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Hungarians Await Official Results Amid Signs Of Weakness For Orban, Fidesz
BUDAPEST-- Hungarians on June 10 are awaiting the results from the crucial European Parliament and municipal elections, as initial figures showed signs of weakness for authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his right-wing Fidesz party amid a major challenge to their nearly-15-year grip on power.
Early results put Fidesz and its allies at 44.2 percent in the European Parliament voting, with Peter Magyar's center-right Tisza party second at 30 percent -- a result that, if confirmed, would be far higher than preelection surveys suggested.
Still, Orban hailed his party's victory following the vote.
"Today, we defeated the old opposition, the new opposition. And no matter what the opposition will be called the next time, we will defeat them again and again," Orban said, according to AP.
Elections officials reported record high turnout, with more than 57 percent of registered voters casting ballots at 10,199 polling stations.
Orban's Fidesz party was facing one its strongest challenges since gaining power, with Magyar, a lawyer and onetime Orban ally, having gained an increasing number of supporters since coming into prominence this year as a critic of the prime minister's government.
After polls closed, the 43-year-old Magyar told supporters that his party's strong result marked “the end of an era. Today, the future has begun in Hungary.”
Magyar -- founder of the new Respect And Freedom (Tisza) party -- said in a Facebook post that the party was confident it had achieved a "historic" result, even if it didn't come out on top this time.
"We will see historic figures, which will provide a very good basis for taking back our homeland step by step, brick by brick, in the next parliamentary election," he said.
In comments to the BBC, Magyar said: “We have a new situation. A new opposition party able to defeat this government at the next general election in Hungary.”
He later told a news conference that Tisza will accept the results -- no matter how "disgusting it is that the governing parties spend tens of billions on propaganda."
Orban's Fidesz party is not affiliated with any group in the European Parliament, but it hoped to benefit in the election from a rise in far-right sentiment across the continent. The number of far-right lawmakers in the European Parliament increased sharply after the vote, according to initial projections.
However, Fidesz is projected to get 11 seats, down from 13.
Magyar's party has presented itself as a more centrist alternative to Orban's brand of illiberal populism and is likely to gain about seven seats in the EU legislature.
Magyar has said he will join the center-right European People's Party (EPP), which is set to be the largest grouping in the European Parliament.
Orban has angered many leaders in the European Union with his authoritarian policies, his opposition to aiding Ukraine, and his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Orban, however, has claimed that casting ballots for the opposition would draw Hungary directly into the war in neighboring Ukraine and precipitate a global armed conflict.
WATCH: RFE/RL asked voters in Budapest about the ruling Fidesz party's campaign suggesting that its political rivals would draw Hungary into war.
Support for Fidesz in the latest pre-election polls ranged from 44 to 48 percent. Tisza party had 23 to 29 percent -- but many observers say Fidesz's victory was not assured, given the strong showing for a movement that only came into being a few months ago.
Gabor Toka, a research professor at Central European University and author of the Vox Populi election guide, told RFE/RL before the vote that surveys may not be totally accurate and that pollsters "ask people who respond in one way but may not vote accordingly later."
"There are many people who decide at the last minute who they will vote for.
"When the political situation really changes from week to week, it is of great importance exactly when the snapshot -- i.e. the survey -- was taken," he said.
The election was also a test for the controversial Sovereignty Protection Office (SZH), established in February and which has waded into the campaign to publicly denigrate individuals and groups and criminalize candidates over accusations of foreign funding and influence.
"This agency is all set up to prevent nasty surprises for Orban in the upcoming elections," Kim Lane Scheppele, a Princeton University professor and expert on authoritarian regimes and Hungarian politics and law, told RFE/RL.
Orban said victory in the elections "is needed" and predicted that Fidesz would receive "reinforcements" from every European country and be able to form a pro-peace European coalition in Brussels.
He also commented on the U.S. presidential election, saying that Americans in November will have "a chance to elect a pro-peace president," referring to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Orban, who has repeatedly said Ukraine cannot win, said the war "has no solution on the battlefield" and reiterated his call for negotiations to end the full-scale invasion Russia launched in 2022.
Magyar, a longtime political insider in the Fidesz party, has served in the Foreign Ministry and in Hungary's permanent representation to the EU. Until 2023, he was married to Judit Varga, a prominent Fidesz member and the former justice minister.
He gained attention in February when his ex-wife became embroiled in a case in which a man was pardoned after being found guilty of being an accomplice in a case involving child sexual assault.
The scandal claimed the political careers of the president, Katalin Novak, and Varga, who announced that she was retiring from political life.
Magyar in early May told supporters that changes were coming to the country that current leaders will be unable to prevent.
"Change can be stopped for a few days, a few weeks, but no one in history has ever stopped it and neither can they," Magyar said on May 4.
With reporting by AP, Reuters, and the BBC
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Russian Anti-War Documentary Director's Prison Term Extended
A St. Petersburg court of appeals on July 2 extended the three-year prison term of documentary director Vsevolod Korolyov, known for his anti-war stance, to seven years, the court press service said. Korolyov was convicted and sentenced to the three-year term in March on a charge of distributing false information about Russia's military. He was arrested in July 2022 after he posted two reports online about Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, namely about alleged atrocities committed by Russian troops against civilians in Ukrainian towns and cities. He pleaded not guilty. To read the original story by RFE/RL's North.Realities, click here.
