News
- By RFE/RL
Hints Of 'Imminent' Georgian, Moldovan Applications For EU Membership
The EU ambitions of senior officials in two former Soviet republics have accelerated in the shadow of Russia's full-scale invasion of nearby Ukraine, prompting officials in Brussels, Tbilisi, and Chisinau to predict that Georgian and Moldovan applications could land any day.
The newfound initiative -- in two countries where Russian troops are positioned in defiance of local and international opposition -- follows Ukraine's decision to press its demands for EU membership since tens of thousands of Russian troops crossed its borders from the east, south, and via Belarus from the north.
The EU accession process usually takes years and requires meeting strict criteria that take into account such factors as economic stability, the level of corruption, and respect for human rights. Unanimity among the 27-member bloc is required to allow new members in.
Reuters quoted an anonymous EU official as saying on March 3 that the bloc expected to receive the Georgian and Moldovan applications "imminently."
There was no official confirmation of any timeline from either capital, and sources in Chisinau suggested that momentum to apply this week had come up against internal divisions.
Georgia's and Moldova's efforts to forge closer ties with the West have long angered Russia.
Moldova shares a roughly 1,200-kilometer border with Ukraine, including Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniester, which has a heavily Russian-speaking population.
Georgia has a nearly 900-kilometer-long border with southern Russia, including the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, whose independence Moscow has backed diplomatically and militarily since a five-day war in 2008.
Tbilisi and Chisinau have each resisted joining EU-wide sanctions against Russia since the Ukraine escalation.
But Irakli Kobakhidze, chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, announced his party's decision "to immediately apply for the EU membership" at a news conference on March 2.
Georgia had been planning to submit the application in 2024, but the party decided to apply in an expedited manner due to the changed situation in the world.
Two sources close to the Moldovan government who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak officially suggested to an RFE/RL correspondent that a decision had been made late on March 2 to apply the following day.
But they later said the plans were on hold.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu issued a fresh call in 2020 for Moscow to withdraw its 1,500 or so holdover troops from a post-Soviet separatist dispute in the region.
Separatists in Transdniester, the sliver of land between the Dniester River and the Moldovan–Ukrainian border, have effectively controlled the area since shortly after the Soviet Union's disintegration in the early 1990s.
Both Georgia and Ukraine have signed Association Agreements with the EU "on economic integration and political approximation" and free trade, which are not guarantees for eventual membership.
As Russian troops continued their attacks this week throughout Ukraine, officials in Kyiv suggested they were awaiting signals of an EU willingness to accept an accelerated Ukrainian application for membership.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Georgian Service, Rikard Jozwiak, Reuters, and AFP
All Of The Latest News
- By RFE/RL
U.K. Accuses Russia Of Deploying Destructive 'Vacuum Bombs' In Ukraine
The United Kingdom has accused Russia of deploying thermobaric weapons systems in Ukraine, raising fears there could be an escalation of the damage being done as Moscow intensifies its assault on major cities a week after invading its neighbor.
"How far (Russian President Vladimir Putin) will go, what weapons he will authorize to achieve his ultimate aim, is unknown but we've seen the use of massive amounts of artillery. We've seen the deployment of thermobaric artillery weapon systems and we worry how broad those could go," British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on March 3 during a visit to NATO ally Estonia.
He did not elaborate.
Ukraine's government and human rights groups have already accused Russia of possibly using thermobaric weapons, while some military experts say video footage appears to show Russian military equipment capable of launching such weapons entering Ukraine during the invasion.
Russia has not commented on the issue.
Thermobaric weapons, sometimes called "vacuum bombs," basically suck in oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a higher-temperature explosion than conventional bombs.
Though not illegal, their usage is controversial because they are much more devastating than conventional explosives of similar size, and have a devastating impact on anyone caught in their blast radius.
The United States used them Vietnam and more recently in Afghanistan to destroy mountain caves where militants were hiding.
Russia used them in its war in Chechnya in 1999 and was condemned by Human Rights Watch for doing so.
Russian-made thermobaric weapons also were reportedly used in the Syrian civil war by the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
With reporting by The Guardian and the BBC
- By RFE/RL
IAEA's Grossi To Visit Iran As Nuclear Deal's Fate Hangs In Balance
The director-general of the UN's atomic energy agency will travel to Iran on March 5 to meet with Iranian officials as Tehran and world powers continue to negotiate a possible return to a crippled nuclear agreement.
"Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi will travel to Tehran for meetings with senior Iranian officials on Saturday," the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement on March 3.
The plans for a visit were first reported by an Iranian news agency affiliated with that country's top security body.
