rferl--2020-08-19--Norway Expels Russian Diplomat Following Spy Arrest, Moscow Calls It 'Unjustified'

Norway has expelled a Russian diplomat linked to the case of a Norwegian national recently arrested on espionage charges .
The Nordic country 's Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to inform him that the diplomat had been asked to leave because he `` performed actions that are not compatible with his role and status as a diplomat , '' national broadcaster NRK reported on August 19 .
Norway 's PST intelligence agency arrested an Indian-born Norwegian national on August 15 while he was meeting a Russian intelligence officer at a pizza restaurant in the capital , Oslo .
Norwegian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but broadcaster NRK identified him as 50-year-old Harsharn Singh Tathgar .
He was remanded in custody for four weeks on August 17 .
During interrogation , the suspect reportedly admitted to handing over information to and receiving money from the Russian diplomat .
Norway has not named the diplomat in question but stated that he worked in the trade section of the Russian Embassy .
Tathgar worked as a project manager in the oil and gas department of DNV GL , the world 's largest classification society that advises the maritime , oil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Broadcaster NRK reported that Tathgar specialized in 3D printing , which has applications in the energy , defense , and emergency preparedness sectors .
In a statement , DNV GL said the employee `` did not have security clearance and has therefore not worked on projects for the defense industry , the Norwegian Armed Forces or other governmental agencies where security clearance is a prerequisite . ''
The Russian Embassy said in a statement on Facebook that it had lodged a complaint with the Norwegian Foreign Ministry for `` the violation of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the PST intelligence service `` unjustifiably '' detained and searched its deputy trade representative without providing him with consular services .
It also said DNV GL has worked with Russian firms and agencies for many years in oil and gas production , shipbuilding , and infrastructure projects .
`` Such cooperation has never raised questions from the Norwegian side , '' the embassy said .

Norway has expelled a Russian diplomat linked to the case of a Norwegian national recently arrested on espionage charges.
The Nordic country's Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to inform him that the diplomat had been asked to leave because he "performed actions that are not compatible with his role and status as a diplomat," national broadcaster NRK reported on August 19.
Norway's PST intelligence agency arrested an Indian-born Norwegian national on August 15 while he was meeting a Russian intelligence officer at a pizza restaurant in the capital, Oslo.
Norwegian authorities did not name the suspect, but broadcaster NRK identified him as 50-year-old Harsharn Singh Tathgar. He was remanded in custody for four weeks on August 17.
During interrogation, the suspect reportedly admitted to handing over information to and receiving money from the Russian diplomat.
Norway has not named the diplomat in question but stated that he worked in the trade section of the Russian Embassy.
Tathgar worked as a project manager in the oil and gas department of DNV GL, the world's largest classification society that advises the maritime, oil and gas, and renewable energy industries.
Broadcaster NRK reported that Tathgar specialized in 3D printing, which has applications in the energy, defense, and emergency preparedness sectors.
In a statement, DNV GL said the employee "did not have security clearance and has therefore not worked on projects for the defense industry, the Norwegian Armed Forces or other governmental agencies where security clearance is a prerequisite."
The Russian Embassy said in a statement on Facebook that it had lodged a complaint with the Norwegian Foreign Ministry for "the violation of diplomatic status."
The embassy said the PST intelligence service "unjustifiably" detained and searched its deputy trade representative without providing him with consular services.
It also said DNV GL has worked with Russian firms and agencies for many years in oil and gas production, shipbuilding, and infrastructure projects.
"Such cooperation has never raised questions from the Norwegian side," the embassy said.


rferl--2020-08-19--Belarusian Protesters Defy Lukashenka As EU Rejects Election Result

Hundreds of Belarusian protesters gathered in Minsk on August 19 in defiance of a new push by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka to clear the streets of the capital on the 11th day of rallies against his rule as the European Union refused to recognize the reelection of the longtime authoritarian president and said it will soon impose sanctions on his government .
With thousands taking to the streets daily since the August 9 vote and strikes crippling many state enterprises , the longtime authoritarian leader ordered the Interior Ministry on August 19 to put down mass protests that erupted across the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lukashenka just over 80 percent of the vote .
The European Union held an emergency summit on the crisis , with EU Council President Charles Michel saying afterward that the 27-nation bloc 's message `` is very clear .
Stop the violence , '' '' We stand firmly behind the right of Belarusian people to determine their own fate , and the EU will impose shortly sanctions on a substantial number of individuals responsible for violence , repression and election fraud , '' Michel said .
`` The election was neither free nor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ result of the election can not be recognized , '' German Chancellor Angela Merkel , whose country holds the rotating EU presidency added at the end of the summit .
Opposition candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya , who drew tens of thousands of people to her campaign rallies , claims to have actually received between 60 and 70 percent of the vote .
Earlier in the day , Lukashenka also ordered border controls to be tightened to prevent what he alleged was an influx of `` fighters and arms '' from abroad .
`` There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
People are tired ; people demand peace and quiet , '' Lukashenka said during a meeting of his security council , signaling another escalation after a week and a half of mass demonstrations against his rule , in which at least three people were killed and more than 7,000 detained , according to reports .
The third fatality was registered on August 19 , when a 44-year-old Brest resident who had been wounded by live ammunition during the protests died in a military hospital in Minsk , acording to media reports .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ spoken of brutal beatings they suffered in detention .
Lukashenka said he had instructed border authorities to beef up defenses `` along the entire perimeter '' of the country to `` prevent militants , weapons , ammunition and money from other countries from entering Belarus to finance the riots . ''
`` We see that this money is coming , '' he told officials .
Defying the security forces , hundreds of protesters assembled in front of the Interior Ministry , which runs the police , by early evening on August 19 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ there with vans , but they took no action .
Demonstrators chanted `` Resign ! ''
and `` Let them out ! ''
in reference to those still detained , while passing cars honked their horns in the rain .
Earlier , police dispersed a demonstration and detained two people at the Minsk Tractor Works ( MTZ ) plant that was once considered a bedrock of Luksahsenka 's base .
Police also took over of the main state drama theater in Minsk , a flashpoint for protests since its director was fired for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Opposition candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya , who drew tens of thousands of people to her campaign rallies , claims to have actually received between 60 and 70 percent of the vote .
The Belarusian election committee said on August 19 that Lukashenka , who has ruled with an iron fist for 26 years , would be inaugurated as president for a new term within the next two months , but that no date had yet been set , the TASS news agency reported .
Earlier on August 19 , Tsikhanouskaya called on EU @ @ @ @ @ @ @ support the awakening ” of her country and respect the choice of the Belarusian people amid widespread anger over a controversial presidential election .
As opposition leaders on August 18 formed a coordinating council to organize a transfer of power , Lukashenka described the move as an attempt to stage a coup .
In her video address , Tsikhanouskaya , who left for neighboring Lithuania after the vote , called on EU leaders “ not to recognize these fraudulent elections , '' adding that Lukashenka “ has lost all legitimacy in the eyes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' Speaking in English , she also denounced a postelection crackdown , saying : `` People who came out to defend their votes on the streets of their cities all across Belarus were brutally beaten , imprisoned , and tortured by the regime desperately clinging on to power.
” The opposition ’ s coordinating council met for the first time on August 18 , saying it represents the people and seeks to negotiate a peaceful transition of power `` without political goals or a program . ''
Olga Kovalkova , a representative of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a press conference establishing the coordinating council that she expected Tsikhanouskaya would soon return to Minsk to act as a guarantor in a negotiated transition of power .
`` We are operating solely through legal means , '' Kovalkova said .
`` The situation is critical .
The authorities have no choice but to come to dialogue .
The situation will only get worse . ''
Tskihanouskaya said in an online video earlier this week that she was prepared to temporarily take over the leadership .
Poland 's Foreign Ministry said on August @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Veranika Tsapkala had arrived in the EU member state .
Ex-diplomat Valery Tsapkala was barred from standing in the August 9 election , while his wife , Veranika , gained prominence for flanking Tsikhanouskaya at opposition rallies during the campaign .
EU leaders held their emergency video summit after the bloc ’ s foreign ministers agreed last week to prepare new sanctions against Belarusian officials responsible for `` violence , repression and the falsification of election results . ''
Michel spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 18 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crackdown against protesters .
The two discussed the best way to encourage intra-Belarusian dialogue for a peaceful end to the crisis , a European diplomat told RFE/RL .
Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron also spoke with Putin in separate calls on August 18 .
According to her press service , Merkel told Putin that the Belarusian authorities should refrain from violence against peaceful demonstrators and release political prisoners .
She also said Lukashenka should hold talks with opposition groups .
Lukashenka spoke with Putin twice over the weekend , stating afterward that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if Belarus needs it .
Russia has close economic and military ties with Belarus .
On August 19 , U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden warned Russia not to interfere in the Belarus crisis , which he said `` is not about geopolitics but the right to choose one 's leaders . ''
Former Vice President Biden , who on August 18 won his party 's presidential endorsement at the ongoing Democratic convention organized online because of the coronavirus pandemic , tweeted , `` The brave citizens of Belarus are showing their voices @ @ @ @ @ @ @ torture .
The U.S. should support Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya 's call for fair elections .
Russia must be told not to interfere -- this is not about geopolitics but the right to choose one 's leaders . ''
With reporting by Reuters , AFP , dpa , and AP