At Least 3 Killed, 18 Wounded In Russian Attack On Dnipro
At least three people were killed and 18 wounded following a Russian drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, Serhiy Lysak, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said on July 3. In a message on Telegram, Lysak said the attack caused multiple fires in the city.
Separately, Ukraine’s Air Force said it had shot down five missiles, including an Iskander-K cruise missile, and six unmanned aerial vehicles, five of which were Shahed-type kamikaze drones. It said the attack mainly targeted Dnipro.
This is the third time that Dnipro has been targeted in the last five days. A high-rise building was destroyed in an attack on June 28, while at least 12 people were wounded in a drone strike on July 1.
Russia also shelled Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhya region early on July 3, destroying 14 houses and wounding a man. Days earlier, Russia struck the town of Vilnyansk in Zaporizhzhya, killing seven civilians.
On the same day, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had downed a total of 10 Ukrainian drones in three regions, including five in Belgorod, four in Bryansk, and one in Moscow. The ministry added that two unmanned boats heading toward Novorossiysk in the Black Sea were sunk.
Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s electrical grid for months, forcing frequent power outages. In March, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said 80 percent of the country’s thermal-generation capacity had been destroyed. Around the same time, the Energy Ministry said thermal power plants controlled by Tsentroenerho and Ukrhydroenerho had been badly damaged.
Last month, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy asked the European Union to step up electricity exports to Ukraine, as well as to supply necessary equipment and other resources to make repairs.
Over the past several months, Ukraine has increasingly targeted fuel-production sites inside Russia, mainly oil-refining facilities that work for the Russian military.
Kyrgyzstan Detains Illegal Migrants From Bangladesh
Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said on July 3 that border guards detained 11 citizens of Bangladesh for illegally crossing the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border. The UKMK added that earlier in May, Kyrgyz authorities had detained 46 other illegal migrants from Bangladesh in the southern Jalal-Abad region. The issue of illegal immigrants from South Asia and the Middle East has turned into an important topic in Kyrgyzstan after hundreds of students from Pakistan fled Kyrgyzstan in May following violent mob attacks targeting foreign university students in Bishkek. The attacks were sparked by an online video showing a brawl between Kyrgyz men and Egyptian citizens. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.
Mother Of Tajik Ex-Police Officer Serving Life For Banker's Murder Gets 13 Years In Prison
DUSHANBE -- Two sources close to the Supreme Court of Tajikistan told RFE/RL on July 2 that Sojida Saidmurodova, the mother of former top police officer Dilshod Saidmurodov, who is serving life in prison for kidnapping and killing a banker last year, was sentenced to 13 years in prison on corruption charges in June.
The sources added that the Supreme Court on June 19 also ordered three co-defendants in the case to pay hefty fines. The trial was held behind closed doors.
Relatives of the 65-year-old Saidmurodova said earlier that the woman was arrested in September and charged with financial fraud, illegally obtaining a parcel of land, illegal construction of property, forgery, and obstruction of justice.
In March, Tajikistan's Supreme Court sentenced her son, who used to work at the Interior Ministry directorate dealing with organized crime, and four other men to life in prison in the high-profile case of the abduction and murder of one of the Central Asian country's wealthiest bankers, Shohrat Ismatulloev.
Another 10 defendants were sentenced to prison terms of between one year and eight years for their involvement in Ismatulloev's abduction and murder.
Ismatulloev, the deputy chairman of Orienbank, one of the country's leading banks, was abducted in June 2023. His body was found later that August.
One of the alleged abductors was identified as Rustam Ashurov, who died in a hospital in Moldova in July 2023 after local police wounded him during a shoot-out in which he killed two security officers at Chisinau International Airport.
Moldovan authorities said at the time that Ashurov worked at the Tajik Interior Ministry for seven years but was fired for unspecified criminal activities.
Investigators said the kidnappers were looking to extort money from the banker and tortured him before he died.
Orienbank is the largest private financial institution in the authoritarian Central Asian country and has been linked to the family of President Emomali Rahmon, several sources have told RFE/RL.
Xi, Putin Kick Off SCO Summit In Kazakhstan With Belarus Set To Join
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are in Kazakhstan on July 3 as part of a two-day summit for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which is poised to admit Belarus as a member.
The expected expansion of the club of Eurasian countries is part of another push from Beijing and Moscow to use the regional security bloc as a counterweight to promote alternatives to the Western institutions that make up the U.S.-led world order.
The annual SCO leaders summit in Astana will also provide a valuable platform for Putin as Russia's war in Ukraine grinds well into its third year and the Russian leader is eager to showcase that he's not internationally isolated.
Beyond adding Belarus, the summit is set to focus on better coordination for counterterrorism in the region, which remains high on the agenda for members following Moscow's Crocus City Hall attack in April. The security situation in Afghanistan and a new mechanism for an investment fund proposed by Kazakhstan will also be discussed by leaders.
"The mandate for the SCO can be quite vague and far-reaching," Eva Seiwert, an analyst at the Berlin-based MERICS think tank, told RFE/RL. "Officially speaking, this is a security organization that focuses on improving collaboration among its member states and building mutual trust throughout the region."
The bloc was founded in 2001 with China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan as members with a focus on settling territorial disputes and has grown to tackle issues like regional security and economic development. The SCO added India and Pakistan in 2017, Iran in 2023, and is set to grow again with the addition of Belarus this year.
