rferl--2020-04-16--Governments In Eastern Europe, Central Asia Continue 'Extensive Offensive' Against Human Rights, Amn

Governments In Eastern Europe, Central Asia Continue 'Extensive Offensive' Against Human Rights, Amnesty Says

Many governments across Eastern Europe and Central Asia have pursued an “ extensive offensive ” against human rights , deploying draconian tactics and tools of the state to suppress protests , freedom of expression , and civil society , Amnesty International says in its annual regional review .
But while human rights defenders , journalists , nongovernmental organizations , and protesters faced mounting pressure in 2019 , peaceful demonstrators took growing collective action in their fight to hold their governments to account , according to the report released by the London-based human rights group on April 16 .
The already @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spanning from Belarus to Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan to Russia comes as governments implement emergency measures and a wide range of restrictions in a bid to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus , raising concerns those health measures will be deployed to further squash rights .
Daniel Balson , the advocacy director for Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty , describes the state of emergencies across the region as a “ fertilizer ” for human rights abuses .
“ By and large , governments in the region have not used the pandemic to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have accelerated their use of well-honed methods , ” he told RFE/RL .
“ What has changed is that many governments have viewed the pandemic as a carte blanche to roll out even more draconian methods and overtly telegraph their abuses.
” Last year , the right to freedom of assembly “ continued to be violently repressed ” in many countries , Amnesty said in the report , adding that “ street power showed that people knew it mattered and they were brave enough to reclaim it back ” by protesting against rigged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ environmental protection , and a better life .
In Russia , where authorities used legal tactics and police force to quell protests , people nonetheless took to the streets across the country in growing numbers to raise their voice against a range of issues including corruption and worsening human rights .
In July and August , Moscow saw some of the largest protests in years after authorities refused to register opposition candidates for the capital ’ s city election .
“ The reprisals against participants of mass protests in Moscow kick-started an unprecedented @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of human rights awareness and people power in Russia , ” said Marie Struthers , Amnesty ’ s regional director , for Eastern Europe and Central Asia .
Meanwhile , freedom of expression and media remained under assault all across the region in 2019 .
Despite media pluralism in Ukraine , regular violent attacks against journalists were rarely properly investigated , And in Russia , legislation on “ foreign agents ” and “ undesirable organizations ” was “ systematically wielded against human rights and other [ nongovernmental organizations ] , alongside criminal prosecutions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Amnesty said .
It added that the authorities “ further set the bar ominously low ” with new legislation expanding the status of “ foreign agents ” to individuals , including bloggers and journalists .
In Tajikistan , “ national security ” was invoked to clamp down on nongovernmental organizations , as well as defenders of human rights and media freedom , while torture and ill-treatment remained pervasive , according to Amnesty ’ s report .
It said the grim record of Azerbaijan continued unabated with severe restrictions across the board on any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ region certain ethnic minorities , members of the LGBT community , some religious groups , and those with disabilities sometimes faced discrimination , prosecution , and even violence , Amnesty said .
Domestic violence against women and children also continued to plague societies .
The rights of individuals and groups was exacerbated by judicial systems that were vulnerable to political pressure , the report said .

Many governments across Eastern Europe and Central Asia have pursued an "extensive offensive" against human rights, deploying draconian tactics and tools of the state to suppress protests, freedom of expression, and civil society, Amnesty International says in its annual regional review.
But while human rights defenders, journalists, nongovernmental organizations, and protesters faced mounting pressure in 2019, peaceful demonstrators took growing collective action in their fight to hold their governments to account, according to the report released by the London-based human rights group on April 16.
The already dire situation last year across a region spanning from Belarus to Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan to Russia comes as governments implement emergency measures and a wide range of restrictions in a bid to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, raising concerns those health measures will be deployed to further squash rights.
Daniel Balson, the advocacy director for Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty, described the states of emergency declared across the region as a “fertilizer” for human rights abuses.
"By and large, governments in the region have not used the pandemic to invent new ways to repress people but have accelerated their use of well-honed methods," he told RFE/RL. "What has changed is that many governments have viewed the pandemic as a carte blanche to roll out even more draconian methods and overtly telegraph their abuses."
Last year, the right to freedom of assembly "continued to be violently repressed" in many countries, Amnesty said in the report, adding that "street power showed that people knew it mattered and they were brave enough to reclaim it back" by protesting against rigged elections while also demanding good governance, environmental protection, and a better life.
In Russia, where authorities used legal tactics and police force to quell protests, people nonetheless took to the streets across the country in growing numbers to raise their voice against a range of issues including corruption and worsening human rights.
In July and August, Moscow saw some of the largest protests in years after authorities refused to register opposition candidates for the capital’s city election.
"The reprisals against participants of mass protests in Moscow kick-started an unprecedented solidarity campaign that signals the further awakening of human rights awareness and people power in Russia," said Marie Struthers, Amnesty’s regional director, for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Meanwhile, freedom of expression and media remained under assault all across the region in 2019.
Despite media pluralism in Ukraine, regular violent attacks against journalists were rarely properly investigated,
Bar Set 'Ominously Low'
And in Russia, legislation on "foreign agents" and "undesirable organizations" was "systematically wielded against human rights and other [nongovernmental organizations], alongside criminal prosecutions and smears in government-controlled media," Amnesty said.
It added that the authorities "further set the bar ominously low" with new legislation expanding the status of "foreign agents" to individuals, including bloggers and journalists.
In Tajikistan, "national security" was invoked to clamp down on nongovernmental organizations, as well as defenders of human rights and media freedom, while torture and ill-treatment remained pervasive, according to Amnesty’s report.
It said the grim record of Azerbaijan continued unabated with severe restrictions across the board on any dissent against the government.
Across the region certain ethnic minorities, members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, some religious groups, and those with disabilities sometimes faced discrimination, prosecution, and even violence, Amnesty said.
Domestic violence against women and children also continued to plague societies.
Rights abuses against individuals and groups across the region were exacerbated by judicial systems subject to political pressure, Amnesty said.


rferl--2020-04-15--Uzbekistan Calls For End Of Cotton Boycott Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

Uzbekistan has called on a global human rights coalition , the Cotton Campaign , to lift an international boycott of Uzbek cotton and textiles , citing progress in eliminating forced labor and the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic .
In an open letter to the Cotton Campaign on April 15 , Uzbek Labor Minister Nozim Khusanov said the Central Asian country was facing an “ unprecedented dual threat ” to the economy and public health due to the spread of the novel coronavirus and lockdown measures .
The government estimates that the end of the boycott , which more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ follow , could double textile exports to Western markets and create much-needed jobs .
The optimistic assessment comes as global demand for apparel has crashed alongside the pandemic and brands cancel orders all over the world , raising questions of whether lifting the boycott would have an impact .
The Tashkent government says that nearly 7,000 companies employ more than 200,000 workers , whose incomes support 1 million people in the country .
An estimated 150,000 people in the country have already lost their jobs and more than 140,000 migrant workers have returned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says .
“ Your decision to end the cotton boycott would be pivotal .
Uzbekistan ’ s textile sector is one of the country ’ s leading sources of employment , ” the letter states .
Rights groups launched the boycott campaign in 2006 to force Uzbekistan to eradicate a long-running state-controlled system forcing millions of citizens to pick cotton and meet harvest quotas .
Since coming to power in 2016 , President Shavkat Mirziyoev has gradually introduced laws to eliminated forced labor and child labor , and banned provincial authorities from forcing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Last month , he signed a decree abolishing the state quota system for cotton production .
However , civil society groups including the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights say that while Mirziyoev has taken positive steps , forced labor in the cotton sector remains widespread and some agricultural reforms closely mimic the old system .
The Cotton Campaign , which has been working with the Uzbek government to improve the sector , told RFE/RL that Tashkent has taken `` significant steps '' to end forced labor and implement structural reforms .
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ civil society , including registering independent nongovernmental organizations and creating space for workers to organize independently , '' Cotton Campaign coordinator Allison Gill said .
`` We urge the government to allow a free and vibrant civil society to develop , which will help promote transparency and accountability and create a climate for responsible investment , '' she added .

