radiofree.asia

Category: Picks

  • U.S., EU Tell OSCE That Russian Media Curbs Are Aimed At Independent Press, RFE/RL

    The United States and European Union have reiterated their condemnation of Russia’s increasing repression of independent media, including RFE/RL.

    Courtney Austrian, the U.S. charge d’ affaires to the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said in a March 18 statement that Russia’s new requirements for outlets branded “foreign media agents” were in some cases technically impossible and were being “used against entities and individuals associated, sometimes only tangentially, with U.S. Agency for Global Media, or USAGM, funded programming in Russia.”

    The assault on USAGM outlets, including RFE/RL, “reflects a broader crackdown on independent voices and civil society,” Austrian wrote in the statement on behalf of both the United States and Canada.

    “The new regulations are aimed at impeding RFE/RL’s media operations in Russia and reducing its growing audience share.”
    Austrian added that, while USAGM outlets were the first foreign media to be targeted by Russia, media from any OSCE state could be next.

    The new regulations include requirements that entities and individuals designated by Moscow as “media foreign agents” must note the designation in material published in Russia with a prominent, state-mandated, disclaimer.

    In some cases, such as tweets, the requirement was technically impossible because the disclaimer had more characters than allowed by Twitter, Austrian noted.

    Austrian noted that Russia’s media regulatory body, Roskomnadzor, has opened 260 cases against RFE/RL for violations of the regulations, with potential fines of $980,000, since January 14.

    “We reiterate our call on the Russian government to end its repression of independent journalists and outlets, including RFE/RL and its affiliates,” Austrian wrote. “The people of Russia deserve access to a wide range of information and opinion and a government that respects freedom of expression in keeping with Russia’s international obligations and OSCE commitments.”

    False Equivalence

    In a later “right of reply” statement delivered to the Permanent Council in Vienna, Austrian said that the Russian delegation to the intergovernmental organization “has repeatedly tried to create a false equivalence between the draconian measures taken against RFE/RL in Russia and the legal framework within which RT and Sputnik operate in the United States.”

    Those Russian outlets are required to register with the U.S. Justice Ministry as “foreign agents” under the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

    However, Austrian said, “we will repeat what we have stated before: there is no equivalence between U.S. FARA legislation and Russia’s ‘foreign agent’ law.”

    Austrian noted that while the U.S. law does not impose restrictions on how foreign outlets print and broadcast their stories and opinions, “Russia uses its ‘foreign agent’ law to restrict, intimidate, prosecute, and shut down civil society organizations and independent media.”

    The European Union on March 18 also issued a statement to the OSCE Permanent Council expressing “our serious concern about the worsening situation of media freedom in Russia.”

    In its two-page statement, the 27-member bloc said that Russia’s adoption in December of stricter measures under its “foreign agents” and other legislation had “enabled the authorities to exercise online censorship.”

    “The EU reiterates its longstanding position that the so-called ‘foreign agent’ law contributes to a systematic infringement of basic freedoms, and restricts civil society, independent media, and the rights of political opposition in Russia,” the statement read. “It goes against Russia’s international obligations and human rights commitments.”

    The EU statement also described the opening of cases against RFE/RL regarding alleged violations of the labeling requirement as “systematic targeting” and “a blatant attempt to silence independent media and to eventually cease RFE/RL’s activities in Russia.”

    ‘Orders To Intimidate’

    Russia’s so-called “foreign agent” legislation was adopted in 2012 and has been modified repeatedly. It requires nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign assistance and that the government deems to be engaged in political activity to be registered, to identify themselves as “foreign agents,” and to submit to audits.

    Later modifications targeted foreign-funded media.

    In 2017, the Russian government placed RFE/RL’s Russian Service on the list, along with six other RFE/RL Russian-language news services, and Current Time, a network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.

    At the end of 2020, the legislation was modified to allow the Russian government to add individuals, including foreign journalists, to its “foreign agent” list and to impose restrictions on them.

    In December 2020, authorities added five individuals to its “foreign agent” list, including three contributors to RFE/RL’s Russian Service. All five are appealing their inclusion on the list.

    Roskomnadzor last year adopted rules requiring listed media to mark all written materials with a lengthy notice in large text, all radio materials with an audio statement, and all video materials with a 15-second text declaration.

    RFE/RL President Jamie Fly has called the regulations “orders to deface our content platforms and intimidate our audiences” and says RFE/RL will continue “to object, protest, and appeal these requirements.”

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • U.S. Denounces Repression In Russia-Controlled Crimea After Journalist Arrested On Spying Charge

    The United States has called the arrest of a journalist in Russia-annexed Crimea for allegedly spying on behalf of Kyiv “another attempt to repress those who speak the truth about Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.”

    “Russia continues to prosecute Ukrainian activists and target independent voices on the peninsula,” State Department spokesman Ned Price tweeted late on March 17.

    The tweet came one day after Vladislav Yesypenko, who holds dual Russian-Ukrainian citizenship and is a freelance contributor to RFE/RL’s Crimea.Realities, a regional news outlet of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, was arrested on suspicion of collecting information for Ukrainian intelligence.

    The Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service has described the move as “propaganda” ahead of the seventh anniversary of Moscow’s forcible annexation of the region on March 18.

    According to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), an object “looking like an explosive device” was found in Yesypenko’s vehicle during his arrest. The FSB also claimed he had confessed to collecting data for the Ukrainian Security Service.

    Yesypenko, along with a resident of the Crimean city of Alushta, Yelizaveta Pavlenko, was detained on March 10 after the two took part in an event marking the 207th anniversary of the birth of Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko a day earlier in Crimea.

    Pavlenko was later released.

    RFE/RL President Jamie Fly has called Yesypenko’s detention “deeply troubling,” noting that it comes at a time “when the Kremlin is employing harassment and intimidation against any possible alternative voice in Russia-annexed Crimea.”

    Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in March 2014, sending in troops and staging a referendum denounced as illegitimate by at least 100 countries after Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted amid a wave of public protests.

    Rights groups say that, since then, Russia has moved aggressively to prosecute Ukrainian activists and anyone who questions the annexation.

    Moscow also backs separatists in a war against Ukrainian government forces that has killed more than 13,000 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • ‘Your Heart Might Stop’: Kazakh From Xinjiang Threatened After Pressing Chinese Diplomats About Missing Brother

    Baibolat Kunbolatuly is one of the millions of Muslims from China’s western Xinjiang region who has a family member imprisoned or in an internment camp amid Beijing’s oppressive campaign against Muslims.

    The 40-year-old Kunbolatuly has been staging protests in front of the Chinese Embassy in Nur-Sultan and the consulate in Almaty since early 2020, always holding a portrait of his younger brother, Baimurat.

    A naturalized Kazakh citizen, Kunbolatuly has been seeking information about his brother, who vanished in Xinjiang three years ago.

    Locked Up In China: The Plight Of Xinjiang’s Muslims


    Radio Free Radio/Radio Liberty is partnering with its sister organization, Radio Free Asia, to highlight the plight of Muslims living in China’s western province of Xinjiang.

    But Kunbolatuly’s protests came to an abrupt end when he was detained and sent to 10 days of “administrative arrest” on February 10 for breaching laws on protests.

    Unsanctioned rallies — including solo protests — are banned in Kazakhstan.

    Kunbolatuly says that, while in custody, he came under pressure from officials who demanded that he end his campaign.

    He adds that officials threatened that he might “end up like Dulat Aghadil,” a prominent Kazakh activist who died in custody from an alleged heart attack last year in a death that raised suspicions of foul play.

    “An official told me: ‘Your heart might stop, too,’” Kunbolatuly told RFE/RL after his release.

    He says officials told him that his actions could harm his children’s future.

    “They told me: ‘When your children grow up, they might want to work in government agencies, but they won’t be able to do so [because of your actions]. Then your children would hate you. You’re causing them to suffer,’” Kunbolatuly said.

    Officials at the detention facility in Almaty refused to comment on Kunbolatuly’s charges when contacted by RFE/RL.

    Kunbolatuly admits that he is worried about the potential impact his actions could have on his family if he continues his campaign and is rearrested.

    “I think about what would happen to my children if I were to die [in prison],” he says. “What happens to my elderly parents who are already suffering because of my [brother’s disappearance]?”

    ‘We Don’t Know If He’s Still Alive’

    Kunbolatuly lives in a modest apartment in Almaty with his wife and their three children. He arrived in Kazakhstan in 2002 and received a passport six years later.

    Kazakhstan offers citizenship to ethnic Kazakhs who return to their ancestral country. Thousands of ethnic Kazakhs moved from China to Kazakhstan after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

    In 2005, Kunbolatuly’s parents left China to join him in Kazakhstan. Close family members and other relatives followed them.

