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Turkmen Leader Promotes Son In Latest Signal Of Possible Succession
Turkmen state media say that President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has promoted his son Serdar to a top government post with oversight of major economic and financial decisions.
It is the latest in a series of promotions for the 39-year-old Serdar, who Berdymukhammedov appears to be grooming to succeed him in the future.
Turkmen state media reported on July 9 that Serdar was appointed deputy prime minister for economic and banking issues and for international financial organizations. Berdymukhamedov also removed Serdar from his previous position as chairman of the Supreme Control Chamber and as a member of the State Security Council.
No explanation for the shuffle or the promotion was given.
After his appointment in February to the Supreme Control Chamber and the State Security Council, Serdar’s public profile increased significantly.
He was seen leading government delegations on foreign trips, and his visits to the Central Asian’s various regions began to resemble those of his father.
In April, Serdar oversaw festivities surrounding a major national holiday celebrating the Turkmen horse and dog breeds. The Akhal-Teke horse and Alabai sheep dog play a prominent role in state propaganda, with monuments in the capital, Ashgabat, devoted to them and vast sums spent on promoting their breeding.
In the past, Berdymukhammedov led events surrounding the holiday, participating in races, showing off his horseback-riding skills, and handing out awards to breeders.
The July 9 announcement also included the demotion, firing, or reprimand of other top government officials, including two top officials at the country’s Central Bank.
The shuffle in personnel comes amid worsening economic conditions in the country, which has been plagued by high unemployment, problems with subsidized food, and an outmigration of laborers seeking work in other countries.
The national currency, the manat, slid to record lows in April.
The tightly controlled economy has been struggling for years, with government revenues depleted partly due to unsuccessful energy deals and low global prices for natural gas.
The country has some of the world’s largest proven reserves of gas.
Bosnians Commemorate Anniversary Of 1995 Srebrenica Genocide
Thousands of Bosnians gathered to commemorate the Srebrenica genocide and bury 19 newly identified victims.
On July 11, 1995, more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were rounded up and killed by Bosnian Serb forces near the eastern town of Srebrenica -- the worst mass killing in Europe since World War II.
The episode came toward the end of the 1992-95 Bosnian War pitting Bosnian Serbs against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats that claimed some 100,000 lives.
SPECIAL REPORT: Here Are The Faces Of Thousands Who Died In Srebrenica
Both the wartime Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic and former political leader Radovan Karadzic were subsequently sentenced to life in prison by the UN war crimes court in the Netherlands for genocide in Srebrenica.
The remains of the 19 recently identified victims were reburied at the Potocari Memorial Center, the final resting place for more than 6,640 people killed in the massacre. About 1,000 are still missing.
The UN war crimes tribunal and the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague have classified the Srebrenica massacre as genocide.
But many Serbs deny the extent of the killings, adding to the suffering of the survivors. Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik has previously called the genocide “a fabricated myth.”
Turkmenistan Sending Heavy Weaponry, Aircraft To Afghan Border Amid Deteriorating Security
Turkmenistan has begun moving heavy weaponry, helicopters, and other aircraft closer to its border with Afghanistan, and reservists are being put on alert in the capital, a further sign of the worry spreading across Central Asia as Taliban fighters continue major offensives.
A senior official at a Turkmen security agency told RFE/RL that more troops from an army garrison near the city of Mary are being sent to bolster border guard units. Mary is about 400 kilometers north of Serhetabad, a major border crossing with Afghanistan.
The official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said additional forces sent to the border include officers as well as fighter jets and helicopters.
It is unclear exactly how many units are being sent to the border or the numbers of aircraft being dispatched there.
Another online news site, Turkmen.News, also reported heavy weaponry being moved to the Serhetabad region last week.
In the capital, Ashgabat, meanwhile, some reservists are being summoned to military recruiting posts and being told to stay on alert for possible quick deployment, the official said. The orders are so far not nationwide and are limited to just Ashgabat, he said.
The Turkmen government, which is tightly controlled and highly secretive, has made no announcement about increased security. Law enforcement officials, meanwhile, have increased warnings to average Turkmen against using virtual private networks, or VPNs, which are illegal but widely used to circumvent government restrictions on the Internet.
