rferl--2020-06-04--Crimean Court Jails Jehovah's Witness To 6 Years For 'Extremist' Activity

A court in Russia-annexed Crimea has sentenced a Jehovah 's Witness to six years in prison for being a member of an extremist group .
The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group , a Ukrainian organization , called the sentencing of Artyom Gerasimov on June 4 “ a shocking escalation of repression in occupied Crimea.
” Russia officially banned the Jehovah 's Witnesses in April 2017 and deemed it an `` extremist organization , ” despite widespread condemnation from Western nations and human rights groups .
The Supreme Court in Russia-occupied Crimea ruled in an appeal on June 4 that Gerasimov @ @ @ @ @ @ @ colony .
The harsh sentencing came after Gerasimov sought an acquittal from a Yalta City Court fining him 400,000 rubles ( $ 5,785 ) in March , the Jehovah 's Witnesses said in a statement .
The prosecutor 's office then demanded 6.5 years of imprisonment .
`` Today 's ruling by the Crimean Supreme Court brings religious persecution to a new level of cruelty , '' said Jarrod Lopes , spokesman for Jehovah 's Witnesses .
According to the group , Gerasimov is the second Jehovah 's Witness to be sentenced in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's Witness convicted in Russia and Crimea since 2017 .
Ten believers have been imprisoned .
On March 5 , a Crimean court found Sergei Filatov guilty of being a member of the religious group and sentenced him to six years in prison .
For decades the Jehovah 's Witnesses have been viewed with suspicion in Russia , where the dominant Orthodox Church is championed by President Vladimir Putin .
The Christian group is known for door-to-door preaching , close Bible study , rejection of military service , and not celebrating national and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ annexed Crimea also persecute members of the Muslim organization Hizb ut-Tahrir , which is recognized as terrorist group in Russia .
Dozens of people have been convicted of involvement in the group ’ s activities .
Neither Hizb ut-Tahrir nor Jehovah 's Witnesses are banned in Ukraine .
Crimea has been controlled by Moscow since March 2014 after Russia forcibly annexed the peninsula , sending in troops and staging a referendum denounced as illegitimate by at least 100 countries after Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted amid a wave of public protests @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Service , AFP , and Reuters

A court in Russian-annexed Crimea has sentenced a Jehovah's Witness to six years in prison for being a member of an extremist group.
The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, a Ukrainian organization, called the sentencing of Artyom Gerasimov on June 4 "a shocking escalation of repression in occupied Crimea."
Russia officially banned the Jehovah's Witnesses in April 2017 and deemed it an "extremist organization," despite widespread condemnation from Western countries and human rights groups.
The Supreme Court in Crimea ruled in an appeal on June 4 that Gerasimov should serve six years in a penal colony.
The sentence came after Gerasimov appealed a Yalta city court fining him 400,000 rubles ($5,785) in March, the Jehovah's Witnesses said in a statement.
The prosecutor's office then demanded 6 1/2 years of imprisonment.
"Today's ruling by the Crimean Supreme Court brings religious persecution to a new level of cruelty," Jehovah's Witnesses spokesman Jarrod Lopes said.
According to the group, Gerasimov is the second Jehovah's Witness to be sentenced in Crimea, and the 30th Jehovah's Witness convicted in Russia and Crimea since 2017. Ten have been imprisoned.
On March 5, a Crimean court found Sergei Filatov guilty of being a member of the religious group and sentenced him to six years in prison.
For decades the Jehovah's Witnesses have been viewed with suspicion in Russia, where the dominant Russian Orthodox Church is championed by President Vladimir Putin.
The Christian group is known for door-to-door preaching, close Bible study, rejection of military service, and not celebrating national and religious holidays or birthdays.
Authorities in annexed Crimea also persecute members of the Muslim organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, which was declared a terrorist group in Russia.
Dozens of people have been convicted for involvement in the group's activities. Neither Hizb ut-Tahrir nor the Jehovah's Witnesses are banned in Ukraine.
Crimea has been controlled by Moscow since March 2014, when Russia forcibly annexed the peninsula, sending in troops and staging a referendum denounced as illegitimate by at least 100 countries, after Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted amid a wave of public protests.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service, AFP, and Reuters


rferl--2020-06-04--Lukashenka Names New PM Ahead Of Belarus Presidential Vote

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has named the previous head of a state body overseeing the defense industry as prime minister , two months before a presidential election .
Raman Golovchenko , a 46-year-old former diplomat who had been heading the State Military-Industrial Committee , was promoted to the premiership on June 4 , a day after Prime Minister Syarhey Rumas was dismissed along with his government after less than two years in office .
Analysts say the appointment of a man with experience in the defense sector is intended to consolidate Lukashenka 's rule and could signal that the 65-year-old @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if necessary to hold on to power .
Lukashenka , who has led the former Soviet republic for a quarter of a century , is widely expected to win a sixth term in office in an election scheduled for August 9 .
His critics say his government has shown little tolerance for dissent and independent media , and none of the elections since he took power in 1994 has been deemed free or fair by Western standards .
At a meeting with senior officials , Lukashenka emphasized that Golovchenko would be `` responsible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , for the final result , '' according to state news agency BelTA .
`` Most importantly he is a reliable person who can be trusted , '' he added .
Lukashenka called for stability , saying : `` Today is not the time for breaking things .
It 's not even time to build .
Today , it is necessary to save what has already been built . ''
During a June 1 meeting with the chief of the Belarusian KGB , Valery Vakulchyk , , the president warned there would be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Minsk and other towns and cities during which dozens of opposition supporters were detained .
The same day , prominent opposition leader Mikalay Statkevich was sentenced to 15 days in police detention .
Elections authorities had earlier rejected his bid to stand against Lukashenka in the upcoming election .
Human Rights Watch ( HRW ) last month warned that Belarusian authorities have intensified their crackdown on protesters , opposition bloggers , journalists , and other government critics with a “ new wave of arbitrary arrests ” ahead of the August vote .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ British , and European Union missions said in a joint statement on June 3 that `` media freedom and the right of peaceful assembly are essential to legitimate elections . ''
`` Journalists must be able to report freely and unhindered .
Citizens must be allowed to peacefully express their opinions .
This is why we are also concerned regarding the recent detentions of peaceful protesters and imprisonments of journalists , '' the statement said .
The country of 9.5 million people has been the target of U.S. and EU sanctions over its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elections , but Belarus and the West have recently sought to mend ties to reduce Russia ’ s influence in the country .
With reporting by Reuters and dpa

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has named the previous head of a state body overseeing the defense industry as prime minister, two months before a presidential election.
Raman Halouchanka, a 46-year-old former diplomat who had been heading the State Military-Industrial Committee, was promoted to the premiership on June 4, a day after Prime Minister Syarhey Rumas was dismissed along with his government after less than two years in office.
Analysts say the appointment of a man with experience in the defense sector is intended to consolidate Lukashenka's rule and could signal that the 65-year-old Belarusian leader's readiness to get tough if necessary to hold on to power.
Lukashenka, who has led the former Soviet republic for a quarter of a century, is widely expected to win a sixth term in office in an election scheduled for August 9.
His critics say his government has shown little tolerance for dissent and independent media, and none of the elections since he took power in 1994 has been deemed free or fair by Western standards.
'Discipline And Order'
At a meeting with senior officials, Lukashenka emphasized that Halouchanka would be "responsible for discipline and order in the government, for the final result," according to state news agency BelTA.
"Most importantly he is a reliable person who can be trusted," he added.
Lukashenka called for stability, saying: "Today is not the time for breaking things. It's not even time to build. Today, it is necessary to save what has already been built."
During a June 1 meeting with the chief of the Belarusian KGB, Valery Vakulchyk,, the president warned there would be no revolution in Belarus following mass rallies in Minsk and other towns and cities during which dozens of opposition supporters were detained.
The same day, prominent opposition leader Mikalay Statkevich was sentenced to 15 days in police detention.
Elections authorities had earlier rejected his bid to stand against Lukashenka in the upcoming election.
'Arbitrary Arrests'
Human Rights Watch (HRW) last month warned that Belarusian authorities have intensified their crackdown on protesters, opposition bloggers, journalists, and other government critics with a “new wave of arbitrary arrests” ahead of the August vote.
Signaling their concern, the U.S., British, and European Union missions said in a joint statement on June 3 that "media freedom and the right of peaceful assembly are essential to legitimate elections."
"Journalists must be able to report freely and unhindered. Citizens must be allowed to peacefully express their opinions. This is why we are also concerned regarding the recent detentions of peaceful protesters and imprisonments of journalists," the statement said.
The country of 9.5 million people has been the target of U.S. and EU sanctions over its poor rights record and lack of fair elections, but Belarus and the West have recently sought to mend ties to reduce Russia’s influence in the country.
With reporting by Reuters and dpa


rferl--2020-06-04--Ukrainian Court Rules Force Can Be Used To Bring Ex-President In For Questioning