    People protest on February 9 outside the Chinese Consulate in Almaty to demand the release of their loved ones who they believe are being held against their will in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang.


    People protest on February 9 outside the Chinese Consulate in Almaty to demand the release of their loved ones who they believe are being held against their will in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang.

    His brother, Baimurat, decided to return to Xinjiang in 2012 to look after an elderly aunt. Initially, Baimurat would frequently call or exchange texts with his family in Kazakhstan.

    But the family soon lost contact with him. The aunt and other relatives also didn’t respond to Kunbolatuly’s calls and letters.

    Many people in Xinjiang are afraid to keep in touch with their relatives abroad because even answering a foreign phone call could land them in jail.

    The only information Kunbolatuly was able to get about his brother over many years were from other ethnic Kazakhs who would manage to call someone in Xinjiang who knew something about him.

    Kunbolatuly said he heard from someone that Baimurat was sent to one of China’s notorious internment camps. Another rumor had it that Baimurat was forced to teach Mandarin to ethnic Kazakhs being held at a camp. Baimurat was fluent in Mandarin, which many ethnic minorities in Xinjiang don’t speak, his brother recalls.

    Kunbolatuly says he doesn’t know if what he heard about his brother’s fate is true. “I don’t even know if my brother is still alive or not,” he adds.

    Baibolat Kunbolatuly protests in front of the Chinese Consulate in Almaty in January 2020.


    Baibolat Kunbolatuly protests in front of the Chinese Consulate in Almaty in January 2020.

    Right groups say about 1 million people — almost all of them from Muslim minority groups, primarily Uyghurs — have been detained in internment camps in Xinjiang.

    There are widespread reports of systematic torture, starvation, rape, and even forced sterilization of the people being held in the vast camps, which are located behind barbed wire and watchtowers.

    In January, the United States declared that China has committed genocide in its repression of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities.

    Beijing rejects the claims and says the camps are “vocational training centers” where people voluntarily attend classes.

    Message From Embassy

    After years of waiting for a message from his brother and looking for information about him, Kunbolatuly had had enough.

    He began a protest in front of the Chinese Consulate in Almaty as well as at the embassy in the capital, Nur-Sultan, in 2020, asking that Chinese officials provide information about his missing brother.

    He eventually got a text message from the embassy that read: “On March 20, 2012, your brother shared content on the Chinese social [media] site Baidu Tieba that incited ethnic strife. Therefore, on April 11, 2018, a city court…in Xinjiang sentenced him to 10 years in prison. He is currently serving his sentence.”

    Kunbolatuly says he thoroughly studied all social-media posts shared by his brother and didn’t find a single message that could even remotely be linked to “inciting ethnic strife.”

    He also doesn’t know why it took six years for Chinese authorities to target his brother over the alleged post. Kunbolatuly didn’t receive any further comment from Chinese diplomats.

    There are many other ethnic Kazakh natives from Xinjiang who protest in front of China’s embassy and consulate in Kazakhstan.

    Their stories are similar to Kunbolatuly’s: They, too, are desperate to discover the fate of their loved ones who disappeared in Xinjiang. They, too, don’t know if their relatives are dead or alive, if they are in prison or being held in the internment camps.

    Kazakhstan is reluctant to condemn the widely documented human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. The Kazakh government says it doesn’t interfere in China’s treatment of its own citizens, calling it an internal matter.

    The largest country in Central Asia is also wary of harming its relations with Beijing, a major investor in Kazakhstan’s vast natural resources and other sectors of the economy.

    Kazakh authorities have been criticized for putting pressure on activists who call on the government in Nur-Sultan to speak up about the plight of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.

    Like Kunbolatuly, several others have been detained by police for protesting in front of Chinese diplomatic offices. The Internet signal often disappears or weakens in certain areas when protesters gather so they cannot organize or post photos or reports online.

    Kunbolatuly says his Facebook account was first hacked into and then deleted while he was livestreaming a demonstration by ethnic Kazakhs near the Chinese Consulate in Almaty on March 16.

    An RFE/RL correspondent who was friends with him on Facebook confirms that he can no longer find Kunbolatuly’s account. Kunbolatuly says he has also lost access to his e-mail account.

    Almaty police, meanwhile, are always pushing the protesters away from the consulate, demanding they keep at least 50 meters from the building.

    Despite the pressures, the Kunbolatuly family is determined not to stay silent. When Kunbolatuly was in detention, his mother, Zauatkhan Tursyn, joined with the other protesters in Almaty.

    The family also says it has not lost hope that one day Baimurat will be freed and join his family in Kazakhstan.

    Until then, the Kunbolatulys say they will continue to demand answers from Beijing.

    Written by Farangis Najibullah based on reporting by RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Russia Set To Host Conference To Revive Afghan Peace Process

    Russia will host a conference on March 18 to advance the peace process in Afghanistan featuring high-level delegations representing the Taliban and Afghan government as well the United States, Pakistan, and China.

    The meeting comes a day after U.S. President Joe Biden warned that it could be difficult for the United States to meet a deadline set out in a U.S.-Taliban deal to withdraw all U.S. troops by May 1.

    “I’m in the process of making that decision now as to when they’ll leave,” Biden said in an interview with U.S. broadcaster ABC.

    “The fact is that that was not a very solidly negotiated deal that the president — the former president — worked out. And so we’re in consultation with our allies as well as the government, and that decision’s going to be — it’s in process now,” Biden said.

    The deal was signed in 2020 during the last year of former President Donald Trump’s administration. Trump later cut the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to 2,500 in his final days in office. They are part of a NATO mission that has just under 10,000 troops helping to train and advise Afghan security forces.

    The Taliban has said the May 1 date for the U.S. withdrawal is inflexible. In response to Biden’s comments, a Taliban spokesman told AFP there would be “consequences” if the United States did not stick to the agreed timetable.

    Peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government resumed last month in Qatar after a delay of more than a month amid escalating violence in the country. But the talks, which convened in September, have made little progress.

    The United States is shifting focus to meetings among key regional countries aimed at pushing Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Taliban insurgents, and other Afghan political leaders to form an interim government.

    The Taliban’s 10-member delegation to the Moscow talks will be led by Mullah Baradar, the group’s deputy leader and chief negotiator at the talks in Qatar. The Afghan government side will be headed by former chief executive Abdullah Abdullah.

    Pakistan will be represented by veteran diplomat Mohammed Sadiq, while the United States has sent longtime Afghan envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.

    The Moscow gathering will be followed by a meeting of regional players next month in Turkey and a summit that Khalilzad has asked the United Nations to organize.

    The Afghan government has said it would take part in the conference in Turkey, but the Taliban has not yet confirmed whether it would attend.

    The United Nations, which is not participating in the Moscow talks, announced on March 17 that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has nominated a new personal envoy, Jean Arnault of France, to work for peace in Afghanistan.

    Arnault will work with Deborah Lyons, who is the world body’s special envoy to Afghanistan. The Canadian is also the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

    With reporting by AP, AFP, and Radio Free Afghanistan

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Journalist Arrested On Espionage Charge In Russian-Controlled Crimea

    SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine — The authorities in Crimea have arrested a man for allegedly spying on behalf of Ukraine, a move Kyiv characterized as propaganda ahead of the seventh anniversary of Moscow’s illegitimate annexation of the region.

    Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on March 16 that Vladislav Yesypenko, who holds dual Russian-Ukrainian citizenship and is a freelance contributor to Crimea.Realities, was arrested on suspicion of collecting information for Ukrainian intelligence.

    According to the FSB, an object “looking like an explosive device” was found in Yesypenko’s automobile during his apprehension. It also said he confessed to collecting data for the Ukrainian Security Service.

    Yesypenko, along with a resident of the Crimean city of Alushta, Yelizaveta Pavlenko, was detained on March 10 after the two took part in an event marking the 207th anniversary of the Ukrainian poet and thinker Taras Shevchenko the day before in Crimea.

    Pavlenko was later released.

    Yesypenko’s lawyer, Emil Kuberdinov, said on March 15 that he had not been allowed to meet with his client since his arrest.

    “At a time when the Kremlin is employing harassment and intimidation against any possible alternative voice in Russia-annexed Crimea, the recent detention of Vladislav Yesypenko, a freelancer for RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, is deeply troubling. Yesypenko should be released immediately, so that he can be reunited with his family,” RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said in a statement.

    Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in March 2014, sending in troops and staging a referendum denounced as illegitimate by at least 100 countries after Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted amid a wave of public protests.

    Rights groups say that since then, Russia has moved aggressively to prosecute Ukrainian activists and anyone who questions the annexation.

