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Category: Russia

  • Russian Activist Convicted Of Mocking Putin Released

    SAMARA, Russia — A court in the Russian city of Samara has found civil rights activist Karim Yamadayev guilty but said he should be released after spending more than a year in detention for mocking President Vladimir Putin and two of his close associates online.

    The Central District Military Court on March 4 found Karim Yamadayev guilty of public calls for terrorism and insulting authorities and ordered him to pay a fine of 300,000 rubles ($4,000).

    The court also barred Yamadayev, who was held in the Tatarstan region before being moved to Samara, from being an administrator on social networks for 2 1/2 years.

    Prosecutors had asked the court to sentence Yamadayev to six years and seven months in prison, but no jail time was included in the sentence.

    Yamadayev, a former police officer in Tatarstan, was arrested in January 2020and charged over a video he posted in late 2019 on his YouTube channel, Judge Gramm.

    The video in question features Yamadayev, dressed as a judge, reading death sentences to two men whose heads are covered with black sacks. White signs hang from their necks with the names “Dmitry Peskov” and “Igor Sechin.”

    Peskov is Putin’s long-serving press spokesman, while Sechin is the powerful chief of the state-owned oil giant Rosneft.

    Another man in the show portrays a third defendant, who also has his head covered with a black sack and a sign with the name “Vladimir Putin.”

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Russian Activist Convicted Of Mocking Putin Released

    SAMARA, Russia — A court in the Russian city of Samara has found civil rights activist Karim Yamadayev guilty but said he should be released after spending more than a year in detention for mocking President Vladimir Putin and two of his close associates online.

    The Central District Military Court on March 4 found Karim Yamadayev guilty of public calls for terrorism and insulting authorities and ordered him to pay a fine of 300,000 rubles ($4,000).

    The court also barred Yamadayev, who was held in the Tatarstan region before being moved to Samara, from being an administrator on social networks for 2 1/2 years.

    Prosecutors had asked the court to sentence Yamadayev to six years and seven months in prison, but no jail time was included in the sentence.

    Yamadayev, a former police officer in Tatarstan, was arrested in January 2020and charged over a video he posted in late 2019 on his YouTube channel, Judge Gramm.

    The video in question features Yamadayev, dressed as a judge, reading death sentences to two men whose heads are covered with black sacks. White signs hang from their necks with the names “Dmitry Peskov” and “Igor Sechin.”

    Peskov is Putin’s long-serving press spokesman, while Sechin is the powerful chief of the state-owned oil giant Rosneft.

    Another man in the show portrays a third defendant, who also has his head covered with a black sack and a sign with the name “Vladimir Putin.”

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • EU Drug Watchdog Reviewing Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 Vaccine

    Europe’s medicines regulator says it has started a “rolling review” of the Russian-developed Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, a key step toward approval for use across the 27-nation European Union.

    The human medicines committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will review data from ongoing trials of the vaccine until there is enough clinical data for approval, the Amsterdam-based EMA said in a statement on March 4.

    Last month, peer-reviewed, late-stage trial results published in The Lancet medical journal showed the two-dose regimen of Sputnik V was 91.6 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19, about the same level as the leading Western-developed vaccines.

    EMA’s “rolling reviews” are intended to speed up the process of approving a successful vaccine by allowing researchers to submit findings in real time, even before final trial data is ready.

    The agency has already approved vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca /Oxford, and is expected to give its verdict on Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine next week. Reviews for CureVac and Novavax’s candidates are also under way.

    The head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which has funded the vaccine and is responsible for selling it globally, said on March 4 that the country would be able to provide the vaccine for 50 million Europeans from June if it was approved by the EMA

    Kirill Dmitriyev also said that the country expected several European countries to approve Sputnik V this month.

    Slovakia earlier this month received its first shipment of Sputnik V doses, becoming the second EU member state to obtain the vaccine after Hungary, even though it lacks approval by the EMA.

    With reporting by Reuters and AFP

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Washington Singles Out Growing Rivalry With ‘China, Russia, Other Authoritarian States’

    The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has singled out a “growing rivalry with China, Russia, and other authoritarian states” as a key challenge facing the United States.

    A White House document outlining Biden’s national-security policies, made public on March 3, describes China, the world’s second-largest economic power, as “the only competitor potentially capable of combining its economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to mount a sustained challenge to a stable and open international system.”

    The 24-page document also warns that Russia “remains determined to enhance its global influence and play a disruptive role on the world stage.”

    Meanwhile, Iran and North Korea are pursuing “game-changing capabilities and technologies, while threatening U.S. allies and partners and challenging regional stability.”

    Both Beijing and Moscow “have invested heavily in efforts meant to check U.S. strengths and prevent us from defending our interests and allies around the world,” according to the document, titled Interim National Security Strategic Guidance.

    It says that in the face of challenges from “an increasingly assertive China and destabilizing Russia,” the U.S. military would shift its emphasis away from “unneeded legacy platforms and weapons systems to free up resources for investments” in cutting-edge technologies.

    After four years of former President Donald Trump’s “America first” approach, Biden has vowed to confront “authoritarianism” in China and Russia while reengaging with allies and centering multilateral diplomacy.

    Washington and Beijing are at odds over influence in the Indo-Pacific region, China’s economic practices, and human rights in Hong Kong and the Xinjiang region.

    Moscow’s relations with Washington are at post-Cold War lows, strained by issues including the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, Russia’s alleged meddling in elections in the United States and other democracies, and the poisoning of Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny.

    In a foreign-policy speech at the State Department, Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the U.S. relationship with China as “the biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century,” while several other countries also represent “serious challenges” for the United States, including Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

    “Our relationship with China will be competitive when it should be, collaborative when it can be, and adversarial when it must be,” Blinken said.

    The United States needs to “engage China from a position of strength,” which requires working with allies and partners, engaging in diplomacy and in international organizations, “because where we have pulled back, China has filled in,” and “standing up for our values when human rights are abused in Xinjiang or when democracy is trampled in Hong Kong.”

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • U.S. Expresses ‘Deep Concern’ After Moscow Court Confirms ‘Foreign Agent’ Fines Against RFE/RL

    The U.S. State Department has expressed “deep concern” about what it calls Russian government efforts “to clamp down on the exercise of freedom of expression.”

    The March 3 statement from State Department spokesman Ned Price came the same day that a Moscow judge rejected five appeals by U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty against fines imposed on the company under Russia’s controversial “foreign agent” law.

    “We are concerned by today’s denial of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s appeals of fines unjustly imposed under Russia’s repressive foreign-agent-registration laws,” Price said. “These laws are a further transparent effort to impede the work of RFE/RL outlets, which are already severely limited in their ability to broadcast on television and radio in Russia and to prevent them from bringing real and objective news to the Russian people.”

    Price called Moscow’s actions “unacceptable” and added, “We will continue to support the presence of independent and international media outlets in Russia.”

    Judge Aleksei Krivoruchko of the Tverskoi district court on March 3 confirmed fines imposed on RFE/RL for failing to mark written and broadcast materials in accordance with regulations set by the state media-monitoring agency Roskomnadzor. A lower court imposed the fines on February 10.

    “RFE/RL rejects the imposition of these fines and does not accept the Russian court’s decision to strike down our appeal of them,” RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said in response to the rulings.

    “We consider Russian Internet regulator Roskomnadzor’s self-labeling regulations — in fact, orders to deface our content platforms and intimidate our audiences — to be a state-sponsored assault on media freedom that violates the Russian Constitution and Russia’s media law,” he said, adding that “RFE/RL will continue to object, protest, and appeal these requirements.”

    Despite ongoing appeals in more cases on the issue, RFE/RL now has 60 days to pay the fines and come into compliance with the regulations or face the potential closure of its operations inside Russia. It can also further appeal the March 3 decision.

    “RFE/RL will not abandon our growing audience in Russia, who continue to engage with our objective and independent journalism despite the Kremlin’s pressure campaign,” Fly said.

    “RFE/RL will not be deterred by these blatant attempts to influence our editorial independence and undermine our ability to reach our audience at a moment when the Russian people are demanding the truth,” he added.

    Since January 14, Roskommnadzor has opened 260 cases against RFE/RL for violations of the labeling requirements. A Moscow court has already levied fines in 142 cases, with the total fines approaching a value of nearly $1 million.

