 agreement , which calls for U.S. and foreign troops to withdraw from Afghanistan following an intra-Afghan deal in exchange for guarantees from the Taliban not to allow the country to become a haven for transnational terrorist groups such as IS and Al-Qaeda .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in response to Ghani ordering Afghan forces to go on the offensive against the militant group .
With reporting by AP , AFP , dpa , and Reuters


rferl--2020-05-20--U.S. Navy Warns Iran Of 'Defensive Measures' If Gunships Get Too Close

The U.S. military has warned Iran that armed vessels approaching within 100 meters of U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf region risk being `` interpreted as a threat and subject to lawful defensive measures . ''
The maritime broadcast warning issued on May 19 comes after U.S. President Donald Trump warned last month that the U.S. Navy would “ shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats harassing our ships at sea.
” The U.S Navy broadcast issued to mariners said the warning was issued to “ due to recent events , in order to enhance safety , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ miscalculation.
” In April the U.S. Navy ’ s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet accused Iran 's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps ( IRGC ) of making `` dangerous and harassing approaches '' toward U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf .
For years small Iranian vessels and speedboats have approached or harassed U.S. warships plying the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz , where tankers pass carrying 20 percent of the world ’ s traded oil .
But the latest tensions come as the United States and Iran have been brought to the brink of conflict @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Washington ’ s policy of “ maximum pressure ” has been met by Tehran ’ s “ maximum resistance ” after Trump withdrew from Tehran ’ s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018 .
Iran last year seized ships in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman , and the United States accused Tehran of attacking several tankers in the region .
The United States blamed Iran for being behind an attack on a Saudi Aramco oil facility , while Iran shot down a U.S. drone it claimed was over its territory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. forces and Iran-backed Iraqi militia led to a U.S. drone strike in January killing IRGC General Qasem Soleimani and a top Iraqi militia commander in Baghdad .
In response , Iran launched ballistic missiles on an Iraqi base housing U.S. troops that caused traumatic brain injury to more than 100 U.S. soldiers .
While small Iranian vessels approaching a Navy destroyer may not seem like a threat , Iran ’ s asymmetric naval defense strategy is based on the use of sea mines and swarming enemy warships with small watercraft and speedboats @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iranian officials have also repeatedly issued threats against U.S. warships in the region .
In the Persian Gulf , the danger of naval miscalculation is heightened by a lack of direct communication and an absence of a deconfliction line between the U.S. and Iranian militaries .
Instead , U.S. Navy ships rely on bridge-to-bridge contact with Iranian gunboats that often ignore messages and don ’ t respond .
“ These tactical , ad hoc communications between Iranian and U.S. vessels leave officers of limited authority in charge of preventing unintended confrontations and containing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” the International Crisis Group said in a report in April .
“ The adversaries ’ incapacity to communicate instantly when incidents happen opens the door to unintentional escalation if one side misreads the situation and , as a result , miscalculates , ” the conflict prevention organization said .


rferl--2020-05-19--Russian Military Helicopter Crashes Near Moscow, Crew Killed

A Mi-8 military helicopter has crashed near Moscow , killing the crew , the Russian Defense Ministry says .
The @ @ @ @ @ training flight when it went down in an unpopulated area 20 kilometers from Klin in @ @ @ @ @ around 8 p.m. local time on May 19 , the ministry said .
`` The @ @ @ @ @ sustained as a result of hard landing , '' it said .
It was not @ @ @ @ @ were on board .
The ministry said preliminary data suggested the helicopter crashed due to @ @ @ @ @ on reporting by Interfax and TASS

A Mi-8 military helicopter has crashed near Moscow, killing the crew, the Russian Defense Ministry says.
The multipurpose helicopter was on a training flight when it went down in an unpopulated area 20 kilometers from Klin in the Moscow region, at around 8 p.m. local time on May 19, the ministry said.
"The helicopter crew died from injuries sustained as a result of hard landing," it said.
It was not clear how many crew members were on board.
The ministry said preliminary data suggested the helicopter crashed due to a technical failure.
Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS


rferl--2020-05-19--Ukraine To Use Separatist Interviews As Evidence Of Role In MH17 Downing