    The Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service said in a post on Facebook that with the arrest, the FSB was trying create the atmosphere the Kremlin needs to “celebrate the anniversary of the occupation of Crimea.”

    “Such propaganda on the eve of the anniversary is a convenient attempt to distract the attention of the population away from the numerous internal problems of the peninsula,” it said.

    “Russia is deliberately inflating the situation, trying to shift responsibility for the settlement process in eastern Ukraine to Ukraine.”

    Moscow also backs separatists in a war against Ukrainian government forces that has killed more than 13,000 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.

    On March 15, the Russian-imposed authorities in the Black Sea peninsula temporarily lifted coronavirus pandemic restrictions to mark the seventh anniversary of the region’s annexation with a variety of events organized by the pro-Kremlin Night Wolves bikers club, as well as patriotic events at schools and military schools on March 18.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Iran Talks Up Homegrown COVID-19 Vaccines In Show Of Self-Reliance

    Iran is boasting that its ability to make coronavirus vaccines exemplifies its self-sufficiency, with one top official comparing the feat to its ability to build missiles.

    “Just as we were forced to manufacture missiles ourselves, we produced a coronavirus vaccine,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on March 15, the semiofficial news agency ISNA reported.

    Despite Tehran posing as a vaccine-manufacturing hub, its coronavirus vaccine candidates are still undergoing trials and have not received official approval.

    Instead, the country has bought Russian, Chinese, and Indian injections amid a sluggish, opaque vaccination campaign launched last month with a small number of doses of Russia’s Sputnik V. Authorities say health-care workers and those with chronic conditions are currently being inoculated.

    The latest Iranian coronavirus vaccine to emerge with scant details about it is named Fakhra after the country’s late nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was assassinated near Tehran in November.

    Fakhra was reportedly first unveiled on March 16, when its first clinical trial was launched in a ceremony attended by senior officials, including Health Minister Saeed Namaki. The minister pledged that Iran would soon become a “world leader” in COVID-19 vaccine production.

    One of Fakhrizadeh’s two sons, Hamed Fakhrizadeh, became the first volunteer to receive a test dose of Fakhra, which was produced by the Defense Ministry’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research. The department was previously headed by Fakhrizadeh, whose killing has been blamed on Israeli agents.

    A son of slain scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh receives a Fakhra coronavirus vaccine as Defense Minister Gen. Amir Hatami (left) and Health Minister Saeed Namaki (2nd left) look on at a staged event in Tehran on March 16.


    A son of slain scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh receives a Fakhra coronavirus vaccine as Defense Minister Gen. Amir Hatami (left) and Health Minister Saeed Namaki (2nd left) look on at a staged event in Tehran on March 16.

    An official claimed Fakhra was “100 percent safe” and the government said it had some 20,000 volunteers to officially test it.

    Optimistic Targets

    The Health Ministry has said it will vaccinate all Iranian adults by September, a goal that many find overly optimistic.

    Iran launched a human trial of at least two domestic vaccines last year that it hopes will be help curtail the spread of the pandemic, which Tehran has desperately struggled to stem since it emerged there more than a year ago.

    Some 1.76 million Iranians have contracted the virus and nearly 61,500 have died of COVID-19 as of March 16, according to official figures. The actual number of infections and dead from the pandemic is likely to be two or three times higher, officials and experts have said.

    Iranian officials say they have so far received 410,000 doses of Sputnik V, 250,000 shots of China’s Sinopharm, and 125,000 doses of India’s COVAXIN vaccine. Tehran has also accepted 100,000 doses of the unapproved Cuban Soberana-02 vaccine, which will be administered to 100,000 people in the third phase of its human trial.

    An additional 375,000 doses of COVAXIN are expected in the country by March 17, bringing the total number of imported shots to 1.26 million.

    Despite a ban on U.S. and British coronavirus vaccines by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian health officials said in early February the country will also receive more than 4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine under the World Health Organization’s COVAX vaccine-distribution project.

    Use of the British-Swedish AstraZeneca shots are currently being shelved by several European countries after reports of health problems in people who had received the vaccine.

    Iranian officials have added that they eventually expect to import more than 16 million doses of vaccines from COVAX, which could inoculate nearly 10 percent of the country’s some 84 million people.

    Mostafa Ghanei, the director of the Scientific Commission in Iran’s National Headquarters for Combating the Coronavirus, said in an interview in February that the country will need 160 million doses of coronavirus vaccines in order to bring the pandemic fully under control.

    Speaking on March 15, Zarif blasted Western countries for hoarding vaccines “three times more than they need” and accused the United States of hampering Tehran’s access to vaccines through tough sanctions and financial restrictions imposed under ex-President Donald Trump.

    “Can those who prevented the transfer of our money for purchasing vaccines say that they learned a lesson in humanity and humility from the coronavirus outbreak?” Zarif asked, failing to mention Khamenei’s January ban on Western-made vaccines.

    That act by the supreme leader has been blasted as a politicization of the health and well-being of Iranians, who have been hit harder by the pandemic than any other country in the Middle East.

    Khamenei has called U.S.- and British-made vaccines “untrustworthy,” while his chief of staff, Ayatollah Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, recently falsely claimed that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had killed several people, with “some countries refusing to accept it.”

    Golpayegani made the comments while praising Iran’s main vaccine candidate, Barekat, which is being developed by Setad, a powerful organization controlled by Khamenei’s office that owns billions of dollars in property seized after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • U.S. Intelligence Says Iran, Russia Carried Out Influence Operations During 2020 Election

    Russia and Iran both conducted misinformation operations to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, according to a U.S. intelligence report.

    The unclassified 15-page report, published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on March 16, said there were no indications foreign actors attempted to influence technical aspects of the U.S. election, such as meddling with ballots or voter tabulation.

    But it assessed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “authorized, and a range of Russian government organizations conducted, influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting former President Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process and exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the United States.”

    Unlike during Russian meddling in the 2016 election, U.S. intelligence did not observe Russian cyber-action to gain access to election infrastructure. Instead, the report said the Russian state and its proxies tried to impact U.S. public perceptions.

    Moscow’s strategy primarily revolved around using “proxies linked to Russian intelligence to push influence narratives” to U.S. media, officials, and prominent individuals, “including some close to former President Trump and his administration,” the report said.

    Meanwhile, Iran also carried out “a multi-pronged covert influence campaign” to damage Trump’s reelection campaign, but did not actively promote Biden.

    The goal of Iran’s actions was to undermine confidence in the U.S. election and institutions and foster divisions within society, the report said.

    Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “authorized the campaign and Iran’s military and intelligence services implemented it using overt and covert messaging and cyber-operations,” the report said.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Kyrgyzstan Repatriates Dozens Of Children Born To Militants In Iraq

    Kyrgyzstan has brought back dozens of children from Iraq, becoming the latest Central Asian state to repatriate its citizens since thousands from the region went to fight with extremist groups in Iraq and Syria.

    A special plane carrying 79 children born to Kyrgyz parents in Iraq and Syria landed at Bishkek’s Manas Airport on March 16 as part of a humanitarian mission dubbed “Meerim” (Grace).

    Hundreds of women from Central Asia have been languishing in prison in Iraq or at special camps in northeastern Syria since the Islamic State extremist group was largely defeated. Many of their husbands are believed to be imprisoned or dead.

    Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Ministry said the repatriation was carried out with the consent of the children’s imprisoned mothers in Iraq and on the commitment of relatives in Kyrgyzstan to accept the children into families for upbringing.

    It also said the government would support the children’s rehabilitation and reintegration.

    The operation was conducted with the support of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Kyrgyzstan Red Crescent.

    In a statement, UNICEF representative Christine Jaulmes commended the Kyrgyz government for repatriating the children and “treating them primarily as victims in need of protection.”

    “Children are just children,” the Kyrgyzstan Red Crescent wrote on Facebook. “They are not guilty of anything and adults must care of children no matter where they were born and or their destiny.”

    More than 800 Kyrgyz, including an estimated 150 women, went to Syria and Iraq to join extremist groups during the conflicts in those countries. Most ended up with the Islamic State group.

    Kyrgyzstan follows Central Asian neighbors Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in completing a repatriation mission from either Iraq or Syria.

    “The United States applauds the Kyrgyz government’s repatriation of 79 children from Iraq, which will give these young people a chance to live a normal life in their home country,” the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek said in a statement.

    “The Kyrgyz government deserves praise for its commitment to help the returned children and to carry out all measures for their early rehabilitation, reintegration, and return to a safe and peaceful life.”

    “We encourage other nations around the world to follow the example set by the Kyrgyz Republic and other Central Asian nations that have made progress in repatriating their citizens from conflict areas,” it added.

