rferl--2020-02-21--Kazakh Army Sergeant Arrested After Deserting With Dozens Of Firearms

NUR-SULTAN -- A soldier in the Kazakh armed forces has been arrested after deserting with 30 AK-47 assault rifles , @ @ @ @ @ a large amount of ammunition .
Kazakhstan 's Interior Ministry said on February 21 that @ @ @ @ @ left his unit near the southern city of Shymkent taking the weapons with him on @ @ @ @ @ said the deserter was detained by police and Committee for National Security personnel .
It @ @ @ @ @ the man , who is a professional soldier , stole the weapons and ammunition .
@ @ @ @ @ 's Office said that it had launched a probe into the disappearance of the weapons @

NUR-SULTAN -- A soldier in the Kazakh armed forces has been arrested after deserting with 30 AK-47 assault rifles, 27 Makarov pistols, and a large amount of ammunition.
Kazakhstan's Interior Ministry said on February 21 that 24-year-old Sergeant Abylai Balghynbaev, left his unit near the southern city of Shymkent taking the weapons with him on February 19.
The ministry said the deserter was detained by police and Committee for National Security personnel.
It was not immediately clear why the man, who is a professional soldier, stole the weapons and ammunition.
Separately, the Military Prosecutor-General's Office said that it had launched a probe into the disappearance of the weapons.


rferl--2020-02-21--Romanian Confirmed Among Victims In Mass Shooting In Germany

One of the nine victims of a shooting spree in the German city of Hanau this week was a Romanian citizen , Romania 's president , Klaus Iohannis , tweeted early on February 21 .
`` I have found out with deep sadness that a Romanian citizen was among the victims of the violent attacks in Hanau , Germany , '' Iohannis wrote .
Romanian media reports said the victim is Viorel Paun , a 23-year-old man from a village in the southern Giurgiu county .
Germany 's public prosecutor said nine people of foreign descent were killed in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ February 19 , before the alleged shooter -- identified as Tobias R -- returned to his home and killed himself and his 72-year-old mother .
The authorities believe he acted alone and are investigating the case as an act of terrorism .
Chancellor Angela Merkel said the attack was motivated by racism .
`` Racism is a poison .
Hatred is a poison .
And this hate exists in our society , '' Merkel said in her first reaction to the news .
In response to the attack , Germany 's Social Democrats @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the ruling coalition , called for the domestic intelligence services to monitor the activities of the far-right Alternative for Germany ( AfD ) , currently the largest opposition party in parliament .
There is no proven link between the shooter and the AfD .
Several party members denounced the shooting on February 20 .
Based on reporting by dpa , Digi24.ro , g4media.ro , and evz.ro

One of the nine victims of a shooting spree in the German city of Hanau this week was a Romanian citizen, Romania's president, Klaus Iohannis, tweeted early on February 21.
"I have found out with deep sadness that a Romanian citizen was among the victims of the violent attacks in Hanau, Germany," Iohannis wrote.
Romanian media reports said the victim is Viorel Paun, a 23-year-old man from a village in the southern Giurgiu county.
Germany's public prosecutor said nine people of foreign descent were killed in a pair of attacks in Hanau late on February 19, before the alleged shooter -- identified as Tobias R -- returned to his home and killed himself and his 72-year-old mother.
The authorities believe he acted alone and are investigating the case as an act of terrorism.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said the attack was motivated by racism. "Racism is a poison. Hatred is a poison. And this hate exists in our society," Merkel said in her first reaction to the news.
In response to the attack, Germany's Social Democrats (SPD), who are part of the ruling coalition, called for the domestic intelligence services to monitor the activities of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), currently the largest opposition party in parliament.
There is no proven link between the shooter and the AfD. Several party members denounced the shooting on February 20.
Based on reporting by dpa, Digi24.ro, g4media.ro, and evz.ro


rferl--2020-02-21--Jamaica Rejects Thaci's Claim It Has Recognized Kosovo's Sovereignty

Jamaican Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson-Smith has rejected a claim by Kosovar President Hashim Thaci that her Caribbean island country has recognized Kosovo as a sovereign state .
Thaci , a former guerrilla commander in Kosovo ’ s 1998-1999 war , made the claim late on February 20 in a statement posted on Twitter .
Thaci said he 'd been notified by Kosovo 's ambassador to the United States , Vlora Citaku , that Jamaica `` has recognized '' the Republic of Kosovo as a `` sovereign and independent '' state .
`` I know this is a result of hard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' said Thaci , who also expressed gratitude to U.S. Representative Eliot Engle , chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee .
Vjosa Osmani , the speaker of Kosovo 's parliament , also thanked Jamaican authorities on February 20 `` for recognizing Kosovo . ''
Osmani said that , `` without any doubt , '' Jamaica ’ s government had made `` the right and just decision . ''
But Jamaican ’ s foreign minister responded to the announcements from Pristina with her own statement early on February 21 , saying : `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kosovo as an independent state . ''
Kosovo , formerly an autonomous province of Serbia , unilaterally declared its independence from Belgrade in February 2008 .
But Serbia does not recognize Kosovo as a sovereign state , nor does Russia -- a key traditional ally of Belgrade .
Since 2008 , much of Kosovo ’ s foreign policy agenda has focused on attempts to gain international recognition of its independence .
More than 110 countries have recognized Kosovo as a sovereign state .

Jamaican Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson-Smith has rejected a claim by Kosovar President Hashim Thaci that her Caribbean island country has recognized Kosovo as a sovereign state.
Thaci, a former guerrilla commander in Kosovo’s 1998-1999 war, made the claim late on February 20 in a statement posted on Twitter.
Thaci said he'd been notified by Kosovo's ambassador to the United States, Vlora Citaku, that Jamaica "has recognized" the Republic of Kosovo as a "sovereign and independent" state.
"I know this is a result of hard work and lobbying of several years," said Thaci, who also expressed gratitude to U.S. Representative Eliot Engle, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Vjosa Osmani, the speaker of Kosovo's parliament, also thanked Jamaican authorities on February 20 "for recognizing Kosovo."
Osmani said that, "without any doubt," Jamaica’s government had made "the right and just decision."
But Jamaican’s foreign minister responded to the announcements from Pristina with her own statement early on February 21, saying: "To date, Jamaica has not recognized Kosovo as an independent state."
Kosovo, formerly an autonomous province of Serbia, unilaterally declared its independence from Belgrade in February 2008.
But Serbia does not recognize Kosovo as a sovereign state, nor does Russia -- a key traditional ally of Belgrade.
Since 2008, much of Kosovo’s foreign policy agenda has focused on attempts to gain international recognition of its independence.
More than 110 countries have recognized Kosovo as a sovereign state.


rferl--2020-02-21--Trump’s Acting Intelligence Appointee Doesn’t Expect To Be Named For Permanent Post