Hundreds of Belarusian protesters gathered in Minsk on August 19 in defiance of a new push by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka to clear the streets of the capital on the 11th day of rallies against his rule as the European Union refused to recognize the reelection of the longtime authoritarian president and said it will soon impose sanctions on his government.
With thousands taking to the streets daily since the August 9 vote and strikes crippling many state enterprises, the longtime authoritarian leader ordered the Interior Ministry on August 19 to put down mass protests that erupted across the country against the results, which gave Lukashenka just over 80 percent of the vote.
The European Union held an emergency summit on the crisis, with EU Council President Charles Michel saying afterward that the 27-nation bloc's message "is very clear. Stop the violence,"
The Crisis In Belarus Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.
"We stand firmly behind the right of Belarusian people to determine their own fate, and the EU will impose shortly sanctions on a substantial number of individuals responsible for violence, repression and election fraud," Michel said.
"The election was neither free nor fair. And that's why the result of the election cannot be recognized," German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency added at the end of the summit.
Opposition candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who drew tens of thousands of people to her campaign rallies, claims to have actually received between 60 and 70 percent of the vote.
Earlier in the day, Lukashenka also ordered border controls to be tightened to prevent what he alleged was an influx of "fighters and arms" from abroad.
"There should be no more riots in Minsk. People are tired; people demand peace and quiet," Lukashenka said during a meeting of his security council, signaling another escalation after a week and a half of mass demonstrations against his rule, in which at least three people were killed and more than 7,000 detained, according to reports.
The third fatality was registered on August 19, when a 44-year-old Brest resident who had been wounded by live ammunition during the protests died in a military hospital in Minsk, acording to media reports.
Hundreds of people released from detention have spoken of brutal beatings they suffered in detention.
Lukashenka said he had instructed border authorities to beef up defenses "along the entire perimeter" of the country to "prevent militants, weapons, ammunition and money from other countries from entering Belarus to finance the riots."
"We see that this money is coming," he told officials.
Defying the security forces, hundreds of protesters assembled in front of the Interior Ministry, which runs the police, by early evening on August 19. A large number of officers were stationed there with vans, but they took no action.
Demonstrators chanted "Resign!" and "Let them out!" in reference to those still detained, while passing cars honked their horns in the rain.
Timeline: Postelection Developments In Belarus Some of the key events that have followed the contested reelection of longtime Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
Earlier, police dispersed a demonstration and detained two people at the Minsk Tractor Works (MTZ) plant that was once considered a bedrock of Luksahsenka's base.
Police also took over of the main state drama theater in Minsk, a flashpoint for protests since its director was fired for speaking out against the mistreatment of demonstrators.
Opposition candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who drew tens of thousands of people to her campaign rallies, claims to have actually received between 60 and 70 percent of the vote.
The Belarusian election committee said on August 19 that Lukashenka, who has ruled with an iron fist for 26 years, would be inaugurated as president for a new term within the next two months, but that no date had yet been set, the TASS news agency reported.
Earlier on August 19, Tsikhanouskaya called on EU leaders in a video address to "support the awakening” of her country and respect the choice of the Belarusian people amid widespread anger over a controversial presidential election.
As opposition leaders on August 18 formed a coordinating council to organize a transfer of power, Lukashenka described the move as an attempt to stage a coup.
In her video address, Tsikhanouskaya, who left for neighboring Lithuania after the vote, called on EU leaders “not to recognize these fraudulent elections," adding that Lukashenka “has lost all legitimacy in the eyes of our nation and the world."
Speaking in English, she also denounced a postelection crackdown, saying: "People who came out to defend their votes on the streets of their cities all across Belarus were brutally beaten, imprisoned, and tortured by the regime desperately clinging on to power.”
The opposition’s coordinating council met for the first time on August 18, saying it represents the people and seeks to negotiate a peaceful transition of power "without political goals or a program."
Volha Kovalkova, a representative of opposition figure Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, said at a press conference establishing the coordinating council that she expected Tsikhanouskaya would soon return to Minsk to act as a guarantor in a negotiated transition of power.
"We are operating solely through legal means," Kovalkova said. "The situation is critical. The authorities have no choice but to come to dialogue. The situation will only get worse."
Tsikhanouskaya said in an online video earlier this week that she was prepared to temporarily take over the leadership.
Poland's Foreign Ministry said on August 19 that prominent Belarusian opposition activists Valery and Veranika Tsapkala had arrived in the EU member state.
Ex-diplomat Valery Tsapkala was barred from standing in the August 9 election, while his wife, Veranika, gained prominence for flanking Tsikhanouskaya at opposition rallies during the campaign.
EU leaders held their emergency video summit after the bloc’s foreign ministers agreed last week to prepare new sanctions against Belarusian officials responsible for "violence, repression and the falsification of election results."
Michel spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 18, expressing concern about election irregularities and a crackdown against protesters.
The two discussed the best way to encourage intra-Belarusian dialogue for a peaceful end to the crisis, a European diplomat told RFE/RL.
Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron also spoke with Putin in separate calls on August 18.
According to her press service, Merkel told Putin that the Belarusian authorities should refrain from violence against peaceful demonstrators and release political prisoners. She also said Lukashenka should hold talks with opposition groups.
Lukashenka spoke with Putin twice over the weekend, stating afterward that the Russian leader promised him security assistance if Belarus needs it. Russia has close economic and military ties with Belarus.
On August 19, U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden warned Russia not to interfere in the Belarus crisis, which he said "is not about geopolitics but the right to choose one's leaders."
Former Vice President Biden, who on August 18 won his party's presidential endorsement at the ongoing Democratic convention organized online because of the coronavirus pandemic, tweeted, "The brave citizens of Belarus are showing their voices will not be silenced by terror or torture. The U.S. should support Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's call for fair elections. Russia must be told not to interfere -- this is not about geopolitics but the right to choose one's leaders."
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, dpa, and AP


rferl--2020-08-19--Kazakhstan Completes Preclinical Trial Of Domestic Vaccine Against COVID-19

