rferl--2020-05-14--Moscow Court Upholds Detention Of U.S. Citizen Accused Of Espionage

A Russian court has upheld a decision to keep former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan in detention until mid-September while his @ @ @ @ @ ongoing .
A Moscow court of appeals `` dismissed our appeal against the extension of @ @ @ @ @ on Whelan , his lawyer , Vladimir Zherebenkov , said on May 14 .
On @ @ @ @ @ City Court extended Whelan 's detention by six months , until September 13 .
The @ @ @ @ @ holds British , Canadian , and Irish citizenship , was arrested in Moscow in December @ @ @ @ @ a flash disc in his possession contained classified information .
He faces up to 20 @ @ @ @ @ .
Whelan denies the allegations against him , calling them political in nature , and @ @ @ @ @ guards .
The former U.S. Marine has said he traveled to Moscow to attend a @ @ @ @ @ being held behind closed doors because the evidence includes classified materials and because of measures @ @ @ @ @ of the coronavirus .
Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax

A Russian court has upheld a decision to keep former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan in detention until mid-September while his trial on espionage charges is ongoing.
A Moscow court of appeals "dismissed our appeal against the extension of the measure of restraint" on Whelan, his lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, said on May 14.
On March 23, the Moscow City Court extended Whelan's detention by six months, until September 13.
The 50-year-old Whelan, who also holds British, Canadian, and Irish citizenship, was arrested in Moscow in December 2018. Prosecutors claim that a flash disc in his possession contained classified information. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Whelan denies the allegations against him, calling them political in nature, and has alleged being mistreated by guards. The former U.S. Marine has said he traveled to Moscow to attend a wedding.
The trial is being held behind closed doors because the evidence includes classified materials and because of measures taken to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax


rferl--2020-05-14--Top EU Court Says Hungary Illegally Detained Asylum Seekers At Serbian Border

The European Union 's top court has ruled that Hungary circumvented EU law by holding Afghan and Iranian asylum seekers in prison-like conditions at a border transit zone .
Hungary has come under EU criticism for its hard-line approach to migration and has been repeatedly challenged before the European Court of Justice ( ECJ ) , which gave its latest ruling on May 14 .
The current case was brought before the Luxembourg-based court by four asylum seekers from Iran and Afghanistan who were being kept in the Roszke transit zone in southeastern Hungary after arriving via Serbia .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Roszke and are still living there , although such detention is illegal in the EU if the asylum requests have not been examined first .
Budapest rejected their requests , arguing that Serbia is a safe transit country and they should have filed their claims there .
Belgrade refused to readmit them , arguing that the four had not entered Hungary illegally and therefore did not meet the conditions of a readmission deal between Budapest and non-EU member Serbia .
Roszke is surrounded by a high fence and barbed wire and the freedom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ situation the judges ruled amounts to detention .
`` The conditions prevailing in the Roszke transit zone amount to a deprivation of liberty , inter alia because the persons concerned can not lawfully leave that zone of their own free will in any direction whatsoever , '' the ECJ ruled .
Following the ECJ ruling , human rights groups urged Hungary to release asylum seekers and migrants illegally held in the country 's two transit zones .
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee , which provides legal advice to transit-camp occupants , called the decision @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is locked up in metal containers behind barbed wires in Hungary . ''
David Vig , director of Amnesty International Hungary , called it `` a damning indictment of Hungary 's treatment of asylum seekers . ''
There have been multiple complaints of inadequate treatment from rights groups and people inside Roszke , who accuse the authorities of denying them food among other things .
Right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban 's government argues that people are not being illegally detained in the transit zone because they are free to go back to Serbia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a 2015-16 migration surge , including many arrivals from war-torn Syria , that left member states deeply divided on migration policies and asylum rules .
The ECJ is the highest court of the European Union in matters of EU legislation and is tasked with interpreting EU law and ensuring its equal application across all 27 EU member states .
In November 2019 , the European Court of Human Rights found that Hungary breached its human rights obligations by returning asylum seekers to Serbia without considering the risk that they might be exposed to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ With reporting by dpa and AFP

The European Union's top court has ruled that Hungary circumvented EU law by holding Afghan and Iranian asylum seekers in prisonlike conditions at a border transit zone.
Hungary has come under EU criticism for its hard-line approach to migration and has been repeatedly challenged before the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which gave its latest ruling on May 14.
In reaction to the ruling, Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga said late on May 14 that "Hungarian legislation and practice is in line with EU and international law."
Varga pointed to the ruling as further proof that Hungary is being forced "to allow and accept into the country migrants without any controls," reiterating a point repeatedly expressed by Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his right-wing government.
The current case was brought before the Luxembourg-based court by four asylum seekers from Iran and Afghanistan who were being kept in the Roszke transit zone in southeastern Hungary after arriving via Serbia.
The four filed their applications for asylum from Roszke and are still living there, although such detention is illegal in the EU if the asylum requests have not been examined first.
Budapest rejected their requests, arguing that Serbia is a safe transit country and they should have filed their claims there.
Belgrade refused to readmit them, arguing that the four had not entered Hungary illegally and therefore did not meet the conditions of a readmission deal between Budapest and non-EU member Serbia.
Roszke is surrounded by a high fence and barbed wire and the freedom to move is strictly curbed, a situation the judges ruled amounts to detention.
"The conditions prevailing in the Roszke transit zone amount to a deprivation of liberty, inter alia because the persons concerned cannot lawfully leave that zone of their own free will in any direction whatsoever," the ECJ ruled.
Following the ECJ ruling, human rights groups urged Hungary to release asylum seekers and migrants illegally held in the country's two transit zones.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, which provides legal advice to transit-camp occupants, called the decision "a significant victory for everyone who is locked up in metal containers behind barbed wires in Hungary."
David Vig, director of Amnesty International Hungary, called it "a damning indictment of Hungary's treatment of asylum seekers."
There have been multiple complaints of inadequate treatment from rights groups and people inside Roszke, who accuse the authorities of denying them food among other things.
Orban's government argues that people are not being illegally detained in the transit zone because they are free to go back to Serbia.
The European Union was rattled by a 2015-16 migration surge, including many arrivals from war-torn Syria, that left member states deeply divided on migration policies and asylum rules.
The ECJ is the highest court of the European Union in matters of EU legislation and is tasked with interpreting EU law and ensuring its equal application across all 27 EU member states.
In November 2019, the European Court of Human Rights found that Hungary breached its human rights obligations by returning asylum seekers to Serbia without considering the risk that they might be exposed to inhuman and degrading treatment upon arrival.
With reporting by dpa and AFP