Richard Grenell , who was named U.S. President Donald Trump ’ s acting director of intelligence , says he does not expect to be named to the post permanently .
`` The President will announce the Nominee ( not me ) sometime soon , '' Grenell wrote on Twitter on February 20 , a day after Trump announced his selection to lead the nation 's intelligence agencies in an acting capacity .
As acting director of national intelligence ( DNI ) , Grenell will not require Senate confirmation , as would a permanent appointee .
A senior administration official , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. media that Grenell will remain U.S. ambassador to Germany while serving as acting DNI .
Grenell , a fierce Trump loyalist , also serves as the administration ’ s special envoy for normalization efforts between Western Balkan rivals Kosovo and Serbia .
Trump 's decision to name Grenell to the DNI post ignited vocal criticism by leading Democrats in Congress .
`` Sadly , President Trump has once again put his political interests ahead of America 's national security interests by appointing an Acting Director of National Intelligence whose sole qualification is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said .
The White House insisted Grenell `` is committed to a nonpolitical , nonpartisan approach as head of the Intelligence Community . ''
Grenell angered many in Germany following his appointment as U.S. envoy to the NATO ally .
Shortly after arrival 2018 , he drew condemnation for an interview with the right-wing Breitbart website in which he said , `` I absolutely want to empower '' European conservatives who are `` experiencing an awakening from the silent majority . ''
The DNI post was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , terror attacks on the United States .
It oversees the 17 U.S. civilian and military intelligence agencies .
Based on reporting by Reuters , AFP , AP , dpa , and The New York Times

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


rferl--2020-02-21--Pompeo: U.S.-Taliban Deal Signing Expected Next Week, If Reduction In Violence Is Successful

A deal between the United States and the Taliban is expected to be signed on February 29 provided a `` reduction in violence ' '' due to enter into force at midnight proves successful , U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on February 21 .
The United States and the Taliban have been engaged in talks to facilitate a political settlement to end the conflict in Afghanistan and reduce the U.S. presence in the region , Pompeo said in a statement .
`` In recent weeks , in consultation with the Government of National Unity , U.S. negotiators in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Taliban on a significant and nationwide reduction in violence across Afghanistan , '' Pompeo said .
`` Upon a successful implementation of this understanding , signing of the U.S.-Taliban agreement is expected to move forward .
We are preparing for the signing to take place on February 29 , '' Pompeo said , adding that intra-Afghan negotiations will start soon thereafter , with the final aim of delivering `` a comprehensive and permanent cease-fire and the future political road map for Afghanistan . ''
In a written statement , the Taliban confirmed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ February 29 `` in front of international observers '' and said that `` the groundwork for intra-Afghan talks will be resolved , '' although it did not mention when such talks would start .
The Taliban had previously refused to speak directly to the Afghan government , which it labeled a U.S. puppet .
Earlier on February 21 , a senior Afghan official and several Taliban leaders said that the week-long `` reduction in violence '' will begin at midnight local time on February 22 .
`` We hope it is extended for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a cease-fire and intra-Afghan talks , '' Javed Faisal , Afghanistan 's National Security Council spokesman , was quoted as saying .
The talks between U.S. and Taliban representatives began in Qatar in 2018 .
Afghan government troops will keep up normal military operations against other militants , such as the Islamic State ( IS ) group , during the reduction in violence period , Faisal said .
He added that Afghan troops will also retaliate to the smallest violation of the understanding by the Taliban .
`` Local government and security @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ Ashraf Ghani ) ] himself on how to follow the regulations agreed upon for the period [ reduced violence ] , '' Faisal said .
One Taliban leader based in Qatar 's capital , Doha , told Reuters that the week-long lull could not be called a `` cease-fire . ''
`` Every party has the right of self-defense but there would be no attacks on each other 's positions in these seven days , ” he was quoted by Reuters as saying .
With reporting by Reuters and AFP

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--2020-02-21--U.S. Intelligence Officials Warn Of Russian Interference In 2020 Election

WASHINGTON -- U.S. intelligence officials have warned U.S. lawmakers that Russia is interfering in the 2020 election in an attempt to help the campaign of President Donald Trump .
The New York Times , The Washington Post , and AP separately reported on February 20 that the warning was given during a closed-door briefing by U.S. intelligence officials on February 13 .
They cited two officials familiar with the briefing who asked for anonymity .
The Times said the briefing angered Trump , who said Democrats would use the information against him .
The Kremlin on February 21 denied that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ campaign .
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow on February 21 that the warnings made by U.S. intelligence officials were false .
`` This is another in a series of paranoid reports , and we regret to say that they will become more frequent as the election approaches , '' Peskov said .
`` They certainly have nothing to do with the truth . ''
The U.S. intelligence community concluded that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election through social-media campaigns and the hacking of e-mail accounts of leading Democrats in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and undermine his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton .
Trump has called the conclusions a `` hoax . ''
He has also vehemently denied suggestions that his team worked together with Russian figures during the election .
Russia has denied it interfered in the 2016 vote .
The Times reported that , during the recent congressional briefing in Washington , Trump 's allies challenged the intelligence warnings and said the president had been tough on Russia .
At a public hearing earlier in February , FBI Director Christopher Wray told the House of Representatives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` information warfare '' ahead of the November election through a covert social-media campaign aimed at dividing the American public and sowing discord .
With reporting by AP , dpa , The New York Times , and The Washington Post .

WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump has rejected reported assertions by U.S. intelligence officials that Russia was interfering in the 2020 presidential election in a bid to help his reelection campaign.
In a post on Twitter on February 21, Trump described the reports as "another misinformation campaign…launched by Democrats in Congress."
The same day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also rejected the reports as "more paranoid announcements."
"They have nothing to do with the truth," Peskov said.
The New York Times, The Washington Post, and AP separately reported on February 20 that the warning was given during a closed-door briefing by U.S. intelligence officials on February 13.
They cited two officials familiar with the briefing who asked for anonymity.
The Times said the briefing angered Trump, who said Democrats would use the information against him.
The Kremlin on February 21 denied that Russia was interfering in the 2020 election campaign.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow on February 21 that the warnings made by U.S. intelligence officials were false.
"This is another in a series of paranoid reports, and we regret to say that they will become more frequent as the election approaches," Peskov said. "They certainly have nothing to do with the truth."
The U.S. intelligence community concluded that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election through social-media campaigns and the hacking of e-mail accounts of leading Democrats in order to boost Trump’s campaign and undermine his Democratic rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Trump has called the conclusions a "hoax." He has also vehemently denied suggestions that his team worked together with Russian figures during the election. Russia has denied it interfered in the 2016 vote.
The Times reported that, during the recent congressional briefing in Washington, Trump's allies challenged the intelligence warnings and said the president had been tough on Russia.
At a public hearing earlier in February, FBI Director Christopher Wray told the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee that Moscow was engaged in "information warfare" ahead of the November election through a covert social-media campaign aimed at dividing the American public and sowing discord.
With reporting by AP, dpa, Reuters, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.


rferl--2020-02-21--Iraq, Kuwait Restrict Entry Of Iranian Citizens Amid Virus Fears

