rferl--2020-08-27--Uzbekistan Releases Former Tashkent Imam After 15 Years In Prison

The former imam of the Khoja Nuriddin mosque in Tashkent has been released from a penal colony in Uzbekistan after serving more than 15 years on charges of terrorism , extremism , and `` anticonstitutional activities . ''
The release of Rukhiddin Fahruddinov on the morning of August 27 from Penal Colony Settlement No .
14 in the Zangiata district of the Tashkent region came two years and three months ahead of schedule .
His release has been welcomed by international human rights activists as a major development in the struggle for `` prisoners of conscience '' who 've been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Steve Swerdlow , an attorney and human rights researcher formerly with Human Rights Watch , said in a Twitter post that August 27 was `` turning out to be [ a ] banner day '' for political prisoners in Uzbekistan .
Swerdlow described Fahruddinov as an `` independent religious figure '' who has faced torture and other rights abuses since he was arrested in 2005 .
Swerdlow also noted that Fahruddinov 's case has been repeatedly raised by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom , the U.S. State Department 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and Human Rights Watch .
He said it was `` hard to articulate '' the significance of Fahruddinov 's release .
During his trial in the era of Uzbekistan 's late President Islam Karimov , police claimed that Fahruddinov was a spiritual leader of the `` Wahhabism '' movement and had been working to build an extremist `` Islamic state '' in Uzbekistan .
But Fahruddinov 's relatives deny that he was involved in any extremist movement .
Fahruddinov 's wife , Muhayo Ismoilova , told RFE/RL in 2006 that the couple @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Uzbek security officer when she was just 6 years old in order to force Fahruddinov to confess to the charges against him .
Uzbek authorities denied those allegations and subsequently arrested and charged a boy who was 16 years old , Nigmatulla Qalandarov , with committing the rape .
Qalandarov was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison .

The former imam of the Khoja Nuriddin mosque in Tashkent has been released from a penal colony in Uzbekistan after serving more than 15 years on charges of terrorism, extremism, and "anticonstitutional activities."
The release of Rukhiddin Fahruddinov on the morning of August 27 from Penal Colony Settlement No. 14 in the Zangiata district of the Tashkent region came two years and three months ahead of schedule.
His release has been welcomed by international human rights activists as a major development in the struggle for "prisoners of conscience" who've been jailed for their religious or political views.
Steve Swerdlow, an attorney and human rights researcher formerly with Human Rights Watch, said in a Twitter post that August 27 was "turning out to be [a] banner day" for political prisoners in Uzbekistan.
Swerdlow described Fahruddinov as an "independent religious figure" who has faced torture and other rights abuses since he was arrested in 2005.
Swerdlow also noted that Fahruddinov's case has been repeatedly raised by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, the U.S. State Department's Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, and Human Rights Watch.
He said it was "hard to articulate" the significance of Fahruddinov's release.
During his trial in the era of Uzbekistan's late President Islam Karimov, police claimed that Fahruddinov was a spiritual leader of the "Wahhabism" movement and had been working to build an extremist "Islamic state" in Uzbekistan.
But Fahruddinov's relatives deny that he was involved in any extremist movement.
Fahruddinov's wife, Muhayo Ismoilova, told RFE/RL in 2006 that the couple's daughter had been raped by an Uzbek security officer when she was just 6 years old in order to force Fahruddinov to confess to the charges against him.
Uzbek authorities denied those allegations and subsequently arrested and charged a boy who was 16 years old, Nigmatulla Qalandarov, with committing the rape. Qalandarov was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison.


rferl--2020-08-27--U.S. Blacklists Russian Entities For Chemical, Biological Weapon Research

U.S. authorities have imposed `` blacklist '' restrictions on three Russian military and civilian scientific facilities , citing their alleged involvement in chemical and biological weapons research .
Those targeted by the U.S. Commerce Department include one Russian Defense Ministry facility that is involved in Russia ’ s attempts to develop the world 's first COVID-19 vaccine .
In a notice published on August 27 in the Federal Register , the Commerce Department 's Bureau of Industry and Security said it was blacklisting a total of 60 entities in Russia , China , France , Switzerland , and elsewhere .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the national-security or foreign-policy interests of the United States . ''
Formally , the move imposes new licensing restrictions on U.S. companies that seek to do business with the blacklisted companies in Russia or elsewhere .
The measures are considered less stringent than other U.S. sanction programs , such as better-known U.S. Treasury Department financial sanctions .
Still , it is expected to have a dissuasive effect on firms that might otherwise do future business with the blacklisted entities .
The blacklisted Russian facilities include the Defense Ministry 's 33rd Central Research @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as well as the 48th Central Research Institute and its facilities in Yekaterinburg and Sergiyev Posad .
Russian officials have said the 48th Central Research Institute has been collaborating with another civilian facility , the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology , in Russia 's push to develop a coronavirus vaccine .
The 48th Central Research Institute was where two groups of volunteers , including Russian enlisted personnel , received the first tests on humans in June under the Russian vaccine development program .
Earlier this month , President Vladimir Putin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Putin claimed the vaccine was safe and effective .
But Russia has not publicly released any data about its limited human tests .
Medical experts have expressed skepticism and concern about Putin 's claims because the Russian vaccine has not gone through crucial Phase III testing upon thousands of people -- a necessary step to ensure it is safe and effective for wide distribution .
The Gamaleya National Research Center was not blacklisted .
Russia 's blacklisted civilian facility is the State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology .
During the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ developing the military-grade nerve agent known as Novichok .
Novichok was identified by British authorities as the toxin used in the 2018 near-fatal poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter , Yulia .
Two Russian military intelligence agents were charged by British law enforcement with committing the attack .
A British woman also died after she accidentally exposed herself to the toxin used in the poisoning attack against the Skripals .
In a statement posted on the Facebook page of the Russian Embassy in Washington , Ambassador Anatoly Antonov rejected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ blacklist announcement .
`` It seems confusing to us .
Especially since no evidence were presented .
Familiar vague terms are used such as 'there is a reasonable cause to believe , ' '' Antonov said .
`` We would like to receive some clarifications from our colleagues regarding these groundless allegations . ''
Both the United States and Russia previously had some of the world 's largest chemical-weapons arsenals , and both have been gradually destroying their remaining stocks , though experts say the process has been slow .
The other foreign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alleged to be involved in activities like illegally shipping U.S. aircraft parts to Iran , performing `` unsafeguarded nuclear activities , '' and helping China build island structures in order to make territorial claims over disputed waters of the South China Sea .