A Kazakh research center has completed preclinical trials of a domestic vaccine against COVID-19 , local media reported on August @ @ @ @ @ institute ’ s press service .
The Scientific Research Institute of Biological Safety Problems said @ @ @ @ @ vaccine , QazCovid , had been thoroughly tested on animals .
Administering the vaccine in @ @ @ @ @ tested its safety , side effects , and allergic reactions , among other impacts , @ @ @ @ @ trials .
The second phase is scheduled to begin in October with clinical trials of @ @ @ @ @ The news came as the country ’ s Health Minister Aleksei Tsoi said Kazakhstan was @ @ @ @ @ of coronavirus infections in the fall/winter period .
As of August 19 , the Central @ @ @ @ @ infections with 1,415 fatalities .
Based on reporting by Inform.kz and Interfax

A Kazakh research center has completed preclinical trials of a domestic vaccine against COVID-19, local media reported on August 19, citing the Almaty-based institute’s press service.
The Scientific Research Institute of Biological Safety Problems said on August 19 that the vaccine, QazCovid, had been thoroughly tested on animals.
Administering the vaccine in large doses, the center tested its safety, side effects, and allergic reactions, among other impacts, paving the way for human trials.
The second phase is scheduled to begin in October with clinical trials of QazCovid on 200 volunteers.
The news came as the country’s Health Minister Aleksei Tsoi said Kazakhstan was bracing for a second wave of coronavirus infections in the fall/winter period.
As of August 19, the Central Asian nation reported 103,571 coronavirus infections with 1,415 fatalities.
Based on reporting by Inform.kz and Interfax


rferl--2020-08-20--Iran Unveils Two New Missiles Amid U.S. Tensions

Iran has displayed what it described as two new ballistic and cruise missiles , in defiance to U.S. calls that Tehran halt its missile program .
The surface-to-surface ballistic missile has a range of 1,400 kilometers while the cruise missile has a range of more than 1,000 kilometers , Defense Minister Amir Hatami said in a televised speech on August 20 .
President Hassan Rohani said on state television that Iran ’ s `` military might and missile programs are defensive '' and `` do not present a danger to other countries . ''
Pictures of the two missiles -- @ @ @ @ @ @ @ al-Muhandis -- were shown on state TV .
Soleimani , a major general who led Iran 's elite Quds Force , and Muhandis , an Iraqi militia commander , were killed in a U.S. strike in Baghdad airport in January , resulting in a dramatic escalation in tensions between the United States and Iran .
Iran routinely unveils what it describes as technological achievements for its armed forces , its space program , and its nuclear efforts .
The country ’ s latest announcement comes as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Council later in the day that the United States intends to begin the process of restoring UN sanctions on Iran .
The move comes after the Security Council rejected Washington 's bid to extend an arms embargo on Iran that is due to expire in October under the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers .
The United States withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran .
Washington says it wants Iran to agree to a new pact that would put stricter limits on its nuclear work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officials have rejected talks as long as U.S. sanctions remain in place .
With reporting by Reuters and dpa

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--2020-08-20--Kyrgyz Court Upholds 18-Year Jail Term For Ex-PM

BISHKEK -- The Bishkek city court has upheld a lower court 's sentencing of former Kyrgyz Prime Minister Sapar Isakov to 18 years in prison for corruption .
Isakov 's defense lawyer , Bakytbek Avtandil , told RFE/RL that the ruling was announced on August 20 during a session held via video link due to restrictions prompted by the coronavirus .
On June 9 , the Birinchi Mai district court found Isakov guilty of misusing state funds allocated for the renovation of Bishkek 's National History Museum and a hippodrome in the northern town of Cholpon-Ata while in office .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ been serving a 15-year prison term after being sentenced in December 2019 on corruption charges stemming from his involvement in a 2013 project to modernize the Bishkek Thermal Power Station .
The Birinchi Mai court sentenced Isakov to 12 years in prison , but the judge said that `` in aggregate , taking into account his earlier conviction and prison sentence of 15 years , Isakov shall be sentenced to 18 years in a high-security penitentiary . ''
He also ordered Isakov to pay about $ 3.3 million in fines .
Isakov , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nearly eight months , from August 26 , 2017 to April 19 , 2018 .
He denies the charges .
The probes against Isakov and several other high-profile figures were launched amid tensions between former President Almazbek Atambaev and current President Sooronbai Jeenbekov .
Atambaev himself is currently in prison , serving a sentence of 11 years and two months for the illegal release of notorious crime boss Aziz Batukaev in 2013 .
He denies the charge .

BISHKEK -- The Bishkek city court has upheld a lower court's sentencing of former Kyrgyz Prime Minister Sapar Isakov to 18 years in prison for corruption.
Isakov's defense lawyer, Bakytbek Avtandil, told RFE/RL that the ruling was announced on August 20 during a session held via video link due to restrictions prompted by the coronavirus.
On June 9, the Birinchi Mai district court found Isakov guilty of misusing state funds allocated for the renovation of Bishkek's National History Museum and a hippodrome in the northern town of Cholpon-Ata while in office.
That ruling came as Isakov had already been serving a 15-year prison term after being sentenced in December 2019 on corruption charges stemming from his involvement in a 2013 project to modernize the Bishkek Thermal Power Station.
The Birinchi Mai court sentenced Isakov to 12 years in prison, but the judge said that "in aggregate, taking into account his earlier conviction and prison sentence of 15 years, Isakov shall be sentenced to 18 years in a high-security penitentiary."
He also ordered Isakov to pay about $3.3 million in fines.
Isakov, 43, served as prime minister for nearly eight months, from August 26, 2017 to April 19, 2018. He denies the charges.
The probes against Isakov and several other high-profile figures were launched amid tensions between former President Almazbek Atambaev and current President Sooronbai Jeenbekov.
Atambaev himself is currently in prison, serving a sentence of 11 years and two months for the illegal release of notorious crime boss Aziz Batukaev in 2013. He denies the charge.


rferl--2020-08-20--Peshawar Residents Protest Against Power Outages

PESHAWAR , Pakistan -- Hundreds of people have taken to the streets in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar to @ @ @ @ @ protesters chanted slogans against the government and blocked traffic for several hours on August 20 @ @ @ @ @ areas in the city of more than 4 million residents were provided less electricity than @ @ @ @ @ been staged in recent weeks in other cities , including Swat and Mardan .
Chronic @ @ @ @ @ Pakistan , particularly in the hot months of July and August , when temperatures climb @ @ @ @ @ degrees Celsius in some parts of the country .