    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 include individuals, including foreign journalists, on its “foreign agent” list and to impose restrictions on them.

    In December 2020, Russia 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.

    Human Rights Watch has described the “foreign agent” legislation as “restrictive” and intended “to demonize independent groups.”

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Historic Artifacts Take Leading Role In Russian Play About Gulag

    A new play in Moscow is bringing stories of the Soviet gulag to audiences with the help of real objects discovered at prison camps. The creators say letters, inscriptions, and household items help present a picture of the time as well as the suffering of the prisoners.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Russian Court Sentences Pro-Ukrainian Crimean Activist To Five Years

    A Russian court has sentenced a pro-Ukrainian activist from Moscow-annexed Crimea, Oleh Prykhodko, to five years in prison on terrorism charges that he and his supporters have dismissed as politically motivated.

    Ukrainian Ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova said on Telegram that the Southern District Military Court in the city of Rostov-on-Don on March 3 ordered Prykhodko to pay a 110,000 ruble (around $1,500) fine.

    Denisova called the court’s ruling “unlawful” and “based on fabricated charges of an attempted terrorist attack and plotting an arson attack against the Russian Consulate in [Ukraine’s western city of] Lviv in 2019.”

    “I condemn the unlawful verdict by the Russian court and consider it retaliation from the occupying government for Oleh’s pro-Ukrainian stance [and] his public refusal to recognize Crimea’s annexation by Russia,” Denisova’s statement said, while also saying that Prykhodko has a medical condition.

    “I call on the international community to continue its pressure on the Russian Federation and demand the immediate release of all Kremlin critics,” the statement said.

    Prykhodko was detained in October 2019 and charged with illegally fabricating handmade explosives with the intention of carrying out a terrorist act.

    He was charged later with possession of illegal explosives.

    Prykhodko denies all the charges, calling them politically motivated.

    Russia seized 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.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Russian Feminist Performance Artist Files Appeal Against ‘Foreign Agent’ Listing

    MOSCOW — Russian feminist performance artist Daria Apakhonchich has filed a legal appeal against the government’s inclusion of her on its list of “media organizations fulfilling the functions of foreign agents.”

    Lawyer Pavel Chikov of the Agora legal-defense organization made the announcement on Telegram on March 1. Denis Kamalyagin, editor in chief of the online newspaper Pskovskaya Guberniya, has also appealed his inclusion on the “foreign agent” list, the website reported on March 3.

    According to Chikov, Apakhonchich’s appeal states that she “never received money or any property from foreign sources for the creation or dissemination of statements or materials that were distributed by foreign media listed under the foreign agents law.”

    Apakhonchich added that she regards the restrictions on her rights to be politically motivated, and her complaint includes 12 pages of examples of alleged violations of her rights to expression and privacy.

    On December 28, 2020, Apakhonchich and four other individuals, including two contributors to RFE/RL’s Russian Service, were included on the government’s list of “media organizations fulfilling the functions of foreign agents.”

    They were the first to be added to the list following a new amendment to the law that authorized the government to apply the designation to individuals.

    The Justice Ministry did not offer any justification for adding these individuals to the list.

    In an interview with RFE/RL’s Russian Service following the designation, Apakhonchich said the listing was a surprise “because I am not engaged in journalism.” She added that she believed she was targeted for her “feminist activities.”

    On March 1, human rights activist Lev Ponomaryov — another of the individuals added to the list — announced that he was closing down his For Human Rights nongovernmental organization after two decades because of the obstacles created by the controversial “foreign agent” legislation.

    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 of the law targeted foreign-funded media, including RFE/RL’s Russian Service, six other RFE/RL Russian-language news services, and Current Time.

    Human Rights Watch has described the foreign agent legislation as “restrictive” and intended “to demonize independent groups.”

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Russian Court Hands Down First Criminal Sentence To Participant In January’s Pro-Navalny Rallies

    KOSTROMA, Russia — A court in Russia’s Volga city of Kostroma has sentenced a man to 18 months of forced labor on a criminal charge for attacking a police officer during January 23 rallies against the arrest of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny.

    The Sverdlov district court said on March 2 that a 26-year-old Kostroma resident pleaded guilty to pushing a hat off of a police officer’s head and kicking the officer from behind as police moved in to detain demonstrators.

    The court ruled that the man will be placed in a specialized correctional center, where he will work at an industrial facility for 18 months. Ten percent of his salary will be given to the state.

    The news website Mediazona identified the man as Aleksei Vinogradov.

    OVD-Info, an independent monitoring group, says the sentence is the first in a criminal case against someone who took part in the pro-Navalny rallies in January.

    The nationwide demonstrations held on January 23 and 31 protested the arrest of the Kremlin critic who was detained at a Moscow airport on January 17 upon his arrival from Germany, where he was recovering after being poisoned in Siberia in August by what several European labs concluded was a military-grade chemical nerve agent.

    Navalny has insisted that his poisoning was ordered directly by President Vladimir Putin, which the Kremlin has denied.

    Last month, a Moscow court ruled that, while in Germany, Navalny had violated the terms of parole from an old embezzlement case, which is widely considered to be politically motivated.

    Navalny’s 3 1/2-year suspended sentence from the case was converted to a jail term, though the court said he will serve 2 1/2 years in prison given time he had been held in detention.

    More than 10,000 supporters of Navalny were detained across Russia during and after the January rallies.

    Many of the detained men and women were either fined or handed several-day jail terms. At least 90 were charged with criminal misdeeds, and several people were fired by their employers.

    With reporting by OVD-Info and Mediazona

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Russia Files Complaint Against NGO Tackling Domestic Violence For Violating ‘Foreign Agent’ Law

    MOSCOW — Russia’s Justice Ministry has filed a complaint against one of the country’s leading nongovernmental organizations addressing domestic violence, which was added to Moscow’s controversial list of entities designated as “foreign agents” last December.

    Lawyer Pavel Chikov of the Agora legal-defense organization made the announcement on Telegram on March 2.

    According to Chikov, the government has deemed that the activity of Nasiliyu.net in “publicizing the problem of domestic violence,” “creating conditions so that victims know where to turn for help,” and “participating in promoting and conducting campaigns aimed at adopting a law against family and domestic violence” must be considered “political activity” under the country’s “foreign agent” laws.

    The government also deemed the NGO’s public calls for government agencies “to take measures to protect victims of domestic violence” during the coronavirus pandemic to be “political activity.”

    The complaint also notes that Nasiliyu.net’s website includes contact information to the Anna domestic-violence crisis center, which has also been listed as a “foreign agent” organization.

    Chikov said the government also listed as “political activity” the NGO’s participation in a 2019 sanctioned demonstration against gender discrimination and domestic violence held to mark International Women’s Day on March 8, although the Justice Department’s complaint notes the event “took place without any disturbance to public order.”

    The ministry is asking a court to fine Nasiliyu.net from 300,000 to 500,000 rubles ($4,000 to $6,800). In addition, the ministry is seeking a fine of up to 300,000 rubles against the NGO’s director, Anna Rivina.

    Nasiliyu.net was founded in 2015 and was registered as an NGO in 2018. In December 2020, it was listed as a “foreign agent” organization, a designation that it is appealing in court.

    When Nasiliyu.net was included on the list, Rivina wrote on Facebook that “95 percent” of the reason why the organization was targeted was “because of our draft law on domestic violence and 5 percent because of our support for LGBT rights.”

    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 of the law targeted foreign-funded media, including RFE/RL’s Russian Service, six other RFE/RL Russian-language news services, and Current Time.

    Human Rights Watch has described the foreign agent legislation as “restrictive” and intended “to demonize independent groups.”

    With reporting by Kommersant

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • “Engaging the World”: The “Fascinating Story” of Hamas’s Political Evolution

    On February 4, representatives from the Palestinian Movement, Hamas, visited Moscow to inform the Russian government of the latest development on the unity talks between the Islamic Movement and its Palestinian counterparts, especially Fatah.

    This was not the first time that Hamas’s officials traveled to Moscow on similar missions. In fact, Moscow continues to represent an important political breathing space for Hamas, which has been isolated by Israel’s Western benefactors. Involved in this isolation are also several Arab governments which, undoubtedly, have done very little to break the Israeli siege on Gaza.

    The Russia-Hamas closeness is already paying dividends. On February 17, shipments of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, have made it to Gaza via Israel, a testament to that growing rapport.