The SCO's evolution over its 23-year history has largely been shaped by China and Russia's evolving relationship.
At times, Moscow has looked to water down or block Chinese-led plans for the bloc, including proposals for a regional development bank and a free-trade zone. But as Xi and Putin have built stronger ties between their countries in recent years -- especially since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine -- the two leaders have more actively made the SCO a part of their broader cooperation together and a centerpiece of their shared anti-U.S. worldview.
"For a long time, China wanted to make sure that the SCO is not portrayed as an anti-Western organization, but this has changed, especially since Iran joined," Seiwert said. "It's becoming clear that the SCO doesn't care so much about what the West thinks anymore."
At a meeting of senior Russian officials in June, Putin spoke about the creation of "a new system of bilateral and multilateral guarantees of collective security in Eurasia," with the help of existing organizations like the SCO, to work toward gradually "phasing out the military presence of external powers in the Eurasian region."
Temur Umarov, a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin, told RFE/RL that while the SCO is increasing its international visibility and geopolitical weight, it still remains an organization that is heavy on symbolism but light on substance.
"It's still trying to figure out what it is now and what it can be," he said. "At the end of the day, its main advantage is just the sheer size and its collective GDP, but there are still almost no substantial results."
In the absence of a clear mandate, the SCO is largely serving as a diplomatic forum for regional leaders to get sought-after face time with Xi and Putin.
The Chinese leader arrived in Astana on July 2 for a one-day state visit with his Kazakh counterpart, Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, and will travel to Tajikistan following the SCO summit for a separate state visit.
Xi and Putin are also set to have their own one-on-one meeting on July 4 on the sidelines of the summit, marking their second meeting this year.
Leaders and representatives from nonmember states like Azerbaijan, Qatar, Mongolia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkmenistan, and Turkey are also expected to attend, as is United Nation Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Notably absent from this year's summit is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar attending in his place.
Niva Yau, a fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub, says that India appears to be losing interest in the SCO, in part due to New Delhi's tense rivalry with Pakistan, but also over ongoing tensions with China amid a multiyear border dispute.
She says that this growing reticence from India may hamstring the bloc's potential and Beijing's future plans for it.
"It reduces the SCO's global profile and limits some of China's bigger plans," she told RFE/RL.
- By RFE/RL
Russia Says French National Pleads Guilty To Collecting Information On Military
Russia's Investigative Committee said on July 3 that French citizen Laurent Vinatier, who was arrested in early June, has pleaded guilty to illegally obtaining information about the Russian military. On June 7, a Moscow court sent the 48-year-old expert on Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia to pretrial detention until at least August 5 on charges of illegally gathering information about the Russian military and failing to register as a "foreign agent." Vinatier works for a Geneva-based conflict mediation organization. Relations between Russia and France have been strained since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine February 2022.
Wife Of Swedish-Iranian On Death Row 'Devastated' After Meeting Sweden's Foreign Minister
The wife of Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian physician sentenced to death in Iran, said on July 2 that she was “devastated” after meeting Sweden’s foreign minister to discuss her husband’s case.
Vida Mehrannia has strongly criticized the Swedish government for not including Djalali in a controversial prisoner swap deal with Iran last month.
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As part of the deal, Stockholm released Hamid Nouri, an Iranian former prison official sentenced to life in prison for his role in the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988 in exchange for Swedish citizens Johan Floderus and Saeed Azizi.
“They told me, as always, that they’re pursuing the case. They say the same thing at every meeting. But after eight years and three months, still nothing has happened,” Mehrannia said after her meeting with Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom. “I am devastated.”
Djalali has been on a hunger strike since June 26 to protest against being left out of the prisoner exchange deal.
“He has a weak pulse and has stomach problems,” Mehrannia told a gathering of supporters after the meeting.
Djalali was detained in 2016 and subsequently sentenced to death for allegedly spying for Israel. He has denied all charges. Stockholm granted Djalali Swedish citizenship in 2018, though Billstrom says the authorities in Tehran consider him only to be an Iranian citizen.
The Swedish government has been under pressure by rights groups and activists for freeing Nouri and for failing to at least secure the release of the only Swedish citizen in Iran who is facing the death penalty.
Western governments and rights groups have long accused Iran of detaining dual citizens to use them as bargaining chips against the West.
At least eight other European citizens are currently held in Iran, including Jamshid Sharmahd, a German citizen of Iranian descent who has also been sentenced to death.
China Developing Drones For Russia Modeled After Iranian Shahed: Report
Chinese and Russian companies are reportedly working on a kamikaze drone modeled after the Iranian-made Shahed-class unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), according to European officials who spoke to the U.S.-based outlet Bloomberg. The unnamed officials said the companies first held talks in 2023 and started developing and testing a model this year. A Chinese company last year unveiled the Sunflower 200, which bears a striking resemblance to the Iranian-made Shahed-136 drone used by Russia in its war against Ukraine. To read the full story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.
Russian Court Labels Self-Exiled Journalist Nevzorov, Wife As 'Extremist Group'
A court in St. Petersburg on July 2 labeled one of Russia's best-known TV journalists, Aleksandr Nevzorov, and his wife, Lidia, as an "extremist group" and ordered their property in the northwestern Leningrad region to be confiscated.
Nevzorov’s lawyer, Aleksei Pryanishnikov, said the court ruling orders the confiscation of the self-exiled journalist's property, car, and shares in a private business.