"If Grossi's trip could help the agency and Tehran to reach a road map to resolve existing safeguard issues, it can help revival of the nuclear deal in Vienna," the Nournews agency said.
Numerous rounds of talks including U.S. and Iranian negotiators have been held in the Austrian capital over the past year to reach a new agreement to replace a 2015 deal exchanging curbs on Iranian nuclear activities for sanctions relief.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of that deal in 2018 and reinstated crippling sanctions against Iran, and Tehran subsequently fell out of compliance with some terms of the agreement.
Progress has been reported but Tehran wants the issue of uranium traces found at old but undeclared sites to be dropped and closed permanently, Reuters quoted an anonymous Iranian official as saying.
On February 26, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Twitter that Tehran was "seriously reviewing a draft of a [new] agreement."
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on March 2 urged Iran to move quickly to resolve any remaining issues and said a decision "must not be postponed any longer and cannot be postponed any longer."
Russian envoy Mikhail Ulyanov, who has been widely regarded as the most publicly optimistic among the delegation leaders on the prospect of a new deal, told Reuters that "we are one minute from the finish line."
The IAEA said Grossi would address journalists after returning from Iran to Vienna late on March 5.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
Ekho Moskvy, One Of Russia's Last Independent Broadcasters, Closes Amid Government Crackdown
Ekho Moskvy, an independent Russian media outlet critical of the Kremlin, has decided to close amid moves by the government to restrict its outreach.
"By a majority vote of the board of directors of Ekho Moskvy, a decision was made to liquidate the radio channel and the website of Ekho Moskvy," the broadcaster, one of the few remaining independent media outlets in Russia, said in a statement on Telegram.
The move comes after the Prosecutor-General's Office took the Ekho Moskvy radio station off the air for broadcasting what the authorities called information "calling for extremist activities, violence, and premeditated false information" about Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Another independent broadcaster, television channel Dozhd TV, announced on March 1 that its website was blocked in Russia by order of the Prosecutor-General's Office amid a harsh crackdown by authorities on independent media outlets.
Ekho Moskvy first aired on August 22, 1990, in Moscow. Before the war with Ukraine, the radio station was taken off the air only once, during the State Committee for the Emergency Situation coup in 1991.
National media watchdog Roskomnadzor has warned media across the country that Russia's actions in Ukraine cannot be called a "war" or an "invasion," and should instead be referred to as a "special military operation in Ukraine."
The media regulator on February 28 blocked Current Time and the Crimea.Realities project of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service for refusing to delete their reports about the war in Ukraine.
On March 2, the editorial offices of RFE/RL's Russian Service received six notifications from Roskomnadzor late on March 2 in which the Russian media-monitoring agency threatened to block the service's website amid ongoing coverage of the conflict in Ukraine.
RFE/RL last week rejected Roskomnadzor's threat to block its Current Time website in Russia unless it deleted information about the invasion.
Russia's Debt Ratings Slashed To Junk On Sanctions Over Ukraine Invasion
Two major debt ratings agencies have slashed Russia's sovereign assessment to junk status after the West slapped a series of crippling sanctions on Moscow for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Both Fitch and Moody's said late on March 2 that they now designated Russian debt as junk, a category of countries that are seen as being at risk of not repaying their debt.
Moody's now puts the rating on Russian long-term debt at B3, down from Baa3, while Fitch lowered its rating from BBB to B. Both ratings have a negative outlook, meaning they could be downgraded further.
Russia's ruble has plummeted to record lows and the country's borrowing costs have risen sharply after the West imposed the sanctions, which have limited Russia's ability to transact in foreign currencies such as dollars and euros, frozen the assets of multiple Russian banks, and cut off Russia's banks from the SWIFT messaging system banks use to transmit information globally.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
- By RFE/RL
U.S. Alleges 'Full Assault' By Russia On 'Media And Truth,' As RFE/RL Fields Website Threat
The U.S. State Department has accused Moscow of mounting "a full assault on media freedom and the truth" as officials there seek to "mislead and suppress" information about Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The statement follows Russian media closures and the detention of hundreds of people in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other Russian cities since anti-war protests erupted following Russian President Vladimir Putin's launch of the full-scale attack on Ukraine on February 24.
"The people of Russia did not choose this war. Putin did," the State Department said. "They have a right to know about the death, suffering, and destruction being inflicted by their government on the people of Ukraine. The people of Russia also have a right to know about the human costs of this senseless war to their own soldiers."