The Ukrainian Security Service ( SBU ) says it will use a journalist 's interview with former separatist figures as evidence of crimes committed during the war in the east of the country , including the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 ( MH17 ) .
The SBU announcement on May 19 relates to two interviews published by Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Gordon on his YouTube channel in which ex-separatist leader Igor Girkin , also known as Strelkov , and the former top prosecutor in Russian-annexed Crimea , Natalia Poklonskaya , divulge information that prosecutors say could be used against them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these interviews is already being analyzed in detail by the [ SBU ] staff for its use as additional evidence of the Russian Federation 's seizure of Ukrainian territory and the actual beginning of the war in the east of our state , '' the SBU said .
Girken , a former colonel in Russia 's Federal Security Service ( FSB ) , was the so-called defense minister of a Russia-backed separatist group in the Donetsk region when MH17 was shot down in July 17 , 2014 , by a Russian-made Buk missile @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interview published on May 18 , Girken said that as the military commander in the area he felt `` indirect responsibility '' for the downing of the passenger jet , but that his forces did n't fire the missile that killed all 298 passengers and crew on board .
Dutch investigators have linked Girken and two other Russians and one Ukrainian to downing the jet on its way from the Netherlands to Malaysia .
In March , a Dutch court began criminal proceedings against the four separatist figures , who are believed to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the missile was secretly transported across the Russian border into Ukraine .
Russia denies any role in the tragedy .
Another interview Gordon published with Poklonskaya on May 11 may also be used by the SBU to build its case against the ex-prosecutor of annexed Crimea between 2014 and 2016 Poklonskaya , now a deputy in the Russian State Duma , is wanted in Ukraine for `` actions committed with the aim of forcible change or overthrow of the constitutional order or seizure of state power . ''
Both interviews caused a stir @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of spreading Russian and separatist propaganda .
In particular , the European Solidarity Party called on the SBU to launch an investigation into Gordon `` for inciting hostility , supporting terrorism , and undermining Ukraine 's sovereignty . ''
In a twist to the story , Gordon said in a video statement on May 19 that he had interviewed Poklonskaya and Girkin `` in collaboration with the Ukrainian secret services . ''
The SBU responded that the interviews were conducted at Gordon 's `` initiative . ''
Gordon said flash drives of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where the testimonies could be used in international court cases against Russia 's illegal annexation of Crimea and the war in the east of Ukraine .
With reporting by UNIAN and Ukrinform

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) says it will use a journalist's interview with former pro-separatist figures as evidence of crimes committed during the war in the east of the country, including the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17).
The SBU announcement on May 19 relates to two interviews published by Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Hordon on his YouTube channel in which ex-separatist leader Igor Girkin, also known as Strelkov, and the former top prosecutor in Russian-annexed Crimea, Natalia Poklonskaya, divulge information that prosecutors say could be used against them.
"All the information voiced in these interviews is already being analyzed in detail by the [SBU] staff for its use as additional evidence of the Russian Federation's seizure of Ukrainian territory and the actual beginning of the war in the east of our state," the SBU said.
Girkin, a former colonel in Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), was the so-called defense minister of a Russia-backed separatist group in the Donetsk region when MH17 was shot down in July 17, 2014, by a Russian-made Buk missile fired from separatist-controlled territory.
In the interview published on May 18, Girkin said that as the military commander in the area he felt "indirect responsibility" for the downing of the passenger jet, but that his forces didn't fire the missile that killed all 298 passengers and crew on board.
Dutch investigators have linked Girkin and two other Russians and one Ukrainian to downing the jet on its way from the Netherlands to Malaysia. In March, a Dutch court began criminal proceedings against the four separatist figures, who are believed to be in Russia. Dutch officials believe the missile was secretly transported across the Russian border into Ukraine.
Russia denies any role in the tragedy.
Another interview Hordon published with Poklonskaya on May 11 may also be used by the SBU to build its case against the ex-prosecutor of annexed Crimea between 2014 and 2016
Poklonskaya, now a deputy in the Russian State Duma, is wanted in Ukraine for "actions committed with the aim of forcible change or overthrow of the constitutional order or seizure of state power."
Both interviews caused a stir in Ukraine, with some accusing Hordon of spreading Russian and separatist propaganda.
In particular, the European Solidarity Party called on the SBU to launch an investigation into Hordon "for inciting hostility, supporting terrorism, and undermining Ukraine's sovereignty."
In a twist to the story, Hordon said in a video statement on May 19 that he had interviewed Poklonskaya and Girkin "in collaboration with the Ukrainian secret services."
The SBU responded that the interviews were conducted at Hordon's "initiative."
Hordon said flash drives of the interviews were sent to The Hague, where the testimonies could be used in international court cases against Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and the war in the east of Ukraine.
With reporting by UNIAN and Ukrinform


rferl--2020-05-19--Kazakh Rights Lawyer Suspects Her Car Was Tampered With After Brake Malfunction

