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- By RFE/RL
COVID-19: Romania To Extend State Of Emergency; Russian Cases Jump
The global death toll is nearing 70,000 with almost 1.3 million infections confirmed, causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the new respiratory illness.
Here's a roundup of developments in RFE/RL's broadcast countries.
Romania
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis says he intends to extend the country's state of emergency by another 30 days as the number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the country exceeded 4,000.
"We need to do this again. It's an absolute necessity. People should understand that without this measure, the virus cannot be stopped," Iohannis announced in a live video address on April 6.
Romania has been under a state of emergency since March 16, and Iohannis said he will issue a decree next week prolonging the measure until May 16.
The day-to-day number of confirmed COVID-19 cases went up by 196 on April 6 to 4,057, the government crisis group announced, while 11 more fatalities brought the total death toll to 162.
Some 627 Romanians have been infected abroad and at least 26 died -- most of them in Italy, as well as in France, Spain, and Germany.
More than 4 million Romanians work in Western Europe, and hundreds of thousands have returned since the start of the outbreak there despite the government's repeated appeals that they delay coming home for the Orthodox Easter holiday.
Six Romanian counties, including Suceava, the current epicenter of the outbreak in Romania, have imposed the mandatory wearing of face coverings with fines of more than $100 for those who violate the measure.
More than 100,000 people have been placed in self-isolation, while almost 24,000 are under quarantine -- most of them having returned from abroad.
Tensions have risen in the southern Romanian town of Tandarei, which has been placed under army lockdown after those who had returned from abroad ignored self-quarantine orders and came into conflict with riot police.
Many of the town's 13,000 inhabitants are ethnic Roma who had migrated to the West but returned after the start of the pandemic.
Russia
Russia's tally of confirmed coronavirus cases jumped sharply, as regional authorities struggled to enforce restrictive lockdown measures across the sprawling country.
Nearly 1,000 new confirmed cases were announced April 6 by the government's main coronavirus task force, along with 47 confirmed deaths from the disease.
The rise amounted to an 11 percent jump, which was a lower increase than in past days, bringing the official number of infections to 6,343.
The official tally has been doubted by critics in Russia and abroad, who suspect the number is being undercounted by health authorities.
President Vladimir Putin has advised Russians to stay home for the rest of the month and only go outside when necessary. Among the restrictions was limiting people walking their dogs to just 100 meters from their homes.
Most of the country's nearly 90 regions have imposed lockdown measures, though it's unclear how rigorously they were being enforced, particularly in regions distant from Moscow.
Some regions, however, have gone further than others. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov last week announced that the southern region would close its borders entirely.
That drew a veiled rebuke from Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on April 6.
"The government's signals about the unacceptability of this were heard," Mishustin said. “I would like once again to address the leaders of the regions: do not confuse regional powers with federal [powers]."
Several hours later, Kadyrov responded, writing on social media that the region had not restricted the entry of transport or cargo.
Still, he said, Chechnya would not allow entry to anyone not registered as living there.
Putin himself has been working remotely since a doctor at one of Russia's leading infectious-disease hospitals, whom Putin met personally during a visit, tested positive for the coronavirus.
The government has also been working to repatriate Russian citizens who were stranded in recent weeks as governments shut down borders and enacted new travel restrictions.
On April 6, Russian officials said some international flights to repatriate citizens had resumed after having suspended all flights last week.
The government task force monitoring the outbreak said two flights carrying Russian nationals -- one from Kyrgyzstan and one from Bangladesh -- would take place on April 6.
The Foreign Ministry has said that 25,000 Russians abroad had appealed for help getting home.
Russia is temporarily halting passenger train service between its two largest cities and the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad as it tries to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
State-owned Russian Railroads will halt service from Moscow and St. Petersburg to Kaliningrad effective April 6, state media reported. The rail trips take 20 and 26 hours, respectively, and pass through Belarus and Lithuania.
Passenger train service will also be halted from the exclave to mainland Russia.
Russian Railroads did not say when service would be resumed.
Kaliningrad is sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania with an opening to the Baltic Sea.
Iran
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the United States to ease sanctions on Iran’s economy and expand the licensing of sanctions-exempt items to ensure the country has access to essential humanitarian resources during the coronavirus pandemic.
HRW made the call on April 6 as Tehran, as well as several other countries, the United Nations, and some U.S. lawmakers voiced similar pleas to ease sanctions, which have cut off oil revenue and devastated the Iranian economy.
U.S. President Donald Trump has offered Iran humanitarian assistance, but Iranian officials have rejected the offer, saying Washington should instead lift the “unjust” and “illegal” sanctions imposed after Washington unilaterally withdrew from a landmark nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers in 2018.
The situation has added to the difficulty of dealing with the pandemic in one of the world's hardest-hit countries by the coronavirus. The outbreak has officially infected almost 60,000 people and killed over 3,600 in Iran, though many experts and critics of Tehran have said the actual figures may be much higher due to underreporting by officials.
“As the burden on the country’s debilitated health-care system has dramatically increased, the broad U.S. economic sanctions resulting in severe international banking restrictions have drastically constrained the ability of the country to finance humanitarian imports, including medicines and medical equipment,” HRW said in its statement.
Kenneth Roth, executive director at HRW, also criticized Iran’s “brutal, self-serving” government for refusing to release wrongfully detained people in crowded prisons despite the risk of the coronavirus,” but added that "it is wrong and callous for the [U.S.] administration to compound Iranians’ misery by depriving them of access to the critical medical resources they urgently need,” he added.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Musavi reiterated Tehran’s message refusing U.S. aid on April 6, saying that "Iran has never asked and will not ask America to help Tehran in its fight against the outbreak."
Iranian authorities have been criticized for their slow initial response to the pandemic, and experts have been skeptical about the veracity of official figures released by the Iranian authorities, who keep a tight lid on local and foreign media.
On April 5, President Hassan Rohani announced that "low-risk economic activities" would resume starting April 11.
Rohani told officials at a televised meeting that two-thirds of government employees will return to working from their offices on the same date. He did not elaborate on what he meant by "low-risk activities."