In Mary, whose population is believed to be around 100,000 people, local officials have begun organizing patriotic lectures for public service employees.
Municipal service workers in the city’s Margush district were required to attend an hour-long meeting on July 8 after the end of the workday. One participant told RFE/RL that people were not happy about being forced to attend.
“The people were so tired. Everyone wanted to go home faster. It would be better if they held their lectures during working hours, not after work, or even better if they raised their salaries. We cannot feed our children with empty talk,” one worker told RFE/RL. He asked not to be identified for fear of losing his job.
Another worker also complained of being forced to attend the meeting after working since 7 a.m. that morning.
“All day long, under the scorching sun, we clean the streets, plant flowers, level the ground, mow the grass. We are thrown into the hardest work. Finishing work at 7 p.m., we barely get home. And listening to these conversations and lectures is an unnecessary concern for us. After work, we barely make it home and fall asleep, not having time to eat a piece of bread with our children,” said the worker, who also asked to remain anonymous.
The worker said the lecture included rhetoric about how prosperous the country was and how people should be loyal to the government.
Turkmenistan shares an 800-kilometer border with Afghanistan, where the security situation has deteriorated sharply as Taliban fighters advance on provincial centers and even some border crossings.
Hundreds of Afghans, including soldiers and local police, have reportedly fled into other neighboring Central Asia countries, like Tajikistan.
Tajik officials last week announced they were sending an additional 20,000 troops to its border in response to the Taliban offensive. On July 5, the border guard service reported that more than 1,000 Afghan troops had crossed into Tajikistan over the previous 24 hours.
U.S. President Joe Biden has pledged that the withdrawal of U.S. forces would be completed by August 31. Since then, the Taliban has unleashed a quick offensive and now controls about one-third of the country’s 421 districts and district centers.
Earlier this month, U.S. forces vacated their largest base in Afghanistan at Bagram, north of Kabul.
The rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces, and the Taliban's battlefield successes, are stoking concerns that the Western-backed government in Kabul may collapse.
Georgian TV Cameraman Injured Amid Anti-LGBT Violence Has Died
A Georgian TV cameraman who was among dozens of journalists attacked by a right-wing mob during a melee aimed at LGBT campaigners has died.
Co-workers of Lekso Lashkarava said on July 11 that he had died, apparently of injuries suffered during the violence six days earlier, but provided no further details.
Lashkarava's employer, Pirveli TV, said that his body was found at his Tbilisi home by his mother on July 11.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that an investigation had been opened into his death.
Lashkarava, 37, was one of nearly 60 journalists and other media workers who were attacked on July 5 when hundreds of people took to the streets of Tbilisi to block a planned LGBT parade.
Two RFE/RL reporters were among those injured.
The chaos, which included mobs scaling the building where the organizers of the Tbilisi Pride parade have their headquarters, drew criticism from press advocates and foreign governments.
Many have pointed blame at Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili, who, on the morning of the scheduled parade, said it was inappropriate to hold the event, arguing that it would create confrontation and was "unacceptable for a large segment of the Georgian society.”
The Georgian Orthodox Church had also called on supporters to gather against the pride march.
Videos of the mobs showed some priests joining the protests. After the march was canceled, priests chanted and people danced to Georgian folk songs in front of the parliament.
A day after the event, thousands rallied in Tbilisi to denounce the violence. That event was largely peaceful, but right-wing activists, who were held back by police, later held their own event in front of parliament, where they tore down a European Union flag and burned it.
Diplomatic missions from 18 countries and the European Union condemned the violence and called on the Georgian government to protect people’s constitutional right to peacefully gather.
With reporting by AFP
Moldova Set To Receive 500,000 Doses Of J&J Vaccine From U.S.
Moldova is set to receive half a million doses of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) coronavirus vaccine from the United States.
The first 150,000 doses of the one-shot J&J vaccine are set to arrive in Moldova -- a country of 3.5 million and Europe’s poorest -- on July 12, the U.S. Embassy in Moldova said in a statement.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu thanked the United States for the vaccines and said that they will “help save lives, preserve the health of our citizens, and reduce the force of the pandemic.”
Only 305,000 people in Moldova, about 11 percent of the population, have so far been fully inoculated against COVID-19.