    More than 41,000 foreigners from more than 100 countries joined the Islamic State or other extremist groups in Syria and Iraq, both before and after the declaration of its so-called caliphate in June 2014.

    At least 6,000 of them are believed to have come from Central Asian countries, according to a 2018 study by the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King’s College in London.

    In addition to several thousand foreign fighters and their wives being held in Iraqi prisons, almost 62,000 people are being held by Syrian Kurdish forces at the Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria.

    According to UNICEF, there are more than 22,000 foreign children of at least 60 nationalities at the camp.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Kosovo Opens Embassy In Jerusalem

    The Kosovar Foreign Ministry announced on March 14 that it had formally opened its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, which comes six weeks after Kosovo and Israel established diplomatic ties. The rapprochement was envisioned in Kosovo’s deal with Serbia brokered by former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration in September 2020.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • China Prepares New Era Of ‘Belt And Road’ Amid Pandemic Pressures

    After declaring victories over extreme poverty and the coronavirus, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has laid out a new path for China’s economic rise at home and abroad that could force Beijing to adapt to new difficulties caused by the pandemic.

    The future direction came as the Chinese Communist Party’s legislature, the National People’s Congress, convened in Beijing on March 5 for a more-than-week-long gathering to unveil a new economic blueprint — known as the country’s 14th five-year plan — and chart a broad course for China to claim its place as a modern nation and true global power.

    The annual summit of Chinese lawmakers laid out broad guidelines that would shape the country’s growth model over the next 15 years.

    Preoccupied with growing China’s tech industry amid a deepening rivalry with the United States, it also provided a platform for Xi to tout the merits of his autocratic style and tightening grip on power at home.

    While the stagecraft of the conclave focused on China’s domestic goals, they remain deeply intertwined with Beijing’s global ambitions, particularly the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — a blanket term for the multibillion-dollar centerpiece of Xi’s foreign policy that builds influence through infrastructure, investment, and closer political ties.

    “The message is a continuation and doubling-down of what we’ve been seeing for years, which is that China is growing stronger and it feels confident to elbow its way in even more around the world,” Raffaello Pantucci, a senior associate fellow at London’s Royal United Services Institute, told RFE/RL.

    A giant screen shows Chinese President Xi Jinping attending the closing session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 11.

    A giant screen shows Chinese President Xi Jinping attending the closing session of the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 11.

    Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi echoed this during an expansive March 8 press conference on the sidelines of the congress in Beijing, where he said there would be no pause for BRI and that it had and would continue to evolve amid the constraints and opportunities caused by the pandemic.

    “[BRI] isn’t so much a specific project as it is a broad vision,” Pantucci said, “and visions can be reshaped as needed, which is what we’re seeing now.”

    An Evolving Vision

    Despite the display of strength and unity coming out of Beijing over the country’s success in curbing the spread of COVID-19 and keeping its economy growing amid the pressures of the pandemic, Beijing finds itself facing new global pressure.

    The BRI has suffered setbacks recently due to concerns in host countries over mounting debts, with many governments — from Africa to Central Asia — asking China for debt forgiveness and restructuring. Beijing is also looking to rebuild its credibility, which was hurt over its early handling of COVID-19 in the central city of Wuhan, and navigate growing pressure from Western countries that have begun to push back against Chinese tech and political policies.

    In the face of this, Beijing has looked for new opportunities to demonstrate global leadership, providing vaccines and medical equipment to countries across the globe and raising climate-change concerns.

    This has also applied to the BRI.

    During his press conference, Wang focused on the initiative’s traditional infrastructure emphasis, but also pointed towards new horizons for the policy, such as medical diplomacy as well as a shifting focus on tech and foreign aid. China is the world’s largest emerging donor and a new white paper released in January by the Chinese government outlined its plans to play an ambitious leading role in the international aid system.

    Many experts also say Beijing will look to build off its growing “vaccine diplomacy” campaign and use China’s recent success in fighting poverty to find new ways to build ties and deepen cooperation around the world.

    “Fighting poverty and medical coordination linked to the pandemic and its aftermath will be a major focus of Chinese diplomacy moving forward,” Zhang Xin, a research fellow at Shanghai’s East China Normal University, told RFE/RL. “[BRI] is an umbrella initiative that can include everything and this will be one of the new fronts under that umbrella.”

    Realities On The Ground

    Despite the growing opportunities, China’s flagship project is also facing plenty of challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic on the ground.

    In addition to debt concerns, closed or partially open borders with China’s neighbors in South and Central Asia due to China’s strict COVID restrictions remain a point of tension, and have led to massive lines, trade bottlenecks, and ballooning transportation costs.

    China’s overseas energy lending has likewise dropped to its lowest level since 2008, after the pandemic severely hampered deal-making in developing states, according to Boston University’s Global Energy Finance Database, which saw financing for foreign energy projects fall by 43 percent to $4.6 billion in 2020.

    And while the pandemic provided an all-time high for freight-train traffic to Europe from China, it has slowed trade from Central Asia to China. Only limited traffic is allowed to pass through China’s border post with Kyrgyzstan, something the new government in Bishkek is trying to change as it deals with the economic blows of the pandemic.

    Kyrgyz Prime Minister Ulukbek Maripov met with Du Dewen, China’s ambassador to Bishkek, on March 3 to discuss speeding up border crossings and increasing trade, but progress remains uncertain as long as China stays wary of the spread of COVID-19 in Central Asia.

    Similarly, traders in Tajikistan are still grappling with border closures as they remain cut off from their main export destination. Many of the merchants complain they are being squeezed out by Chinese competitors.

    Preliminary Chinese trade data for 2020 shows that imports to China from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan fell by more than 45 percent compared to 2019.

    Tensions also continue to flare in Pakistan, where the $62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), China’s flagship BRI project, is progressing slowly amid multiple setbacks and delays. While problems with the initiative are not new, Beijing has aired its frustrations and supported the Pakistani military taking greater control over CPEC, which it views as a more reliable partner than the country’s political class.

    Global Headwinds

    Trade and relations with neighboring Russia, however, appear to still be a bright spot for Beijing. Russian customs figures show that China continues to make up a growing share of its trade as Moscow increasingly finds itself sanctioned and cut off from the West.

    Political ties between Beijing and Moscow are also deepening. Wang spoke at length at his press conference about how the two governments were working closer together in a variety of fields, from plans to build a lunar space station to joint efforts in vaccine production.

    Wang also said that the two countries were working to combat “color revolutions” and to fight against a “political virus,” hinting at their shared animosity towards the United States.

    “The overall tone is quite clear, the partnership between China and Russia is being heavily valued,” Zhang said. “The Chinese state is emphasizing this relationship and how they can act together [with Russia] to face shared challenges around the world.”

    Chief among those challenges for Beijing is continuing to grow its economy at home and navigate its rivalry with the United States.

    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national-security adviser Jake Sullivan will meet with their Chinese counterparts in Alaska on March 18 for the first meeting between Beijing and the administration of President Joe Biden.

    China is also looking to take successful policies at home and build upon them abroad under the banner of the BRI. China was the only major world economy to expand last year and many of its neighbors across Eurasia are hoping Chinese economic growth can help them with a post-pandemic recovery.

    But China’s own recovery remains fragile in some areas, including in consumer spending, and regulators are growing more worried about real-estate prices rising to unsustainable levels. The Chinese stock market began to recover on March 11 after a large rout that saw officials censor the word “stock market” from social media searches in the country, showcasing the sensitivity to anything that can derail Beijing’s ambitions at home or abroad.

    “There are many challenges ahead for the Chinese leadership to navigate and maintaining economic growth is the biggest one,” Ho-Fung Hung, a professor of political economy at Johns Hopkins University, told RFE/RL. “Xi cares about political power and boosting economic growth is the best way to hold on to political power.”

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Kosovo Opens Embassy In Jerusalem, Weeks After Establishing Relations With Israel

    PRISTINA — Kosovo has officially opened its new embassy in Jerusalem, six week after it formally established diplomatic relations with Israel.

    “The Embassy of the Republic of Kosovo in Jerusalem will be strongly committed to increasing bilateral cooperation and strengthening the international profile of the state of Kosovo,” Kosovo’s Foreign Ministry said in a press statement on March 14.

    The new embassy was opened by Ines Demiri, Kosovo’s charge d’affaires in Israel, because representatives from Kosovo were unable to attend due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    In September 2020, former U.S. President Donald Trump gathered the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia at a White House summit meant to work toward the long-stalled normalization of ties between the neighbors.

    The summit was somewhat overshadowed by a White House announcement that Kosovo had agreed to recognize Israel.