U.S. authorities have imposed "blacklist" restrictions on three Russian military and civilian scientific facilities, citing their alleged involvement in chemical and biological weapons research.
Those targeted by the U.S. Commerce Department include one Russian Defense Ministry facility that is involved in Russia’s attempts to develop the world's first COVID-19 vaccine.
In a notice published on August 27 in the Federal Register, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security said it was blacklisting a total of 60 entities in Russia, China, France, Switzerland, and elsewhere. It said their activities were "contrary to the national-security or foreign-policy interests of the United States."
Formally, the move imposes new licensing restrictions on U.S. companies that seek to do business with the blacklisted companies in Russia or elsewhere.
The measures are considered less stringent than other U.S. sanction programs, such as better-known U.S. Treasury Department financial sanctions.
Still, it is expected to have a dissuasive effect on firms that might otherwise do future business with the blacklisted entities.
The blacklisted Russian facilities include the Defense Ministry's 33rd Central Research and Testing Institute, near Saratov, as well as the 48th Central Research Institute and its facilities in Yekaterinburg and Sergiyev Posad.
Russian officials have said the 48th Central Research Institute has been collaborating with another civilian facility, the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, in Russia's push to develop a coronavirus vaccine.
The 48th Central Research Institute was where two groups of volunteers, including Russian enlisted personnel, received the first tests on humans in June under the Russian vaccine development program.
Earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia had approved a vaccine.
Putin claimed the vaccine was safe and effective. But Russia has not publicly released any data about its limited human tests.
Medical experts have expressed skepticism and concern about Putin's claims because the Russian vaccine has not gone through crucial Phase III testing upon thousands of people -- a necessary step to ensure it is safe and effective for wide distribution.
The Gamaleya National Research Center was not blacklisted.
Russia's blacklisted civilian facility is the State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology.
During the Soviet era, it was responsible for developing the military-grade nerve agent known as Novichok.
Novichok was identified by British authorities as the toxin used in the 2018 near-fatal poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.
Two Russian military intelligence agents were charged by British law enforcement with committing the attack. A British woman also died after she accidentally exposed herself to the toxin used in the poisoning attack against the Skripals.
In a statement posted on the Facebook page of the Russian Embassy in Washington, Ambassador Anatoly Antonov rejected the allegations in the Commerce Department's blacklist announcement.
"It seems confusing to us. Especially since no evidence were presented. Familiar vague terms are used such as 'there is a reasonable cause to believe,'" Antonov said. "We would like to receive some clarifications from our colleagues regarding these groundless allegations."
Both the United States and Russia previously had some of the world's largest chemical-weapons arsenals, and both have been gradually destroying their remaining stocks, though experts say the process has been slow.
The other foreign companies blacklisted by the Commerce Department are alleged to be involved in activities like illegally shipping U.S. aircraft parts to Iran, performing "unsafeguarded nuclear activities," and helping China build island structures in order to make territorial claims over disputed waters of the South China Sea.
With reporting by Current Time


rferl--2020-08-27--Russia Claims Convoy Rammed U.S. Military In Syria In Self-Defense

The Russian Defense Ministry claims a Russian patrol in Syria acted in self-defense when a vehicle in a military convoy rammed a coalition vehicle carrying U.S. soldiers .
Four U.S. soldiers reportedly suffered `` mild concussion-like symptoms '' as a result of the incident , which took place on the morning of August 26 in northeastern Syria .
Video of the encounter shows multiple Russian military vehicles traveling across an open field when they encounter U.S. military vehicles blocking a nearby road .
The collision appears to occur after U.S. vehicles enter the field in an attempt to prevent the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mark Milley , chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , discussed the incident by telephone with his Russian counterpart , General Valery Gerasimov .
According to the Russian Defense Ministry , coalition forces in Syria had been notified about the Russian convoy 's planned route , and the Russian military took `` necessary steps '' to end the incident and `` further implement the assigned task . ''
U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot said on August 26 that the coalition patrol vehicles left the area to `` deescalate the situation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actions `` unprofessional '' and a violation of deconfliction protocols agreed by the United States and Russia in 2019 .
Based on reporting by The New York Times , Politico , and TASS

The Russian Defense Ministry claims a Russian patrol in Syria acted in self-defense when a vehicle in a military convoy rammed a coalition vehicle carrying U.S. soldiers.
Four U.S. soldiers reportedly suffered "mild concussion-like symptoms" as a result of the incident, which took place on the morning of August 26 in northeastern Syria.
Video of the encounter shows multiple Russian military vehicles traveling across an open field when they encounter U.S. military vehicles blocking a nearby road. The collision appears to occur after U.S. vehicles enter the field in an attempt to prevent the Russian convoy from advancing.
U.S. General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, discussed the incident by telephone with his Russian counterpart, General Valery Gerasimov.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, coalition forces in Syria had been notified about the Russian convoy's planned route, and the Russian military took "necessary steps" to end the incident and "further implement the assigned task."
U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot said on August 26 that the coalition patrol vehicles left the area to "deescalate the situation," calling the Russian military's actions "unprofessional" and a violation of deconfliction protocols agreed by the United States and Russia in 2019.
Based on reporting by The New York Times, Politico, and TASS


rferl--2020-08-27--U.S. Offers Reward For Information On Americans Kidnapped In Afghanistan

The U.S. State Department has offered up to $ 5 million in rewards for information that helps locate and free two Americans kidnapped in Afghanistan .
Paul Overby , 77 , disappeared in 2014 in Khost near the border with Pakistan while researching a book on the Afghan people and it appeared he planned to cross the border into Pakistan to continue his research .
He was trying to arrange an interview with the head of the Haqqani network , an arm of the Taliban , when he disappeared , his wife said in 2017 .
The second man , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in February 2020 .
At the time he was living in Kabul .
He had relocated to the city in 2010 and spent a decade in the country working on construction projects .
The State Department ’ s Diplomatic Security Service offered the reward through its Rewards for Justice office , a statement said on August 26 .
The FBI are advertising the reward offer of up to $ 5 million for information leading to the return of Overby and Frerichs .
The State Department said in its announcement that all information submitted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rewards for Justice Program has been used since 1984 .
The program has paid more than $ 150 million to more than 100 people who provided information that helped bring terrorists to justice or prevented acts of terrorism worldwide .

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


rferl--2020-08-27--Kyrgyz Authorities Allow Friday Prayers As Kazakhstan Also Lifts Some Coronavirus Restrictions

Muslims in Kyrgyzstan will be allowed to return this week to mosques for Friday Prayers for first time in months , authorities say .
Mass gatherings in mosques were banned at the end of March to help control the spread of the coronavirus .
Kyrgyzstan has registered 43,358 infections since the beginning of the pandemic and 1,058 deaths , according to government data .
The number of people who have recovered is 37,217 .
Kazakhstan also announced the lifting of some restrictions put in place to control the spread of the coronavirus .
The interagency commission approved beginning Phase 2 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government press service said in a statement on August 26 .
`` Given the positive effect achieved , the interagency commission decided to resume the activities of religious sites ( individually , without any collective events ) , swimming pools , gyms , sports complexes , cultural centers , and protected natural areas starting on August 31 , '' the statement published on the government website and quoted by Interfax said .
There are also plans to resume suburban train service and intercity and regional bus services .
The Kazakh Health Ministry said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ incident rate by 10 times and reduced the number of calls for an ambulance and hospital bed occupancy .
Based on reporting by RFE/RL Kyrgyz Service and Interfax

Muslims in Kyrgyzstan will be allowed to return this week to mosques for Friday Prayers for first time in months, authorities say.
Mass gatherings in mosques were banned at the end of March to help control the spread of the coronavirus.
Kyrgyzstan has registered 43,358 infections since the beginning of the pandemic and 1,058 deaths, according to government data. The number of people who have recovered is 37,217.
Kazakhstan also announced the lifting of some restrictions put in place to control the spread of the coronavirus.
The interagency commission approved beginning Phase 2 of reopening on August 31, the government press service said in a statement on August 26.
"Given the positive effect achieved, the interagency commission decided to resume the activities of religious sites (individually, without any collective events), swimming pools, gyms, sports complexes, cultural centers, and protected natural areas starting on August 31," the statement published on the government website and quoted by Interfax said.
There are also plans to resume suburban train service and intercity and regional bus services.
The Kazakh Health Ministry said the restrictive measures reduced the national coronavirus incident rate by 10 times and reduced the number of calls for an ambulance and hospital bed occupancy.
Kazakhstan registered 1,523 deaths from coronavirus amid 105,075 confirmed infections, government data showed.
Based on reporting by RFE/RL Kyrgyz Service and Interfax


rferl--2020-08-26--Taliban Announces New Department For Intra-Afghan Talks

The Taliban has formed a new 20-member department responsible for holding intra-Afghan talks , as well as negotiations with the @ @ @ @ @ Stanikzai , the militant group 's chief negotiator , told RFE/RL on August 26 that @ @ @ @ @ department , which will be tasked with selecting the location and preparing the agenda for @ @ @ @ @ The talks between the Taliban and the internationally backed government in Kabul are part of @ @ @ @ @ the militants and the United States in an effort to end nearly 19 years of @ @ @ @ @ , the talks have recently been thrown into uncertainty after the Afghan government said it @ @ @ @ @ prisoners until the militant group freed more of its soldiers .
Stanikzai said the newly @ @ @ @ @ the Doha-based Taliban political office and will be in direct contact with the Taliban leadership @ @ @ @ @ intra-Afghan talks will be held in different countries .