Roskomnadzor earlier warned media across the country that Russia's invasion of Ukraine cannot be called "war" or an "invasion," and should instead be referred to as a "special military operation in Ukraine."
The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in its first extraordinary session in decades on March 2 to "deplore" Russia's "aggression against Ukraine" and demand a withdrawal of troops.
The editorial offices of RFE/RL's Russian Service received six notifications from Roskomnadzor late on March 2 in which the Russian media-monitoring agency threatened to block the service's website amid ongoing coverage of the conflict in Ukraine.
The service reported that Roskomnadzor said it would use its powers to block news on Svoboda.org about the shelling of Kharkiv, in Ukraine, as well as the hacking of some Russian websites by cyber-actors sympathetic to Ukraine and material about social-media reactions to the hostilities.
The media regulator said the materials "delivered deliberately false socially significant information about Russia's alleged attack on the territory of Ukraine" in ways that could "create panic among people."
RFE/RL last week rejected Roskomnadzor's threat to block its Current Time website in Russia unless it deleted information about the invasion.
"We will not comply," RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said, defending the organization's factual reporting about soldiers killed or captured in Ukraine.
One of Russia's leading media outlets, Moscow radio station Ekho Moskvy, was taken off the air amid a Russian crackdown on independent media covering Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to editor in chief Aleksei Venediktov.
And Tikhon Dzyadko, the chief editor of the independent online television channel Dozhd TV, said on March 2 that and colleagues had left Russia indefinitely after the channel's website was blocked by government authorities.
The State Department said both were "baselessly" accused of wrongdoing and noted that they are respected news outlets with histories of accurate reporting.
It also cited the Russian government's "throttling Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram platforms" that are used by many Russians.
It said Roskomnadzor had "threatened to block other online platforms and Golos Ameriki (VOA Russian) if they do not comply with requests to take down reporting on Russia's invasion.
"We call upon Putin and his government to honor Russia's international obligations and commitments, to immediately cease this bloodshed, withdraw its troops from Ukraine's territory, and to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of their own citizens," the State Department said.
- By RFE/RL
Fears For Ukrainian Civilians Mount As 'Deplorable' Russian Invasion Enters Second Week
Major Ukrainian cities including the capital, Kyiv, have reported stepped-up bombardment as Russia's unprovoked invasion entered its second week and UN members condemned Moscow's actions as "deplorable" and demanded that Russia withdraw.
Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine
Check out RFE/RL's live briefing on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and how Kyiv is fighting and the West is reacting. The briefing presents the latest developments and analysis, updated throughout the day.
Concerns for civilians caught in the fighting intensified on March 3 as Russian and Ukrainian officials prepared to meet for cease-fire talks that could include discussion of humanitarian corridors.
An aide to Ukraine's president said such access could help with food, medicine, ambulances, and the evacuation of children.
The UN human rights office said on March 3 that it has recorded 136 civilian deaths in Ukraine in the week since the invasion was launched, including 13 children.
Ukraine's national emergency service has said more than 2,000 civilians have died, but that figure was impossible to confirm.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned on France-2 television that "I think it is possible that the worst is ahead of us" in Ukraine. He said France would propose a resolution to the UN Security Council later on March 3 to demand a cease-fire in Ukraine.
But Russia's veto power made progress on such a proposal unlikely.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a video address to the public early on March 3, urged Ukrainians to maintain their resistance.
"They will have no peace here," Zelenskiy said of Russian invaders. He described Russian troops as "confused children who have been used" and called on them to "go home."
Russian troops were meanwhile reported to have reached the center of their first sizable Ukrainian city since the all-out conflict began but it was unclear who controlled the Black Sea coastal city of Kherson.
Kherson's mayor, Ihor Kolykhayev, said late on March 2 that Russian troops were in the streets of that city of nearly 300,000 people and had entered the local council building.
He said he had spoken to the "armed visitors" and made no promises but, "I just asked them not to shoot people."
Regional official Hennady Lakhuta was quoted as saying "occupiers" were in "all parts" of Kherson.
A U.K. intelligence update on Ukraine early on March 3 said that while some Russian forces had entered Kherson, the military situation was unclear.
British intelligence said that despite heavy Russian shelling, Kharkiv and the cities of Chernihiv and Mariupol remained in Ukrainian hands.
But it said Mariupol, a large port city on the Azov Sea, appeared to be encircled by Russian forces.
A powerful rocket attack was reported in Sumy, with multiple casualties, according to the head of the regional state administration of the region, Dmytro Zhivitskiy.
At least four major blasts were reported overnight in Kyiv.