Uzbekistan has called on a global human rights coalition, the Cotton Campaign, to lift an international boycott of Uzbek cotton and textiles, citing progress in eliminating forced labor and the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
In an open letter to the Cotton Campaign on April 15, Uzbek Labor Minister Nozim Khusanov said the Central Asian country was facing an "unprecedented dual threat” to the economy and public health due to the spread of the coronavirus and lockdown measures.
The government estimates that the end of the boycott, which more than 260 apparel manufacturers and retailers currently follow, could double textile exports to Western markets and create much-needed jobs. The optimistic assessment comes as global demand for apparel has crashed amid the pandemic and brands have been canceling orders all over the world, raising questions of whether lifting the boycott would have an impact.
The Tashkent government says that nearly 7,000 companies in cotton-related industries employ more than 200,000 workers, whose incomes support 1 million people in the country. An estimated 150,000 people in the country have already lost their jobs and more than 140,000 migrant workers have returned home without an income source, it says.
"Your decision to end the cotton boycott would be pivotal. Uzbekistan’s textile sector is one of the country’s leading sources of employment," the letter states.
Rights groups launched the boycott campaign in 2006 to force Uzbekistan to eradicate a long-running state-controlled system forcing millions of citizens to pick cotton and meet harvest quotas.
Since coming to power in 2016, President Shavkat Mirziyoev has gradually introduced laws to eliminated forced labor and child labor, and banned provincial authorities from forcing students and public workers to pick cotton. Last month, he signed a decree abolishing the state quota system for cotton production.
However, civil society groups including the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights say that, while Mirziyoev has taken positive steps, forced labor in the cotton sector remains widespread and some agricultural reforms closely mimic the old system.
The Cotton Campaign, which has been working with the Uzbek government to improve the sector, told RFE/RL that Tashkent has taken "significant steps" to end forced labor and implement structural reforms.
"But progress has lagged on...empowering civil society, including registering independent nongovernmental organizations and creating space for workers to organize independently," Cotton Campaign coordinator Allison Gill said.
"We urge the government to allow a free and vibrant civil society to develop, which will help promote transparency and accountability and create a climate for responsible investment," she added.


rferl--2020-04-15--Kazakh Activist In Psychiatric Clinic After 'Attempting Suicide' During Military Service

NUR-SULTAN -- A Kazakh civil right activist who was drafted into the army ahead of last year 's presidential election has been placed in a psychiatric clinic after he attempted to commit suicide , his mother says .
Alimzhan Izbasarov , 24 , tried to kill himself after being a victim of hazing and pressure by officers and other conscripts over his activism , his mother wrote on Facebook on April 13 .
After that , he was placed in a psychiatric clinic in the southern city of Taraz , Zhaukhaz Izbasarova said .
The clinic 's deputy chief physician @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Izbasarov was brought to the facility on April 5 and was currently being treated for psychiatric reasons .
Karimova did not say when Izbasarov , whose military service is expected to end in June , will be discharged from the clinic .
Damir Qasymov , a commander at the military unit in Taraz where Izbasarov was serving , said the activist was being `` treated by medical personnel . ''
He refused to provide further details .
Izbasarov was one of many young activists who were abruptly drafted into the army amid mass @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidential election that followed the sudden resignation of first Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev .
Izbasarov received his conscription notification after completing a 15-day jail sentence on charges of taking part in an unsanctioned May 1 rally in the capital , Nur-Sultan .
At the time , the activist said that he most likely was drafted because government officials wanted `` to make sure that active youth are not around '' as the country was getting ready for the presidential poll .
Under Kazakh law , all men between the ages of 18 and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the armed forces .
However , there are many exemptions , including for higher education and health reasons .

NUR-SULTAN -- A Kazakh civil right activist who was drafted into the army ahead of last year's presidential election has been placed in a psychiatric clinic after he attempted to commit suicide, his mother says.
Alimzhan Izbasarov, 24, tried to kill himself after being a victim of hazing and pressure by officers and other conscripts over his activism, his mother wrote on Facebook on April 13.
After that, he was placed in a psychiatric clinic in the southern city of Taraz, Zhaukhaz Izbasarova said.
The clinic's deputy chief physician, Gulmira Karimova, told RFE/RL that Izbasarov was brought to the facility on April 5 and was currently being treated for psychiatric reasons.
Karimova did not say when Izbasarov, whose military service is expected to end in June, will be discharged from the clinic.
Damir Qasymov, a commander at the military unit in Taraz where Izbasarov was serving, said the activist was being "treated by medical personnel." He refused to provide further details.
Izbasarov was one of many young activists who were abruptly drafted into the army amid mass protests in April-May 2019 against the early presidential election that followed the sudden resignation of first Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev.
Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, a close ally of Nazarbaev, easily won the June 9 vote.
Izbasarov received his conscription notification after completing a 15-day jail sentence on charges of taking part in an unsanctioned May 1 rally in the capital, Nur-Sultan.
At the time, the activist said that he most likely was drafted because government officials wanted "to make sure that active youth are not around" as the country was getting ready for the presidential poll.
Under Kazakh law, all men between the ages of 18 and 27 are required to serve one year in the armed forces. However, there are many exemptions, including for higher education and health reasons.


rferl--2020-04-15--European Parliament Pushes For Eastern Partners' Greater Integration, Slams Russia

BRUSSELS -- The European Parliament will call for the creation of a `` common economic space '' between the EU and the six former Soviet republics of its Eastern Partnership program as part of a process of `` gradual integration '' into the bloc , according to a draft report seen by RFE/RL on April 15 .
The parliamentary draft report also denounces Russia 's `` illegal '' actions in Eastern Partnership countries -- Armenia , Azerbaijan , Belarus , Georgia , Moldova , and Ukraine -- including what it calls destabilization , invasion , and annexation .
The document @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Parliament 's Foreign Affairs Committee in the coming weeks and could potentially be endorsed by the full chamber in May .
A Brussels summit bringing together the leaders of the 27 EU member states with those of the six Eastern Partnership members is scheduled for June 18 .
But several EU diplomats told RFE/RL the gathering might be postponed to the second half of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic .
In a veiled reference to Russia , which has vehemently opposed efforts by countries of the ex-Soviet bloc to get closer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ European Parliament will `` confirm the sovereign right of the Eastern partner countries to freely choose their individual level of cooperation or integration with the EU , '' according to the draft report .
The document also `` strongly condemns the continued violations of fundamental principles and norms of international law in the Eastern Partnership region , '' citing `` illegal use of force , invasion , destabilization , annexation , borderization , and occupation of territories of several Eastern Partnership countries by the Russian Federation . ''
In Georgia , Moscow has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Abkhazia and South Ossetia since it recognized their independence following the five-day Russian-Georgian war in 2008 .
The majority of the world 's countries consider Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be Georgian territory .
Meanwhile , Russia seized Ukraine 's Crimea region in 2014 after sending in troops and staging a referendum deemed illegitimate by at least 100 countries .
Moscow is also supporting armed separatists in the deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine .
The Eastern Partnership program was launched in 2009 and is meant to bring the six former Soviet republics closer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ membership .
Georgia , Moldova , and Ukraine have since inked association agreements with the EU , including free-trade deals , but several member states have been reluctant to discuss the issue of these countries ' eventual membership .
The European Parliament , which has in the past called for further enlargement to the east , states in the draft report that `` while accession is not foreseen under the framework of the Eastern Partnership , the Eastern Partnership policy can facilitate a process of gradual integration to the EU . ''
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to `` embark on a process to create a common economic space , including services , that facilitates deeper economic integration and convergence with the EU policies and deeper economic cooperation among the Eastern Partnership countries themselves . ''
The lawmakers will express support for a gradual integration of the six countries into the EU 's energy union , transport community , and digital single market , according to the draft report .
Among other things , in the telecommunications field the document suggests creating `` a roaming-free regime between the EU and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one as soon as possible . ''
Other suggestions include the establishment of an Eastern Partnership University in Kyiv .
The draft document also proposes setting up `` an extended international peacekeeping force along the Ukraine-Russia border , '' in which an EU-led mission `` should be offered for deployment to the parties in the conflict , to assist in tasks such as de-mining , assisting with preparations for local elections and securing free access for humanitarian aid organizations . ''
A group of international observers is currently tracking the fighting in eastern @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Security and Cooperation in Europe 's Special Monitoring Mission .