Pakistan
Police in Pakistan's southwestern city of Quetta have detained dozens of doctors and other medical personnel who were protesting the lack of proper equipment in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Personnel from the Quetta Civil Hospital and Bolan Medical College were marching toward the provincial government building on April 6 when they were stopped by officers and detained.
Video from the operation shows some security forces beating the protesters during the police operation.
A police official was quoted as saying 30 demonstrators were arrested for defying a ban on public gatherings imposed during a lockdown to fight the spread of the coronavirus.
RFE/RL's Coverage Of COVID-19
Features and analysis, videos, and infographics explore how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the countries in our region.
The protesters said that 12 of their colleagues who were treating patients suffering from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, had tested positive and that they would return to their duties only after the government provides them with personal protection equipment.
The government in Balochistan Province, of which Quetta is the capital, says hospitals in the province have been fully equipped with all of the necessary items needed to battle the outbreak.
Amnesty International’s South Asia section called for the immediate release of the detained health workers and said "police must stop using excessive force.”
“Their arrests in Balochistan today are an attack on their right to peaceful protest and an affront to the risks they face,” the watchdog said.
Pakistani authorities have almost 3,300 confirmed cases of coronavirus so far, including 50 deaths.
Tajikistan
Tajik authorities say 13 people, including several health workers, have been ordered into quarantine after a patient at a rural hospital in the country’s north died from what officials said was pneumonia.
Health officials said that the group, which includes a top doctor at the Jabbor Rasulov hospital, had tested negative for COVID-19, as had the original patient whose relatives said fell ill after traveling to neighboring Kyrgyzstan for a wedding.
However, the confusion about conditions at Jabbor Rasulov hospital in Sughd Province added to mounting concern over the coronavirus situation in Tajikistan, one of the poorest countries in Central Asia.
Government authorities have said there are no registered cases in the nation, and last week, the in-country representative for the World Health Organization backed up that claim.
But Tajikistan’s health-care system is rickety and underfunded, and the country is surrounded by neighbors where coronavirus cases have been reported and increasing.
Tajikistan’s authoritarian government has also long suppressed independent media and nongovernmental civil-society groups. That’s only added to concern that authorities are either hiding the true scope of infections, or are unable to test widely in the population.
The 13 people were ordered into quarantine on April 5 and taken from the Jabbor Rasulov hospital to the Khujand regional infectious-disease facility.
Marufjon Hojiboev, the deputy head of the Sughd Provincial Health Department, told reporters on April 6 that the national laboratory in Dushanbe found negative results for COVID-19 among the 13 individuals.
Three of those under quarantine “had high fever that has since returned to normal,” Hojiboev said, and further tests would be conducted “as a routine procedure.”
Bibikhonum Darveszoda, a spokeswoman for the Tajik Health Ministry, told RFE/RL that all those put in quarantine were recovering and their lives are not in danger. She did not explain what exactly the group was recovering from, though one doctor at the Jabbor Rasulov hospital told RFE/RL that all reported fevers, and some had pain in their throats.
The patient, whose death on March 31 initially sparked concern, was identified as a 60-year-old man who lived in a village near the border with Kyrgyzstan.
Relatives of the man told RFE/RL that the man had attended a wedding in Kyrgyzstan sometime before March 21 and felt unwell after returning home to Tajikistan the same day.
Kyrgyzstan had 216 confirmed coronavirus infections as of April 6, according to official figures.
Deputy Tajik Health Minister Mirhamuddin Kamolzoda told RFE/RL that tests on the man who died were negative for the coronavirus. He added that the ministry was prepared to release those results publicly to allay any concerns.
Tajik officials came under criticism last month for celebrating Norouz, the Persian New Year, with parades and concerts, ignoring warnings by the World Health Organization against mass gatherings.
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan says it is pardoning inmates older than 65 to slow the progress of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on the measure on April 6.
According to the decree, 176 inmates, including one Russian citizen, will be released in the coming days.
Aliyev also extended until at least April 20 the quarantine rules imposed late last month.
"The next steps will be taken in accordance with the situation," Aliyev said at the opening of a medical mask factory in Baku.
As of April 6, there were 641 coronavirus cases officially registered in Azerbaijan, including seven deaths and 44 patients who have recovered.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, Reuters, Interfax, TASS, RFE/RL's Romanian Service, digi24.ro, g4media.ro, hotnews.ro, and adevarul.ro
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Ukraine Launches 'Massive' Drone Attack On Russia's Krasnodar
Ukraine launched a massive drone attack on Russia's southern Krasnodar region early on November 15, regional Governor Veniamin Kondratiev reported, as Telegram channels said the likely target of the attack could have been a large Russian airbase near the city of Krymsk.
Ukraine, whose civilian and energy infrastructure has been constantly battered by Russian drone and missile attacks since the start of Moscow's unprovoked invasion in February 2022, has in turn resorted to striking Russian military facilities such as fuel depots and airfields used for attacks on its territory.
Kondratiev said the Ukrainian attack targeted two districts -- Krymsk and Krasnoarmeysk -- and caused damage but no casualties. The Telegram channel Astra reported that the attack targeted the Krymsk airbase situated just north of the city of Krymsk that is used by Russian forces to launch attacks on southern Ukraine.
The information could not be independently verified immediately, and Ukraine has not commented on it.
Russia's Defense Ministry said its air-defense systems early on November 15 shot down 51 Ukrainian drones over the territory of Russia and Ukraine's occupied Crimea, adding that 36 drones were destroyed over Krasnodar region.
In August, Ukraine carried out its largest long-range drone strike that targeted four Russian airfields in Voronezh, Kursk, and Nizhniy Novgorod regions.
The reports on the November 15 Ukrainian strike on Krymsk came shortly after a massive combined Russian attack on Odesa, Ukraine's largest Black Sea port city and an important hub for its grain and other agricultural produce exports.
The drone and missile attack on Odesa killed a woman and wounded at least 10 other people, including a 9-year-old boy.
Thousands were left without centralized heating, regional Governor Oleh Kiper reported.
