Greek authorities have begun moving thousands of refugees to a new army-built camp on the island of Lesbos after a fire destroyed the country’s largest migrant facility last week.  More than 12,500 people from 70 countries, mostly refugees from Afghanistan, African nations, and Syria, were left without shelter and access to food, water, and proper sanitation when fire decimated the overcrowded Moria camp.  Authorities dressed in masks and white protective suits have so far guided some 1,800 migrants and refugees, who had been sleeping in makeshift shelters on the side of the road, to the new temporary facility at Kara Tepe near the port of Mytilene.  Seventy female officers were flown in to organize the transfer of women and children to the new camp. No violence was reported.  A dog sits next to migrants as they sleep on a road leading from Moria to the capital of Mytilene, on the northeastern island of Lesbos, Greece, Sept. 17, 2020.”As long as it is peaceful, we believe it is a good move,” said Astrid Castelein, head of the U.N. refugee agency’s office on Lesbos. “Here on the street it is a risk for security, for public health, and it’s not dignity, which we need for everyone.” Authorities have charged five Afghan asylum-seekers with starting the fires. Law enforcement officials say that the blazes broke out after 35 people tested positive for the coronavirus, triggering a lockdown of camp residents. A small group of inhabitants objected to being put into isolation. There have been no reported deaths as a result of the fires. Greek officials say the new camp is equipped to host at least 5,000 people, but many migrants are hesitant to move there. Moria had a capacity of roughly 2,700 people but was home to more than 12,500 at the time of the blaze.  The Greek government said it aims to replace open-air tent facilities with formal migrant centers that have temporary housing options, but a number of migrants and refugees hope to leave Lesbos. They say they fear that the living conditions at camp Kara Tepe will be no better than they were at Moira, which international aid groups had called “appalling.” Medical careDuring the operation to move residents to the temporary camp, they were tested for the coronavirus and so far, 35 have been found positive.  A child sits between plastic bags as migrants pull their belongings in Kara Tepe, near Mytilene, the capital of the northeastern island of Lesbos, Greece, Sept. 17, 2020.The nongovernmental medical aid organization Medecins Sans Frontieres, known as Doctors Without Borders, says that Greek police denied the health care workers access to its new clinic in Lesbos. According to the group, it took several hours before its workers were finally allowed to reopen their facilities, but says it was “highly concerning” that their critical medical care services were compromised during the move. Critics of the Moria camp say that the inhuman conditions there were a symbol of Europe’s failed migration policies.  The number of migrants seeking refuge on Greek islands near Turkey has fallen significantly since 2015, although camps remained overcrowded. In the past, the Greek government has accused wealthier European Union nations of failing to share the burden of assisting refugees, migrants, and asylum-seekers as they seek a new life in Europe.  Transfer to GermanyThe German government said this week it would take in 1,553 migrants, many of whom are families with refugee status, who had been living at camp Moria at the time of the fire.  Migrants wait to enter a new temporary refugee camp in Kara Tepe, near the capital of the northeastern island of Lesbos, Greece, Sept. 17, 2020.German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday that any transfer of migrants to Germany would need to go hand-in-hand with a broader European initiative to support the refugee crisis in Greece.  Merkel has voiced support for the Greek government to build a new reception center for migrants and refugees on Lesbos. The structure would be managed by EU agencies. Following the fire, Greece’s top public order official said plans to decongest migrant camps will be accelerated. On Tuesday, the Greek government vowed that the island of Lesbos will be emptied of refugees by early April 2021.  In a statement to The Guardian newspaper, Greece’s civil protection minister Michalis Chrysochoidis said, “Of the roughly 12,000 refugees here currently, I foresee 6,000 being transferred to the mainland by Christmas and the rest by Easter. The people of this island have gone through a lot. They’ve been very patient.”
 