BRUSSELS -- The European Parliament will call for the creation of a "common economic space" between the EU and the six former Soviet republics of its Eastern Partnership program as part of a process of "gradual integration" into the bloc, according to a draft report seen by RFE/RL on April 15.
The parliamentary draft report also denounces Russia's "illegal" actions in Eastern Partnership countries -- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine -- including what it calls destabilization, invasion, and annexation.
The document is to be debated by the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee in the coming weeks and could potentially be endorsed by the full chamber in May.
A Brussels summit bringing together the leaders of the 27 EU member states with those of the six Eastern Partnership members is scheduled for June 18. But several EU diplomats told RFE/RL the gathering might be postponed to the second half of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a veiled reference to Russia, which has vehemently opposed efforts by countries of the ex-Soviet bloc to get closer to the EU and NATO, the European Parliament will "confirm the sovereign right of the Eastern partner countries to freely choose their individual level of cooperation or integration with the EU," according to the draft report.
The document also "strongly condemns the continued violations of fundamental principles and norms of international law in the Eastern Partnership region," citing "illegal use of force, invasion, destabilization, annexation, borderization, and occupation of territories of several Eastern Partnership countries by the Russian Federation."
In Georgia, Moscow has stationed troops in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia since it recognized their independence following the five-day Russian-Georgian war in 2008. The majority of the world's countries consider Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be Georgian territory.
Meanwhile, Russia seized Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014 after sending in troops and staging a referendum deemed illegitimate by at least 100 countries. Moscow is also supporting armed separatists in the deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine.
The Eastern Partnership program was launched in 2009 and is meant to bring the six former Soviet republics closer to the EU without clearly offering future membership.
Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine have since inked association agreements with the EU, including free-trade deals, but several member states have been reluctant to discuss the issue of these countries' eventual membership.
The European Parliament, which has in the past called for further enlargement to the east, states in the draft report that "while accession is not foreseen under the framework of the Eastern Partnership, the Eastern Partnership policy can facilitate a process of gradual integration to the EU."
The document adds that the European lawmakers want to "embark on a process to create a common economic space, including services, that facilitates deeper economic integration and convergence with the EU policies and deeper economic cooperation among the Eastern Partnership countries themselves."
The lawmakers will express support for a gradual integration of the six countries into the EU's energy union, transport community, and digital single market, according to the draft report.
Among other things, in the telecommunications field the document suggests creating "a roaming-free regime between the EU and Eastern Partnership countries and an intra-Eastern Partnership one as soon as possible." Other suggestions include the establishment of an Eastern Partnership University in Kyiv.
The draft document also proposes setting up "an extended international peacekeeping force along the Ukraine-Russia border," in which an EU-led mission "should be offered for deployment to the parties in the conflict, to assist in tasks such as de-mining, assisting with preparations for local elections and securing free access for humanitarian aid organizations."
A group of international observers is currently tracking the fighting in eastern Ukraine as part of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Special Monitoring Mission.


rferl--2020-04-15--Russia Claims To Break Up Ukrainian Spy Group In Annexed Crimea

Russia 's Federal Security Service ( FSB ) claims to have uncovered a Ukrainian intelligence `` sabotage and terrorism '' group in annexed Crimea that included a female Russian military officer who allegedly divulged `` state secrets . ''
The FSB said on April 15 that the Russian servicewoman had handed state secrets to Ukraine 's military intelligence in 2017-18 , and that a Ukrainian national also allegedly spied on orders from Kyiv .
Both suspects are being investigated for treason and espionage .
The Ukrainian national has been detained , while the Russian military officer was put under house @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the FSB said .
According to the FSB , the operation was directed by Colonel Oleg Akhmedov , the head of military intelligence in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson .
The alleged espionage activity was uncovered during a separate investigation opened in January against another Russian suspect accused of building weapons caches in Crimea on the orders of Akhmedov , the FSB said .
The timing of the announcement has raised eyebrows , as it comes a day after the Ukrainian Security Service ( SBU ) said one of the country ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suspicion of collaborating with the FSB .
The SBU said Major General Valeriy Shaytanov was suspected of high treason and terrorism for working for the FSB in 2014 and had planned `` terrorist acts '' in Ukraine .
Among the allegations , the SBU said Shaytanov planned to kill Adam Osmayev , the leader of Chechen volunteers fighting on the Ukrainian side against Russia-backed separatists in the east .
Osmayev was injured and his wife was killed in an ambush near Kyiv in October 2017 that Ukraine has pinned on Russian agents .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ about secret operations against the separatists in eastern Ukraine and recruited additional agents , the SBU said .
The alleged spy cases come ahead of an expected prisoner exchange before Orthodox Easter on April 19 between the Ukrainian government and the separatists .
Relations have been strained since 2014 , when Russia seized Ukraine 's Crimea region after sending in troops and staging a referendum deemed illegitimate by at least 100 countries .
In April that year , Russia threw its support behind armed separatists in Ukraine 's eastern regions of Donetsk and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been killed in the ongoing conflict .
With reporting by TASS , Interfax , and RFE/RL 's Ukrainian Service

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) claims to have uncovered a Ukrainian intelligence "sabotage and terrorism" group in annexed Crimea that included a female Russian military officer who allegedly divulged "state secrets."
The FSB said on April 15 that the Russian servicewoman had handed state secrets to Ukraine's military intelligence in 2017-18, and that a Ukrainian national also allegedly spied on orders from Kyiv.
Both suspects are being investigated for treason and espionage. The Ukrainian national has been detained, while the Russian military officer was put under house arrest because she has a child, the FSB said.
According to the FSB, the operation was directed by Colonel Oleg Akhmedov, the head of military intelligence in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson.
The alleged espionage activity was uncovered during a separate investigation opened in January against another Russian suspect accused of building weapons caches in Crimea on the orders of Akhmedov, the FSB said.
The timing of the announcement has raised eyebrows, as it comes a day after the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said one of the country’s top officials had been detained on suspicion of collaborating with the FSB.
The SBU said Major General Valeriy Shaytanov was suspected of high treason and terrorism for working for the FSB in 2014 and had planned "terrorist acts" in Ukraine.
Among the allegations, the SBU said Shaytanov planned to kill Adam Osmayev, the leader of Chechen volunteers fighting on the Ukrainian side against Russia-backed separatists in the east. Osmayev was injured and his wife was killed in an ambush near Kyiv in October 2017 that Ukraine has pinned on Russian agents.
Shaytanov also allegedly provided information to Moscow about secret operations against the separatists in eastern Ukraine and recruited additional agents, the SBU said.
The alleged spy cases come ahead of an expected prisoner exchange before Orthodox Easter on April 19 between the Ukrainian government and the separatists.
Relations have been strained since 2014, when Russia seized Ukraine's Crimea region after sending in troops and staging a referendum deemed illegitimate by at least 100 countries.
In April that year, Russia threw its support behind armed separatists in Ukraine's eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where some 13,200 people have been killed in the ongoing conflict.
With reporting by TASS, Interfax, and RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service


rferl--2020-04-15--Uzbek Central Bank Devalues Currency For Second Time In Three Days

TASHKENT -- Uzbekistan 's central bank has devalued its national currency , the som , against the U.S. dollar and euro for the second time in three days .
The bank said on April 15 that as of April 16 , $ 1 will cost 10,121 soms , which is some 4.4 percent weaker , or 428 soms higher , than the rate on April 14 .
It added that the rate for the euro will be 11,111.8 soms , almost 5 percent down from its April 14 value .
This move comes on the heels of an April 13 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a surprise to some analysts , since rates are usually fixed by the central bank in Uzbekistan for at least one week .
The country has locked down all of its provinces and some major cities as it looks to stem the spread of the coronavirus .
Health officials said that as of April 15 , 582 people had been infected with the virus , three of whom have died .
Meanwhile , the country 's economy is faltering amid a plunge in energy prices .
Uzbekistan relies on gas exports and remittances @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a major oil exporter .
That flow of funds has been choked by the impact of the pandemic on the global economy coupled with a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia .
The bank said earlier that remittances into Central Asia 's most populous country of 32 million dropped by 23 percent in March .
In recent days , currency exchange points have started selling foreign currencies for prices higher than fixed by the central bank .
A drop in the value of the Russian ruble and Kazakh tenge following the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also affected Uzbekistan 's currency market , the bank said .