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Hundreds of people have taken to the streets in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar to protest power outages.
The protesters chanted slogans against the government and blocked traffic for several hours on August 20.
They complained that some areas in the city of more than 4 million residents were provided less electricity than others.
Similar protests have been staged in recent weeks in other cities, including Swat and Mardan.
Chronic power shortages are common in Pakistan, particularly in the hot months of July and August, when temperatures climb to as much as 50 degrees Celsius in some parts of the country.


rferl--2020-08-20--Afghan President Says 'All Barriers Removed' For Taliban Talks Despite Uncertainty On Prisoner Relea

Afghan President Says 'All Barriers Removed' For Taliban Talks Despite Uncertainty On Prisoner Release

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says that `` all barriers and excuses have been removed '' ahead of expected peace talks between the government in Kabul and the Taliban militants .
In a televised message to Afghan security forces on August 20 , Ghani said his government had `` met all conditions for a peace with dignity . ''
He called on the Taliban to accept a permanent cease-fire and start negotiations with the government soon .
`` We have shown our will and our commitment , '' he said , citing the release of thousands of Taliban prisoners , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the United States .
Ghani 's message comes amid new uncertainties over the start of the intra-Afghan peace talks .
The government said it would not release the last 320 Taliban prisoners it holds until the militants freed more captured Afghan soldiers .
The decision goes against that of the Loya Jirga , a traditional Afghan council held earlier this month , and is likely to further delay the talks .
Ghani himself had announced on August 9 his intention to release the remaining 400 militants , many of whom have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ foreigners .
Kabul had already freed 4,600 Taliban inmates out of the 5,000 pledged in a landmark U.S.-Taliban deal signed in February .
Afghan officials have described the remaining prisoners as the most dangerous , accusing them of masterminding attacks on embassies , public squares , and government offices , killing thousands of civilians in recent years .
Australia and France have urged the Afghan government not to free several Taliban fighters accused of killing Australian and French nationals .
Ghani also told a British newspaper that all NATO leaders would be complicit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ international drug trade caused by the release of the prisoners .
Afghanistan has been the world 's largest opium producer since 2001 and the Taliban is accused of using the drug money to fund itself .
In an interview with The Times , Ghani warned that a wave of narcotics could hit the West if the final batch of Taliban fighters was released from prison .
`` If drugs go through the roof in the United Kingdom and Europe , all your leaders have been part of this , '' Ghani said in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` If amphetamines reach the shores of the United States , we should know that these are the consequences , and if these people commit crimes , there 's shared international responsibility . ''
The Taliban says it has freed all 1,000 government prisoners it had pledged in the agreement with the United States .
In addition to the withdrawal of U.S. and coalition troops , the U.S.-Taliban deal calls on the Taliban to guarantee that Afghanistan will not be used as a staging ground for terrorist attacks on the United States or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continue across Afghanistan .
Officials said at least 13 security forces were killed in northern province of Takhar on August 20 .
With reporting by Tolo News , RFE/RL 's Radio Free Afghanistan , dpa , and AP

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


rferl--2020-08-20--Belarus Opposition Insists On Fresh Elections, Lukashenka Remains Defiant

MINSK -- A council formed by opposition leaders in Belarus is insisting a new presidential election be held after an 11th night of protests in defiance of a new push by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka to clear the streets .
Maryya Kalesnikava , one of opposition figure Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya 's top aides , said on August 20 that despite `` flagrant falsifications '' in an August 9 ballot that gave Lukashenka a landslide victory , the incumbent had `` the right to participate '' in a fresh election , though `` we do not believe Lukashenka will do that . ''
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ president expires only on November 5 .
After that , we intend to hold an election in strict compliance with international standards and to invite international observers , '' Kalesnikava said .
However , the composition of the Central Election Commission ( TsVK ) `` must be completely renewed , '' and its head replaced , she added .
Lukashenka has faced the biggest domestic challenge to his 26-year rule since the election , which the European Union has said it does not recognize because of irregularities that ended up giving the strongman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Official results gave opposition candidate Tsikhanouskaya about 10 percent of the vote , but she claims to have actually received between 60 and 70 percent .
Thousands have since taken to the streets and walked off the job at state-controlled factories , even heckling the man sometimes referred to as `` Europe 's last dictator . ''
Still , the 65-year-old leader has insisted he won ’ t resign or call a new vote while under pressure from protesters , and on August 19 he escalated tensions by threatening to bring criminal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his security services to get tougher on demonstrators -- a possible sign of a renewed crackdown on the peaceful protesters .
Tsikhanouskaya fled to neighboring Lithuania last week , from where she has called for the protests to continue peacefully .
The Coordinating Council , which Lukashenka has called an instrument to stage a coup , says numerous election law violations were recorded in the August 9 presidential election , and more than 7,000 people have been detained and arrested for political reasons .
The council met for the first time on August @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people and seeks to negotiate a peaceful transition of power .
Another aide , Olga Kovalkova , said she expected Tsikhanouskaya would soon return to Minsk from Lithuania to act as a guarantor in a negotiated transition of power .
The Minsk protest on August 19 took place as the European Union said it will soon impose sanctions on Lukashenka 's government .
Defying the security forces , hundreds of protesters assembled in front of the Interior Ministry , which runs the police .
A large number of officers were stationed there with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Demonstrators chanted `` Resign ! ''
and `` Let them out ! ''
in reference to those still detained , while passing cars honked their horns in the rain .
With thousands taking to the streets daily since the vote and strikes crippling many state enterprises , Lukashenka ordered the Interior Ministry on August 19 to put down the protests .
He also ordered border controls to be tightened to prevent what he alleged was an influx of `` fighters and arms '' from abroad .
`` There should be no more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; people demand peace and quiet , '' Lukashenka said during a meeting of his Security Council .
Hundreds of people released from detention have spoken of brutal beatings they suffered while being held , and three protesters have been killed .
The TsVK said on August 19 that Lukashenka would be inaugurated as president for a new term within the next two months , but that no date had yet been set .
With reporting by Reuters , AFP , dpa , and AP