Kiper said one apartment building in the center of the city was completely destroyed, several high-rise apartment buildings and dozens of cars were damaged, and a main pipeline supplying heating to some 40,000 people was struck, forcing its shutdown.
A maternity hospital, four schools, and seven kindergartens were also left without heating, Kiper said. Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov said the city was targeted by "a massive combined strike."
Air-defense systems, meanwhile, shot down 25 out of 29 drones and one cruise launched by Russia at three Ukrainian regions -- Mykolayiv, Kirovohrad, and Ternopil, Ukraine's air force reported.
Uzbek Man Held In South Korea Over 'Attempted Murder' Of Politician Close To President Mirziyoev's Daughter
South Korean authorities have detained Uzbek citizen Javlon Yunusov on suspicion of involvement in the attempted murder of Komil Allamjonov, a close associate of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev's daughter, independent sources in South Korea and Uzbekistan told RFE/RL on November 14.
A source in Uzbekistan's law enforcement called Yunusov's detention "a turning point" in an ongoing investigation. A representative of the Uzbek Embassy in Seoul confirmed Yunusov's detention but did not elaborate.
Interpol had issued a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and arrest Yunusov, 36, on behalf of Uzbekistan on a charge of attempted murder.
The Red Notice issued by Interpol is not an arrest warrant but allows a third country to detain a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action, according to Interpol.
The alleged crime took place on October 26 in the Tashkent region, according to the Uzbek Prosecutor-General's Office. Authorities said that unknown individuals opened fire on a Range Rover. There were no injuries, the Prosecutor-General's Office said.
Sources close to the investigation told RFE/RL at the time that the alleged attackers targeted Allamjonov, a prominent political figure in Uzbekistan with close ties to the presidential family.
Uzbek authorities have said little publicly about their investigation into what they have called an attempted assassination, and local media have been gagged from reporting any information not released through official channels.
The reports on the attack, initially thought to be a botched hit, have now spiraled into a tangled web of intrigue implicating powerful figures within Mirziyoev's inner circle.
Uzbek authorities arrested two suspects in Uzbekistan following the attack.
Allamjonov, once a key adviser to Mirziyoev and mentor to his daughter, Saida Mirziyoeva, recently resigned from his post in the presidential administration. His departure, though publicly framed as a move to the private sector, was widely seen as a prelude to a growing rift within the ruling family.
Mirziyoeva, 40, is regularly mentioned in conversations about her father's long-term succession planning.
Authorities have remained tight-lipped, with no official explanation or details about the investigation released to the public.
Many in Uzbekistan suggest that the silence points to a deeper power struggle within Uzbekistan’s elite, one that may ultimately involve the highest levels of government.
- By Current Time
Wounded Russian Soldiers Flee Unit To Escape Return To Combat
More than a dozen wounded Russian contract soldiers who had fought in Ukraine fled a military unit near the city of Novosibirsk in southern Siberia when they were told they were being sent back to the battlefield despite their injuries, the Telegram channel Baza reported. The channel has ties to Russia's security services. The soldiers had signed contracts to fight in Ukraine in exchange for the termination of criminal prosecution for various offenses. Police managed to detain seven of those who fled, but the rest are still on the run. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.
Russian Theater Director Gets 8 Years Over Anti-Putin Posts
Theater director Anastasia Berezhinskaya has been sentenced to 8 years in prison by a court in Moscow over her posts and comments on the VKontakte social network in 2022, condemning Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and making calls to "kill" and "eliminate" President Vladimir Putin.
Judge Andrei Pluzhnikov from the Second Western District Military Court in Moscow on November 14 found Berezhinskaya guilty of "justifying terrorism," "distributing false information about the Russian military," and "discrediting Russia's armed forces."
Prosecutors had sought a 10-year prison sentence for Berezhinskaya.
The 43-year-old Berezhinskaya, who refused to testify during the trial, pleaded partially guilty.
When giving a final statement to the court, Berezhinskaya told the judge: "Your Honor, I do not have anything to say, anything to add. I will accept any decision of yours."
After the judge handed down his ruling, Berezhinskaya was immediately arrested. Before and during the trial, she was under orders not to leave Moscow.
Berezhinskaya, who is the mother of children aged 8 and 10 years, has been diagnosed with a personality disorder, but the court ruled that she does not need hospitalization.
Russian officials have increasingly used charges such as discrediting the country's armed forces or distributing false information about the military to stifle any dissent voiced regarding Moscow's aggression against Ukraine since the full-scale invasion was launched in February 2022.
With reporting by Mediazona
8 Tajik Politicians, Public Figures Go On Trial For 'Plotting To Seize Power'
DUSHANBE -- Eight former top officials, politicians, and public figures in Tajikistan have gone on trial behind closed doors on charges of plotting to forcibly seize power, calling for mass disorder, and inciting hatred.
The trial, which began on November 14 in a pretrial detention center in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, includes former Foreign Minister Hamrohkhon Zarifi, former Foreign Ministry spokesman Abulfaiz Atoi, and former parliament speaker Akbarshoh Iskandarov.
The Supreme Court officials who are hearing the case have refused to comment to RFE/RL, while the classification of the materials by the Tajik Prosecutor-General’s Office means the exact details of the charges brought against the eight defendants are not known.
The Tajik government has brutally cracked down on dissent in recent years, jailing opposition politicians or forcing them into self-exile. Dozens of independent journalists, activists, and government critics have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
Senior politicians on trial in the case also include the ex-leader of the Democratic Party, Saidjafar Usmonzoda, Democratic Party of Tajikistan Deputy Chairman Ahmadshoh Komilzoda, and Social Democratic Party Deputy Chairman Shokirjon Hakimov.
Two former top officers of the State Committee for National Security, Nuramin Ghanizoda and Jamshed Boev, are also being tried in the case.
All of the defendants were arrested over the past year. It is unknown how seven of them pleaded. Associates of Hakimov, who is a lawyer, have said he has rejected the charges.
Relatives of the defendants were not allowed to attend the trial, while lawyers who arrived at the detention center refused to talk to journalists.
In 2015, Tajik authorities banned the main political opposition, the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, as well as Group 24 -- an organization that had been gaining popularity among younger Tajiks.