But the U.K. intelligence report echoed other sources in saying a huge military column extending tens of kilometers north of the capital had made little apparent progress over the past three days.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko told Current Time on March 2 that there were "obvious plans" by Russian troops to surround the capital and that they planned to strangle Kyiv with a blockade.
Ukrainian officials lowered expectations as they headed to the planned cease-fire talks with Russian representatives on March 3 in the southern Belarusian region of Brest.
Zelenskiy has said Russian forces must stop bombarding Ukrainian cities before meaningful cease-fire talks can begin on halting the biggest military operation to invade a European state since World War II.
The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said the sides would also discuss a possible humanitarian corridor in Ukraine.
Similar Russia-Ukraine talks on February 28 ended with no progress.
WATCH: Russian soldiers have been seen looting grocery stores and banks in several Ukrainian cities. Security camera footage posted on social media showed Russian soldiers grabbing food and trying to steal a safe.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague announced on March 2 that his team had begun gathering evidence "as rapidly as possible" over allegations of war crimes and other atrocities, following appeals from 39 countries for an investigation of events in Ukraine.
"In particular, I am satisfied that there is a reasonable basis to believe that both alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in Ukraine in relation to the events already assessed during the preliminary examination by the office," prosecutor Karim Khan said.
The UN's refugee agency said on March 3 that 1 million people had fled Ukraine in the past seven days to find safety in neighboring countries.
Train stations and border checkpoints with Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and Hungary were jammed with mostly women and children.
Ukrainian authorities have barred men aged 18-60 from leaving the country, as military and reserve troops and civil-defense groups battle tens of thousands of Russian troops and paratroopers, aerial bombardment, and columns of tanks and armored vehicles.
The United Nations plenum approved a nonbinding resolution late on March 2 that "deplores" Russia's "aggression against Ukraine." It was supported by 141 of the assembly's 193 members.
Thirty-five members, including China and Russian allies Iran and Cuba, abstained, and five countries, including Russia, Syria, and Belarus, voted against the resolution.
The U.S. State Department also called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to "immediately cease this bloodshed" and withdraw Russian troops, and condemned blocks and threatened blocks on independent news outlets and the authorities' "throttling" of social media.
Protests in Russia against the invasion of Ukraine have incurred mass arrests, and Russian authorities have imposed broad bans on the use of words like "war" or "invasion" to describe events in Ukraine.
International measures to punish Russia's invasion of its neighbor have continued.
The United States announced new sanctions against Russia and the introduction of strict controls on the export of high-tech products to Belarus.
India and Australia announced that U.S. President Joe Biden and the leaders of India, Australia, and Japan would hold an previously unannounced online meeting of the so-called Quad group of countries.
Japan's NHK national broadcaster said they would likely discuss and coordinate responses to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
In the European Union, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban reportedly said his country would not veto another round of EU sanctions against Russia. He said that "unity is paramount" at this point, according to local outlet Mandiner.hu.
Ukrainian former world heavyweight boxing champion Volodymyr Klitschko, brother of the Kyiv mayor, praised the international sports community for its response "standing together" to pressure Moscow with bans on Russian organizations and participation in major events.
"Ban Russian teams from participating. I have nothing against the athletes but they are presenting the regime and in some way the connection with this war," Klitschko said.
Later, the International Paralympic Committee announced that athletes from Russia and Belarus, which allowed Russian military staging near the border, will not be able to compete at the Winter Paralympics in Beijing set to begin on March 4.
Russia's Defense Ministry on March 2 gave its first casualty estimates since launching the unprovoked invasion. It said 498 of its soldiers have died since the war started last week, while a spokesman added on Twitter that another 1,597 Russian soldiers had been wounded.
The numbers could not be independently verified and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine, which has said Russia's casualty numbers are close to 6,000.
The Ukrainian military's General Staff said on March 3 that Russia's casualty numbers are around 9,000, another figure that is impossible to verify.
With reporting by Current Time, RFE/RL's Russian Service, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, Reuters, BBC, CNN, and AFP
Seven Romanian Soldiers Die In Crash of Military Helicopter Sent To Search For Missing Fighter Jet
Seven Romanian soldiers died on March 2 when their helicopter crashed in eastern Romania while searching for a missing fighter jet, the Defense Ministry said.
The IAR 330-Puma helicopter crashed in the area of Gura Dobrogei, about 10 kilometers from the airfield.
It had been sent to search for the fighter jet, a MiG-21 Lancer, which had taken off earlier and lost contact with the control tower and disappeared from radar three minutes after taking off around 8 p.m. local time, the ministry said.