Nevzorov, who openly condemned Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and fled the country for a European Union member state in 2022, wrote on Telegram that Russian authorities had bargained with him for two months, trying to "persuade" him to change his position regarding Russia's aggression against Ukraine in exchange for "a good decision by the court."
"Liberty costs much. But none of its costs can be too high," Nevzorov wrote.
In February last year, a court in Moscow sentenced Nevzorov in absentia to eight years in prison on the charge of discrediting Russian armed forces.
The Investigative Committee launched a probe into Nevzorov in March 2022 over statements he made on Instagram and YouTube that criticized Russia's armed forces for a deadly assault on a nursing home in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol and the alleged torture and killing of civilians in the town of Bucha.
In June 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a decree granting Ukrainian citizenship to Nevzorov and his wife "for transcendental services" to Ukraine.
In the days after launching his invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, President Vladimir Putin signed into law legislation that calls for lengthy prison terms for distributing "deliberately false information" about Russian military operations as part of the Kremlin's effort to control the narrative about its war in Ukraine.
The law envisages sentences of up to 10 years in prison for individuals convicted of an offense, while the penalty for the distribution of "deliberately false information" about the Russian military that leads to "serious consequences" is 15 years in prison.
It also makes it illegal "to make calls against the use of Russian troops to protect the interests of Russia" or "for discrediting such use" with a possible penalty of up to three years in prison. The same provision applies to calls for sanctions against Russia.
Nevzorov continues to sharply criticize Putin and his government over the war in Ukraine on his YouTube and Telegram channels.
- By AP
UN Experts Say Russia Violated International Law By Imprisoning U.S. Reporter Gershkovich
UN human rights experts say Russia violated international law by imprisoning Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and should release him “immediately.” The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, made up of independent experts convened by the UN’s top human rights body, said there was a “striking lack of any factual or legal substantiation” for the spying charges leveled against Gershkovich. The five-member group said Gershkovich's U.S. nationality was a factor in his detention and as a result the case against him was “discriminatory.” Gershkovich went on trial behind closed doors on June 26 in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on espionage charges that he, his employer, and the U.S. government vehemently deny.
- By AFP
Russian Northern Fleet Ships Arrive In Venezuela
Two Russian naval ships docked on July 2 in Venezuela after leaving Cuba. Moscow's Defense Ministry said the main aim of the ship's visit to the region was to "show the flag and ensure a naval presence in operationally important areas" of the Atlantic Ocean. It said that the frigate Admiral Gorshkov -- one of Russia's most advanced warships capable of carrying hypersonic missiles -- and oil tanker Academic Pashin, both from its Northern Fleet, docked in La Guaira. The ships visited Cuba last month along with a Russian nuclear-powered submarine.
Serbian-Russian Relations 'Very Good,' Vucic Says Following Deputy Foreign Minister's Visit
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called relations between Serbia and Russia "very good" following a July 2 meeting with Russian Deputy Foeign Minister Aleksandr Grusko in Belgrade. Vucic posted a photo taken during the meeting on Instagram and wrote that he thanked Russia for supporting the territorial integrity of Serbia, which does not recognize Kosovo's independence. Vucic also thanked Russia for voting against a UN resolution on the 1995 Srebrenica genocide. Grusko also met with Interior Minister Ivica Dacic, who is under fire for canceling a Serbian-Kosovar unity festival, and with the deputy prime minister of Serbia and the former head of the Serbian intelligence agency. To read the full story by RFE/RL's Balkan Service, click here.
Russian Youth Freestyle Wrestling Team Coach Detained On Terrorism Charge
The Russian Wrestling Federation said on July 2 that Moscow police detained Alisher Ismatzoda, a coach of the Russian youth freestyle wrestling team, on suspicion of facilitating terrorist activities. Media reports say investigators have asked a court in Moscow to place the 32-year-old native of Tajikistan in pretrial detention on charge of recruiting people to conduct terrorist acts. If convicted, Ismatzoda may face up to 15 years in prison. The Tajik authorities have yet to comment on the situation. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Tajik Service, click here.
Explosion In Residential Building Kills 1 In Russia's Bashkortostan
Authorities in Russia's Republic of Bashkortostan said on July 2 that a gas explosion in a residential building killed a woman and injured four people, including two children. The explosion occurred during repair works on a natural gas supply system in the building, authorities said. The blast damaged doors and windows in several apartments. Rescue teams evacuated 80 people from the building. The prosecutor’s office of Bashkortostan has started preliminary investigation into the deadly blast. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service, click here.
- By RFE/RL's Uzbek Service and
- RFE/RL
'Slow Death Of Journalism' Alleged Amid Uzbek Crackdown On Karakalpaks
Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has warned of the “slow death of journalism” in a largely Turkic-speaking autonomous region of northwestern Uzbekistan amid a violent crackdown since local protests two years ago.
RSF said in a July 1 alert that those protests in Karakalpakstan “remain such a taboo topic that journalists who recall the facts today are arrested, imprisoned, and falsely accused of separatism.”
It condemned jail sentences and detentions, including that of a British reporter for The Economist, and said such “censorship…threatens to turn the region into an information desert.”
“RSF is alarmed by this blanket of repression on a subject so vital to public interest and by the criminalization of the work of journalists -- who must be released immediately,” Jeanne Cavelier, the head of RSF's Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, said.
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev abruptly abandoned plans for a constitutional change to abolish the Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic’s right to secede after the protests erupted in Karakalpakstan's capital, Nukus, in July 2022.