rferl--2020-05-14--Montenegrin Police Detain 60 In Clashes Over Priests' Arrests

Montenegrin police say about 60 people have been detained following clashes the night before during protests demanding the release of eight Serbian Orthodox Church clergy jailed for leading a religious procession despite a ban on gatherings because of the coronavirus outbreak .
Police late on May 13 fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse protests against the detention of one bishop and seven priests in the towns of Niksic and Pljevlja .
Twenty-six policemen were injured during the clashes , police said in a statement , adding that one of the injured policemen has been hospitalized .
Prime Minister @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` brutal attack on the state that could have unforeseeable consequences on public health . ''
The clashes came a day after thousands of people attended a procession in Niksic without wearing face masks or maintaining a safe distance from each other in violation of measures to prevent the virus from spreading .
Montenegrin police said they used pepper spray to disperse the protesters into smaller groups after they threw rocks , bottles , and other objects and blocked traffic .
Police officers were `` brutally attacked for no reason , '' the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and a knife were found during a search in Niksic , while police property was destroyed .
Some of the people were detained in other cities where they tried to organize gatherings , including the capital , Podgorica .
Belgrade has strongly criticized the detention of the eight Serbian Orthodox Church officials , including Bishop Joanikije , which opened fresh religious and political tensions between the two neighbors .
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said May14 that `` we fail to comprehend '' why Bishop Joanikije and other priests remain in detention .
Vucic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any way but `` will remain by our people and the church as much as we can . ''
Prosecutors said on May 13 that the eight face up to 12 years in prison on charges of violating virus restrictions .
Video and pictures from the procession show most participants did n't wear face masks or keep a safe distance from each other .
`` They [ the priests ] are accused of the criminal offense of violating health rules in the prevention of a dangerous contagious disease , '' prosecutor Stevo Sekaric @ @ @ @ @ @ @ highlighted ongoing tensions between Montenegro 's pro-Western authorities and the Serbian Orthodox Church , which they see as a tool for meddling by Moscow-backed Serbia .
Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Irinej has said the detentions are `` proof that the Montenegrin state is conducting a purge of the Serbian Orthodox Church . ''
Earlier this year , the Serbian Orthodox Church led weeks of protests in Montenegro against a religious law that it says would strip the church of its property in the country .
The law that came into force in January says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before 1918 , the year when Montenegro joined the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and its church was subsumed by the Serbian Orthodox Church , losing all of its property in the process .
The Serbian Orthodox Church says the law is aimed at retaking its property .
Montenegrin officials have repeatedly denied the allegations .
Montenegro split from Serbia in a referendum in 2006 and further turned away from Belgrade and its Orthodox ally Russia , taking a pro-Western course and joining NATO in 2017 .
The country has also been negotiating toward getting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Union .
Serbian nationalists in both countries have never fully recognized Serbia 's separation from Montenegro , which they claim is historically Serbian territory .
With reporting by AP and dpa

Montenegrin police say about 60 people have been detained following clashes the night before during protests demanding the release of eight Serbian Orthodox Church clergy jailed for leading a religious procession despite a ban on gatherings because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Police late on May 13 fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse protests against the detention of one bishop and seven priests in the towns of Niksic and Pljevlja.
Twenty-six policemen were injured during the clashes, police said in a statement, adding that one of the injured policemen has been hospitalized.
Prime Minister Dusko Markovic described the protests as a "brutal attack on the state that could have unforeseeable consequences on public health."
The clashes came a day after thousands of people attended a procession in Niksic without wearing face masks or maintaining a safe distance from each other in violation of measures to prevent the virus from spreading.
Montenegrin police said they used pepper spray to disperse the protesters into smaller groups after they threw rocks, bottles, and other objects and blocked traffic.
Police officers were "brutally attacked for no reason," the statement said, adding that an ax and a knife were found during a search in Niksic, while police property was destroyed.
Some of the people were detained in other cities where they tried to organize gatherings, including the capital, Podgorica.
Belgrade has strongly criticized the detention of the eight Serbian Orthodox Church officials, including Bishop Joanikije, which opened fresh religious and political tensions between the two neighbors.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said May14 that "we fail to comprehend" why Bishop Joanikije and other priests remain in detention. Vucic added that Serbia cannot interfere in any way but "will remain by our people and the church as much as we can."
Prosecutors said on May 13 that the eight face up to 12 years in prison on charges of violating virus restrictions.
Video and pictures from the procession show most participants didn't wear face masks or keep a safe distance from each other.
"They [the priests] are accused of the criminal offense of violating health rules in the prevention of a dangerous contagious disease," prosecutor Stevo Sekaric said in a statement.
The arrests highlighted ongoing tensions between Montenegro's pro-Western authorities and the Serbian Orthodox Church, which they see as a tool for meddling by Moscow-backed Serbia.
Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Irinej has said the detentions are "proof that the Montenegrin state is conducting a purge of the Serbian Orthodox Church."
Earlier this year, the Serbian Orthodox Church led weeks of protests in Montenegro against a religious law that it says would strip the church of its property in the country.
The law that came into force in January says religious communities must prove property ownership from before 1918, the year when Montenegro joined the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and its church was subsumed by the Serbian Orthodox Church, losing all of its property in the process.
The Serbian Orthodox Church says the law is aimed at retaking its property. Montenegrin officials have repeatedly denied the allegations.
Montenegro split from Serbia in a referendum in 2006 and further turned away from Belgrade and its Orthodox ally Russia, taking a pro-Western course and joining NATO in 2017. The country has also been negotiating toward getting an official membership invitation from the European Union.
Serbian nationalists in both countries have never fully recognized Serbia's separation from Montenegro, which they claim is historically Serbian territory.
With reporting by AP and dpa


rferl--2020-05-14--COVID-19: Armenian Government Approves Extending State Of Emergency

The global death toll from the coronavirus is almost 300,000 with more than 4.3 million infections confirmed , causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the new respiratory illness .
Armenia 's government has approved extending the state of emergency declared over the coronavirus outbreak until June 13 .
The government explained its May 14 decision by saying that `` the circumstances that led to the declaration of the state of emergency have not yet been eliminated . ''
The extension was discussed in parliament later in the day , but required no vote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no parliamentary faction .
Despite the move , preschools , shopping centers , and gyms will reopen and public transport will resume starting from May 18 , Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian said in parliament .
The wearing of masks will be mandatory in all public spaces beginning on May 25 .
Many sectors of the economy reopened in early May to allow people to return to work , but Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian told a government session on May 14 that a nationwide lockdown could be reintroduced if the outbreak develops further @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

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


rferl--2020-05-14--EU Voices 'Particular Concerns' Over Hungary's Coronavirus Laws