The remains of the helicopter and those on board were later discovered. All seven members of the crew died, Defense Minister Vasile Dincu said early on March 3.
Defense Ministry spokesman Constantin Spanu said the fighter jet had not yet been found, but witnesses cited in Romanian media said they saw an explosion in the area where it disappeared from the radar.
The pilot of the helicopter reported adverse weather conditions and had been ordered to return to base, Spanu said.
"It is premature to discuss possible causes. Certainly, there were unfavorable weather conditions, but we can't comment now," he told Digi24 television, adding that two commissions of inquiry had been set up.
No information linked the crashes to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis sent a message of condolence expressing "deep regret and full compassion for the loss of life of seven soldiers."
With reporting by AFP and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
UN Nuclear Watchdog Consults With Ukraine, Russia On Securing Nuclear Power Plants
Ukraine's nuclear regulator has appealed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for help in securing its nuclear power plants as Russia's invasion raises concerns for the safety of the facilities.
IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said at a special meeting of the agency in Vienna on March 2 that the UN nuclear watchdog was working with "all sides" to explore how the plants and their staffs could be supported.
"Since these consultations are ongoing, I would not be in a position to tell you right now what kind or when this assistance is going to be delivered," Grossi told a news conference, adding that it could include sending IAEA experts, but that is unlikely any time soon.
"Having access to what is basically a war zone would be extremely delicate," Grossi said at a press conference.
Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine
Check out RFE/RL's live briefing on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and how Kyiv is fighting and the West is reacting. The briefing presents the latest developments and analysis, updated throughout the day.
Grossi reported earlier that Russian forces had taken control of the nuclear power station in Zaporizhzhya, the largest of Ukraine's four nuclear plants, citing a letter sent to him from Russian diplomats.
Both Moscow and Kyiv have said that the Zaporizhzhya plant and other nuclear power stations in Ukraine are operating normally.
Concerns have been growing about the safety of Ukraine's nuclear sites since Moscow launched the attack. Grossi repeated his warning that there was a risk of a serious nuclear accident as fighting continues.
"The best action to ensure the safety and security of Ukraine's nuclear facilities and its people would be for this armed conflict to end now," he said.
So far, damage has been reported at two nuclear waste-storage sites as a result of the war, and Russian units captured the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
There was a slight increase in radiation readings at Chernobyl, site of a major nuclear disaster in 1986, after military vehicles stirred up radioactive soil.
With reporting by AFP, dpa, and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Blinken Heads To Europe To Reassure Allies Of U.S. Support
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced plans to travel to Europe to reaffirm Washington's support for Ukraine, saying that the human costs of Russia's invasion of Ukraine were already "staggering."
The courage of the Ukrainian people in the face of the "unwarranted, unprovoked, and unjustified war" is inspiring the world, Blinken said at a news conference at the State Department.
Blinken noted that earlier on March 2 the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a nonbinding resolution deploring Russia's invasion.
He said passage of the resolution, which was supported by about three-quarters of UN members, showed that the international community "stands against Russia's reckless attempts to change the border of another country."
Blinken also said the United States "will support diplomatic efforts" by Kyiv to reach a cease-fire and the withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine.
"If there are diplomatic steps that we can take that the Ukrainian government believes would be helpful, we're prepared to take them, even as we continue to support Ukraine's ability to defend itself," he said.
Blinken also said he was confident that military assistance from NATO is getting into Ukraine and reiterated that NATO allies have said they are determined to defend "every inch of NATO territory."
Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine
Check out RFE/RL's live briefing on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and how Kyiv is fighting and the West is reacting. The briefing presents the latest developments and analysis, updated throughout the day.
Blinken will leave for Brussels on March 3 for meetings with his counterparts from the European Union and NATO countries. From there he will travel to Poland, which has taken in more than 450,000 Ukrainian refugees.
Blinken will make a stop in Moldova, which has also taken in thousands of refugees. He is to meet in Chisinau with President Maia Sandu, who was elected in 2020 on a pro-Western platform, Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita, and Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu.
Moldova is not a NATO member but has relations with the alliance and has long objected to a Russian military presence in the breakaway region of Transdniester, which gained de facto independence following a brief war in 1992.
Blinken will also go to the Baltics. Leaders of the three NATO member states have expressed concerns about a Russian attack.
NATO has pledged to reinforce its military resources in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia as well as in Poland and Romania.
With reporting by AFP and Reuters
Kazakh Activist Sentenced To 15 Days In Jail Over Unsanctioned Public Event
ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A court in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, has sentenced rights activist and journalist Aigerim Tleuzhanova to 15 days in jail over her participation in an unsanctioned mass gathering to commemorate victims of the deadly unrest in January.