    At the meeting, Belgrade also agreed to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, something it hasn’t yet done.

    The Trump administration recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in late 2017 and moved the U.S. Embassy there in May 2018.

    That decision prompted criticism from the Palestinians, most Muslim-majority countries, and many states in Europe, concerned that it would undermine prospects for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

    Last year, Trump brokered a series of deals to establish diplomatic relations between Israel and Arab states, including Bahrain, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates.

    However, the Arab parties to the accords have all maintained that their diplomatic missions in Israel will be in Tel Aviv.

    Most Western countries have recognized Kosovo’s independence, but Serbia and its allies Russia and China have not.

    Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, nine years after NATO conducted a 78-day air campaign against Serbia to stop a bloody crackdown against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

    With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Majlis Podcast: What Is Turkey Seeking In Central Asia?

    Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu visited three Central Asian countries from March 6 to 9.

    Boosting trade was a big part of Cavusoglu’s mission during his visit to Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, but there were unique reasons for the Turkish minister’s visit to each country.

    On this week’s Majlis Podcast, RFE/RL media-relations manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion on Turkish-Central Asian ties and what Cavusoglu was doing in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan.

    This week’s guests are: from the United Kingdom, Gul Berna Ozcan, reader in international business and entrepreneurship at the Royal Holloway University of London; from Bishkek, Medet Tiulegenov, assistant professor at the American University of Central Asia; and Bruce Pannier, the author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.

    Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Uzbek Farmers Unhappy With President’s Order Giving Land To Jobless Youth

    Just as many Uzbek farmers began sowing the seeds for this season’s crops, President Shavkat Mirziyoev called on them to give some of their agricultural land to young people without jobs.

    “Every farmer should allocate two hectares of land [that will] be given to four young people, [each of them getting] half a hectare,” Mirziyoev said at a cabinet meeting in Tashkent on January 27. “They will grow whatever crop they like on that land.”

    The president ordered that one hectare from every 10 hectares of farmland should be given to young people.

    Six weeks since the announcement, many farmers told RFE/RL they were unhappy watching their income diminish. But in an authoritarian country where the president enjoys enormous power, farmers have no choice but to comply.

    “Representatives from local governments and prosecutor’s offices gathered us together and said there were 300 young unemployed people in our district that should be given land,” a farmer from the eastern Namangon Province’s Uichi district told RFE/RL. “We had to agree, what else can we do? This is a government order and we have to agree or we could lose all of our land,” he said, on condition of anonymity.

    RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service received similar complaints from many other farmers from across Central Asia’s most populous country.

    “We still have to pay taxes for that part of the land that was taken from us,” said a farmer from the Qushrabot district of Samarkand Province. “Those who received our land [for free] don’t have to pay for anything.”

    Uzbek officials have insisted they are not forcing anyone to give up their land.

    Helping Your Neighbor

    An official from the Agriculture Department in Namangan Province told RFE/RL the project was being implemented carefully, taking into consideration the situation on the ground. “The land is being allocated depending on the capacity of each farming enterprise and each district,” the official said. He pointed out that many people had welcomed the project, which he said provided young people with an opportunity to earn their own money.

    In the eastern Andijon Province, one farmer says he supports the idea of helping others, although he admits “it does hurts” his own income. “It’s impossible not to give a part of your land to your neighbors when you see they’re struggling without work,” said Elyorbek Hakimov, the head of the Sobitkhon-Ota farming enterprise in Andijon’s Ulughnor district.

    Hakimov said his farming enterprise had allocated farmland to four young people who were unemployed. He said they’d already grown corn and potatoes and he believes that if the new farmers work hard, “they can harvest two crops in one season.”

    “Our young people can’t go anywhere to find jobs now,” Hakimov said. “But [if they get land] at home they will make at least some money by growing crops.”

    President Shavkat Mirziyoev (left) talks with a farmer in the Buka district of the Tashkent region. Mirziyoev has said that about 14,000 young people applied to receive agricultural land last year.

    President Shavkat Mirziyoev (left) talks with a farmer in the Buka district of the Tashkent region. Mirziyoev has said that about 14,000 young people applied to receive agricultural land last year.

    Jobs are hard to come by in Uzbekistan, where many households in the country of some 35 million depend on worker remittances sent from Russia, Kazakhstan, and other countries. According to government statistics, unemployment in Uzbekistan in 2020 was about 13 percent, although the real figures could be higher than the official statement.

    Before the COVID-19 pandemic, experts estimated that about 6 million Uzbeks worked abroad, many of them engaged in seasonal jobs such as construction work and farming. Since last year, millions of Uzbek migrant workers have been unable to travel abroad as the pandemic led to border closures and travel restrictions.

    ‘Give Them Incentives’

    Mirziyoev has said that about 14,000 young people applied to receive agricultural land last year.

    Meanwhile, some of those who received free farmland told RFE/RL that in a few cases the authorities took the land back just days later without providing any reason.

    For example, in Samarkand’s Qushrabot region, officials canceled the allocation of some 22 hectares of land a week after the documents had been signed.

    RFE/RL spoke to one young person in Qushrabot who was given about 40 acres of land before it was taken back by the local government. He said several unemployed youth were given agricultural land under the president’s plan. But the decision was reversed by district officials who gave no reason.

    Uzbekistan analyst Saparboy Jubaev says the government must use its own resources to create jobs for young people in rural areas. “Such projects shouldn’t be implemented at the expense of farmers,” said Jubaev, a former official in the Uzbek Finance Ministry.

    “For example, in Kazakhstan, the government provides incentives for young people willing to move to remote, rural areas in the country’s north,” said Jubaev, who works at the Eurasian National University in Almaty, Kazakhstan. “The government offers them land parcels, livestock, machinery, and financial aid.”

    In a separate action, Mirziyoev has also urged private entrepreneurs to give jobs to younger people. That project, too, has been unpopular with many businessmen, who complain they are on the verge of bankruptcy after many months of quarantines and restrictions due to the pandemic.

    Analysts note that Mirziyoev’s predeccessor, autocratic leader Islam Karimov, tried at various times during his turbulent rule to carry out agrarian reform, the last time in 2008.

    Those plans — which included land seizures — also angered many farmers and were largely viewed as unsuccessful.

    Written by Farangis Najibullah based on reporting by Khurmat Babajanov of RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Lukashenka Says Belarus May Submit New Eurovision Entry After Backlash

    Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka said his country may submit a new entry to the Eurovision Song Contest after the first one was rejected for being political.

    The song I’ll Teach You by the band Galasy ZMesta sparked a backlash for singing the praises of Lukashenka with lyrics such as, “I’ll teach you how to dance to the tune, I’ll teach you to take the bait, I’ll teach you to walk the line.”

    Eurovision organizers on March 11 rejected Minsk’s entry and threatened Belarus with disqualification if it did not submit a modified version of the song or a new entry.

    The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said the song would put the “nonpolitical nature” of the contest in question, and that “recent reactions to the proposed entry risk bringing the reputation of the ESC into disrepute.”

    Lukashenka has faced nearly daily protests to step down since the country’s presidential election on August 9 handed him another term despite charges the election was rigged.

    More than 30,000 people have been arrested, hundreds beaten, and several people killed in the government crackdown on protesters.

    Crisis In Belarus

    Read our coverage as Belarusians take to the streets to demand the resignation of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and call for new elections after official results from the August 9 presidential poll gave Lukashenka a landslide victory.

    Calls to kick out Belarus’s entrant to the annual Eurovision Song Contest had been growing in the run-up to the event in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam on May 18-22.

    “They are starting to press us on all fronts,” Lukashenka said on March 13 in his first remarks on the row. “Even at Eurovision, I see.”

    “We’ll make another song,” he added, according to the presidential press service.

    Belarus’s national broadcaster, BTRC, on February 9 announced it had selected Galasy ZMesta to represent the country at the contest.

    Galasy ZMesta has slammed the country’s pro-democracy movement, writing on its website that the group could not stay “indifferent” while “political battles try to break the country we love and in which we are living.”

    The five-member group has backed Lukashenka, and its front man, Dzmitry Butakou, openly laments the breakup of the Soviet Union.

    With reporting by Reuters

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Armenian President, PM Discuss Possible Snap Elections

    Armenian President Armen Sarkisian met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in Yerevan on March 13 as part of a presidential effort to defuse the political crisis that has gripped that Caucasus country since a cease-fire was signed to end intense fighting over a breakaway region of neighboring Azerbaijan.

    Opposition-led street protests have targeted Pashinian since the truce was signed in early November 2020, surrendering control of some regions around Nagorno-Karabakh that had been under ethnic Armenian control for decades.