The European Union ’ s commissioner responsible for upholding the bloc 's values and transparency has expressed deep concern over the situation in Hungary , where right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban was granted sweeping powers under a package of emergency measures aimed at fighting the coronavirus pandemic .
EU Values and Transparency Commissioner Vera Jourova told EU lawmakers on May 14 that as countries begin to ease pandemic lockdowns , “ the general states of emergency with exceptional powers granted to governments should gradually be removed or replaced by more targeted and less intrusive measures.
” She made the statement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Brussels on the rule of law in Hungary amid a spate of detentions in the EU member under the emergency legislation , which introduced potential prison sentences for people who spread false information about the outbreak .
Hungary 's parliament , where Orban 's Fidesz party holds a comfortable majority , approved legislation on March 30 giving him the right to rule by decree indefinitely .
The package of measures was criticized for lacking a so-called sunset clause to give a clear time limit to the state of emergency .
Jourova said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ particular concerns ” and that “ on a daily basis , we are assessing whether we can take legal action.
” Orban 's chief of staff , Gergely Gulyas , told a briefing in Budapest on May 14 that the government could end emergency powers in late June , depending on the evolution of the pandemic .
The May 14 debate in Brussels did not result in binding measures but is likely to further deepen a conflict between the Orban government and the European parliament .
Hungarian police said that 86 criminal investigations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emergency legislation was adopted by parliament on March 30 .
On May 13 , a member of the Momentum opposition party was detained in southern Hungary after posting a message on social media about the government 's decision to make hospital beds available for coronavirus patients by throwing out non-COVID-19 patients .
On May 12 , a 64-year-old man in the northeastern city of Gyula was held for hours for allegedly `` publishing false facts on a social-media site , '' police said in a statement .
Hungary had no representative at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attend in person and proposed to send Justice Minister Judit Varga instead -- a move rejected by Brussels .
Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs branded the debate a `` witch hunt , a show trial . ''
The European Parliament last month adopted a statement saying Hungary 's measures are `` incompatible with European values . ''
The center-right European People ’ s Party ( EPP ) , the European Parliament ’ s biggest grouping , suspended Fidesz from its ranks in March 2019 over concerns over the rule-of-law backsliding in Hungary as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The suspension was extended indefinitely in February , even before the Hungarian lawmakers ' move to grant Orban sweeping powers .
Hungary 's emergency law also prompted `` particular '' concern from European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen last month .
While saying EU countries may need extraordinary measures to fight the pandemic , she added : `` I am concerned that certain measures go too far -- and I 'm particularly concerned with the situation in Hungary . ''
With reporting by dpa , AP , and AFP

The European Union’s commissioner responsible for upholding the bloc's values and transparency has expressed deep concern over the situation in Hungary, where right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban was granted sweeping powers under a package of emergency measures aimed at fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
EU Values and Transparency Commissioner Vera Jourova told EU lawmakers on May 14 that as countries begin to ease pandemic lockdowns, “the general states of emergency with exceptional powers granted to governments should gradually be removed or replaced by more targeted and less intrusive measures.”
She made the statement during a debate at the European Parliament in Brussels on the rule of law in Hungary amid a spate of detentions in the EU member under the emergency legislation, which introduced potential prison sentences for people who spread false information about the outbreak.
Hungary's parliament, where Orban's Fidesz party holds a comfortable majority, approved legislation on March 30 giving him the right to rule by decree indefinitely.
The package of measures was criticized for lacking a so-called sunset clause to give a clear time limit to the state of emergency.
Jourova said that “the case of Hungary raises particular concerns” and that “on a daily basis, we are assessing whether we can take legal action.”
Orban's chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, told a briefing in Budapest on May 14 that the government could end emergency powers in late June, depending on the evolution of the pandemic.
The May 14 debate in Brussels did not result in binding measures but is likely to further deepen a conflict between the Orban government and the European parliament.
Hungarian police said that 86 criminal investigations into scaremongering have been launched since the emergency legislation was adopted by parliament on March 30.
On May 13, a member of the Momentum opposition party was detained in southern Hungary after posting a message on social media about the government's decision to make hospital beds available for coronavirus patients by throwing out non-COVID-19 patients.
On May 12, a 64-year-old man in the northeastern city of Gyula was held for hours for allegedly "publishing false facts on a social-media site," police said in a statement.
Hungary had no representative at the debate after Orban declined the invitation to attend in person and proposed to send Justice Minister Judit Varga instead -- a move rejected by Brussels. Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs branded the debate a "witch hunt, a show trial."
The European Parliament last month adopted a statement saying Hungary's measures are "incompatible with European values."
The center-right European People’s Party (EPP), the European Parliament’s biggest grouping, suspended Fidesz from its ranks in March 2019 over concerns over the rule-of-law backsliding in Hungary as well as attacks against the European Commission.
The suspension was extended indefinitely in February, even before the Hungarian lawmakers' move to grant Orban sweeping powers.
Hungary's emergency law also prompted "particular" concern from European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen last month.
While saying EU countries may need extraordinary measures to fight the pandemic, she added: "I am concerned that certain measures go too far -- and I'm particularly concerned with the situation in Hungary."
With reporting by dpa, AP, and AFP


rferl--2020-05-15--COVID-19: Uzbekistan Eases Some Restrictions But Extends Lockdown; Kazakhstan Lifts State Of Emergen

COVID-19: Uzbekistan Eases Some Restrictions But Extends Lockdown; Kazakhstan Lifts State Of Emergency

The global death toll from the coronavirus is more than 302,000 with more than 4.4 million infections confirmed , causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the new respiratory illness .
Uzbekistan has extended its lockdown by 15 days even as the Central Asian nation eases some of its restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus .
The government ’ s special commission on COVID-19 said on May 14 that the lockdown will be prolonged until June 1 , adding that some businesses will be allowed to resume their operations as of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allowed for open-air sports facilities , parks , and museums , while renting and leasing services , repair services for electronic devices and home appliances , accounting services , real estate activities , operations at veterinary clinics , as well as some other businesses can open fully , the commission said .
As of May 15 , the number of coronavirus cases in the country was 2,652 , including 11 deaths .
In neighboring Kazakhstan , public transportation in Nur-Sultan , the capital , widened its service period by two hours to allow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ On May 11 , Kazakhstan lifted the state of emergency imposed over the coronavirus but said all the restrictions will be lifted gradually and differently in regions and cities due to situations there .
On May 15 , health authorities in Kazakhstan said the number of coronavirus cases in the country was 5,689 , including 34 deaths .
In Tajikistan , officials said on May 14 that the number of coronavirus cases in the country was 907 , including 29 deaths .
Tajikistan did not officially register a coronavirus case until April 30 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the World Health Organization to the country .
Still , many in the country doubt the data and believe the government has been underreporting the situation .
In Kyrgyzstan , 1,111 cases have been recorded with 14 deaths .
Turkmenistan remains the only nation in the region that has not officially registered a single coronavirus case yet .
Experts are skeptical of the claim that there are no cases given the lack of transparency and an independent media in the country .
The World Health Organization ( WHO ) has been working on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the situation on the ground of one of the world 's most tightly run countries .
Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov has said his country is ready to host the WHO mission .
With reporting by RFE/RL 's Uzbek , Tajik , Kazakh , and Kyrgyz services