MINSK -- Belarusian prosecutors on August 20 opened a criminal investigation into the founders of an opposition council set up to negotiate the transition of power amid huge protests challenging the "rigged" results of a presidential election earlier this month that gave President Alyaksandr Lukashenka a fresh six-year term.
The council formed by opposition leaders who claim the result of the poll was falsified has been insisting new presidential elections must be held as protests in Minsk entered a 12th day despite a new push by the authoritarian to clear the streets.
Crisis In Belarus Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.
Still, the 65-year-old leader, who has been in power since 1994, has reiterated he won’t resign or call a new vote while under pressure from protesters, and on August 19 escalated tensions by instructing authorities to bring criminal charges against opposition leaders and calling on his security services to get tougher on demonstrators, in an indication that a renewed crackdown on the peaceful demonstrators was in the works.
Maryya Kalesnikava, one of opposition presidential candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s top aides, said on August 20 that despite "flagrant falsifications" in the August 9 ballot that gave Lukashenka a landslide victory, the incumbent has "the right to participate" in a fresh election, though "we do not believe Lukashenka will do that."
A 37-year-old political novice, Tsikhanouskaya ran after other potential candidates, including her husband, were jailed or exiled prior to the election during an opposition crackdown.
"The term of the incumbent Belarusian president expires only on November 5. After that, we intend to hold an election in strict compliance with international standards and to invite international observers. However, the CEC [Central Election Commission] composition must be completely renewed, and the head of the CEC must be replaced," Kalesnikava said.
Lukashenka has faced the biggest domestic challenge to his 26-year rule since the election, which the European Union has said it does not recognize because of irregularities that ended up giving the strongman just over 80 percent of the vote.
Official results gave Tsikhanouskaya about 10 percent of the vote, but she claims to have actually received between 60 and 70 percent.
Thousands have since taken to the streets and walked off the job at state-controlled factories, even heckling the man sometimes referred to as "Europe's last dictator."
Tsikhanouskaya fled to neighboring Lithuania last week, from where she has called for the protests to continue peacefully.
The Coordination Council says numerous election-law violations were recorded in the vote, and more than 7,000 people have been detained and arrested for political reasons.
The council consists of top associaties of Tsikhanouskaya, as well as rights activists and representatives of striking workers and includes the nation’s most famous author, Svetlana Alexievich, who won the 2015 Nobel Prize in literature.
It met for the first time on August 18, saying it represents the people and seeks to negotiate a peaceful transition of power.
Volha Kovalkova, an aide to Tsikhanouskaya, says she expects her to soon return to Minsk from Lithuania to act as a guarantor in a negotiated transition of power.
Protests continued on August 20 in Minsk and other Belarusian cities for the 12th straight day.
On August 19, hundreds of protesters defied the security forces and assembled in front of the Interior Ministry, which runs the police. A large number of officers were stationed there with vans, but they took no action.
Demonstrators chanted "Resign!" and "Let them out!" in reference to those still detained, while passing cars honked their horns in the rain.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on August 20 that the United States remains deeply concerned by "serious flaws" in Belarus's election, adding that Washington was in support of international efforts to independently look into the country's electoral irregularities and human rights abuses surrounding the vote.
“We remain deeply concerned by serious flaws in the August 9 presidential election in Belarus and strongly condemn the violence carried out against peaceful protesters and journalists, the arrest of opposition candidates and peaceful protesters, the blockage of Belarus’ internet service, and the abuse of detainees, “Pompeo said in a statement released on August 20.
“We urge the Belarusian government to actively engage Belarusian society, including through the newly established National Coordination Council, in a way that reflects what the Belarusian people are demanding, for the sake of Belarus’ future, and for a successful Belarus,” he added.
The European Union has said it does not recognize the result of the Belarus election and will soon impose sanctions on Lukashenka's government.
On August 20, EU Council President Charles Michel tweeted that he held another phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country is Lukashenka's closest ally, and told him that the only solution to the Belarus crisis is "political inclusive dialogue & a peaceful and democratic process."
"Yesterday, EU expressed solidarity with the people of Belarus in their desire to determine their own future. Today I reiterated this to President Putin. There is only one way forward: through political inclusive dialogue & a peaceful and democratic process," Michel tweeted.
The Kremlin, however, insisted that direct talks between foreign entities and the Belarusian opposition would amount to "interference in Belarusian internal affairs."
"We believe that dialogue should be primarily conducted inside Belarus. Because if foreign countries, among them Russia, establish dialogue with the opposition, that would be an act of interference in internal affairs," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on August 20.
Peskov also said that Putin and Lukashenka have held four phone calls "of late."
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, dpa, and AP


rferl--2020-08-20--Uzbek Man Arrested For 'Assaulting' Governor During Ethnic Unrest

A 23-year-old man has been detained for taking part in ethnic unrest and assaulting the regional governor during the recent strife in the troubled Sokh enclave in Uzbekistan 's Ferghana Province .
Davlatjon Mallaev was detaied by police when he traveled to the regional capital , Ferghana city , on August 10 , his mother said on August 19 .
Nasimakhon Mallaeva said she found out about her son 's arrest from local authorities , whom she contacted after Mallaev failed to return home to Sokh , an Uzbek enclave within Kyrgyzstan .
`` My son traveled to the city @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arrested during that trip , '' she told RFE/RL .
Mallaeva said she had been unable to visit her so , n as the roads connecting the Sokh enclave to Uzbekistan are currently blocked .
A copy of court documents obtained by RFE/RL shows that Mallaev has been charged with taking part in mass unrest and assaulting a government official .
The name of the official is not mentioned in the document .
But videos shared on social media appeared to show an angry crowd in Sokh throwing stones at Shuhrat Ghaniev , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the scene of clashes between local residents and Kyrgyz villagers on May 31 over a dispute about the ownership of a spring located in the area .
Villagers started throwing stones at each other before several houses on each side were set on fire .
The Sokh district administration said then that 187 local residents were injured in the clashes .
Kyrgyzstan has said 25 of its citizens were injured in the violence .
Ghaniev had pledged no one would be punished over the incident in which he was pelted with stones in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being unable to resolve the enclave 's long-standing problems , such as water supplies and blocked roads .
Many border areas in Central Asia have been restive since the Soviet Union 's collapse in 1991 .
The situation is particularly complicated near the numerous exclaves in the volatile Ferghana Valley , where the borders of Uzbekistan , Kyrgyzstan , and Tajikistan meet .
Sokh , one such exclave , is an ethnic Tajik-populated Uzbek territory within Kyrgyzstan 's Batken region , where clashes have been common for years .
Tensions have also been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ area close to a Tajik exclave called Vorukh in the Batken region and nearby disputed segments of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border in recent weeks as well .

A 23-year-old man has been detained for taking part in ethnic unrest and assaulting the regional governor during the recent strife in the troubled Sokh enclave in Uzbekistan's Ferghana Province.
Davlatjon Mallaev was detaied by police when he traveled to the regional capital, Ferghana city, on August 10, his mother said on August 19.
Nasimakhon Mallaeva said she found out about her son's arrest from local authorities, whom she contacted after Mallaev failed to return home to Sokh, an Uzbek enclave within Kyrgyzstan.
"My son traveled to the city to sell his car. He was arrested during that trip," she told RFE/RL.
Mallaeva said she had been unable to visit her so,n as the roads connecting the Sokh enclave to Uzbekistan are currently blocked.
A copy of court documents obtained by RFE/RL shows that Mallaev has been charged with taking part in mass unrest and assaulting a government official.
The name of the official is not mentioned in the document. But videos shared on social media appeared to show an angry crowd in Sokh throwing stones at Shuhrat Ghaniev, the Ferghana regional governor.
Sokh was the scene of clashes between local residents and Kyrgyz villagers on May 31 over a dispute about the ownership of a spring located in the area.
Villagers started throwing stones at each other before several houses on each side were set on fire.
The Sokh district administration said then that 187 local residents were injured in the clashes. Kyrgyzstan has said 25 of its citizens were injured in the violence.
Ghaniev had pledged no one would be punished over the incident in which he was pelted with stones in Sokh. The crowd accused him of being unable to resolve the enclave's long-standing problems, such as water supplies and blocked roads.
Many border areas in Central Asia have been restive since the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.
The situation is particularly complicated near the numerous exclaves in the volatile Ferghana Valley, where the borders of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan meet.
Sokh, one such exclave, is an ethnic Tajik-populated Uzbek territory within Kyrgyzstan's Batken region, where clashes have been common for years.
Tensions have also been very high in recent weeks in the area close to a Tajik exclave called Vorukh in the Batken region and nearby disputed segments of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border in recent weeks as well.


rferl--2020-08-20--Kremlin Critic Navalny Said To Be In Battle For Life After Suspected Poisoning