KYIV – A court in Kyiv has ruled that former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko can be brought by force to the offices of the State Bureau of Investigations ( DBR ) after he twice ignored a summons last month .
Announcing its decision on June 4 , the Pechera District Court said that investigators want to question Poroshenko on June 10 about the alleged illegal transfer of valuable paintings across the border .
Poroshenko failed to show up at the DBR on May 26 and May 29 , as investigators wanted to question him as a witness about `` the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , without presenting to customs services , a collection of cultural objects , consisting of 43 paintings by world-famous artists . ''
On May 29 , DBR investigators also wanted to question Poroshenko in an investigation into an audio recording of individuals who are thought to possibly be Poroshenko and former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden .
In May , lawmaker Andriy Derkach said the audio recording proved that Poroshenko had committed `` high treason . ''
Poroshenko 's lawyers have said the ex-president did not show up at the DBR because the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s website .
They said their client should have been served the subpoena personally .
Poroshenko has been questioned as a witness several times in recent months in cases looking into several investigations launched after he failed to win a second term as president last year .
In January , the DBR said that it was looking into 13 possible cases in which Poroshenko or his associates were implicated .
A billionaire confectioner , Poroshenko currently serves as a member of parliament .
His party ran on a pro-European , anti-Russian ticket @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seats .

KYIV – A court in Kyiv has ruled that former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko can be brought by force to the offices of the State Bureau of Investigations (DBR) after he twice ignored a summons last month.
Announcing its decision on June 4, the Pechera District Court said that investigators want to question Poroshenko on June 10 about the alleged illegal transfer of valuable paintings across the border.
Poroshenko failed to show up at the DBR on May 26 and May 29, as investigators wanted to question him as a witness about "the circumstances of moving across the Ukrainian border, without presenting to customs services, a collection of cultural objects, consisting of 43 paintings by world-famous artists."
On May 29, DBR investigators also wanted to question Poroshenko in an investigation into an audio recording of individuals who are thought to possibly be Poroshenko and former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.
In May, lawmaker Andriy Derkach said the audio recording proved that Poroshenko had committed "high treason."
Poroshenko's lawyers have said the ex-president did not show up at the DBR because the summons had been made via the agency’s website. They said their client should have been served the subpoena personally.
Poroshenko has been questioned as a witness several times in recent months in cases looking into several investigations launched after he failed to win a second term as president last year.
In January, the DBR said that it was looking into 13 possible cases in which Poroshenko or his associates were implicated.
A billionaire confectioner, Poroshenko currently serves as a member of parliament.
His party ran on a pro-European, anti-Russian ticket in July parliamentary elections, winning 25 seats.


rferl--2020-06-04--Arrest Made Over Massive Fuel Leak In Siberia

Russian authorities have arrested the head of one of the units of a thermal power plant in Siberia after 20,000 tons of diesel fuel spilled from the facility above the Arctic Circle , seeping into the soil , two rivers , and a lake downstream .
The Krasnoyarsk Krai regional court on June 4 ordered Vyacheslav Starostin , head of the plant 's workshop , into pretrial detention until July 31 .
He was charged with violating environmental regulations and negligence .
President Vladimir Putin has ordered a state of emergency to deal with the consequences of the spill , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Norilsk on May 29 .
The plant is owned by a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel , the world 's leading nickel and palladium producer , which said the leak was caused when pillars supporting a storage tank sank due to the thawing of permafrost soil .
Greenpeace Russia said the accident was the `` first accident of such a scale in the Arctic . ''
Photos showed crimson waters in the Daldykan and Ambarnaya rivers , which feed the Lake Pyasino .
A spokesman for Russia 's Rosrybolovstvo state fishing agency , Dmitry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fuel entered the lake after drifting ice overnight broke the booms that had been installed on the rivers to contain the leakage .
It will take at least 10 years for the local environment to recover , according to Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Ecology , Yelena Panova .
`` The situation is very complicated , because we are talking about the Arctic ... We need to remove [ the fuel ] but there are no roads , no reservoirs .
We ca n't burn [ the fuel ] because it might @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Russian energy giant Gazprom Neft announced its teams had joined the operation to clean up the spill .
Norilsk , an isolated city of 180,000 people built around Norilsk Nickel , is constructed on permafrost and its infrastructure is threatened by melting ice caused by climate change .
`` This year , we had an abnormally early summer ...
Considering the fact that hundreds of buildings were built on permafrost , we must think about security now , ” said Maksim Mironov , the head of Norilsk 's Development Agency .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ real and that the permafrost is different than it used to be , '' Mironov added .
With reporting by Interfax , RIA Novosti , TASS , AFP , and Kommersant

Russian authorities have arrested the head of one of the units of a thermal power plant in Siberia after 20,000 tons of diesel fuel spilled from the facility above the Arctic Circle, seeping into the soil, two rivers, and a lake downstream.
The Krasnoyarsk Krai regional court on June 4 ordered Vyacheslav Starostin, head of the plant's workshop, into pretrial detention until July 31.
He was charged with violating environmental regulations and negligence.
President Vladimir Putin has ordered a state of emergency to deal with the consequences of the spill, which occurred near the industrial city of Norilsk on May 29.
The plant is owned by a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel, the world's leading nickel and palladium producer, which said the leak was caused when pillars supporting a storage tank sank due to the thawing of permafrost soil.
Greenpeace Russia said the accident was the "first accident of such a scale in the Arctic."
Photos showed crimson waters in the Daldykan and Ambarnaya rivers, which feed the Lake Pyasino.
A spokesman for Russia's Rosrybolovstvo state fishing agency, Dmitry Klokov, told Kommersant daily that diesel fuel entered the lake after drifting ice overnight broke the booms that had been installed on the rivers to contain the leakage.
It will take at least 10 years for the local environment to recover, according to Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Ecology, Yelena Panova.
"The situation is very complicated, because we are talking about the Arctic...We need to remove [the fuel] but there are no roads, no reservoirs. We can't burn [the fuel] because it might produce toxic substances," Panova said.
Russian energy giant Gazprom Neft announced its teams had joined the operation to clean up the spill.
Norilsk, an isolated city of 180,000 people built around Norilsk Nickel, is constructed on permafrost and its infrastructure is threatened by melting ice caused by climate change.
"This year, we had an abnormally early summer...Considering the fact that hundreds of buildings were built on permafrost, we must think about security now,” said Maksim Mironov, the head of Norilsk's Development Agency.
“We must realize that global warming is real and that the permafrost is different than it used to be," Mironov added.
With reporting by Interfax, RIA Novosti, TASS, AFP, and Kommersant


rferl--2020-06-04--HRW: Kyrgyz Rights Defender Faces 'Bogus' Charges After Complaining About Threats

Human Rights Watch ( HRW ) is urging Kyrgyz authorities to lift a two-month house-arrest order imposed on human rights defender Kamiljan Ruziev , drop all “ bogus ” charges against him , and probe allegations that security services have threatened him .
State National Security Committee ( GKNB ) officers arrested the activist , who is also known as Kamil Ruziev , outside the Karakol City Courthouse in northeastern Kyrgyzstan on May 29 .
The court was considering a lawsuit Ruziev had filed against the GKNB and the prosecutor ’ s office for failing to investigate his complaint that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` Ruziev filed formal complaints against security officers , so Kyrgyzstan ’ s security service responded by harassing him with a bogus criminal investigation , '' Mihra Rittmann , senior Central Asia researcher at HRW , said in a statement on June 4 .
The authorities `` should instead be carrying out a thorough and timely investigation into Ruziev ’ s complaint and any abuse of power by the security officials who arrested him , '' Rittmann added .
During a court hearing on May 31 , the investigator in Ruziev 's case @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The activist was ordered to go into house arrest for two months .
Ruziev and his lawyer have appealed the ruling and filed a complaint against the GKNB for unlawful detention .
Ruziev , who heads the Karakol-based human rights organization Ventus , believes he was arrested in retribution for his human rights activities .
For the past 20 years , Ruziev has been defending the rights of prisoners and others who have complained of torture and harassment by police and government officials .