The global death toll from the coronavirus is more than 302,000 with more than 4.4 million infections confirmed, causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the new respiratory illness.
Here's a roundup of COVID-19 developments in RFE/RL's broadcast regions.
Central Asia
Uzbekistan has extended its lockdown by 15 days even as the Central Asian nation eases some of its restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The government’s special commission on COVID-19 said on May 14 that the lockdown will be prolonged until June 1, adding that some businesses will be allowed to resume their operations as of May 15.
Limited operations are now allowed for open-air sports facilities, parks, and museums, while renting and leasing services, repair services for electronic devices and home appliances, accounting services, real estate activities, operations at veterinary clinics, as well as some other businesses can open fully, the commission said.
As of May 15, the number of coronavirus cases in the country was 2,652, including 11 deaths.
In neighboring Kazakhstan, public transportation in Nur-Sultan, the capital, widened its service period by two hours to allow operations from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
On May 11, Kazakhstan lifted the state of emergency imposed over the coronavirus but said all the restrictions will be lifted gradually and differently in regions and cities due to situations there.
On May 15, health authorities in Kazakhstan said the number of coronavirus cases in the country was 5,689, including 34 deaths.
In Tajikistan, officials said on May 14 that the number of coronavirus cases in the country was 907, including 29 deaths.
Tajikistan did not officially register a coronavirus case until April 30, just ahead of a mission by the World Health Organization to the country.
Still, many in the country doubt the data and believe the government has been underreporting the situation.
In Kyrgyzstan, 1,111 cases have been recorded with 14 deaths.
Turkmenistan remains the only nation in the region that has not officially registered a single coronavirus case yet.
Experts are skeptical of the claim that there are no cases given the lack of transparency and an independent media in the country.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has been working on a possible visit to Turkmenistan to assess the situation on the ground of one of the world's most tightly run countries.
Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov has said his country is ready to host the WHO mission.
Georgia
The Georgian government says it has decided not to extend the state of emergency imposed in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus when it expires next week.
Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said on May 15 that his government will not appeal to the president and parliament to prolong the state of emergency after May 22, when it is set to expire.
Gakharia stressed that restrictions will only be lifted gradually.
Emergency measures have been in force since March 21. They include a night curfew and the closure of nonessential businesses, including shops, restaurants, and cafes.
Georgian health authorities have reported 671 confirmed coronavirus cases in the South Caucasus nation, including 12 deaths.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Uzbek, Tajik, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz services


rferl--2020-05-15--Russia's Media Regulator Asks Google To Block Article Questioning Coronavirus Death Toll

Russia 's media regulator , Roskomnadzor , has asked Google to block an article about the controversy over official data on coronavirus deaths in the country on the website of MBKh Media independent online publication .
MBKh Media said late on May 14 that its article was based on a report by the Financial Times , which estimated that the real number of people who have died in Russia from COVID-19 could be 70 percent higher than reported by the country 's health officials .
MBKh Media said it had received a message from Google a day earlier , saying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was based on the decision of the Prosecutor-General ’ s Office that claimed the article contained “ calls for riots , extremist activities , [ and ] participation in mass public events held in violation of the established order . ''
According to MBKh Media , which is hosted on the Google Cloud Platform , Google asked it to remove the article from its website or make it inaccessible in Russia .
The Roskomnadzor request was not listed on the Google transparency report web page as of May 15 .
MBKh Media also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its content was based on the Financial Times report .
As of May 15 , Russian authorities said the country had 10,598 new infections , bringing the official number of confirmed cases to 262,843 , the second-highest total in the world , lagging only behind the United States .
The death toll stands at 2,418 , up 113 over the previous day .
Experts have questioned whether testing procedures were flawed , or whether local and regional officials were misclassifying cases .
In some places , such as St. Petersburg , for example @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sharply above seasonal norms .
The Moscow City Health Department issued a statement on May 13 saying that more than 60 percent of coronavirus patients ' deaths in the city had been caused by `` alternative causes , '' and therefore such deaths had not been included to COVID-19 death toll .
In a May 13 interview with Current Time , the World Health Organization ’ s representative in Russia downplayed doubts about the country ’ s coronavirus statistics .
Melita Vujnovic also told the television channel in the interview that the epidemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is moving into the decline phase.
” Current Time is a Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA .

Russia's media regulator, Roskomnadzor, has asked Google to block an article about the controversy over official data on coronavirus deaths in the country on the website of MBKh Media independent online publication.
MBKh Media said late on May 14 that its article was based on a report by the Financial Times, which estimated that the real number of people who have died in Russia from COVID-19 could be 70 percent higher than reported by the country's health officials.
MBKh Media said it had received a message from Google a day earlier, saying that the request to block the article was based on the decision of the Prosecutor-General’s Office that claimed the article contained “calls for riots, extremist activities, [and] participation in mass public events held in violation of the established order."
According to MBKh Media, which is hosted on the Google Cloud Platform, Google asked it to remove the article from its website or make it inaccessible in Russia.
The Roskomnadzor request was not listed on the Google transparency report web page as of May 15.
MBKh Media also said the article in question indicated that its content was based on the Financial Times report.
As of May 15, Russian authorities said the country had 10,598 new infections, bringing the official number of confirmed cases to 262,843, the second-highest total in the world, lagging only behind the United States. The death toll stands at 2,418, up 113 over the previous day.
Experts have questioned whether testing procedures were flawed, or whether local and regional officials were misclassifying cases. In some places, such as St. Petersburg, for example, the number of pneumonia cases went sharply above seasonal norms.
The Moscow City Health Department issued a statement on May 13 saying that more than 60 percent of coronavirus patients' deaths in the city had been caused by "alternative causes," and therefore such deaths had not been included to COVID-19 death toll.
In a May 13 interview with Current Time, the World Health Organization’s representative in Russia downplayed doubts about the country’s coronavirus statistics.
Melita Vujnovic also told the television channel in the interview that the epidemic is "in the stabilization phase and is moving into the decline phase.” Current Time is a Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.


rferl--2020-05-15--U.S. Blames Islamic State For Two Deadly Afghan Attacks, Urges Commitment To Peace Plan

The United States on May 14 blamed extremist Islamic State militants for two deadly attacks this week , urging the Afghan government to not let them derail a fragile peace process with the Taliban .
The U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan , Zalmay Khalilzad , said on Twitter that the United States assessed that the Islamic State ’ s Afghan affiliate carried out the `` horrific attacks ” on a maternity hospital in Kabul and a funeral ceremony in Nangarhar Province .
“ ISIS ( Islamic State ) has demonstrated a pattern for favoring these types of heinous attacks against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Afghan people and to the world , ” he said .
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ordered the military to go on the offensive against the Taliban and other militant groups following the two attacks on May 12 that killed at least 56 people .
He accused all militant groups of ignoring repeated calls to reduce violence .
Khalilzad said the Islamic State opposes peace between the Afghan government and the Taliban and “ seeks to encourage sectarian war as in Iraq and Syria.
” “ Rather than falling into the ISIS trap and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ must come together to crush this menace and pursue a historic peace opportunity , ” Khalilzad said .
It was unclear whether the U.S. position would help revive peace efforts or alter Ghani ’ s calculation to start an offensive .
The Taliban , which has denied involvement in either attack , reacted to Ghani 's statement on May 13 by saying it was `` fully prepared '' to repel any military offensive .
In the first attack , three gunmen stormed a maternity hospital in Kabul ’ s mostly Shi'ite neighborhood of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
At least 24 people , including babies , women , and nurses , were killed .
Separately , a suicide bomber targeted a funeral for a police commander in the eastern province of Nangarhar , killing at least 32 people .
The Islamic State claimed credit for the attack .
No group claimed credit for the attack on the maternity hospital , but the Shi ’ ite neighborhood where it is located has been frequently targeted by Islamic State militants .
The Taliban signed a landmark deal with the United States in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ direct talks between the militant group and the Western-backed government in Kabul after more than 18 years of war .
But the Taliban has ramped up attacks in recent weeks despite a pledge to reduce violence , a tactic that may be employed to strengthen its negotiating position and appease some commanders .
Meanwhile , Islamic State militants also continue to conduct deadly attacks on Afghan security forces and civilians .
The core peace plan is for U.S. and foreign troops to withdraw from Afghanistan following an intra-Afghan deal in exchange for guarantees @ @ @ @ @ @ @ country to become a haven for transnational terrorist groups such as Islamic State and Al-Qaeda aiming to strike abroad .