ALMATY , Kazakhstan -- A prominent Kazakh human rights lawyer who aided a woman who helped expose `` reeducation camps '' for Muslims in neighboring China says she believes her car was tampered with in an attempt to injure her because of her professional activities .
Aiman Omarova , who also represents victims of sexual abuse and was a recipient of the U.S. State Department 's International Women of Courage Award for 2018 , said she survived a car fire that started after a brake malfunction late on May 18 .
Omarova , who has also worked as a lawyer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brakes suddenly stopped functioning while she was driving and after it stopped abruptly , the front started burning .
`` I am confident that it is linked to my professional activities .
Luckily , I was driving slowly , when I found out that the brakes stopped working .
I started screaming .
When I was thinking about somehow turning the car to stop it or jumping out of it , it stopped and at that point the fire started ... .
Some important documents are gone .
I am in a deep @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Omarova successfully represented RFE/RL last month in a case over inaction by Almaty police over an attack on RFE/RL reporters .
Last year , Omarova said unknown individuals killed her dog , which she said was also an act linked to her professional activities .
She also said somebody hung a dead cat on the gate of her home in what she believes was meant as a warning .
Omarova specializes in seeking justice for victims of sexual abuse , mainly women and children , and also represents people who believe they are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stifle dissent in tightly controlled Kazakhstan .
Her dog 's death came shortly after she helped Sairagul Sauytbay , who fled China in 2018 , leave Kazakhstan for Sweden after Kazakh authorities refused to give her political asylum .
At a trial in Kazakhstan on charges of illegal border crossing , Sauytbay testified that thousands of ethnic Kazakhs , Uyghurs , and other Muslims in China 's Xinjiang province were undergoing `` political indoctrination '' in a network of `` reeducation camps . ''
Revelations from Sauytbay and others have created diplomatic difficulties @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China .

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A prominent Kazakh human rights lawyer who aided a woman who helped expose "reeducation camps" for Muslims in neighboring China says she believes her car was tampered with in an attempt to injure her because of her professional activities.
Aiman Omarova, who also represents victims of sexual abuse and was a recipient of the U.S. State Department's International Women of Courage Award for 2018, said she survived a car fire that started after a brake malfunction late on May 18.
Omarova, who has also worked as a lawyer for RFE/RL, said her car's brakes suddenly stopped functioning while she was driving and after it stopped abruptly, the front started burning.
"I am confident that it is linked to my professional activities. Luckily, I was driving slowly, when I found out that the brakes stopped working. I started screaming. When I was thinking about somehow turning the car to stop it or jumping out of it, it stopped and at that point the fire started.... Some important documents are gone. I am in a deep stress, " Omarova told RFE/RL.
Omarova successfully represented RFE/RL last month in a case over inaction by Almaty police over an attack on RFE/RL reporters.
Last year, Omarova said unknown individuals killed her dog, which she said was also an act linked to her professional activities.
She also said somebody hung a dead cat on the gate of her home in what she believes was meant as a warning.
Omarova specializes in seeking justice for victims of sexual abuse, mainly women and children, and also represents people who believe they are being prosecuted for political reasons or to stifle dissent in tightly controlled Kazakhstan.
Her dog's death came shortly after she helped Sairagul Sauytbay, who fled China in 2018, leave Kazakhstan for Sweden after Kazakh authorities refused to give her political asylum.
At a trial in Kazakhstan on charges of illegal border crossing, Sauytbay testified that thousands of ethnic Kazakhs, Uyghurs, and other Muslims in China's Xinjiang province were undergoing "political indoctrination" in a network of "reeducation camps."
Revelations from Sauytbay and others have created diplomatic difficulties for energy-rich Kazakhstan in its relationship with China.


rferl--2020-05-19--Moldova Charges Plahotniuc In $1 Billion Fraud, Will Seek U.S. Extradition

CHISINAU -- Moldovan prosecutors have charged Vlad Plahotniuc , a powerful oligarch and political figure , for his role in a massive bank theft , and will seek his extradition from the United States .
Prosecutor-General Alexandru Stoianoglo said on May 18 that Plahotniuc was being charged with forming an organized criminal group , extortion , and fraud .
As soon as the indictment is prepared and translated into English , Moldova will seek his extradition from the United States , Stoianoglo said .
The former head of the Democratic Party , Plahotniuc fled Moldova in June 2019 after being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government shakeup brokered by Russia , the United States , and other European partners .
He has been linked to what is known as the `` theft of the century , '' a scandal involving the disappearance of more than $ 1 billion -- totaling nearly one-eighth of Moldova 's GDP -- from the country 's biggest banks between 2012 and 2014 .
The scandal plunged Europe 's poorest state into turmoil and ultimately forced the government to bail out the three banks with a $ 870 million emergency loan .
RFE/RL reported @ @ @ @ @ @ @ United States and authorities there were preparing to deport him after he was subject to an earlier visa ban .
In January , Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Plahotniuc 's `` corrupt actions undermined the rule of law and severely compromised the independence of democratic institutions in Moldova . ''
The Prosecutor-General 's Office in Moldova said the charges against Plahotniuc were based on `` indisputable evidence '' from a report by the U.S.-based international investigative firm Kroll .
The report documented how companies and individuals tied to a 28-year-old businessman took @ @ @ @ @ @ @ period of the scandal , in which money was funneled overseas through dubious loans , shell companies , asset swaps , and shareholder deals .
The businessman , Ilan Shor , then allegedly issued massive loans to his companies during a three-day period in November 2014 , according to the report , which was later leaked and published by an opposition lawmaker .
Shor , who is currently believed to be in Israel , was charged in 2016 and later convicted of money laundering and embezzlement in connection with the theft .
Also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Filat was found guilty of taking bribes related to the theft .
He was released early in December 2019 after serving three years in prison .
Prosecutors said that through Shor , Plahotniuc allegedly withdrew $ 100 million from the former state bank Banca de Economii .
The funds were subsequently covered from the reserves of the National Bank to buy the insurance company Asito , a hotel , a fashion business , and a personal jet .