Both parties were branded as “terrorist” and the government of autocratic President Emomali Rahmon continues to target their members and supporters both at home and outside the country.
The founder of the Group 24, businessman Umarali Quvatov was assassinated in Turkey in 2015.
The Social Democratic Party has been officially registered in Tajikistan, but it has been under constant political and financial pressure. Controlled elections have made it impossible for the party to ever win a seat in parliament.
Rahmon, who has run Tajikistan for almost three decades, has been criticized by international human rights groups over his regime's stifling of political pluralism, independent media, religious freedoms, and civil society.
UN Nuclear Chief Warns During Iran Visit Window On Talks May Be Closing
Rafael Grossi, head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has urged Iran and its global partners to achieve "concrete, tangible, and visible results" in talks over Tehran's nuclear program as the return of Donald Trump to the White House may mean the window for diplomacy is closing.
Speaking to journalists in the Iranian capital on November 14 after a meeting with Iran's nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami, Grossi said pressure was building for movement toward a solution with Iran-backed proxies at war with Israel and Trump, known for his hard-line stance against Tehran, taking over the U.S. presidency in January.
"We know that it is indispensable to get, at this point of time, to get some concrete, tangible, and visible results that will indicate that this joint work is improving (the) situation, is bringing clarification to things, and in a general sense it is moving us away from conflict and ultimately war," Grossi said.
“The fact that international tensions and regional tensions do exist...shows that the space for negotiation and diplomacy is not getting bigger, it is getting smaller," he added.
Grossi's visit takes place about two months ahead of the inauguration of Trump, who during his first term in 2018 unilaterally withdrew from a landmark 2015 agreement between Iran and world powers and reimposed biting sanctions on the Islamic republic.
The 2015 deal, known officially as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), had given Iran some limited relief from international sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program designed to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Grossi also met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Tehran on November 14.
Araqchi, Iran's chief negotiator during the negotiations to reach the JCPOA deal, which barred Tehran from enriching uranium above the level of 3.65 percent, said on X that the talks with Grossi were "important and straightforward."
He vowed to continue Iran's cooperation with the IAEA on nuclear nonproliferation "with courage and good will" and reiterated Tehran's longstanding assertion that its nuclear program was "peaceful."
Araqchi added, however, that Iran would not negotiate "under pressure."
After Washington's withdrawal from the JCPOA, Iran expanded its nuclear program and restricted IAEA inspections of its nuclear sites.
The IAEA and the international community have voiced alarm at reports that Tehran has substantially increased its stocks of uranium enriched to 60 percent -- considerably closer to the 90 percent level needed for a nuclear weapon.
Nuclear expert Eric Brewer told RFE/RL that the IAEA's lack of access to Iran's nuclear sites heightens the risk of it producing more enriched uranium.
"I suspect that to get Iran to provide some information on that front is at the top of Director-General Grossi's list," Brewer said.
He added that while the trip had been scheduled since before the U.S. election, Trump's re-election "will hang over the conversations."
The IAEA chief is expected to hold talks with Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian later in the day.
Ukraine Repels Russian Assault On Kupyansk As Shelling Kills Civilians
Ukraine's military says it has repelled a Russian assault on the town of Kupyansk in the northeastern Kharkiv region, rejecting claims by Moscow that it had gained a foothold in the strategically important transport hub, as Russian attacks continued to claim civilian victims.
The General Staff of Ukraine's military said in a statement on November 14 that its forces pushed the attacking force back, causing considerable losses in material and manpower.
Vitaly Ganchev, a Moscow-installed regional official, had previously claimed that Russian forces had occupied positions on the outskirts of Kupyansk and were pressing ahead to the northeast and southeast of the town.
"The information about the occupation of the settlement of Illinka and about the supposed foothold of Russian troops in the town of Kupyansk is not true," the Ukrainian military's Strategic Communications Center said on social media on November 14.
"The General Staff informs that yesterday Ukrainian soldiers stopped the enemy's advancement in Kupyansk, destroyed all its armor equipment and eliminated a large part of its manpower," it said.
Neither the Russian nor the Ukrainian claims could be independently verified.
Russian forces captured Kupyansk, a strategically important railway junction, soon after the start of Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but it was liberated by Ukrainian troops in a lightning counteroffensive in the fall of the same year.
In recent months, Russia has pressed ahead with an offensive in the Kharkiv region while regularly pounding Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, with missile strikes and artillery fire, causing numerous casualties among civilians and damaging civilian and energy infrastructure.
Russian forces have been pressing a slow but grinding offensive along the whole eastern front, making incremental advances as Ukraine's outgunned and outmanned troops struggled to hold their ground.
Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa was also targeted on November 14. Regional Governor Oleh Kiper said a Russian attack struck a residential building, killing one person and injuring two.
"Houses, a church and cars have been damaged," Kiper said on Telegram. "In some locations, fires broke out."
He added that emergency crews were tackling the aftermath of what he described as a "mass attack."
Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov said earlier that the strike knocked out a main pipeline for the supply of heat and forced the shutdown of one of the city's boiler plants.
On November 14, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Gennady Gatilov, said the Kremlin was open to peace talks if the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump initiates them, as long as they take into consideration the "realities on the ground."
In recent days, Russians reportedly made territorial gains near the heavily damaged town of Kurakhove in the Donetsk region and are threatening to encircle it.
Ukraine Invasion: News & Analysis
RFE/RL's Ukraine Live Briefing gives you the latest developments on Russia's invasion, Western military aid, the plight of civilians, and territorial control maps. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
Early on November 14, air defenses shot down 21 out of the 59 drones launched by Russia at targets in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Air Force reported.
The other 38 drones were lost on location after their navigation systems were jammed by Ukrainian electronic warfare systems, the air force said.
Russian shelling killed two people and wounded eight over the past 24 hours in the village of Shevchenko in Donetsk, the regional prosecutor's office reported.
Damaged caused by Russian attacks and a spell of bad weather that saw early snowfalls cut the electricity supply to 43 settlements in the Poltava region, Ukraine's electricity grid operator Ukrenerho said in a statement on November 14.
Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its air defenses shot down two Ukrainian drones early on November 14, one over the Kursk region and one over the Belgorod region.
Anti-War London-Based Russian Chef Found Dead In Belgrade
Russian celebrity chef and restaurateur Aleksei Zimin, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine who ran a restaurant in central London, has been found dead in Belgrade.
The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade told RFE/RL that it was informed by the police about 53-year-old Zimin's death.
"An autopsy has been ordered and a toxicology report to determine the cause of death," the Prosecutor's office said.
RFE/RL learned from sources that the body of a foreign citizen born in 1971 was found on the evening of November 12 without any visible suspicious signs in an apartment in the central Belgrade municipality of Vracar.
In his last Instagram post on November 4, Zimin announced that on November 7 he would prepare a special dinner in a club in Belgrade and present his recently published book, Anglomania, a personal look at the cultural history of Great Britain.
Zimin hosted a cooking show on Russian television channel NTV that was discontinued after he posted anti-war messages on social media following Putin's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
"There will be no new episodes due to the anti-war position of the host. Do I regret it? No, I regret that we ended up going to war. I don't take part in the war, the war takes part in me," he said on Instagram at the time.
In London, Zimin ran the Russian restaurant Zima and published a magazine with the same name.
The restaurant confirmed Zimin's death on Instagram.
"For us, Aleksei was not only a colleague, he was our friend, a close person with whom we were lucky to go through a lot -- both good, kind and sad," the restaurant said.
He had started several restaurants in Moscow and was deputy editor in chief of the gastronomic magazine Afisha and editor in chief of Afisha Food.
He also wrote for the Russian publications Komersant and Vedomosti.
Activist Commits Suicide In Protest Over Arrests In Iran
Kianoosh Sanjari, a journalist and political activist, has committed suicide to protest numerous arrests and interrogations of himself and other political activists. A relative of Sanjari confirmed the news in an interview with RFE/RL on November 13. Friends of Sanjari also confirmed his death in posts on X. Since returning to Tehran in 2015 to care for his elderly mother, Sanjari was repeatedly summoned and arrested by the security and intelligence agencies of the Islamic republic. Hours before committing suicide, Sanjari announced his decision to end his life on X. After an ultimatum demanding the Iranian government release four activists and journalists by a specified time was not met, Sanjari tweeted again: "My life will end after this tweet but let's not forget that we die for the love of life, not death. I wish that one day Iranians will wake up and overcome slavery." To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.
European Court Registers Complaint Against Georgian 'Foreign Agent' Law
The European Court of Human Rights has registered a complaint against Georgia's "foreign agent" law. According to the Young Lawyers' Association of Georgia, 16 media organizations, 120 civil society organizations, and four individuals made an appeal to the court regarding the law, which the Georgian parliament passed earlier this year. The legislation was vetoed by President Salome Zurabishvili, but parliament overrode the veto despite mass protests and calls from partners to stop the implementation of the law. After the law was adopted, the EU's ambassador announced that Georgian integration into the EU was suspended, as was some aid to the Georgian government. The law, which is similar to Russia's "foreign agent" law, applies to NGOs and media organizations that receive a significant amount of their funding from sources outside Georgia. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Georgian Service, click here.
- By RFE/RL
FBI Arrests Alleged Leaker Of U.S. Intelligence Related To Israel's Attack Plans Against Iran
The U.S. Justice Department has charged a man for allegedly leaking highly classified U.S. intelligence about Israel's plans for retaliation against Iran, according to U.S. media reports on November 13. The reports said that Asif W. Rahman was indicted earlier this month for willfully transmitting national defense information. He was arrested on November 12 in Cambodia by the FBI and was to appear in court in Guam. Court documents indicate that he was employed by the U.S. government. According to a person familiar with his employment, he was employed by the CIA. This employment gave him a top-secret security clearance and allowed him to access sensitive information. The New York Times, which first reported the story, said that Rahman was indicted on a charge related to the posting of the intelligence on Telegram in mid-October. The documents posted included Israeli plans for moving munitions and Israeli Air Force exercises involving air-to-surface missiles.
Former Kyrgyz Customs Official Matraimov Released To House Arrest
Raimbek Matraimov, the former deputy chief of Kyrgyzstan's Customs Service who was at the center of a high-profile corruption scandal, has been transferred from pretrial detention to house arrest. The Birinchi Mai district court in Bishkek said on November 13 that the move was made two days earlier. Matraimov and three of his brothers -- Tilek, Ruslan, and Islambek -- were extradited to Kyrgyzstan in March from Azerbaijan, where they were in hiding. Raimbek, the most notorious of the brothers, was charged with money laundering and the abduction and illegal incarceration of unnamed individuals as part of the 2020-21 corruption scandal. In 2019, an investigation by RFE/RL, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and Kloop implicated Matraimov in a corruption scheme involving the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars out of Kyrgyzstan. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.
Blinken Says U.S. To 'Shore Up' Ukraine Support As Russia Pounds Kyiv
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has assured Ukraine that U.S. support be beefed up ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration early next year, as Russia launched its first missile and drone attack on Kyiv since August, forcing residents into bomb shelters.
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Blinken, who met with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels on November 13, said the administration of President Joe Biden, who leaves office on January 20, would "continue to shore up everything we're doing for Ukraine" and "use every day" to support Ukraine and strengthen NATO.
“President Biden has committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door between now and January 20,” Blinken said, adding that NATO countries must focus their efforts on “ensuring that Ukraine has the money, munitions, and mobilized forces to fight effectively in 2025, or to be able to negotiate a peace from a position of strength.”
Trump has repeatedly questioned Washington's military backing for Kyiv and vowed to rapidly end the war started by Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in 2022. But he has not said how he will put an end to the conflict, raising concern that he would try to force Ukraine to accept Moscow's terms for peace.
Blinken also said the deployment of North Korean troops to help Russia in the Ukraine war "demands and will get a firm response." More than 10,000 North Korean troops are engaged in combat in Russia's Kursk border region, according to the Pentagon.