Moldova has reported more than 257,000 infections and 6,207 deaths.
Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
Pro-European Party Leading Moldova's Snap General Elections
Moldovan President Maia Sandu’s pro-European party was leading on July 11 as counting got under way in snap parliamentary elections that are likely to weaken Russia's influence and push Europe's poorest country toward further integration with the continent.
Sandu’s Party Of Action and Solidarity (PAS) was leading with more than 44 percent of the vote, according to the Central Election Commission (CEC), with over 40 percent of the ballots counted.
Sandu’s main rivals, the Russia-friendly Electoral Bloc of Communists and Socialists, had nearly 33 percent of the votes.
The CEC said voter turnout was around 50 percent, slightly higher than in parliamentary elections in 2019.
Some 3.2 million people, including a sizable diaspora abroad, were eligible to vote.
More than 20 parties and coalition blocs were in the running. However, only the PAS and the Electoral Bloc of Communists and Socialists were seen as locks to enter the 101-seat parliament.
Each was predicted to get up to 37 percent of the vote, according to polls conducted before the election, although most surveys had Sandu's bloc coming out on top, potentially with an outright majority of 51 seats or more.
Wedged between Ukraine and EU member Romania, Moldova has long been divided over closer ties with Brussels or maintaining Soviet-era relations with Moscow.
A victory by Sandu's coalition would give her a friendly legislature to work with as she tries to put the country on the track toward European integration.
"You decide who will be part of the next parliament and government," the 49-year-old former World Bank official wrote on social media as the campaign period came to a close. "It is up to you how quickly we can save the country from corruption and poverty."
A win by the Russia-friendly Electoral Bloc and other Moscow-friendly parties would maintain close ties to Moscow fostered by former President Igor Dodon, whose fellow Socialists in parliament have stymied Sandu's reform program.
"Only our team is able to end the chaos in the country, ensure social protection of people, restore the economy, and strengthen statehood," Dodon said this week.
The snap elections were the result of a lengthy political battle following Sandu's runoff victory over Dodon in November.
That vote was also seen as a referendum on Moldova's future, but the Socialist-controlled legislature continued to exert its influence, including boosting the body's power by voting to transfer control of intelligence agencies from the president to parliament.
The move was met in December with mass protests calling for early elections, followed later that month by the resignation of the country's pro-Russia prime minister and his cabinet just before Sandu's inauguration.
After Sandu's attempts to replace the prime minister were exhausted, parliament was dissolved in April and the snap elections were set in motion.
The run-up to the vote had been plagued by conflict over the number of polling stations both abroad and in the Russia-backed breakaway Transdniester region.
After a lengthy back-and-forth, the number of polling stations in Transdniester, where voters traditionally support closer ties to Moscow, was set at 41.
Moldovans living outside the country, who were expected to be mainly in Sandu's camp, were able to vote at 150 polling stations abroad, including 12 in neighboring EU-member Romania.
The vote was held with restrictions in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, with voters required to wear masks and maintain social distancing.
Aside from the two main blocs, the Eurosceptic SOR and the pro-European Dignity And Truth Platform party were seen as contenders to pass the threshold needed to enter parliament.
The new parliament will be seated on August 27, the 30th anniversary of Moldova's declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
With reporting by RFE/RL correspondent Mike Scollon in Prague, Reuters, and AFP
Bulgarian Anti-Elite Party Narrowly Leading Borisov's GERB, Exit Polls Show
SOFIA -- Bulgaria’s snap parliamentary elections on July 11 failed to produce a clear winner, with There Is Such A People, an anti-elites party, narrowly leading former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's GERB party, exit polls show.
A survey by Gallup International showed the There Is Such A People party, led by popular television entertainer Slavi Trifonov, with 23.2 percent, ahead of GERB, which was on 23 percent.
Alpha Research also put the There Is Such A People party with 24 percent and GERB at 23.5 percent.
The snap parliamentary elections were held just three months after a previous, inconclusive vote.
New allegations of misuse of government funds by administrations led by Borisov's GERB sapped support for the party in the run-up to the vote. In all, 23 parties and coalitions were vying for the 240 seats in parliament.