    While Russia alone cannot affect a complete paradigm shift in the case of Palestine, Hamas feels that a Russian alternative to the blind and conditional American support for Israel is possible, if not urgent.

    Recently, we interviewed Dr. Daud Abdullah, the author of ‘Engaging the World: The Making of Hamas’s Foreign Policy’, and Mr. Na’eem Jeenah, Director of the Afro-Middle East Center in Johannesburg, which published Dr. Abdullah’s book.

    Abdullah’s volume on Hamas is a must-read, as it offers a unique take on Hamas, liberating the discussion on the Movement from the confines of the reductionist Western media’s perception of Hamas as terrorist – and of the counterclaims, as well. In this book, Hamas is viewed as a political actor, whose armed resistance is only a component in a complex and far-reaching strategy.

    Why Russia? 

    As Moscow continues to cement its presence in the region by offering itself as a political partner and, compared with the US, a more balanced mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, Hamas sees the developing Russian role as a rare opportunity to break away from the US-Israel imposed isolation.

    “Russia was a member of the Quartet that was set up in 2003 but, of course, as a member of the (United Nations) Security Council, it has always had an ability to inform the discourse on Palestine,” Abdullah said, adding that in light of “the gradual demise of American influence, Russia realized that there was an emerging vacuum in the region, particularly after the (Arab) uprisings.”

    “With regard to Hamas and Russia the relationship took off after the (Palestinian) elections in 2006 but it was not Hamas’s initiative, it was (Russian President Vladimir) Putin who, in a press conference in Madrid after the election, said that he would be willing to host Hamas’s leadership in Moscow. Because Russia is looking for a place in the region.”

    Hamas’s willingness to engage with the Russians has more than one reason, chief among them is the fact that Moscow, unlike the US, refused to abide by Israel’s portrayal of the Movement. “The fundamental difference between Russia and America and China … is that the Russians and the Chinese do not recognize Hamas as a ‘terrorist organization’; they have never done so, unlike the Americans, and so it made it easy for them to engage openly with Hamas,” Abdullah said.

    On Hamas’s ‘Strategic Balance’

    In his book, Abdullah writes about the 1993 Oslo Accords, which represented a watershed moment, not only for Hamas but also for the entire Palestinian liberation struggle. The shift towards a US-led ‘peace process’ compelled Hamas to maintain a delicate balance “between strategic objectives and tactical flexibility.”

    Abdullah wrote:

    Hamas sees foreign relations as an integral and important part of its political ideology and liberation strategy. Soon after the Movement emerged, foreign policies were developed to help its leaders and members navigate this tension between idealism and realism. This pragmatism is evident in the fact that Hamas was able to establish relations with the regimes of Muammar Gaddhafi in Libya and Bashar al-Assad in Syria, both of whom were fiercely opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood.

    In our interview, Abdullah elaborated:

    From the very beginning, Hamas adopted certain principles in respect to its international relations and, later on, in the formation of a foreign policy. Among these, there is a question of maintaining its independence of decision-making; non-alignment in conflicting blocks, avoidance of interference in the affairs of other states.

    Mr. Jeenah, an accomplished writer himself, also spoke of the “delicate balance.”

    “It is a delicate balance, and a difficult one to maintain because, at this stage, when movements are regarded and regard themselves as liberation movements, they need to have higher moral and ethical standards than, for example, governments,” Jeenah said.  “For some reason, we expect that governments have to make difficult choices but, with liberation movements, we don’t, because they are all about idealism and creating an ideal society, etc.”

    Jeenah uses the South Africa anti-apartheid struggle which, in many ways, is comparable to the Palestinian quest for freedom, to illustrate his point:

    When the liberation movement in South Africa was exiled, they took a similar kind of position. While some of them might have had a particular allegiance to the Soviet Union or to China, some of them also had strong operations in European countries, which they regarded as part of the bigger empire. Nevertheless, they had the freedom to operate there. Some of them operated in other African countries where there were dictatorships and they got protection from those states.

    Hamas and the Question of National Unity

    In his book, which promises to be an essential read on the subject, Abdullah lists six principles that guide Hamas’s political agenda. One of these guiding principles is the “search for common ground.”

    In addressing the question of Palestinian factionalism, we contended that, while Fatah has failed at creating a common, nominally democratic platform for Palestinians to interact politically, Hamas cannot be entirely blameless. If that is, indeed, the case, can one then make the assertion that Hamas has succeeded in its search for the elusive common ground?

    Abdullah answers:

    Let me begin with what happened after the elections in 2006. Although Hamas won convincingly and they could have formed a government, they decided to opt for a government of national unity. They offered to (Palestinian Authority President) Mahmoud Abbas and to (his party) Fatah to come into a government of national unity. They didn’t want to govern by themselves. And that, to me, is emblematic of their vision, their commitment to national unity.

    But the question of national unity, however coveted and urgently required, is not just controlled by Palestinians.

    The PLO is the one that signed the Oslo Accords,” Abdullah said, “and I think this is one of Hamas’s weaknesses: as much as it wants national unity and a reform of the PLO, the fact of the matter is Israel and the West will not allow Hamas to enter into the PLO easily, because this would be the end of Oslo.

    On Elections under Military Occupation

    On January 15, Abbas announced an official decree to hold Palestinian elections, first presidential, then legislative, then elections within the PLO’s Palestine National Council (PNC), which has historically served as a Palestinian parliament in exile. The first phase of these elections is scheduled for May 22.

    But will this solve the endemic problem of Palestinian political representation? Moreover, is this the proper historical evolution of national liberation movements – democracy under military occupation, followed by liberation, instead of the other way around?

    Jeenah spoke of this dichotomy:

    On the one hand, elections are an opportunity for Palestinians to express their choices. On the other hand, what is the election really? We are not talking about a democratic election for the State, but for a Bantustan authority, at greater restraints than the South African authority.

    Moreover, the Israeli “occupying power will not make the mistake it did the last time. It will not allow such freedom (because of which) Hamas (had) won the elections. I don’t think Israel is going to allow it now.”

    Yet there is a silver lining in this unpromising scenario. According to Jeenah, “I think the only difference this election could make is allowing some kind of reconciliation between Gaza and the West Bank.”

    Hamas, the ICC and War Crimes 

    Then, there is the urgent question of the anticipated war crime investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Yet, when the ICC agreed to consider allegations of war crimes in Palestine, chances are not only alleged Israeli war criminals are expected to be investigated, but the probe could potentially consider the questioning of Palestinians, as well. Should not this concern Hamas in the least?

    In the Israeli wars on Gaza in 2008, 2012 and 2014, Hamas, along with other armed groups had no other option but to “defend the civilian population,” Abdullah said, pointing out that the “overriding concept” is that the Movement “believes in the principle of international law.”

    If Hamas “can restore the rights of the Palestinian people through legal channels, then it will be much easier for the Movement, rather than having to opt for the armed struggle,” Abdullah asserted.

    Understanding Hamas

    Undoubtedly, it is crucial to understand Hamas, not only as part of the Palestine-related academic discourse, but in the everyday political discourse concerning Palestine; in fact, the entire region. Abdullah’s book is itself critical to this understanding.

    Jeenah argued that Abdullah’s book is not necessarily an “introductory text to the Hamas Movement. It has a particular focus, which is the development of Hamas’s foreign policy. The importance of that, in general, is firstly that there isn’t a text that deals specifically with Hamas’s foreign policy. What this book does is present Hamas as a real political actor.”

    The evolution of Hamas’s political discourse and behavior since its inception, according to Jeenah, is a “fascinating” one.

    Many agree. Commenting on the book, leading Israeli historian, Professor Ilan Pappé, wrote,

    This book challenges successfully the common misrepresentation of Hamas in the West. It is a must-read for anyone engaged with the Palestine issue and interested in an honest introduction to this important Palestinian Movement.

    • (Dr. Daud Abdullah’s book, Engaging the World: The Making of Hamas’s Foreign Policy, is available here.)

    The post “Engaging the World”: The “Fascinating Story” of Hamas’s Political Evolution first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Lukashenka: There Will Be ‘No Transfer Of Power’ In Belarus

    Autocratic leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka says there will be “no transfer of power” in Belarus, where thousands have demonstrated acrossthe country since early August demanding his resignation over an elections they say was rigged.