Russian doctors say they are battling to save the life of Aleksei Navalny in a hospital intensive-care unit in Siberia after the outspoken Kremlin critic fell ill with what his spokeswoman suspects is a case of poisoning .
The 44-year-old anti-corruption campaigner `` is still on a ventilator .
He is in a coma in grave condition .
There are no test results as yet , '' Kira Yarmysh tweeted on August 20 .
She said earlier that Navalny felt ill while on a flight back to Moscow from the Siberian city of Tomsk , forcing the aircraft to make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Siberia , where he was taken by ambulance to a hospital .
Yarmysh said she believed the politician was poisoned after drinking a cup of tea he had bought at the Tomsk airport .
`` We assume that Aleksei was poisoned with something mixed into the tea .
It was the only thing that he drank in the morning .
Doctors say the toxin was absorbed faster through the hot liquid , '' Yarmysh said .
Purported audio of Navalny moaning in pain on the flight : Anatoly Kalinichenko , a doctor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Navalny is staying , told reporters that Navalny was in serious , yet stable condition , and that medics were working to `` save his life . ''
However , he said there was `` no certainty that the cause of his condition is poisoning , '' adding , `` This is one of the possible reasons '' and that several diagnoses were being considered as tests are carried out .
But Yarmysh complained that doctors `` are obviously stalling and are n't saying what they know , '' adding the hospital was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hospital already has more police than doctors .
Investigative Committee just arrived , '' she said .
The Kremlin said it was aware that President Vladimir Putin 's chief critic was ill and wished him well , but that there was no evidence yet to back claims he had been poisoned .
The state news agency TASS quoted a source as saying that when the opposition blogger was admitted to the hospital , the preliminary diagnosis was `` acute poisoning with psychodysleptics . ''
Navalny 's physician , Yaroslav Ashikhmin , told Meduza @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Europe '' for treatment , adding , `` We ’ re trying to reach an agreement with a hospital in Hanover or Strasbourg to take him . ''
Ashikhmin also said that Western clinics had a better chance of finding the substance that may have caused the alleged poisoning .
The cafe where Navalny bought the tea was in a tightly secured area after check-in and security controls .
A law enforcement source told TASS that interviews with workers from the shop showed they knew little about what happened .
A picture @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with some other passengers as they took a bus to the plane for boarding .
Pavel Lebedev , a passenger on the flight where Navalny fell ill , said that at the start of the flight Navalny `` went to the toilet and did n't return . ''
`` He was really sick and is still screaming in pain .
They did n't say what exactly happened to him .
We landed in Omsk .
Ambulance arrived , '' he added in a post on social media .
Navalny , a staunch critic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rampant corruption in Russia .
He has been jailed several times in recent years , barred from running for president , and had a bid to run for Moscow mayor blocked .
WATCH : Video reportedly showing Navalny being removed from the plane in Omsk Navalny has suffered physical attacks in the past .
He endured chemical burns to one of his eyes in 2017 after he was assaulted with antiseptic dye .
In July 2019 , Navalny was given a 30-day jail term after calling for unauthorized protests .
During that jail @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a hospital with severe swelling of the face and a rash , and later alleged he was poisoned .
`` Obviously , they did the same to him now , '' said Yarmysh , the press secretary for the Anti-Corruption Foundation Navalny founded in 2011 .
The head of the foundation 's legal department , Vyacheslav Gimadi , wrote on Twitter , `` There is no doubt that Navalny was poisoned for his political position and activity . ''
Navalny 's lawyers are requesting a probe into attempted assassination , he added .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ was `` worried to hear about Alexei Navalny 's suspected poisoning . ''
`` If confirmed , those responsible must be held to account , '' he tweeted , adding that he wished the Kremlin foe a `` swift and full recovery . ''
British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said he was `` deeply concerned '' by reports on Navalny .
With reporting by TASS and ngs55.ru

White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien said on August 20 the suspected poisoning of Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny was “extraordinarily concerning” and could have an impact on U.S.-Russia relations.
O'Brien's comments came as Navalny fights for his life in a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk as efforts to evacuate him to Germany are under way.
"He's a very courageous man. He is a very courageous politician to have stood up to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin inside Russia, and our thoughts and our prayers are with him and his family," O'Brien said in an interview on Fox News.
"It's extraordinarily concerning and if the Russians were behind this...it's something that we're going to factor into how we deal with the Russians going forward," he said.
Navalny, who is in a coma, is in serious, yet stable condition as medics work to “save his life,” Anatoly Kalinichenko, a doctor at the Omsk Emergency Hospital No. 1, said.
The 44-year-old anti-corruption campaigner is on a ventilator and in grave condition in an intensive care, his spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, tweeted.
Navalny became ill on August 20 while on a flight to Moscow from the Siberian city of Tomsk, forcing the aircraft to make an unscheduled landing in Omsk, also in Siberia, where he was transported by ambulance to a hospital.
Yarmysh said she believed the politician was poisoned when he drank tea he had bought at the Tomsk airport.
Purported video of Navalny being transferred to ambulance after landing in Omsk:
However, Kalinichenko said there was "no certainty that the cause of his condition is poisoning," adding, "This is one of the possible reasons" and that several diagnoses are being considered as tests are carried out.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Navalny could get medical treatment in Germany if it is requested.
"I hope he recovers quickly, and if asked to we will provide him with medical assistance, including German hospitals, but the request has to come from there," she said.
Navalny supporters have received permission for him to be treated at Berlin's Charite hospital, film producer and human rights activist Jaka Bizilj told dpa.
An ambulance aircraft with a team specialized in treating coma patients is ready to leave Germany to pick Navalny up at midnight, Bizilj said.
Yarmysh said the Russian health authorities had yet to grant permission for Navalny to be transported.
Navalny's physician, Yaroslav Ashikhmin, told Meduza that he “needs to be evacuated to Europe” for treatment, adding: "We’re trying to reach an agreement with a hospital in Hanover or Strasbourg to take him."
Ashikhmin said that Western clinics have more chance of finding the substance that may have caused the alleged poisoning.
The Kremlin said it was aware that Putin's chief critic was ill and wished him well, but said there was no evidence yet to back claims he had been poisoned.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Russian law enforcement would launch an investigation if poisoning is confirmed.
The state news agency TASS quoted a source as saying that when Navalny was admitted to the hospital, the preliminary diagnosis was "acute poisoning with psychodysleptics."
The cafe where Navalny bought the tea was in an area beyond check-in and security controls.
A law enforcement source told TASS that interviews with workers from the shop showed they knew little about what happened.
Navalny, who has exposed rampant corruption in Russia, has suffered physical attacks in the past.
He endured chemical burns to one of his eyes in 2017 after he was assaulted with antiseptic dye.
In July 2019, Navalny was given a 30-day jail term after calling for unauthorized protests. During that jail sentence, he was taken to a hospital with severe swelling of the face and a rash, and later alleged he was poisoned.
He has been jailed several times in recent years, barred from running for president, and had a bid to run for Moscow mayor blocked.
The head of the legal department of the anti-corruption foundation Navalny founded, Vyacheslav Gimadi, wrote on Twitter: "There is no doubt that Navalny was poisoned for his political position and activity."
With reporting by TASS, ngs55.ru , AP, dpa, Reuters, and Fox News


rferl--2020-08-19--Pompeo To Inform UN That U.S. Will Begin 'Snapback' Of Sanctions On Iran