rferl--2020-08-26--'Putin's Chef' Says He Will Collect Debt Owed By Comatose Navalny

Kremlin-connected Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin says he intends to collect a debt from comatose Aleksei Navalny and his shuttered Anti-Corruption Foundation ( FBK ) if the opposition activist survives what European doctors say was a poisoning .
Prigozhin , who has been the subject of hard-hitting FBK corruption investigations , announced on August 25 that he bought up the debt owed by Navalny and his company relating to a lawsuit settlement won by a Moscow school-catering company .
Navalny is currently in an induced coma in a German hospital after a suspected poisoning in Tomsk , Siberia , where he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
`` If Navalny lives , he must answer to the fullest extent of Russian law , '' Prigozhin said in a statement issued through Concord , his catering company .
He said he would make an exception if the 44-year-old Kremlin critic did not survive .
`` Of course , if Comrade Navalny gives his soul to God , then personally I do not intend to persecute him in this world .
I will postpone this [ debt settlement ] indefinitely . ''
A Moscow court in October ordered Navalny , FBK @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sobol , to pay a total of 87.6 million rubles ( $ 1.15 million ) split evenly among them to the catering company , Moscow Schoolchild , for defamation .
Moscow Schoolchild , since renamed Wilmap LLC , had sued the three defendants over an investigative video produced by FBK alleging that the company did not comply with sanitary standards , forged documents , and supplied poor-quality food to kindergartens and schools .
The FBK had also said that the caterer was owned by Prigozhin .
A Current Time investigation noted that Prigozhin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the catering company .
However , the investigation found that half of Moscow Schoolchild was owned by a former policeman who identified himself as the head of security for Concord , Prigozhin 's main asset .
The court sided with the plaintiff , ruling that Moscow Schoolchild 's reputation had been damaged by the investigative video and it had lost a contract as a result .
As part of the settlement , FBK was also ordered to remove the video and refute the allegations .
Navalny announced in July that the lawsuit –- @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had forced him to liquidate the FBK .
`` We will move to another legal entity , let Putin and Prigozhin choke on this , '' Navalny announced at the time , describing the numerous raids and harassment by authorities that the FBK had encountered in its nine years of existence .
`` Until the end of Putin 's power , we will have to live with blocked accounts and bailiffs confiscating our property in favor of Putin 's Chef . ''
Prigozhin is often referred to by the nickname `` Putin 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an event for the president and subsequently rose to become a key Kremlin insider .
In February 2018 , Prigozhin was indicted in the United States for meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and both he and his companies have been put under sanctions by the Treasury Department .
Navalny said Prigozhin 's attempts to stop his investigations had only backfired .
The activist reported last month the number of people making monthly contributions to help fund his investigations had more than doubled from 7,600 to 15,600 following FBK 's demise .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ has produced dozens of detailed investigations exposing corruption by government officials , executives of state companies , and tycoons close to the Kremlin and President Vladimir Putin .
FBK 's 2016 expose on Prigozhin , which discussed his criminal past , has more than 4.3 million views .
Prigozhin ’ s August 25 statement is his latest attempt at trolling Navalny and his supporters .
Shortly after Navalny announced the liquidation of FBK , and the formation of a new legal entity named the Rights Protection Fund , Prigozhin donated 1 million rubles @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The anti-corruption organization declined the donation and returned it to Prigozhin .

Kremlin-connected Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin says he intends to collect a debt from comatose Aleksei Navalny and his shuttered Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) if the opposition activist survives what European doctors say was a poisoning.
Prigozhin, who has been the subject of hard-hitting FBK corruption investigations, announced on August 25 that he bought up the debt owed by Navalny and his company relating to a lawsuit settlement won by a Moscow school-catering company.
Navalny is currently in an induced coma in a German hospital after a suspected poisoning in Tomsk, Siberia, where he had been conducting his latest corruption investigation.
"If Navalny lives, he must answer to the fullest extent of Russian law," Prigozhin said in a statement issued through Concord, his catering company.
He said he would make an exception if the 44-year-old Kremlin critic did not survive.
"Of course, if Comrade Navalny gives his soul to God, then personally I do not intend to persecute him in this world. I will postpone this [debt settlement] indefinitely."
A Moscow court in October ordered Navalny, FBK and the organization's lawyer, Lyubov Sobol, to pay a total of 87.6 million rubles ($1.15 million) split evenly among them to the catering company, Moscow Schoolchild, for defamation.
Moscow Schoolchild, since renamed Wilmap LLC, had sued the three defendants over an investigative video produced by FBK alleging that the company did not comply with sanitary standards, forged documents, and supplied poor-quality food to kindergartens and schools.
The FBK had also said that the caterer was owned by Prigozhin.
A Current Time investigation noted that Prigozhin himself had long denied any affiliation with the catering company. However, the investigation found that half of Moscow Schoolchild was owned by a former policeman who identified himself as the head of security for Concord, Prigozhin's main asset.
The court sided with the plaintiff, ruling that Moscow Schoolchild's reputation had been damaged by the investigative video and it had lost a contract as a result. As part of the settlement, FBK was also ordered to remove the video and refute the allegations.
Navalny announced in July that the lawsuit –- which he said Prigozhin was behind -- had forced him to liquidate the FBK.
"We will move to another legal entity, let Putin and Prigozhin choke on this," Navalny announced at the time, describing the numerous raids and harassment by authorities that the FBK had encountered in its nine years of existence. "Until the end of Putin's power, we will have to live with blocked accounts and bailiffs confiscating our property in favor of Putin's Chef."
Prigozhin is often referred to by the nickname "Putin's Chef" because he once personally catered an event for the president and subsequently rose to become a key Kremlin insider.
In February 2018, Prigozhin was indicted in the United States for meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and both he and his companies have been put under sanctions by the Treasury Department.
Navalny said Prigozhin's attempts to stop his investigations had only backfired. The activist reported last month the number of people making monthly contributions to help fund his investigations had more than doubled from 7,600 to 15,600 following FBK's demise.
Over the past nine years, FBK has produced dozens of detailed investigations exposing corruption by government officials, executives of state companies, and tycoons close to the Kremlin and President Vladimir Putin. FBK's 2016 expose on Prigozhin, which discussed his criminal past, has more than 4.3 million views.
Prigozhin’s August 25 statement is his latest attempt at trolling Navalny and his supporters. Shortly after Navalny announced the liquidation of FBK, and the formation of a new legal entity named the Rights Protection Fund, Prigozhin donated 1 million rubles ($13,200) to the FBK.
The anti-corruption organization declined the donation and returned it to Prigozhin.