    “No transfer [of power] is possible in Belarus…. Everything will be in accordance with the constitution,” Lukashenka said in Minsk on March 2 as he spoke about his talks last month with President Vladimir Putin in the Russian city of Sochi.

    “The [new] constitution, as I said before, we will adopt in January-February next year. And that is all that the transfer of power will be about,” Lukashenka said, adding that a transfer of power was not on the agenda when he met with Putin.

    Lukashenka has been under pressure to step down for months after claiming he won an August 9 election by a landslide, while his main challenger, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has said she was the rightful victor.

    Thousands of protesters have been arrested by Belarusian security forces at the anti-government rallies that have continued since August, and beatings at the hands of police have been widely documented.

    The EU, which considers the election that extended Lukashenka’s 26-year authoritarian rule fraudulent, has progressively imposed sanctions on Belarus in response to the violent repression of peaceful protesters, the opposition, and media.

    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.

    Tsikhanouskaya has called for the EU to take a tougher stance against Lukashenka’s regime.

    Lukashenka has long sought to portray himself as a brake on Moscow’s pressure to merge Belarus with Russia. But seven months of unprecedented street protests and the resulting EU sanctions have put the Belarusian leader on the defensive and seemingly more reliant on Putin’s support.

    In recent years, Russia has pressured Belarus to take steps toward integration in order to cement a 20-year-old agreement to form a union state, only to be rebuffed by Lukashenka’s defense of the nation’s sovereignty.

    However, the situation began to change after Russia helped prop up Lukashenka in the wake of the presidential election, bringing the two sides closer over common threat perceptions.

    Lukashenka acknowledged the close relationship but also emphasized on March 2 that Belarus remained “a sovereign and independent state.”

    Putin himself has been under pressure from the West in recent months.

    The EU and Washington announced new sanctions against Russian officials on March 2 over the detention of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny and evidence that the anti-corruption campaigner was poisoned with a Novichok-like nerve agent. Navalny blames his poisoning on Putin and Russian agents, which the Kremlin denies.

    Navalny’s detention in January upon his return from life-saving treatment in Germany and a subsequent crackdown on some of Russia’s largest anti-government protests in a decade have prompted international outrage.

    With reporting by BelTA

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Another Term For Putin? Not So Fast!

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Prominent Russian Rights Group Shuts Down Over ‘Foreign Agent’ Laws

    MOSCOW — Veteran Russian activist Lev Ponomaryov has shut his well-respected human rights organization due to the country’s controversial laws on “foreign agents.”

    Ponomaryov announced his decision to shut down his For Human Rights NGO in a televised interview on March 1, the day laws increasing fines for violating the so-called “foreign agent” law took effect.

    Ponomaryov’s organization was established as an unregistered group in 2019 after a Supreme Court ruling to liquidate his movement with the same name, which had conducted rights monitoring and advocacy for more than two decades.

    MOSCOW — Veteran Russian activist Lev Ponomaryov has shut his well-respected human rights organization due to the country’s controversial laws on “foreign agents.”

    Ponomaryov announced his decision to shut down his For Human Rights NGO in a televised interview on March 1, the day laws increasing fines for violating the so-called “foreign agent” law took effect.

    Ponomaryov’s organization was established as an unregistered group in 2019 after a Supreme Court ruling to liquidate his movement with the same name, which had conducted rights monitoring and advocacy for more than two decades.

    The original group was shut down because Ponomaryov refused to register it as a foreign agent, a requirement of a 2012 law on nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign assistance and that the government deems to be engaged in political activity.

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

    Ponomaryov said on March 1 that the law also now targets unregistered organizations, and therefore it is impossible for his group to continue its activities.

    “We have a major problem here,” Ponomaryov said. “We are in a situation where thousands of experts working for my organization across the country…may be fined en masse now.”

    Ponomaryov, 79, is a former Soviet-era lawmaker and State Duma deputy who helped found the Memorial human rights group. In 1991, he headed the legislature’s investigation into the August coup attempt against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

    On December 28, 2020, he was added as an individual to the Russian Justice Ministry’s list of media accused of carrying out the functions of a “foreign agent.” The government gave no explanation for including Ponomaryov on the register.

    Russia’s “foreign agent” legislation has been widely criticized by Western governments and Russian and international rights groups as an effort by the government of President Vladimir Putin to stifle dissent. Human Rights Watch has described the laws as “restrictive” and intended “to demonize independent groups.”

    The original group was shut down because Ponomaryov refused to register it as a foreign agent, a requirement of a 2012 law on nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign assistance and that the government deems to be engaged in political activity.

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

    Ponomaryov said on March 1 that the law also now targets unregistered organizations, and therefore it is impossible for his group to continue its activities.

    “We have a major problem here,” Ponomaryov said. “We are in a situation where thousands of experts working for my organization across the country…may be fined en masse now.”

    Ponomaryov, 79, is a former Soviet-era lawmaker and State Duma deputy who helped found the Memorial human rights group. In 1991, he headed the legislature’s investigation into the August coup attempt against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

    On December 28, 2020, he was added as an individual to the Russian Justice Ministry’s list of media accused of carrying out the functions of a “foreign agent.” The government gave no explanation for including Ponomaryov on the register.

    Russia’s “foreign agent” legislation has been widely criticized by Western governments and Russian and international rights groups as an effort by the government of President Vladimir Putin to stifle dissent. Human Rights Watch has described the laws as “restrictive” and intended “to demonize independent groups.”

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Gorbachev At 90, Looking Back At A Career That Changed History

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • EU, U.S. Expected To Slap Sanctions On Russia Over Navalny Issue

    The United States and European Union are expected to take coordinated action against Russia as soon as March 2 over the nerve-agent poisoning and imprisonment of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny.

    European diplomatic sources said on March 1 that EU member states approved sanctions on four senior Russian justice and law enforcement officials involved in the Kremlin critic’s recent detention.

    Meanwhile, two sources in U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration told Reuters and CNN that the United States plans to take action against Russia for the poisoning of Navalny.

    Asked by RFE/RL about the impending announcement, a State Department spokesperson said they would not “preview potential sanctions actions.”

    According to two European sources, speaking on condition of anonymity to French news agency AFP, the names of the individuals targeted by the EU will be published in the bloc’s official journal on March 2 after EU foreign ministers agreed on sanctions last week.

    The sources confirmed earlier reports that the officials are Aleksandr Kalashnikov, federal prisons administrator; Aleksandr Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee of Russia; Igor Krasnov, prosecutor-general; and Viktor Zolotov, director of the National Guard.

    The four would be the first individuals to be targeted under the EU’s new human rights sanctions regime, which came into effect in December 2020.

    Poisoning

    Navalny was detained in Moscow in January immediately upon returning from Germany, where he had recovered from what several Western labs determined was poisoning with a Novichok-type nerve agent that saw him fall ill on a flight in Siberia in August 2020.

    A Moscow court in February ruled that while in Germany, he had violated the terms of parole from an older embezzlement case that is widely considered politically motivated. He was ultimately ordered to serve 2 1/2 years in prison.

    Russia has denied involvement in the poisoning but Navalny claims the assassination attempt was ordered by President Vladimir Putin.

    Meanwhile, UN human rights experts on March 1 called for an international investigation into the poisoning of Navalny, saying evidence points to the “very likely involvement” of Russian government officials.

    The EU already slapped sanctions on Russia following the poisoning attack on Nalvany last year. But former U.S. President Donald Trump let the incident slide without punitive action.

    The Biden administration has not said exactly what measures it intends to take over the nerve-agent poisoning but suggested it will be coordinated with European allies.

    The U.S. action may also extend beyond punishment for the poisoning, to include the Solarwinds hack blamed on Russia, meddling in U.S. democracy, and other Russian malign activities.

    In a major foreign policy speech in February, Biden said he warned Putin in their first call that the days of the United States “rolling over” to Russia’s “aggressive actions” have come to an end.

    “I made it clear to President Putin, in a manner very different than my predecessor, that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia’s aggressive actions — interfering with our elections, cyberattacks, poisoning its citizens — are over,” Biden said on February 4. “We will not hesitate to raise the cost on Russia and defend our vital interest and our people.”