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will formally notify the UN Security Council on August 20 that the United States intends to begin the process of restoring UN sanctions on Iran .
`` The United States intends to restore virtually all of the previously suspended United Nations sanctions on Iran , '' President Donald Trump said late on August 19 .
`` It 's a snapback . ''
As set out by the resolution enshrining the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers , a so-called snapback would reimpose UN sanctions that were eased in exchange for curbs on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. move faces opposition at the Security Council , where other members have questioned the United States ' right to do it since Washington withdrew from the nuclear deal more than two years ago and reimposed unilateral sanctions .
The United States claims it remains a `` participant '' in the accord because it was listed as such in the UN resolution that enshrined it .
An announcement of Pompeo 's trip to the UN headquarters had been anticipated since the failure of a U.S. resolution last week to extend an arms embargo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said in a statement on August 19 that 30 days after the notification `` a range of UN sanctions will be restored . ''
This includes an extension of the arms embargo , she said .
Pompeo , in an interview with Fox News on August 19 , expressed confidence about invoking the `` snapback '' mechanism , even as he appeared to lack support from Russia , China , and European signatories to the nuclear pact .
`` We are going to get these UN sanctions put back in place and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
He also said he would hold China and Russia accountable if they block the move .
The United States `` absolutely '' will target Russia and China with sanctions if they refuse to reimpose the UN measures on Iran , he said , adding that the United States already has done that whenever it has seen any country violate current U.S. sanctions .
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on August 20 said that U.S. moves to reinstate UN sanctions will `` lead to nothing , '' while `` creating a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ UN Security Council , '' according to Interfax .
Pompeo also slammed European countries for not backing U.S. opposition to the nuclear deal .
European leaders `` refuse to do the courageous thing , '' Pompeo said .
`` We have the same objectives , they are just wedded to this crazy nuclear deal , '' he said , referring to the 2015 agreement with Iran and six world powers intended to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons .
The U.S. resolution to extend the arms embargo , which is set to expire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ failed last week , with only the Dominican Republic joining the United States , and Russia and China voting against , while 11 members , including European allies , abstained .
That same resistance at the UN Security Council is expected to intensify as the United States acts to restore sanctions .
Iran has threatened to completely exit the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action ( JCPOA ) , as the nuclear deal is formally known , and hinted it will pull out of another key nonproliferation treaty if the arms embargo is extended @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of sanctions .
But it also has said it will come fully back into compliance with the JCPOA if the United States abides by its commitments and lifts unilateral sanctions .
Diplomats and analysts say a restoration of sanctions on Iran would lead to a messy diplomatic battle that could undermine the UN Security Council and potentially collapse what is left of the nuclear deal .
Pompeo , in his interview with Fox News , acknowledged that restoring sanctions could spell the end of the deal .
Analysts say UN Security Council members @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to stall or block the U.S. bid to bring back sanctions .
Another option is for the UN Security Council members to respond to the U.S. claim that sanctions have been reimposed “ with a collective shrug , making plain that they dispute the move ’ s legitimacy and that they will neither recognize new sanctions nor give them any effect , ” the International Crisis Group wrote in a briefing .
Critics of the U.S. bid to extend the arms embargo say it was a cynical effort to try to snap back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of killing the deal or making it difficult for any future U.S. administration to resuscitate it .
Britain , France , and Germany -- all signatories to the JCPOA who have sought to keep it alive -- have expressed worries about the arms embargo ending , but oppose U.S. action at the UN because they fear it would end the nuclear deal and damage the UN Security Council .
Experts say U.S. allies in Europe and Iran appear to be trying to wait out the Trump administration , calculating that former Vice President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election and de-escalate tensions with Iran .
With reporting by Reuters , dpa , AFP , AP , Fox News , and Interfax


rferl--2020-08-20--Trump Says Washington Would Retaliate If Bounties On U.S. Troops Confirmed

U.S. President Donald Trump vowed on August 20 to retaliate if countries were found to have offered bounties for attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan .
U.S. media reported at the end of June that U.S. intelligence officials concluded months ago that Russian military intelligence offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill American soldiers .
The New York Times went on to claim that Trump was briefed on the matter , but did nothing in response .
Earlier this month , CNN reported that U.S. intelligence had also indicated that Iran paid the Taliban bounties to target U.S. troops in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` entirely false . ''
Speaking to reporters at the White House on August 20 , Trump said that if the reports were determined to be a fact , then `` we would hit them so hard , your head would spin . ''
Trump had previously said he was not told about the reported Russian effort to get the Taliban to kill U.S. soldiers because many U.S. intelligence officials doubted it was true .
Democrats in the U.S. Congress who were briefed on the matter have said U.S. sanctions on Russia should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which Russia and the Taliban deny , are confirmed .
Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP


rferl--2020-08-20--More Than 20 Afghans Killed, Wounded In Taliban Attacks

Afghan officials say Taliban militants have killed at least 18 people and wounded eight others in two fresh attacks in Takhar and Nangarhar provinces .
The insurgents attacked pro-government militia forces in Takhar ’ s Khwaja Bahauddin district overnight , killing at least 13 members of the force , local police said on August 20 .
Security sources said one army soldier was also killed and two others wounded when they went to support the militia forces that came under Taliban attack .
The officials said the clash in Takhar lasted several hours .
Many districts in the northeastern province @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forces .
The Afghan spy agency supports pro-government local militia groups – known as Public Uprising Forces -- in remote areas across the country to fight against the Taliban insurgency .
Meanwhile , officials in eastern Nangarhar Province say at least four security officers were killed and two others wounded in an overnight Taliban assault in areas bordering Pakistan .
Attaullah Khogyani , a spokesman for provincial governor said on August 20 that 10 Taliban fighters were also killed in fighting between security forces and the militants .
The latest violence comes as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to accept a permanent cease-fire and began peace talks with the government .
But the prospect of intra-Afghan peace talks sought by the United States was thrown into more uncertainty as the government said it would not release the last 320 Taliban prisoners it holds until the militants freed more captured Afghan soldiers .
Kabul has already freed 4,600 Taliban inmates out of the 5,000 pledged in a landmark U.S.-Taliban deal signed in February .
The Taliban says it has freed all 1,000 government prisoners it had pledged in the agreement with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a precondition for launching peace talks .
With reporting by dpa and Tolonews.com


rferl--2020-08-20--Iran Says Ships Seized, Fishermen Killed In Gulf Incident With U.A.E.

Iran says it has it seized a United Arab Emirates ship for violating its territorial waters earlier this week and that U.A.E .
coastguards killed two Iranian fishermen on the same day .
The Iranian Foreign Ministry made the announcement on August 20 amid rising tensions between the Gulf countries following last week 's announcement that the U.A.E .
had agreed to normalize ties with Tehran 's archrival , Israel .
`` On Monday , an Emirati ship was seized by Iran 's border guards and its crew were detained due to illegal traffic in our country 's waters , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as saying in a statement .
`` On the same day , U.A.E .
guards shot dead two Iranian fishermen and seized a boat , '' the ministry said , adding that it had summoned the U.A.E .
charge d'affaires in Tehran to protest .
Emirati officials have not yet commented on the incident .
State news agency WAM reported on August 17 that U.A.E .
coastguards had tried to stop fishing boats that had violated the country ’ s territorial waters .
It did not report any casualties .
Israel and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they were establishing full diplomatic relations in a U.S.-brokered deal , which included an Israeli pledge to suspend its controversial plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank .
Iran has condemned the deal , with President Hassan Rohani calling it a `` huge mistake . ''
The remarks were seen as `` threats '' by the U.A.E .
which on August 16 summoned the Iranian charge d'affaires in Abu Dhabi in protest .
The next day , U.A.E .
Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash said the agreement to normalize ties with Israel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is `` not directed '' at Iran .
With reporting by AFP and Reuters


rferl--2020-08-20--Belarus Prosecutors Open Probe Against Founders Of Opposition Council As Protests Continue