Iraq and Kuwait have temporarily restricted the entry of Iranians into their countries in an effort to stem the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus following Iran 's announcement that two people there had died from the disease .
The Iraqi Border Crossing Authority on February 20 said Iranian travelers will be denied entry to Iraq through shared border crossings for at least the next three days .
It also said Iraqis returning from Iran will be subjected `` to the procedures adopted by the Iraqi Ministry of Health . ''
Iraq 's national carrier , Iraqi Airways , has also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ came after the Iranian holy city of Qom announced emergency measures to stem a possible outbreak of the virus following the deaths of two men there .
Millions of Iranians traditionally travel to Iraq to visit Shi'ite holy sites in the country , as do Iraqis to Iran .
Separately , Kuwait 's ports authority suspended the movement of people to and from Iran until further notice over concerns about the spread of the virus , state news agency KUNA said early on February 21 .
A day earlier , Kuwait Airways suspended @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Kuwaiti Health Ministry and the civil aviation authority .
The coronavirus , which began in the Chinese city of Wuhan , has killed 2,118 people and infected 74,576 people on mainland China , with hundreds more infected in nearly 30 countries .
Iran has detected five infected people , the first cases reported in the Middle East .
Authorities in Qom , a city of some 1.2 million people , have asked residents to avoid unnecessary physical contact , including shaking hands or kissing , following the deaths of two older @ @ @ @ @ @ @ men had come to the hospital with breathing problems and tested positive for a strain of the coronavirus Neither man had traveled outside of the city that is considered holy to Shi ’ ite Muslims , nor are they thought to have had contact with Chinese tourists .
Health officials urged that all religious gatherings be suspended in the city , according to Iranian media .
With reporting by dpa , Reuters , ISNA , and IRNA

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--2020-02-21--Violence Greets Wuhan Evacuees Upon Arrival In Ukrainian Town

Violence erupted as the first group of Ukrainians evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan -- the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak -- arrived in the town of Novi Sanzhary in the central region of Poltava .
Residents opposing the move to bring the potentially infected people to the area on February 20 threw stones at the evacuees and clashed with police .
Ukrainian authorities said 45 Ukrainians and 27 foreigners , as well as medical personnel and crew members were aboard the plane that had evacuated the group from Wuhan .
The nationalities of the foreign citizens were not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrote on Facebook on February 20 that the plane carrying both Ukrainians and several foreigners made a quick stop to refuel at Kyiv 's Borispil Airport before landing in Kharkiv , where the group was bused to the designated place of quarantine .
Zelenskiy said all the people who arrived from Wuhan will be quarantined for 14 days in the National Guard 's medical center in Novi Sanzhary .
Masked evacuees peered through bus windows as they drove under a heavy police escort .
Stones had shattered a window on one of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if there were any injuries on the vehicle .
A police statement said that nine officers and one civilian were hospitalized following the clashes and that 24 protesters had been detained .
Zelenskiy said the protesters had displayed `` not the best side of our character '' and insisted that the quarantined individuals would not pose a threat to residents .
In an effort to reassure residents , Ukrainian Health Minister Zoryana Skaletska said she would live with the evacuees in quarantine for two weeks .
Separately , in the western region of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ highways for a short time amid rumors that some of those evacuated from Wuhan could be placed in quarantine in a military hospital in the area .
Local authorities denied the rumors .
China has reported 2,233 deaths from the disease , with about 75,000 total infections .
The World Health Organization has said that 1,076 cases have been reported in nearly 30 other countries .
Authorities have put Wuhan , with a population of some 11 million people , in a virtual lockdown , and most countries have evacuated their nationals from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ form of quarantine .
With reporting by AP , Reuters , AFP , and Ukrayinska Pravda

Violence erupted as the first group of Ukrainians evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan -- the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak -- arrived in the town of Novi Sanzhary in the central region of Poltava.
Residents opposing the move to bring the potentially infected people to the area on February 20 threw stones at the evacuees and clashed with police.
Ukrainian authorities said 45 Ukrainians and 27 foreigners, as well as medical personnel and crew members were aboard the plane that had evacuated the group from Wuhan.
The nationalities of the foreign citizens were not immediately known.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on Facebook on February 20 that the plane carrying both Ukrainians and several foreigners made a quick stop to refuel at Kyiv's Borispil Airport before landing in Kharkiv, where the group was bused to the designated place of quarantine.
Zelenskiy said all the people who arrived from Wuhan will be quarantined for 14 days in the National Guard's medical center in Novi Sanzhary.
Masked evacuees peered through bus windows as they drove under a heavy police escort.
Stones had shattered a window on one of the buses, but it was not clear if there were any injuries on the vehicle.
A police statement said that nine officers and one civilian were hospitalized following the clashes and that 24 protesters had been detained. Authorities said 23 of the detainees were released within hours.
Ukrainian Health Minister Zoryana Skaletska said on February 20 that "fake information" about alleged coronavirus cases in Ukraine had caused the panic.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said a fake e-mail that purported to be from Ukraine's Health Ministry had been sent to the ministry's entire contact list.
The SBU said the fake e-mail originated outside Ukraine and it was being investigated.
Zelenskiy said the protesters had displayed "not the best side of our character" and insisted that the quarantined individuals would not pose a threat to residents.
In an effort to reassure residents, Ukrainian Health Minister Zoryana Skaletska said she would live with the evacuees in quarantine for two weeks.
Separately, in the western region of Lviv, protesters blocked one of the highways for a short time amid rumors that some of those evacuated from Wuhan could be placed in quarantine in a military hospital in the area. Local authorities denied the rumors.
China has reported 2,233 deaths from the disease, with about 75,000 total infections.
The World Health Organization has said that 1,076 cases have been reported in nearly 30 other countries.
Authorities have put Wuhan, with a population of some 11 million people, in a virtual lockdown, and most countries have evacuated their nationals from the city, putting them in some form of quarantine.
With reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP, and Ukrayinska Pravda


rferl--2020-02-21--Organizing Head Of Nascent Kazakh Opposition Party Detained

The leader of a group seeking to create the opposition Democratic Party of Kazakhstan , Zhanbolat Mamai , has been detained on the eve of a planned protest in Almaty .
The detention occurred outside a courthouse in the city of Kaskelen , near Almaty , where Mamai was attending a hearing on the case of fellow Democratic Party initiative group member Zhanbol Rakhmetulla , who had been detained earlier in the day .
Police in Kaskelen did not respond to requests for comment on Mamai 's detention .
In 2017 , Mamai was convicted on money-laundering charges that he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and given a three-year suspended sentence , which is still in force .
The initiative group to form the Democratic Party was legally registered by the Justice Ministry in December.The group planned to hold a congress in Almaty on February 22 , but canceled it on February 19 because of the arrests and detentions of party activists .
Authorities have reportedly detained dozens of party supporters in cities around the country , most of them for allegedly participating in earlier unsanctioned demonstrations .
Kazakh law requires that a party 's founding congress be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Instead of the congress , Mamai 's group called on supporters to attend a February 22 protest in the center of Almaty .
Human rights proponents have said Kazakhstan ’ s law on public gatherings contradicts international standards as it requires preliminary permission from authorities to hold rallies and envisions prosecution for organizing and participating in unsanctioned rallies even though the nation 's constitution guarantees its citizens the right of free assembly .
During a working visit to Nur-Sultan earlier this month , U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lauded what he said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' and `` real changes '' since President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev came to power in March 2019 following the resignation of Nursultan Nazarbaev , who ruled the country for nearly 30 years .