TASHKENT -- Uzbekistan's central bank has devalued its national currency, the som, against the U.S. dollar and euro for the second time in three days.
The bank said on April 15 that as of April 16, $1 will cost 10,121 soms, which is some 4.4 percent weaker, or 428 soms higher, than the rate on April 14.
It added that the rate for the euro will be 11,111.8 soms, almost 5 percent down from its April 14 value.
This move comes on the heels of an April 13 weakening of the rate, and is a surprise to some analysts, since rates are usually fixed by the central bank in Uzbekistan for at least one week.
The country has locked down all of its provinces and some major cities as it looks to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Health officials said that as of April 15, 582 people had been infected with the virus, three of whom have died.
Meanwhile, the country's economy is faltering amid a plunge in energy prices. Uzbekistan relies on gas exports and remittances from millions of Uzbeks working in Russia, a major oil exporter. That flow of funds has been choked by the impact of the pandemic on the global economy coupled with a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
The bank said earlier that remittances into Central Asia's most populous country of 32 million dropped by 23 percent in March.
In recent days, currency exchange points have started selling foreign currencies for prices higher than fixed by the central bank.
A drop in the value of the Russian ruble and Kazakh tenge following the abrupt oil-price plunge in recent weeks has also affected Uzbekistan's currency market, the bank said.


rferl--2020-04-15--Former Nagorno-Karabakh PM Wins Election

The former prime minister of the unrecognized region of Nagorno-Karabakh has won a runoff presidential election in the disputed region , an expected result after his rival asked his supporters not to vote in the second round .
De facto election officials in the breakaway Azerbaijani region said on April 15 that Arayik ( Ara ) Harutyunian , a wealthy businessman , received 88 percent of the vote , compared with 12 percent for Masis Mayilian .
The runoff was held on April 14 amid international criticism and safety concerns due to the coronavirus outbreak .
Mayilyan had called on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ round to minimize the spread of the virus , though some opposition figures have questioned the legitimacy of the first-round results , claiming violations .
In the initial vote on March 31 , Harutyunian won around 49 percent , just short of the majority needed for an outright victory .
Mayilian finished second with 26.4 percent .
Voters appeared to heed Mayilian 's call , with turnout falling to just under 45 percent in the second round , compared with more than 72 percent in the first round .
Nagorno-Karabakh was seized by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1988-1994 conflict that killed at least 30,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands .
Since a fragile , Russian-brokered truce in 1994 , the region has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces that Azerbaijan says include troops supplied by Armenia .
The region 's claim to independence has not been recognized by any country .
Since then , periodic skirmishes have taken place in the region .
Russia , the United States , and France are the co-chairs of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a mediator in resolving the crisis .
The group has been struggling for years to mediate a solution .
After the first round of what it called `` the so-called 'presidential and parliamentary elections ' in Nagorno-Karabakh , '' the European Union reminded the region 's leaders that it does not recognize their entity .
The OSCE Minsk group also issued a statement on March 31 saying it does `` recognize the role of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh in deciding its future , '' but reminded the de facto leaders of the breakaway @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as an independent and sovereign state '' by any country .
`` Accordingly , the co-chairs do not accept the results of these 'elections ' as affecting the legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh and stress that the results in no way prejudge the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh or the outcome of the ongoing negotiations to bring a lasting and peaceful settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict , '' the statement said .
With reporting by Armenpress , RIA Novosti , and Interfax

The former prime minister of the unrecognized region of Nagorno-Karabakh has won a runoff presidential election in the disputed region, an expected result after his rival asked his supporters not to vote in the second round.
De facto election officials in the breakaway Azerbaijani region said on April 15 that Arayik (Ara) Harutyunian, a wealthy businessman, received 88 percent of the vote, compared with 12 percent for Masis Mayilian.
The runoff was held on April 14 amid international criticism and safety concerns due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Mayilyan had called on voters to stay away from the second round to minimize the spread of the virus, though some opposition figures have questioned the legitimacy of the first-round results, claiming violations.
In the initial vote on March 31, Harutyunian won around 49 percent, just short of the majority needed for an outright victory. Mayilian finished second with 26.4 percent.
Voters appeared to heed Mayilian's call, with turnout falling to just under 45 percent in the second round, compared with more than 72 percent in the first round.
Nagorno-Karabakh was seized by Armenian-backed separatists who declared independence amid a 1988-1994 conflict that killed at least 30,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.
Since a fragile, Russian-brokered truce in 1994, the region has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces that Azerbaijan says include troops supplied by Armenia. The region's claim to independence has not been recognized by any country.
Since then, periodic skirmishes have taken place in the region.
Russia, the United States, and France are the co-chairs of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which acts as a mediator in resolving the crisis. The group has been struggling for years to mediate a solution.
After the first round of what it called "the so-called 'presidential and parliamentary elections' in Nagorno-Karabakh," the European Union reminded the region's leaders that it does not recognize their entity.
The OSCE Minsk group also issued a statement on March 31 saying it does "recognize the role of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh in deciding its future," but reminded the de facto leaders of the breakaway region that "Nagorno-Karabakh is not recognized as an independent and sovereign state" by any country.
"Accordingly, the co-chairs do not accept the results of these 'elections' as affecting the legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh and stress that the results in no way prejudge the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh or the outcome of the ongoing negotiations to bring a lasting and peaceful settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," the statement said.
With reporting by Armenpress, RIA Novosti, and Interfax


rferl--2020-04-15--Germany Arrests Four Tajik Nationals Suspected Of Plotting Terrorist Attack

Germany has detained five suspected members of the Islamic State ( IS ) terrorist group alleged to be planning an attack on U.S. military facilities and an unidentified individual .
Prosecutors said four of the suspects -- all from Tajikistan -- were arrested early on April 15 in the city of Siegen and in the towns of Heinsberg and Werdohl in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia .
The fifth suspect , also a Tajik national believed to be the leader of the terror cell , was already in custody after being detained in March 2019 .
The men are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and came to Germany as refugees .
Federal prosecutors identified the men as Azizjon B. , Muhammadali G. , Farhodshoh K. , Sunatullokh K. , and Ravshan B .
The suspects ' surnames were n't released for privacy reasons .
The men joined IS in January 2019 and were instructed by the terrorist group to form a cell in Germany , prosecutors said .
The suspects reportedly first planned to carry out an attack in their native Tajikistan , but later shifted their target to Germany , including U.S. Air Force bases in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ critical of Islam .
`` Targets for the attacks were supposed to be institutions of U.S. forces in Germany or even individual people , '' prosecutors said in a statement .
While the attacks were not planned for the immediate future , the group had already acquired firearms and ammunition , as well as secured directions and precursors for making a bomb from the Internet , the statement said .
To help finance the terror plans , prosecutors said the ringleader , Ravshan B. , and another suspect traveled to Albania to carry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but the operation fell apart and they returned to Germany , the statement added .
The men are alleged to have been in contact with two high-ranking IS figures in Syria and Afghanistan .
Germany 's security services estimate there are around 11,000 Islamic radicals in the country , some 680 of whom are deemed particularly dangerous and capable of using violence .
In recent years , Germany has seen several terrorist attacks claimed by IS , including a truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016 that left 12 people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Reuters , and dpa