Tleuzhanova was sentenced on March 2 after a court found her guilty of violating the law on public gatherings.
Tleuzhanova pleaded not guilty, saying that she was at the gathering in Almaty's central square on February 13 as a journalist.
Rights lawyer Erlan Qaliev said to RFE/RL that Tleuzhanova was covering the gathering for the Elmedia television channel.
Also on March 2, another activist, Marat Turymbetov, and a well-known businessman, Bolat Abilov, were fined 150,000 tenges ($312) each for organizing the February 13 event.
Kazakh authorities say 227 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, were killed across the country after a peaceful demonstration in the tightly controlled Central Asian state's western region of Manghystau on January 2 over a fuel-price hike led to widespread anti-government protests.
Human rights groups say the number of those killed was much higher, providing evidence that there were peaceful demonstrators and persons who had nothing to do with the protests among those killed by law enforcement and military personnel.
Authorities say some 800 people have been arrested over the unrest and an investigation is under way. There are reports that those in custody have been tortured in custody.
The Prosecutor-General's Office said on March 2 that 62 people arrested over the deadly unrests had been sentenced to prison.
Bulgaria Expels Two Russian Diplomats It Accuses Of Spying
SOFIA -- Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry says that it is expelling two Russian diplomats for allegedly spying, and has given them 48 hours to leave the country.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mitko Dimitrov told reporters that prosecutors had found evidence of "unauthorized spying activities incompatible with their diplomatic status."
Foreign Minister Teodora Genchovska confirmed the move to journalists at Bulgarian parliament in the capital.
The ministry said one of the diplomats was a counsellor at Moscow's embassy in Sofia. It did not give any details on the second diplomat being expelled.
Russia's state TASS news agency quoted the Russian Embassy in Sofia as saying Moscow would respond in kind to the expulsions.
- By RFE/RL
Abramovich Announces Decision To Sell Chelsea Soccer Team
Russian businessman Roman Abramovich says he has decided to sell English Premier League soccer team Chelsea and use the proceeds to set up a charitable foundation "for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine."
Abramovich said in statement published by the team on its website that he believes a sale is in the overall interest of the team.
"In the current situation, I have therefore taken the decision to sell the club, as I believe this is in the best interest of the club, the fans, the employees, as well as the club's sponsors and partners."
Abramovich said he would not ask for loans he has made to the club to be repaid to him and the sale would not be fast-tracked.
Abramovich last week unexpectedly turned over the "stewardship and care" of the team to its charitable foundation trustees.
The Russian billionaire, who bought the team in 2003, announced the move on February 26 after a member of the British Parliament called for the Russian to hand over the club following Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Abramovich said at the time he would still own the club, but control of its activities would go to the trustees.
Now he said he told his aides to set up a charitable foundation that would receive all net proceeds from the sale.
"The foundation will be for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine," Abramovich said in the statement.
"This includes providing critical funds towards the urgent and immediate needs of victims, as well as supporting the long-term work of recovery."
The decision, he said, had been "incredibly difficult" and "it pains me to part with the club in this manner."
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and dpa
Kazakhstan Summons U.K. Ambassador Over Lawmaker's Call For Sanctions
NUR-SULTAN -- Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry has summoned the British ambassador to Kazakhstan for an explanation of a British lawmaker's comments about imposing sanctions on the Central Asian country over its alleged support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his policies, including the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops.
The controversy erupted when Member of Parliament Margaret Hodge, asked British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss during a debate on sanctions against Russia over its attack on Ukraine, if similar measures could be imposed on Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan for what Hodge called their support of Putin and his policies.
Hodge was referring to comments by Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi on the situation in Ukraine after he echoed the sentiments of Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev.
Toqaev said after Russia started the full-scale attack on Ukraine on February 24 that the conflict must be solved diplomatically, but stressed that Kazakhstan supports Moscow's policies on the "indivisible security in Eurasia," a concept Russia has been pushing forward while demanding NATO stop expanding eastward and opposing Ukraine's plans to join NATO.
But Deputy Foreign Minister Shakhrat Nuryshev said on March 2 that Tileuberdi's statements were not articulating Kazakhstan's official position on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Georgia Sees Chance To Advance EU Aspirations After Kyiv Presses Same Desire
Georgia plans to submit an application to join the European Union on March 3,following Ukraine's decision to press its demands for membership in the face of Russia's invasion.
Irakli Kobakhidze, chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, announced his party's decision "to immediately apply for the EU membership" at a news conference on March 2.