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A U.S. consular official says her Belarusian-American husband’s life is in “immediate danger” after security forces in Belarus arrested him in July.  Vitali Shkliarov, 44, a political analyst who holds a U.S. diplomatic passport, was detained while visiting his elderly parents in his hometown of Gomel ahead of Belarus’s highly charged August 9 presidential elections, recounts his wife, Heather Shkliarov, in a letter released to news media.  “Vitali traveled to Belarus on July 9, along with our 8-year-old son, simply to visit his mother, who is suffering from advanced cancer, and to celebrate his birthday on July 11 with his family and friends,” writes Shkliarov, who says she stayed behind in the United States to prepare the family’s move to Ukraine as part of a new assignment to the U.S. embassy in Kyiv.Vitali Shkliarov in Moscow, 2018. (Charles Maynes/VOA)Vitali Shkliarov was arrested July 29 after having finished a two-week quarantine at his parents’ house due to the coronavirus.  “He was grabbed off the street, thrown into a van, and driven 300 kilometers to a detention center in Minsk, while our son was left in the custody of his grandmother, without either of his parents,” recounts Heather Shkliarov in her statement.As he was being detained, Shkliarov managed one quick message on his popular Russian-language Telegram channel: “arrested.” Authorities accuse him of working with jailed opposition blogger Siarhei Tsikhanouski to sponsor “group actions that grossly violate public order.”  He is the husband of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, President Alexander Lukashenko’s main election rival, who is now in Lithuania. She argues the longtime Belarusian leader rigged the vote to remain in power.  In her statement, Heather Shkliarov disputed that her husband was involved in campaigning at all.Heather Shkliarov says her husband was charged with the crime of organizing an illegal campaign rally on May 29 in Grodno, Belarus, for jailed opposition leader Siarhei Tsikhanouski, despite never having been to Grodno or having met Tsikhanouski.  She also notes her husband was at home with her in Virginia at the time of the May rally.   “Vitali is suffering this fate not because he was a protestor or involved in any way in the presidential election in Belarus,” she added.  “His only offense,” she notes, was that “he had written articles that publicly criticized the administration of President Lukashenko.”Western plotsA prolific political commentator on events in America and the former Soviet Union, Shkliarov’s writings have appeared in Foreign Policy magazine and Russia’s independent Novaya Gazeta, among other publications.  He has also worked on presidential campaigns in Russia, Georgia, and the United States, where he was a field organizer for both President Barack Obama’s reelection bid in 2012 and Senator Bernie Sanders’s failed presidential run in 2016.  Shkliarov’s lawyer, Anton Gashinsky, says Lukashenko has exploited that political experience in an effort to portray a wave of protests against his government as a Western-backed plot.  The argument has been key to shoring up critical Russian support for Lukashenko’s government as the democratic uprising has grown in numbers and authorities have resorted to mass arrests.  “Vitali has become a convenient scapegoat for Lukashenko’s security forces,” said  Gashinsky in an interview with VOA.  “He ideally fits the picture that they’re trying to draw: foreigners came from abroad to organize a revolution.”  EU Parliament Votes to Stop Recognizing Belarus President When His Term ExpiresEuropean lawmakers also support sanctioning Alexander Lukashenko over disputed reelection, violent crackdown on protestersEarlier this month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Belarus to release Shkliarov and “all those who have been unjustly detained” amid a police crackdown.  Heather Shkliarov’s press release said, “The views expressed in this statement are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of State or the U.S. government.”The view from inside  Vitali Shkliarov has detailed a grim existence since his detention last month.“Like any person daring to criticize an authoritarian regime, I understood you can’t swear off prison. But when they arrested me, I didn’t expect that I would fall into a totalitarian torture chamber,” Shkliarov wrote in a statement released last month.   “No, they don’t beat me. But they’re trying to break me. With everything they have,” he added.   Heather Shkliarov’s statement backed those assertions, arguing her husband was being exposed to “extreme psychological pressure” to force a confession.   “He is moved constantly from cell to cell to avoid having a sense of stability. The lights are never turned off in his cell, and loud music is blared all night so he is not ever able to sleep properly,” she writes.  “He has been subjected to extreme strip searches, forced to stand naked in a cell for hours at a time, and never allowed even to sit down on his bed during the day.”His wife also expressed growing concerns over his health in the COVID-19 era.  “On September 8, Vitali started feeling extremely ill, and for several days in a row, has reported a fever of over 102 degrees, along with respiratory issues, chills, and muscle pains.”Gashinsky, the lawyer, tells VOA prison authorities relented to requests for medical care and a doctor administered an initial test for COVID-19 on Wednesday.   It was not clear when results would come available, he added. 
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The European Parliament said Thursday that Alexander Lukashenko should not be recognized as the president of Belarus when his term expires on November 5.  
 
