Month: April 2021

The Czech Republic on Thursday ordered Russia to remove more staff from its Prague embassy, in a growing spat between the two countries.Last week, Prague expelled 18 embassy staff members, saying they were intelligence officers.The dispute stems from Czech accusations that Russian spies were behind a deadly explosion at a Czech arms depot in 2014. They claim the spies were also part of a special unit that tried to assassinate a double agent in Britain.Russia denied the accusations and expelled 20 Czech diplomats last Sunday.Newly appointed Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek announced Thursday that Russia had to match the number …

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As President Biden hosts a virtual climate summit this Earth Day, a report out Thursday adds more fuel to the planet’s growing crisis, showing record-breaking temperatures in Europe and Arctic Siberia last year. It comes as the European Union announced a key climate deal and financing rules — both sharply criticized by green groups. The findings of the European Union’s climate monitoring service, Copernicus, are grim. Europe was hit by record heat and rainfall last year. The Arctic overall saw its second warmest year. Both regions are warming faster than the global average.  “Europe has probably warmed at twice the …

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A journalist in Belarus may face criminal charges for an interview his media outlet published with opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, in another sign of the government’s crackdown on press freedom. Uladzimer Yanukevich, the chief editor of the independent Intex-press newspaper in the western city of Baranavichy, was questioned at a local police department for 4 1/2 hours over the interview, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAZh) said on April 22. According to the BAZh, during questioning on April 21 Yanukevich was handed two administrative charges for violating the law on the distribution of “banned” information via the media and the Internet. Yanukevich was …

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French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Thursday that Russia and President Vladimir Putin will face sanctions if opposition leader Alexey Navalny dies.   Speaking to France 2 television, Le Drian said, “We will take the necessary sanctions and it will be the responsibility of Mr. Putin and the Russian authorities. I hope we won’t go to that extreme.”   U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan made similar comments to CNN Sunday, warning of unspecified “consequences” in the event of Navalny’s death.   Navalny was arrested in January after returning to Russia from Germany where he spent five months recovering …

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U.S. officials say President Joe Biden is preparing to recognize the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as genocide.The officials, who spoke to several news agencies on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the sensitive topic, said the move could come Saturday, an annual day of commemoration for the victims.During his campaign for president last year, Biden said he would “support a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide and will make universal human rights a top priority.”“I expect we will have more to say about Remembrance Day on Saturday,” White House press secretary Jen …

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The United States is warning the Russian government that it is responsible for whatever happens to opposition leader Alexey Navalny, whose condition is reportedly deteriorating while in custody. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine has the story. Camera: Natasha Mozgovaya and Ricardo Marquina Montañana  …

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Police arrested nearly 1,500 people Wednesday during a day of demonstrations throughout Russia calling for freedom for imprisoned opposition leader Alexey Navalny, whose health reportedly is in severe decline after three weeks of hunger striking, according to a group that monitors political detentions.The largest of the protests took place in Moscow, where thousands marched through the center city. Some of the people arrested were seized before the protests even began, including top Navalny associates in Moscow.Navalny’s team called for the unsanctioned demonstrations after weekend reports that his health is deteriorating and his life was in danger.”The situation with Alexey is …

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Over a year ago, when much of the world shuttered as the pandemic swept the globe, Mohammed al-Awas, 46, a Syrian refugee, was stranded with his wife and five children at a gas station in Turkey. Not far from the Greek border, some families were sheltered nearby in an area usually reserved for fixing cars, their personal belongings in black garbage bags piled up along the walls. Dozens of men, women and children, mostly refugees from Syria, loitered outside the station, not sure where to go next. Like the others, al-Awas wanted to cross the river to Greece. Turkey had declared the …

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United Nations human rights experts said Wednesday that jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s life is in “serious danger” and appealed to Moscow to allow Navalny to seek emergency medical treatment in another country.“We urge the Russian authorities to ensure Mr. Navalny has access to his own doctors and to allow him to be evacuated for urgent medical treatment abroad, as they did in August 2020,” the experts said in a statement.The 44-year-old Kremlin critic has been detained since January in a high security prison under conditions that may amount to torture, said the experts, who also contend he has …

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