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is urging Kyrgyz authorities to lift a two-month house-arrest order imposed on human rights defender Kamiljan Ruziev, drop all “bogus” charges against him, and probe allegations that security services have threatened him.
State National Security Committee (GKNB) officers arrested the activist, who is also known as Kamil Ruziev, outside the Karakol City Courthouse in northeastern Kyrgyzstan on May 29.
The court was considering a lawsuit Ruziev had filed against the GKNB and the prosecutor’s office for failing to investigate his complaint that law enforcement officers had threatened him.
"Ruziev filed formal complaints against security officers, so Kyrgyzstan’s security service responded by harassing him with a bogus criminal investigation," Mihra Rittmann, senior Central Asia researcher at HRW, said in a statement on June 4.
The authorities "should instead be carrying out a thorough and timely investigation into Ruziev’s complaint and any abuse of power by the security officials who arrested him," Rittmann added.
During a court hearing on May 31, the investigator in Ruziev's case said he was suspected of forgery. The activist was ordered to go into house arrest for two months.
Ruziev and his lawyer have appealed the ruling and filed a complaint against the GKNB for unlawful detention.
Ruziev, who heads the Karakol-based human rights organization Ventus, believes he was arrested in retribution for his human rights activities.
For the past 20 years, Ruziev has been defending the rights of prisoners and others who have complained of torture and harassment by police and government officials.
With reporting by RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service


rferl--2020-06-04--U.S. Navy Veteran Detained In Iran Freed, On His Way Home

U.S. Navy veteran Michael White , who has been detained in Iran for nearly two years , is returning home after being freed from detention in Iran .
White on June 4 flew from Tehran to Zurich , where he was met by U.S. special envoy for Iran , Brian Hook .
His release is part of a prisoner deal involving an American-Iranian doctor prosecuted in the United States , U.S. and Iranian officials said .
White was sentenced to 13 years in prison last year for allegedly insulting Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and posting private information online @ @ @ @ @ @ @ released on medical grounds amid the coronavirus pandemic to the Swiss Embassy .
The navy veteran was detained in July 2018 while he was visiting a woman he had met online and fallen in love with .
The AP news agency quoted U.S. officials as saying his release was part of an agreement involving Majid Taheri , an Iranian-American physician prosecuted by the Justice Department .
Taheri served 16 months for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran and was sentenced on June 4 to time served , Fox News reported .
It cited a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lived in the United States for 33 years and is a medical doctor in Florida .
Iran 's Foreign Ministry said Taheri was released at the same time as Tehran released White .
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter he was “ Pleased that Dr. Majid Taheri and Mr. White will soon be joining their families . ''
https : //twitter.com/JZarif/status/1268607674750586881 Earlier in the day , U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that White was “ on a Swiss plane that just left Iranian Airspace ” and should be home with his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I will never stop working to secure the release of all Americans held hostage overseas !
Thank you Switzerland for your great assistance , ” he wrote in a separate tweet .
Switzerland , the intermediary between the U.S. and Iranian governments , has facilitated months of quiet negotiations over prisoners , reports said .
White ’ s mother , Joanne White , said in a statement that `` the nightmare is over , and my son is safely in American custody and on his way home.
” Several other U.S. citizens are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bail .
The developments follow the deportation to Iran this week of Sirios Asgari , an Iranian scientist detained in the United States .
U.S. and Iranian officials have denied that his release was part of a prisoner swap .
Relations between Washington and Tehran have become increasingly hostile since 2018 , when President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and world powers .
With reporting by AP , Fox News , and Reuters

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


rferl--2020-06-04--Decision To Place Anti-Putin Shaman In Psychiatric Clinic Challenged

MOSCOW -- A Siberian court ruling placing in a psychiatric clinic a Siberian shaman who gained notoriety for claiming to want to remove President Vladimir Putin from power has been challenged by several Russian lawmakers .
Aleksandr Gabyshev was forcibly placed in a psychiatric clinic against his will after 20 officers from a special police unit of Russia 's National Guard stormed into his home in Yakutsk , the capital of the Siberian region of Yakutsk , on May 12 and detained him .
Gabyshev 's lawyers said on May 26 that they filed a complaint with the European Court @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being confined to a psychiatric clinic against his will and without a court ruling , which they said was illegal .
He was briefly released on May 29 , a day after his lawyer , Olga Timofeyeva , filed a complaint with the Yakutsk city court questioning the legality of his forced placement in the clinic .
But a court in Yakutsk subsequently ruled on June 2 that Gabyshev must be confined to a psychiatric clinic .
Fedot Tumusov , a lawmaker from the A Just Russia party and deputy head of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told the Kommersant daily on June 4 that the medical report on which the court based its ruling to confine Gabyshev to a psychiatric clinic `` sparked doubts about their legality . ''
Tumusov said he had urged Prosecutor-General Igor Krasnov to intervene in the case .
`` Residents of Yakutia are disturbed by the court 's decision , '' said Tumusov , who , like Gabyshev , is a native of Yakutia himself .
Also , on June 4 , another lawmaker , Boris Mendelevich of the ruling United Russia party , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the legitimacy of the court 's decision .
Mendelevich , who is a professional psychologist , compared Gabyshev 's forced confinement to the Soviet-era practice of using psychiatric clinics as detention centers for dissidents .
Viktor Gubarev , the leader of the Yakut branch of the Communist Party , said that `` medical experts who found Gabyshev mentally ill should answer more questions than Gabyshev himself . ''
Earlier this week , Sardana Avksentyeva , the mayor of Yakutsk , publicly called Gabyshev 's detainment `` a selective punitive action . ''
Amnesty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an enemy of the state solely for voicing his dislike of Putin . ''
`` By co-opting first the police and now the psychiatric system to do their bidding , the Russian authorities have revealed the astonishing lengths they will go to repress critics , '' the London-based , human rights watchdog said .
In early May , Gabyshev posted a video on YouTube that showed him performing a traditional Yakut shaman 's dance while chanting , `` Very soon you all will break free . ''
Gabyshev first made headlines last year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and announced that a march to Moscow to drive the Russian president out of the Kremlin .
Gabyshev set off for Moscow in March last year and walked more than 2,000 kilometers , speaking with hundreds of Russians along the way .
As his notoriety rose , videos of his conversations with people were posted on social media and attracted millions of views .
In July , when Gabyshev reached the city of Chita , he gathered a 700-strong rally under the slogan `` Russia without Putin ! ''
At the time , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Putin is not human but a demon , and has ordered me to drive him out . ''
His march was halted when he was detained in the region of Buryatia in September .
He was transferred to Yakutia , where he was confined to a psychiatric clinic .
He was released in October , after independent experts hired by his lawyers challenged the local psychiatrists ' diagnosis of mental instability , concluding that Gabyshev is sane , does not need treatment in a psychiatric clinic , and is not a danger @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and two supporters attempted to resume the march toward Moscow , ignoring Yakutia 's sub-zero temperatures .
But they were stopped again by police and forced to return .
Shamans have served as healers and diviners in Siberia for centuries .
During the Soviet era , the mystics were harshly repressed .
But in isolated parts of Siberia , they are now regaining prominence .