    Azerbaijani forces mostly routed overmatched Armenian forces on the battlefield during the six-week intensification of a nearly three-decade, mostly “frozen,” conflict.

    Sarkisian’s office said the two men discussed “the situation in the country [and] ways of resolving it and overcoming the internal political crisis.”

    “In this context, they discussed holding early parliamentary elections as a solution,” the presidential office said.

    Sarkisian had asked for the meeting.

    After a break, opposition parties and other critics renewed their protests to demand Pashinian’s exit in late February.

    The leaders of the pro-government My Step parliamentary faction and one of the two opposition factions, Bright Armenia, also accepted Sarkisian’s invitation to March 13 talks, and their meetings with the president were planned for later in the day.

    In a statement disseminated late on March 12, the president’s office said that the two other sides invited to the talks — the parliamentary opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) and the Homeland Salvation Movement, an alliance of about a dozen political parties and groups, including the BHK, demanding Pashinian’s resignation — had proposed their own agendas and set conditions for the meeting.

    Sarkisian’s office said that made the format of talks in which all invited parties would meet at one table “unfeasible.”

    As Pashinian visited the presidential compound in a heavily guarded motorcade, supporters of the Homeland Salvation Movement staged more protests in the adjacent boulevard that they have been blocking since late February.

    The opposition movement continues to insist that Pashinian must step down and a provisional government led by its leader Vazgen Manukian be formed before snap parliamentary elections can be held in a year.

    Ishkhan Saghatelian, one of the leaders of the movement, said that in order to be able to discuss their possible participation in snap elections, Pashinian must first step down and then the parliament must be dissolved.

    Pashinian, who was swept to power by a peaceful protest movement in 2018, has rejected calls for his immediate resignation but left the door open to early elections.

    Talking to several media on March 12, the leader of the BHK, Gagik Tsarukian, announced an upcoming meeting with Pashinian.

    He repeated the demand that the prime minister resign and that snap parliamentary elections be held as early as possible to end the current political crisis.

    Pashinian’s allies hold a comfortable majority in parliament.

    He and his political team have sought assurances from the two opposition factions excluding the risk of upheavals in the country.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Opposition, NGO Event Broken Up In Moscow, Dozens Detained

    Russian police have stormed a gathering of independent local deputies in the capital and detained dozens of people, reportedly accusing them of taking part in an event organized by an “undesirable” group. A correspondent for RFE/RL’s Russian Service said officers arrived at the “Municipal Russia” event about 40 minutes after it began at Moscow’s Izmailovo Hotel early on March 13 and started taking people away. The event was organized by the United Democrats project, which is not among the entities on the list of “undesirable” organizations kept by prosecutors. Russia’s “undesirable organization” law was adopted in 2015 amid a number of legislative, executive, and other restrictive efforts to curb dissent in the country.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Moscow Police Break Up ‘Municipal Russia’ Event, Detain Independent NGO, Political Leaders

    Russian police have stormed a gathering of independent local deputies in the capital and detained dozens of people, reportedly accusing them of taking part in an event organized by an “undesirable” group.

    A correspondent for RFE/RL’s Russian Service said officers arrived at the “Municipal Russia” event about 40 minutes after it began at Moscow’s Izmailovo Hotel early on March 13 and started taking people away.

    The list of detainees numbers at least 100, according to one of the groups involved, and is a “who’s who” among politicians and NGOs critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    The event was organized by the United Democrats project, which is not among the entities on the list of “undesirable” organizations kept by prosecutors.

    The detainees include senior Open Russia leaders Andrey Pivovarov and Anastasia Burakova, former Yekaterinburg Mayor Yevgeny Roizman, city deputies Ilya Yashin and Yuliya Galyamina, and opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza.

    A number of journalists from independent media were also detained.

    There were said to be around 150 attendees at the forum.

    Reports from the scene suggested detainees were being taken away to a number of different police stations and Interior Ministry facilities in some of the more than 12 police minibuses parked outside the hotel.

    Russia’s “undesirable organization” law was adopted in May 2015 amid a flurry of legislative, executive, and other restrictive efforts to further curb dissent in the country.

    One of the effects has been to squeeze many nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations that receive funding from foreign sources and provide grounds to persecute their members.

    Open Russia has been on the “undesirable” list since 2017, and Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said Open Russia and other groups have come under increasing pressure.

    Its coordinator, Tatyana Usmanova, told local Dozhd TV that she didn’t know why police would have started targeting the United Democrats project too.

    Fresh elections, which routinely include bans and disqualifications of opposition and independent candidates critical of the government, are due in the fall.

    A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on March 12 called on Putin to halt what they called a “state-sponsored assault on media freedom” through the targeting of RFE/RL under a controversial “foreign agent” law.

    A long list of other organizations are also targeted under that legislation.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Iran-Born Singer Prompts Threats From Tehran With Video Clip Featuring Porn Star

    California-based singer Sassan Heydari-Yafteh, better known to fans as Sasy Mankan, has prompted threats and detentions by Iranian authorities who say his new music clip featuring a hard-core porn actress is obscene.

    The video, Tehran Tokyo, features sex star Alexis Texas dancing alongside the Iranian-American performer and at one point wearing — and then shedding — a head scarf.

    Head scarves, known as hijabs, are obligatory for women under Iran’s strict Islamic dress code and are a frequent target of protest by activists seeking reform of Iran’s discriminatory patriarchal system.

    Sasy’s video has also been criticized for exposing Sasy’s fans — including children and young Iranians — to the world of porn.

    The 32-year-old singer posted promotional snippets last week before releasing the full clip on March 11 despite a threat by Iranian authorities that they would take action against the singer through “international legal authorities.”

    Iranian media reported this week that two brothers who arranged the song — identified as Mohsen and Behroz Manuchehri — were arrested at their home in the southwestern city of Shiraz.

    It is unclear what charges are being levied against the two.

    The semiofficial Tasnim news agency affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) quoted Tehran’s guidance court as warning that anyone who collaborated on the song or even who lip-syncs it and publishes it online will face prosecution.

    A Tehran Tokyo promotional clip posted online on March 2 has been viewed over 18 million times, while a longer version has 2.6 million views on Sasy Mankan’s Instagram page, which has 4.7 million followers.

    The music video led to renewed calls by Iranian hard-liners for the blocking of Instagram, which remains the only Western social-media site that has not been filtered by Iranian authorities.

    “All parents are worried about cyberspace’s psychological harm to helpless children; this is the common denominator of all political thought. Others have taken serious steps to protect their children many years before us,” lawmaker Mojtaba Tavangar said via Twitter while tagging Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi. “Child protection requires everyone’s support. Mr. Minister, [and] we are ready to help resolve this issue.”

    Many people have countered that in order to protect children, authorities should take other steps that include protection against child labor and child marriages.

    “The thoughts of children realizing that [Alexis Texas] is a porn star and searching for her [name on the Internet] make me tremble,” said journalist Emily Amraee, adding that “due to [state] filtering, all children have access to anti-filtering tools.”

    “This song is more dangerous than child polio,” she said.

    Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a vice president under reformist President Mohammad Khatami two decades ago, said that while Sasy’s video clip “with its special guests” was being viewed by millions of Iranians, some people in the country also view women bicyclists as a problem.

    “What a deep [gap] between these thoughts and the reality of the society,” Abtahi said on Twitter.

    Sasy, who left Iran in 2012, declined an interview request by RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.

    “I don’t want to [comment]. In these cases, I usually let everyone do their thing,” he said.

    Sasy’s manager, Farshid Rafe Rafahi, CEO of Los Angeles-based EMH Productions, told The Associated Press that Sassy was not trying to create controversy.

    “It’s pretty crazy, she’s just dancing like any person in any ordinary music video. She’s not doing anything inappropriate in these scenes,” Rafahi, said. “Sasy’s mission isn’t to create havoc, it’s to make people happy.”

    In 2019, Sasy, who used to work as un underground singer in Iran, outraged Iranian authorities with a video clip, titled Gentleman, that became a hit among Iranians. Schoolchildren were shown dancing to the song in multiple videos posted online.

    Some officials later claimed the video clips were “fake” and that no dancing took place in Iranian schools.

    Iranian authorities, who interfere in most aspects of their citizens’ lives, have cracked down on public dancing, mainly by women, in recent years.

    In 2014, six men and women were detained for dancing in a YouTube video to the Pharrell Williams song Happy. They were later sentenced to suspended jail terms.

    Radio Farda broadcaster Mohammad Zarghami contributed to this story

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Iran Reports ‘Terrorist Attack’ On Cargo Ship In Mediterranean Sea

    An Iranian state-owned company says one of its cargo vessels was targeted this week by what it called a “terrorist” attack in the Mediterranean Sea, state television reported on March 12.