The authoritarian leader was elected to a sixth term in office August 9, a vote that Belarusian opposition parties, the United States and European Union allege was rigged.
 
The European Parliament rejected the results of the August election by a 574 to 37 margin, with 82 abstentions. The Parliament also called on the European Union to impose sanctions on Lukashenko.
 
“The EU needs a new approach toward Belarus, which includes the termination of any cooperation with Lukashenko’s regime,” said Lithuanian centrist legislator Petras Austrevicius.
 
The EU Parliament’s rejection of the August election is not legally binding, but it can affect how the EU supports Belarus financially.
 
Lukashenko’s August reelection sparked mass protests in Minsk and other Belarusian cities. More than 7,000 protesters have been arrested, and widespread evidence of abuse and torture have been reported. At least four people are reported to have died during the demonstrations, during which police aggressively dispersed peaceful protesters with rubber bullets, clubs and stun grenades.
 
Human Rights Watch accused Belarusian security forces earlier this week of detaining thousands of people and torturing hundreds of others in the days after the election.
 
Lukashenko denies the voting was fraudulent and blamed the unrest on meddling by Western countries. Russian news agencies quoted him last week saying he has nothing to discuss with the opposition, and that he would be open to constitutional reforms and possibly a new presidential election.
 
During his meeting Monday with Lukashenko in Sochi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, a firm Lukashenko ally, endorsed the possibility of Belarus amending its constitution to lay the groundwork for new elections.
 