MOSCOW -- A Siberian court ruling placing in a psychiatric clinic a Siberian shaman who gained notoriety for claiming to want to remove President Vladimir Putin from power has been challenged by several Russian lawmakers.
Aleksandr Gabyshev was forcibly placed in a psychiatric clinic against his will after 20 officers from a special police unit of Russia's National Guard stormed into his home in Yakutsk, the capital of the Siberian region of Yakutsk, on May 12 and detained him.
Gabyshev's lawyers said on May 26 that they filed a complaint with the European Court for Human Rights challenging their client's being confined to a psychiatric clinic against his will and without a court ruling, which they said was illegal.
He was briefly released on May 29, a day after his lawyer, Olga Timofeyeva, filed a complaint with the Yakutsk city court questioning the legality of his forced placement in the clinic.
But a court in Yakutsk subsequently ruled on June 2 that Gabyshev must be confined to a psychiatric clinic.
Fedot Tumusov, a lawmaker from the A Just Russia party and deputy head of the State Duma's Health Protection Committee, told the Kommersant daily on June 4 that the medical report on which the court based its ruling to confine Gabyshev to a psychiatric clinic "sparked doubts about their legality."
Tumusov said he had urged Prosecutor-General Igor Krasnov to intervene in the case. "Residents of Yakutia are disturbed by the court's decision," said Tumusov, who, like Gabyshev, is a native of Yakutia himself.
Also, on June 4, another lawmaker, Boris Mendelevich of the ruling United Russia party, asked Health Minister Mikhail Murashko to assess the legitimacy of the court's decision.
Mendelevich, who is a professional psychologist, compared Gabyshev's forced confinement to the Soviet-era practice of using psychiatric clinics as detention centers for dissidents.
Viktor Gubarev, the leader of the Yakut branch of the Communist Party, said that "medical experts who found Gabyshev mentally ill should answer more questions than Gabyshev himself."
Earlier this week, Sardana Avksentyeva, the mayor of Yakutsk, publicly called Gabyshev's detainment "a selective punitive action."
Amnesty International said Gabyshev "has been made an enemy of the state solely for voicing his dislike of Putin."
"By co-opting first the police and now the psychiatric system to do their bidding, the Russian authorities have revealed the astonishing lengths they will go to repress critics," the London-based, human rights watchdog said.
In early May, Gabyshev posted a video on YouTube that showed him performing a traditional Yakut shaman's dance while chanting, "Very soon you all will break free."
Gabyshev first made headlines last year when he called Putin "evil" and announced that a march to Moscow to drive the Russian president out of the Kremlin.
Gabyshev set off for Moscow in March last year and walked more than 2,000 kilometers, speaking with hundreds of Russians along the way.
As his notoriety rose, videos of his conversations with people were posted on social media and attracted millions of views.
In July, when Gabyshev reached the city of Chita, he gathered a 700-strong rally under the slogan "Russia without Putin!"
At the time, Gabyshev said, "God told me that Putin is not human but a demon, and has ordered me to drive him out."
His march was halted when he was detained in the region of Buryatia in September.
He was transferred to Yakutia, where he was confined to a psychiatric clinic.
He was released in October, after independent experts hired by his lawyers challenged the local psychiatrists' diagnosis of mental instability, concluding that Gabyshev is sane, does not need treatment in a psychiatric clinic, and is not a danger to society.
In December, Gabyshev and two supporters attempted to resume the march toward Moscow, ignoring Yakutia's sub-zero temperatures.
But they were stopped again by police and forced to return.
Shamans have served as healers and diviners in Siberia for centuries. During the Soviet era, the mystics were harshly repressed. But in isolated parts of Siberia, they are now regaining prominence.


rferl--2020-06-05--Czech Republic Expels Two Staff Members From Russian Embassy

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis says his government has decided to designate two staff members at the Russian Embassy in @ @ @ @ @ .
Speaking at a June 5 news conference in Prague along with Foreign Minister Tomas @ @ @ @ @ the move was taken as a result of the so-called ricin affair , which turned @ @ @ @ @ incident sparked by a dispute between embassy staff .
Neither Babis nor Petricek took questions @ @ @ @ @ conference .
They did not name the staff members in question .
The affair stems @ @ @ @ @ Andrei Konchakov , deputy director of the embassy 's Russian Center for Science and Culture @ @ @ @ @ to Prague in mid-March that was meant to be used in a plot to poison @ @ @ @ @ two other senior municipal officials , Ondrej Kolar and Pavel Novotny .
Moscow denied the @ @ @ @ @ tense relations between the two countries.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis says his government has designated two staff members at the Russian Embassy in Prague as personae non gratae and ordered them to leave.
Speaking at a June 5 news conference in Prague along with Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek, Babis said that the move was taken as a result of the so-called ricin affair, which turned out to be a fake incident sparked by an “internal struggle” between embassy staff.
“One of them purposefully sent to the BIS fictional information about a planned attack on Czech politicians," the prime minister said, referring to the Czech intelligence service.
Neither Babis nor Petricek took questions from reporters during the news conference. They did not name the staff members in question.
The Russian Embassy called the expulsions of the diplomats an “unfriendly step” that shows Prague is not interested in normalizing already tense relations between the two countries.
The affair stems from Czech media reports that Andrei Konchakov, deputy director of the embassy's Russian Center for Science and Culture, brought ricin from Russia to Prague in mid-March that was meant to be used in a plot to poison Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib and two other senior municipal officials, Ondrej Kolar and Pavel Novotny.
Moscow at the time denied the reports as “fabrications.”
The scandal broke out on April 26 when Respekt, a Czech investigative weekly, published a report quoting unnamed security sources as saying that a suspected Russian intelligence officer traveling on a diplomatic passport had arrived recently in Prague carrying the deadly toxin ricin as part of an alleged poisoning plot.
Czech media last month identified the suspected Russian intelligence operative as Andrei Konchakov.
The three Czech officials -- Kolar, Hrib, and Novotny -- were given around-the-clock police protection at the time.
All three have taken or supported actions that have angered the Kremlin, including the renaming of the square in front of the Russian Embassy after a slain former Kremlin critic and the removal of a statue of a Soviet-era general.
As possible payback, Moscow is suspected of having a role in a recent wave of cyberattacks in the Czech Republic.
Moscow, suspected in the 2018 poisoning in Britain of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with a nerve agent, has said the alleged poisoning plot against the three Czechs was part of a "disinformation campaign" aimed at discrediting Russia and threatened "serious consequences" to Czech-Russian relations.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP


rferl--2020-06-05--Uzbek President Visits Eastern Region Wracked By Ethnic Unrest

TASHKENT -- Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev is touring the eastern region of Ferghana days after simmering ethnic unrest boiled over again near the region 's Sokh exclave within neighboring Kyrgyzstan .
The Uzbek presidential office said on June 5 that Mirziyoev left Tashkent , the capital , for Ferghana `` to get acquainted with the ongoing social and economic reforms and the residents ' everyday life . ''
The office did not say if Mirziyoev plans to visit the troubled Sokh exclave within Kyrgyzstan 's southern region of Batken .
Clashes between Kyrgyz villagers and residents of the exclave erupted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ownership of a spring located in the area .
On June 1 , while getting acquainted with the aftermath of the clashes , Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov told Sokh residents that Mirzioyev would visit the Ferghana region as well .
The Sokh district administration said then that 187 local residents were injured in the clashes , 15 of whom had been transferred by helicopter to the Ferghana Regional Central Hospital , while others were being treated in the Sokh District Hospital .
Kyrgyzstan has said 25 of its citizens were injured @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 been also been very high in recent weeks in the area close to a Tajik exclave called Vorukh in Kyrgyzstan 's Batken region @ @ @ @ @ @ @ border in recent weeks as well .