rferl--2020-08-26--Tajik President Nominated  For Sixth-Straight Term

DUSHANBE -- Tajik President Emomali Rahmon , already the longest-serving leader in the former Soviet Union , has been nominated @ @ @ @ @ once again .
The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Tajikistan formally announced its nomination @ @ @ @ @ , suggesting that the 67-year-old incumbent will participate in the October 11 election .
There @ @ @ @ @ , who has been president since 1992 , would bow out of the vote to @ @ @ @ @ son , Dushanbe Mayor Rustam Emomali , to run for president .
The ruling People @ @ @ @ @ was founded by Rahmon , will nominate its candidate on September 3 .
Once his @ @ @ @ @ Rahmon will join five other candidates who have entered the race .
In the last @ @ @ @ @ , Rahmon was reelected by a landslide , with 84 percent of the vote .
@ @ @ @ @ presidential elections won by Rahmon has been judged as free and fair by Western election @ @ @ @ @ AFP and Interfax

DUSHANBE -- Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, already the longest-serving leader in the former Soviet Union, has been nominated to run for the presidency once again.
The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Tajikistan formally announced its nomination of Rahmon on August 26, suggesting that the 67-year-old incumbent will participate in the October 11 election.
There has been speculation that Rahmon, who has been president since 1992, would bow out of the vote to clear the way for his son, Dushanbe Mayor Rustam Emomali, to run for president.
The ruling People's Democratic Party, which was founded by Rahmon, will nominate its candidate on September 3.
Once his candidacy is formally registered, Rahmon will join five other candidates who have entered the race.
In the last presidential election, in 2013, Rahmon was reelected by a landslide, with 84 percent of the vote.
None of Tajikistan's five presidential elections won by Rahmon has been judged as free and fair by Western election observers.
With reporting by AFP and Interfax


rferl--2020-08-26--Iran To Allow Access To Suspected Nuclear Sites

Iran has agreed to allow inspections of two sites where nuclear activities are suspected to have taken place in the past , easing diplomatic pressure on Tehran as the United States seeks to reimpose UN sanctions .
The announcement was made on August 26 in a joint statement by Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) as Director-General Rafael Grossi was wrapping up his visit to Tehran .
The Vienna-based global watchdog has criticised Iranian officials for denying it access to the two locations , and for not answering its questions about possible undeclared nuclear material and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issued by the IAEA , Grossi and Ali Akbar Salehi , the head of Iran 's Atomic Energy Organization , said that Iran was `` voluntarily providing the IAEA with access to the two locations specified by the IAEA and facilitating the IAEA verification activities to resolve the issues . ''
The statement said that the dates for the inspections had been agreed , but it did not say when they would take place .
As he returned from Tehran later in the day , Grossi told reporters that IAEA inspectors will have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , very soon . ''
Meeting Grossi in the Iranian capital , President Hassan Rohani called the agreement `` good '' and said it can help `` finally settle issues , '' according to the government 's official website .
Russia 's ambassador to international organizations in Vienna , Mikhail Ulyanov , described the Iran-IAEA agreement as a `` breakthrough '' and `` another proof that dialogue is more productive than pressure . ''
Grossi 's trip , his first to Iran since taking over the IAEA leadership eight months ago , came @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Tehran over access to the two sites in order to clarify whether undeclared nuclear activity took place there during the early 2000s .
In June , the IAEA 's board of governors passed a rare resolution demanding that Iran `` fully cooperate '' and `` satisfy the agency 's requests without any further delay , '' including by providing `` prompt '' access to the sites .
At the time , Grossi accused Iran of denying access to the two locations for six months , and said that for almost a year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ discussions to clarify our questions related to possible undeclared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities . ''
Iran maintained the IAEA had no legal basis to inspect the sites in question .
The August 26 announcement also comes after the United States last week pressed the UN Security Council to reimpose sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under Iran 's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers .
Washington exited the agreement more than two years ago and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Iran .
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week formally launched the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's `` snapback '' mechanism aimed at reimposing UN sanctions on Iran , citing Iranian violations of the deal .
But the U.S. move faces opposition at the Security Council , where other members have questioned the United States ' right to do it since Washington withdrew from the nuclear pact .
The United States claims it remains a `` participant '' in the accord because it was listed as such in the UN resolution that enshrined it .
With reporting by Reuters and AFP

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


rferl--2020-08-26--Ukrainian Police Detain Two Suspects In Arson Attack Against RFE/RL

KYIV -- Ukraine 's Interior Ministry says it has detained two suspects for questioning about a recent arson attack in Kyiv that targeted a car used by investigative journalists from RFE/RL 's Ukrainian Service .
The attacker 's `` clothes , incendiary devices , and other evidence ” have been seized , and searches were continuing on August 26 as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into the attack , Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a Twitter statement .
Interior Ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko told RFE/RL that one of the detainees was a resident of Ukraine 's eastern Luhansk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Shevchenko also said on August 26 that two other suspects were being sought in the case .
Media watchdogs have been calling on Ukrainian authorities to investigate complaints of intimidation and attacks against journalists from the Skhemy ( Schemes ) program , a joint investigative project by RFE/RL and UA : Pershy television , after one of their cars was torched in Kyiv on August 17 .
Investigators have concluded that the fire was caused by `` an external ignition source . ''
No one was hurt in the incident .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said on August 18 that a campaign of harassment and intimidation , including surveillance and arson attacks , were aimed at `` muzzling '' the journalists ' investigations .
`` It is essential that investigative journalists can freely and critically report on corruption and wrongdoing of state officials , '' IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said .
`` Surveillance and the attack against this team are worrisome blows against press freedom that ca n't go unpunished , '' Bellanger said .
`` We stand in solidarity with the victimized journalists and call on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attacks . ''
The Committee to Protect Journalists has urged Ukrainian authorities to find the perpetrators of the arson attack and `` hold them to account . ''
Schemes reporters were recently working on a story revealing how the transport of high-level state officials breaks traffic rules .
During the production of the program , the journalists repeatedly voiced concerns about being under surveillance .
Schemes reporter Mykhaylo Tkach said earlier in August that he found what he thought were signs of hidden-microphone surveillance in his apartment .
`` Authorities also must thoroughly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tkach , according to Gulnoza Said , the CPJ ’ s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator .
`` By reporting on corruption , investigative journalists at 'Schemes ' are doing an important service for the public , and the authorities should ensure their safety , '' Said added .
RFE/RL acting President Daisy Sindelar has expressed concern about the arson attack .
While no one was injured , Sindelar said , `` this incident appears aimed at intimidating RFE/RL 's reporters and contributing to a threatening environment for journalists across Ukraine .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ team whose work is vital to the public interest of all Ukrainians , '' Sindelar said .
`` We urge Ukrainian authorities to ensure that our colleagues can work safely and without fear . ''

KYIV -- Ukraine's Interior Ministry says it has detained two suspects for questioning about a recent arson attack in Kyiv that targeted a car used by investigative journalists from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.
The attacker's "clothes, incendiary devices, and other evidence” have been seized, and searches were continuing on August 26 as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into the attack, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a Twitter statement.
Interior Ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko told RFE/RL that one of the detainees was a resident of Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region and the other was from Kyiv.
Shevchenko also said on August 26 that two other suspects were being sought in the case.
Media watchdogs have been calling on Ukrainian authorities to investigate complaints of intimidation and attacks against journalists from the Skhemy (Schemes) program, a joint investigative project by RFE/RL and UA: Pershy television, after one of their cars was torched in Kyiv on August 17.
Investigators have concluded that the fire was caused by "an external ignition source."
No one was hurt in the incident.
But the International and European federations of journalists said on August 18 that a campaign of harassment and intimidation, including surveillance and arson attacks, were aimed at "muzzling" the journalists' investigations.
"It is essential that investigative journalists can freely and critically report on corruption and wrongdoing of state officials," IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said.
"Surveillance and the attack against this team are worrisome blows against press freedom that can't go unpunished," Bellanger said. "We stand in solidarity with the victimized journalists and call on the authorities to protect them from these attacks."
The Committee to Protect Journalists has urged Ukrainian authorities to find the perpetrators of the arson attack and "hold them to account."
Schemes reporters were recently working on a story revealing how the transport of high-level state officials breaks traffic rules.
During the production of the program, the journalists repeatedly voiced concerns about being under surveillance.
Schemes reporter Mykhaylo Tkach said earlier in August that he found what he thought were signs of hidden-microphone surveillance in his apartment.
"Authorities also must thoroughly investigate the surveillance allegations" made by Tkach, according to Gulnoza Said, the CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator.
"By reporting on corruption, investigative journalists at 'Schemes' are doing an important service for the public, and the authorities should ensure their safety," Said added.
RFE/RL acting President Daisy Sindelar has expressed concern about the arson attack.
While no one was injured, Sindelar said, "this incident appears aimed at intimidating RFE/RL's reporters and contributing to a threatening environment for journalists across Ukraine."
"Schemes is an award-winning investigative team whose work is vital to the public interest of all Ukrainians," Sindelar said. "We urge Ukrainian authorities to ensure that our colleagues can work safely and without fear."


