Authorities in Turkey made dozens of new arrests in cities across the country Thursday, after downplaying international criticism — including U.S. condemnation — of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown on university student rallies.    
 
According to police, about 600 people have been detained since January 4 as protests spread in the capital, Ankara, and in Istanbul.
 
Erdogan has accused student demonstrators of being terrorists for protesting his appointment of a new rector at Bogazici University in Istanbul, one of the country’s top schools of higher education.For over a month, students, faculty members and alumni of Bogazici University have protested Erdogan’s appointment of Turkish politician and academic Melih Bulu, demanding an election to choose a rector from the university’s own faculty.Bulu holds a doctorate from Bogazici’s business management program but has never been a full-time academic at the university. Critics accused him of plagiarism in his dissertation and published articles and called for his resignation. Bulu has denied those accusations.His involvement in politics also stirred controversy over his appointment, since he once ran for parliament as a candidate for Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).He told reporters Wednesday he does not intend to resign from his university post. Still, his appointment has been viewed as an assault on academic freedom and sparked the protests.ArrestsPrior to Thursday’s arrests, Turkish police had detained more than 250 protesters in Istanbul and 69 students in Ankara this week, some of whom were released later. At least 51 protesters in Istanbul were referred to court on Wednesday and were released Thursday on bail.On Tuesday, academics wearing their gowns gathered on the Bogazici University campus, their backs turned to the rector’s building in protest, demanding Bulu’s resignation and the release of detained students.Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 79 of the detainees were linked to terror groups such as the far-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C).Erdogan echoed Soylu’s statement in a video address to his ruling AKP on Wednesday, saying the protesters lack Turkey’s “national and spiritual values” and are members of terrorist groups.“This country will not be run by terrorists,” he said. “We will do whatever is needed to prevent this. …We have not stood with terrorists, and we will not.”Rights groups say the Turkish government has broadened the definition of anti-terrorism laws to suppress dissent.“Turkish authorities have a long history of clamping down on free expression through abusive investigations, arbitrary detentions and unfounded prosecutions under vaguely defined anti-terrorism laws,” Deniz Yuksel, a Turkey advocacy specialist at Amnesty International, told VOA.LGBT rightsThe dispute at Bogazici University intensified after a poster depicting the Islamic holy site Kaaba with LGBT flags was displayed in an exhibition on campus as part of protests last week.On January 29, Soylu tweeted about the arrest of four students over the poster, calling them “LGBT deviants.” Later, Twitter placed a warning on Soylu’s tweet, saying it had violated the company’s rules regarding hateful conduct.Two of the detained students were arrested on charges of inciting hatred and insulting religious values.Over the weekend, police raided Bogazici University’s LGBTI+ student club and announced that an investigation for alleged terrorist propaganda was opened against the club after an illegal publication of Kongra-Gel and rainbow flags were found in the club room.Kongra-Gel is an umbrella organization for the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) and its affiliates. The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and the United States.Following the raid, Bulu announced the club’s closure.Some analysts believe Bogazici University’s LGBT community became the latest target of the government’s broad brush to label dissidents as terrorists.“What is most striking in the Bogazici case is that LGBTI individuals are now demonized as criminals and terrorists simply because of their sexual orientation, reflecting how far Turkey has drifted away from fundamental rights and freedoms and the rule of law and due process,” Aykan Erdemir, director of the Turkey program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a former Turkish Parliament member, told VOA.Erdogan praised his party’s youth Monday in a video conference, saying, “You are not the LGBT youth, not the youth who commit acts of vandalism. On the contrary, you are the ones who repair broken hearts.”Two days later, he said, “there is no such thing” as LGBT, adding that “this country is national and spiritual, and will continue to walk into the future as such.”Yuksel of Amnesty International said the Turkish authorities’ recent anti-LGBT statements were “not only a reflection of the government’s homophobia but also a calculated political strategy.”“The authorities’ attacks on LGBT (individuals) are the latest frontier in a culture war launched by President Erdogan in an effort to rally his conservative base ahead of elections scheduled for 2023, though rumors suggest they may be held earlier,” she said.U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Wednesday the United States is concerned about demonstrations at Bogazici University and strongly condemns the anti-LGBT rhetoric surrounding them.The United Nations Human Rights agency on Wednesday condemned “homophobic and transphobic comments by (Turkish) officials” and called for a “prompt release of students and protestors arrested for participating in peaceful demonstrations.”Turkey’s Foreign and Interior ministries did not respond to VOA’s requests for comment. But in a separate statement released Thursday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said, “It was determined that certain groups that are not from the University and are affiliated with terrorist organizations attempted to infiltrate into and provoke the events.
 