TASHKENT -- Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev is touring the eastern region of Ferghana days after simmering ethnic unrest boiled over again near the region's Sokh exclave within neighboring Kyrgyzstan.
The Uzbek presidential office said on June 5 that Mirziyoev left Tashkent, the capital, for Ferghana "to get acquainted with the ongoing social and economic reforms and the residents' everyday life."
The office did not say if Mirziyoev plans to visit the troubled Sokh exclave within Kyrgyzstan's southern region of Batken.
Clashes between Kyrgyz villagers and residents of the exclave erupted on May 31 over a dispute about the ownership of a spring located in the area.
On June 1, while getting acquainted with the aftermath of the clashes, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov told Sokh residents that Mirzioyev would visit the Ferghana region as well.
The Sokh district administration said then that 187 local residents were injured in the clashes, 15 of whom had been transferred by helicopter to the Ferghana Regional Central Hospital, while others were being treated in the Sokh District Hospital.
Kyrgyzstan has said 25 of its citizens were injured in the clashes.
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 been also been very high in recent weeks in the area close to a Tajik exclave called Vorukh in Kyrgyzstan's Batken region and nearby disputed segments of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border in recent weeks as well.


rferl--2020-06-05--Watchdog Says Chief Of Iranian News Agency Convicted For Interviewee's Remarks

The Committee to Protect Journalists ( CPJ ) says Ali Motaghian , the chief of Iran 's semiofficial ISNA news agency , has been convicted over the publishing of an article quoting a former Iranian diplomat who criticized Tehran 's `` arbitrary '' intelligence operations in Europe .
It was not immediately clear what sentence was handed down in the case and whether Motaghian was in custody after his trial on charges of `` publishing lies with the intention of disturbing the public , '' the CPJ said .
The Iranian judiciary 's own news agency , Mizan , said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ months to two years in prison , as well as 74 lashes and a fine .
The trial followed a complaint by the intelligence branch of Iran 's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps ( IRGC ) , after ISNA published an extensive interview in January 2019 with Ali Majedi , Iran 's former ambassador to Germany .
Majedi appeared to criticize some of Iran 's intelligence operations in Europe during the interview .
Majedi 's comments followed Germany 's arrest of Vienna-based diplomat Assadollah Assadi , who prosecutors said belonged to Iran 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Assadi of being involved in a plot to bomb an annual rally of the Iranian exile group Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization ( MKO or MEK ) in neighboring France , and providing the explosives .
`` We are facing an issue inside the country , such as arbitrary operations , '' ISNA quoted Majedi as saying .
`` Can we deny that there are no examples of this happening outside the country ?
Such operations damage the trust . ''
The reporter who wrote the story and Majedi were found not guilty by Tehran @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
The Iranian Students ' News Agency opened in 1999 and is nominally independent , but -- like other semiofficial news agencies -- operates under a license from the government .
Journalists in Iran face harassment from the authorities and have even been imprisoned for their work .
Foreign journalists , especially those with Western ties , have also been imprisoned .


rferl--2020-06-05--New Kyrgyz Political Alliance Established Months Before Parliamentary Elections

BISHKEK -- Several political parties and movements in Kyrgyzstan have established an alliance called Jany Dem ( A New Breath ) to jointly take part in parliamentary elections scheduled for October .
A memorandum of strategic partnership was signed on June 5 by leaders of Ata-Meken ( Fatherland ) party , Ak Shumkar ( White Falcon ) party , the Liberal Democratic Party , the Social Democratic Party , the Jany Dem Youth Association , and the Green Alliance group .
After signing the memorandum , the politicians said the alliance 's main goal was the `` renewal of political @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only country in Central Asia where democratic elections are held -- with `` the cooperation with all political parties and civil society . ''
The memorandum states that the members of the new alliance will stick to a conservative approach to issues related to the `` preservation of traditional values and the unique culture of the people , '' while being open to reforms that open new opportunities to develop the country further .
The politicians also said it was crucial to undertake urgent measures to tackle the coronavirus pandemic , adding that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ map for further reforms in the country .
The Social Democratic Party , which currently holds the most seats in parliament , recently splintered , opening the way for the opposition to make gains at the ballot box .

BISHKEK -- Several political parties and movements in Kyrgyzstan have established an alliance called Jany Dem (A New Breath) to jointly take part in parliamentary elections scheduled for October.
A memorandum of strategic partnership was signed on June 5 by leaders of Ata-Meken (Fatherland) party, Ak Shumkar (White Falcon) party, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Social Democratic Party, the Jany Dem Youth Association, and the Green Alliance group.
After signing the memorandum, the politicians said the alliance's main goal was the "renewal of political forces" in the country -- the only country in Central Asia where democratic elections are held -- with "the cooperation with all political parties and civil society."
The memorandum states that the members of the new alliance will stick to a conservative approach to issues related to the "preservation of traditional values and the unique culture of the people," while being open to reforms that open new opportunities to develop the country further.
The politicians also said it was crucial to undertake urgent measures to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, adding that they plan to present their own road map for further reforms in the country.
The Social Democratic Party, which currently holds the most seats in parliament, recently splintered, opening the way for the opposition to make gains at the ballot box.


rferl--2020-06-05--U.S. Senators Introduce Legislation To Stop Completion Of Russian Gas Pipeline

A group of bipartisan senators has submitted legislation to stop Russia from completing a controversial undersea natural-gas pipeline to Germany .
The five senators , led by Ted Cruz ( Republican-Texas ) and Jeanne Shaheen ( Democrat-New Hampshire ) , introduced the legislation on June 4 to expand existing sanctions against Nord Stream 2 , which would double Russian gas exports to Germany if completed .
The United States in December 2019 passed the Protecting Europe 's Energy Security Act , which placed sanctions on vessels laying the Nord Stream 2 pipeline along the floor of the Baltic Sea , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before its completion .
To get around the bill 's impact , Russia has sent its own vessel to the Baltic Sea to lay the remaining 160 kilometers of pipeline .
Nord Stream 2 consists of two parallel lines stretching 1,230 kilometers from Russia to Germany along the Baltic Sea floor .
The new legislation widens the sanctions in the existing law to include any entity that provides insurance , port facilities or tethering services for the project as well as any company that certifies Nord Stream 2 for operation .
`` There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's Nord Stream 2 pipeline poses a critical threat to America 's national security and must not be completed .
Nevertheless , Putin continues to try to circumvent those sanctions , '' Cruz said in a statement .
The United States opposes Nord Stream 2 , claiming it undermined Ukraine and strengthened Russia 's grip on Europe 's energy industry .
The pipeline would enable Russia to reroute gas exports to Europe around Ukraine , depriving Kyiv of billions of dollars in needed transit revenue .
Naftogaz , Ukraine 's state-owned natural gas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to first pass and then expand the sanctions .
Moscow has accused Washington of using sanctions to open the door for more U.S. liquefied natural gas ( LNG ) exports to Europe .
The United States has ramped up gas production over the past decade and has begun exporting LNG to Europe .
Texas , which Cruz represents , is the country 's largest producer of natural gas .
The new legislation would need to pass both houses of Congress and be signed by the president before it could become law .
Russia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first quarter of 2021 at the latest , Russian President Vladimir Putin said in January .
It took Congress seven months to pass the first Nord Stream 2 bill .
Perhaps amid concerns that Russia could complete the project before the new legislation is approved , the authors have made the new sanctions retroactive to December 2019 .

A group of bipartisan senators has submitted legislation to stop Russia from completing a controversial undersea natural-gas pipeline to Germany.
The five senators, led by Ted Cruz (Republican-Texas) and Jeanne Shaheen (Democrat-New Hampshire), introduced the legislation on June 4 to expand existing sanctions against Nord Stream 2, which would double Russian gas exports to Germany if completed.
The United States in December 2019 passed the Protecting Europe's Energy Security Act, which placed sanctions on vessels laying the Nord Stream 2 pipeline along the floor of the Baltic Sea, halting the $11 billion project shortly before its completion.
To get around the bill's impact, Russia has sent its own vessel to the Baltic Sea to lay the remaining 160 kilometers of pipeline. Nord Stream 2 consists of two parallel lines stretching 1,230 kilometers from Russia to Germany along the Baltic Sea floor.
The new legislation widens the sanctions in the existing law to include any entity that provides insurance, port facilities or tethering services for the project as well as any company that certifies Nord Stream 2 for operation.
"There is bipartisan and bicameral consensus that Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline poses a critical threat to America's national security and must not be completed. Nevertheless, Putin continues to try to circumvent those sanctions," Cruz said in a statement.
The United States opposes Nord Stream 2, claiming it undermined Ukraine and strengthened Russia's grip on Europe's energy industry.
The pipeline would enable Russia to reroute gas exports to Europe around Ukraine, depriving Kyiv of billions of dollars in needed transit revenue.
Naftogaz, Ukraine's state-owned natural gas company, has lobbied the United States to first pass and then expand the sanctions.
Moscow has accused Washington of using sanctions to open the door for more U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Europe.
The United States has ramped up gas production over the past decade and has begun exporting LNG to Europe. Texas, which Cruz represents, is the country's largest producer of natural gas.
The new legislation would need to pass both houses of Congress and be signed by the president before it could become law.
Russia hopes to finish the pipeline by the first quarter of 2021 at the latest, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in January.
It took Congress seven months to pass the first Nord Stream 2 bill.
Perhaps amid concerns that Russia could complete the project before the new legislation is approved, the authors have made the new sanctions retroactive to December 2019.