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The United States vowed to assert a “snapback” of all prior international sanctions on Iran, effective 8 p.m. Eastern Time on September 19, with more announcements to be made this weekend and next week as to exactly how Washington is planning to enforce the “returned U.N. sanctions.”“We will return to the United Nations to reimpose sanctions so that the arms embargo will become permanent next week,” said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Wednesday during a joint press conference with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.“I think we absolutely agree that Iran must never be — never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon,” said Raab. “We also, I think, share the view that the diplomatic door is open to Iran to negotiate a peaceful way forward. That decision, that choice is there for the leadership in Tehran to take.” He stopped short of saying whether or not and how Britain will implement the snapback sanctions.Britain, France and Germany, the so-called E3, said in August that they cannot support the U.S. move to restore U.N. sanctions on Iran, saying the action is incompatible with efforts to support the Iran nuclear deal.U.S. special envoy for Iran and Venezuela Elliott Abrams speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Aug. 4, 2020.“Whether those countries will in fact ignore the U.N. sanctions [under U.N. Security Council resolution 2231] remains to be seen,” U.S. special envoy for Iran and Venezuela Elliott Abrams told reporters in a Wednesday phone briefing. He added the E3 and other European countries had told Washington that they don’t want the Iran arms embargo to end, but they were unable to take any action that kept the UN arms embargo in place.Abrams said the returned sanctions include “a ban on Iran engaging in enrichment and reprocessing-related activities, the prohibition on ballistic missile testing and development, and sanctions on the transfer of nuclear and missile-related technologies to Iran.”U.S. officials warn that an Iran free from restrictions would lead to further regional destabilization, intensified conflicts and a regional arms race.Iranian armed forces members march in a military parade in Tehran, Sept. 22, 2018.The U.S. tried but failed on August 14 to extend an expiring arms embargo against Iran through a resolution at the United Nations Security Council.The embargo against the sale or transfer to or from Iran of conventional weapons is set to expire on October 18, under the 2015 nuclear deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).With the extension blocked, Washington saw triggering a snapback of U.N. sanctions under Security Council Resolution 2231, which implemented the Iran nuclear agreement, as the only path for restoring the arms embargo.As the U.S. prepares to snap back sanctions against Iran this weekend, E3 nations are largely seen as likely to ignore them. Some experts said there would be a limited impact on European economies, unless the U.S. punishes those nations with secondary sanctions.“The immediate U.S. goal in trying to re-impose sanctions is to prevent the end of the U.N. arms embargo in mid-October. But even if the Europeans recognize the U.N. embargo ends next month, British and EU companies are not going to start selling tanks to Tehran. The U.S. expects Chinese and firms to look for arms deals, and they will probably sanction those companies bilaterally. But that doesn’t bother the Europeans very much,” said Richard Gowan, U.N. director of International Crisis Group (ICG).“Overall, the U.S. has realized that this is not a useful fight to pursue,” Gowan told VOA on Wednesday. “Equally, E3 diplomats say that they would prefer to avoid a big public row over snapback too, to limit the harm to relations with Washington.”Under the JCPOA concluded on July 14, 2015, the five permanent U.N. Security Council members, plus Germany, agreed with Iran to gradually lift international sanctions in return for limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities, to prevent it from making a nuclear bomb. It also opened Iran’s markets back up to many foreign investors.The United States withdrew from the deal in May 2018, re-imposing unilateral sanctions on Iran. In response, Tehran resumed some of its nuclear activities, and in July 2019, it breached the deal by exceeding limits on both uranium enrichment and stockpile levels. Iran denies that its nuclear activities are for military purposes. 
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Belarusian opposition leader and human rights advocate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has expressed regret that President Alexander Lukashenko met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as a leading human rights organization accused Belarusian security forces of unlawfully arresting thousands of people and torturing hundreds of others. The two authoritarian leaders met Monday at a Black Sea resort in Sochi, when Putin granted the Belarusian government a $1.5 billion loan during a period of unrest in Belarus. The meeting was their first since mass protests erupted in Belarus after Lukashenko was reelected to a sixth term in an election widely viewed as rigged.   FILE – Opposition supporters take part in a rally against police brutality following protests to reject the presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 13, 2020.Tsikhanouskaya, Lukashenko’s election opponent who has left Belarus, said she and other opposition leaders do not consider Lukashenko the legitimate president and that his meeting with Putin is further evidence of the need for change “after new fair elections when the new president will be in power.” Putin recognizes Lukashenko as the legitimate leader of Belarus, despite the ongoing mass protests. Detentions, tortureEarlier this week, Human Rights Watch accused Belarusian security forces of detaining and torturing people in the days after Lukashenko’s reelection. HRW said its findings were based on interviews with 27 former detainees, most of whom were arrested between Aug. 8 and 12, 14 people with knowledge of the arrests, and an examination of 67 videos and written accounts from former detainees and their relatives. FILE – People detained during recent rallies of opposition supporters, who accuse Alexander Lukashenko of falsifying the polls in the presidential election, show their marks from beatings as they leave the Okrestina prison, in Minsk, Aug. 14, 2020.The detainees said they were subject to beatings, electric shocks and other forms of torture, resulting in injuries such as broken bones, electrical burns, mild traumatic brain injuries, kidney damage and cracked teeth. At least one detainee was allegedly raped. Mass arrests resumed in the first week of September. The Interior Ministry reported that 600 people were apprehended Sept. 6 alone. The Ministry said another 774 people were arrested in Minsk and other Belarusian cities for holding unsanctioned demonstrations Sunday. Belarusian authorities also have targeted foreign journalists and local reporters working for foreign and local independent media organizations. HRW said dozens of the journalists have had their media credentials revoked, or have been expelled or harassed.  A journalist in Hrodna said he was arrested despite showing authorities his media credentials. He suffered two broken wrists at the hands of an officer with a Russian special police unit. Exiled Belarus Opposition Leader Pleads for ‘Help Now’ Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya urged international pressure, including sanctions on Alexander Lukashenko and his government following a disputed election Response from Lukashenko Opposition parties, the United States and the European Union allege the election was rigged.  Lukashenko denies the voting was fraudulent and blamed the unrest on meddling by western countries. Russian news agencies quoted him this week saying he has nothing to discuss with the opposition, and that he would be open to constitutional reforms and a potential new presidential election. During his meeting with Lukashenko, Putin endorsed the possibility of Belarus amending its constitution to lay the groundwork for new elections. VOA’s Ukrainian Service contributed to this report.  
 