rferl--2020-08-26--Bulgarian Justice Minister Tenders Resignation As Anti-Government Protests Continue

SOFIA -- Bulgarian Justice Minister Danail Kirilov has tendered his resignation after `` a conversation '' with Prime Minister Boyko Borisov , the Bulgarian government said in a statement on August 26 .
The reshuffle was expected to be formally approved after talks between Borisov 's ruling GERB party and its junior coalition partners .
Approval requires a vote by parliament , which is due to meet next on September 2 for the start of its autumn session .
The move follows weeks of mass demonstrations across Bulgaria against what protesters say is oligarchic control over Bulgaria ’ s government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's resignation , however , the demonstrators have been calling for Borisov and Bulgarian Prosecutor-General Ivan Geshev to resign .
Protesters have been blocking roads and staging daily rallies in Sofia and other cities for nearly two months The 50-year-old Kirilov has been heavily criticized as one of the authors of a controversial proposal for a new Bulgarian Constitution that has been denounced by experts and immediately rejected by protesters .
Analysts have dismissed the proposal as an attempt by Borisov to win time and stay in office until his current third term @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the proposed constitution fails to improve the accountability of the chief prosecutor -- an issue long highlighted by Bulgarian and international observers and by the European Court of Human Rights .
They say GERB 's draft constitution also attempts to further limit the powers of Bulgaria 's largely ceremonial president .
Parliament is expected to start reviewing the constitution proposal when its autumn session starts .
Debates on the proposal are expected to continue for months .
Borisov has previously sacked four ministers in an attempt to appease the crowds of anti-government demonstrators @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Union , Bulgaria remains the bloc 's poorest and most corruption-ridden member , according to Transparency International 's corruption perception index .

SOFIA -- Bulgarian Justice Minister Danail Kirilov has tendered his resignation after "a conversation" with Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, the Bulgarian government said in a statement on August 26.
The reshuffle was expected to be formally approved after talks between Borisov's ruling GERB party and its junior coalition partners.
Approval requires a vote by parliament, which is due to meet next on September 2 for the start of its autumn session.
The move follows weeks of mass demonstrations across Bulgaria against what protesters say is oligarchic control over Bulgaria’s government and judicial system.
Rather than Kirilov's resignation, however, the demonstrators have been calling for Borisov and Bulgarian Prosecutor-General Ivan Geshev to resign.
Protesters have been blocking roads and staging daily rallies in Sofia and other cities for nearly two months
The 50-year-old Kirilov has been heavily criticized as one of the authors of a controversial proposal for a new Bulgarian Constitution that has been denounced by experts and immediately rejected by protesters.
Analysts have dismissed the proposal as an attempt by Borisov to win time and stay in office until his current third term expires in March 2021.
They say the proposed constitution fails to improve the accountability of the chief prosecutor -- an issue long highlighted by Bulgarian and international observers and by the European Court of Human Rights.
They say GERB's draft constitution also attempts to further limit the powers of Bulgaria's largely ceremonial president.
Parliament is expected to start reviewing the constitution proposal when its autumn session starts. Debates on the proposal are expected to continue for months.
Borisov has previously sacked four ministers in an attempt to appease the crowds of anti-government demonstrators.
Thirteen years after joining the European Union, Bulgaria remains the bloc's poorest and most corruption-ridden member, according to Transparency International's corruption perception index.
With reporting by AFP


rferl--2020-08-26--At Least One Killed, Two Injured By Explosion In Armenia

YEREVAN -- Armenian authorities say a natural gas leak is the suspected cause of an explosion at a residential building @ @ @ @ @ 26 that killed at least one person and hospitalized two others .
The explosion at @ @ @ @ @ caused extensive damage to 12 apartments in a four-story building in Yerevan 's Kanaker-Zeytun district @ @ @ @ @ Tsolakian said the body of a 58-year-old man who 'd been killed was pulled from @ @ @ @ @ p.m .
Dozens of rescuers also managed to pull two survivors from beneath rubble .
@ @ @ @ @ was reported to be in critical condition .
Rescue workers also managed to safely evacuate @ @ @ @ @ building after the explosion .
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian visited the scene of the @ @ @ @ @ work was underway .
With reporting by Artak Khulyan and RFE/RL 's Armenian Service in @

YEREVAN -- Armenian authorities say a natural gas leak is the suspected cause of an explosion at a residential building in Yerevan early on August 26 that killed at least one person and hospitalized two others.
The explosion at about 7 a.m. local time caused extensive damage to 12 apartments in a four-story building in Yerevan's Kanaker-Zeytun district.
Emergency Situations Minister Felix Tsolakian said the body of a 58-year-old man who'd been killed was pulled from the rubble at about 1 p.m.
Dozens of rescuers also managed to pull two survivors from beneath rubble. Both were hospitalized and one was reported to be in critical condition.
Rescue workers also managed to safely evacuate 19 other people from the building after the explosion.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian visited the scene of the blast while search and rescue work was underway.
With reporting by Artak Khulyan and RFE/RL's Armenian Service in Yerevan


rferl--2020-08-26--Former Bosnian Serb Commander  Blasts UN Court As 'Child Of Western Powers'

Former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic has dismissed the UN court hearing his appeal against a life sentence for genocide as a `` child of the Western powers , '' as a two-day hearing wrapped up in The Hague , Netherlands .
The man called the `` Butcher of Bosnia '' has challenged his 2017 conviction and life sentence for genocide , crimes against humanity , and war crimes committed during Bosnia-Herzegovina 's 1992-95 war .
These included the massacre in and around the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica in mid-1995 when some 8,000 Muslim men and boys were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asked to speak near the end of the August 26 hearing , the 78-year-old Mladic told judges he remained a `` target of the NATO alliance '' and described the prosecutor as a `` blonde lady who has been showering me with snaky , devilish words . ''
Prosecutor Laurel Baig earlier on August 26 asked the judges in The Hague to uphold Mladic 's sentence , saying he `` was in charge of the Srebrenica operation , Srebrenica was Mladic 's operation . ''
`` And the chamber was right to conclude @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He used the forces under his command to execute thousands of men and boys . ''
The previous day , Mladic 's lawyer , Dragan Ivetic , told the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals ( IRMCT ) that Mladic was not mentally fit to take part in the appeal hearing .
Ivetic said there was a risk of a `` miscarriage of justice . ''
`` I am unable to meaningfully gain instruction from Mr. Mladic , nor be assured that he is able to meaningfully participate and follow '' the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ day of the hearing , which was being held partially by videoconference due to coronavirus measures .
Ivetic called for an analysis of Mladic 's fitness to participate .
At a hearing last month , Mladic 's legal team warned that the former general could be suffering from early-stage dementia .
`` It is a denial of due process to sentence or proceed criminally against someone who is incompetent to stand trial , '' Ivetic said .
The hearing proceeded despite Ivetic 's objections .
Mladic , looking frail , was in court @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of coronavirus regulations , before pushing it below his chin and then removing it completely .
Lawyers for Mladic have repeatedly complained about his ill-health .
But in a written ruling before the August 25 hearing , judges said that the lawyers had n't `` substantiated that Mladic is unable to communicate , consult with his counsel , and/or understand the essentials of proceedings . ''
The IRMCT deals with cases left over from now disbanded international war crimes tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda .
With reporting by AFP , AP @ @ @ @ @