The authorities said at least 21 people were killed in the unrest.
Calls for independence have persisted in the region, which is home to around 2 million people.
Dozens of people including journalists have faced trial since the unrest, with some sentenced to lengthy prison terms on security and other charges. Students and others have reported abuse and threats during detention, and a wave of school expulsions followed.
Karakalpaks are a Central Asian Turkic-speaking people whose region near the Aral Sea used to be an autonomous area within the Kazakh and then the Russian Soviet republic in 1930, before becoming part of the Uzbek Soviet republic in 1936.
The government had proposed eliminating any mention in the Uzbek Constitution of Karakalpakstan’s long-standing right to seek independence.
'Harry Potter' In Belarusian On Hold Over Sanctions
An independent Belarusian publishing house in exile says the British copyright holder of the Harry Potter books has refused to work with it, citing Western sanctions imposed on the Belarusian government.
Andrey Yanushekvich, who registered a branch of the Yanushkevich publishing house in Poland in early 2023 after he fled Belarus, told RFE/RL on July 2 that he and his colleagues had exhausted all possible means to persuade The Blair Partnership company to lift its ban on publishing four books of the Harry Potter series in Belarusian.
"We were unable to find a common language with the rights holders. They do not want to be associated with anything Belarusian while the Republic of Belarus is under sanctions," Yanushkevich said.
Between 2019 and 2021, the Yanushkevich publishing house in Belarus published three Harry Potter books by British author J.K. Rowling in Belarusian -- Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter And The Prisoner of Azkaban.
The launching of Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets in Belarusian was scheduled for September 26, 2020, just weeks after a presidential election that was followed by unprecedented monthslong rallies protesting the official result of the poll, which handed authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has been in power since 1994, a sixth term.
On September 15, 2020, the Belarusian Customs Service requested an official letter from the publisher confirming that "the book does not call for the overthrow of the existing government" in Belarus, which sparked a reaction from protesters, who placed on the Internet pictures of Harry Potter characters challenging Lukashenka.
Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets eventually did get to the bookstores, but in 2022 Belarusian authorities confiscated the Yanushkevich publishing house's equipment and froze its bank accounts, citing financial misdeeds.
The publishing house's own bookstore, Knihauka, was vandalized and shut down in May 2022.
Andrey Yanushkevich himself was sentenced to 28 days in jail, and his colleague, Nasta Karnatskaya, served 23 days in jail on unspecified charges.
After serving the terms, they fled Belarus.
In January 2023, Yanushkevich registered a branch of his publishing house in Poland and a little later opened a Knihauka bookstore in Warsaw. He planned to publish four remaining books in the Harry Potter series -- Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, and Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows -- but The Blair Partnership informed Yanushkevich on July 1 of the suspension of their cooperation because of the Western sanctions imposed on Belarus over its support of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
According to Yanushkevich, The Blair Partnership had refused to reconsider its decision despite the fact that his publishing house is registered in Poland.
Contacted by RFE/RL, Blair Partnership officials responded via e-mail that they "need time" to prepare comments on their decision to suspend the publishing of Harry Potter series books in Belarusian via Yanushkevich's company.
"Unfortunately, the British partners see us in a 'crooked mirror' and make decisions that are not in our favor," Yanushkevich said, expressing his hope that the author of the prominent series, J.K. Rowling, might influence The Blair Partnership to revisit its decision if she learns about the situation.
U.S. To Provide $2.3 Billion In New Security Aid For Ukraine
The United States will soon announce more than $2.3 billion in new security assistance for Ukraine, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on July 2 during a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart at the Pentagon.
Ukrainian officials have been urging their allies for months to supply more air-defense systems to defend against frequent missile and drone attacks from Russian forces following Moscow's 2022 invasion.
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine
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Austin said the latest weapons package for Ukraine would include arms like anti-tank weapons and air-defense interceptors and will allow accelerated procurement of NASAMS and Patriot air defense interceptors.
Russian strikes killed at least four people and wounded more than two dozen others around Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, while more than a dozen people were killed in Russian attacks in the southern city of Kherson, officials said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, claimed it destroyed up to five Ukrainian fighter jets in a ballistic missile strike on an air base in central Ukraine. A former Ukrainian military official confirmed the attack on the Myrhorod air base, but said the Russian claim was exaggerated.
In a post on Telegram, Vadym Filashkin, the head of the Ukrainian military administration for Donetsk, said that four people were killed in three separate villages on July 1. Another 27 people were wounded in the strikes, he said.
In Kherson, a southern city recaptured by Ukrainian forces in late 2022, Russian shelling wounded at least five people, the head of the local military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, said.
After withdrawing to the eastern, opposite bank of the Dnieper River in late 2022, Russian forces have continued to bombard Kherson and outlying districts, terrorizing the populace and leaving the city in limbo.
After Ukraine's counteroffensive sputtered out earlier this year, Russia has been waging its own, more localized offensive effort in several locations across the 1,200-kilometer front line, including near the towns of Chasiv Yar and Pokrovsk.
In early May, Russian forces launched a new effort north of the city of Kharkiv. That has slowed in recent weeks, as Ukrainian troops redeployed and pushed back the advances, though Russian forces have been digging trenches and making more permanent defenses.
Still, Russia’s air superiority has allowed its planes to use heavy munitions like glide bombs to devastate Ukrainian positions.