The leader of a group seeking to create the opposition Democratic Party of Kazakhstan, Zhanbolat Mamai, has been detained on the eve of a planned protest in Almaty.
Mamai's wife, Inga Imanbai, posted video of Mamai's February 21 detention on Facebook:
The detention occurred outside a courthouse in the city of Kaskelen, near Almaty, where Mamai was attending a hearing on the case of fellow Democratic Party initiative group member Zhanbol Rakhmetulla, who had been detained earlier in the day.
Police in Kaskelen did not respond to requests for comment on Mamai's detention.
In 2017, Mamai was convicted on money-laundering charges that he and his supporters say were politically motivated and given a three-year suspended sentence, which is still in force.
The initiative group to form the Democratic Party was legally registered by the Justice Ministry in December.The group planned to hold a congress in Almaty on February 22, but canceled it on February 19 because of the arrests and detentions of party activists.
Authorities have reportedly detained dozens of party supporters in cities around the country, most of them for allegedly participating in earlier unsanctioned demonstrations. Kazakh law requires that a party's founding congress be attended by at least 1,000 people.
Instead of the congress, Mamai's group called on supporters to attend a February 22 protest in the center of Almaty.
Human rights proponents have said Kazakhstan’s law on public gatherings contradicts international standards as it requires preliminary permission from authorities to hold rallies and envisions prosecution for organizing and participating in unsanctioned rallies even though the nation's constitution guarantees its citizens the right of free assembly.
During a working visit to Nur-Sultan earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lauded what he said was a "real improvement in Kazakhstan" and "real changes" since President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev came to power in March 2019 following the resignation of Nursultan Nazarbaev, who ruled the country for nearly 30 years.


rferl--2020-02-21--Global Terrorism Finance Watchdog Blacklists Iran, Grants Reprieve To Pakistan

A global financial watchdog has blacklisted Iran for failing to take measures against money laundering and the financing of terrorist groups .
The Paris-based task force , an inter-governmental organization that underpins the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing , made the announcement on February 21 .
The Financial Action Task Force ( FATF ) also granted a temporary reprieve to Pakistan , keeping the country on its “ gray list.
” In a statement , the FATF said it was lifting a sanctions suspension it granted in 2016 to give Iran time to work on reforms .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and `` all jurisdictions to apply effective countermeasures . ''
Iran 's blacklisting will deepen the country 's isolation from financial markets .
Abdolnasser Hemmati , the head of the Iran 's Central Bank , said the FATF 's decision was `` political '' and it would not impact foreign trade .
Iran and North Korea are on the agency 's blacklist .
The FATF said it was granting Pakistan an extra four months to meet anti-terrorism financing norms , keeping Islamabad for now on its list of countries that do not adequately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reporting by RFE/RL 's Radio Mashaal , Reuters , and AFP


rferl--2020-02-21--Bulgarian Prosecutors Identify Three Russians Suspected In 2015 Poisoning Case

Prosecutors in Bulgaria have filed criminal charges against three Russian citizens in connection with the attempted poisoning in 2015 of arms dealer Emilian Gebrev .
Officials identified the suspects as Sergei Pavlov , Sergei Fedotov , and Georgy Gorshkov , saying that they are believed to be residents of Moscow .
In January , Bulgaria announced charges against three Russians in connection with the same case , but did not identify the suspects .
Earlier on February 21 , the Bellingcat independent research organization posted on Twitter that it had `` identified the true identities '' of `` the team @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the poisoning , using the abbreviation for the Russian military intelligence service .
`` We have submitted relevant data to law enforcement , '' the Bellingcat post said .
In a further post , Bellingcat said it would make additional information public `` next week . ''
In January , Bulgaria expelled two Russian diplomats believed to have been involved in the case .
Bulgarian authorities believe Gebrev , owner of the EMCO Ltd. arms trader ; his son , Hristo Gebrev ; and company manager Valentin Takhchiev were targeted in a poisoning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ phosphorus-organic substance . ''
All three survived the attacks .
In February 2019 , Bellingcat identified Russian GRU officer Sergei Fedotov as possibly being involved in the March 2018 poisoning in the United Kingdom of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter , Yulia .
Bellingcat alleged that Fedotov traveled to the United Kingdom two days before the attack on Skripal .
Russia has denied involvement in the attacks against Skripal and Gebrev .

Prosecutors in Bulgaria have filed criminal charges against three Russian citizens in connection with the attempted poisoning in 2015 of arms dealer Emilian Gebrev.
Officials identified the suspects as Sergei Pavlov, Sergei Fedotov, and Georgy Gorshkov, saying that they are believed to be residents of Moscow.
In January, Bulgaria announced charges against three Russians in connection with the same case, but did not identify the suspects.
Earlier on February 21, the Bellingcat independent research organization posted on Twitter that it had "identified the true identities" of "the team of GRU officers" allegedly involved in the poisoning, using the abbreviation for the Russian military intelligence service.
"We have submitted relevant data to law enforcement," the Bellingcat post said.
In a further post, Bellingcat said it would make additional information public "next week."
In January, Bulgaria expelled two Russian diplomats believed to have been involved in the case.
Bulgarian authorities believe Gebrev, owner of the EMCO Ltd. arms trader; his son, Hristo Gebrev; and company manager Valentin Takhchiev were targeted in a poisoning attack "by intoxication with an unidentified phosphorus-organic substance."
All three survived the attacks.
In February 2019, Bellingcat identified Russian GRU officer Sergei Fedotov as possibly being involved in the March 2018 poisoning in the United Kingdom of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.
Bellingcat alleged that Fedotov traveled to the United Kingdom two days before the attack on Skripal.
Russia has denied involvement in the attacks against Skripal and Gebrev.
With reporting by TASS


rferl--2020-02-21--Kyrgyz Man Who Says He Was 'Tortured' Over Deadly Magnitogorsk Blast Seeks Justice

MOSCOW -- A Kyrgyz citizen who spent 13 months in Russian custody over a deadly explosion that brought down part of an apartment building and killed at least 39 people in the Urals city of Magnitogorsk on New Year 's Eve in 2018 says he was tortured while under arrest and will seek justice .
Khusnidin Zainabidinov , a 30-year-old ethnic Uzbek , told RFE/RL on February 20 that officers from Russia 's Federal Security Service ( FSB ) tortured him , broke his nose and ribs , and used electric shocks to make him `` confess '' to planting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Magnitogorsk .
Zainabidinov said he spent seven months in FSB detention and six months in a deportation camp before being released on February 10 after his involvement in the deadly explosion failed to be proven .
`` I have been tortured for nothing for such a long time .
I came to Moscow seeking justice .
I want the officers [ who tortured me ] to be held accountable .
If need be , I will go as far as the European Court of Human Rights , '' Zainabidinov said , adding that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him at the moment .
Russian authorities said at the time that the most likely cause of the blast that destroyed a whole section of an apartment block in Magnitogorsk , 1,400 kilometers southeast of Moscow , was a gas leak .
After the extremist group Islamic State ( IS ) claimed responsibility for the explosion , the federal Investigative Committee said that no traces of explosives were found in tests of material from the site .
Several deadly apartment-building explosions in Russia in the past 25 years have been blamed on militants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ troops fought two devastating wars against Chechen separatists , and an Islamist insurgency stemming from the conflicts still simmers in the region .
Household-gas blasts have also been blamed for many such disasters .