    The report quoted Ali Ghiasian, spokesman for the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines group (IRISL), as saying that the ship was en route from Iran to Europe when its hull was hit with an “explosive device” on March 10.

    Ghiasian said the blast set off a small fire that was quickly extinguished and that the ship, named Shahr-e Kord, would continue on its journey after assessing and repairing the damage.

    The report said there were no casualties in the blast. It did not blame anyone for the incident, which Ghiasian called a “terrorist action and an example of maritime piracy.”

    Reuters quoted two maritime security sources as saying that initial indications were that the container ship had been intentionally targeted by an unknown source.

    The incident comes less than two weeks after Israel accused arch enemy Iran of being behind an attack on an Israeli-owned cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman on February 25 — a charge denied by Tehran.

    In a March 12 report quoting U.S. and regional officials, The Wall Street Journal said Israel had targeted at least a dozen vessels bound for Syria that were mostly carrying Iranian oil since late 2019.

    It said Israel had used weapons including “water mines” to target the ships.

    Israeli officials have not commented on the report, but Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that the country “will continue to fight against terrorism and everything that helps terrorism, including its sources of revenue.”

    IRISL was blacklisted by the United States last year over what the State Department described as the transportation of items related to Iran’s missile and nuclear programs.

    With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • New Charges Filed Against Jailed Belarusian Blogger Losik, Wife Says

    MINSK — New criminal charges have been filed against jailed Belarusian blogger Ihar Losik, his wife says, adding that upon hearing the charges he restarted a hunger strike.

    Losik, a consultant for RFE/RL on new-media technologies, also tried to slit his wrists in front of an investigator and a lawyer, his wife Darya told RFE/RL on March 11, citing his lawyer.

    She said the precise wording of the new charges is unknown, and demanded that Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka tell her why her husband has been in prison for nine months.

    This comes less than two months after Losik ended a six-week hunger strike to protest charges that he allegedly helped organize riots over last year’s disputed presidential election in Belarus.

    News of the new charges against the 28-year-old father of a 2-year-old daughter prompted a response from RFE/RL President Jamie Fly, who urged Lukashenka to release him immediately so he can be reunited with his family.

    “All of us at RFE/RL are deeply distressed by today’s new charges against Ihar, and his deteriorating health situation,” Fly said in a statement, adding: “Journalism is not a crime and Ihar has been unjustly detained for far too long. Ihar and his family should not be tortured in this way.”

    WATCH: ‘Mockery Of Justice’: Wife Of Detained Belarusian Blogger Demands His Release

    Losik was arrested on June 25, 2020, and accused of using his popular Telegram channel to “prepare to disrupt public order” and “preparation for participation in riots” ahead of the presidential election on August 9.

    Losik on December 15 was slapped with charges that could result in an eight-year prison term if he is convicted.

    In protest, Losik, who has been recognized as a political prisoner by rights activists, launched his hunger strike.

    Losik announced the end of that hunger strike on January 25, saying he did so “on my own volition.” A statement issued by his lawyer at the time said he was “simply moved by the unbelievable wave of solidarity.”

    But the blogger’s state of mind apparently declined soon afterward based on a handwritten letter that he wrote on February 18 and published on social media after the news of a two-year jail sentence given to two journalists of Belsat.

    “I have no illusion. I think it’ll be about five more years, and by that time I will have died. I no longer have any desire to do anything,” Losik wrote. “So much has already been done, and all for naught: Nothing influences anybody. I’ll say it honestly: I doubt anything will change.”

    Since the presidential election, Belarus has witnessed regular demonstrations whose size and scope are unparalleled in the country’s post-Soviet history.

    Western governments have refused to acknowledge Lukashenka as the winner of the vote, and imposed sanctions on him and his allies, citing election rigging and the police crackdown.

    Lukashenka has refused to step down and says he will not negotiate with the opposition.

    Ihar Losik with his wife Darya

    Ihar Losik with his wife Darya

    In his letter, Losik said he believed everyone who has protested against the government will be jailed and those who aren’t will leave or be silenced.

    “Russia will assist with money, and that’s how it will remain for several years to come. That’s why I’m thinking I have to somehow prepare myself. Because I’ve grown tired of waiting and hoping for something good while, each week for the past eight months, things only deteriorate,” he said.

    Losik wrote of a sense of helplessness, saying it was sad, but he saw no reason to believe otherwise, and said he didn’t want his wife to witness a trial.

    “Better they should just quickly shoot me, so as not to have to witness all that.”

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Blinken Assures Congress Of Biden’s Opposition To Nord Stream 2

    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has assured members of Congress that the Biden administration opposes the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and said the administration continues to review further sanctions.

    Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that President Joe Biden thinks the nearly completed pipeline was a “bad idea” and had “been clear on this for some time.”

    He added that the United States, which has already placed sanctions on companies involved in building the pipeline, was “making clear that we stand against its completion…and we continue to review other possibilities for sanctions going forward.”

    Nord Stream 2 is designed to reroute Russian natural-gas exports to Europe under the Baltic Sea, circumventing Ukraine.

    Congress opposes the pipeline on the grounds that it strengthens the Kremlin’s hold on Europe’s energy industry and hurts Ukraine, which stands to lose billions of dollars in annual transit fees.

    Senate Republicans have been pressuring the Biden administration to impose sanctions on more companies involved in the project.

    At the same time it has called the pipeline a “bad idea,” the Biden administration is also reportedly concerned about the impact additional sanctions would have on U.S. relations with Germany, which has defended the pipeline as a commercial project.

    Legislation passed by Congress in 2019 placing sanctions on vessels laying the pipeline halted the project for more than a year, but Russia resumed construction with its own ships.

    That pushed Congress to pass new legislation last year widening the sanctions to include companies engaging generally in Nord Stream 2 activities, including those that insure and certify the project.

    The legislation required the administration to update Congress on the status of the project and impose sanctions on any companies in violation. In its update last month the Biden administration identified only one vessel and its owner, which were already under sanction. Meanwhile, some media reports have identified at least a dozen companies involved in the construction.

    In a letter to Biden last week, 40 Senate Republicans called the update “completely inadequate” and demanded the administration place sanctions on the additional companies “without delay.”

    Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee also asked Blinken about Moscow’s involvement in Venezuela and Cuba. He said the United States had seen a resurgence of Russian presence and activity in the two countries, and “we’re very attentive to that across the board.”

    With reporting by Reuters

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Armenian Opposition Protesters Blockade Parliament To Demand PM’s Resignation

    YEREVAN — Thousands of Armenian opposition supporters have blockaded the parliament building in Yerevan to press a demand for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to resign.

    The demonstrators surrounded the building on March 9 and engaged in occasional scuffles with police, as several opposition lawmakers stood between the two sides to prevent violent clashes.

    Police officers clad in riot gear did not attempt to disperse the crowd.

    “Do not succumb to provocations,” opposition activist Ishkhan Saghatelian told the protesters. “None of us is going to break through the National Assembly gate.”

    “This is our civil disobedience action against this parliament,” he said.

    Pashinian has faced mounting protests and calls from the opposition for his resignation following a six-week conflict between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh last year.

    At the heart of the turmoil is the Russian-brokered deal Pashinian signed in November that brought an end to the fighting after Armenian forces suffered territorial and battlefield losses from Azerbaijan’s Turkish-backed military.

    Under the deal, Armenia ceded control over parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven surrounding districts of Azerbaijan that had been occupied by Armenian forces since the early 1990s.

    Political tensions escalated last month when Pashinian dismissed the chief of the General Staff, Onik Gasparian, after the prime minister accused high-ranking military officers of attempting a coup by calling on him to resign.

    Supporters of Pashinian and the opposition have been staging competing rallies in the capital amid the crisis.

    In an attempt to defuse the crisis, Pashinian has offered to hold snap parliamentary elections later this year but rejected the opposition’s demand to step down before the vote.

    Pashinian has defended the November deal as the only way to prevent the Azerbaijani Army from overrunning the entire Nagorno-Karabakh region.

    Russia has deployed about 2,000 peacekeepers to monitor the agreement.

    With reporting by AP

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • U.S. Urges Iran To Provide ‘Credible’ Information About ‘Abducted’ Ex-FBI Agent

    The United States is calling on the Iranian government to provide “credible answers” to what happened to a former FBI agent who was “abducted” while traveling in Iran in 2007.

    “The United States will never forget Bob Levinson,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a March 9 statement marking the 14th anniversary of his disappearance.

    Blinken also called on Iran to “immediately and safely release” all U.S. nationals “unjustly held captive” in the country, saying: “The abhorrent act of unjust detentions for political gain must cease immediately.”