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


rferl--2020-05-14--Bulgarian Ultra-Nationalists Protest Government's Coronavirus Measures

SOFIA -- Some two thousand supporters of an ultra-nationalist and pro-Russian party protested in Sofia against the Bulgarian government and its response to the coronavirus pandemic .
The Vazrazhdane party organized the protest in front of the National Assembly in the capital on May 14 despite a ban on large gatherings to stem the spread of the virus .
Organizers had called on people to `` get their country back '' and demanded the resignation of the `` criminal government.
” It was the first public protest since Prime Minister Boris Borisov ’ s GERB-led government imposed a state of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spread of the virus .
The state of emergency ended on May 13 but was replaced by a `` health emergency situation ” with similar restrictions .
The Interior Ministry said eight people were detained for various reasons and the large gathering amounted to a `` gross violation of anti-epidemic measures.
” Some of those at the protest claimed the coronavirus was part of a global conspiracy that includes Bill Gates , the co-founder of Microsoft whose foundation is supporting the development of a COVID-19 vaccine .
Other protesters carried slogans against the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that has also provoked various conspiracy theories around the world .
As at other Vazrazhdane events , some participants waved Russian flags or wore T-shirts featuring Russian President Vladimir Putin .
The protesters also spoke out against the European Union .
In the last parliamentary elections in 2017 , the Vazrazhdane party received 1.1 percent of the vote and remained outside the National Assembly .
Recent opinion polls suggest Borisov ’ s center-right government has gained popularity for its response to the coronavirus crisis , which has infected 2,100 people and caused 99 @ @ @ @ @

SOFIA -- Some two thousand supporters of an ultranationalist and pro-Russian party protested in Sofia against the Bulgarian government and its response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Vazrazhdane party organized the protest in front of the National Assembly in the capital on May 14 despite a ban on large gatherings to stem the spread of the virus.
Organizers had called on people to "get their country back" and demanded the resignation of the "criminal government.”
It was the first public protest since Prime Minister Boris Borisov’s GERB-led government imposed a state of emergency on March 13 to halt the spread of the virus.
The state of emergency ended on May 13 but was replaced by a "health emergency situation” with similar restrictions.
The Interior Ministry said eight people were detained for various reasons and the large gathering amounted to a "gross violation of anti-epidemic measures.”
Some of those at the protest claimed the coronavirus was part of a global conspiracy that includes Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft whose foundation is supporting the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Other protesters carried slogans against the compulsory vaccination of children, a topic that has also provoked various conspiracy theories around the world.
As at other Vazrazhdane events, some participants waved Russian flags or wore T-shirts featuring Russian President Vladimir Putin. The protesters also spoke out against the European Union.
In the last parliamentary elections in 2017, the Vazrazhdane party received 1.1 percent of the vote and remained outside the National Assembly.
Recent opinion polls suggest Borisov’s center-right government has gained popularity for its response to the coronavirus crisis, which has infected 2,100 people and caused 99 deaths in the country.


rferl--2020-05-14--Kaspersky: 'Greater Frenzy' Of Cybercrime During COVID-19 Lockdowns

Russian cybersecurity magnate and the CEO of the Moscow-based cybersecurity Kaspersky Lab says cybercrimes have risen during lockdowns introduced across the world to slow down the coronavirus spread , adding that the majority of cybercriminals are Russian-speakers .
In an interview with the TASS news agency that was published on May 14 , Yevgeny Kaspersky said that the quarantines `` have forced cybercriminals to hunt for prey with greater frenzy . ''
`` Every day we fish out several million files on the suspicion they may have malicious functions .
Also , every day we identify more than 300,000 malicious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , '' Kaspersky said , adding that each of those samples can be used hundreds of times .
According to Kaspersky , as people have to stay at home due to the coronavirus , they spend more time surfing the net to buy food and other items and sometimes venture into no-go areas , which has led to an increase in cyberattacks by 25 percent globally .
Kaspersky also said that Russia and some other former Soviet republics train `` the best programmers in the world , '' but that has a negative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s most advanced hackers are mainly Russian-speakers .
Programmers from Russia and other former Soviet states earn much less than their counterparts in the West , partially explaining the greater proclivity to engage in cybercrimes .
`` We are known for having the world ’ s best programmers and software developers , but also for having the world ’ s top hackers .
They all graduated from the same universities but went on different paths in the end .
While one part works to create something new , the other one seeks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 100 percent of the cases , the hackers ’ motivation is the same -- to reap money , and money again , and still more money , and not only from a victim , but also from their clients , '' Kaspersky said .
The United States has arrested several Russians hackers over the past year .

Russian cybersecurity magnate and the CEO of the Moscow-based cybersecurity Kaspersky Lab says cybercrimes have risen during lockdowns introduced across the world to slow down the coronavirus spread, adding that the majority of cybercriminals are Russian-speakers.
In an interview with the TASS news agency that was published on May 14, Yevgeny Kaspersky said that the quarantines "have forced cybercriminals to hunt for prey with greater frenzy."
"Every day we fish out several million files on the suspicion they may have malicious functions. Also, every day we identify more than 300,000 malicious samples we’ve never come across," Kaspersky said, adding that each of those samples can be used hundreds of times.
According to Kaspersky, as people have to stay at home due to the coronavirus, they spend more time surfing the net to buy food and other items and sometimes venture into no-go areas, which has led to an increase in cyberattacks by 25 percent globally.
Kaspersky also said that Russia and some other former Soviet republics train "the best programmers in the world," but that has a negative side, too, as the world’s most advanced hackers are mainly Russian-speakers.
Programmers from Russia and other former Soviet states earn much less than their counterparts in the West, partially explaining the greater proclivity to engage in cybercrimes.
"We are known for having the world’s best programmers and software developers, but also for having the world’s top hackers. They all graduated from the same universities but went on different paths in the end. While one part works to create something new, the other one seeks to hack and destroy. In almost 100 percent of the cases, the hackers’ motivation is the same -- to reap money, and money again, and still more money, and not only from a victim, but also from their clients," Kaspersky said.
The United States has arrested several Russians hackers over the past year.
With reporting by TASS


rferl--2020-05-16--Iranian Military May Battle Locust Invasion

Iran may deploy its military to help combat a locust invasion in the south of the country as swarms of insects threaten to wreak havoc on crops and farmers ’ livelihoods .
The desert locust invasion adds to problems facing Iran as it battles the coronavirus pandemic and economic turmoil following crushing U.S. sanctions .
An official of the Iranian Agriculture Ministry told semi-official news agency ILNA on May 15 that the military has offered to help combat the desert locusts for a second year .
`` The military have promised to help fight the desert locusts , including by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which are hard to access , '' Mohammad Reza Mir , a spokesman for the ministry 's Plant Protection Organization .
`` Last year the military provided personnel and vehicles , and that was a big help . ''
Locust swarms have already destroyed crops in the Horn of Africa and East Africa in recent weeks , made inroads on the Arabian Peninsula , and are threatening the Pakistan-India border , according the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization .
In Iran , Mir said desert locusts had attacked more than 200,000 hectares @ @ @ @ @ @ @ farmland in seven southern provinces stretching from eastern Iran on the border with Pakistan to the southwestern border with Iraq .
Up to 1 million hectares could be impacted , he said .
Earlier this week , the Iranian business website the Financial Tribune quoted Mir as saying that there has so far not been any damage to orchards or farms .
Sistan-Baluchestan province bordering Pakistan has been the worst-hit area .
Pakistan is also bracing for an impending locust attack that threatens food security and higher prices for food staples .
Last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of locusts since 1993 when the insects invaded from Iran .
Widespread rains over the last couple of months in East Africa and Southwest Asia have provided a conducive environment for the desert locusts to breed just as farmers are managing or harvesting crops .