In this respect, necessary and proportional measures are taken within the law against these illegal acts that go beyond the scope of the right to protest.”Bogazici’s significanceBogazici University was established in 1863 as Robert College by U.S. missionaries and became a public university in 1971.As one of Turkey’s most prestigious universities, its admission is highly competitive, as only the top percentile of the 2.4 million students competing in a national placement exam at Turkish universities study there free of charge.“Bogazici University has been the gold standard of meritocracy and vertical mobility in Turkey,” Erdemir of FDD said.“The university’s pioneer role in introducing Western scholarship and values has made it a target of Turkey’s various Islamist and ultranationalist factions, who accuse the institution of serving ‘foreign’ interests,’” he said.
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Some 80 journalists are included among the thousands of people who have been detained across Russia during protests over the arrest and sentencing of opposition politician Alexey Navalny.Several of the journalists were beaten. At least one was jailed because of posts on social media about the unrest.The strong tactics used by security forces to contain protests, and the retaliation against independent journalists covering them, were no surprise to Russian politicians, analysts and journalists interviewed by VOA. What was less expected was Russia’s inability to stem the flow of information about Navalny’s case and the rallies in his support.FILE – A still image taken from video footage shows Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny inside a defendant dock during the announcement of a court verdict in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 2, 2021.The protests started shortly after Navalny was detained January 17 when he returned to Russia from Germany, where he was treated after being poisoned. A Moscow court sentenced him Tuesday to two years and eight months in prison, prompting more demonstrations.Part of Navalny’s defense has been to use social media and journalism platforms to reach supporters and draw attention to President Vladimir Putin’s lavish lifestyle and what Navalny says were attempts by the Kremlin to poison him. Russia denies the allegation.Navalny has shared details of his persecution with his 6.5 million followers on Twitter and Instagram — numbers that equal or exceed the audiences of mainstream Russian news outlets. His Anti-Corruption Foundation used investigative journalism techniques and YouTube to detail allegations of high-level corruption. And news outlets, including the investigative website Bellingcat, have reported on Russia’s alleged attempts to surveil and poison him.FILE – The U.S. head office of TikTok is seen in Culver City, California, Sept. 15, 2020.Navalny’s media-savvy approach and use of new platforms have knocked Moscow off balance. With independent media largely suppressed and viewers turning away from state TV — which rarely covers issues that may anger the Kremlin — Russians have looked to international outlets or niche media for their news. They use a range of social media platforms, including TikTok, Telegram and others, to share information and reporting.Russia has attempted to block access to some of these sites through laws regulating posts and by warning platforms against sharing information about the protests. Pro-Kremlin trolls have tried to counter opposition voices on social media with limited success.The Kremlin argues the platforms are being used to incite unrest or spread what it deems to be extremist views, and that regulations are needed to prevent the spread of disinformation.The Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not respond to VOA’s email requesting comment.Mass protestsWhile the scenes in recent days were reminiscent of the anti-government rallies in 2011 and 2012, analysts say society has drastically changed, along with the communication channels used to share information and cover events.FILE – Russian opposition candidate Dmitry Gudkov gestures during his interview with the Associated Press in Moscow, March 11, 2020.”In 2011-2012, they stood up against fraudulent elections. Now, the protest has become more personalized,” Russian politician Dmitry Gudkov told VOA, adding that people now are out protesting against Putin.“And in response, Putin and his forces have hit back by detaining or retaliating against activists, independent journalists and social media that cover investigations into his administration,” he said.Gudkov was a member of the State Duma (lower house of the Federal Assembly) during the 2011 protests. His support for the movement led to his suspension from the Spravedlivaya Rossiya (Fair Russia) Party. He later led the opposition Civic Initiative Party, which the Supreme Court suspended in 2020.Social mediaIn 2011, Facebook was the primary platform.“Now, information is distributed across different social media and messengers,” said FILE – This picture taken on Jan. 22, 2021 in Rennes, France, shows a smartphone screen featuring messaging service applications WhatsApp, Signal, telegram, Viber, Discord and Olvid.In 2018, Russian officials tried to block Telegram. But they failed to prevent users from accessing the site, and the ban was overturned in 2020.“Authorities continuously threaten to block social media if they allow postings about protests,” Kozlovsky said. “A new law allowing the blocking of social media was adopted just a month ago,” he added, referring to legislation requiring social networks to filter information deemed to show “disrespect for society, the state, the Constitution,” or that calls for riots.Foreign broadcastsAlongside social media, another challenge to the official narrative comes from foreign media that provide coverage in Russian, including VOA, BBC, Deutsche Welle and RFE/RFL, journalists say.Audiences for foreign media have grown in Russia because of widespread censorship across major media outlets and efforts by the Kremlin to eliminate almost all local independent media in the country.”It’s clear for the Kremlin that journalists drive the liberal opposition in Russia. And they oppose the regime by reporting the truth on the internet,” said Maria Snegovaya, a visiting scholar at the George Washington University Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies. “People who know the truth about the government become an opposition, too, and we can see this in polls. In this regard, of course, the masks are pulled off, and the regime no longer pretends to be friendly. The regime considers journalists as enemies.”FILE – The logo of German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle is pictured in Berlin, Germany, Jan. 30, 2020.The recent unrest was widely covered by mostly foreign media. Live coverage of Navalny’s arrest carried by “Current Time,” a daily Russian-language news show produced by RFE/RL and VOA, and Deutsche Welle, garnered hundreds of thousands of views and was shared on social media and other outlets.This fits a wider pattern of audiences looking to investigative journalism and social media platforms for news not covered by state media.In 2020, the nonprofit investigative media outlet Proekt published several articles that looked at corruption among Putin’s acquaintances.FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a joint meeting of the country’s State Council and the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects via a videoconference at Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, Dec. 23, 2020.The Kremlin may be slow to recognize the power of these platforms, but veterans of the Russian opposition movement say they anticipate repression toward civil society and media.”I don’t know what exactly they will do, but the reaction to the protests will be tough,” Kozlovsky said.Goncharov said he suspects authorities will hire bloggers to “push their propaganda on these platforms.”A counteroffensive already appears to be in play. Popular Russian bloggers and celebrities posted similar videos on Instagram and TikTok in which they criticized the protesters and praised Putin.FILE – Pop singer Philipp Kirkorov reacts next to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin after having been decorated with the Order of Honor during an awarding ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow, Nov. 15, 2017.Russian singer Philipp Kirkorov used Instagram to call Putin “the smartest leader in the history of humankind.”“Vladimir Putin and his team don’t stop to surprise me in a positive way. Russia deserves it,” Kirkorov wrote on January 24, the day after the mass protests.Videos posted online also show protesters giving what are believed to be forced apologies. Journalists have received threatening messages from anonymous users on Telegram, some of whom share personal information and private photos, or make up stories about the reporters’ alleged connections with the West.Victor Oleynik, a VOA contributor and co-founder of “Beware of Them,” a project that catalogs wrongdoing by police, said he was falsely accused of coordinating the protests in Russia with the U.S. government. The accusation was shared by dozens of troll accounts on Twitter and Telegram, which resulted in Oleynik’s receiving threatening messages.More arrests and harassment are anticipated, according to the Russians with whom VOA spoke, some of whom said they feared persecution if they talked on the record. But they said the spread of these platforms would make the stifling of news more difficult.
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The pro-democracy group Freedom House has released a report detailing how countries such as China, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, and Turkey systematically employ violence and intimidation against exiles and diasporas to silence dissent beyond their borders. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
Producer: Jesse Oni