Bulgaria is the European Union’s poorest nation and perceived as one of its most corrupt. The campaign did little to allay that perception.
“This election is being waged over very fundamental democratic questions: How do we improve government performance and who will be the best managers of the government,” Bobby Philips, a political science professor at American University in Bulgaria, told RFE/RL, adding that “divisive ethnic or external enemy rhetoric” was largely absent in the election campaign.
Asked ahead of the election what he hoped from the vote, President Rumen Radev said he wanted a government that was more attentive to Bulgarians' needs, "a state that belongs to, and works in, the public interest, not for hidden circles."
"I strongly hope that the parties will approach their work much more constructively and much more responsibly, in order to meet the expectations of the citizens," he said after casting his ballot.
Borisov, who has led the government three times, has found success in previous campaigns through a combination of populist rhetoric and pro-Western slogans.
But massive street protests last year sparked by accusations that Borisov and his government were protecting oligarchs, refusing to reform the judiciary, and suppressing freedom of speech finally took their toll on the 62-year-old's popularity.
An April 4 vote ended in a stalemate with no party able to cobble together a majority coalition.
Radev in May installed an interim government that opened investigations into alleged corruption, including accusations that dozens of opposition politicians were illegally wiretapped before April elections. Caretaker officials also alleged that billions of dollars of public funds were funneled to certain private companies through a process that lacked transparency.
Bulgaria, which is also a member of NATO, has been chided by its Western partners over corruption and backsliding on the rule of law and a free press.
In Transparency International's 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index, Bulgaria ranked 69th, tied with Romania and Hungary as the worst in the EU.
Last month, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against former member of parliament Delyan Peevski, prominent businessman Vassil Bozhkov, and ex-national security official Ilko Zhelyazkov for their "extensive roles" in corruption in Bulgaria. It also placed sanctions on 64 entities said to be linked to them.
The U.S. Treasury Department said the move was its single biggest action targeting corruption to date anywhere in the world under the Global Magnitsky Act, which bans entry to the United States of any sanctioned person. It also blocks any U.S.-based property, including overseas U.S. dollar accounts, held by those sanctioned, and prevents U.S. entities from doing business with them.
In the wake of the corruption allegations, Trifonov's party had taken a narrow lead in opinion polls conducted ahead of the election.
Analysts said There Is Such A People could try to form a coalition government with the liberal Democratic Bulgaria alliance and the reform-oriented Stand Up! Get Out! -- a party recently created by former ombudsman Maya Manolova.
However, the three parties would still likely fail to get the majority needed to form a government and could be forced to seek support from some members of either the Socialist Party or the Movement For Rights And Freedom.
Slightly more than 3 million citizens -- or about half the eligible population -- were expected to vote, according to polling agencies.
The Central Electoral Commission will start to post official results on its website later in the night.
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and RFE/RL correspondent Todd Prince
Iran Says Transportation Ministry Hit By Cyberattack
Iran's Transportation Ministry said that its computer systems and website were affected by a cyberattack on July 10.
The alleged attack took down the ministry's website and links associated with it, the ministry reportedly said in a statement.
The disruption began before noon; the sites were still down five hours later.
It was the second cyberattack to hit the ministry's computer systems in two days.
Iran's rail system reportedly came under cyberattack on July 9, with a system designed to track trains failing and hackers posting false messages on display boards across the country claiming trains had been delayed or canceled.
The country's telecommunications minister, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, warned on July 10 about possible cyberattacks though ransomware.
Iran has been targeted by numerous cyberattacks in recent years, including an attack on government infrastructure in 2019.
Based on reporting by AFP, AP, and ISNA
- By RFE/RL
Russia's Election Chief Denies Delay Of State Duma Vote Being Considered
The head of Russia's Central Election Commission has denied reports that the country's upcoming State Duma elections could be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"There have been no discussions about a possible postponement of the election," Ella Pamfilova told the state news agency TASS on July 10. "The elections will be held in accordance with the presidential decree and voting will take place on September 17, 18, and 19. There is no doubt that the elections will be held on time."
Pamfilova was responding to a report by the Yekaterinburg-based online news agency Ura.ru that authorities were discussing the idea of putting off the election until the end of 2021 or next spring.