Asked by RFE/RL if Washington intends to allow Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied long-range modern weapons to strike deeper inside Russia, as requested by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in his recently presented "victory plan," Blinken did not offer a direct answer, saying the United States will continue to "adapt and adjust" to Ukraine's needs.
"We're addressing many of the needs that are laid out in the victory plan. That's something that we discussed with allies and partners today," Blinken said.
"I am convinced that we will continue to adapt and adjust if necessary," he added.
Blinken also met in Brussels with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, who said Kyiv had maintained contact with both U.S. political parties and had worked with both Trump's team and Biden's.
Sybiha said he would discuss protection of critical infrastructure with Blinken, according to a State Department statement.
"Ukraine's defense cannot be put on hold and wait. Every day Russia is bombing our critical infrastructure -- energy, ports, hospitals, and schools," Sybiha said. "We need better protection for our people already now, not later."
He added that he was "confident that we can count on continued U.S. support and further decisive steps."
Ukraine's whole territory was under an air-raid alert early on November 13 as Moscow launched a sophisticated combination of missiles and drones on Kyiv for the first time in 73 days.
"Putin is launching a missile attack on Kyiv right now," Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy's chief of staff, wrote on Telegram.
Explosions shook Kyiv for hours as Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko urged the Ukrainian capital's residents to take cover.
"More drones are entering the capital. The danger of missiles also persists. Don't leave the shelters!" Klitschko wrote on Telegram.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that its air defenses downed two cruise missiles, two ballistic missiles and 37 drones over Kyiv and seven other Ukrainian regions -- Poltava, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Cherkasy, Zaporizhzhya, Chernihiv, and Kirovohrad. It said that 47 more drones lost their way as Ukrainian electronic defenses jammed their navigation systems.
Russia has stepped up its daily attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, causing further destruction to the country's already battered civilian and energy infrastructure as the cold season settles in.
Taliban Carries Out Sixth Public Execution Since Returning To Power
The Taliban on November 13 executed a man convicted of murder in a sports stadium -- the sixth public execution since the radical Islamist group returned to power in 2022.
The execution was carried with a gun fired by a member of the victim's family in the city of Gardez, the capital of the eastern Paktia Province.
The practice of "qisas," or retributive Islamic punishments, which can include public killings at the hands of victims' families, were a trademark of the Taliban's first stint in power in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
The Taliban's Supreme Court said in a statement on X that a "murderer was sentenced to retaliation punishment," naming the condemned as Muhammad Ayaz Asad.
Media reports said Ayaz Asad was executed with three bullets to his chest.
The statement said Asad, a native of Paktia's Mirzak district, had killed a man named Saif-ul-Qatal using a Kalashnikov rifle. It was not clear whether Ayaz Asad had pleaded guilty or innocent to the charges.
The death sentence was approved by the Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada following "careful consideration" by three Taliban military courts, it said.
Senior members of the Taliban government, including acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, attended the execution.
Haqqani is the leader of the Haqqani network, a U.S.-designated terrorist group considered one of Afghanistan's most violent factions.
The Taliban has revived the practice of "qisas" since the extremist group's return to power in August 2022 following the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from the war-wracked country after more than two decades.
In February, three men were executed publicly.
Two, Syed Jamaluddin and Gul Khan, were shot dead inside a soccer stadium in the southeastern province of Ghazni.
At a separate execution, an unidentified man shot Nazar Mohammad inside a sports stadium in the northern province of Jawzjan. The shooter was said to be avenging the death of his brother, Khal Mohammad, two years earlier.
Such practices have been condemned by Afghans and the international community, while experts have questioned their validity under Islamic law, saying they are mainly meant to instill fear.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said the executions "are contrary to Afghanistan's international human rights obligations, and must cease."
"UNAMA urges Afghanistan's de facto authorities to establish an immediate moratorium on all executions with a view to abolition of the death penalty. We also call for respect for due process and fair trial rights, in particular access to legal representation," the agency said in a post on X.
- By RFE/RL
Iran Says It's Confident Oil Exports Will Continue Despite Trump Election
Iran says it has measures in place to ensure it will continue producing and exporting oil even if U.S. President-elect Donald Trump ramps up pressure on Tehran once he takes office in January.
During his first term in office in 2017-21, Trump withdrew from a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and reimposed sanctions as part of his administration’s “maximum pressure” policy against Tehran.
As a result, Iran’s oil production dropped from 3.8 million barrels per day (bpd) to 2.1 million bpd, while its exports plummeted to between 200,000 and 500,000 bpd from 2.5 million bpd.
But both production and exports have picked up in recent years despite U.S. sanctions, with Iran’s oil output reaching around 3.2m bpd. Exports, meanwhile, have hit a multiyear high of 1.7 million bpd.
Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad told reporters on November 13 that Iran has mechanisms in place “to continue selling our oil” regardless of who is in power in the United States.
“We have tried-and-tested methods and don’t have serious concerns about [selling oil],” he said, according to Iranian state-aligned media.
Without offering details, the oil minister said, “necessary measures have been taken by our colleagues in the oil sector in preparation for what is to come and there is no reason to worry.”
Trump is expected to launch a new-look "maximum pressure" campaign against the Islamic republic once he takes office on January 20, 2025.
Iran boosted its oil sales by circumventing sanctions through a variety of means, exporting mostly to China, which does not recognize U.S. measures against Iran.
The tactic involves the ship-to-ship transfer of oil, middlemen, clandestine money transfers, and the rebranding of the oil to mask its Iranian origin.
Iranian crude makes up about 13 percent of oil imports by China, the world's biggest purchaser of the commodity. Beijing says the purchases conform to international law.
Kyiv Claims Deadly Attack In Crimea That Targeted Russian Navy Officer
A source in the Security Service of Ukraine has told RFE/RL that Kyiv orchestrated an attack that killed a Russian Navy officer in Crimea. Captain Valery Trankovsky died in a car bombing incident in the city of Sevastopol on Ukraine's Russia-annexed peninsula. The city's Moscow-installed mayor described the incident as a possible sabotage action. Trankovsky commanded the headquarters of the 41st brigade of the Russian Black Sea Fleet's missile boats, a unit actively involved in major deadly missile strikes in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The incident is part of a larger pattern where Russian military personnel, security officials, and Ukrainian collaborators in Russian-occupied territories are targeted in assassination attempts. Ukraine’s Security Service and military intelligence are often implicated by media in such operations, but the agencies rarely officially confirm their involvement. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.