CHISINAU -- Moldovan prosecutors have charged Vlad Plahotniuc, a powerful oligarch and political figure, for his role in a massive bank theft, and will seek his extradition from the United States.
Prosecutor-General Alexandru Stoianoglo said on May 18 that Plahotniuc was being charged with forming an organized criminal group, extortion, and fraud.
As soon as the indictment is prepared and translated into English, Moldova will seek his extradition from the United States, Stoianoglo said.
The former head of the Democratic Party, Plahotniuc fled Moldova in June 2019 after being forced from parliament as part of a government shakeup brokered by Russia, the United States, and other European partners.
He has been linked to what is known as the "theft of the century," a scandal involving the disappearance of more than $1 billion -- totaling nearly one-eighth of Moldova's GDP -- from the country's biggest banks between 2012 and 2014.
The scandal plunged Europe's poorest state into turmoil and ultimately forced the government to bail out the three banks with a $870 million emergency loan.
RFE/RL reported in March that Plahotniuc was in the United States and authorities there were preparing to deport him after he was subject to an earlier visa ban.
In January, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Plahotniuc's "corrupt actions undermined the rule of law and severely compromised the independence of democratic institutions in Moldova."
The Prosecutor-General's Office in Moldova said the charges against Plahotniuc were based on "indisputable evidence" from a report by the U.S.-based international investigative firm Kroll.
The report documented how companies and individuals tied to a 28-year-old businessman took control of three major banks during the period of the scandal, in which money was funneled overseas through dubious loans, shell companies, asset swaps, and shareholder deals.
The businessman, Ilan Shor, then allegedly issued massive loans to his companies during a three-day period in November 2014, according to the report, which was later leaked and published by an opposition lawmaker.
Shor, who is currently believed to be in Israel, was charged in 2016 and later convicted of money laundering and embezzlement in connection with the theft.
Also in 2016, former Prime Minister Vlad Filat was found guilty of taking bribes related to the theft. He was released early in December 2019 after serving three years in prison.
Prosecutors said that through Shor, Plahotniuc allegedly withdrew $100 million from the former state bank Banca de Economii.
The funds were subsequently covered from the reserves of the National Bank to buy the insurance company Asito, a hotel, a fashion business, and a personal jet.


rferl--2020-05-19--Belarusian Opposition Leader Statkevich's Presidential Bid Rejected

MINSK -- The Belarusian Central Election Commission has rejected documents filed by the initiative group for prominent opposition leader Mikalay Statkevich to nominate him as a presidential candidate for balloting scheduled for August 9 .
The commission said its May 19 decision was determined by Statkevich 's `` criminal record . ''
Statkevich ran against authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in the 2010 presidential election .
Lukashenka , in office since 1994 , was reelected in a vote that his critics say was rigged .
Statkevich was arrested after attending a large demonstration protesting the election results , and spent five @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organizing riots at a trial criticized by human rights groups and Western governments as unfair .
After his release , Statkevich was sentenced many times to short several-day jail terms for taking part in and organizing anti-government rallies .
Overall , initiative groups for 55 potential candidates have compiled and submitted documents to the Central Election Commission .
So far , the commission has rejected 10 of them .
On May 15 , the commission officially registered initiative groups for Lukashenka and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party , Aleh Haydukevich .

MINSK -- The Belarusian Central Election Commission has rejected documents filed by the initiative group for prominent opposition leader Mikalay Statkevich to nominate him as a presidential candidate for balloting scheduled for August 9.
The commission said its May 19 decision was determined by Statkevich's "criminal record."
Statkevich ran against authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in the 2010 presidential election.
Lukashenka, in office since 1994, was reelected in a vote that his critics say was rigged.
Statkevich was arrested after attending a large demonstration protesting the election results, and spent five years in prison after being convicted of organizing riots at a trial criticized by human rights groups and Western governments as unfair.
After his release, Statkevich was sentenced many times to short several-day jail terms for taking part in and organizing anti-government rallies.
Overall, initiative groups for 55 potential candidates have compiled and submitted documents to the Central Election Commission. So far, the commission has rejected 10 of them.
On May 15, the commission officially registered initiative groups for Lukashenka and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Aleh Haydukevich.