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Doctors and local politicians in Turkey are voicing concerns that the government is downplaying the scale of the resurgent coronavirus outbreak. The latest official figures suggest there are around 1,700 new infections and around 60 deaths every day across the country – but doctors say the numbers don’t add up. As Henry Ridgwell reports, opposition politicians accuse the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of a cover-up.
Camera: Memet Aksakal and Henry Ridgwell   Produced by: Marcus Harton  
 
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The U.S. government announced sanctions Wednesday on two Russian nationals for their role in the theft of at least $16.8 million worth of cryptocurrency.In the phishing scheme, which was conducted in 2017 and 2018, Danil Potekhin and Dmitrii Karasavidi allegedly created web sites that looked like legitimate currency exchange sites. Victims would enter their information, which was then used to access real accounts.The two, who were identified by the Treasury Department and the Department of Homeland Security, then allegedly laundered the stolen cryptocurrencies through multiple virtual currency exchanges using fake profiles.“The individuals who administered this scheme defrauded American citizens, businesses and others by deceiving them and stealing virtual currency from their accounts,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said in a statement. “The Treasury Department will continue to use our authorities to target cybercriminals and remains committed to the safe and secure use of emerging technologies in the financial sector.”According to the statement, the government seized millions of dollars in virtual currency and U.S. dollars in an account owned by Karasavidi.
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In a wide-ranging speech, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen Wednesday presented her vision for a new European Union emerging from the coronavirus crisis, on-going Brexit negotiations, and conflicts over equality.Speaking to members of the European Parliament in Brussels in her state of the EU address, von der Leyen said the bloc must get better at responding to events unfolding around the world.Once able to boast of a “soft power” that helped transform communist neighbors into market economies, the EU increasingly finds itself unable to agree because of the need to secure unanimity among member states.She said, “Why are even simple statements on EU values delayed, watered down or held hostage for other motives? When member states say Europe is too slow, I say be courageous and finally move to qualified majority voting at least on human rights and sanction implementation.”On the subject of on-going Brexit negotiations, Von der Leyen lashed out at a new Internal Market Bill put forth by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that could violate portions of the withdrawal agreement signed in January. She said of the agreement, “It cannot be unilaterally changed, disregarded or dis-applied. This is a matter of law and trust and good faith.”She said time is running out for a Brexit trade agreement before the end of the year deadline. The Reuters news service reported Tuesday Britain had quietly offered concessions on some of the other issues blocking the agreement, leaving some officials hoping a deal is still possible.The EU Commission president also condemned recent policies in Poland to restrict the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people that are being promoted by the nationalist government there. Von der Leyen said there was no place in the bloc for such polices.She said “I will not rest when it comes to building a union of equality, a union where you can be who you are and love who you want without fear and recrimination because being yourself is not your ideology. It is your identity and no one can ever take it away. So I want to be crystal clear: LGBTQI-free zones are humanity-free zones. And they have no place in our union.”On the subject of climate change, Von der Leyen announced a new commission plan to cut the European Union’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% from 1990 levels by 2030, up from an existing target of 40%. 
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U.N. officials say they are erecting temporary shelters at lightning speed to accommodate thousands of refugees and migrants left homeless by the fire that destroyed the Moria Reception Center on the Greek Island of Lesbos last week.Asylum seekers are sleeping in makeshift shelters or out in the open, in fields, groves and parking lots.The U.N. agencies say they are working at top speed and expect to have enough emergency shelters set up soon to protect the more than 12,000 refugees and migrants who were forced to flee their flaming camp.The U.N. refugee agency’s representative in Greece, Philippe Leclerc, said his agency is providing hundreds of tents and distributing basic relief, including blankets, sleeping bags, mats and other items to cover people’s essential needs.“We have also provided chemical toilets and hand washing stations and are ready to provide additional water, hygiene and sanitation support that may be required. To prevent and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 asylum seekers are undergoing rapid COVID-19 tests,” he said.Leclerc said 20 people have tested positive and now are quarantined in a special isolation area. He said the Hellenic Army and non-governmental organizations are providing food and water to the asylum seekers.The U.N. children’s fund reports 3,800 children are among those affected by the fire at the Moria Reception center. It says it is caring for more than 400 unaccompanied minors. UNICEF notes there are enough emergency shelters to accommodate the children and their families, only 800 individuals have agreed to stay there.Refugees and migrants gather water next to destroyed shelters following a fire at the Moria camp on the island of Lesbos, Greece, Sept. 9, 2020.UNICEF representative in Greece, Luciano Calestini, said the circulation of false information and rumors is discouraging the refugees and migrants from moving to the new site.“The rumors pertain to the camp becoming another place of lockdown with very little access to leave. So, potential residents are expressing a fear that once they enter it will be another situation of being in a protracted displacement and dislocation,” he said.U.N. agencies are calling for long-term solutions to this untenable situation. The European Union has announced it will release its new Pact on Migration and Asylum next week.Agencies say they are looking for concrete action and hope the pact will translate into better protection for refugees and ensure a more manageable and fairer common European asylum system. 
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The United Nations General Assembly in New York City is one of the biggest international gatherings of the year and requires massive security to keep the dignitaries safe. But this year, the world’s leaders are not attending the gathering because of the coronavirus pandemic, and instead are holding discussions virtually – so the challenges are different. Aaron Fedor in New York has details. 
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Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has confirmed reports of his improved health following a near fatal poisoning in Siberia last month — posting to social media from his hospital room in Germany while his team insisted he plans to return home to Russia once fully recovered. 
“Hi, this is Navalny. I miss you all,” he wrote in a comment accompanying an Instagram photograph of him surrounded by his wife and two children. View this post on InstagramПривет, это Навальный. Скучаю по вам 😍. Я все ещё почти ничего не умею, но вот вчера смог целый день дышать сам. Вообще сам. Никакой посторонней помощи, даже простейший вентиль в горле не использовал. Очень понравилось. Удивительный, недооценённый многими процесс. РекомендуюA post shared by Алексей Навальный (@navalny) on Sep 15, 2020 at 2:38am PDT“I can still hardly do anything, but yesterday I could breathe all day on my own. Actually on my own,” said Navalny — his first words after three weeks in a coma.  
 