Former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic has dismissed the UN court hearing his appeal against a life sentence for genocide as a "child of the Western powers," as a two-day hearing wrapped up in The Hague, Netherlands.
The man called the "Butcher of Bosnia" has challenged his 2017 conviction and life sentence for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed during Bosnia-Herzegovina's 1992-95 war.
These included the massacre in and around the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica in mid-1995 when some 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered by Bosnian Serb forces.
When asked to speak near the end of the August 26 hearing, the 78-year-old Mladic told judges he remained a "target of the NATO alliance" and described the prosecutor as a "blonde lady who has been showering me with snaky, devilish words."
Prosecutor Laurel Baig earlier on August 26 asked the judges in The Hague to uphold Mladic's sentence, saying he "was in charge of the Srebrenica operation, Srebrenica was Mladic's operation."
"And the chamber was right to conclude that he was responsible for these crimes. He used the forces under his command to execute thousands of men and boys."
The previous day, Mladic's lawyer, Dragan Ivetic, told the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) that Mladic was not mentally fit to take part in the appeal hearing. Ivetic said there was a risk of a "miscarriage of justice."
"I am unable to meaningfully gain instruction from Mr. Mladic, nor be assured that he is able to meaningfully participate and follow" the proceedings, Ivetic said during the first day of the hearing, which was being held partially by videoconference due to coronavirus measures.
Ivetic called for an analysis of Mladic's fitness to participate. At a hearing last month, Mladic's legal team warned that the former general could be suffering from early-stage dementia.
"It is a denial of due process to sentence or proceed criminally against someone who is incompetent to stand trial," Ivetic said.
The hearing proceeded despite Ivetic's objections. Mladic, looking frail, was in court and initially wore a face mask because of coronavirus regulations, before pushing it below his chin and then removing it completely.
Lawyers for Mladic have repeatedly complained about his ill-health.
But in a written ruling before the August 25 hearing, judges said that the lawyers hadn't "substantiated that Mladic is unable to communicate, consult with his counsel, and/or understand the essentials of proceedings."
The IRMCT deals with cases left over from now disbanded international war crimes tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
With reporting by AFP, AP, Reuters, and dpa


rferl--2020-08-26--Russian Orthodox Synod Appoints New Head Of Belarusian Church

MINSK -- The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church has granted a petition from Metropolitan Paval of Minsk and Zaslavl to dismiss him from his post as the patriarch 's exarch of all Belarus .
Bishop Veniamin of Borisov and Maryina Gorka has been appointed the patriarch 's exarch of all Belarus while remaining the temporary head of the Borisov diocese , Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vladimir Legoyda said .
The synod appointed Metropolitan Paval head of the Kuban metropolitanate , Legoyda said .
The previous metropolitan of Kuban , Isidor , died on August 8 of complications from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new coronavirus .
Paval became head of the Belarusian Orthodox Church in 2013 .
Paval has been criticized by the Belarusian opposition for congratulating President Alyaksandr Lukashenka after an official tally from Belarus 's August 9 presidential election showed he had won a landslide victory .
Paval has also been criticized for failing to react to the mass arrests and beatings of protesters amid demonstrations against the vote tally , which is disputed by opposition candidate Svyatlana Tsihanouskaya and her supporters .
`` Compatriots place great hopes in you to protect the sovereignty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s spiritual and cultural heritage , '' Paval said in an open letter to Lukashenka following the August 9 presidential poll .

MINSK -- The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church has granted a petition from Metropolitan Paval of Minsk and Zaslavl to dismiss him from his post as the patriarch's exarch of all Belarus.
Bishop Veniamin of Borisov and Maryina Gorka has been appointed the patriarch's exarch of all Belarus while remaining the temporary head of the Borisov diocese, Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vladimir Legoyda said.
The synod appointed Metropolitan Paval head of the Kuban metropolitanate, Legoyda said.
The previous metropolitan of Kuban, Isidor, died on August 8 of complications from COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus.
Paval became head of the Belarusian Orthodox Church in 2013.
Paval has been criticized by the Belarusian opposition for congratulating President Alyaksandr Lukashenka after an official tally from Belarus's August 9 presidential election showed he had won a landslide victory.
Paval has also been criticized for failing to react to the mass arrests and beatings of protesters amid demonstrations against the vote tally, which is disputed by opposition candidate Svyatlana Tsihanouskaya and her supporters.
"Compatriots place great hopes in you to protect the sovereignty of Belarus, while preserving our nation’s spiritual and cultural heritage," Paval said in an open letter to Lukashenka following the August 9 presidential poll.
With reporting by Interfax


rferl--2020-08-28--Ukraine Closes Border To Foreigners Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

The Ukrainian government has tightened lockdown measures , including closing its borders to foreigners , in an effort to contain @ @ @ @ @ .
The border closure that takes effect on August 28 was expected , but was @ @ @ @ @ an emergency session of parliament .
In addition , current quarantine measures were extended by @ @ @ @ @ 31 , and the division of the country into zones based on risk level will @ @ @ @ @ increase in cases in recent weeks has forced us to act more decisively , '' @ @ @ @ @ on August 27 .
Foreigners who have permission to work in Ukraine and those transiting @ @ @ @ @ a two-day stay will be allowed to enter .
Foreign students and military personnel will @ @ @ @ @ as will members of foreign delegations an employees of international organizations .
As of August @ @ @ @ @ just under 114,500 coronavirus infections , with more than 2,450 deaths .
It experienced a @ @ @ @ @ on August 27-28 with 2,438 cases .

The Ukrainian government has tightened lockdown measures, including closing its borders to foreigners, in an effort to contain the country's coronavirus outbreak.
The border closure that takes effect on August 28 was expected, but was moved up a day during an emergency session of parliament.
In addition, current quarantine measures were extended by two months, until October 31, and the division of the country into zones based on risk level will be maintained.
"The increase in cases in recent weeks has forced us to act more decisively," Prime Minister Denys Shmygal explained on August 27.
Foreigners who have permission to work in Ukraine and those transiting the country for less than a two-day stay will be allowed to enter. Foreign students and military personnel will also be allowed entry, as will members of foreign delegations an employees of international organizations.
As of August 28, Ukraine had registered just under 114,500 coronavirus infections, with more than 2,450 deaths.
It experienced a one-day high of new infections on August 27-28 with 2,438 cases.


rferl--2020-08-28--Detained Journalists In Belarus Face Charges For Covering Postelection Protests