On July 2, the Russian Defense Ministry said it fired Iskander-M missiles at the Myrhorod air base, around 150 kilometers from the Russian border, a day earlier.
"As a result of the Russian military strike, five operational Su-27 multirole fighters were destroyed, and two that were under repair were damaged," the ministry said in a statement on Telegram.
The ministry also published video of what it said was the strike and its aftermath. The video showed gray smoke billowing at the airfield, where some parked planes were visible.
The claim about the planes being damaged could not be immediately verified, though both Russian and Ukrainian war bloggers reported extensively on the strike.
Ukraine’s military made no statement on the claim. Yuriy Ihnat, who served as a spokesman for the air force until March, confirmed that the air base was hit but downplayed the damage.
"There was an attack. There are some losses, but not the ones the enemy claims," Ihnat said in a post to Facebook.
Ukraine’s top air force commander, meanwhile, claimed military jets had hit a Russian ammunition depot on the occupied Crimean Peninsula on July 1.
In a post to Telegram, General Mykola Oleshchuk did not specify the exact location but posted a video from a local Telegram channel that purportedly showed the strike on Balaklava, a location near the major naval port of Sevastopol.
In recent months, Ukraine has stepped up aerial and maritime attacks on facilities and equipment in Crimea and its surrounding waters.
Maritime drones have damaged or sunk more than two dozen Black Sea Fleet warships, and Ukraine has used Western-supplied cruise missiles and kamikaze to hit naval repair facilities and even the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
State Of Emergency Declared In 4 Kyrgyz Regions Over Deadly Mudslides, Flooding
The Kyrgyz Emergency Ministry said on July 2 that a state of emergency has been introduced in the Central Asian nation's regions of Batken, Jalal-Abad, Osh, and Talas over deadly mudslides and floods caused by heavy rains in recent weeks.
The ministry said earlier that the mudslides and floods have killed 16 people since mid-June.
According to the ministry, the situation is expected to be very dangerous for days as the heavy rains are expected to last until July 7.
To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.
UN Secretary-General Hopes Kyrgyz-Tajik Border Issues Will Be Resolved Peacefully
CHOLPON-ATA, Kyrgyzstan -- The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed hope that Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will be able to resolve all border issues via peaceful means.
During his talks with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov in the resort city of Cholpon-Ata on the shores of the Lake Issyk-Kul on July 2, Guterres called on Kyrgyzstan to be "a symbol of peace."
"You make great peace-building efforts, be it border issues or others. I have been to the Ferghana Valley twice and know how difficult it is to settle border issues. It's like a puzzle there. It takes effort to understand and solve everything. We believe that the border issue with Tajikistan will be resolved diplomatically, peacefully, through negotiations, as it was with Uzbekistan," Guterres said.
The delimitation and demarcation of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border has been an issue for decades, but it gained added urgency in recent years after several deadly clashes took place along disputed segments of the frontier.
In spring 2021, an armed conflict along one segment of the border left 36 people dead, including two children, and 154 injured on the Kyrgyz side.
Tajik authorities said that 19 Tajik citizens were killed and 87 were injured during the clashes. However, local residents told RFE/RL’s Tajik Service at the time that the number of people killed during the clashes was much higher.
The border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan is 972 kilometers long, most of which have now been agreed upon.
Many border areas in Central Asian former Soviet republics have been disputed since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The situation is particularly complicated near the numerous exclaves in the volatile Ferghana Valley, where the borders of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan meet.
Tensions in those areas have led to clashes between local residents and border guards of the three countries.
Guterres arrived in Kyrgyzstan from Uzbekistan on July 1. He is expected to continue his Central Asian tour by visiting Kazakhstan on July 3.
5 Tajik Men Deported From Russia Appear In Pretrial Detention In Tajikistan
KHORUGH, Tajikistan -- The parents of five young Tajik men from the volatile Gorno-Badakhshan region (GBAO) told RFE/RL on July 1 that the sons had been arrested and are being held in a pretrial detention in GBAO's capital, Khorugh, on unspecified charges.
The men have been held incommunicado since Russian authorities detained them and deported them to the Central Asian nation last month.
The relatives said then that the Tajik men, who are from the Yazgulom community, did not arrive at the airport in the southern city of Kulob, where they were expected to be taken from Moscow on June 20.
It remains unclear if the men were deported for violating Russia's migration regulations, or at the request of the Tajik authorities.
Sources close to Tajik law enforcement have told RFE/RL that, since May, at least 15 residents of Yazgulom had been extradited from Russia to Tajikistan, where they have been charged with "membership in an extremist organization" or "having links with members of an extremist organization."
There has been no official statement on the men's situation.
On May 16, Tajik security forces arrested more than 30 residents of Yazgulom, accusing them of plotting unspecified acts of sabotage.
Sources told RFE/RL at the time that those arrested were suspected of having links with the banned Ansarullah Islamic group.
Residents of GBAO have been under pressure for years. A crackdown on the restive Tajik region intensified in 2022 after mass protests in May that year were violently dispersed by security forces.
Tajik authorities said at the time that 10 people were killed and 27 injured during the clashes between protesters and police.
Residents of the remote region's Rushon district have told RFE/RL that 21 bodies were found at the sites of the clashes.
Dozens of the region's residents have been jailed for lengthy terms on terrorism and extremism charges since then.