Netanyahu Tells Iranians Another Attack On Israel Will 'Cripple' Their Economy
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says another attack on Israel would paralyze the Islamic republic's economy and cost billions of dollars that could be spent to the benefit of ordinary Iranians. In his second video addressed directly to Iranians in the last two months, which was released in English with Farsi subtitles on November 12, Netanyahu said that Iran's October 1 missile attack cost it $2.3 billion dollars, "valuable money that the Islamic republic wasted" as the "damage of that attack on Israel was insignificant." He added that the Iranian government is "obsessed" with the destruction of Israel but its theocracy fears its own people more than Israel. Neither the people of Israel nor ordinary Iranians want war, he said. Some analysts said the video could be a warning that if Iran were to attack again, Israel would hit back hard in an attempt to cause major damage to Iran's economy. There was no immediate reaction to the video from Iran. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.
Georgian Opposition Moves To Leave Parliament In Protest At Alleged Election Fraud
Georgia's pro-European opposition has withdrawn from the new parliament, officially renouncing its mandates obtained during the disputed October 26 elections that it refused to recognize amid accusations of widespread fraud and Russian interference.
Representatives of the two main opposition blocs -- the United National Movement (ENM) and the Coalition for Change -- filed an appeal on November 12 with the Central Election Commission (CEC) demanding the cancellation of their party lists -- a technical move that will make it impossible for the CEC to register the opposition candidates who won seats as lawmakers.
"On behalf of the United National Movement, we declare that we do not recognize the legitimacy of these elections and refuse our parliamentary mandates. Today, each of us who was on the parliamentary list officially sent a letter to the Central Election Commission so that none of the candidates would be registered," ENM head Tina Bokuchava told a joint news conference.
Nika Gvaramia, the leader of the Coalition for Change, said that all members of his bloc's list will officially sign off on their refusal for as many times as necessary if the CEC, under pressure from the authorities, tries to register them in parliament through bureaucratic procedures.
"This parliament is illegitimate, and our participation in its activities is excluded. We will not aid the authorities in legitimizing it with our presence," Gvaramia said.
In response, Georgian Dream said it would file a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court to outlaw some opposition parties, directly accusing ENM of treason.
"We do not rule out that we will take care first and foremost of the ENM, which has committed treasonous acts against the country," Georgian Dream Secretary-General Kakha Kaladze said, adding that the authorities had "plenty of evidence" to outlaw the bloc, without elaborating.
The moves come after Georgia's pro-European president, Salome Zurabishvili, refused to recognize the validity of the results and called for fresh elections.
The opposition has been holding large daily protests in Tbilisi since the Moscow-friendly Georgian Dream party, which has been in power for the past 12 years, claimed victory with 54 percent of the vote.
A group of women held the latest rally on November 13, appealing to the CEC to cancel the election results. Initially, only some of the women were able to enter the courtyard of the CEC building before police closed the iron doors of the entrance. Several journalists covering the rally were not allowed in.
"All criminals are afraid of witnesses, we are witnesses of their crimes and that's why they fight us like that. They won't succeed," Ana Natsvlishvili, one of the leaders of the Strong Georgia party, told RFE/RL.
Georgia has been a candidate for EU membership since last year, but moves by Georgian Dream to adopt legislation to curb foreign funding of NGOs mirroring Moscow's "foreign agent" law and anti-LGBT measures have sparked criticism from Brussels and Washington that the Caucasus country was backsliding on democracy.
Moscow Conscripts Banned From Leaving Russia
Moscow residents who have failed to show up at military registration and enlistment offices after they received summonses are getting SMS notifications telling them they are banned from leaving Russia among other restrictions, the independent investigative website Important Stories reports. The messages say that "temporary measures" have been imposed on conscripts in accordance with amendments to Russia's law on military duty. Other restrictions refer to a ban on driving and registering vehicles, registering and selling real estate, receiving loans, and registering as a self-employed individual or entrepreneur. Since its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has reportedly suffered massive losses on the battlefield, although Moscow does not reveal the number of its war casualties. According to Britain's Chief of the Defense Staff Tony Radakin, an average of some 1,500 Russian soldiers were killed or injured daily in October alone, making it Russia's worst month for casualties since the beginning of the war. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.
Navalnaya Says She And Ukraine Have 'One Enemy' After Activists Disrupt Her Speech
Ukrainian activists on November 12 disrupted a speech by Yulia Navalnaya at an IT summit in Lisbon by setting off air-raid sirens and shouting "Stop the war" before Navalnaya said she opposes the war and told them their enemy was the same as hers.
Navalnaya was delivering her speech on Dictators and Digital Dissent at the Web Summit when several people in the audience set off the air-raid sirens in an attempt to drown out her words. They then began chanting "Stop Russia!" and "Stop the war!" in English.
The organizers of the action said its purpose was to remind the participants of the conference about the war in Ukraine and the inadmissibility of inviting citizens of the aggressor country to an international conference.
Navalnaya responded to the disruption by inviting a representative of the Ukrainian activists to come up on stage and ask a question. The activist who went to the stage asked whether she supports the war against Ukraine.
Navalnaya said she opposes the war and the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling the activists, "We have one enemy. And Ukrainians do not need to invent an enemy for themselves in the person of the Russian opposition."
Navalnaya, the wife of the late Russian corruption fighter Aleksei Navalny, said later on Telegram that she thought it was wrong to be asked if she supports Russia's war against Ukraine.
"I am fighting against Putin's regime and against the war. And I think that these are interconnected things,” she said on Telegram. “My husband, Aleksei Navalny, fought against Putin and against the war, and was killed in prison for it. He used every court hearing against him, including the one on February 24, 2022, as a platform for an anti-war speech.”