Georgia had been planning to submit the application in 2024 but the party decided to apply in an expedited manner due to the changed situation in the world.
Earlier on March 2, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he and European Council President Charles Michel had discussed the situation on the battlefield and diplomatic efforts during a phone call.
Zelenskiy said Kyiv was "waiting for the positive signals about Ukraine's membership in the EU."
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Ukraine was working to quickly finalize accession procedures but that everything depended on the political will of the EU.
"The EU has shown itself to be able to make fundamental decisions when it had political will," Kuleba said. "Now is the time to make such a decision on our membership."
The accession process usually takes years and requires meeting strict criteria that take into account such factors as economic stability, fighting corruption, and respect for human rights. Unanimity among the 27-member bloc is required to allow new members in.
Both Georgia and Ukraine have signed Association Agreements with the EU "on economic integration and political approximation" and free trade, which are not guarantees for eventual membership.
The two former Soviet republics' efforts to forge closer ties with the West have long angered Russia. Tensions over Georgia's efforts culminated in a Russian invasion in 2008.
Kobakhidze called on the EU to consider Georgia's application urgently. Georgia's goal is to become an economically strong and secure European country, and every step, including the decision on the EU membership application, serves this purpose, he said at the news conference.
In recent years Georgia has had a number of achievements on its path to EU integration, Kobakhidze added, citing the Association Agreement and a free-trade agreement.
Georgia has implemented many reforms that have brought the country closer to EU standards, he said.
"A logical continuation of this effort is our decision today to submit an application immediately and obtain candidate status," Kobakhidze told reporters.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
UN Approves Resolution Deploring Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine
A rare special session of the United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution that deplores "in the strongest terms" Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The resolution, approved on March 2 by 141 members of the 193-member body, demands that Russia immediately stop its war in Ukraine and withdraw all of its troops from Ukrainian territory.
Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine
Check out RFE/RL's live briefing on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and how Kyiv is fighting and the West is reacting. The briefing presents the latest developments and analysis, updated throughout the day.
- By Current Time
Kyiv Mayor Klitschko Speaks Of Ukrainians' 'Colossal Will,' Saying 'No Iron Can Defeat Us'
- By Current Time
Dozhd TV Chief Leaves Russia Fearing For Safety
The chief editor of the television channel Dozhd TV says he has left Russia after the independent online channel's website was blocked by government authorities.
Tikhon Dzyadko said in a statement on the Podyom Telegram channel on March 2 that he and several of his colleagues had left the country indefinitely amid a harsh crackdown by authorities on independent media outlets.
"After the illegal blockage of Dozhd's site, Dozhd's accounts in several social networks, as well as threats addressed to some of our employees, it became obvious that the personal safety of some of us is now under threat," Dzyadko said.
Dzyadko's announcement came a day after Dozhd's website was blocked in Russia by order of the Prosecutor-General's Office. It also took the Ekho Moskvy radio station off the air for distributing what the authorities called information "calling for extremist activities, violence, and premeditated false information" about Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Roskomnadzor has warned media across the country that Russia's actions in Ukraine cannot be called a "war" or an "invasion," and should instead be referred to as a "special military operation in Ukraine."
The media regulator on February 28 blocked Current Time and the Crimea.Realities project of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service for refusing to delete their reports about the war in Ukraine.
Belarusian Prosecutors Seek 18 Months In Prison For RFE/RL Correspondent
MINSK -- Prosecutors have told a court in Minsk that they are seeking an 18-month prison term for RFE/RL correspondent Aleh Hruzdzilovich for taking part in mass protests against the 2020 presidential election.
As the trial kicked off on March 2 at the Soviet district court, judges barred many supporters, friends, and colleagues of Hruzdzilovich from attending the proceedings even though there were many empty places.
Hruzdzilovich's wife, Maryana, was in attendance at the court but was not allowed to speak to her husband, while a journalist from Russia's Sputnik new agency was allowed to be near the glass cage where Hruzdzilovich sat.
The plaintiff in the case, the Mensktrans city transportation agency, told the court that Hruzdzilovich "caused financial damage" to the company by taking part in three unsanctioned rallies, which cost it business.
Mensktrans has demanded Hruzdzilovich pay more than $20,000 "in compensation."
Hruzdzilovich has denied the charge, saying he was at the rallies in a working capacity as a journalist.
At one demonstration, he said he was working as an correspondent with accreditation issued by the Foreign Ministry, while at the other two protests he was working as a correspondent for the Narodnaya volya (People's will) newspaper.