Aside from the Duma vote, direct elections will be held to determine the heads of nine regions, as well as local posts.
The elections come amid a continuing slide in the popularity of the Kremlin-backed ruling United Russia party, which is hoping to maintain its absolute majority in the Duma.
With reporting by TASS
Kazakh Agriculture Minister Fired For Failing To Help Farmers Affected By Drought
Kazakhstan's president sacked Agriculture Minister Saparkhan Omarov on July 10 while accusing his ministry of not having done enough to help farmers cope with a severe drought that has hit the country.
Farmers in the grain-producing Kazakhstan are struggling with extreme heat and a lack of rainfall, which has dried up pastures and resulted in the death of thousands of heads of cattle.
Speaking at a government meeting on July 10, President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev said Omarov should step down because his ministry had failed to take effective and prompt measures to assist the farmers.
"The [local regional authorities] and the Agriculture Ministry didn't take the right decisions and necessary measures, and as a result our farmers ended up in a tough situation," Toqaev said.
Earlier this week, the Agriculture Ministry said authorities will not compensate farmers who have lost livestock.
The ministry said on July 9 that a decision about declaring a drought emergency will be made depending on the amount of precipitation in July.
With reporting by Reuters
Five Killed As Earthquake Rocks Tajikistan
Five people have been killed in an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 in eastern Tajikistan, the country’s Committee of Emergency Situations said.
The committee said about 20 houses had been destroyed as a result of the earthquake, which shook the country early on July 10.
Power lines had also been partly damaged in three villages, according to the committee.
The earthquake struck 27 kilometers east of Rasht, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said.
The quake was at a depth of 40 kilometers and was also about 153 kilometers southeast of Khujand, according to the EMSC.
With reporting by Reuters
Stun Grenade Determined To Be Source Of Mysterious Blast In Tehran
A mysterious blast in a Tehran park was caused by a stun grenade, according to Iranian state television.
No one was injured in the July 10 explosion, which caused the capital's fire department to dispatch several units to the scene in the north of the city.
A stun grenade explodes with a loud noise but causes little damage.
A reporter for state television said the device had been set up to go off in the park near a hospital building.
Tehran Deputy Governor Hamid Reza Gudarzi, who is in charge of security issues, said earlier that the cause of the blast was being investigated.
"Just one explosion took place inside Mellat Park," he told the semiofficial Tasnim news agency.
Asked whether the incident was an attack, Gudarzi said: "We are investigating the dimensions and causes of the incident and we will provide information after we are sure."
A deputy police chief said an explosion was heard but that “no building was damaged or set on fire.”
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and IRNA
- By RFE/RL
UN Says Torture, Ill-Treatment Of Detainees Continues 'Systematically' In Eastern Ukraine
The United Nations said torture and ill-treatment of detainees in territory controlled by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine is happening every day.
Deputy UN rights chief Nada al-Nashif said on July 9 that there are “egregious violations” committed in the Izolyatsia prison in Donetsk and other places of detention in separatist-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine.
The violations “continue on a daily basis, and are carried out systematically,” Nashif told the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council.
Kyiv has been battling pro-Russia separatists in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions since 2014, when Moscow also seized Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. The conflict has killed more than 13,000 people.
The report highlights the continuing failure of the Russian Federation to uphold its obligations as the occupying power in Crimea under international human rights law and international humanitarian law."-- Nada al-Nashif, deputy UN rights chief
Nashif was presenting reports on detention, torture, and ill-treatment in eastern Ukraine, as well as on human rights in Crimea.
The deputy high commissioner for human rights said the report estimated that since the beginning of the conflict, around 4,000 conflict-related detainees have been subjected to torture or ill-treatment in both government-controlled territory and separatist-controlled territory.
“There has been little accountability for violations committed on either side of the contact line. While we can count victims in the thousands, perpetrators who have been brought to account only number in the dozens,” she said.
Nashif said torture and ill-treatment was greater in the initial stages of the conflict and has decreased over time, especially in government-controlled areas.
“From late 2016, the use of unofficial places of detention to hold conflict-related detainees for longer periods, lasting more than a few days, substantially decreased" in government areas, she said.
However, she said the UN was still able to document cases in government areas of arbitrary detention of conflict-related detainees in rented apartments or hotels lasting up to several days before they were transferred to official facilities.