Germany has detained five suspected members of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group alleged to be planning an attack on U.S. military facilities and an unidentified individual.
Prosecutors said four of the suspects -- all from Tajikistan -- were arrested early on April 15 in the city of Siegen and in the towns of Heinsberg and Werdohl in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The fifth suspect, also a Tajik national believed to be the leader of the terror cell, was already in custody after being detained in March 2019. The men are all aged between 24 and 32, and came to Germany as refugees.
Federal prosecutors identified the men as Azizjon B., Muhammadali G., Farhodshoh K., Sunatullokh K., and Ravshan B. The suspects' surnames weren't released for privacy reasons.
The men joined IS in January 2019 and were instructed by the terrorist group to form a cell in Germany, prosecutors said.
The suspects reportedly first planned to carry out an attack in their native Tajikistan, but later shifted their target to Germany, including U.S. Air Force bases in the country and a person they deemed critical of Islam.
"Targets for the attacks were supposed to be institutions of U.S. forces in Germany or even individual people," prosecutors said in a statement.
While the attacks were not planned for the immediate future, the group had already acquired firearms and ammunition, as well as secured directions and precursors for making a bomb from the Internet, the statement said.
To help finance the terror plans, prosecutors said the ringleader, Ravshan B., and another suspect traveled to Albania to carry out a $40,000 contract killing, but the operation fell apart and they returned to Germany, the statement added.
The men are alleged to have been in contact with two high-ranking IS figures in Syria and Afghanistan.
Germany's security services estimate there are around 11,000 Islamic radicals in the country, some 680 of whom are deemed particularly dangerous and capable of using violence.
In recent years, Germany has seen several terrorist attacks claimed by IS, including a truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016 that left 12 people dead.
With reporting by AP, Reuters, and dpa


rferl--2020-04-15--Trial Begins For Tajik Journalist On 'Extremism' Charges Right Groups Call 'Absurd'

DUSHANBE – A Tajik court has begun the trial of a journalist on extremism charges that international media-freedom watchdogs have called `` absurd . ''
Daler Sharifov , who writes about domestic politics and religious issues , was arrested on January 28 on charges of inciting ethnic , racial , and religious hatred .
He could be jailed for up to five years if found guilty .
His lawyer , Abdurahmon Sharifov , said on April 15 that the judge has told him the trial “ is open to the public ” but that the number of people allowed into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to warnings by the World Health Organization ” about large gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic .
Sharipov ’ s trial was initially scheduled to begin on April 13 but the hearing was postponed for two days because the state prosecutor was absent .
The Prosecutor-General ’ s Office says the case is based on `` more than 200 articles and commentaries containing extremist content '' aimed at `` inciting religious intolerance '' that were published on social media between 2013 and 2019 .
Sharifov 's relatives , human rights organizations , and media-freedom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and have demanded his immediate release .
Calling the incitement charges `` absurd , '' Reporters Without Borders ( RSF ) and the Committee to Protect Journalists have said Sharifov 's arrest was aimed at silencing a critical journalist ahead of parliamentary elections in March that were won , as expected , by President Emomali Rahmon 's ruling party .
Writing for the independent news website Ozodagon from 2013 until its closure last year following `` years of harassment , '' Sharipov often commented on violations of human rights and religious freedoms , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the journalist spent several days in a hospital after being beaten in a still unpunished attack .

DUSHANBE – A Tajik court has begun the trial of a journalist on extremism charges that international media-freedom watchdogs have called "absurd."
Daler Sharifov, who writes about domestic politics and religious issues, was arrested on January 28 on charges of inciting ethnic, racial, and religious hatred. He could be jailed for up to five years if found guilty.
His lawyer, Abdurahmon Sharifov, said on April 15 that the judge has told him the trial “is open to the public” but that the number of people allowed into the courtroom would be limited “due to warnings by the World Health Organization” about large gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic.
Sharipov’s trial was initially scheduled to begin on April 13 but the hearing was postponed for two days because the state prosecutor was absent.
The Prosecutor-General’s Office says the case is based on "more than 200 articles and commentaries containing extremist content" aimed at "inciting religious intolerance" that were published on social media between 2013 and 2019.
Sharifov's relatives, human rights organizations, and media-freedom groups have rejected the accusations as unfounded and have demanded his immediate release.
Calling the incitement charges "absurd," Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists have said Sharifov's arrest was aimed at silencing a critical journalist ahead of parliamentary elections in March that were won, as expected, by President Emomali Rahmon's ruling party.
Writing for the independent news website Ozodagon from 2013 until its closure last year following "years of harassment," Sharipov often commented on violations of human rights and religious freedoms, according to RSF.
Eight years ago, the journalist spent several days in a hospital after being beaten in a still unpunished attack.


rferl--2020-04-15--COVID-19: New Moscow Permit System Sparks Crowds; Georgia Locks Down Major Cities

The global death toll from the coronavirus is nearing 128,000 with more than 2 million infections confirmed , causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the new respiratory illness .
A new permit system introduced in Moscow to help authorities in their bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus sputtered at the beginning as lines snaked around some metro stations and filled some streets with traffic .
As of April 15 , Moscow residents were required to obtain electronic permission online to use private or public transport in the Russian capital , with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ authorities were looking to eliminate as the pandemic grows across the country , and especially in Moscow .
The new system took effect as Russia saw a record daily rise of 3,388 in the number of confirmed cases of the virus overnight , bringing the overall total in the country to 24,490 .
The federal coronavirus response center said 198 people had died from COVID-19 , an increase from the previous day of 28 .
According to Russian health officials , Moscow has the largest number of registered coronavirus cases in the country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and 1,205 recovered patients .
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that despite some initial issues with the permit system , the problem had eased by midday and he promised to find a way to streamline movement permit checks .
`` In the morning , due to control measures conducted by the City Interior Department , queues appeared , which in the current circumstances is quite critical .
I have talked to the chief of the City Interior Department and asked him to organize the work in a way to prevent mass gatherings of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Permits to use private or public transport are divided into three categories -- to go to work and back home , to visit medical institutions , and twice a week for private purposes .
Movement without a permit is punished by a hefty fine .
Georgia 's government has decided to lock down four of the South Caucasus nation 's main cities to control the spread of the coronavirus .
Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia told reporters on April 14 that his cabinet decided to take the move for Tbilisi , the capital @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Rustavi , Batumi , and Kutaisi for 10 days as the country grapples with the pandemic .
Gakharia said that the decision was made after 30 more people were registered as infected with the coronavirus in one day .
`` The government has decided to ban citizens from entering or leaving ... the cities ... starting at 9 p.m. April 15 , '' Gakharia said .
According to Gakharia , his government will initiate a move to extend the state of emergency that was announced in the country over the coronavirus for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We will ask President [ Salome Zurabishvili ] to propose that parliament prolongs the state of emergency until May 10 to be able to define our next steps to slow the [ spread of the virus ] , '' Gakharia said .
Parliamentary speaker Mamuka Mdinaradze said after Gakharia 's press conference that lawmakers will most likely discuss a possible prolongation of the state of emergency on April 21 or April 22 .
According to Mdinaradze , the ruling majority in parliament will support the proposal .
On April 15 , Georgia 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus cases in the country had reached 306 , including three deaths .
With reporting by RFE/RL 's Russian and Georgian services