    With reporting by AFP, CNN, dpa, and Reuters

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • After Years Of Propaganda, American Views Of Russia and China Hit Historic Lows

    A new Gallup poll finds that U.S. public opinion on China and Russia has crashed to all time lows. Only 20% of Americans hold favorable views towards China. This is a remarkable decline, considering that only three years ago, the majority of the country saw the Asian giant in a positive light. The public image of Russia is barely any better, with just 22% of the country viewing the world’s largest nation in favorable terms and 77% holding unfavorable views towards the country.

    Negative sentiment towards Beijing has risen across the board, but Republicans are most likely to hold it in low regard, with only 10% of GOP voters seeing China positively. Among Democrats, only 27% continue to hold a very or mostly favorable opinion of the country.

    The post After Years Of Propaganda, American Views Of Russia and China Hit Historic Lows appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Legacies of Cold War Liberalism

    To promote democratic and egalitarian ideals today, we need to break with the anxieties that drove U.S. politics during the Cold War.

    This post was originally published on Dissent MagazineDissent Magazine.

  • Report: Navalny To Serve Sentence In Penal Colony Near Moscow

    Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny will reportedly serve his prison sentence near Moscow, according to Russian media sources, although the Kremlin critic’s allies say they are still unsure of his location.

    News agency TASS reported on February 27 that Navalny was taken to the Vladimir region, where he will be imprisoned in a penal colony in the city of Pokrov, 100 kilometers east of Moscow.

    TASS cited an anonymous source as saying Navalny was taken to the Vladimir region on February 26 and will first undergo quarantine. The source did not say whether he was already in the penal colony.

    Earlier, the news site Yarnovosti reported Navalny was in a pre-trail detention center in Kolchugino, Vladimir region, and would be transferred to No. 2 Penal Colony in Pokrov.

    The Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) on February 26 confirmed Navalny was moved to a prison from a Moscow detention center where had been held since mid-January.

    But the FSIN did not specify where the anti-corruption crusader was being taken to begin serving a 2 1/2 year sentence, leaving family and allies uncertain over his whereabouts, health, and safety.

    Ivan Zhdanov, the director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), said Navalny had been sent to a “tough colony” but that he still did not have exact information about the politician’s location.

    “We only know from the media,” he wrote on Twitter.

    Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said no official notification about his location has been received, only media reports from anonymous sources.

    “Therefore, the question ‘where is Navalny? is still valid,” she wrote on Twitter.

    Russian authorities typically do not provide information about the transfer of prisoners until after they reach their destination.

    Navalny was detained at a Moscow airport in January immediately upon returning from Berlin, where he was recovering from what several Western labs determined was a poisoning attempt using a Novichok-type nerve agent that saw him fall ill on a flight in Siberia in August.

    Russia has denied involvement but Navalny has said the assassination attempt was ordered by President Vladimir Putin.

    A Moscow court in February ruled that while in Germany he had violated the terms of parole from an older embezzlement case that is widely considered politically motivated.

    He was ultimately sentenced 2 ½ years in prison.

    Navalny’s detention set off a wave of national protests and a crackdown his supporters.

    The European Union is considering fresh sanctions against Russia over the Navalny case and has criticized Moscow for ignoring a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights ordering his release.

    With reporting by Current Time, TASS and Yarnovosti

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • World: There’s a New Administration in Town

    At the very least, it seems the Biden administration is sending a signal to other countries that there is a new administration in America, one that will not tolerate foreign intrusions into US affairs the same way its predecessor did. Continue reading

    The post World: There’s a New Administration in Town appeared first on BillMoyers.com.

    This post was originally published on BillMoyers.com.

  • Russian Opposition Politician Nemtsov Remembered On Assassination Anniversary

    Thousands of people laid flowers on February 27 at the site where Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was assassinated on the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge near the Kremlin six years ago. An ardent critic of President Vladimir Putin, Nemtsov had been working on a report examining Russia’s role in the conflict in Ukraine at the time of his killing on the night of February 27, 2015. Municipal authorities turned down a request to put up a plaque there in his honor and city workers have taken down makeshift memorials on several occasions over the years. Two people were sentenced in 2017 for their involvement in Nemtsov’s murder, but the late politician’s allies said at the time that the people who had ordered his killing remained at large. Thousands of people laid flowers on February 27 at the site where Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was assassinated on the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge near the Kremlin six years ago. An ardent critic of President Vladimir Putin, Nemtsov had been working on a report examining Russia’s role in the conflict in Ukraine at the time of his killing on the night of February 27, 2015. Municipal authorities turned down a request to put up a plaque there in his honor and city workers have taken down makeshift memorials on several occasions over the years. Two people were sentenced in 2017 for their involvement in Nemtsov’s murder, but the late politician’s allies said at the time that the people who had ordered his killing remained at large.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Russian Opposition To Pay Tribute To Slain Kremlin Critic Nemtsov

    Russian opposition activists plan to pay tribute to slain opposition politician Boris Nemtsov in central Moscow on February 27.

    The sixth anniversary of Nemtsov’s death comes after Russia’s jailing of opposition political leader Aleksei Navalny and a crackdown on his allies.

    Navalny’s allies have called on his supporters to observe a minute of silence and lay flowers on the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge — a short walk from the Kremlin — where Nemtsov was gunned down on February 27, 2015.

    Navalny’s allies have declared a pause on protests until spring after authorities responded forcefully to a wave of national demonstrations, detaining more than 10,000 people in dozens of cities and filing administrative and criminal cases against many of them.

    Last week, a Moscow court upheld a 2 1/2 year prison sentence imposed on Navalny earlier in February for a parole violation related to a previous embezzlement conviction.

    The opposition said it planned a “memorial event,” not a rally, to pay tribute to Nemtsov on February 27.

    WATCH: Battle Goes On For ‘Nemtsov Bridge’ Memorial

    Moscow authorities rejected a request for opposition supporters to hold a commemorative march due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    Supporters of Nemtsov have maintained a memorial on Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge ever since his death despite police, city workers, and others regularly destroying or removing it. A volunteer died in August 2017 after he was beaten on the bridge.

    Nemtsov was an ardent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    Five Chechens have been found guilty of involvement in his killing, but critics, including relatives and colleagues of Nemtsov, say Russian authorities failed to determine who ordered it.

    Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • U.S. Offers Reward For Russian Businessman Accused Of 2016 Election Interference

    The United States is offering a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Kremlin-friendly Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin in connection with alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

    The FBI’s announcement said that Prigozhin is wanted for alleged “involvement in a conspiracy to defraud the United States…for the purposes of interfering with the United States political system, including the 2016 President Election.”

    Prigozhin was one of 13 Russians added to the FBI’s wanted list in connection with the alleged election interference.

    A U.S. arrest warrant was issued in February 2018.

    Prigozhin responded on Telegram on February 26 by saying he was being used as a “scapegoat” to “cover up the colossal gap between the deep state and the people” in the United States.

    Prigozhin, who is known as “Putin’s chef” because he owns a company that provides catering for events in President Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin, controls the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency. That firm is a so-called troll factory that allegedly carried out a massive online campaign aimed at influencing politics in the United States and other countries.

    Prigozhin also controls private security firms that have recruited mercenaries to advance Putin’s interests in places like Ukraine, Syria, and several African countries.

    The Russian government has denied interfering in the domestic politics of other countries.

    However, a U.S. joint intelligence assessment in January 2017 concluded that “Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect [Donald] Trump’s election chances when possible.”

    The FBI also added Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Kilimnik to its wanted list and offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

    An arrest warrant was issued for Kilimnik in June 2018 on charges of obstruction of justice.

    Kilimnik was a former assistant to U.S. political consultant Paul Manafort when Manafort was working in Ukraine for pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych. Manafort later served as Trump’s campaign manager.

    Kilimnik, who is believed to have ties to Russian intelligence services, was accused of carrying out illegal lobbying efforts in the United States on behalf of the Yanukovych government.

    According to a 2020 U.S. Senate report on the alleged interference in the 2016 election, “Kilimnik likely served as a channel to Manafort for Russian intelligence services, and that those services likely sought to exploit Manafort’s access to gain insight into the [Trump] campaign.”