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


rferl--2020-05-16--Montenegro Frees Serbian Church Priests Amid Heightened Tensions

A Montenegrin prosecutor has released from detention nine Serbian Orthodox Church clergy whose arrest triggered a diplomatic row with Serbia and clashes between police and protesters .
The Serbian Orthodox Church clergy were detained on May 12 after they led thousands of people in a procession in the northern town of Niksic despite a ban on large gatherings because of the coronavirus .
Their arrest has inflamed tensions between the government and the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro that were already strained over a religious law the church says would strip it of property in the country .
To the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ front of the court building in Niksic , the eight priests and Bishop Joanikije were released from detention after 72 hours pending their defense before a judge .
Niksic , Pljevlja , and other towns have witnessed protests in recent days , leading to dozens of arrests and police officers injured in clashes .
Earlier on May 15 , the Metropolitan of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro , Amfilohije , asked state authorities to release the clergy `` if they think about their future , Montenegro , the unity and harmony of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ message to people waiting in front of the courthouse , he suggested that by arresting the priests the government had set the stage for a civil war .
Amfilohije also said that it was time to `` stop the fratricide '' and reiterated that he should have been imprisoned instead of Joanikije .
`` I am the main culprit here , if someone needs to be tried and sentenced , then there is no other in Montenegro but the metropolitan , '' he said .
Belgrade had strongly criticized the detention of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and political tensions between the two neighbors .
Serbia 's populist President Aleksandar Vucic said May 14 that Serbia can not interfere in any way but “ will remain by our people and the church as much as we can . ''
The arrests highlighted ongoing tensions between Montenegro 's pro-Western authorities and the Serbian Orthodox Church , which they see as a tool for meddling by Russia-backed Serbia .
Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej has said the detentions are `` proof that the Montenegrin state is conducting a purge of the Serbian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the Serbian Orthodox Church led weeks of protests in Montenegro against a religious law that it says would strip the church of its property in the country .
The law that came into force in January says religious communities must prove property ownership from before 1918 , the year when Montenegro joined the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and its church was subsumed by the Serbian Orthodox Church , losing all of its property in the process .
The Serbian Orthodox Church says the law is aimed at retaking its property .
Montenegrin officials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ split from Serbia in a referendum in 2006 and further turned away from Belgrade and its Orthodox ally Russia , taking a pro-Western course and joining NATO in 2017 .
The country has also been negotiating steps toward getting an official invitation from the European Union for membership to the bloc .
Serbian nationalists in both countries have never fully recognized Serbia 's separation from Montenegro , which they claim is a historic Serbian territory .

A Montenegrin prosecutor has released from detention nine Serbian Orthodox Church clergy whose arrest triggered a diplomatic row with Serbia and clashes between police and protesters.
The Serbian Orthodox Church clergy were detained on May 12 after they led thousands of people in a procession in the northern town of Niksic despite a ban on large gatherings because of the coronavirus.
Their arrest has inflamed tensions between the government and the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro that were already strained over a religious law the church says would strip it of property in the country.
To the jubilation of hundreds of people waiting in front of the court building in Niksic, the eight priests and Bishop Joanikije were released from detention after 72 hours pending their defense before a judge.
Niksic, Pljevlja, and other towns have witnessed protests in recent days, leading to dozens of arrests and police officers injured in clashes.
Earlier on May 15, the metropolitan of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro, Amfilohije, asked state authorities to release the clergy "if they think about their future, Montenegro, the unity and harmony of the people."
'Stop The Fratricide'
In an ominous message to people waiting in front of the courthouse, he suggested that by arresting the priests the government had set the stage for a civil war.
Amfilohije also said that it was time to "stop the fratricide" and reiterated that he should have been imprisoned instead of Joanikije.
"I am the main culprit here, if someone needs to be tried and sentenced, then there is no other in Montenegro but the metropolitan," he said.
Belgrade strongly criticized the detention of the church officials, which opened fresh religious and political tensions between the two neighbors.
Serbia's populist President Aleksandar Vucic said May 14 that Serbia cannot interfere in any way but "will remain by our people and the church as much as we can."
The arrests highlighted ongoing tensions between Montenegro's pro-Western authorities and the Serbian Orthodox Church, which they see as a tool for meddling by Russia-backed Serbia.
Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej has said the detentions are "proof that the Montenegrin state is conducting a purge of the Serbian Orthodox Church."
Earlier this year, the Serbian Orthodox Church led weeks of protests in Montenegro against a religious law that it says would strip the church of its property in the country.
The law that came into force in January says religious communities must prove property ownership from before 1918, the year when Montenegro joined the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and its church was subsumed by the Serbian Orthodox Church, losing all of its property in the process.
The Serbian Orthodox Church says the law is aimed at retaking its property. Montenegrin officials have repeatedly denied the allegations.
Montenegro split from Serbia in a referendum in 2006 and further turned away from Belgrade and its Orthodox ally Russia, taking a pro-Western course and joining NATO in 2017.
The country has also been negotiating steps toward getting an official invitation from the European Union for membership to the bloc.
Serbian nationalists in both countries have never fully recognized Serbia's separation from Montenegro, which they claim is a historic Serbian territory.


rferl--2020-05-15--Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov Calls For Konev Statue In Prague To Be Reinstalled

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Czech officials should reinstall a controversial statue of Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev 's statue in Prague after city officials removed it last month .
In an interview with the Russian news agency RBK published on May 15 , Lavrov called the Czech explanation for the move `` childish '' and `` a blatant violation '' of the 1993 Russian-Czech agreement on friendly relations .
`` I think it 's a childish explanation , because the obligation to ensure the preservation of this monument lay on the shoulders of the Czech state , '' Lavrov @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was a local Prague mayor who made the decision .
Relations between Prague and Moscow have been in a downward spiral in recent months amid what the Czechs see as Russia ’ s growing assertiveness over its interpretation of history .
At the center of the dispute is the April removal from a Prague district of a statue of Konev , whose armies completed Prague ’ s liberation on May 9 , 1945 .
The district said the statue would be moved to a museum and a new monument honoring the city 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has lashed out angrily over the move , and tensions were heightened further when Czech media reported that Moscow planned to poison the three Prague politicians in retaliation for supporting moves that have irritated Russia , including the removal of Konev 's statue .
The three -- Prague 's mayor and two of the city 's district mayors -- along with members of their families have been under police protection since then .
Russia , accused of carrying out numerous attacks on perceived enemies abroad -- including the nerve-agent poisoning of former Russian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ -- has dismissed the reports and asserted that Moscow is the target of an ongoing smear campaign .
Earlier this week , Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek handed police a request from the Russian Embassy in Prague asking for protection for one its employees -- a Russian diplomat who was accused by Czech media of bringing highly toxic ricin to Prague as part of the alleged plot to poison the Prague city officials .
Konev 's statue , which was erected by the communist Czechoslovak government in 1980 , has long been controversial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ collapse of communism in 1989 .
After the monument was dismantled in Prague on April 3 , Russia 's Investigative Committee threatened to open a criminal case against the Czech Republic , although Moscow has no legal jurisdiction in the EU member-state .
After the statue was taken down , unknown individuals attacked the Czech Embassy in Moscow and the consulate in Russia 's second-largest city , St. Petersburg , throwing smoke bombs on the diplomatic mission 's territories .
Moscow has also been accused of deploying agents from Russia 's GRU military @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kremlin 's opponents in other countries -- including Britain , Bulgaria , and Germany .
The Kremlin has denied involvement in all of the attacks and has dismissed reports about the latest alleged poisoning plot in Prague as part of a `` disinformation campaign '' aimed at discrediting Russia .