The global death toll from the coronavirus is nearing 128,000 with more than 2 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.
Russia
A new permit system introduced in Moscow to help authorities in their bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus sputtered at the beginning as lines snaked around some metro stations and filled some streets with traffic.
As of April 15, Moscow residents were required to obtain electronic permission online to use private or public transport in the Russian capital, with police checks creating the type of crowds authorities were looking to eliminate as the pandemic grows across the country, and especially in Moscow.
The new system took effect as Russia saw a record daily rise of 3,388 in the number of confirmed cases of the virus overnight, bringing the overall total in the country to 24,490. The federal coronavirus response center said 198 people had died from COVID-19, an increase from the previous day of 28.
According to Russian health officials, Moscow has the largest number of registered coronavirus cases in the country at 14,776, including 106 deaths, and 1,205 recovered patients.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that despite some initial issues with the permit system, the problem had eased by midday and he promised to find a way to streamline movement permit checks.
"In the morning, due to control measures conducted by the City Interior Department, queues appeared, which in the current circumstances is quite critical. I have talked to the chief of the City Interior Department and asked him to organize the work in a way to prevent mass gatherings of people," Sobyanin wrote on Twitter.
Permits to use private or public transport are divided into three categories -- to go to work and back home, to visit medical institutions, and twice a week for private purposes. Movement without a permit is punished by a hefty fine.
Georgia
Georgia's government has decided to lock down four of the South Caucasus nation's main cities to control the spread of the coronavirus.
Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia told reporters on April 14 that his cabinet decided to take the move for Tbilisi, the capital, as well as for the cities of Rustavi, Batumi, and Kutaisi for 10 days as the country grapples with the pandemic.
Gakharia said that the decision was made after 30 more people were registered as infected with the coronavirus in one day.
"The government has decided to ban citizens from entering or leaving...the cities...starting at 9 p.m. April 15," Gakharia said.
According to Gakharia, his government will initiate a move to extend the state of emergency that was announced in the country over the coronavirus for one month on March 21.
"We will ask President [Salome Zurabishvili] to propose that parliament prolongs the state of emergency until May 10 to be able to define our next steps to slow the [spread of the virus]," Gakharia said.
Parliamentary speaker Mamuka Mdinaradze said after Gakharia's press conference that lawmakers will most likely discuss a possible prolongation of the state of emergency on April 21 or April 22.
According to Mdinaradze, the ruling majority in parliament will support the proposal.
On April 15, Georgia's health authorities said that the number of coronavirus cases in the country had reached 306, including three deaths.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian and Georgian services


rferl--2020-04-15--CPJ Calls For Release Of Editor Held In Daghestan On 'Terrorism' Charges

The Committee to Protect Journalists ( CPJ ) has called on authorities in the Russian republic of Daghestan to release journalist Abdulmumin Gadzhiev and drop all charges against him .
Gadzhiev , the religious affairs editor of the independent weekly Chernovik , was detained on June 14 on charges of financing terrorism .
He has been held since in pre-trial detention , the CPJ said in a statement on April 14 .
On March 27 , authorities filed new charges against Gadzhiev , accusing him of participation in an extremist organization , according to Mairbek Agaev , the editor in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ CPJ he learned about the new charges on April 14 and said he believed they were in retaliation for Gadzhiev ’ s journalism .
He also said he believed authorities “ invented ” the new charges because “ the first case is falling apart due to lack of evidence.
” If convicted of participating in an extremist organization , Gadzhiev could face up to 10 years in prison under the Russian criminal code .
If convicted on the original terrorism charges , he could face another 20 years .
“ Authorities in Daghestan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ journalist Abdulmumin Gadzhiev and instead should release him immediately , ” said Gulnoza Said , CPJ ’ s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator .
She added that with the coronavirus spreading in the Northern Caucasus it will inevitably hit its prisons and further endanger Gadzhiev 's life .
The CPJ last month wrote an open letter to world leaders urging them to immediately release all journalists behind bars amid the coronavirus pandemic .

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on authorities in the Russian republic of Daghestan to release journalist Abdulmumin Gadzhiev and drop all charges against him.
Gadzhiev, the religious affairs editor of the independent weekly Chernovik, was detained on June 14 on charges of financing terrorism.
He has been held since in pre-trial detention, the CPJ said in a statement on April 14.
On March 27, authorities filed new charges against Gadzhiev, accusing him of participation in an extremist organization, according to Mairbek Agaev, the editor in chief of Chernovik.
Agaev told the CPJ he learned about the new charges on April 14 and said he believed they were in retaliation for Gadzhiev’s journalism.
He also said he believed authorities “invented” the new charges because “the first case is falling apart due to lack of evidence.”
If convicted of participating in an extremist organization, Gadzhiev could face up to 10 years in prison under the Russian criminal code. If convicted on the original terrorism charges, he could face another 20 years.
“Authorities in Daghestan should stop cooking up new charges against journalist Abdulmumin Gadzhiev and instead should release him immediately,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator.
She added that with the coronavirus spreading in the Northern Caucasus it will inevitably hit its prisons and further endanger Gadzhiev's life.
The CPJ last month wrote an open letter to world leaders urging them to immediately release all journalists behind bars amid the coronavirus pandemic.


rferl--2020-04-15--Kyrgyzstan Asks China For Debt Relief Amid Economic Strain Of Pandemic

Kyrgyzstan has asked China for debt relief as it struggles with the economic shocks of the coronavirus pandemic .
President Sooronbai Jeenbekov 's office said on April 14 that he had asked his Chinese counterpart , Xi Jinping , during a phone call to consider `` easing and prolonging payments on Kyrgyzstan 's external debt to China.
” The request was made `` considering the negative impact of the infection on the macroeconomic situation . ''
Jeenbekov and Xi agreed that China would send medical specialists to help Kyrgyzstan battle the coronavirus , but a statement by Jeenbekov 's office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the request for debt relief .
The two leaders also discussed the resumption of trade at their shared border , the statement said .
The Export-Import Bank of China ( Eximbank ) owns more than two-fifths of Kyrgyzstan 's nearly $ 4 billion foreign debt and has financed major transport and energy projects in the country .
Kyrgyzstan 's capital , Bishkek , and other large cities have been under a lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus since last month when cases began to emerge in the country .
The number @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as of April 15 , according to a database maintained by Johns Hopkins University .
Kyrgyzstan was the first country to receive emergency funding from the International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) to help it cope with the outbreak .
The IMF said at the time its board has approved an emergency $ 121 million disbursement to Kyrgyzstan .
Kristalina Georgieva , the IMF managing director , said in a statement at the time that the “ COVID-19 pandemic has been hitting the Kyrgyz economy very hard and created an urgent balance-of-payments need @ @

Kyrgyzstan has asked China for debt relief as it struggles with the economic shocks of the coronavirus pandemic.
President Sooronbai Jeenbekov's office said on April 14 that he had asked his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, during a phone call to consider "easing and prolonging payments on Kyrgyzstan's external debt to China.”
The request was made "considering the negative impact of the infection on the macroeconomic situation."
Jeenbekov and Xi agreed that China would send medical specialists to help Kyrgyzstan battle the coronavirus, but a statement by Jeenbekov's office did not say how Xi responded to the request for debt relief.
The two leaders also discussed the resumption of trade at their shared border, the statement said.
The Export-Import Bank of China (Eximbank) owns more than two-fifths of Kyrgyzstan's nearly $4 billion foreign debt and has financed major transport and energy projects in the country.
Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, and other large cities have been under a lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus since last month when cases began to emerge in the country. The number of cases reached 430 with five deaths as of April 15, according to a database maintained by Johns Hopkins University.
Kyrgyzstan was the first country to receive emergency funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help it cope with the outbreak. The IMF said at the time its board has approved an emergency $121 million disbursement to Kyrgyzstan.
Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF managing director, said in a statement at the time that the “COVID-19 pandemic has been hitting the Kyrgyz economy very hard and created an urgent balance-of-payments need.”
With reporting by AFP