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused student demonstrators of being terrorists as Turkish police arrested them for protesting Erdogan’s appointment of a new rector at one of the country’s top universities this week.  For over a month, students, faculty members and alumni of Bogazici University in Istanbul have protested Erdogan’s appointment of Turkish politician and academic Melih Bulu, demanding an election to choose a rector among the university’s own faculty.  Bulu holds a doctorate from Bogazici’s business management program but has never been a full-time academic at the university. Critics have accused him of plagiarism in his dissertation and published articles and have called for his resignation. Bulu has denied those accusations.  Turkish police officers detain protesters during a rally in support of Bogazici University students protesting the appointment of Melih Bulu, a ruling Justice and Development Party loyalist, as rector of the university, in Istanbul, Feb. 4, 2021.His involvement in politics also stirred controversy over his appointment, since he once ran for Parliament as a candidate for Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).  He told reporters Wednesday that he does not intend to resign from his university post. Still, his appointment has been viewed as an assault on academic freedom, which has sparked other protests in the country.   Arrests This week, Turkish police detained more than 250 protesters in Istanbul and 69 students in Ankara, some of whom were released later. At least 51 of the protesters in Istanbul were referred to court on Wednesday and were released Thursday on bail. On Tuesday, academics wearing their gowns gathered on the Bogazici campus, their backs turned to the rector’s building in protest, demanding Bulu’s resignation and the release of detained students. Turkish government officials called the protesters terrorists.  Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 79 of the detainees were linked to terror groups such as the far-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C).  Turkish police officers detain protesters during a rally in support of Bogazici University students protesting the appointment of Melih Bulu, a ruling Justice and Development Party loyalist, as rector of the university, in Istanbul, Feb. 4, 2021.Erdogan echoed Soylu’s statement in a video address to his ruling AKP on Wednesday, saying the protesters lack Turkey’s “national and spiritual values” and are members of terrorist groups.  “This country will not be run by terrorists,” he said. “We will do whatever is needed to prevent this. … We have not stood with terrorists, and we will not.”  Rights groups say the Turkish government has broadened the definition of anti-terrorism laws to suppress dissent. “Turkish authorities have a long history of clamping down on free expression through abusive investigations, arbitrary detentions and unfounded prosecutions under vaguely defined anti-terrorism laws,” Deniz Yuksel, a Turkey advocacy specialist at Amnesty International, told VOA. LGBT rights The dispute at Bogazici intensified after a poster depicting the Islamic holy site Kaaba with LGBT flags was displayed in an exhibition on campus as part of protests last week. On January 29, Soylu tweeted about the arrest of four students over the poster, calling them “LGBT deviants.” Later, Twitter placed a warning on Soylu’s tweet, saying it had violated the company’s rules regarding hateful conduct. Two of the detained students were arrested on charges of inciting hatred and insulting religious values.  FILE – Students walk with rainbow flags during a gathering in solidarity with Bogazici University students protesting the appointment of Melih Bulu as rector of the university, in Ankara, Turkey, Feb. 2, 2021.Over the weekend, police raided Bogazici’s LGBTI+ student club and announced that an investigation for alleged terrorist propaganda was opened against the club after an illegal publication of Kongra-Gel and rainbow flags were found in the club room.  Kongra-Gel is an umbrella organization for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its affiliates. The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and the United States.  Following the raid, Bulu announced the club’s closure.  Some analysts believe Bogazici University’s LGBT community became the latest target of the government’s broad brush to label dissidents as terrorists.  “What is most striking in the Bogazici case is that LGBTI individuals are now demonized as criminals and terrorists simply because of their sexual orientation, reflecting how far Turkey has drifted away from fundamental rights and freedoms and the rule of law and due process,” Aykan Erdemir, director of the Turkey program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a former Turkish Parliament member, told VOA. Erdogan praised his party’s youth Monday in a video conference, saying, “You are not the LGBT youth, not the youth who commit acts of vandalism. On the contrary, you are the ones who repair broken hearts.” Two days later, he said “there is no such thing” as LGBT, adding that “this country is national and spiritual, and will continue to walk into the future as such.”  Yuksel of Amnesty International said the Turkish authorities’ recent anti-LGBT statements were “not only a reflection of the government’s homophobia but also a calculated political strategy.” “The authorities’ attacks on LGBT [individuals] are the latest frontier in a culture war launched by President Erdogan in an effort to rally his conservative base ahead of elections scheduled for 2023, though rumors suggest they may be held earlier,” she said.  U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Wednesday that the United States was concerned about demonstrations at Bogazici University and strongly condemned the anti-LGBT rhetoric surrounding them.  The U.N. human rights agency on Wednesday condemned “homophobic and transphobic comments by [Turkish] officials” and called for a “prompt release of students and protesters arrested for participating in peaceful demonstrations.”  #Turkey: We call for prompt release of students & protestors arrested for participating in peaceful demonstrations, and urge the police to stop using excessive force. We condemn homophobic & transphobic comments by officials, inciting hatred & discrimination against LGBT people. pic.twitter.com/EXF9RvMiyQ— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) February 3, 2021Turkey’s Foreign and Interior ministries did not respond to VOA’s requests for comment. But in a separate statement released Thursday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said, “It was determined that certain groups that are not from the university and are affiliated with terrorist organizations attempted to infiltrate into and provoke the events. “In this respect, necessary and proportional measures are taken within the law against these illegal acts that go beyond the scope of the right to protest.”  Bogazici’s significance Bogazici University was established in 1863 as Robert College by U.S. missionaries and became a public university in 1971. As one of Turkey’s most prestigious universities, its admission is highly competitive, as only the top percentile of the 2.4 million students competing in a national placement exam at Turkish universities study there free of charge.   “Bogazici University has been the gold standard of meritocracy and vertical mobility in Turkey,” Erdemir of FDD said. “The university’s pioneer role in introducing Western scholarship and values has made it a target of Turkey’s various Islamist and ultranationalist factions, who accuse the institution of serving ‘foreign’ interests,’ ” he said.  Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. 
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French Prime Minister Jean Castex said Thursday that while the COVID-19 pandemic remains serious, he does not think another nationwide lockdown is necessary. But he urged people to take all necessary precautions to avoid contracting the coronavirus.During a COVID-19 news briefing from Paris, Castex said that while France’s infection rate remains too high, it is still lower than it was in October. He warned if the situation deteriorates, the government will not hesitate to call for a shutdown.The prime minster also announced that beginning Friday, the government will be scheduling a total of 1.7 million more vaccinations to be completed by end of March.He said France will begin receiving its first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which does not have the same refrigerated storage requirements of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, allowing health officials to distribute the vaccine more quickly.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing domestic and international pressure to stop a crackdown on student protests that erupted after the Turkish leader’s decision to install a new rector at one of the country’s main universities. Critics say the move was aimed at silencing dissent at what many regard as one of the last remaining centers of liberal thought in Turkey. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. 
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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg admitted Thursday the alliance had a “challenging” relationship with the Trump administration and that he had some “difficult” conversations with former U.S. President Donald Trump.During a joint news briefing with Belgium’s prime minister, Alexander De Croo, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Stoltenberg was asked about his relationship with the Trump administration and whether he thought the alliance would survive it.  Stoltenberg said despite the differences he and NATO may have had with the former U.S. president, those kinds of challenges are “what makes NATO strong.”  He said the alliance has always enjoyed bipartisan support in the United States and that continues.The NATO chief added that NATO and the United States are doing more together now than they have done in many years.“We have more exercises, more U.S. troops, increased activities, European and North American allies together in Europe,” the NATO chief said. “So, I think the strength of the transatlantic bond is demonstrated by what you actually do.”Stoltenberg acknowledged that Trump’s insistence on NATO members increasing their defense budgets and playing a bigger role in supporting the alliance militarily made a difference. He said European allies have been stepping up, both in terms of military readiness and increased defense spending.Prime Minister Croo agreed and said that Europe has taken important steps toward self-reliance. “If we want to have more strategic autonomy for Europe, then we have to play our role,” he said.
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European markets were mixed Thursday amid continued volatility in the technology sector and caution over corporate earnings reports.    
 