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Czech officials should reinstall a controversial statue of Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev's statue in Prague after city officials removed it last month.
In an interview with the Russian news agency RBK published on May 15, Lavrov called the Czech explanation for the move "childish" and "a blatant violation" of the 1993 Russian-Czech agreement on friendly relations.
"I think it's a childish explanation, because the obligation to ensure the preservation of this monument lay on the shoulders of the Czech state," Lavrov said of the Czech explanation that it was a local Prague mayor who made the decision.
Relations between Prague and Moscow have been in a downward spiral in recent months amid what the Czechs see as Russia’s growing assertiveness over its interpretation of history.
At the center of the dispute is the April removal from a Prague district of a statue of Konev, whose armies completed Prague’s liberation on May 9, 1945. The district said the statue would be moved to a museum and a new monument honoring the city's liberation would take its place.
Russia has lashed out angrily over the move, and tensions were heightened further when Czech media reported that Moscow planned to poison the three Prague politicians in retaliation for supporting moves that have irritated Russia, including the removal of Konev's statue.
The three -- Prague's mayor and two of the city's district mayors -- along with members of their families have been under police protection since then.
Russia, accused of carrying out numerous attacks on perceived enemies abroad -- including the nerve-agent poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter -- has dismissed the reports and asserted that Moscow is the target of an ongoing smear campaign.
Earlier this week, Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek handed police a request from the Russian Embassy in Prague asking for protection for one its employees -- a Russian diplomat who was accused by Czech media of bringing highly toxic ricin to Prague as part of the alleged plot to poison the Prague city officials.
Konev's statue, which was erected by the communist Czechoslovak government in 1980, has long been controversial and has frequently been vandalized since the collapse of communism in 1989.
WATCH: Soviet Marshal's Statue Reveals Monumental Rift In Czech Society
After the monument was dismantled in Prague on April 3, Russia's Investigative Committee threatened to open a criminal case against the Czech Republic, although Moscow has no legal jurisdiction in the EU member-state.
After the statue was taken down, unknown individuals attacked the Czech Embassy in Moscow and the consulate in Russia's second-largest city, St. Petersburg, throwing smoke bombs on the diplomatic mission's territories.
Moscow has also been accused of deploying agents from Russia's GRU military intelligence for numerous attempted assassinations of the Kremlin's opponents in other countries -- including Britain, Bulgaria, and Germany.
The Kremlin has denied involvement in all of the attacks and has dismissed reports about the latest alleged poisoning plot in Prague as part of a "disinformation campaign" aimed at discrediting Russia.


rferl--2020-05-15--Two Georgian Opposition Leaders Pardoned In Bid To Save Election Reforms Deal

TBILISI -- Georgia ’ s president says she has pardoned two jailed opposition leaders -- a former Tbilisi mayor and an ex-defense minister -- in a bid to salvage a foreign-brokered deal between the opposition and the ruling party on election reforms .
President Salome Zurabishvili made the announcement late on May 15 , a day after opposition parties threatened to abandon the agreement if `` political prisoners '' were not released .
The sides have failed to move forward since the deal was inked on May 8 , triggering what Zurabishvili called a “ political crisis ” that threatened @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the South Caucasus nation .
Georgia ’ s opposition parties also vowed to boycott parliamentary sessions until several jailed politicians who they say have been convicted on politically motivated charges are freed .
They claim the release was a condition of the May 8 deal , which the governing Georgian Dream party denies .
The two pardoned politicians are Gigi Ugulava , a former mayor of Tbilisi and leader of European Georgia-Movement for Freedom , and former Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili , who leads the Victorious Georgia party .
Describing the two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ insisted she was not pardoning political prisoners .
“ I declare with full responsibility that today there are no political prisoners in Georgia , ” the president said .
Ugulava , who helped organize anti-government protests in summer 2019 , was sentenced earlier this year to 3 years and 2 months on charges of misusing public funds .
It was his second conviction on similar charges .
Okruashvili was sentenced to 5 years in prison after being found guilty of organizing and taking part in the violence that marred the rallies , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Georgia 's electoral system unfairly favored Georgian Dream , and demanded it be changed to a proportional system ahead of parliamentary elections set for October this year .
Under the March 8 memorandum of understanding facilitated by U.S. and EU officials , parliament should consist of 120 members elected through a proportional voting system , while 30 members would be elected through a majority system .
The electoral threshold for proportional elections will be set at 1 percent and a capping mechanism will mean that no single party receiving less than 40 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allowed to hold a majority of seats in parliament .
Under the current electoral system , 73 of 150 parliamentary seats are claimed by candidates who finish first in district races .
The remaining seats are distributed proportionally to the national share of the vote that a party wins .
This led to Georgian Dream , led by billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili , winning 76 percent of the legislature 's seats even though it won just less than half of the popular vote .
The U.S. and European Union ambassadors welcomed the pardon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ de-polarization '' and a contribution toward implementing the March 8 agreement ahead of upcoming elections in the autumn .