MOSCOW -- A Kyrgyz citizen who spent 13 months in Russian custody over a deadly explosion that brought down part of an apartment building and killed at least 39 people in the Urals city of Magnitogorsk on New Year's Eve in 2018 says he was tortured while under arrest and will seek justice.
Khusnidin Zainabidinov, a 30-year-old ethnic Uzbek, told RFE/RL on February 20 that officers from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) tortured him, broke his nose and ribs, and used electric shocks to make him "confess" to planting a bomb in the apartment block in Magnitogorsk.
Zainabidinov said he spent seven months in FSB detention and six months in a deportation camp before being released on February 10 after his involvement in the deadly explosion failed to be proven.
"I have been tortured for nothing for such a long time. I came to Moscow seeking justice. I want the officers [who tortured me] to be held accountable. If need be, I will go as far as the European Court of Human Rights," Zainabidinov said, adding that a Moscow-based human rights group is helping him at the moment.
Russian authorities said at the time that the most likely cause of the blast that destroyed a whole section of an apartment block in Magnitogorsk, 1,400 kilometers southeast of Moscow, was a gas leak.
After the extremist group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the explosion, the federal Investigative Committee said that no traces of explosives were found in tests of material from the site.
Several deadly apartment-building explosions in Russia in the past 25 years have been blamed on militants from the North Caucasus, where Russian troops fought two devastating wars against Chechen separatists, and an Islamist insurgency stemming from the conflicts still simmers in the region.
Household-gas blasts have also been blamed for many such disasters.


rferl--2020-02-21--Republika Srpska Renews Contract With Texas-Based Law Firm, Lobbyist

Documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice show that Bosnia-Herzegovina ’ s Bosnian Serb entity has renewed a contract with a Texas-based law firm and lobbyist that it hired in 2019 to `` provide general advice and representation regarding international legal and policy matters . ''
The newly released documents show that the firm in Austin , Texas -- McGinnis Lochridge -- informed the U.S. Department of Justice on February 18 about its one-year contract to provide lobbying and legal services to the government of Republika Srpska .
The filing was made in the form of a letter written @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Economic Relations and Regional Cooperation Zlatan Klokic on December 23 by attorney Martin T. Lutz , a partner at McGinnis Lochridge .
The letter includes Klokic ’ s signature and an official seal of the government of Republika Srpska indicating that it had been `` agreed to and accepted '' by Klokic on February 5 .
Lutz said in the letter that his firm expects to give `` general advice and representation '' on Banja Luka 's `` legal rights and obligations under applicable international law including the Dayton Peace Accords , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and other international agreements to which Bosnia-Herzegovina is a party .
Lutz also said his firm expects to advise and represent Banja Luka on its relations with the international community , as well as its `` rights and obligations vis-à-vis the Office of High Representative , the Peace Implementation Council , the UN Security Council , the OSCE , the European Union , the Council of Europe , and others . ''
The letter notes that Republika Srpska has agreed to pay the U.S. firm a monthly retainer fee of $ 80,000 for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on January 1 , 2020 .
Klokic refused to comment to RFE/RL about the contract .
Lutz told RFE/RL on February 20 that `` the rules of legal ethics '' and his firm 's `` obligations of client confidentiality '' prevent him from commenting publicly about work for a client `` beyond what is a matter of public record , unless instructed to do so by the client . ''
Lutz also told RFE/RL that Republika Srpska had `` not asked us to discuss our work with the press . ''
A similar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the Texas firm came into effect on May 1 and expired at the end of 2019 .
Revelations about the renewal of the contract emerged amid calls by Milorad Dodik , the Bosnian Serb member of Bosnia ’ s multiethnic presidency , for a referendum on the future status of Republika Srpska .
Dodik 's push comes as Bosnian-Serb lawmakers in Banja Luka have been expressing anger about a recent ruling by Bosnia 's Constitutional Court against recent legislation on land ownership passed by authorities in Banja Luka .
The United States @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Germany , France , and Italy have said that any `` unilateral withdrawal from institutions , or blockages of decision-making within them , are unacceptable and counterproductive . ''
Bosnia-Herzegovina emerged as two autonomous regions -- the Bosniak-Croat Federation and Republika Srpska -- as a result of the Dayton Accords that brought an end to Bosnia ’ s 1992-1995 war .
With reporting by RFE/RL correspondent Todd Prince in Washington

Documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice show that Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Bosnian Serb entity has renewed a contract with a Texas-based law firm and lobbyist that it hired in 2019 to "provide general advice and representation regarding international legal and policy matters."
The newly released documents show that the firm in Austin, Texas -- McGinnis Lochridge -- informed the U.S. Department of Justice on February 18 about its one-year contract to provide lobbying and legal services to the government of Republika Srpska.
The filing was made in the form of a letter written to Republika Srpska’s Minister of Economic Relations and Regional Cooperation Zlatan Klokic on December 23 by attorney Martin T. Lutz, a partner at McGinnis Lochridge.
The letter includes Klokic’s signature and an official seal of the government of Republika Srpska indicating that it had been "agreed to and accepted" by Klokic on February 5.
Lutz said in the letter that his firm expects to give "general advice and representation" on Banja Luka's "legal rights and obligations under applicable international law including the Dayton Peace Accords," the European Convention on Human Rights, and other international agreements to which Bosnia-Herzegovina is a party.
Lutz also said his firm expects to advise and represent Banja Luka on its relations with the international community, as well as its "rights and obligations vis-à-vis the Office of High Representative, the Peace Implementation Council, the UN Security Council, the OSCE, the European Union, the Council of Europe, and others."
The letter notes that Republika Srpska has agreed to pay the U.S. firm a monthly retainer fee of $80,000 for services under the one-year contract that began on January 1, 2020.
Klokic refused to comment to RFE/RL about the contract.
Lutz told RFE/RL on February 20 that "the rules of legal ethics" and his firm's "obligations of client confidentiality" prevent him from commenting publicly about work for a client "beyond what is a matter of public record, unless instructed to do so by the client."
Lutz also told RFE/RL that Republika Srpska had "not asked us to discuss our work with the press."
A similar contact signed last year by Banja Luka and the Texas firm came into effect on May 1 and expired at the end of 2019.
Revelations about the renewal of the contract emerged amid calls by Milorad Dodik, the Bosnian Serb member of Bosnia’s multiethnic presidency, for a referendum on the future status of Republika Srpska.
Dodik's push comes as Bosnian-Serb lawmakers in Banja Luka have been expressing anger about a recent ruling by Bosnia's Constitutional Court against recent legislation on land ownership passed by authorities in Banja Luka.
The United States, the European Union, Britain, Germany, France, and Italy have said that any "unilateral withdrawal from institutions, or blockages of decision-making within them, are unacceptable and counterproductive."
Bosnia-Herzegovina emerged as two autonomous regions -- the Bosniak-Croat Federation and Republika Srpska -- as a result of the Dayton Accords that brought an end to Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war.
With reporting by RFE/RL correspondent Todd Prince in Washington


rferl--2020-02-21--Turkmenistan, Mostly Desert, Buying Sand From U.K. For $1.3 Million

Turkmenistan , a Central Asian country where sandy deserts account for 80 percent its territory , is prepared to pay @ @ @ @ @ 1,289,000 ) to British company Andrew Bowen Ltd. for 10,000 tons of sand that it @ @ @ @ @ new horse-racing track .
Simon Bowen of Andrew Bowen Ltd. told RFE/RL by phone on @ @ @ @ @ to the deal reached with Turkmenistan , the company will deliver all necessary materials for @ @ @ @ @ , including 10,000 tons of sand from the English county of Lancashire .
According to @ @ @ @ @ of many components used for horse-racing tracks , including synthetic materials and wax .
Bowen @ @ @ @ @ sand in Turkmenistan had the `` wrong texture and shape , '' while `` sand @ @ @ @ @ for horse-racing tracks .
The news about buying sand from Britain comes amid Turkmenistan 's @ @ @ @ @ to economic difficulties .

