Russia's closure of the Kerch Strait is essentially a double violation of international law. Watch RFE/RL's Brian Whitmore in today's Daily Vertical commentary:
Five Crimean Tatars Detained During Pickets In Simferopol
By the Crimea Desk of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
SIMFEROPOL -- Five Crimean Tatar activists have been detained while protesting the jailing of Server Karametov, a 76-year-old man who has Parkinson's disease, by the Russian-imposed authorities.
The activists picketed the buildings of the Russia-controlled Supreme Court, Interior Ministry, parliament, and government in the Crimean capital, Simferopol, on August 14.
Lawyer Emil Kurbedinov told RFE/RL that his colleague, Edem Semedlyayev, was with four of the activists who were being questioned at a police station.
The fifth activist was detained separately earlier in the day, local rights activists told RFE/RL.
Karametov was detained on August 8 while demonstrating in Simferopol in support of Crimean Tatars who have been prosecuted by Russia since it seized the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014.
He was found guilty of disobeying police, jailed for 10 days, and fined 10,000 rubles ($165).
Amnesty International has urged Russia to release Karametov immediately, calling him "a prisoner of conscience, with Parkinson’s disease."
Russia has been sharply criticized by international rights groups and Western governments for its treatment of members of the indigenous Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatar minority.
The majority of Crimean Tatars opposed the Russian takeover of their historic homeland.
An excerpt:
North Korea’s success in testing an intercontinental ballistic missile that appears able to reach the United States was made possible by black-market purchases of powerful rocket engines probably from a Ukrainian factory with historical ties to Russia’s missile program, according to an expert analysis being published Monday and classified assessments by American intelligence agencies.
The studies may solve the mystery of how North Korea began succeeding so suddenly after a string of fiery missile failures, some of which may have been caused by American sabotage of its supply chains and cyberattacks on its launches. After those failures, the North changed designs and suppliers in the past two years, according to a new study by Michael Elleman, a missile expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
U.S. 'Defensive Arms' For Ukraine?
The White House is considering supplying Ukraine with "defensive arms," but what does this actually mean? (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service/Reuters)