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Battle Goes On For ‘Nemtsov Bridge’ Memorial, Six Years After Russian Politician’s Killing

    A week before the sixth anniversary of the murder of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, a makeshift memorial on the bridge where he was killed was cleared again by authorities. Volunteers who maintained the photos and flowers on the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge were detained. The place where he was assassinated has come to be known as “Nemtsov Bridge.” The Moscow mayor’s office called the incident a misunderstanding.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • ‘Sign On And Take Part In Something Real’: Inside The Dark, Lucrative World Of Russian ‘Trash-Streaming’

    MOSCOW — German Vasilyenko, an ex-porn actor and reality TV show contestant, was working a run-of-the-mill sales job in early 2020 when he quit for a career on YouTube.

    The impetus was a series of messages he got after some tipsy revelry at a party hosted by a YouTuber who streamed the event live on the video-hosting platform.

    Vasilyenko was used to guilt-ridden hangovers and regrets about the night before. But suddenly, he was being showered with praise.

    “Everyone was writing to me saying I’m great, and asking me to set up a channel. I was shocked,” he said in an interview.

    Vasilyenko had unwittingly tapped into a murky online subculture called “trash-streaming,” an extreme take on YouTube livestreams that has gained fans and notoriety in Russia.

    It has also led to death, injury, and an effort by legislators to curb a practice that has highlighted the state’s limited power to rein in the Internet.

    Fiendishly Simple

    The idea is fiendishly simple: Invite some friends over, get drunk on whatever is at hand, and broadcast the ensuing debauchery live through a computer webcam or smartphone.

    But what sets trash-streams apart are the lewd challenges carried out in exchange for small donations from viewers — sometimes humorous but often harmful dares that earn performers instant credit exchangeable for cash, or the digital equivalent of coins dropped in a busker’s guitar case.

    Vasilyenko launched his own channel in January 2020, moving to capitalize on the interest in his persona. When much of Russia went into lockdown in April, he left his job and began streaming full-time, playing video games during the day and inviting friends for alcohol-fueled dares at night. “It was easy money,” he said.

    However, there’s a dark side to trash-streams. An activity that overwhelmingly attracts residents of Russia’s hardscrabble provinces offers a social lift and the chance of riches to streamers who make it big — but it also rewards and incentivizes those who are most willing to push the boundaries of what’s considered legal and safe.

    “The competition is fierce — you have to do something radical to stand out,” said Konstantin Gabov, a sociologist at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics. “And in Russia, perhaps due to a low quality of life, people are ready to do it, and others are ready to pay for it.”

    A spate of recent deaths and violent assaults on air has now prompted a clampdown on trash-streaming. But as Russian lawmakers advance legislation aimed at banning them altogether, experts — and the streamers themselves — are skeptical about their chances of putting the genie back in the bottle.

    ‘Just A Line Of Work’

    The trend of “trash-streaming” — a Russian term that uses English loanwords — gained traction in the mid-2010s as a marginal spin-off from the world of video game broadcasts, which comprise the lion’s share of online livestreams.

    On platforms like YouTube and Twitch, a livestreaming site, some gamers sought to push the envelope in a bid for more subscribers. When Twitch began banning users for vulgar acts and comments, thousands in the Russian-speaking world migrated to the relatively unbridled ecosystem of YouTube.

    Fast-forward to 2020 and the growing but still marginal milieu of trash-streaming was given a boost by the coronavirus lockdown, which expanded streamers’ base of bored and often lonely viewers seeking a sense of community — however bawdy, boisterous, or base. The appeal came from the hosts’ interaction with viewers, whose messages and challenges they read out live on air.

    “Everyone’s stuck at home. And here you can sign on and take part in something real,” said Ekaterina Kolpinets, a lecturer on digital culture also based at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics. “No matter how wild it is, it will find an audience.”

    For Vasilyenko, it’s been a win-win deal. He can have fun with friends without venturing out, and viewers pay him for it. The 34-year-old streams as German Yagodka, the name he used as a porn actor and during his stint as a contestant on the TV show Dom 2, Russia’s Big Brother equivalent. On a good day, he says he makes 8,000 rubles on YouTube, half a supermarket cashier’s monthly wage, despite having a mere 4,500 subscribers.

    The pioneers of trash-streaming include a Russian gamer called VJ Link, who in 2013 invited a hairdresser to his apartment and kept his livestream rolling when her husband stormed in and assaulted him for allegedly harassing his wife. VJ Link was accused of staging the scene, but he was credited for helping spawn a new genre.

    “This is just a line of work. People do it for money,” VJ Link, whose real name is Kirill Zyryanov, told RFE/RL. “And ultimately the masses like it. Where there’s demand, there’s supply.”

    Zyryanov has run his YouTube channel for almost a decade, and has 435,000 subscribers. In 2017, he began appearing on trash-streams with Stas Reshetnyak, aka Reeflay, who went to extreme lengths for viewer donations. He roughed up his girlfriend on camera, humiliated his guests, and tattooed one participant’s arm with the name of a paying subscriber. A box in the corner of Reelfay’s screen listed the cost of various obscene stunts.

    Reshetnyak eventually introduced Zyryanov to Andrei Burim, a teenager from Belarus streaming under the name Mellstroy and amassing a large following. Burim began inviting Zyryanov to parties at his luxury rented apartment inside Moscow’s Federation Tower, Europe’s second-tallest skyscraper, and Zyryanov would engage in drunken fights with other guests and complete challenges – usually taking home 50 percent of the money his stunt earned, with the rest going to the host.

    Last year Zyryanov joined 21-year-old Burim for a two week-long trash-stream from a rented house in St. Petersburg. “It was all-inclusive. We drank every day, there was food, and a nice place to sleep,” he said. Burim paid him $900 for his troubles, but the biggest reward was the exposure he got as a YouTuber, including brand deals and new followers who help finance a lifestyle far removed from that of his working-class parents.

    Losing Control

    Trash-streaming reached a sort of zenith this past summer, when businessman Aleksandr Timartsev launched a reality show called Sosed.tv. At the height of the pandemic he placed a bunch of strangers in a shabby house with cameras overlooking every nook and cranny, and published a price list online for challenges including “drink a bottle of hard liquor” and “smoke a pack of cigs” – and whatever else viewers wanted if they were ready to pay the price.

    The concept never took off, though it continues despite low viewership and reports of sexual harassment and a rape allegation by one participant that was widely reported in September, the first in a series of shocking incidents that would thrust trash-streams into the spotlight and prompt a clampdown by the Russian government.

    In October, police launched a criminal investigation after Burim violently assaulted 21-year-old Instagram model Alyona Yefremova during one of his parties at the Federation Tower, a scene he broadcast live to his 700,000 subscribers. In December, Reshetnyak was arrested on charges of causing the death of his girlfriend, Valentina Grigoryeva, whom he locked out in sub-zero temperatures wearing only her underwear. “I swear she doesn’t even have a pulse,” he said to the camera as he carried her dead body back into the house.

    All of this — Reshetnyak’s tears as her body lay on a sofa behind him, his conversation with the ambulance crew and the police officers who soon arrived – was streamed live to thousands of viewers on YouTube. The trash streamer faces 15 years in prison if convicted. He denies the charges, but investigators have said Grigoryeva’s heart stopped under the influence of drugs and the searing cold.

    Authorities have also begun investigating the case of Valentin Ganichev, a handicapped man who was passed among seven different YouTubers over a period of several years, living in their homes as they humiliated and beat him on camera for viewer donations. In one stream he was buried alive in the back garden of a house in Bryansk, southwest of Moscow. “You’ll be famous!” one tells him as he bawls uncontrollably. https://batenka.ru/unity/thrash-streams/

    In October, in a video response to Burim’s arrest, popular YouTuber Yury Khovansky called trash-streamers “a zeitgeist, a spirit of the times, of the fact that we are ready to part with our human dignity for easy money.”

    “Listen carefully: Easy money is great, but in the long run it’ll bury you,” Khovansky said in an obscenity-filled monologue viewed by 2.3 million people. “The house always wins.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGe34sqhVds&ab_channel=%D0%AE%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B9%D0%A5%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9

    The legislation being debated in Russia’s Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, would mandate punishment of up to six years in prison for those who violate a proposed ban on trash-streaming. But experts say the initiative, which comes at a time of increasing state censorship in Russia, is doomed to failure.

    Russia sought to ban the Telegram messaging app but after an unsuccessful effort lasting two years, it officially abandoned the idea last June. Gabov and Kolpinets say the ban on trash-streams is likely to suffer a similar fate. They point to the alt-right exodus to Telegram after Twitter banned Donald Trump, or the migration to TikTok after Instagram stopped displaying the numbers of “likes” on posts.