Britain’s benchmark FTSE index was down 0.3% at midday. The CAC 40 index in France was 0.1% higher, while Germany’s DAX index was up 0.2%.
 
Markets in Asia and Australia closed mostly lower earlier in the trading day. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index lost just over 1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 0.6%, while Shanghai’s Composite index was 0.4% lower. The KOSPI index in South Korea plunged 1.3%, and Taiwan’s TSEC lost 0.4%    
 
Mumbai’s Sensex finished the trading day 0.7% higher.  
 
Australia’s S&P/ASX index fell 0.8%.
 
In commodities trading, gold was selling at $1,814.70, down 1.1%. U.S. crude oil was selling at $56.11 per barrel, up 0.7%, while Brent crude oil was 0.6% higher, selling at $58.82 per barrel.  
 
All three major U.S. indices were trending higher in futures trading ahead of Wall Street’s opening bell.  
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Testing began in Britain on Thursday to determine if different COVID-19 vaccines can be used together in a two-shot regimen.Researchers are aiming to inoculate more than 800 volunteers with one shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, followed either four or 12 weeks later with a booster shot of the vaccine developed jointly by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, or vice versa.The vaccines were developed with different technology — the Pfizer vaccine through messenger RNA (mRNA), while the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is adenovirus viral vector, or common cold virus.Health officials say if two vaccines developed with different technology are able to be used interchangeably, it could allow greater flexibility in immunization campaigns around the world.In a related development, The Guardian newspaper says an analysis of Israel’s mass vaccination program has found that a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine provides 90% protection against the novel coronavirus by 21 days. Researchers at Britain’s University of East Anglia contradict an earlier study from Israel that suggested one dose may not give adequate protection.Meanwhile, Oxford University says its COVID-19 vaccine is 76% effective at preventing infection for three months after a single dose. The findings were part of the same study released Wednesday that found the vaccine cut transmission of the virus by two-thirds.The study has not been peer-reviewed, but Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC the findings are “good news.””It does show the world that the Oxford jab works, it works well,” Hancock said.The vaccine has come under criticism from other nations in Europe in recent days with officials expressing concerns about the lack of data regarding its effectiveness in older people.Preparations for the Australian Open, the first major tennis tournament of 2021, have been thrown into disarray after a worker at a quarantine hotel in Melbourne tested positive for COVID-19. The positive case prompted tournament organizers and local health authorities to order more than 500 players and support staff to isolate in their rooms until they are tested, and several warm-up tournaments that were scheduled for Thursday were canceled.The tournament was already off to a rough start after more than 70 players were placed in a strict 14-day lockdown after at least six people who arrived in Melbourne last month tested positive for COVID-19. The cases were linked to three of 17 charter flights that arrived in the southern city carrying more than 1,000 players and their entourages, plus tournament officials and media.The new COVID-19 case in Melbourne is the first confirmed infection in Victoria state in 28 days. City officials have reimposed an order for masks in indoor public places, as well as limits on the number of people who can gather indoors.Victoria state Premier David Andrews said in spite of the new positive case, the Grand Slam tournament will still begin next Monday as scheduled, but added there were “no guarantees.”
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At an appeals hearing Tuesday, Russian prosecutors accused journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva of being a “mouthpiece of the West” as the court upheld her conviction of “justifying terrorism.” The hearing came amid a wider backdrop of Moscow taking legal action against her employer, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. A Russian court last month fined the independent U.S.-funded news network for not complying with its foreign agents law. Russia’s use of legal action against RFE/RL is an attempt to cut off access to independent media, media and regional analysts say. Moscow has been “building a web of laws and restrictions non-stop against RFE,” said Thomas Kent in an interview with VOA’s Russian service. Kent was president of the network from 2016 to 2018. The fines against RFE/RL are a sign that Russia is implementing those laws, Gulnoza Said, from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), told VOA. FILE – The headquarters of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is seen with the United States, RFE/RL and the Czech Republic flags in the foreground, in Prague, Jan. 15, 2010.The network was fined 1.1 million rubles ($14,400 USD) last month for not complying with Russia’s newly revised foreign agents law. The fines were directed at the general director along with RFE services, including Radio Liberty and the Russian-language TV network Current Time that the produces with VOA. Current Time is a 24/7 television and digital network for Russian speakers, led by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in cooperation with Voice of America. Under amendments to the law last year, outlets receiving international funding must label their content as produced by “foreign agents.” RFE/RL is an independent grantee of the U.S. Agency For Global Media, which also oversees VOA. Both receive funding from Congress but are editorially independent. Russia’s decision to add further provisions to its law was criticized by international rights groups including Amnesty International, who in a FILE – Russian journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva, charged with publicly justifying terrorism, arrives for a court hearing in Pskov, Russia, July 6, 2020.In Prokopyeva’s case, the appeals hearing reflected a wider trend of Russian authorities using legal action against independent voices, media analysts said. The journalist was convicted last year of “justifying terrorism” — a charge upheld by the military appeals court Tuesday. The accusations stem from comments Prokopyeva made in an interview about a suicide bombing. When the lower court convicted Prokopyeva, it fined the journalist and confiscated her equipment. At the time, RFE/RL’s acting president, Daisy Sindelar, condemned the lower court’s decision, saying, “The portrayal of her words as ‘justifying terrorism’ is a deliberate and politically motivated distortion aimed at silencing her critical voices.” Said told VOA the appeal verdict was disappointing. CPJ awarded Prokopyeva last year with its International Press Freedom Award. “It’s so emblematic of how Russian authorities treat journalists, not just those who work for outlets like RFE/RL that are funded from abroad, but any journalists, including those working for local media who dare to criticize the authorities, or even say something that’s not in line with the Kremlin narrative,” Said told VOA. Russian authorities see Western reporting as an attempt to interfere in Russian affairs and don’t like its positions on human rights and press freedom, Said added. “Some of them probably very sincerely believe that the West has an agenda of destroying (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s regime by having RFE/RL report on various issues, including corruption,” she said. Kent shared a similar view, saying attempts to obstruct reporting “comes down to the government feeling that it has the right to decide what information Russian people receive and that the Russian people are not competent to figure out themselves.” VOA’s Misha Gutkin contributed to this report.
 
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The Czech Republic health ministry reported Wednesday the nation passed one million confirmed COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. The agency also reported that the day-to-day increase in new infections reached 9,057 since Tuesday, which puts the nation over the one-million mark for confirmed cases since the first three cases were detected March 1, 2020. The current figures show the nation has the third-highest rate of infection in Europe, with more than 981 cases per 100,000 people, trailing only Portugal and Spain. The Czech Republic death rate is also among the highest in Europe, at nearly 205 per 100,000 people. The ministry reports the country of 10.7 million has registered 16,683 deaths. Although daily increases dropped after they reached a record high of almost 18,000 in early January, they have stagnated in recent days at still dangerously high levels despite a strict lockdown. Currently, 93,043 people are ill with COVID-19 in the Czech Republic. Of them, 5,811 are hospitalized while 1,002 are in intensive care.  
 