Turkmenistan, a Central Asian country where sandy deserts account for 80 percent its territory, is prepared to pay 1 million pounds ($1,289,000) to British company Andrew Bowen Ltd. for 10,000 tons of sand that it wants to use for a new horse-racing track.
Simon Bowen of Andrew Bowen Ltd. told RFE/RL by phone on February 20 that, according to the deal reached with Turkmenistan, the company will deliver all necessary materials for the new track by April, including 10,000 tons of sand from the English county of Lancashire.
According to Bowen, sand is one of many components used for horse-racing tracks, including synthetic materials and wax.
Bowen told BBC earlier that the sand in Turkmenistan had the "wrong texture and shape," while "sand in Lancashire" is preferable for horse-racing tracks.
The news about buying sand from Britain comes amid Turkmenistan's move to cut spending due to economic difficulties.
With reporting by BBC


rferl--2020-02-21--U.S.-Taliban Deal Signing Expected Next Week, If Reduction In Violence Is Successful

A deal between the United States and the Taliban is expected to be signed on February 29 provided a `` reduction in violence ' '' due to enter into force at midnight proves successful , U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on February 21 .
The United States and the Taliban have been engaged in talks to facilitate a political settlement to end the conflict in Afghanistan and reduce the U.S. presence in the region , Pompeo said in a statement .
`` In recent weeks , in consultation with the Government of National Unity , U.S. negotiators in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Taliban on a significant and nationwide reduction in violence across Afghanistan , '' Pompeo said .
`` Upon a successful implementation of this understanding , signing of the U.S.-Taliban agreement is expected to move forward .
We are preparing for the signing to take place on February 29 , '' Pompeo said , adding that intra-Afghan negotiations will start soon thereafter , with the final aim of delivering `` a comprehensive and permanent cease-fire and the future political road map for Afghanistan . ''
In a written statement , the Taliban confirmed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ February 29 `` in front of international observers '' and said that `` the groundwork for intra-Afghan talks will be resolved , '' although it did not mention when such talks would start .
The Taliban had previously refused to speak directly to the Afghan government , which it labeled a U.S. puppet .
Earlier on February 21 , a senior Afghan official and several Taliban leaders said that the week-long `` reduction in violence '' will begin at midnight local time on February 22 .
`` We hope it is extended for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a cease-fire and intra-Afghan talks , '' Javed Faisal , Afghanistan 's National Security Council spokesman , was quoted as saying .
The talks between U.S. and Taliban representatives began in Qatar in 2018 .
Afghan government troops will keep up normal military operations against other militants , such as the Islamic State ( IS ) group , during the reduction in violence period , Faisal said .
He added that Afghan troops will also retaliate to the smallest violation of the understanding by the Taliban .
`` Local government and security @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ Ashraf Ghani ) ] himself on how to follow the regulations agreed upon for the period [ reduced violence ] , '' Faisal said .
One Taliban leader based in Qatar 's capital , Doha , told Reuters that the week-long lull could not be called a `` cease-fire . ''
`` Every party has the right of self-defense but there would be no attacks on each other 's positions in these seven days , ” he was quoted by Reuters as saying .
Both NATO and Russia hailed the announcement .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the peace process in Afghanistan , '' Moscow 's Afghanistan envoy , Zamir Kabulov , told the state news agency RIA Novosti , adding that he would attend the signing ceremony if invited .
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the agreement opened a possible route to sustainable peace in Afghanistan .
`` I welcome today 's announcement that an understanding has been reached on a significant reduction in violence across Afghanistan , '' Stoltenberg said in a statement .
NATO has a 16,000-strong mission in Afghanistan to train , support , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Reuters and AFP


rferl--2020-02-21--Trump Dismisses U.S. Intelligence Reports Warning Of Russian Help In His 2020 Relection Bid

WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump has rejected reported assertions by U.S. intelligence officials that Russia was interfering in the 2020 presidential election in a bid to help his reelection campaign .
In a post on Twitter on February 21 , Trump described the reports as `` another misinformation campaign…launched by Democrats in Congress . ''
The same day , Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also rejected the reports as `` more paranoid announcements . ''
`` They have nothing to do with the truth , '' Peskov said .
The New York Times , The Washington Post , and AP @ @ @ @ @ @ @ warning was given during a closed-door briefing by U.S. intelligence officials on February 13 .
They cited two officials familiar with the briefing who asked for anonymity .
The Times said the briefing angered Trump , who said Democrats would use the information against him .
The Kremlin on February 21 denied that Russia was interfering in the 2020 election campaign .
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow on February 21 that the warnings made by U.S. intelligence officials were false .
`` This is another in a series of paranoid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that they will become more frequent as the election approaches , '' Peskov said .
`` They certainly have nothing to do with the truth . ''
The U.S. intelligence community concluded that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election through social-media campaigns and the hacking of e-mail accounts of leading Democrats in order to boost Trump ’ s campaign and undermine his Democratic rival , former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton .
Trump has called the conclusions a `` hoax . ''
He has also vehemently denied suggestions that his team worked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Russia has denied it interfered in the 2016 vote .
The Times reported that , during the recent congressional briefing in Washington , Trump 's allies challenged the intelligence warnings and said the president had been tough on Russia .
At a public hearing earlier in February , FBI Director Christopher Wray told the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee that Moscow was engaged in `` information warfare '' ahead of the November election through a covert social-media campaign aimed at dividing the American public and sowing discord .
With reporting by AP @ @ @ @ @ @ @ York Times , and The Washington Post .


rferl--2020-02-20--Ballots Being Counted In Iranian Election Seen By U.S. As A ‘Sham’