MINSK -- One of six RFE/RL journalists detained while covering postelection protests in Minsk on August 27 is facing a charge of being a participant in an unauthorized mass demonstration .
He is among at least 35 journalists , and more than 260 people overall , who were detained during August 27 protests in Minsk , according to a list compiled by the human rights center Vyasna .
The charge filed against Andrey Yaroshevich , a freelance camera operator working for Current Time , is an administrative offense that can result in a fine or a jail sentence .
His @ @ @ @ @ @ @ court on August 28 .
A total of six journalists working either for RFE/RL 's Belarus Service or Current Time -- the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA -- were detained while covering demonstrations in two different Minsk locations on August 27 .
The Belarus Service 's Aleh Hruzdzilovich , Andrey Rabchyk , and Ales Dashchynski were detained on Independence Square .
Uladzimer Hrydzin , a correspondent for RFE/RL 's Belarus Service , was detained during a demonstration on Freedom Square in Minsk .
All but Yaroshevich were later released @ @ @ @ @ @ @ journalists who work for other media outlets also remained in the custody of Belarusian authorities on August 28 .
They also face charges of participating in an unauthorized mass rally -- a violation of Article 23.34 of Belarus 's Administrative Offenses Code .
The detentions came after nearly three weeks of protests against the official results of the August 9 election -- which gave President Alyaksandr Lukashenka a landslide victory .
Demonstrators and opposition leaders are contesting those results , charging that the vote was rigged in Lukashenka 's favor .
The demonstrations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crackdown , with widespread evidence of beatings and torture of detained protesters .
The leading opposition candidate , Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya , told the European Parliament this week that at least six people have been killed in the crackdown and dozens of protesters have gone missing after being detained by authorities .
But the roundup of journalists who are covering the crisis appears to signal a new strategy by Belarusian authorities .
Demonstrators on August 27 first assembled in the capital 's Freedom Square to continue their calls for Lukashenka 's resignation and fresh @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Belarusian and foreign media were detained there .
Another 18 journalists were detained after the demonstration moved to Independence Square , where police dispersed a crowd of about 1,000 and detained more than 260 people .
The Interior Ministry says detained journalists were put on a minibus and transported to a police station where officers checked whether they had valid accreditation to work legally in the country .
All but four were reportedly released the same evening .
Belarus has received international criticism for the way its August 9 election was conducted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ postelection demonstrators .
The official vote tally showed that Tsikhanouskaya finished a distant second to Lukashenka , but she says she is the rightful winner of the vote .
Belarusian prosecutors have jailed two leading members of Tsikhanouskaya 's recently formed Coordination Council .
Other leading opposition figures also have been summoned for questioning as part of what authorities in Minsk have called a `` criminal investigation . ''
The Coordination Council 's stated aim is to negotiate with Lukashenka 's government for new elections , the release of political prisoners , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reporting by Current Time and RFE/RL 's Belarus Service

MINSK -- Around 50 journalists, including six from RFE/RL, were detained while covering postelection protests in Minsk on August 27, in the latest intimidation of the press in Belarus as authorities widen a crackdown.
More than 260 people were detained during August 27 protests in central Minsk, according to a list compiled by the human rights center Vyasna. The Belarusian Association of Journalists said about 50 journalists were detained, but most were released after police checked their documents.
However, four journalists who refused to hand over their smartphones for police to check were charged with participating in an unauthorized protest, the Belarusian Association of Journalists said. A Swedish journalist will also be deported.
A total of six journalists working either for RFE/RL's Belarus Service or Current Time -- the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA -- were among those detained while covering demonstrations in two different Minsk locations on August 27. All were eventually released.
Andrey Yaroshevich, a freelance camera operator working for Current Time, was among those charged with an administrative offense that can result in a fine or a jail sentence. However, his case was temporarily dropped after a court appearance on August 28 because police failed to properly fill out forms.
“Authorities are treating the media in an increasingly arbitrary manner. Not only are they refusing to accredit journalists, but they are using a variety of pretexts to detain fully credentialed journalists and prevent them from reporting what they see,” said RFE/RL’s Acting President Daisy Sindelar. “We are also alarmed that authorities have threatened to bring arbitrary charges against journalists who refuse police orders to surrender photos and other information. This is blatant retaliation, and an outrageous breach of norms and laws."
The detentions came after nearly three weeks of protests against the official results of the August 9 election -- which gave President Alyaksandr Lukashenka a landslide victory.
Demonstrators and opposition leaders are contesting those results, charging that the vote was rigged in Lukashenka's favor.
The demonstrations have been met with a brutal police crackdown, with widespread evidence of beatings and torture of detained protesters.
The leading opposition candidate, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, told the European Parliament this week that at least six people have been killed in the crackdown and dozens of protesters have gone missing after being detained by authorities.
But the roundup of journalists who are covering the crisis appears to signal a new strategy by Belarusian authorities.
Demonstrators on August 27 first assembled in the capital's Freedom Square to continue their calls for Lukashenka's resignation and fresh elections. The demonstration later moved to Independence Square, where police dispersed a crowd of about 1,000 and detained more than 260 people.
Crisis In Belarus Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.
The Interior Ministry says detained journalists were put on a minibus and transported to a police station where officers checked whether they had valid accreditation to work legally in the country.
Belarus has received international criticism for the way its August 9 election was conducted, and for the harsh treatment of postelection demonstrators.
The official vote tally showed that Tsikhanouskaya finished a distant second to Lukashenka. But she says she is the rightful winner of the vote.
Belarusian prosecutors have jailed two leading members of Tsikhanouskaya's recently formed Coordination Council. Other leading opposition figures also have been summoned for questioning as part of what authorities in Minsk have called a "criminal investigation."
The Coordination Council's stated aim is to negotiate with Lukashenka's government for new elections, the release of political prisoners, and a peaceful transition of power.
With reporting by Current Time


rferl--2020-08-28--European Leaders Consider Diplomatic Moves To Address Belarus Political Crisis

Diplomatic efforts to resolve the political situation in Belarus top the agendas of meetings in Berlin and Vienna on August 28 following the 19th day of protests in Minsk challenging the results of this month ’ s presidential election .
EU foreign ministers are set to continue a two-day meeting in Berlin , where they are discussing sanctions , and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe ( OSCE ) , is scheduled to meet in Vienna .
The EU has already reportedly agreed to impose sanctions on 15 to 20 individuals accused of participating in electoral fraud or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ August 9 vote .
The EU foreign ministers will seek to gain political endorsements for the proposed list of sanctioned individuals , which would allow for formal approval , a source told the dpa news agency .
But some diplomats are pushing for tougher measures .
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Antanas Linkevicius said on August 27 that sanctions against the 15 to 20 individuals linked to electoral fraud or repression would be `` too symbolic . ''
Latvia 's Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics concurred , saying this number would not be enough , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a travel ban list with more names .
Estonia 's top diplomat , Urmas Reinsalu , said President Alyaksandr Lukashenka should appear on the EU sanctions list .
Reinsalu told RFE/RL outside of the gathering that the EU `` needs to have a determined position '' and take actions that `` give a clear and strong voice '' about the Belarusian political crisis .
Germany 's top diplomat , Heiko Maas , said EU ministers need to look at the sanctions that are being prepared and decide “ whether they are enough or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we need to do more . ''
In Vienna , Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama will speak on the situation in Belarus at an OSCE meeting of the Permanent Council on August 28 .
Rama , who is OSCE chairperson-in-office , and the incoming chairperson-in-office , Swedish Foreign Affairs Minister Ann Linde , have offered to visit the government of Belarus to support an open and constructive dialogue in the country .
As an OSCE participating state , Belarus has committed `` to holding genuinely democratic elections and to upholding human rights and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Josep Borrell and Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a statement on August 26 .
They also backed Rama and Linde ’ s proposal to support dialogue and called on Belarusian authorities to `` accept this proposal without delay . ''
'Absolutely Unjustified' Lukashenka on August 27 accused the West of waging a `` diplomatic war '' as the EU top diplomats were about to meet .
He accused Western powers of seeking to exploit Belarus 's instability to annex its territory .
The incumbent president has accused NATO of amassing forces @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg has repeatedly denied Lukashenka 's allegations and reiterated his stance on August 27 .
`` NATO has no military buildup in the region so any attempt to use that as an excuse to crack down on peaceful protesters is absolutely unjustified , '' Stoltenberg said .
Russia , a historical ally that wields some influence over Minsk through financial and political levers , has warned the EU and the United States against interfering in Belarusian affairs .
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a state television interview broadcast @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reserve of law enforcement officers prepared to enter the country to stop the protests .
The reserve will be used only if the situation gets out of control , `` if extremists , hiding behind political slogans , cross certain boundaries and start looting , setting fire to cars , homes , banks , attempting to seize administrative buildings , and so on , '' Putin said .
Belarusian police detained dozens of protesters and journalists working for local and foreign media in Minsk on August 27 .
A total of 17 journalists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the evening of August 27 , according to the human rights center Vyasna , and another 18 journalists on Independence Square .
The journalists were put on a minibus to be brought to a police station for officers to check whether they had valid accreditation allowing them to work in the country , according to the Interior Ministry .
Those detained included Uladzimer Hrydzin , a photographer working for RFE/RL ’ s Belarus Service , known locally as Radio Svaboda ( Radio Liberty ) , and journalists from TUT.BY , BelaPAN , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and other media .
Most of them were later released .
After the detentions , anti-government protesters gathered on Freedom Square .
Police later dispersed the crowd and detained more than 260 people , the rights NGO Vyasna reported .
Svaboda journalists Aleh Hruzdzilovich , Andrey Rabchyk , and Ales Dashchynski were among those detained in that action .
Current Time , the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA , reported that one of its journalists , Raman Vasyukovich , was also detained on August 27 .
With reporting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , TASS , Interfax , dpa , AFP , and Tut.by