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Russian human rights monitors say authorities have arrested at least 1,400 protesters in Moscow after a court sentenced opposition politician Alexey Navalny to serve out the remaining time of a three-and-a-half year suspended sentence in a prison colony. The decision Tuesday came just weeks after Navalny returned to Russia following a poisoning attack that nearly took his life. For VOA from Moscow, Charles Maynes reports. 
Camera: Ricardo Marquina Montanana 
 
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People across Britian have been paying tribute to Tom Moore, the 100-year-old British Second World War veteran who raised millions for health workers and offered hope to Britons and others around the world during the pandemic.Moore died Tuesday.  He was being treated at a hospital for breathing difficulties after contracting pneumonia and had also been diagnosed with the coronavirus last week.In April 2020, as Britain entered lockdown at the height of the first wave of the pandemic, former army Captain Tom Moore set out to raise 1,000 pounds for the National Health Service by walking a hundred laps of his garden, inspired by the treatment he’d received for a broken hip and cancer.  People took Moore to their hearts and donations poured in for the humble 99-year-old, who became affectionately known as ‘Captain Tom.’The Wembley Stadium is illuminated in commemoration of Captain Sir Tom Moore, after his family announced that the centenarian fundraiser died, in London, Britain, Feb. 2, 2021.“The first two laps it’s a bit hard, after that I’m thinking what I’m doing and I just keep on doing it. Once I’ve started it’s fine and that’s why I keep on going,” Moore told reporters as he approached his target of 100 laps.Moore had served for the British Army in Myanmar, India and Sumatra during WWII. Troops from his home Yorkshire Regiment formed an honor guard for what was supposed to be the final lap, by which time Moore had raised more than £12 million (U.S.$16 million) for the NHS.“It’s unbelievable that people could be so kind to give that sort of money to the National Health Service. And maybe I was responsible for starting it, but not deliberately. It was purely… shall we say gratitude for what they’ve done for me,” Moore said.He decided to keep on walking. By the time he closed the donation page on April 30, his 100th birthday, Moore had raised a staggering £38 million (U.S.$53 million). He received some 150,000 birthday cards from around the world. Others took inspiration for their own fundraising endeavors, raising millions more for charity.FILE – British World War II veteran Captain Tom Moore, 99, walks a lap of his garden in the village of Marston Moretaine, 50 miles north of London, April 16, 2020.Moore scored a number one hit on the British singles chart with a rendition of the 1963 Gerry and the Pacemakers’ hit ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.’In July, Captain Moore was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. The British Army promoted him to ‘Honorary Colonel.’ In September, he released an autobiography, the title taken from his iconic words: ‘Tomorrow will be a good day.’ “Always be optimistic whatever you’re talking about, be optimistic because it’s a good day, I mean things will get better,” Moore said at the book launch.Moore had contracted pneumonia and was diagnosed with the coronavirus on January 22. He was unable to be vaccinated due to the medication he was taking. The 100-year-old passed away Tuesday after a short stay in Bedford hospital in central England, with his family by his side.His death has triggered a national outpouring of grief and admiration.“I think everyone is sort of feeling it because so many people have lost someone that they’re connecting with that,” said 30-year-old London teacher Charlotte Turnbull.John Karssiens, an NHS Doctor, said: “Thank you so much, Captain Tom. It’s a massive, massive thing you’ve done for the country.”The royal family’s Twitter account posted the following message: ‘The Queen is sending a private message of condolence to the family of Captain Sir Tom Moore. Her Majesty very much enjoyed meeting Captain Sir Tom and his family at Windsor last year. Her thoughts and those of the Royal Family are with them.’FILE – Captain Sir Thomas Moore receives his knighthood from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, during a ceremony at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, July 17, 2020.Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave a televised statement Wednesday. “Captain Sir Tom Moore was a hero in the truest sense of the word. In the dark days of the Second World War he fought for freedom and in the face of this country’s deepest post-war crisis he united us all, he cheered us all up, and he embodied the triumph of the human spirit,” Johnson said.In a statement, Moore’s family said: “The last year of our father’s life was nothing short of remarkable. He was rejuvenated and experienced things he’d only ever dreamed of.”Moore will be remembered most for his messages of hope. “To all those people who are finding it difficult at the moment,” he once said, “the sun will shine on you again, and the clouds will go away.” 
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A coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University cut transmission of the virus by two-thirds, according to a study released by the university Wednesday.
 
The study has not been peer-reviewed, but Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC the findings are “good news.”
 
“It does show the world that the Oxford jab works, it works well,” Hancock said.
 
The vaccine has come under criticism from other nations in Europe in recent days with officials expressing concerns about the lack of data regarding its effectiveness in older people.
 
France’s top health advisory body recommended the vaccine only be used in those under the age of 65.
 
In Belgium, the government said it would only give the vaccine to those under the age of 55.
 
“We don’t have enough info to be sure to say that it is good for the elderly,” Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke said.
 
Oxford’s vaccine trial chief Andrew Pollard told the BBC on Wednesday that despite the lack of data about its exact effectiveness, the vaccine provides good immune responses in older people.
 
“We have good immune responses in older adults very similar to younger adults, the protection that we do see is in exactly the same direction, and of a similar magnitude,” Pollard said.
 New Zealand
In New Zealand, regulators on Wednesday gave approval for the provisional use of a vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech.  The first vaccinations are expected to begin by the end of the first quarter of 2021, with a priority on border workers in the country that has strict quarantine measures in place for those arriving from abroad.
 
Wednesday also brought the start of a vaccination campaign in Pakistan, which is using a vaccine from China’s Sinopharm.
 Asia
Like many countries, the first people to get the vaccine are frontline health workers.  Pakistan’s minister for planning and development said at a ceremony in Islamabad that the workers are the “real heroes” as they put their own health at risk to help those infected with COVID-19.
 
Pakistan has received 500,000 doses of the vaccine, and it plans to vaccinate 70% of its high-risk population by the end of the year.
 
In South Korea, officials are limiting travel and gatherings during next week’s Lunar New Year holidays and urging people to stay home to combat a rise in coronavirus cases.
 
Health officials also said Wednesday they have detected the first local transmissions of virus variants first identified in Britain and South Africa.
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The United States on Tuesday condemned a Russian court’s decision to sentence the Kremlin’s most outspoken critic, Alexei Navalny, to 3.5 years in prison. State Department officials says the U.S. is reviewing what actions it will take in the matter. VOA’s Jesusemen Oni has more.
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COVID-19 testing tents are popping up in the French capital as extensions of local pharmacies that allow people to walk in and get a free COVID screening. More with VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo.  
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Britain launched an emergency program of door-to-door testing in several areas Tuesday following the discovery of hundreds of cases of the coronavirus variant, first identified in South Africa, which scientists say could be more resistant to vaccines.  Mobile testing units were deployed to several regions, including parts of central and suburban London, while firefighter units and volunteers helped to deliver home testing kits and administer door-to-door testing. Local authorities aimed to conduct 80,000 coronavirus tests. By Tuesday morning, 105 cases of the mutation first seen in South Africa were identified in eight districts across Britain. Eleven of those cases did not have any direct link to international travel, suggesting the variant is being transmitted within the community. Volunteers hand out the COVID-19 home test kit to a resident, in Goldsworth and St. Johns, amid the outbreak of coronavirus disease in Woking, Britain, Feb. 2, 2021.Meanwhile, health authorities announced they are also investigating separate cases of the virus with what they described as worrying new genetic changes. The variants, identified in the cities of Bristol and Liverpool, have the same mutation as the South African variant, called E484K. British Health Secretary Matt Hancock urged people living in the affected areas to adhere to lockdown rules and stay home. “Our mission must be to stop its spread altogether and break those chains of transmission. … It is imperative that people must stay at home and only leave home where it is absolutely essential,” Hancock told members of parliament Tuesday. People queue at a testing center amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, in Southport, Britain, Feb. 2, 2021.Britain is still battling a separate coronavirus mutation, first identified in Kent in southern England in September, which has contributed to a deadly second wave of the pandemic. An estimated 107,000 people have died in Britain within 28 days of testing positive for the virus since the pandemic began. Scientists say the variants appear to be more transmissible. Early indications from trials suggest they may also be more resistant to vaccines. “There has been a couple of observations, one from Novavax and one from Johnson & Johnson, which suggest that their vaccine trials were less successful in South Africa than they were in the United Kingdom and the United States,” Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at Britain’s University of Reading, told VOA. “(The mutation) renders antibodies less able to bind to the spike protein of the virus and stop the spike protein acting as a key to gain entrance to our cells.” That could affect people’s immunity to the coronavirus, both for individuals who have had the infection and those who have been vaccinated.  An advertisement board is seen, amid the outbreak of coronavirus disease in Woking, Britain, Feb. 2, 2021.”Even if we roll out a vaccine across the population, getting complete 100 percent coverage will be nigh on impossible,” Clarke said. “And the virus will be put under a selective pressure to accommodate and to favor mutations like this, which render it less susceptible to vaccines, or the actions of vaccines.” Britain also announced Tuesday it had given a first vaccine dose to more than 10 million people, by far the highest in Europe. It is not yet clear, however, if the vaccines are as effective against the new variants and may need to be modified. Health Secretary Hancock said such work was under way. “We’re working with pharmaceutical companies and with the scientists to understand both whether such modifications are needed, where they are needed and how they can be brought to use on the front line as quickly as safely possible.”  Scientists say the emergence of new variants around the world underlines the urgent need to roll out global vaccination programs and suppress transmission, as even fully vaccinated populations could be at risk as the virus continues to mutate. 
 