rferl--2020-04-14--Armed Men Board Oil Tanker Off Iranian Coast

Unidentified armed men have boarded a Hong Kong-flagged oil tanker off the coast of Iran near the strategic Strait of Hormuz , a British monitoring organization and a private intelligence firm reported .
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization said the vessel was boarded on April 14 while anchored just off the Iranian coast in the Sea of Oman , but added that the ship was later released .
The organization urged vessels in the area to `` stay vigilant . ''
Dryad Global , a private maritime intelligence firm , said it was unclear whether the vessel had been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iran .
The company identified the tanker as the Hong Kong-flagged SC Taipei on its way to Al-Jubail in Saudi Arabia .
It said the 22 crew members aboard were all Chinese .
The U.S. Navy ’ s Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain has not immediately commented on the reported incident , which comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran in the region .
Iran 's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps ( IRGC ) has harassed or seized a number of vessels over the last year in a move viewed by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the United States and its allies over crushing U.S. economic sanctions .
Iran is also suspected of planting limpet mines on six ships in the Gulf of Oman in May and June of 2019 .
Dryad Global said `` it can not nor should not be ruled out '' that Iran attempted an operation on April 14 against the Hong Kong-flagged ship `` in haste , '' and aborted the mission out of political concerns .
`` While Beijing is not responsible for Hong Kong vessels , there is a realistic possibility @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Hong Kong vessel as a proxy assault on its own sovereignty , '' the company said .
`` At a time when China still buys Iranian oil , and Iran has few international friends , such a move would be highly irregular , and would not further Iran ’ s interests . ''

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


rferl--2020-04-14--IMF Forecasts Global Growth Will Fall 3 Percent Due to 'Great Lockdown'

The global economy will suffer its worst year since the Great Depression in the 1930s due to the coronavirus and lockdowns that have shut down much of the world , the International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) said in its latest forecast .
In its biannual World Economic Outlook released on April 14 , the global lender projected the world economy will contract by 3.1 percent this year before returning in 2021 to 5.8 percent growth .
`` This makes the great lockdown the worst recession since the Great Depression and far worse than the global financial crisis '' in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ IMF chief economist .
The estimate represents a sharp downward swing of nearly 6 percent from the IMF ’ s previous global growth estimate of 3.3 percent issued earlier this year before the coronavirus spread across the globe .
The dire economic projections could be deeper , the IMF warned , if lockdowns persist over several quarters and there are renewed outbreaks later this year or next .
`` Much worse growth outcomes are possible and maybe even likely , '' the report cautioned , adding that there were many unknowns about how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ play out .
Lockdowns , business shutdowns , social distancing , and travel restrictions have plunged the world economy into standstill , disrupting trade and leading to millions of job losses .
Worldwide trade will plummet 11 percent this year , according to the IMF , and then grow 8.4 percent in 2021 .
“ The world has been put in a great lockdown , ’ ’ Gopinath told reporters .
“ This is a crisis like no other.
” In the outlook , the U.S. economy this year is forecast to shrink @ @ @ @ @ @ @ countries that share the euro currency are projected to retreat 7.5 percent .
Elsewhere , Russia ’ s economy is forecast to slump 5.5 percent compared to modest growth of 1.3 percent last year , in part driven by low oil and commodity prices .
It is then expected to rebound to 3.5 percent in 2021 .
Meanwhile , neighboring Belarus is projected to see its economy shrink by 6 percent , compared to 1.2 percent growth last year .
In Ukraine , which has registered modest growth in recent years since the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2014-15 due to the conflict in the east of the country , the economy is expected to plummet 7.7 percent in 2020 .
Countries in southeastern Europe face a range of negative growth estimates , from a slump of 3 percent in Serbia to a 9 percent drop in Montenegro .
In the Middle East and Central Asia , the IMF forecasts growth will slip 2.8 percent compared to a modest gain of 1.2 percent last year .
It is then projected to increase by 4 percent in 2021 .
Iran , where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pummeled the second largest economy in the Middle East , growth is forecast to shrink 6 percent in 2020 for its third contraction in a row .
In 2018 and 2019 , it shrank by 3.6 percent and 7.6 percent , respectively .
In Central Asia , Uzbekistan , Turkmenistan , and Tajikistan are some of the few countries in the world that will eke out modest growth of between 1 and 1.8 percent this year , the IMF said .
However , neighboring Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan will shed 2.5 and 4 percent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ percent growth in each country last year .
Meanwhile , the economies of Afghanistan and Pakistan this year will fall 3 and 1.5 percent , respectively , compared to growth near 3 percent last year .
In the South Caucasus , the IMF forecasts Armenia ’ s economy will drop 1.5 percent this year after booming 7.6 percent in 2019 , while energy-rich Azerbaijan ’ s growth will fall to negative 2.2 percent compared to a gain of 2.3 percent last year .
After experiencing solid growth of around 5 percent over the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economy will slump 4 percent in 2020 , the IMF said .
With reporting by AFP , AP , dpa , and Reuters

The global economy will suffer its worst year since the Great Depression in the 1930s due to the coronavirus and lockdowns that have shut down much of the world, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its latest forecast.
In its biannual World Economic Outlook released on April 14, the global lender projected the world economy will contract by 3.1 percent this year before returning in 2021 to 5.8 percent growth.
"This makes the great lockdown the worst recession since the Great Depression and far worse than the global financial crisis" in 2009, said Gita Gopinath, the IMF chief economist.
The estimate represents a sharp downward swing of nearly 6 percent from the IMF’s previous global growth estimate of 3.3 percent issued earlier this year before the coronavirus spread across the globe.
The dire economic projections could be deeper, the IMF warned, if lockdowns persist over several quarters and there are renewed outbreaks later this year or next.
"Much worse growth outcomes are possible and maybe even likely," the report cautioned, adding that there were many unknowns about how the pandemic and its economic fallout would play out.
Lockdowns, business shutdowns, social distancing, and travel restrictions have plunged the world economy into standstill, disrupting trade and leading to millions of job losses. Worldwide trade will plummet 11 percent this year, according to the IMF, and then grow 8.4 percent in 2021.
“The world has been put in a great lockdown,’’ Gopinath told reporters. “This is a crisis like no other.”
In the outlook, the U.S. economy this year is forecast to shrink 5.9 percent, while the 19 EU countries that share the euro currency are projected to retreat 7.5 percent.
Elsewhere, Russia’s economy is forecast to slump 5.5 percent compared to modest growth of 1.3 percent last year, in part driven by low oil and commodity prices. It is then expected to rebound to 3.5 percent in 2021. Meanwhile, neighboring Belarus is projected to see its economy shrink by 6 percent, compared to 1.2 percent growth last year.
In Ukraine, which has registered modest growth in recent years since the economy dived more than 16 percent in 2014-15 due to the conflict in the east of the country, the economy is expected to plummet 7.7 percent in 2020.
Countries in southeastern Europe face a range of negative growth estimates, from a slump of 3 percent in Serbia to a 9 percent drop in Montenegro.
In the Middle East and Central Asia, the IMF forecasts growth will slip 2.8 percent compared to a modest gain of 1.2 percent last year. It is then projected to increase by 4 percent in 2021.
Iran, where a combination of sanctions and coronavirus have pummeled the second largest economy in the Middle East, growth is forecast to shrink 6 percent in 2020 for its third contraction in a row. In 2018 and 2019, it shrank by 3.6 percent and 7.6 percent, respectively.
In Central Asia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan are some of the few countries in the world that will eke out modest growth of between 1 and 1.8 percent this year, the IMF said.
However, neighboring Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan will shed 2.5 and 4 percent, respectively. That compares to 4.5 percent growth in each country last year.
Meanwhile, the economies of Afghanistan and Pakistan this year will fall 3 and 1.5 percent, respectively, compared to growth near 3 percent last year.
In the South Caucasus, the IMF forecasts Armenia’s economy will drop 1.5 percent this year after booming 7.6 percent in 2019, while energy-rich Azerbaijan’s growth will fall to negative 2.2 percent compared to a gain of 2.3 percent last year.
After experiencing solid growth of around 5 percent over the past three years, Georgia’s economy will slump 4 percent in 2020, the IMF said.
With reporting by AFP, AP, dpa, and Reuters


rferl--2020-04-14--Top Ukrainian Security Official Detained For Alleged Collaboration With Russia's FSB