rferl--2020-06-04--Crimean Court Jails Jehovah's Witness For Six Years For 'Extremist' Activity

A court in Russian-annexed Crimea has sentenced a Jehovah 's Witness to six years in prison for being a member of an extremist group .
The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group , a Ukrainian organization , called the sentencing of Artyom Gerasimov on June 4 `` a shocking escalation of repression in occupied Crimea . ''
Russia officially banned the Jehovah 's Witnesses in April 2017 and deemed it an `` extremist organization , '' despite widespread condemnation from Western countries and human rights groups .
The Supreme Court in Crimea ruled in an appeal on June 4 that Gerasimov @ @ @ @ @ @ @ colony .
The sentence came after Gerasimov appealed a Yalta city court fining him 400,000 rubles ( $ 5,785 ) in March , the Jehovah 's Witnesses said in a statement .
The prosecutor 's office then demanded 6 1/2 years of imprisonment .
`` Today 's ruling by the Crimean Supreme Court brings religious persecution to a new level of cruelty , '' Jehovah 's Witnesses spokesman Jarrod Lopes said .
According to the group , Gerasimov is the second Jehovah 's Witness to be sentenced in Crimea , and the 30th @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Crimea since 2017 .
Ten have been imprisoned .
On March 5 , a Crimean court found Sergei Filatov guilty of being a member of the religious group and sentenced him to six years in prison .
For decades the Jehovah 's Witnesses have been viewed with suspicion in Russia , where the dominant Russian Orthodox Church is championed by President Vladimir Putin .
The Christian group is known for door-to-door preaching , close Bible study , rejection of military service , and not celebrating national and religious holidays or birthdays .
Authorities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Muslim organization Hizb ut-Tahrir , which was declared a terrorist group in Russia .
Dozens of people have been convicted for involvement in the group 's activities .
Neither Hizb ut-Tahrir nor the Jehovah 's Witnesses are banned in Ukraine .
Crimea has been controlled by Moscow since March 2014 , when Russia forcibly annexed the peninsula , sending in troops and staging a referendum denounced as illegitimate by at least 100 countries , after Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted amid a wave of public protests .
With reporting by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Reuters


rferl--2020-06-06--Russia Orders Review Of Infrastructure On Melting Permafrost In Wake Of Arctic Fuel Spill

Russia 's Prosecutor-General 's Office on June 5 ordered a review of all hazardous objects built on permafrost in response to a fuel tank leak that has created an ecological disaster in the Arctic linked to climate change .
President Vladimir Putin ordered a state of emergency earlier this week after a holding tank at a thermal power plant in the industrial city of Norilsk spilled at least 20,000 tons diesel fuel into the soil , two rivers , and a downstream lake .
The power plant is owned by a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel , the world 's leading @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the leak on May 29 was caused when pillars supporting a storage tank sank due to the thawing of permafrost soil .
The Prosecutor-General 's Office said its preliminary findings showed sagging ground helped trigger the disaster and ordered other structures built on permafrost to be examined .
`` To prevent a similar situation on especially hazardous structures on territories prone to melting of permafrost , '' the prosecutor general has `` ordered a comprehensive review of such objects , '' it said .
Sixty-five percent Russia is covered by permafrost and Norilsk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people built around Norilsk Nickel , is constructed on permafrost and its infrastructure is threatened by climate change .
The ecological disaster comes as temperatures in Siberia were up to 10 degrees Celsius above average in May and were also higher than normal earlier in the year , the Copernicus Climate Change Service said on June 5 .
The European Union climate service said spring in Siberia was marked by “ highly anomalous temperatures , ” in particular over the lower reaches of the Ob and Yenisei rivers .
The Yenisei river is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an online meeting on June 5 , Putin criticized Norilsk Nickel President Vladimir Potanin for not replacing the fuel tank earlier .
`` If you had changed it on time there would not have been this ecological damage and the company would not have had to foot these [ clean-up ] costs .
Study this as closely as possible inside the company , '' Putin told Potanin during the televised meeting .
Potanin , who is Russia 's richest man with a net worth of nearly $ 20 billion , according to Forbes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the costs of the clean-up , estimated at 10 billion rubles ( $ 145 million ) .
For at least two days after the accident Norilsk Nickel hushed up and downplayed the scale of the disaster .
The fuel seeped into the ground and then entered the Daldykan and Ambarnaya rivers , which feed into Lake Pyasino .
Russian authorities have arrested the head of one of the units of the thermal power plant for violating environmental regulations and negligence .
Greenpeace Russia has described the disaster as the `` first accident of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Ecology Yelena Panova has said it could take at least 10 years for the local environment to recover .
With reporting by AFP , Reuters , and RFE/RL 's Russian Service

Russia's Prosecutor-General's Office on June 5 ordered a review of all hazardous objects built on permafrost in response to a fuel tank leak that has created an ecological disaster in the Arctic linked to climate change.
President Vladimir Putin ordered a state of emergency earlier this week after a holding tank at a thermal power plant in the industrial city of Norilsk spilled at least 20,000 tons of diesel fuel into the soil, two rivers, and a downstream lake.
The power plant is owned by a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel, the world's leading nickel and palladium producer, which said the leak on May 29 was caused when pillars supporting a storage tank sank due to the thawing of permafrost soil.
The Prosecutor-General's Office said its preliminary findings showed sagging ground helped trigger the disaster and ordered other structures built on permafrost to be examined.
"To prevent a similar situation on especially hazardous structures on territories prone to melting of permafrost," the prosecutor-general has "ordered a comprehensive review of such objects," it said.
Sixty-five percent of Russia is covered by permafrost. Norilsk, an isolated Arctic city of 180,000 people built around Norilsk Nickel, is constructed on permafrost and its infrastructure is threatened by climate change.
The ecological disaster comes as temperatures in Siberia were up to 10 degrees Celsius above average in May and were also higher than normal earlier in the year, the Copernicus Climate Change Service said on June 5.
The European Union's climate service said spring in Siberia was marked by “highly anomalous temperatures,” in particular over the lower reaches of the Ob and Yenisei rivers. The Yenisei river is located just west of Norilsk.
In an online meeting on June 5, Putin criticized Norilsk Nickel President Vladimir Potanin for not replacing the fuel tank earlier.
"If you had changed it on time, there would not have been this ecological damage and the company would not have had to foot these [cleanup] costs. Study this as closely as possible inside the company," Putin told Potanin during the televised meeting.
Potanin, who is Russia's richest man with a net worth of nearly $20 billion, according to Forbes, said Norilsk Nickel will pay for the costs of the cleanup, estimated at 10 billion rubles ($145 million).
Norilsk Nickel hushed up and downplayed the scale of the disaster for at least two days after the accident. The fuel seeped into the ground and then entered the Daldykan and Ambarnaya rivers, which feed into Lake Pyasino.
Russian authorities have arrested the head of one of the units of the thermal power plant for negligence and violating environmental regulations.
Greenpeace Russia has described the disaster as the "first accident of such a scale in the Arctic."
Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Ecology Yelena Panova has said it could take at least 10 years for the local environment to recover.
With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and RFE/RL's Russian Service


rferl--2020-06-05--U.S. Air Strikes Target Taliban In Afghanistan

The U.S. military says it has launched its first air strikes against the Taliban since a cease-fire declared by the militants and Afghan forces last month .
The two sets of air strikes took place on June 4-5 in two different Afghan provinces , military spokesman Colonel Sonny Leggett said .
Elsewhere , 10 Afghan security forces members were reported killed on June 5 in an attack blamed on the Taliban .
The militant group announced a three-day cease-fire with Afghan forces that ended on May 26 to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr .
There has since been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ country , with Kabul saying it is ready to start long-delayed peace negotiations with the insurgents .
Washington signed a deal with the Taliban in February , in which it pledged to withdraw all U.S. troops in return for security guarantees in a bid to pave the way for talks between warring Afghan sides .
Leggett said in a tweet that a U.S. air strike was carried out against 25 armed Taliban fighters “ executing a coordinated attack ” on an Afghan force checkpoint in the western province of Farah .
Another strike @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Taliban fighters attacking a checkpoint in the southern Kandahar Province , the spokesman said .
“ All sides must reduce violence to allow the peace process to take hold , ” he wrote in a separate tweet .
There was no immediate comment from the Taliban .
In the southern province of Zabul , officials said the Taliban ambushed a police convoy after setting off a roadside bomb , killing 10 Afghan officers .
Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said the blast destroyed several police vehicles .
The Taliban has not claimed responsibility @ @ @ @ @ @ @ AP , AFP , and Reuters