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Northern Ireland temporarily suspended some inspections at two ports late Monday after threats of violence and increased tensions have been reported in the area. Graffiti was discovered in Belfast describing port staff as “targets.” Staff have also reported suspicious behavior such as people writing down license plate numbers. Police say they are increasing patrols near ports of entry. A police vehicle patrols after threats were made to port workers implementing post-Brexit trade checks in Northern Ireland, at the Port of Larne in County Antrim, Feb. 2, 2021.A spokesman for the European Commission announced Tuesday they had withdrawn European Union staff from the Northern Ireland ports as a safety precaution and condemned the violence. Many pro-British unionists fiercely oppose the new trade barriers introduced between Northern Ireland and the rest of Britain as part of the Northern Ireland protocol, a stand-alone deal for the region after Britain left the EU. The protocol was designed to maintain the principles of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and Northern Ireland’s open border with Ireland by keeping the region in the British customs territory but also aligned with the EU’s single market for goods. The British-run region remains deeply divided along sectarian lines, even after the 1998 peace deal, with Catholic nationalists aspiring to unification with Ireland and Protestant unionists wanting to remain part of Britain. 
 
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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appeared in a Moscow court Tuesday to face parole violation charges that could land him up to three-and-a-half years in prison.A sentence for the prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin could trigger more protests, following two weekends of rallies in several Russian cities demanding his release.Blinken Slams Putin for Crackdown on Navalny Supporters US secretary of state also had strong words for Iran and China Navalny was arrested immediately upon arrival in Moscow on Jan. 17 for alleged parole violations after returning from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve agent poisoning in Russia.Navalny has accused Putin of ordering Russia’s security services to poison him, a charge the Kremlin has repeatedly denied.Several European laboratories have confirmed that Navalny, 44, was poisoned with Novichok, a nerve agent developed by the former Soviet Union.A Russian court recently ruled Navalny must remain in jail, rejecting his appeal against his arrest.  The United States and other Western countries have strongly condemned Navalny’s arrest and demanded his unconditional release.Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service says Navalny violated the probation terms of his suspended sentence from a 2014 money laundering conviction, which he denounced as politically motivated. The service asked the Simonovsky District Court in Moscow to convert his three-and-a-half-year suspended sentence into one that must be served in prison. Navalny’s attorneys have argued that he was rehabilitating in Germany and, therefore, was unable to fully comply with his probation terms. His defense also maintained that due process was repeatedly violated during his arrest.As he sat in a glass cage in the courtroom during Tuesday’s hearing, Navalny said, “I came back to Moscow after I completed the course of treatment.” He added, “What else could I have done?”Navalny’s jailing has sparked very large protests across Russia over the past two weekends, with tens of thousands of people demanding his release and chanting anti-Putin slogans. Police arrested more than 5,700 people during Sunday’s rallies, including more than 1,900 in Moscow, the biggest number in the country since the Soviet era. Most demonstrators were released after being given court summonses and are subject to fines or jail terms of up to 15 days. Several protesters face criminal charges over alleged violence against police. 
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Turkey and Azerbaijan are continuing to deepen ties by starting a major joint military exercise Monday. The display of force comes as some analysts suggest Ankara could be on the verge of a foreign policy pivot away from the Middle East to Central Asia.The 12-day military exercise involves tank divisions, airborne units, and “special forces.” Turkish-made weaponry is also set to play a prominent role.Turkish-made drones were pivotal in Azerbaijan’s defeat in October of Armenian separatist forces, in a battle over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in Azerbaijan.Azerbaijan’s victory is seen as a strategic triumph for Turkey. “Turkey has invested very heavily in the Azeri military,” said international relations professor Serhat Guvenc of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University. The countries have close ethnic ties and define their relationship as “one nation, two states.”FILE – Men holding national flags of Azerbaijan and Turkey stand next to a memorial for people killed in Azerbaijan during the conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, outside the embassy of Azerbaijan in Moscow, Oct. 19, 2020.The speed and decisiveness of Azerbaijan’s military success boosted Turkish influence in the Caucasus, further consolidating close ties between Ankara and Baku.”Turkey is expanding its influence in Caucasia; it will do more so in the future,” said Huseyin Bagci, head of the Ankara-based Foreign Policy Institute.  Bagci suggests Ankara is poised for a shift in foreign policy, saying, “Turkey does not play the card of Islam and Middle East orientation anymore, but now rather more nationalistic, and of Turkish nationalism.”Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has traditionally positioned himself as the defender of global Muslim rights, in particular the Palestinians. Ankara is also a strong backer of the Muslim Brotherhood across the Middle East, and Hamas, which is designated by the United States and European Union as a terrorist organization.Much to Israel’s anger and Washington’s dismay, Hamas routinely held meetings in Turkey, and Ankara hosted its leaders. Such moves traditionally played well among Erdogan’s religious voting base.But analysts say Ankara is concerned about the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords that saw the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalize ties with Israel last year, with Sudan close behind.FILE – Members of a Turkish forces commando brigade take part in a military parade in which Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev looked on in Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 10, 2020.With reports of other Arab countries, including Turkey’s close ally Qatar, ready to join the Abraham Accords, Bagci says there is awareness in Ankara that Turkey is facing growing isolation in the Middle East.”The Islamic card and talk of Muslim unity for Erdogan doesn’t function anymore, after the Abraham Accords,” said Bagci. “Everybody in Turkey realizes the Arabs fight amongst each other, but they also make peace amongst each another. The Arabs are not the Turks. It’s so simple. The Turkish public is more conscious of this, and the Israelis are the winners.”But other analysts remain cautious of a Turkish shift away from the Middle East and toward the courting of ethnic Turkic Central Asian states. “It’s too early to say, but there are some indications,” said Guvenc.Guvenc points out right-wing political parties in Turkey have broadly followed a philosophy of nationalism and Islam, created by the country’s military rulers of the early 1980s under the banner “Turkish Islamic synthesis.” ”I would say the emphasis on the Turko component of this synthesis would make sense for this government,” said Guvenc.Erdogan’s parliamentary coalition partner, the nationalist MHP, is seen as backing a shift in policy. “With MHP, his coalition partner, Erdogan will play more on Turkish nationalism than the Islamic card,” said Bagci.But any reorientation toward the Caucasus and beyond to Central Asia countries like Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan isn’t without risk.”This will not go down well with Russia, definitely, which considers this region as its sphere of influence,” said Guvenc. “In central Asia, Turkey has already lost the battle and struggle for influence with Russia, and the Chinese are also rising its influence.”Russia thwarted previous efforts by Turkey to project influence across Central Asia. But Zaur Gasimov, an expert on Russia and Central Asia at Germany’s Bonn University, suggests Ankara has a stronger hand. ”Compared with the 1990s and 2000s, Turkey nowadays has much more leverage to influence Central Asian republics using its economy and migration policy just like Russia,” he said.Turkey hosts many migrant workers from across the Central Asian states, helping to develop and strengthen economic and cultural ties.A growing Turkish presence in Central Asia could be welcomed in the region to mitigate Russia’s powerful influence.”For Kazakhstan, the deepening of cooperation with Turkey, for example, could be needed to obtain a sort of balance in its relations with Moscow,” said Gasimov. Gasimov says Kazakh unease over Moscow has been heightened since Russia’s annexation in 2014 of Ukraine’s Crimea, a region populated by ethnic Russians.”Kazakhstani elites are concerned about Russian policy towards Ukraine and feel insecure about the northern provinces populated by ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan. Several high-rank Russian politicians claimed Kazakh territory in the recent past,” he added. 
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British Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Monday said 105 cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa have been found in the nation, with 11 of those cases having no links to international travel.Speaking at a Downing Street news briefing, Hancock said health authorities plan to test 80,000 people from areas around the country to isolate and stop the spread of the new variant.”There’s currently no evidence to suggest this variant is any more severe, but we need to come down on it hard, and we will,” he said.A man takes a swab at a test center in Goldsworth Park, as the South African variant of the novel coronavirus is reported in parts of Surrey, in Woking, Britain, Feb. 1, 2021.Hancock said the surge of new testing is targeted on those areas where the variant had been discovered and that every single positive case is being sequenced. He said health officials, in coordination with local authorities, are going door to door to test people in those areas.Hancock also announced on Monday that Britain had now vaccinated 9.2 million people against COVID-19, including 931,204 vaccinations over the weekend. He also announced that Britain has ordered another 40 million doses of a vaccine developed by the French company, Valneva, as the government prepares for the likelihood that repeated vaccinations will be needed to keep the virus in check.The vaccine, which will be made in Scotland, is still undergoing clinical trials and has not been approved by regulators.Britain has seen the deadliest coronavirus outbreak in Europe — with over 106,000 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University data — but is pushing ahead with one of the world’s quickest vaccine programs. 
 