BERLIN -- European Union foreign ministers have agreed to impose sanctions on up to 20 senior Belarusian officials suspected of involvement in election fraud and a brutal crackdown against protesters since the country's disputed August 9 presidential election.
The ministers did not rule out that Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka will be among those named on the sanctions list if the country doesn’t cease human rights violations.
Meanwhile, on August 28, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) offered to mediate between Lukashenka's government and opposition leaders who charge that the presidential election was rigged in favor of Lukashenka.
In another diplomatic gesture on August 28, the missions of the United States, the EU, Switzerland, and Britain issued a joint statement saying they stand in solidarity with the people of Belarus and their determination to seek democratic change.
The statement condemned “brutal and disproportionate use of force by the law enforcement authorities against peaceful protesters and ordinary citizens” and urged the Belarusian authorities to stop the violence and threats to use military force and release all people unlawfully detained.
Belarus has experienced nearly three weeks of unprecedented protests since the election gave Lukashenka a landslide victory. More than 7,000 people have been detained, hundreds have been injured, and at least three killed. More large-scale protests are planned over the weekend.
EU diplomats are not naming who may be put on the sanctions list, saying every step will follow legal and formal procedures.
Asked if Lukashenka is on the list, Sweden’s foreign minister said that EU diplomats are using the term “high political level” to describe those whom the sanctions will target.
“We have also decided to have an option to gradually expand the list in the future,” Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde told RFE/RL.
The EU foreign ministers were seeking in Berlin to gain political endorsements for a proposed sanctions list. Their agreement on the list allows for the formal approval of EU sanctions against targeted individuals.
Western countries are trying to find a political solution to end the crisis, which has raised concerns Lukashenka will unleash a bloody crackdown or Russia may intervene.
Current OSCE chair, Albanian Foreign Minister Edi Rama, told a special session of the Vienna-based body on August 28 that the situation is "deeply alarming” as he urged Belarus to allow a delegation to visit the country.
Linde, who is incoming chair of the OSCE, told RFE/RL that there was political support for an OSCE visit to Belarus to support an open and constructive dialogue in the country.
“There is almost a uniform backing for the initiative by the current and the next chairs of the OSCE -- in other words Albania and Sweden -- to try to arrange a visit to Minsk in order to facilitate a dialogue between the opposition and the regime,” Linde said.
Lukashenka has accused the West of waging a "diplomatic war" against Belarus, claiming that Western powers are seeking to foment a "color revolution." He also put the military on high-alert, using the army to intimidate protesters while accusing NATO of amassing forces near the Belarus-Poland border in recent weeks. The alliance has denied it poses any threat.
Lukashenka continued his tirades against the West on August 28, trying to tie his own fate as Belarus’s ruler to Russia’s security.
"Belarus is just a springboard to Russia, as always," he said.
"Unlike Hitler, who sent his army to Moscow, they are trying to destroy the government in place here and replace it with a new one that will ask another country for military assistance and deploy troops."
Deploying Russian forces to Belarus would be a mistake, said Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the self-exiled former presidential candidate who has become an unlikely leader of the Belarusian opposition.
"This is our internal problem, an internal issue that Belarusians must resolve with the Belarusian government," Tsikhanouskaya told RFE/RL from Vilnius, where she fled amid threats to her family.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun on August 28 said it is "clear to the world" that the recent presidential election in Belarus was "fraudulent."
"This is not a contest between East and West, and certainly not a contest between Russia and the United States," Biegun tweeted. "This is a battle between a ruler and his own people."
With reporting by Rikard Jozwiak in Berlin, RFE/RL's Belarus Service, Current Time, Reuters, AP, TASS, Interfax, dpa, AFP, and Tut.by


rferl--2020-08-28--U.S. Military 'Closely Monitoring' Russian Submarine That Surfaced Off Alaska

U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense ( NORAD ) Command are closely monitoring a Russian submarine that surfaced near Alaska on August 27 .
`` We closely track vessels of interest , including foreign military naval vessels , in our area of responsibility , '' U.S. Northern Command said on Twitter .
It was unclear why the submarine surfaced .
U.S. Northern Command said it had not received any requests for assistance from the Russian Navy or other mariners in the area .
`` We always stand ready to assist those in distress , '' the command @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that `` Russian maritime activity '' is taking place in international waters well outside the U.S. territorial sea .
U.S. military officials told the Associated Press that the submarine surfaced during a war-game exercise .
The presence of Russian ships caused concern among U.S. commercial fishing vessels in the Bering Sea on August 26 , the U.S. Coast Guard said .
Multiple fishing vessels notified the Coast Guard that they had come across the Russian ships and were concerned , Coast Guard spokesman Kip Wadlow said earlier on August 27 , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Alaskan Command at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson , which confirmed the ships were there as part of a preplanned Russian military exercise that was known to some U.S. military officials , Wadlow said .
Wadlow did not have information about the scope of the exercise or how many Russian vessels were involved .

U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) Command are closely monitoring a Russian submarine that surfaced near Alaska on August 27.
"We closely track vessels of interest, including foreign military naval vessels, in our area of responsibility," U.S. Northern Command said on Twitter.
It was unclear why the submarine surfaced. U.S. Northern Command said it had not received any requests for assistance from the Russian Navy or other mariners in the area.
"We always stand ready to assist those in distress," the command’s tweet said.
It added that "Russian maritime activity" is taking place in international waters well outside the U.S. territorial sea.
U.S. military officials told the Associated Press that the submarine surfaced during a war-game exercise.
The presence of Russian ships caused concern among U.S. commercial fishing vessels in the Bering Sea on August 26, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Multiple fishing vessels notified the Coast Guard that they had come across the Russian ships and were concerned, Coast Guard spokesman Kip Wadlow said earlier on August 27, according to AP.
The Coast Guard contacted the Alaskan Command at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, which confirmed the ships were there as part of a preplanned Russian military exercise that was known to some U.S. military officials, Wadlow said.
Wadlow did not have information about the scope of the exercise or how many Russian vessels were involved.
Based on reporting by AP