Deep tensions between the government and residents of the volatile region have simmered ever since a five-year civil war broke out shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Still, protests are rare in the tightly controlled state of 9.5 million where President Emomali Rahmon has ruled with an iron fist for nearly three decades.
Chechnya's Kadyrov Taps Another Relative For Government Post
Chechnya’s strongman leader has appointed another close relative to a top position in the government of the North Caucasus region. At a government meeting on July 1, Ramzan Kadyrov said he was tapping his 27-year-old nephew, Khamzat Kadyrov, to be secretary of the region’s Security Council, a grouping of top law enforcement and security officials. The position is the latest in a series that Kadyrov has filled recently with his extended family. Last month, he appointed another nephew as the region’s transport minister, one month after naming his 18-year-old son, Akhmat, head of the department in charge of sports and youth affairs. In February, Kadyrov named his 24-year-old daughter, Khadizhat, to a top administration post. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Caucasus.Realities, click here.
- By RFE/RL
China's Xi Arrives In Kazakhstan For State Visit, SCO Summit
Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Kazakhstan for a state visit and a chance to promote ties between China and the Central Asian county as he embarks on a trip that includes meetings with the other leaders of the nine-member alliance known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev met his Chinese counterpart at the Astana international airport on July 2. TASS reported shortly after Xi's arrival that Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Xi on July 3 in Astana as part of the SCO summit.
Putin last met Xi in May when he visited China on his first foreign trip after being inaugurated for a fifth term as president. Putin also will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Astana, TASS reported. Turkey, though not a member of the SCO, often takes part in its meetings as a "dialogue partner."
In addition to Kazakhstan, Russia, and China, SCO members include India, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Kazakh state media outlets on July 2 carried an article signed by Xi in which the Chinse leader praised bilateral ties between the two nations, stressing it was "in Kazakhstan 11 years ago that I first proposed the initiative of the Silk Road Economic Belt," which marked "a magnificent chapter in Belt and Road cooperation between our two countries."
Xi wrote that China "will support Kazakhstan in upholding its independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity in continuing on the development path suited to its national conditions, in implementing domestic and foreign policies in the interest of its development and prosperity, and in opposing interference in its internal affairs by any external forces."
Since Moscow launched its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, many in Kazakhstan and elsewhere have considered statements from Chinese leaders regarding Kazakhstan and other Central Asian nations to be a message to Russia, where in recent months, many pro-Kremlin politicians and political observers have hinted that Kazakhstan is a takeover target for Moscow.
Toqaev, in an interview with China's Xinhua agency published on July 2, said his country "has ambitious plans to further deepen multifaceted ties with China."
After ceremonies for the official state visit to Astana, Xi is expected to join talks with other SCO leaders.
He will later travel to Tajikistan. Beijing has ramped up diplomatic efforts in the region, largely through its flagship Belt and Road development.
With reporting by Xinhua, Kazinform, Kazakhstanskaya pravda, Tengrinews, TASS, Interfax, RIA Novosti, and Reuters
Hungary's Orban Presents Zelenskiy With Cease-Fire Proposal On First Visit To Kyiv
KYIV -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he presented Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy with a cease-fire proposal aimed at pausing fighting with Russia more than two years into Moscow’s all-out invasion.
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Speaking to reporters after meeting with Zelenskiy in Kyiv, Orban gave no details about the contents of the proposal but said he asked Zelenskiy "whether it was possible to take a break, to stop the firing, and then continue the negotiations,” adding that a cease-fire "could ensure speeding up the pace of these negotiations."
“I am very grateful to the president for his frank opinion on this issue," he added.
The talks, which came one day after Hungary took over the rotating presidency of the European Union, were notable because of Orban’s vocal, persistent criticism of Western military aid for Kyiv.
Orban is also one of the few Western leaders to have met Russian President Vladimir Putin since the invasion.
Zelenskiy did not express his opinion on the proposal during the briefing with reporters, but a spokesman for Zelenskiy said later on July 2 that Zelenskiy gave Orban an opportunity to air his thoughts. Ihor Zhovkva, Zelenskiy's deputy chief of staff, also said Hungary is not the first country to come forth with a potential peace plan.
Zhovkva said Zelenskiy listened to Orban's proposal but stated Ukraine's "quite clear, understandable, and known" position in response.
Ukraine says its "territorial integrity" must be the foundation of any peace agreement -- a notion underscored by 80 countries that participated in the Ukrainian-initiated Global Peace Summit in Switzerland last month.
Zhovkva described the summit as a "tool" to achieve Kyiv's goals and said that Ukraine is preparing for a second summit. He said Zelenskiy spoke with Orban about these preparations during their meeting.
Since Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Orban has stood out among leaders from the European Union and NATO for his reluctance to sign onto the massive Western weapons and aid packages for Ukraine.
Last December, he left a room during a meeting of European Union leaders in order to avoid voting against opening EU accession talks with Ukraine.
The EU has since taken a step toward formalizing those talks to put Ukraine on the path to membership.
Russia and Ukraine have not held formal peace talks since the first months after Moscow’s all-out invasion in February 2022. In recent weeks, Western news outlets have reported on the details of a potential deal that would have met many of Russia's demands while also putting off several major issues for a later date.
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Last month, Putin said Russia would end its war -- which has killed and wounded at least 500,000 soldiers on both sides -- only if Kyiv met certain conditions. Those included renouncing its NATO ambitions and ceding four partially occupied regions that Russia claims in their entirety, in addition to Crimea. Ukraine dismissed the conditions as absurd and said they amounted to capitulation.