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Europe’s populists have seen their polling numbers dip since the coronavirus emerged on the continent, but as the economic impact of lockdowns and restrictions starts to be felt in earnest, widening income disparity, they could see a revival, some analysts forecast.  Others argue that won’t happen, if incumbent governments and establishment parties can restore public faith in their competence, cushion lower-income and rural populations from economic misery, and get their countries back on track working again soon.  The populist challenge is dimming, they say, pointing to former U.S. President Donald Trump’s November election loss on the other side of the Atlantic. “One reason is their trademark scorn for expertise, which enthuses a minority of voters but unsettles many more who are worried about their health and livelihoods,” according to Tony Barber, Europe editor of the Financial Times. An elderly visitor receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Cent Quatre cultural center in Paris, France, Feb. 1, 2021.While acknowledging that the populists have not had a “good” pandemic, Matthew Goodwin, a political scientist and visiting fellow at Britain’s Chatham House research group, believes political turbulence generally lies downstream of crises and the Great Lockdown will have seismic effects that are hard to foresee.”Emerging evidence shows it looks fairly certain the Great Lockdown will actually exacerbate divides in our society that began to sharpen a few decades ago, and were then worsened by the Great Recession,” he said. The European Union isn’t helping to head off a possible revival in political populism on the continent, which recruits partly on the basis of euro-skepticism. Logistical missteps and hidebound bureaucracy have marred the EU’s vaccine rollout, prompting rising public frustration with the pace of inoculations and adding to anxiety about a grim northern hemisphere winter ahead. Some commentators see this as a gift for populists with the low-paid, the unskilled and those in insecure jobs hit the hardest by prolonged lockdowns.  The EU’s struggle to secure enough early doses to make headway in the inoculation of the bloc’s 446 million people has put the bloc front and center of widespread anger. Last month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was framing prematurely the bloc’s vaccine procurement strategy as a “European success story.”  FILE – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks at the end of an EU summit video conference at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, Jan. 21, 2021.The 62-year-old German, French President Emmanuel Macron’s pick for the top job at the EC, had maintained that Brussels should take the lead in negotiating and procuring vaccine supplies for all 27 member states. She had the support of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who called a halt to negotiations already under way between vaccine developer AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish firm, and Germany’s health minister, along with his counterparts in France, Italy and the Netherlands.  Von der Leyen, supported by Merkel, argued a collective approach would work better as it would avoid vaccine nationalism and competition among member states. Negotiating as a bloc would provide more leverage to haggle over pricing with the pharmaceutical giants.  But an overriding motivation was to show how well the EU could do. That would overshadow the bloc’s lack of solidarity at the start of the pandemic, when calls for help from Italy, the first country to suffer the full force of the virus, were rebuffed, and member states competed for supplies of personal protective equipment and shut borders without consulting each other. Some of the problems in the rollout have been country-specific but there are mounting doubts about the EU’s collective approach to procurement and distribution. Go-it-alone Britain has vaccinated more than 13% of its adults so far while the EU average is barely nudging 2%, with the gap growing. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks past waiting patients as he visits a COVID-19 vaccination center in Batley, West Yorkshire, Britain, Feb. 1, 2021.British regulatory authorities were quicker to approve vaccines and signed contracts with manufacturers three months before the EU. As a result, Britain has not been impacted as much as the EU by production delays and difficulties. On January 22, the EU reacted with fury when AstraZeneca disclosed it would have to reduce by around two-thirds doses expected over the next two months because of production difficulties.  “There are no signs that the vaccination rate in the EU is accelerating, unlike in the U.K. and U.S., where daily vaccination rates have increased substantially in the past few weeks,” according to Guntram Wolff, director of Bruegel, a Brussels-based research group. “Part of the explanation is that the EU ordered too few vaccines too late. It was slow to order the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine, even when it became the front-runner and its efficacy had been documented.”  The Bruegel director has also faulted the EU for not thinking ahead and crafting a strategy to increase vaccine production by mobilizing other manufacturers to help to do so. He cautioned it is “impossible to say how things would have gone if there had not been joint EU action.” Nonetheless, the EU’s logistical missteps are drawing fire.  FILE – Bavaria’s State Prime Minister Markus Soeder removes his protective mask before a so-called home office summit during the coronavirus pandemic in Munich, Germany, Jan. 13, 2021.Markus Soeder, the premier of the German state of Bavaria, and a contender to succeed Merkel when she quits in September, said the “operational responsibility” for the “more than unsatisfactory” situation rests with Brussels. “The decision was made in what I think is a typical, normal, bureaucratic EU procedure,” he added.  Von der Leyen was the subject of a scathing article Sunday by Germany’s leading magazine Der Spiegel, which said the vaccine rollout “might ultimately turn out to be the greatest disaster of her political career.” With lockdown frustration building — the Netherlands experienced three days of riots last week after the government introduced a nighttime curfew — and with anger building over the snail-like pace of inoculation, populists see a political opening. Some had aligned themselves with anti-vaccine skeptics but are moving away from that position and focusing now on the issue of EU competence.    France’s Marine Le Pen, the euro-skeptic far-right leader, has seen her popularity surge. A poll last week showed her trailing Macron by just 52% to 48%. Macron faces a tough reelection bid next year.  
 