TBILISI -- Georgia’s president says she has pardoned two jailed opposition leaders -- a former Tbilisi mayor and an ex-defense minister -- in a bid to salvage a foreign-brokered deal between the opposition and the ruling party on election reforms.
President Salome Zurabishvili made the announcement late on May 15, a day after opposition parties threatened to abandon the agreement if "political prisoners" were not released.
The sides have failed to move forward since the deal was inked on May 8, triggering what Zurabishvili called a “political crisis” that threatened the “democratic and European future” of the South Caucasus nation.
Georgia’s opposition parties also vowed to boycott parliamentary sessions until several jailed politicians who they say have been convicted on politically motivated charges are freed.
They claim the release was a condition of the May 8 deal, which the governing Georgian Dream party denies.
The two pardoned politicians are Gigi Ugulava, a former mayor of Tbilisi and leader of European Georgia-Movement for Freedom, and former Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili, who leads the Victorious Georgia party.
Describing the two as “odious figures,” Zurabishvili insisted she was not pardoning political prisoners.
“I declare with full responsibility that today there are no political prisoners in Georgia,” the president said.
Ugulava, who helped organize anti-government protests in summer 2019, was sentenced earlier this year to 3 years and 2 months on charges of misusing public funds. It was his second conviction on similar charges.
Okruashvili was sentenced to 5 years in prison after being found guilty of organizing and taking part in the violence that marred the rallies, which lasted for weeks.
Opposition parties insisted that Georgia's electoral system unfairly favored Georgian Dream, and demanded it be changed to a proportional system ahead of parliamentary elections set for October this year.
Under the March 8 memorandum of understanding facilitated by U.S. and EU officials, parliament should consist of 120 members elected through a proportional voting system, while 30 members would be elected through a majority system.
The electoral threshold for proportional elections will be set at 1 percent and a capping mechanism will mean that no single party receiving less than 40 percent of the votes cast will be allowed to hold a majority of seats in parliament.
Under the current electoral system, 73 of 150 parliamentary seats are claimed by candidates who finish first in district races. The remaining seats are distributed proportionally to the national share of the vote that a party wins.
This led to Georgian Dream, led by billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, winning 76 percent of the legislature's seats even though it won just less than half of the popular vote.
The U.S. and European Union ambassadors welcomed the pardon as a positive move for "political de-polarization" and a contribution toward implementing the March 8 agreement ahead of upcoming elections in the autumn.


rferl--2020-05-15--Rare Protest In Turkmenistan Draws Hundreds To Demand Help With Storm Damage

Hundreds of people have taken part in a rare protest in Turkmenistan to call attention to the government 's failure to help repair damage caused by recent wind and rainstorms that devastated eastern parts of the country .
The deputy mayor of Turkmenistan 's eastern city of Turkmenabat reportedly came out to on May 14 to meet some of the demonstrators , who gathered to seek help for damage to their homes and a loss of electricity caused by the storms in April and May .
The authoritarian government of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov does not tolerate dissent or public demonstrations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The website Turkmen.news reported on May 15 that the official , whose name was not given , arrived in the Zhelezhnodoroga district of Turkmenabat accompanied by police to discuss the start of clean-up efforts .
RFE/RL confirmed there was a large protest in that district involving at least several hundred people demanding the government restore electricity that was cut off by the torrential storms .
They also asked for help to clear away debris and pump out water that had collected in basements throughout the district and that continues to damage structures .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ by heavy rains on May 4 and again on May 13 .
Residents complain that besides damage to their homes , standing water in their basements has brought mosquitoes .
The protest represented the largest demonstration in Turkmenistan since independence in 1991 and comes as the country endures a serious economic downturn that has led to shortages of basic goods and sharp cuts in social benefits .

Hundreds of people have taken part in a rare protest in Turkmenistan to call attention to the government's failure to help repair damage caused by recent wind and rainstorms that devastated eastern parts of the country.
The deputy mayor of Turkmenistan's eastern city of Turkmenabat reportedly came out to on May 14 to meet some of the demonstrators, who gathered to seek help for damage to their homes and a loss of electricity caused by the storms in April and May.
The authoritarian government of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov does not tolerate dissent or public demonstrations, making the protest highly unusual.
The website Turkmen.news reported on May 15 that the official, whose name was not given, arrived in the Zhelezhnodoroga district of Turkmenabat accompanied by police to discuss the start of clean-up efforts.
RFE/RL confirmed there was a large protest in that district involving at least several hundred people demanding the government restore electricity that was cut off by the torrential storms.
They also asked for help to clear away debris and pump out water that had collected in basements throughout the district and that continues to damage structures.
A windstorm on April 27 was followed by heavy rains on May 4 and again on May 13. Residents complain that besides damage to their homes, standing water in their basements has brought mosquitoes.
The protest represented the largest demonstration in Turkmenistan since independence in 1991 and comes as the country endures a serious economic downturn that has led to shortages of basic goods and sharp cuts in social benefits.
With reporting by Turkmen.news


rferl--2020-05-15--Two RFE/RL Film Crew Killed, One Injured In Belarus Road Accident

Two RFE/RL filmmakers have died in a car crash in Belarus while returning from a video shoot related to the coronavirus pandemic .
A third crew member was critically injured .
The accident occurred late on May 14 on the road from the southeastern city of Homel to the capital , Minsk .
Uladzimer Mikhaylouski , 33 , was a director and Maksim Haurylenka , 26 , was the sound engineer for a film crew working for Current Time in Belarus .
Current Time is a Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA .
The crew was led @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well-known Belarusian documentary filmmaker , who was admitted to intensive care following the accident .
“ This is the worst possible news , ” said RFE/RL President Jamie Fly .
“ These young filmmakers were brilliant , talented , and inspiring people , and part of a new initiative we launched to bring the best stories from Belarus to audiences that know little or nothing about the country ’ s people.
” “ They imbued their work with a spirit of freshness and hope that we all felt , '' Fly said , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` devastating . ''
`` All of us at RFE/RL are hoping and praying that [ Zyamtsova ] will be able to recover , ” Fly added , noting that May 14 was her birthday .
The filmmakers were returning to Minsk from a video shoot in Homel , where they were gathering material for a program about the volunteers who are assisting medical workers responding to the coronavirus epidemic .
Belarus has downplayed the outbreak , even staging a parade on May 9 that drew thousands of people to central Minsk to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ World War II , despite a call by the World Health Organization for Belarus to ensure physical distancing in order to slow the spread of the virus .
In addition to reporting uncensored news , Current Time is the largest provider of independent , Russian-language films to its audiences .
In the 12-month period ending in September 2019 , Current Time videos were viewed more than 740 million times across digital platforms .

Two RFE/RL filmmakers have died in a car crash in Belarus while returning from a video shoot related to the coronavirus pandemic. A third crew member was critically injured.
The accident occurred late on May 14 on the road from the southeastern city of Homel to the capital, Minsk.
Uladzimer Mikhaylouski, 33, was a director and Maksim Haurylenka, 26, was the sound engineer for a film crew working for Current Time in Belarus.
Current Time is a Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.
The crew was led by Lyubou Zyamtsova, 28, a well-known Belarusian documentary filmmaker, who was admitted to intensive care following the accident.
“This is the worst possible news,” said RFE/RL President Jamie Fly. “These young filmmakers were brilliant, talented, and inspiring people, and part of a new initiative we launched to bring the best stories from Belarus to audiences that know little or nothing about the country’s people.”
“They imbued their work with a spirit of freshness and hope that we all felt," Fly said, calling the loss of Mikhaylouski and Haurylenka "devastating."
"All of us at RFE/RL are hoping and praying that [Zyamtsova] will be able to recover,” Fly added, noting that May 14 was her birthday.
The filmmakers were returning to Minsk from a video shoot in Homel, where they were gathering material for a program about the volunteers who are assisting medical workers responding to the coronavirus epidemic.
Belarus has downplayed the outbreak, even staging a parade on May 9 that drew thousands of people to central Minsk to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II, despite a call by the World Health Organization for Belarus to ensure physical distancing in order to slow the spread of the virus.
In addition to reporting uncensored news, Current Time is the largest provider of independent, Russian-language films to its audiences. In the 12-month period ending in September 2019, Current Time videos were viewed more than 740 million times across digital platforms.