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--2020-06-05--Kosovo's Ex-PM Kurti Stands Firm On Demand For New Elections

PRISTINA -- Kosovo 's former Prime Minister Albin Kurti says his leftist-nationalist Vetevendosje ( Self-Determination ) party will continue to press for new general elections , after parliament approved this week a new government by a razor-thin majority following months of political turmoil .
“ We will continue our fight inside and outside of parliament , ” Kurti said in an interview with RFE/RL on June 5 , warning that street protests against the “ weak ” government led by Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti are “ inevitable.
” Vetevendosje has been calling for new parliamentary elections since the coalition government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ losing a no-confidence vote initiated by the center-right Democratic League of Kosovo ( LDK ) party .
However , the Constitutional Court ruled that a new government could be formed without a vote , giving Hoti of the LDK a path to the premiership .
In the interview , Kurti reiterated his claim that Hoti ’ s government is “ unlawful ” because it came to power based on an “ unconstitutional ” court verdict .
Because Vetevendosje is the “ main and most powerful ” political force in Kosovo after it came @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2019 , ahead of the LDK , Hoti ’ s government will be “ short-lived , ” he predicted .
Hoti ’ s fragile government is the result of a coalition between the LDK and two former opposition groups and parties representing ethnic minorities .
The new prime minister , an economics professor and former finance minister , has vowed to move Kosovo forward on stalled normalization talks with neighboring Serbia .
But Kurti claimed the new government “ does not have the capacity to confront Serbia and does not have the legitimacy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ between Pristina and Belgrade would be “ invalid , ” he added .
Kosovo , a former province of Serbia , declared independence in 2008 in a move rejected by Belgrade .
Both Serbia and Kosovo are under pressure from the United States and the EU to strike a comprehensive agreement .

PRISTINA -- Kosovo's former Prime Minister Albin Kurti says his leftist-nationalist Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party will continue to press for new general elections, after parliament approved this week a new government by a razor-thin majority following months of political turmoil.
“We will continue our fight inside and outside of parliament,” Kurti said in an interview with RFE/RL on June 5, warning that street protests against the “weak” government led by Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti are “inevitable.”
Vetevendosje has been calling for new parliamentary elections since the coalition government Kurti was leading collapsed in March, losing a no-confidence vote initiated by the center-right Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) party.
However, the Constitutional Court ruled that a new government could be formed without a vote, giving Hoti of the LDK a path to the premiership.
In the interview, Kurti reiterated his claim that Hoti’s government is “unlawful” because it came to power based on an “unconstitutional” court verdict.
Because Vetevendosje is the “main and most powerful” political force in Kosovo after it came in first place in elections in October 2019, ahead of the LDK, Hoti’s government will be “short-lived,” he predicted.
Hoti’s fragile government is the result of a coalition between the LDK and two former opposition groups and parties representing ethnic minorities.
The new prime minister, an economics professor and former finance minister, has vowed to move Kosovo forward on stalled normalization talks with neighboring Serbia.
But Kurti claimed the new government “does not have the capacity to confront Serbia and does not have the legitimacy to dialogue with it.”
Any agreement between Pristina and Belgrade would be “invalid,” he added.
Kosovo, a former province of Serbia, declared independence in 2008 in a move rejected by Belgrade. Both Serbia and Kosovo are under pressure from the United States and the EU to strike a comprehensive agreement.


rferl--2020-06-05--IAEA: Iran Further Raises Uranium Stockpiles, Blocks Visits To Sites

The United Nations ' atomic watchdog said on June 5 that Iran has continued to increase its stockpiles of enriched uranium far beyond the limits set in the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers .
Separately , the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) raised “ serious concerns ” over Iran 's refusal to let international inspectors investigate possible past nuclear activities at two locations .
The United States pulled out of the accord in May 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions that have battered the Iranian economy .
In response , Tehran has been progressively breaking the restrictions laid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action , or JCPOA , saying that it can reverse them if the remaining parties to the deal -- Britain , France , Germany , China and Russia -- increase economic incentives .
As of May 20 , Iran ’ s total stockpile of low-enriched uranium amounted to 1,571.6 kilograms , nearly eight times more than the limit set by the 2015 nuclear deal , the IAEA said in a report on June 5 .
Iran has been open about the violations and continues to allow IAEA inspectors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
However , the Vienna-based agency said in a separate report that for more than four months Iran has “ denied access ” to two of three locations it had identified as sites where the country possibly stored undeclared nuclear material or undertook nuclear-related activities without declaring them to international observers .
The IAEA said that the third location `` underwent extensive sanitization and levelling in 2003 and 2004 '' and there would be no verification value in inspecting it .
Activities at all three sites are thought to have taken place before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inked .
With reporting by AP , AFP , and dpa


rferl--2020-06-05--Hundreds Rally In Kyiv Demanding Interior Minister's Resignation

KYIV -- Hundreds of protesters calling for the resignation of Ukraine 's interior minister , Arsen Avakov , have set off smoke bombs and fireworks in front of the parliament in Kyiv .
Avakov , who was inside making a speech on June 5 , has come under intense criticism in recent days .
Critics say the minister has failed to rein in police abuses , bring about reform , or promote law and order in the country during his six years in office .
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has thrown his support behind Avakov , calling him `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to sack Avakov from the post he has held since 2014 were sparked by reports about the alleged rape and torture of a woman by police officers in the town of Kaharlyk near Kyiv and a shoot-out between criminal gangs in the Kyiv region in late May .
The demonstrators represented different political groups and parties , including Holos ( Voice ) , a pro-European opposition party founded by popular rock musician Svyatoslav Vakarchuk ; the nationalist Praviy Sektor ( Right Sector ) party ; gay rights group Kyiv Pride , as well @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of which said : `` Avakov Is A Syndrome , '' `` Where To Turn When The Police Rapes Me ? ''
WATCH : Protest Against Ukraine 's Interior Minister Causes Chaos Outside Parliament The rallies were held as Avakov was giving a report about the crimes allegedly committed by police officers and other high-profile cases , which some lawmakers and Avakov 's critics say have been poorly investigated .
As Avakov started his testimony in parliament , protesters brought to the site an old Soviet-made UAZ car that was used as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ until the late 1990s .
The demonstrators pelted it with firecrackers , calling the action `` a memorial to police reforms . ''
One of the protesters poured gasoline on his body and set himself on fire but police managed to extinguish the flames right away .
The man , who introduced himself as Yuriy Lyashenko from the southern town of Nova Kakhovka , claimed that he had come to Kyiv to protest what he called the `` illegal taking of his property by police . ''
Hundreds also rallied in the western @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resignation .