Navalnaya ally Leonid Volkov, who was also at the conference, said Navalnaya managed to finish her speech and confirmed that she invited the protesters to the stage and answered them in detail.
"After the applause, she returned to the podium and finished her speech," Volkov said on Telegram.
While in Lisbon, Navalnaya also took part in the opening of a ceremony to dedicate a plaque in memory of her husband opposite the Russian Embassy. The plaque is engraved with the words "Don't give up" -- the opposition leader's call to his comrades in case of his death.
Georgian Envoy Summoned Over PM's Comment On Moldovan Election
The charge d'affaires of the Georgian Embassy in Chisinau, David Bochorisvili, was summoned to the Moldovan Foreign Ministry on November 12 over statements made last week by Georgia’s prime minister at the summit of the European Political Community in Budapest. Moldovan authorities conveyed to Bochorisvili their "deep dissatisfaction" regarding the manner with which Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze addressed the European integration of Moldova and the electoral process in the country. The Moldovan Foreign Ministry noted in a news release “the cooperative relations and the traditional friendship” between Moldova and Georgia and said the objectives that each country has in the European integration process “must prevail." The statement did not quote the remarks that caused the government’s displeasure, but Georgian media reported that Kobakhidze referred to the votes of the Moldovan diaspora making the difference in the October 20 reelection of President Maia Sandu and the referendum on EU membership.
- By AP
U.S. Air National Guardsman Who Leaked Secrets On War In Ukraine Sentenced To 15 Years
A federal judge on November 12 sentenced a member of the U.S. Massachusetts Air National Guard to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to leaking highly classified military documents about the war in Ukraine. Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty earlier this year to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act. The 22-year-old showed no visible reaction as he was sentenced. Earlier in the hearing he apologized, telling the judge he was "sorry for all the harm that I brought and caused." Prosecutors had originally requested a 17-year sentence, saying Teixeira "perpetrated one of the most significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in American history." Defense attorneys had sought an 11-year sentence. They acknowledged that their client "made a terrible decision which he repeated over 14 months," but said Teixeira's actions were never meant to "harm the United States."
Opposition Rally Calls Georgian Election 'Artfully Faked' At Rally In Batumi
Two opposition coalitions organized a rally in the southwestern Georgian city of Batumi on November 12 to demand new elections. The coalitions Strong Georgia and the United National Movement said the rally’s slogan was "Artfully faked.” Participants held posters with phrases such as "Give me back my vote." The rally gathered near the building of the 79th District Election Commission and participants marched to the building of the Higher Election Commission. Police blocked a street along the way. Georgians have held several protests to voice their anger over the October 26 elections and call for a new vote amid allegations that Russia helped the ruling party, Georgian Dream, rig the vote.
Top UN Court Rules It Has Jurisdiction To Consider Armenia, Azerbaijan Cases
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said on November 12 that it had jurisdiction to consider rival cases by Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
"The Court finds that it has jurisdiction" to consider the cases filed in September 2021, a statement issued by the court said. The decision of the 17-judge panel was unanimous.
The Hague-based ICJ, the UN's top court, also ruled in favor of Armenia on two of its objections but rejected a third.
Armenia contends in its case that Azerbaijan violated the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and engaged in "ethnic cleansing" in the region.
Azerbaijan has denied the allegations and filed a countersuit. Baku also accused Yerevan of hate speech and "racist" propaganda.
The cases concern actions taken in Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region within Azerbaijan populated mostly by ethnic Armenians. Armenia and Azerbaijan fought wars in the early 1990s and in 2020 for control of the enclave.
Baku took over the territory in September 2023 in a lightning one-day offensive that prompted nearly all of the local ethnic Armenian population of around 100,000 to flee for Armenia.
The ICJ, which rules in disputes between states, issued emergency orders in December 2021 calling on both sides to prevent the incitement and promotion of racial hatred.
It has since considered various motions filed by both countries against each other's cases. Armenia returned to the UN court in 2023 in the weeks after Nagorno-Karabakh was seized by Azerbaijan.
The court did not say when the next hearings in the rival cases would take place. A ruling on the merits of the cases is expected to take years. While the ICJ's orders are binding, the court has no mechanism for enforcing them.
Jailed Belarusian Opposition Figure Kalesnikava Reportedly Meets With Father
Belarusian opposition figure Maryya Kalesnikava briefly met her father, Alyaksandr Kalesnikau, for the first time since December 2022, former opposition blogger Raman Pratasevich announced on November 12 on Telegram.
Belarusian online outlet Nasha Niva also reported on the brief reunion, citing former political prisoners who said the location in the photo appeared to be a prison hospital. The report said it was not known whether Kalesnikava was undergoing treatment at the hospital or whether she was brought from her jail cell.
Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikahnouskaya wrote on X that she is "deeply relieved" that Kalesnikava has been allowed to meet with her father.
"She has been kept incommunicado for more than 600 days, starved & isolated from her family. Now, we must keep up the pressure to break the isolation of other political prisoners & free them all!" Tsikhanouskaya wrote.
Kalesnikava, a prominent critic of Belarusian authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka, has been in prison since September 2020. Following her kidnapping by security forces in Minsk, she was taken to the Ukrainian border, where officials attempted to expel her. Kalesnikava resisted by tearing up her passport and demanding to remain in her home country. She was subsequently detained again.
In September 2021, a Minsk court sentenced her to 11 years in prison on charges including conspiracy to seize power, calling for actions harmful to national security, and creating or managing an extremist organization. Her trial, held behind closed doors, included fellow opposition figure Maksim Znak, who was also convicted and handed a 10-year prison term.
Lukashenka said last month he might consider pardoning Kalesnikava if she requested it.
Pratasevich, once a vocal opposition blogger, was detained in May 2021 after Belarus forced a Ryanair flight carrying him to land in Minsk. He was sentenced to prison but later pardoned after cooperating with authorities.
His ties to opposition media outlet Nexta Live and the 2020 anti-Lukashenka protests brought him into conflict with the regime.
After his arrest he changed his stance, stopped criticizing Lukashenka and his government, and stated he was ready to serve as a mediator between the government officials and self-exiled Belarusians who want to return to their homeland.
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