Ballots are being counted in Iran 's February 21 parliamentary elections in a polling certain to favor conservative candidates following the pre-vote disqualification of thousands of reformists or relative moderates .
Initial results are expected on February 22 after authorities three times extended voting by a total of five hours to allow more people to cast ballots .
Final results are expected a day later .
All of those standing for election were prescreened by a group of hard-line Islamic clerics who disqualified some 9,000 potential candidates .
Because of the disqualifications , turnout was expected to be lighter than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ citizens to head to the polls .
Official figures were not immediately released , but the semiofficial Fars news agency said turnout was estimated at 40 percent nationwide and 30 percent in Tehran .
State TV reported very high turnout early in the day in Tehran and other provinces , but the German dpa news agency quoted witnesses in the capital as saying most polling stations were empty .
Iranian authorities had predicted a turnout of about 50 percent , compared with 62 percent in the 2016 vote .
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali @ @ @ @ @ @ @ near his Tehran office shortly after polls opened .
“ Anyone who cares about Iran 's national interests should participate in the election , '' he said in televised remarks .
Conservative clerics in the Guardians Council cleared a total of 7,148 candidacies for the 290-seat chamber .
Ninety members of Iran 's outgoing parliament were among those whose rejected .
Many were moderates or reformist lawmakers who support engagement with the West .
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized the election as a “ sham ” and a vote that “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on February 20 imposed sanctions on five members of Iran ’ s Guardians Council and its Elections Supervision Committee , accusing them of rigging the election .
President Hassan Rohani , who initially criticized the disqualification of so many moderate would-be candidates , said Iranians could stage what he called another “ victory ” by voting in large numbers .
“ Our enemies will be disappointed more than before , ” Rohani said , after casting his ballot .
Officials initially extended voting for two hours due to what state television described as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the final hours of scheduled voting .
Balloting was then prolonged again for a further two hours and then a third time for one additional hour .
The elections were seen as a test of the popularity of Iran 's conservative clerical establishment .
Voting comes amid public anger over official corruption , Iran 's worsening economy , and Tehran ’ s handling of the downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet by Iranian air defenses that killed all 176 people on board .
A U.S. campaign of “ maximum pressure ” against Iran @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hurt the country 's economy and contributed to a crash of the national currency , the rial .
Angry Iranians have taken to the streets protests in recent months .
The demonstrations have included antiestablishment protests in November , sparked by a sudden gasoline price hike in more than 100 cities and towns , that met with a violent crackdown by security forces .
Inside and outside the country , some Iranians have suggested that voting in such an uncompetitive elections does not make sense .
Paris-based political activist Ali Keshtgar told RFE/RL @ @ @ @ @ @ @ loyal to Khamenei have been allowed to run .
“ Critics of the establishment have no chance of entering the elections , ” Keshtgar said .
Observers had said turnout could be affected by announcements from Iranian health officials of several infections and deaths related to the deadly coronavirus in Iran .
With reporting by RFE/RL ’ s Radio Farda , AFP , dpa , and Reuters


rferl--2020-02-20--Iran Reports Two More Deaths Among 13 New Coronavirus Cases

Iran has reported two more deaths among 13 new cases of coronavirus , bringing the total number of deaths to four and infections to 18 .
`` Thirteen new cases have been confirmed , '' Iran 's Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said on February 21 .
`` Unfortunately , two of them have lost their lives . ''
The newly reported cases included `` seven in Qom , four in Tehran , and two in Gilan '' on the Caspian Sea coast , Jahanpur tweeted .
`` Most of the cases are still either Qom residents '' or were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other provinces `` in recent days and weeks , '' he added .
The COVID-19 outbreak was first detected in Iran on February 19 , when officials said virus killed two elderly people in the Shi'ite holy city of Qom .
They were the first confirmed deaths from the coronavirus in the Middle East .
Jahanpur added that Iran had so far received four shipments of medical kits used to detect COVID-19 from the World Health Organization .
Following the announcement of the deaths in Iran , neighboring Armenia 's health minister , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Armenian health authorities were monitoring the situation at its border with the Islamic republic .
`` In addition to anti-epidemic measures , monitoring passengers crossing the Meghri border crossing , as well as passengers arriving in Armenia from Iran by plane , has been strengthened , ” Torosyan wrote in a Facebook post .
Thousands of Iranian tourists visit Armenia in March during annual celebrations of the Persian New Year .
On February 20 , Iraq clamped down on travel to and from Iran .
The Health Ministry in Baghdad said people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iraq `` until further notice . ''
Kuwait 's national carrier Kuwait Airways also announced that it would suspend all of its flights to Iran .
With reporting by RFE/RL 's Armenian Service , Reuters , and AFP


rferl--2020-02-22--Iran Reports Fifth Death From Coronavirus

A fifth death from the coronavirus was reported in Iran on February 22 by health officials , who also said the fatality was from among 10 new confirmed cases of the virus in Iran .
Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour made the announcement on state TV , but did not specify when the death occurred .
Two people had died earlier on February 21 from COVID-19 , the illness caused by the virus .
Authorities reported two deaths previously this week .
Jahanpour said that of the 10 newly detected cases , two were in the capital , Tehran , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Qom .
That 's where the first two elderly patients died on February 19 .
He said the two patients in the capital had visited Qom or had links with the city .
Minoo Mohraz , an Iranian Health Ministry official , had said on February 21 that the virus `` possibly came from Chinese workers who work in Qom and traveled to China . ''
She did not elaborate .
A Chinese company has been building a solar power plant in Qom .
Elsewhere , Saudi Arabia announced that citizens and residents @ @ @ @ @ @ @ travel to Iran following the spread of the virus there .
Anyone previously in Iran will only be permitted entry to the country after the 14-day incubation period of the virus has passed .
In China , where the virus emerged , more than 2,300 people have died of the illness .
Another large cluster has been detected in South Korea , which reported 142 additional confirmed cases for February 21 , bringing the nation 's total to 346 .
In Italy , a 78-yar-old man died of the coronavirus , becoming the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Based on reporting by AFP , AP , and Reuters


rferl--2020-02-22--Conservatives Take Early Lead In Iran's Parliamentary Elections

Conservatives appeared to be ahead as ballots were being counted in Iran 's February 21 parliamentary elections .
The poll was certain to favor conservative candidates following the pre-vote disqualification of thousands of reformists or relative moderates .
Announcing the first partial results from the elections , state TV suggested hard-liners were ahead in the capital , Tehran .
State TV , without providing figures , said a list of conservative candidates led by Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf were leading candidates in Tehran 's 30 parliamentary seats .
Qalibaf , the conservative former mayor of Tehran , is expected to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ times extended voting by a total of five hours to allow more people to cast ballots .
Final results were expected on February 23 .
All of those standing for election were prescreened by a group of hard-line Islamic clerics who disqualified some 9,000 potential candidates .
The National Elections Committee said it had counted over 1 million votes in 41 constituencies across Iran .
Votes were still being tallied in 167 other constituencies , including in larger provinces like Tehran .
Esmail Musavi , a spokesman for the committee , said electoral @ @ @ @ @ @ @ final figures tonight , and if that task takes too long , tomorrow . ''
With official figures yet to be released , media affiliated with conservatives and hard-liners projected a sweeping victory for their candidates .
An unofficial tally published by the hard-line Fars news agency , which is affiliated with the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps ( IRGC ) , claimed the outcome from 183 out of the 290 seats in parliament had been decided .
Fars claimed conservative candidates would win 135 seats , while reformists were set to secure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 2016 vote , a bloc of reformists and moderate conservatives won 41 percent of the 290 parliamentary seats .
Hard-liners won 29 percent and independents took 28 percent .
Because of the disqualifications , turnout was expected to be lighter than usual despite pleas by Iranian leaders for citizens to head to the polls .
Iranian authorities have yet to announce the turnout , but Fars said it was estimated at 40 percent nationwide and 30 percent in Tehran .
State TV reported very high turnout early in the day in Tehran @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dpa news agency quoted witnesses in the capital as saying most polling stations were empty .
Iranian authorities had predicted a turnout of about 50 percent , compared with 62 percent in the 2016 vote .
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cast his ballot at a mosque near his Tehran office shortly after polls opened .
“ Anyone who cares about Iran 's national interests should participate in the election , '' he said in televised remarks .
Conservative clerics in the Guardians Council cleared a total of 7,148 candidacies .
Ninety members @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those who were rejected .
Many were moderates or reformist lawmakers who support engagement with the West .
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized the election as a “ sham ” and a vote that “ is not free or fair.
” Washington on February 20 imposed sanctions on five members of Iran ’ s Guardians Council and its Elections Supervision Committee , accusing them of rigging the election .
President Hassan Rohani , who initially criticized the disqualification of so many moderate would-be candidates , said Iranians could stage what he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in large numbers .
“ Our enemies will be disappointed more than before , ” Rohani said , after casting his ballot .
Officials initially extended voting for two hours due to what state television described as a `` rush of voters '' during the final hours of scheduled voting .
Balloting was then prolonged again for a further two hours and then a third time for one additional hour .
The elections were seen as a test of the popularity of Iran 's conservative clerical establishment .
Voting comes amid public anger @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economy , and Tehran ’ s handling of the downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet by Iranian air defenses that killed all 176 people on board .
A U.S. campaign of “ maximum pressure ” against Iran , including crippling economic sanctions , has hurt the country 's economy and contributed to a crash of the national currency -- the rial .
Angry Iranians have taken to the streets protests in recent months .
The demonstrations have included antiestablishment protests in November , sparked by a sudden gasoline price hike in more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with a violent crackdown by security forces .
Inside and outside the country , some Iranians have suggested that voting in such uncompetitive elections does not make sense .
Paris-based political activist Ali Keshtgar told RFE/RL ’ s Radio Farda that only candidates loyal to Khamenei have been allowed to run .
“ Critics of the establishment have no chance of entering the elections , ” Keshtgar said .
Observers had said turnout could be affected by announcements from Iranian health officials of several infections and deaths related to the deadly coronavirus in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Radio Farda , AFP , dpa , and Reuters