Freezing the front lines for a cease-fire now would leave Russia in control of some 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, and analysts warn that a pause could potentially allow Russia to chance to rearm and redeploy troops for a new offensive.
The Guardian, which reported on Orban's visit to Kyiv earlier along with the Financial Times, said the trip came together after lengthy negotiations on the issue of rights for Ukraine’s Hungarian-speaking minority, who live mainly in western Ukraine close to the two countries’ border.
During their July 2 appearance before reporters, the two leaders said they had agreed on the establishment of a Ukrainian school in Hungary for refugees from Ukraine, and they said they planned to sign a new agreement on bilateral relations at some point in the future.
"The contents of our dialogue on all today's issues can become the basis for a future bilateral document between our nations,” Zelenskiy said. The agreement “will allow our people to enjoy all the benefits of unity in Europe.”
- By RFE/RL
Ukrainian Authorities Charge Suspects With Murder Following Kazakh Activist's Death
The Ukrainian Prosecutor-General's Office said on July 2 that it plans to change the charge against two Kazakh men from attempted murder to murder after an outspoken critic of the Kazakh government, journalist Aidos Sadyqov died in hospital hours earlier after being shot in Kyiv on June 18.
"Currently, law enforcement agencies are working on changing the previous charge of attempted murder into a charge of premeditated murder and group conspiracy to commit murder," the office said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, Sadyqov's wife Natalya Sadyqova wrote on Facebook that her husband, who had been hospitalized in intensive care since the shooting two weeks ago, died following complications.
Sadyqov, who had gained a wide following on social media among disaffected Kazakhs, moved to Kyiv in 2014 along with his family after Kazakh authorities launched a slander investigation into Natalya Sadyqova, a journalist for the independent Respublika newspaper.
He was shot on June 18 as he sat in his car, outside his apartment building. Natalya, who was in the car at the time, was unharmed.
“For 13 days Aidos fought for his life in the intensive care unit, but a miracle did not happen,” she wrote.
“His death is on the conscience of Toqaev,” she said, referring to the current Kazakh president, Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev.
A day after the shooting, Ukrainian police identified two Kazakh men, Meiram Qarataev and Altai Zhaqanbaev, as the attackers, saying they entered Ukraine from Poland and fled to Moldova right after the incident.
On June 22, Kazakh authorities said they arrested Zhaqanbaev after he turned himself in, and are working on establishing Qarataev's whereabouts.
On June 25, Ukrainian prosecutors said they were seeking the extradition of the two men from Kazakhstan, and had filed a warrant with the international police agency, Interpol.
On June 27, the chairman of the Kazakh parliament's upper chamber, Maulen Ashimbaev, reiterated an earlier statement by Toqaev's spokesman Berik Uali, saying that Kazakhstan was ready to cooperate with Ukrainian authorities.
However, Ashimbaev told reporters that his country will not extradite Zhaqanbaev to Ukraine, saying that according to Kazakh law, citizens of that country cannot be extradited to other states.
Kazakhstan has been criticized for putting pressure on independent media and government critics for years.
On July 2, an independent Kazakh political analyst, Dimash Alzhanov, said he was threatened by two unknown men when he entered the corridor of his apartment block in Almaty the previous night.
According to Alzhanov, one of the men asked him if he was Dimash and made threatening movements toward him before the two left the site.
Alzhanov, who has been known for his analytical comments on the Kazakh government's performance, the situation in Central Asia, Russia, and Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, said he filed a complaint with police.
Rights watchdogs have criticized the authorities in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic for persecuting dissent.
Kazakhstan was ruled by authoritarian President Nursultan Nazarbaev from its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 until current President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev succeeded him in 2019.
Over the past three decades, several opposition figures have been killed and many jailed or forced to flee the country.
Toqaev, who broadened his powers after Nazarbaev and his family left the oil-rich country's political scene following the deadly, unprecedented anti-government protests in January 2022, has promised political reforms and more freedoms for citizens.
However, many in Kazakhstan consider the reforms announced by Toqaev to be cosmetic, as a crackdown on dissent has continued even after the president announced his "New Kazakhstan" program.
Man Arrested In Belgrade With Crossbow Two Days After Israeli Embassy Attack
A man who approached a police station in Belgrade carrying a backpack with a crossbow inside has been arrested, police said.
The arrest comes two days after a crossbow attack at the Israeli Embassy in the Serbian capital.
Police said the man crossed a barrier in front of the station and walked away quickly after being ordered to stop.
Officers then caught up with him and searched his backpack, finding a crossbow with seven arrows, several knives, and a jar with firecrackers in it.
"Motives are being investigated and a search of his apartment is being conducted," police said in a statement.
It said the suspect was not on the government's list of potential "extremists."
Police said the man claimed that he was "being pursued by the mafia and secret services."
A medical examination will be carried out, Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said in the statement, adding that further actions will be decided by the prosecutor.
Serbia has been on high alert since a member of a special police unit was shot in the neck on June 29 by a man with a crossbow outside the Israeli Embassy.
The officer opened fire and killed the attacker, identified as Milos Zujovic. The officer underwent surgery and remains in the hospital.
Authorities said the assailant was a Serbian convert to Islam. His wife, currently in Montenegro, is being questioned by police at Serbia's request.
With reporting by AFP
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