An editor at Narodnaya volya, Yosif Syaredzich, corroborated Hruzdzilovich's testimony, saying he had been assigned by the newspaper to report from the rallies in question.
Hruzdzilovich was arrested in December 2021 as Belarusian authorities continued their harsh crackdown on independent media, rights activists, and democratic institutions in the wake of the protests against the official results, which handed authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth term in office.
The opposition and West say the vote was rigged and that opposition candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya won the election. Thousands of people have been detained by security forces in the crackdown.
RFE/RL President Jamie Fly has condemned the case, saying that "journalism is not a crime.”
- By RFE/RL
EU Cuts Seven Russian Banks From SWIFT, Bans RT And Sputnik
The European Union has cut seven Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system and officially banned Kremlin-controlled media outlets RT and Sputnik from broadcasting in the bloc in response to Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The measures, adopted on March 2, were the latest tightening of Western-coordinated sanctions on Russia for the invasion, now in its seventh day.
The banks named on the list include Bank Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazank, Rossia Bank, Sovcombank, VEB, and VTB. Notably, the list does not include Russia's biggest bank, Sberbank, or Gazprombank, in order to allow EU countries to pay for Russian gas and oil deliveries.
"At the speed of light, the European Union has adopted three waves of heavy sanctions against Russia's financial system, its high-tech industries, and its corrupt elite," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.
"This is the largest sanctions package in our union's history. Today's decision to disconnect key Russian banks from the SWIFT network will send yet another very clear signal to Putin and the Kremlin," she added.
The EU said the decision, agreed with the United States and the United Kingdom, will keep the banks from being able to quickly and efficiently conduct financial transactions.
"Today's decision builds on the wide-ranging and unprecedented packages of measures the EU has been taking in response to Russia's acts of aggression on Ukraine's territorial integrity. These sanctions will have massive and severe consequences for Russia," the EU said.
In a separate action, the EU also banned broadcasts by RT, formerly known as Russia Today, and Sputnik as "an important step against Putin's manipulation operation and turning off the tap for Russian state-controlled media in the EU," foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.
The measure restricts Sputnik and RT channels targeted at Britain, Germany, and France, and its channels in English and Spanish in the European media market regardless of their distribution channel.
On March 1 Google Europe said it was blocking YouTube channels associated with RT and Sputnik.
SWIFT, or the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, is a secure system that helps enable cross-border payments, allowing international trade flow more smoothly.
With reporting by Rikard Jowziak
- By Current Time
Kyiv Mayor Klitschko Says Russian Troops Plan To Surround City, Vows To Fight
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko says Russian troops have surrounded the Ukrainian capital and plan to strangle it through a blockade as Moscow's attack on Ukrainian towns and cities continues.
Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine
Check out RFE/RL's live briefing on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and how Kyiv is fighting and the West is reacting. The briefing presents the latest developments and analysis, updated throughout the day.
Klitschko told Current Time on March 2 that Ukrainian troops continue to disrupt such attempts by the Russian troops and have been finding sabotage groups operating in Kyiv.
"I can say that there are obvious plans by Russians [to surround the capital to take it in a blockade]," Klitschko, a former world heavyweight boxing champion, said.
"At this moment, our guys are returning a proper response to them. Even the groups that reach Kyiv's outskirts are being kicked several kilometers back," he said, adding that “we will do everything we can" to break any blockade.
Klitschko said that the situation in Kyiv is "tense, but comparatively calm," emphasizing that despite intensive shelling of the city by Russian troops, the communication sector is working properly in the Ukrainian capital.
He added that a television tower bombed by the Russians on March 1 was again working.
"A huge number of people, civilians are taking part in defending the city.... We have our partners, our will, our beloved land, which we are not going to give up," Klitschko said.
Editors' Picks
Top Trending
'He Has Changed': Putin's Words And Actions Raise Questions About His Rationality
2Zelenskiy Calls For Ukraine's Immediate EU Membership But Bloc Cool On Idea
3Orthodox Clerics Call For Stop To War In Ukraine In Rare Challenge To Russian Government
4Doctor Curses Putin While Trying To Save 6-Year-Old Girl In Mariupol
5From St. Petersburg To Siberia, Russian Anti-War Protests Spread
6Russian Media Websites Hacked, Anonymous Claims Responsibility
7Live Briefing: Ukraine Under Attack
8Ukrainian Man Films Devastation In His Town After Russian Military Column Destroyed
9'Hungry' Russian Soldiers Loot Ukrainian Shops
10Amid Increasing Protests Against War, Moscow Mayor Warns Of Repercussions
Subscribe