    Levinson, who was born in March 1948, disappeared when he traveled to the Iranian Kish Island resort in March 2007. He was reportedly working for the CIA as a contractor at the time.

    The United States has repeatedly called on Iran to help locate Levinson and bring him home, but Iranian officials said they have no information about his fate.

    However, when he disappeared, an Iranian government-linked media outlet broadcast a story saying he was “in the hands of Iranian security forces.”

    In December 2020, the previous U.S. administration imposed sanctions on two Iranian intelligence agents believed to be “involved in the abduction, detention, and probable death” of the former agent.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Kosovo Minister Steps Down After Election Graft Allegations

    PRISTINA — Kosovo’s foreign minister has resigned amid allegations that her husband bribed election officials to help her win a parliamentary seat.

    Meliza Haradinaj-Stublla announced on March 9 that she was stepping down from her position in the government and resigning from her political party, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK).

    In a Facebook post, the 37-year-old politician described her decision as a necessary step that would allow her to focus on her legal defense — not an acknowledgement of any guilt.

    According to local media reports, her husband, Dardan Stublla, bribed election commissioners to help her win a seat in the Kosovo Assembly at last month’s snap parliamentary elections.

    Haradinaj-Stublla belonged to a caretaker cabinet operating until the new parliament convenes and elects the government.

    The AAK — a junior coalition partner in the government of Avdullah Hoti, which took office in June — is not expected to be part of the next government to be headed by Prime Minister-designate Albin Kurti.

    It received eight parliamentary seats in the February 14 election, which was won by Kurti’s leftist-nationalist Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party.

    With reporting by Balkan Insight, dpa, and AP

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Freed British-Australian Academic Says Iran Subjected Her To ‘Psychological Torture’

    A British-Australian woman jailed in Iran for more than two years on widely criticized espionage charges has said in a television interview broadcast on March 9 that she was subjected to “psychological torture.”

    Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a lecturer in Islamic Studies at Melbourne University, returned to Australia in November after serving 804 days of a 10-year sentence.

    Moore-Gilbert, 33, who was freed in exchange for the release of three Iranians held in Thailand, told Sky News that she was held in solitary confinement.

    “It’s [an] extreme solitary confinement room designed to break you. It’s psychological torture. You go completely insane. It is so damaging. I would say I felt physical pain from the psychological trauma I had in that room. It’s [a] 2-meter by 2-meter box,” she said.

    “There were a few times in that early period that I felt broken. I felt if I had to endure another day of this, you know, if I could I’d just kill myself. But of course, I never tried and I never took that step,” Moore-Gilbert added.

    She also confirmed that members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) had attempted to recruit her as a spy “many times.”

    Moore-Gilbert had written about the attempts in letters smuggled out of prison and published in British media in January 2020.

    Iran has arrested dozens of foreign and dual nationals in recent years on espionage charges that they and their governments say are groundless.

    Critics say Iran uses such arbitrary detentions as part of hostage diplomacy to extract concessions from Western countries, which Tehran denies.

    With reporting by AP and The Guardian

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • New Film Details ‘Lukashenka’s Luxurious Life’

    The Polish-based Belarusian opposition news outlet Nexta has published an investigative film about Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s “luxurious life.”

    The film, titled Lukashenka. A Golden Bottom, was published on YouTube on March 8.

    The investigative material focuses on Lukashenka’s personal expenses and what it describes as Lukashenka’s villas, expensive cars, and gifts he allegedly uses for his own personal needs.

    The report says Lukashenka has been offering “protection” to corrupt Belarusian and foreign business people. It mentions, in particular, a luxurious residential compound in Krasnoselskoye near Minsk, which Nexta says is a gift from Russian oligarch Mikhail Gutseriyev to Lukashenka in exchange for “protection.”

    Lukashenka, who has been in power since 1994, publicly said last week that his “only palace” is a tiny house of less than 60 square meters where he was raised by his mother.

    Lukashenka has amended the constitution several times during his authoritarian rule that brought Belarus the unwanted moniker “Europe’s last dictatorship.”

    Crisis In Belarus

    Read our coverage as Belarusians take to the streets to demand the resignation of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and call for new elections after official results from the August 9 presidential poll gave Lukashenka a landslide victory.

    In August 2020, he was officially pronounced the winner of a presidential election for the sixth time, a development that triggered unprecedented mass protests across the country.

    Thousands of Belarusians, including dozens of journalists covering the protests, have been detained by the authorities, some handed prison terms, and hundreds beaten in detention and on the streets.

    Several protesters have died in the violence, and some rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used by security officials against some detainees.

    On September 23, 2020, Lukashenka held an inauguration ceremony behind closed doors amid public protests, but many EU countries, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada refused to recognize him as Belarus’s legitimate president.

    The European Union imposed three sets of sanctions against Belarusian authorities, including Lukashenka, over the rigged presidential poll and ongoing violence and police brutality against peaceful protesters.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Bishkek Ballet Dancers Boycott Performance With Russians Over Pay

    BISHKEK — A ballet performance in Kyrgyzstan with the participation of two prominent Russian ballet dancers, Sergei Manuilov and Yekaterina Pervushina, was canceled after local dancers refused to take part.

    The Swan Lake performance was due to take place in Bishkek over the weekend, but a group of dancers from the Abdylas Maldybaev National Opera and Ballet Theater refused to perform at the last moment.

    A member of the Kyrgyz ballet troupe, Dosmat Sadyrkulov, told RFE/RL on March 8 that the dancers refused to participate because they hadn’t been paid.

    Sagida Jumabekova of the Rainbow Foundation, the organizer of the event, said that it had been agreed that the foundation would pay the Russian dancers while the local artists would receive money from the Bishkek ballet theater.

    “The local [dancers] started asking for money from us. We agreed to do so, although [we were not legally bound to do so], just to try to save the performance. But even when we brought the cash to pay them, they still refused to perform,” Jumabekova told RFE/RL.

    Sadyrkulov explained that the March 6 scheduled performance was “a commercial project with commercial ticket prices.”

    Ticket prices ranged from 1,000 to 2,000 soms (between $12 and $24) — a significant sum of money in the former Soviet republic.

    “The prices are very high for Bishkek, but our dancers do not receive anything for their performance. This is a long-standing issue. Our performers have asked both the theater’s administration and the Culture Ministry to solve the problem,” Sadyrkulov said.

    According to him, the theater received a double rental fee for the one-day Swan Lake performance, but refused to pay the Kyrgyz dancers, arguing that they already receive monthly salaries.

    “When [the Kyrgyz dancers] refused to put on the costumes 30 minutes before the performance, they started promising money…and then they threatened to fire them or sue them,” Sadyrkulov said.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Detained Russian Protester Uses Current Time Video To Win Legal Battle

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Ireland’s Foreign Minister Holds Talks In Iran

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • U.S. Accuses Russia Of Spreading Disinformation About Western COVID Vaccines

    The United States has accused Russian intelligence agencies of spreading disinformation about Western vaccines against the coronavirus in an attempt to undermine global confidence in their safety, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

    The State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which monitors foreign disinformation efforts, told the newspaper that four websites it claims are associated with Russian intelligence have been publishing articles questioning the efficacy of the vaccines and raising questions about their side effects.

    The websites accentuate actual international news reports that cast a negative view of the vaccines without providing contradictory information about their safety and efficacy, the newspaper reported.

    Western vaccines were approved after stringent trials that demonstrated more than 60 percent efficacy, and in two of the three cases, more than 90 percent. The Western vaccines compete with Russia’s Sputnik V, which also recently showed efficacy of greater than 90 percent in a mass trial.

    The websites identified by the Global Engagement Center include New Eastern Outlook and Oriental Review, which it says are Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and News Front, which it claims is run by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). News Front is based in Russian-occupied Crimea.

    The fourth website, Rebel Inside, is controlled by the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency, according to the Global Engagement Center. However, it did not provide specific evidence linking the publications to Russian intelligence.

    The websites are niche, without a large following. New Eastern Outlook and Oriental Review focus on an audience based in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Rebel Inside appears to be dormant, the center said.

    U.S. social-media companies have removed the accounts affiliated with the four websites, though some non-English-language accounts remained active earlier this year.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Russian intelligence agencies were spreading disinformation about Western vaccines and said the United States was trying to blame Russia for the resulting international debate on coronavirus remedies.

    The United States has long accused Russia of spreading disinformation on medical issues, going back to Soviet times, experts told The Wall Street Journal.

    A Soviet KGB campaign claimed that U.S. military biological labs unleashed the AIDS epidemic.

    With reporting by The Wall Street Journal

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.