rferl--2020-02-22--U.S. Military Raises Injury Toll In Iran Missile Attack In Iraq

The Pentagon has raised to 110 the number of U.S. service members who suffered traumatic brain injuries during an Iranian missile attack on an air base in Iraq last month .
The total figure announced on February 21 is one higher than the toll announced on February 10 .
It represented the sixth time the U.S. military has raised the total of those suffering injuries in the attack that took place on the night of January 7-8 .
President Donald Trump initially said that no Americans were harmed in the attack on the Ain al-Asad Air Base , which came @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iran said the missile attack on Ain al-Asad and another air base hosting U.S. troops in Iraq was revenge for the killing of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani , the leader of Iran 's elite Quds Force , in a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad 's airport on January 3 .
The Pentagon said all of the wounded in the base attack were diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury and that 77 of them have already returned to duty .
It added that 35 others have been transported to Germany for further evaluation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on to the United States .
“ From al-Asad to Germany and the United States , the military ’ s medical professionals continue to work diligently to ensure the appropriate level of care for our service members , which has enabled 70 percent of those diagnosed to return to duty , ” the Pentagon said .
Based on reporting by AFP and The Hill


rferl--2020-02-22--Ukrainian President Chastises Mob Who Attacked COVID-19 Evacuees

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has criticized a mob that attacked buses carrying dozens of Ukrainians evacuated from China amid concerns @ @ @ @ @ Hundreds of people , fearing the evacuees could bring the virus to Ukraine , attacked @ @ @ @ @ metal bars near a National Guard clinic about 300 kilometers east of the capital , @ @ @ @ @ were mobilized to the scene , and about two dozen protesters were arrested .
Most @ @ @ @ @ after being held briefly .
`` We keep saying that Ukraine is in Europe , @ @ @ @ @ .
`` But yesterday it seemed like we were in Europe in the Middle Ages @ @ @ @ @ `` we know that someone deliberately and purposefully sowed panic among the people . ''
@ @ @ @ @ 27 nationals from other countries who were also evacuated from China , and the medical @ @ @ @ @ spend the next two weeks in quarantine at the clinic , officials said .
None @ @ @ @ @ of the virus .
With reporting by dpa and Interfax

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has criticized a mob that attacked buses carrying dozens of Ukrainians evacuated from China amid concerns about the COVID-19 virus.
Hundreds of people, fearing the evacuees could bring the virus to Ukraine, attacked the buses with rocks and metal bars near a National Guard clinic about 300 kilometers east of the capital, Kyiv.
Several hundred police were mobilized to the scene, and about two dozen protesters were arrested. Most of the detainees were released after being held briefly.
Nine police officers were reportedly injured.
"We keep saying that Ukraine is in Europe," Zelenskiy said in Kyiv. "But yesterday it seemed like we were in Europe in the Middle Ages."
Zelenskiy also said "we know that someone deliberately and purposefully sowed panic among the people."
The 45 evacuated Ukrainians, 27 nationals from other countries who were also evacuated from China, and the medical staff and aircraft crew will spend the next two weeks in quarantine at the clinic, officials said. None of them has shown symptoms of the virus.
With reporting by dpa and Interfax


rferl--2020-02-22--Marie Yovanovitch, Former U.S. Envoy To Ukraine, Signs Book Deal

Former U.S .
Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch , who played a key role in the House of Representatives hearings on the impeachment of President Donald Trump last November , has signed a deal to write a book about her career .
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt told the AP news agency on February 21 that it had struck a deal with Yovanovitch to publish her planned memoir .
The book , currently untitled , will focus on her long diplomatic career , in which she served in places such as Kyiv and Mogadishu , Somalia .
It is expected to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ abruptly recalled from Kyiv in May 2019 following an intense campaign to oust her that was coordinated by Trump 's personal attorney , Rudy Giuliani .
After her recall following a 33-year career in the foreign service , Yovanovitch retired from the State Department in January .
In November 2018 , Yovanovitch testified before the House impeachment inquiry into Trump 's actions with Ukraine , accusing Giuliani of organizing an `` irregular channel '' of diplomacy in Ukraine that was aimed , in part , at promoting Trump 's domestic political interests .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ learned how little it takes to remove an American ambassador who does not give them what they want , '' the 61-year-old Yovanovitch told the inquiry .
Trump denied any wrongdoing and was acquitted in a historic Senate impeachment trial .
Yovanovitch was appointed U.S. ambassador to Kyiv in 2016 by President Barack Obama .

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who played a key role in the House of Representatives hearings on the impeachment of President Donald Trump last November, has signed a deal to write a book about her career.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt told the AP news agency on February 21 that it had struck a deal with Yovanovitch to publish her planned memoir.
The book, currently untitled, will focus on her long diplomatic career, in which she served in places such as Kyiv and Mogadishu, Somalia. It is expected to be published in early 2021.
Yovanovitch was abruptly recalled from Kyiv in May 2019 following an intense campaign to oust her that was coordinated by Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.
After her recall following a 33-year career in the foreign service, Yovanovitch retired from the State Department in January.
In November 2018, Yovanovitch testified before the House impeachment inquiry into Trump's actions with Ukraine, accusing Giuliani of organizing an "irregular channel" of diplomacy in Ukraine that was aimed, in part, at promoting Trump's domestic political interests.
"Shady interests the world over have learned how little it takes to remove an American ambassador who does not give them what they want," the 61-year-old Yovanovitch told the inquiry.
Trump denied any wrongdoing and was acquitted in a historic Senate impeachment trial.
Yovanovitch was appointed U.S. ambassador to Kyiv in 2016 by President Barack Obama.
Based on reporting by AP