The Security Service of Ukraine ( SBU ) says one of its top officials has been detained on suspicion of collaborating with Russia 's Federal Security Service ( FSB ) .
In an April 14 statement , the SBU said Major General Valeriy Shaytanov is suspected of high treason and terrorism .
It said audio and video recordings gathered during the case provided `` irrefutable evidence '' of the crime .
According to the SBU , Shaytanov started working for the FSB in 2014 and had planned `` terrorist acts '' in Ukraine , including allegedly planning to murder Adam @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fighting on the Ukrainian side against Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine 's east .
Osmayev was injured and his wife was killed in an ambush near Kyiv in October 2017 that Ukraine blamed on Russian agents .
Shaytanov also allegedly provided information to Moscow about secret operations against Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine and recruited additional agents , the SBU said .
Ukrainian-Russian relations have been strained since 2014 when Russia seized Ukraine 's Crimea region after sending in troops and staging a referendum deemed illegitimate by at least 100 countries .
In April @ @ @ @ @ @ @ behind armed separatists in Ukraine ’ s eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk , where some 13,200 people have been killed in the ongoing conflict .

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) says one of its top officials has been detained on suspicion of collaborating with Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).
In an April 14 statement, the SBU said Major General Valeriy Shaytanov is suspected of high treason and terrorism.
It said audio and video recordings gathered during the case provided "irrefutable evidence" of the crime.
According to the SBU, Shaytanov started working for the FSB in 2014 and had planned "terrorist acts" in Ukraine, including allegedly planning to murder Adam Osmayev, the leader of Chechen volunteers fighting on the Ukrainian side against Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's east.
Osmayev was injured and his wife was killed in an ambush near Kyiv in October 2017 that Ukraine blamed on Russian agents.
Shaytanov also allegedly provided information to Moscow about secret operations against Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine and recruited additional agents, the SBU said.
Ukrainian-Russian relations have been strained since 2014 when Russia seized Ukraine's Crimea region after sending in troops and staging a referendum deemed illegitimate by at least 100 countries.
In April that year, Russia threw its support behind armed separatists in Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where some 13,200 people have been killed in the ongoing conflict.


rferl--2020-04-14--Kabul To Ban Motorcycles In Bid To Improve Security

Afghan authorities say they will ban motorcycles and scooters in the capital , Kabul , for an unspecified period of time in an effort to improve security .
`` Most of the crimes in the city , including targeted killings and other crimes , are carried out using motorbikes , '' Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said on April 14 .
Motorcycles and scooters are popular in Kabul .
Violators of the ban , which is to take effect immediately , will have their motorcycles seized , the Interior Ministry said .
Delivery riders , who have seen heavy demand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be exempted .
AFP quoted an unidentified security official as saying that Taliban militants are conducting an increasing number of targeted killings of government officials using motorbikes .
According to the official , street robberies by thieves on motorcycles and scooters are also on the rise .
The decision comes as Kabul , with a population of about 5 million people , is under a three-week lockdown in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the city .
A total of 714 people in Afghanistan have contracted COVID-19 , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the Health Ministry .
It said the disease had so far killed 23 people in the country .
Based on reporting by dpa 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--2020-04-14--Kazakhstan Protests Over Chinese Article Questioning Its Territorial Integrity

NUR-SULTAN -- Kazakhstan ’ s Foreign Ministry has officially protested an article published on a Chinese website that questioned Kazakhstan @ @ @ @ @ The ministry said on April 14 that it `` held talks with the Chinese ambassador @ @ @ @ @ , during which the ministry protested against the publication of an article on the website @ @ @ @ @ Is Kazakhstan Eager To Get Back to China ? '
'' The article 's author @ @ @ @ @ on territories that historically belong to China .
According to the ministry ’ s statement @ @ @ @ @ that the publication of the article in question “ does not correspond to the spirit @ @ @ @ @ partnership stressed in the joint statement , '' a reference to an accord signed by @ @ @ @ @ September 2019 that aims to develop closer ties between the neighboring countries .

NUR-SULTAN -- Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry has officially protested an article published on a Chinese website that questioned Kazakhstan’s territorial integrity.
The ministry said on April 14 that it "held talks with the Chinese ambassador to Kazakhstan, Zhang Xiao, during which the ministry protested against the publication of an article on the website sohu.com in China titled 'Why Is Kazakhstan Eager To Get Back to China?'"
The article's author wrote that Kazakhstan is located on territories that historically belong to China.
According to the ministry’s statement, Ambassador Zhang was informed that the publication of the article in question “does not correspond to the spirit of the eternal multilateral strategic partnership stressed in the joint statement," a reference to an accord signed by Kazakh and Chinese leaders in September 2019 that aims to develop closer ties between the neighboring countries.


rferl--2020-04-14--Ukrainian Official Says Wildfires In Chernobyl Area Extinguished

DYTYATKY , Ukraine -- Emergency crews have extinguished wildfires that had been burning near the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant .
The acting director of Ukraine 's State Ecology Inspection , Yehor Firsov , said in a statement on Facebook on April 14 that after 10 days , firefighters had managed to finally extinguish the blaze .
`` In short , the fire was extinguished .
The rain helped a lot .
The level of the radiation background is permanently being measured , but according to the data we have , in general , everything is normal , '' Firsov @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hours after Viktoria Ruban , spokeswoman for the Kyiv regional directorate of the State Emergency Situations Service , told reporters at the Dytyatky checkpoint near the Chernobyl restricted zone that the situation has been complicated by heavy winds in the area .
The day before , the fire had approached the ghost city of Pripyat , which was abandoned by all residents in April 1986 after the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl .
Ruban said that firefighters had managed to stop the fire near Pripyat .
Earlier in the day , the Emergency Situations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ area were under way , adding that radiation in the region and in the capital , Kyiv , was within `` permissible '' levels .
A day earlier , Greenpeace Russia had warned that fires blazing through the exclusion zone are much larger than authorities in Kyiv were admitting and that they posed a radiation risk .
The fires began on April 3 in the western part of the uninhabited exclusion zone before spreading to nearby forests .
The National Police said they have detained two people suspected of setting the initial fire @

DYTYATKY, Ukraine -- Emergency crews have extinguished wildfires that had been burning near the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
The acting director of Ukraine's State Ecology Inspection, Yehor Firsov, said in a statement on Facebook on April 14 that after 10 days, firefighters had managed to finally extinguish the blaze.
"In short, the fire was extinguished. The rain helped a lot. The level of the radiation background is permanently being measured, but according to the data we have, in general, everything is normal," Firsov wrote.
Firsov's Facebook statement came hours after Viktoria Ruban, spokeswoman for the Kyiv regional directorate of the State Emergency Situations Service, told reporters at the Dytyatky checkpoint near the Chernobyl restricted zone that the situation has been complicated by heavy winds in the area.
The day before, the fire had approached the ghost city of Pripyat, which was abandoned by all residents in April 1986 after the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.
Ruban said that firefighters had managed to stop the fire near Pripyat.
Earlier in the day, the Emergency Situations Service said that firefighting operations in the area were under way, adding that radiation in the region and in the capital, Kyiv, was within "permissible" levels.
A day earlier, Greenpeace Russia had warned that fires blazing through the exclusion zone are much larger than authorities in Kyiv were admitting and that they posed a radiation risk.
The fires began on April 3 in the western part of the uninhabited exclusion zone before spreading to nearby forests.
The National Police said they have detained two people suspected of setting the initial fire.