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German pharmaceutical giant Bayer announced Monday it will help a smaller German biomedical company, CureVac, produce its experimental COVID-19 vaccine, the latest drug maker to offer up manufacturing capacity as supplies fall behind demand worldwide.
At a virtual news conference hosted in Berlin Monday by Health Minister Jens Spahn, Bayer’s pharmaceutical chief, Stefan Oelrich, said the company expects to produce 160 million doses of CureVac’s experimental vaccine, which is currently in late-stage testing, in 2022.
Bayer and CureVac reached an agreement last month to work together on a vaccine. Oelrich said Bayer has experience and capacity to expand CureVac’s production capacity.  
CureVac’s vaccine is still in the testing phase, and the company’s CEO, Franz-Werner Haas, said the vaccine his likely to be considered for approval “to produce up to 300 million doses by the end of 2021.”
Given the issues encountered getting vaccine orders filled, Health Minister Spahn said it was in Germany’s – and Europe’s – best interest to have production and development capacities in the region and to support them as best they can – even if the vaccine production is a year out.
 
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The Russian general prosecutor’s office said Monday that that it supports a request by the federal prison system to impose a jail term on opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, instead of a suspended sentence. Navalny faces the possibility of a 3.5-year prison sentence over charges he violated the parole terms of a 2014 suspended sentence the European Court of Human Rights later deemed baseless. Navalny is being held in pre-trial detention for 30 days for alleged parole violations upon his return to Russia from Germany in mid-January, following a lengthy recuperation from a near-lethal poisoning attack the opposition politician has blamed on the government of President Vladimir Putin.   The Kremlin denied involvement but refused to investigate the assassination attempt, citing a lack of evidence.   Thousands protested in cities across Russia on Sunday, defying threats of arrest by the government for a second straight weekend, demanding Navalny’s release. As of late Sunday, independent monitoring groups reported well more than 5,000 arrests, including Navalny’s wife, Yulia, during protests the government saw as “unauthorized.”Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, arrives at a court building in Moscow, Feb. 1, 2021.About a week ago, thousands of Russians took to the streets protesting Navalny’s detention and Russian police made about 4,000 arrests nationwide.  The United States and its European allies have condemned Navalny’s detention and the aggressive Russian government response against demonstrators, prompting Kremlin countercharges of Western interference in its internal affairs.  Moscow closed    In Moscow, authorities closed most of the city center on the snowy Sunday morning — making it all but impossible for protesters to gather at a chosen spot outside the headquarters of the Federal Security Services (FSB).   As a result, protest organizers issued a last-minute change of location — launching a chain of events in which Navalny’s allies issued instructions through social media, demonstrators trudged through snow in search of a crowd, and the government dispersed scores of riot police to stop them.  The dispersed nature of the demonstrations made assessing the scale of the event all but impossible.   At one point, several thousand people were seen gathered outside several Moscow metro stations.   Later, a column of several thousand was seen marching toward Matrosskaya Tishina — the jail where Navalny is currently being held.  Elsewhere — everywhere it seemed — demonstrators were looking at their social media feeds for instructions or asking those they came across: “Where is everyone heading now?” Rally to demand the release of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Berlin, Jan. 31, 2020.Each time, authorities had police or riot police in place to make arrests and deflect the crowd’s movement.     At several points throughout the day and in different locations, detained protesters simply waited for new police buses to arrive.   The ones already on site were filled beyond capacity.    The decision to close everything from metro stations to streets and businesses throughout the center of Russia’s capital was seen by some as evidence of the protests’ growing power.   “I’m 65 and I’ve never seen Moscow shut down like this,” said Sergey, a pensioner, in an interview with VOA. “The city has been occupied by troops.”   Crackdowns    There were signs that — having been caught off guard by the scale of recent demonstrations — authorities were cracking down in advance.   Several activists were arrested and given short sentences for “anti-social” behavior this past week.   Criminal cases were launched against nearly two dozen protesters who now face the prospect of lengthy prison sentences. Rally in support of Alexei Navalny in Moscow, Jan. 31, 2021.In addition, several high-profile journalists were detained on the grounds they had promoted the rally on social media.  Meanwhile, state enterprises ranging from government-affiliated corporations to universities discouraged attendance at the protests.    “Our school administration told us if we came, we’d never find a decent job with a decent salary and might have troubles finishing school,” said Anastasia, a student at a Moscow university, in an interview with VOA a short distance away from massed riot police.  Her friend Ekaterina said they had made peace with their decision.   “Our constitution allows us to gather peacefully. No one has a right to detain us but if I am, so be it.”   Authorities also put pressure on Navalny allies — placing the opposition leader’s brother Oleg and dozens of associates from the Navalny-led Anti-Corruption Foundation under house arrest.    They were charged with promoting an illegal protest last week that authorized deemed a health risk due to the coronavirus.   Public health concerns, however, were undermined by a near simultaneous decision by Moscow to lift remaining restrictions on bars and nightclubs.  In a separate move, Russia placed Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s chief strategist, on an international wanted list. Volkov who currently resides in Europe, was charged in absentia with urging underaged Russians to violate public gathering restrictions and risk legal penalties — a key talking point in Russian state media’s effort to undermine Navalny’s appeal.  Navalny supporters maintain that they will keep up the pressure on authorities to release the opposition politician.     
They’ve announced another protest for February, when Navalny is scheduled to appear in a court hearing that may determine the terms of his confinement.   
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