    “These days you can’t ban something and expect people to say ‘ok, it’s over.’ They simply move to another platform,” says Kolpinets. Gabov says the legislation will most likely be powerless unless a specific crime is committed.

    Vasilyenko says the trash-streaming community is waiting for more details on the law, and especially how lawmakers will define the activity. But he asks, “if a person consents to something, why shouldn’t it be allowed?”

    ‘Just Getting Started’

    In the meantime, fatal accidents keep happening. On January 28, 60-year-old Yury Dushechkin died after drinking a liter and a half of vodka in exchange for viewer donations during a trash-stream in the western city of Smolensk that was watched by some 300 people. Russian media reported that Dushechkin was one of several homeless men who were regularly invited to a channel run by a local entrepreneur and paid with alcohol for completing viewer challenges.

    YouTube, which did not respond to a request for comment, has banned Burim and Reshetnyak’s channels and removed various trash-streams from its site. But the streamers find a way to keep working. Burim continues to broadcast his parties, opening new YouTube channels that get blocked as soon as his face appears on air.

    Vasilyenko is planning to team up with another St Petersburg-based YouTuber to purchase a bus and drive around the Russian city with friends while they broadcast online everything that happens on-board.

    Zyryanov, who continues to attend Burim’s streams, says he will rent a large country house for four months starting in May and stream 24/7 throughout the summer on his channel — a “trash” reality TV show, just like Sosed.tv.

    He says he’s just getting started.

    “This is a profession. I live off this, and can’t imagine life without it,” he said. “I might disappear from the web for a week. But I will never stop broadcasting.”

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Indonesia eyes French, US-made aircraft for air force recapitalisation

    Indonesia’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has revealed another ambitious list of proposed acquisitions for the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU) over the next four years. Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto and TNI Chief Air Vice Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said in an annual report to senior defence personnel, published in mid-February, that desired platforms include the Dassault Rafale […]

    The post Indonesia eyes French, US-made aircraft for air force recapitalisation appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • ‘Prisoners Of Conscience’: A Look At Some Of The Biggest Names On The List

    Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny’s time as an Amnesty International “prisoner of conscience” was short-lived — but not because he was released from detention.

    Navalny received the designation on January 17 following his arrest at a Moscow airport by Russian authorities who said he had violated the terms of a suspended sentence stemming from a 2014 embezzlement conviction. Navalny and his supporters say that both the conviction and the alleged violation are unfounded, politically motivated, and absurd.

    The subsequent conversion of the suspended sentence into more than 30 months of real prison time promised to keep the ardent Kremlin critic away from street protests for the near-term, even as he stayed in the focus of anti-government demonstrators and human rights groups such as Amnesty.

    But on February 23, Amnesty withdrew the designation, citing what it said were past comments by the 44-year old anti-corruption activist that “reach the threshold of advocacy of hatred.”

    The term “prisoner of conscience” is widely attributed to the founder of Amnesty International, Peter Benenson, who used it in 1961 to describe two Portuguese students who had each been sentenced to seven years in prison simply for making a toast to freedom under a dictatorial government.

    The label initially came to apply mainly to dissidents in the Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc satellites, but over the years expanded to include hundreds of religious, political opposition, and media figures around the world, including countries of the former Soviet Union and others in RFE/RL’s immediate coverage region.

    According to Amnesty’s current criteria for the designation, prisoners of conscience are people who have “not used or advocated violence but are imprisoned because of who they are (sexual orientation, ethnic, national, or social origin, language, birth, color, sex or economic status) or what they believe (religious, political or other conscientiously held beliefs).”

    Navalny’s delisting has been tied by Amnesty to comments he made in the mid-2000s, as his star as a challenger to President Vladimir Putin and as an anti-corruption crusader in Russia was on the rise, but also as he came under criticism for his association with ethnic Russian nationalists and for statements seen as racist and dangerously inflammatory.

    And while the rights watchdog acknowledged that the flood of requests it received to review Navalny’s past statements appeared to originate from pro-Kremlin critics of Navalny, Amnesty ultimately determined that he no longer fit the bill for the designation, even as the organization continued to call for his immediate release from prison as he was being “persecuted for purely political reasons.”

    The “prisoner of conscience” designation is a powerful tool in advocating for the humane treatment of people who hold different religious, political, and sexual views than the powers that be — in some cases helping to lead to the release of prisoners.

    Here’s a look at some of the biggest names who have been or remain on the list.

    In Russia

    Russia is a virtual cornucopia of prisoners of conscience, with formidable political opposition figures, journalists, LGBT rights activists, and advocates for ethno-national rights gracing the list.

    Political Opposition

    Boris Nemtsov

    Boris Nemtsov

    Boris Nemtsov, the opposition politician who was shot dead in 2015, received the designation in 2011, along with activists Ilya Yashin and Eduard Limonov, after they attended a rally in Moscow in support of free assembly.

    Big Business

    Former Yukos owners Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s and Platon Lebedev’s listing the same year relating to what Amnesty called “deeply flawed and politically motivated” charges that led to their imprisonment years earlier drew sharp condemnation from the Russian Foreign Ministry.

    ‘Terror Network’

    In February 2020, Amnesty applied the designation to seven men standing trial in central Russia on what it called “absurd” charges relating to membership in a “nonexistent ‘terrorist’ organization.”

    Days later, all seven members were convicted and sentenced to prison for belonging to a “terrorist cell” labeled by authorities as “Network” that the authorities claimed planned to carry out a series of explosions in Russia during the 2018 presidential election and World Cup soccer tournament.

    Religious Persecution

    Aleksandr Gabyshev — a shaman in the Siberian region of Yakutia who has made several attempts to march on foot to Moscow “to drive President Vladimir Putin out of the Kremlin” — was briefly placed in a psychiatric hospital in September 2019 after he called Putin “evil” and marched for 2,000 kilometers in an attempt to reach the capital.

    “The Russian authorities’ response to the shaman’s actions is grotesque,” Amnesty said. “Gabyshev should be free to express his political views and exercise his religion and beliefs just like anyone else.”

    In May 2020, riot police raided Gabyshev’s home and took him to a psychiatric hospital because he allegedly refused to be tested for COVID-19. Amnesty called for his immediate release.

    But in January, Gabyshev was again forcibly taken to a psychiatric clinic after announcing he planned to resume his trek to Moscow to oust Putin.

    In Ukraine

    Prominent Ukrainian filmmaker and activist Oleh Sentsov made the list after he was arrested in Crimea in May 2014 after the peninsula was illegally annexed by Russia.

    Oleh Sentsov

    Oleh Sentsov

    Amnesty repeatedly called for the release of Sentsov after he was sentenced to 20 years in prison on a “terrorism” conviction in what the rights watchdog declared was an “unfair trial on politically motivated charges.”

    After five years in prison in Russia, Sentsov was released in a prisoner swap between Kyiv and pro-Russia separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine.

    Sentsov was far from the only Ukrainian to be taken down for criticizing Russia’s seizure of Crimea, prompting Amnesty to call for the release of all “all Ukrainian political prisoners” being held in Russia.

    Among them is the first Jehovah’s Witness to be sentenced by Russian authorities in the annexed territory, Sergei Filatov. The father of four was handed a sentence of six years in prison last year for being a member of an extremist group in what Amesty called “the latest example of the wholesale export of Russia’s brutally repressive policies.”

    In Belarus

    In Belarus, some of the biggest names to be declared “prisoners of conscience” are in the opposition to Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the authoritarian leader whose claim to have won a sixth-straight presidential term in August has led to months of anti-government protests.

    Viktar Babaryka

    Viktar Babaryka

    Viktar Babaryka, a former banker whose bid to challenge Lukashenka was halted by his arrest as part of what Amnesty called a “full-scale attack on human rights” ahead of the vote, went on trial on February 17 on charges of money laundering, bribery, and tax evasion.

    Fellow opposition member Paval Sevyarynets, who has been in custody since June, was charged with taking part in mass disorder related to his participation in rallies during which demonstrators attempted to collect signatures necessary to register presidential candidates other than Lukashenka.

    Syarhey Tsikhanouski

    Syarhey Tsikhanouski

    The popular blogger Syarhey Tsikhanouski was jailed after expressing interest in running against Lukashenka and remains in prison. Three of his associates went on trial in January on charges of organizing mass disorder in relation to the mass protests that broke out after the election.