MINSK -- Belarusian prosecutors on August 20 opened a criminal investigation into the founders of an opposition council set up to negotiate the transition of power amid huge protests challenging the `` rigged '' results of a presidential election earlier this month that gave President Alyaksandr Lukashenka a fresh six-year term .
The council formed by opposition leaders who claim the result of the poll was falsified has been insisting new presidential elections must be held as protests in Minsk entered a 12th day despite a new push by the authoritarian to clear the streets .
Still , the 65-year-old @ @ @ @ @ @ @ since 1994 , has reiterated he won ’ t resign or call a new vote while under pressure from protesters , and on August 19 escalated tensions by instructing authorities to bring criminal charges against opposition leaders and calling on his security services to get tougher on demonstrators , in an indication that a renewed crackdown on the peaceful demonstrators was in the works .
Maryya Kalesnikava , one of opposition presidential candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya ’ s top aides , said on August 20 that despite `` flagrant falsifications '' in the August @ @ @ @ @ @ @ victory , the incumbent has `` the right to participate '' in a fresh election , though `` we do not believe Lukashenka will do that . ''
A 37-year-old political novice , Tsikhanouskaya ran after other potential candidates , including her husband , were jailed or exiled prior to the election during an opposition crackdown .
`` The term of the incumbent Belarusian president expires only on November 5 .
After that , we intend to hold an election in strict compliance with international standards and to invite international observers .
However @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ] composition must be completely renewed , and the head of the CEC must be replaced , '' Kalesnikava said .
Lukashenka has faced the biggest domestic challenge to his 26-year rule since the election , which the European Union has said it does not recognize because of irregularities that ended up giving the strongman just over 80 percent of the vote .
Official results gave Tsikhanouskaya about 10 percent of the vote , but she claims to have actually received between 60 and 70 percent .
Thousands have since taken to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state-controlled factories , even heckling the man sometimes referred to as `` Europe 's last dictator . ''
Tsikhanouskaya fled to neighboring Lithuania last week , from where she has called for the protests to continue peacefully .
The Coordination Council says numerous election-law violations were recorded in the vote , and more than 7,000 people have been detained and arrested for political reasons .
The council consists of top associaties of Tsikhanouskaya , as well as rights activists and representatives of striking workers and includes the nation ’ s most famous author @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2015 Nobel Prize in literature .
It met for the first time on August 18 , saying it represents the people and seeks to negotiate a peaceful transition of power .
Volha Kovalkova , an aide to Tsikhanouskaya , says she expects her to soon return to Minsk from Lithuania to act as a guarantor in a negotiated transition of power .
Protests continued on August 20 in Minsk and other Belarusian cities for the 12th straight day .
On August 19 , hundreds of protesters defied the security forces and assembled in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ runs the police .
A large number of officers were stationed there with vans , but they took no action .
Demonstrators chanted `` Resign ! ''
and `` Let them out ! ''
in reference to those still detained , while passing cars honked their horns in the rain .
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on August 20 that the United States remains deeply concerned by `` serious flaws '' in Belarus 's election , adding that Washington was in support of international efforts to independently look into the country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ surrounding the vote .
“ We remain deeply concerned by serious flaws in the August 9 presidential election in Belarus and strongly condemn the violence carried out against peaceful protesters and journalists , the arrest of opposition candidates and peaceful protesters , the blockage of Belarus ’ internet service , and the abuse of detainees , “ Pompeo said in a statement released on August 20 .
“ We urge the Belarusian government to actively engage Belarusian society , including through the newly established National Coordination Council , in a way that reflects @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the sake of Belarus ’ future , and for a successful Belarus , ” he added .
The European Union has said it does not recognize the result of the Belarus election and will soon impose sanctions on Lukashenka 's government .
On August 20 , EU Council President Charles Michel tweeted that he held another phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin , whose country is Lukashenka 's closest ally , and told him that the only solution to the Belarus crisis is `` political inclusive dialogue & a peaceful and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ EU expressed solidarity with the people of Belarus in their desire to determine their own future .
Today I reiterated this to President Putin .
There is only one way forward : through political inclusive dialogue & a peaceful and democratic process , '' Michel tweeted .
The Kremlin , however , insisted that direct talks between foreign entities and the Belarusian opposition would amount to `` interference in Belarusian internal affairs . ''
`` We believe that dialogue should be primarily conducted inside Belarus .
Because if foreign countries , among them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that would be an act of interference in internal affairs , '' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on August 20 .
Peskov also said that Putin and Lukashenka have held four phone calls `` of late . ''
With reporting by Reuters , AFP , dpa , and AP


rferl--2020-08-20--Trump Adviser Expresses Concern Over Suspected Poisoning Of Kremlin Critic Navalny

White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien said on August 20 the suspected poisoning of Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny was “ extraordinarily concerning ” and could have an impact on U.S.-Russia relations .
O'Brien 's comments came as Navalny fights for his life in a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk as efforts to evacuate him to Germany are under way .
`` He 's a very courageous man .
He is a very courageous politician to have stood up to ( Russian President Vladimir ) Putin inside Russia , and our thoughts and our prayers are with him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in an interview on Fox News .
`` It 's extraordinarily concerning and if the Russians were behind this ... it 's something that we 're going to factor into how we deal with the Russians going forward , '' he said .
Navalny , who is in a coma , is in serious , yet stable condition as medics work to “ save his life , ” Anatoly Kalinichenko , a doctor at the Omsk Emergency Hospital No .
1 , said .
The 44-year-old anti-corruption campaigner is on a ventilator and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , his spokeswoman , Kira Yarmysh , tweeted .
Navalny became ill on August 20 while on a flight to Moscow from the Siberian city of Tomsk , forcing the aircraft to make an unscheduled landing in Omsk , also in Siberia , where he was transported by ambulance to a hospital .
Yarmysh said she believed the politician was poisoned when he drank tea he had bought at the Tomsk airport .
Purported video of Navalny being transferred to ambulance after landing in Omsk : However , Kalinichenko said there was `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ condition is poisoning , '' adding , `` This is one of the possible reasons '' and that several diagnoses are being considered as tests are carried out .
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Navalny could get medical treatment in Germany if it is requested .
`` I hope he recovers quickly , and if asked to we will provide him with medical assistance , including German hospitals , but the request has to come from there , '' she said .
Navalny supporters have received permission for him to be treated at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and human rights activist Jaka Bizilj told dpa .
An ambulance aircraft with a team specialized in treating coma patients is ready to leave Germany to pick Navalny up at midnight , Bizilj said .
Yarmysh said the Russian health authorities had yet to grant permission for Navalny to be transported .
Navalny 's physician , Yaroslav Ashikhmin , told Meduza that he “ needs to be evacuated to Europe ” for treatment , adding : `` We ’ re trying to reach an agreement with a hospital in Hanover or Strasbourg to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Western clinics have more chance of finding the substance that may have caused the alleged poisoning .
The Kremlin said it was aware that Putin 's chief critic was ill and wished him well , but said there was no evidence yet to back claims he had been poisoned .
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Russian law enforcement would launch an investigation if poisoning is confirmed .
The state news agency TASS quoted a source as saying that when Navalny was admitted to the hospital , the preliminary diagnosis was `` acute poisoning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Navalny bought the tea was in an area beyond check-in and security controls .
A law enforcement source told TASS that interviews with workers from the shop showed they knew little about what happened .
Navalny , who has exposed rampant corruption in Russia , has suffered physical attacks in the past .
He endured chemical burns to one of his eyes in 2017 after he was assaulted with antiseptic dye .
In July 2019 , Navalny was given a 30-day jail term after calling for unauthorized protests .
During that jail sentence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with severe swelling of the face and a rash , and later alleged he was poisoned .
He has been jailed several times in recent years , barred from running for president , and had a bid to run for Moscow mayor blocked .
The head of the legal department of the anti-corruption foundation Navalny founded , Vyacheslav Gimadi , wrote on Twitter : `` There is no doubt that Navalny was poisoned for his political position and activity . ''
With reporting by TASS , ngs55.ru , AP , dpa , Reuters @ @ @ @