KYIV -- Hundreds of protesters calling for the resignation of Ukraine's interior minister, Arsen Avakov, have set off smoke bombs and fireworks in front of the parliament in Kyiv.
Avakov, who was inside making a speech on June 5, has come under intense criticism in recent days.
Critics say the minister has failed to rein in police abuses, bring about reform, or promote law and order in the country during his six years in office. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has thrown his support behind Avakov, calling him "a really powerful minister."
Demands to sack Avakov from the post he has held since 2014 were sparked by reports about the alleged rape and torture of a woman by police officers in the town of Kaharlyk near Kyiv and a shoot-out between criminal gangs in the Kyiv region in late May.
The demonstrators represented different political groups and parties, including Holos (Voice), a pro-European opposition party founded by popular rock musician Svyatoslav Vakarchuk; the nationalist Praviy Sektor (Right Sector) party; gay rights group Kyiv Pride, as well as individual citizens holding posters, some of which said: "Avakov Is A Syndrome," "Where To Turn When The Police Rapes Me?"
WATCH: Protest Against Ukraine's Interior Minister Causes Chaos Outside Parliament
The rallies were held as Avakov was giving a report about the crimes allegedly committed by police officers and other high-profile cases, which some lawmakers and Avakov's critics say have been poorly investigated.
As Avakov started his testimony in parliament, protesters brought to the site an old Soviet-made UAZ car that was used as a police vehicle across the former Soviet Union until the late 1990s. The demonstrators pelted it with firecrackers, calling the action "a memorial to police reforms."
One of the protesters poured gasoline on his body and set himself on fire but police managed to extinguish the flames right away.
The man, who introduced himself as Yuriy Lyashenko from the southern town of Nova Kakhovka, claimed that he had come to Kyiv to protest what he called the "illegal taking of his property by police."
Hundreds also rallied in the western city of Lviv, demanding Avakov's resignation.


rferl--2020-06-05--Moscow Court Trims Jailed Journalist Sentence To 10 Days

MOSCOW -- The Moscow City Court has cut the jail term of prominent journalist Ilya Azar to 10 days from @ @ @ @ @ outcry in Moscow and St. Petersburg over his incarceration .
The June 5 court decision @ @ @ @ @ on June 7 .
Azar , a 35-year-old Moscow legislator and journalist for the independent @ @ @ @ @ sentenced on May 28 after being convicted of repeatedly violating Russia 's strict protest laws @ @ @ @ @ May 26 for holding a single-person picket , a form of protest that does not @ @ @ @ @ authorities , to protest against the jailing of Vladimir Vorontsov , an activist who has @ @ @ @ @ Russia 's law enforcement agencies .
Police have said Azar was detained for violating the @ @ @ @ @ spread of the coronavirus .
Dozens of his supporters , including a State Duma member @ @ @ @ @ and journalists , were detained in Moscow and St. Petersburg on May 28-29 while holding @ @ @ @ @ .

MOSCOW -- The Moscow City Court has cut the jail term of prominent journalist Ilya Azar to 10 days from 15 days amid a public outcry in Moscow and St. Petersburg over his incarceration.
The June 5 court decision means Azar should be released on June 7.
Azar, a 35-year-old Moscow legislator and journalist for the independent Novaya gazeta newspaper, was sentenced on May 28 after being convicted of repeatedly violating Russia's strict protest laws.
Azar was detained on May 26 for holding a single-person picket, a form of protest that does not require preliminary permission from the authorities, to protest against the jailing of Vladimir Vorontsov, an activist who has worked to expose violations within Russia's law enforcement agencies.
Police have said Azar was detained for violating the lockdown imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Dozens of his supporters, including a State Duma member, several municipal lawmakers, and journalists, were detained in Moscow and St. Petersburg on May 28-29 while holding single-person protests in his support.


rferl--2020-06-05--Macron Demands Release Of French-Iranian Academic Held By Tehran

French President Emmanuel Macron has demanded that Franco-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah , whom Tehran has sentenced to six years in prison , be released immediately .
`` One year ago , Farida Adelkhah was arbitrarily arrested in Iran .
It is unacceptable that she is still in prison , '' Macron tweeted on June 5 .
`` My message to Iranian authorities : justice demands that our compatriot be immediately released , '' Macron said in his tweet marking the one-year anniversary of Adelkhah ’ s arrest .
Adelkhah , 60 , was sentenced in May to six years in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iranian officials said last year that Adelkhah , a prominent anthropologist who often traveled to Iran for research , had been arrested on espionage charges .
In March , a prisoner exchange was carried out between Iran and France , swapping researcher Roland Marchal for engineer Jalal Ruhollahnejad .
But there has been little indication that Adelkhah will be released in a similar manner .
Iran has rejected previous calls to release Adelkhah , saying the demands amounted to interference in Tehran 's internal affairs .
`` This ongoing situation can only have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ between France and Iran , and can only significantly reduce the trust between our two countries , '' French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement on June 4 .
Relations between France and Iran remain tense over Iran 's nuclear activities , its ballistic missile program , and regional influence .
Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP


rferl--2020-06-05--Czech Government Orders Out Two Russian Embassy Staff Over Ricin Plot Hoax

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis says his government has designated two staff members at the Russian Embassy in Prague as personae non gratae and ordered them to leave .
Speaking at a June 5 news conference in Prague along with Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek , Babis said that the move was taken as a result of the so-called ricin affair , which turned out to be a fake incident sparked by an “ internal struggle ” between embassy staff .
“ One of them purposefully sent to the BIS fictional information about a planned attack on Czech politicians , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Czech intelligence service .
Neither Babis nor Petricek took questions from reporters during the news conference .
They did not name the staff members in question .
The Russian Embassy called the expulsions of the diplomats an “ unfriendly step ” that shows Prague is not interested in normalizing already tense relations between the two countries .
The affair stems from Czech media reports that Andrei Konchakov , deputy director of the embassy 's Russian Center for Science and Culture , brought ricin from Russia to Prague in mid-March that was meant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ poison Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib and two other senior municipal officials , Ondrej Kolar and Pavel Novotny .
Moscow at the time denied the reports as “ fabrications.
” The scandal broke out on April 26 when Respekt , a Czech investigative weekly , published a report quoting unnamed security sources as saying that a suspected Russian intelligence officer traveling on a diplomatic passport had arrived recently in Prague carrying the deadly toxin ricin as part of an alleged poisoning plot .
Czech media last month identified the suspected Russian intelligence operative as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ -- Kolar , Hrib , and Novotny -- were given around-the-clock police protection at the time .
All three have taken or supported actions that have angered the Kremlin , including the renaming of the square in front of the Russian Embassy after a slain former Kremlin critic and the removal of a statue of a Soviet-era general .
As possible payback , Moscow is suspected of having a role in a recent wave of cyberattacks in the Czech Republic .
Moscow , suspected in the 2018 poisoning in Britain of former Russian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a nerve agent , has said the alleged poisoning plot against the three Czechs was part of a `` disinformation campaign '' aimed at discrediting Russia and threatened `` serious consequences '' to Czech-Russian relations .
With reporting by Reuters and AFP


rferl--2020-06-06--Pakistan Appoints New Special Envoy For Afghanistan

Pakistan has appointed a new envoy to Afghanistan in a fresh bid to ease tense bilateral relations .
Pakistani media @ @ @ @ @ Muhammad Sadiq , a career diplomat , met with Foreign Minister Mehmood Quraishi in Islamabad @ @ @ @ @ , Quraishi expressed hope that Sadiq would be able to improve bilateral ties .
Saddiq @ @ @ @ @ of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province .
He earlier worked as Pakistan 's ambassador in Afghanistan and @ @ @ @ @ Pakistani Foreign Ministry .
Saddiq also served on the National Security Council .
Pakistan and @ @ @ @ @ for years .
Kabul has long accused Islamabad of providing safe haven to Taliban militants @ @ @ @ @ and Afghan forces .
Pakistan has denied those allegations and blames Afghanistan for giving anti-Pakistani @ @ @ @ @ in Pakistan , which Kabul denies .

Pakistan has appointed a new envoy to Afghanistan in a fresh bid to ease tense bilateral relations.
Pakistani media said the new envoy, Muhammad Sadiq, a career diplomat, met with Foreign Minister Mehmood Quraishi in Islamabad on June 6.
Afterwards, Quraishi expressed hope that Sadiq would be able to improve bilateral ties.
Saddiq is from the Swabi district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. He earlier worked as Pakistan's ambassador in Afghanistan and as a spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry. Saddiq also served on the National Security Council.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have had strained ties for years. Kabul has long accused Islamabad of providing safe haven to Taliban militants who launch attacks against international and Afghan forces.
Pakistan has denied those allegations and blames Afghanistan for giving anti-Pakistani militants refuge to plot attacks in Pakistan, which Kabul denies.