    Tsikhanouski’s wife, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, took his place as a candidate and considers herself the rightful winner of the election.

    In Kazakhstan

    Aigul Otepova

    Aigul Otepova

    Aigul Otepova, a Kazakh blogger and journalist accused of involvement in a banned organization, was forcibly placed by a court in a psychiatric clinic in November, prompting Amnesty to declare her a “a prisoner of conscience who is being prosecuted solely for the peaceful expression of her views.”

    Otepova has denied any affiliation with the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) opposition movement, which has been labeled an extremist group by the Kazkakh authorities, and Otepova’s daughter told RFE/RL that the authorities were trying to silence her ahead of Kazakhstan’s parliamentary elections in January.

    Otepova was released from the facility in December.

    In Iran

    Nasrin Sotoudeh

    Nasrin Sotoudeh

    Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who has represented opposition activists including women prosecuted for removing their mandatory head scarves, was arrested in 2018 and charged with spying, spreading propaganda, and insulting Iran’s supreme leader.

    She found herself back in prison in December, less than a month after she was granted a temporary release from her sentence to a total of 38 1/2 years in prison and 148 lashes.

    Amnesty has called Sotoudeh’s case “shocking” and considers her a “prisoner of conscience.” In its most recent action regarding Sotoudeh, the rights watchdog called for her to be released “immediately and unconditionally.”

    In Kyrgyzstan

    Amnesty International in August 2019 called the life sentence handed down to Kyrgyz rights defender Azimjan Askarov a “triumph of injustice.”

    Azimjan Askarov

    Azimjan Askarov

    The ethnic Uzbek Askarov was convicted of creating a mass disturbance and of involvement in the murder of a police officer during deadly interethnic clashes between local Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in June 2010 when more than 450 people, mainly Uzbeks, were killed and tens of thousands more were displaced.

    Askarov has said the charges against him are politically motivated, and the UN Human Rights Committed has determined that he was not given a fair trial and was tortured in detention.

    In May, after the Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision to not review Askarov’s sentence, Amnesty said the ruling “compounds 10 years of deep injustice inflicted on a brave human rights defender who should never have been jailed.”

    In Pakistan

    Junaid Hafeez

    Junaid Hafeez

    Amnesty has called the case of Junaid Hafeez “a travesty” and in 2019 called on Pakistan’s authorities to “immediately and unconditionally” release the university lecturer charged with blasphemy over Facebook uploads.

    Hafeez was charged under the country’s controversial blasphemy laws, which Amnesty has called on the country to repeal, describing them as “overly broad, vague, and coercive” and saying they were “used to target religious minorities, pursue personal vendettas, and carry out vigilante violence.”

    Hafeez has been in solitary confinement since June 2014.

    In Azerbaijan

    Leyla and Arif Yunus

    Leyla and Arif Yunus

    Human rights activists Leyla Yunus and Arif Yunus were arrested separately in 2014 and convicted of economic crimes in August 2015 after a trial Amnesty denounced as “shockingly unjust.”

    After Leyla Yunus was sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison, and her husband to seven years, Amnesty said that the rulings showed the “continuous criminalization of human rights defenders in Azerbaijan.”

    After the two were released on health grounds in late 2015 and their prison sentences reduced to suspended sentences, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered Azerbaijan to pay them approximately $45,660 for violating their basic rights.

    In April 2016, they were allowed to leave the country and settled in the Netherlands.

    In Uzbekistan

    Azam Farmonov

    Azam Farmonov

    In 2009, Amnesty called for the immediate release of rights activists Azam Farmonov and Alisher Karamatov, who were detained in 2006 while defending the rights of farmers in Uzbekistan who had accused local officials of extortion and corruption.

    Amnesty said the two men had allegedly been tortured and declared them “prisoners of conscience.”

    In 2012, Karamatov was released after serving nearly two-thirds of a nine-year prison sentence.

    Farmonov served 10 years before his release in 2017, but reemerged in March when his U.S.-based NGO representing prisoners’ rights in Uzbekistan, Huquiqiy Tayanch, was successfully registered by the country’s Justice Ministry.

    Written by Michael Scollon, with additional reporting by Golnaz Esfandiari

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Russia’s UN Goodwill Ambassador Wants To End ‘Taboo And Stigma’ Of Menstruation

    Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova has been appointed to serve as a United Nations goodwill ambassador and will use her new position to promote women’s health and end stigmas surrounding menstruation.

    “For too long, society’s approach to menstruation and women’s health has been defined by taboo and stigma,” Vodianova said on February 24 after her appointment was announced.

    “Menstruation is a normal bodily function. As UNFPA goodwill ambassador, I want to work to build a world where we no longer need to explain this,” she told reporters in a videoconference.

    Vodianova, 38, will be a campaigner for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), said the agency’s executive director, Natalia Kanem.

    Vodianova, who has worked with UNFPA for the last three years, has focused on “breaking harmful taboos and tackling the stigmas that surround women’s bodies and health, including menstrual health,” Kanem said.

    Vodianova said she was honored to be named a UN goodwill ambassador and said she looked forward to continuing her work to tackle the “myths and taboos” that women, girls, and vulnerable young people live with and “raise the standards of women’s health and dignity.”

    In some parts of the world girls and women who are menstruating may face exclusion from public life and may lack access to menstruation products, according to the UNFPA. Vodianova said such products were a “right for women, not just something nice to have.”

    As a model for the past 20 years, Vodianova, who lives in Paris and is nicknamed Supernova, has traveled the world working for luxury fashion brands such as Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton, and Stella McCartney.

    Vodianova was raised in poverty by a single mother with a half-sister who has cerebral palsy and autism.

    She founded the Naked Heart Foundation to help children with special needs and their families and is a member of the Special Olympics International board of directors.

    Based on reporting by AFP and AP

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Biden Nominee To Head CIA Sees Russia As Potent Threat

    U.S. President Joe Biden’s nominee to run the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has told lawmakers that the “biggest geopolitical test” the United States faces comes from China but said Russia remains a familiar threat.

    William Burns, a former ambassador to Russia and Jordan, spoke on February 24 during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

    He called China “a formidable, authoritarian adversary” that is strengthening its ability to steal intellectual property, repress its people, expand its reach, and build influence within the United States.

    But he said there may be room for cooperation with Beijing in areas such as climate change and nuclear nonproliferation.

    He said Russia remained a disruptive and potent threat, although it is in many ways a declining world power.

    “As long as Vladimir Putin is the leader of Russia, we’re going to be operating within a pretty narrow band of possibilities, from the very sharply competitive to the very nastily adversarial,” he said.

    A recent hack of corporations and U.S. government departments believed to have been the work of Russians laid bare the perils of underestimating the Kremlin and served as a “very harsh wake-up” call about the vulnerabilities of supply chains and critical infrastructure, he said.

    Burns said the Biden administration would soon produce an assessment of Russian-related issues, including the hack. Russia has denied involvement.

    “I think it’s essential for the CIA in particular to work even harder to develop our capabilities to help detect these kind of attacks when they come from external players from foreign players,” he told the committee.

    Burns, who was a lead negotiator in the secret talks that paved the way to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal under former President Barack Obama, also commented on Iran, saying it can never be trusted with a nuclear weapon.

    Burns has said he would restore the nuclear deal with other major global powers that former President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of in 2018.

    Burns, 64, is expected to win confirmation and become the first career diplomat to lead the CIA. He has been confirmed by the Senate five times for his stints as ambassador to Jordan and Russia and three senior State Department positions.

    With reporting by Reuters and AP

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • What Planet Is NATO Living On?

    The February meeting of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Defense Ministers, the first since President Biden took power, revealed an antiquated, 75-year-old alliance that, despite its military failures in Afghanistan and Libya, is now turning its military madness toward two more formidable, nuclear-armed enemies: Russia and China.

    This theme was emphasized by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in a Washington Post op-ed in advance of the NATO meeting, insisting that “aggressive and coercive behaviors from emboldened strategic competitors such as China and Russia reinforce our belief in collective security.”

    Using Russia and China to justify more Western military build-up is a key element in the alliance’s new “Strategic Concept,” called NATO 2030: United For a New Era, which is intended to define its role in the world for the next ten years.

    The post What Planet Is NATO Living On? appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.