But in separatist-controlled territory, “a large majority” of conflict-related detentions amounted to arbitrary detention and this practice continues, she said.
“In armed group-controlled territory, detention during the initial stages of the conflict lacked any semblance of legal process and often amounted to enforced disappearance,” Nashif said.
On Crimea, Nashif said her office was unable to conduct its mission on the ground and had to rely on information collected remotely.
Nonetheless, the report said Russian authorities regularly harassed lawyers defending clients and that courts delivered guilty verdicts in high-profile cases without a fair trial.
There were also documented allegations of torture and ill-treatment committed by Russian authorities against individuals in their custody in order to coerce them into self-incrimination or to testify against others.
“The report highlights the continuing failure of the Russian Federation to uphold its obligations as the occupying power in Crimea under international human rights law and international humanitarian law,” Nashif said.
Other issues of concern include poor conditions in detention facilities and the arbitrary arrests of 19 persons, including 11 Crimean Tatars.
Members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, which is banned in Russia, faced extremism-related charges and convictions for practicing their faith, the report said.
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine is also under threat, Nashif said, with the number of church parishes decreasing from 49 prior to Russia’s occupation of Crimea to only five in 2020.
- By RFE/RL
One Dead, Dozens Evacuated As Forest Fires Sweep Through Central Russia
Hundreds of residents of Russia's central Chelyabinsk region were evacuated and one resident was killed on July 10 as forest fires continued to ravage the country.
Five separate blazes in the Chelyabinsk region were estimated to have spread across 20 hectares, while 14,000 hectares overall, an area about the size of Kuwait, have been affected.
Russian officials were quoted as saying the fires were moving at more than 150 meters per minute, complicating efforts to put them out.
Two towns, Dzhabyk and Zapasnoye, were engulfed by flames, resulting in the destruction of nearly 50 homes.
One elderly man who refused to evacuate was reportedly found dead, and 18 people were treated for injuries. Nearly 180 people were evacuated to temporary shelters.
Water-carrying aircraft were deployed to help fight the fires and officials said most of the blazes were contained.
Officials were expecting calmer winds and rainfall to help stabilize the situation in the Chelyabinsk region, where a state of emergency has been declared.
Wildfires have scorched huge swaths of eastern Russia in recent days, with Siberia's Yakutia region hit hardest.
The region's forest protection agency said on July 9 that around 160 forest fires covering an area of 4,400 square kilometers were burning.
Due to the isolation of the vast region, there are no threats to settlements and economic facilities, the forestry service said.
According to Greenpeace, climate change is aggravating Russia's vulnerability to forest fires, contributing to heat waves, thunderstorms, and droughts.
However, most of the fires are caused by people, the environmental group said.
With reporting by Reuters, TASS, News.Ykt.ru and dpa
- By RFE/RL
Ukraine Blames Russian Hackers For Attack On Navy Website
Ukraine's Defense Ministry said Russian government hackers attacked the website of the Ukrainian Navy to spread disinformation about the ongoing multinational Sea Breeze military exercises in the Black Sea.
In a July 9 statement, the Defense Ministry said the “entire Kremlin propaganda machine” was involved in the hacking operation, which published false documents and fake news on the Navy’s website related to the Sea Breeze drills.
"The threat has now been eliminated and the Navy's website will be restored in the near future," it said, adding that there have also been unsuccessful denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) on the Defense Ministry portal.
Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of being behind a string of cyberattacks, something Moscow denies.
A total of 32 countries, including most Black Sea nations, NATO allies, and partners, are attending the Sea Breeze exercises, which kicked off on June 28 amid rising tensions between Russia and the West following an incident involving Russia and a British warship off the coast of Crimea.
The exercises include 5,000 troops, 32 ships, 40 aircraft, and 18 special operations and dive teams and will last through July 10.
Russia opposes the drills and has said it is monitoring the actions of military forces taking part in the exercises. Late last month, Russia tested its air-defense systems in occupied Crimea.
Moscow seized control of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 after sending in troops and staging a referendum dismissed as illegal by at least 100 countries. Moscow is also backing separatists in a war in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 13,000 people since April 2014.
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