“A surprising process underestimated by many,” he quipped.  “I recommend it.”  
 
The post had over a million likes and counting within several hours — and it fueled inquiries about Navalny’s possible return to Russian politics.  Within hours, his press secretary, Kira Yarmysh, dismissed journalists’ suggestions Navalny intended to remain in exile out of his concerns for his safety.    “I’ll confirm again to everyone: no other options were ever considered,” Yarmysh tweeted.Все утро мне пишут журналисты и спрашивают, правда ли, что Алексей планирует вернуться в Россию. Я понимаю причину вопроса, но тем не менее мне странно, что кто-то мог думать иначе. Ещё раз подтверждаю всем: никаких других вариантов никогда не рассматривалось https://t.co/sSq5Bb4ufr— Кира Ярмыш (@Kira_Yarmysh) September 15, 2020When asked for reaction on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov demurred.  
 
“Any citizen of the Russian Federation is free to leave Russia and return to Russia,” said Peskov.  
 
“If a citizen of the Russian Federation recovers his health, then of course everyone will be happy about that.”   A sudden sickness  A leading critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Navalny fell violently ill while flying home during a campaign trip from Siberia to Moscow on August 20.   
 
An emergency landing and subsequent treatment by Russian doctors in the city of Omsk offered few clues as to what had happened.  
 
The Omsk doctors insisted they could find no traces of poison.  
 
They also delayed requests by Navalny’s family to evacuate for him treatment elsewhere — a move supporters interpreted as an attempt to hide any lingering evidence of what had felled the politician.  Upon his subsequent evacuation to a clinic in Berlin, German toxicologists said they discovered Novichok — a Soviet-era military grade toxin suspected in previous Russian-linked attacks in the United Kingdom — in Navalny’s blood and urine.Russia Denies Role in Latest Britain Poisoning

        Russia is denying any role in the poisoning of a British couple who British authorities insist are the latest victims of Novichok — allegedly a Russian-made military-grade nerve agent first implicated in an assassination attempt on a former Russian spy and his daughter on British soil last March.The initial attack left former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, hospitalized in serious condition for several weeks before their ultimate recovery. 

Anti-corruption work Navalny has long been a problematic figure for the Kremlin — detailing government corruption and excess on his popular YouTube channel. 
 
The channel’s mix of investigative journalism and caustic humor has resonated with younger Russians in particular. 
 
It has also landed Navalny with a long list of powerful enemies in government and business circles. 
 
Navalny has also made no secret of his political ambitions. He tried to run a campaign for president in 2018 that ultimately was undone by a lingering criminal conviction. His supporters — and the European Court of Human Rights — agreed that the charges were levied to keep him out of the race. Investigations denied  
 
Navalny’s associates argue the nature of Novichok — a banned military grade substance — means the attack could only have been carried out on Putin’s orders. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other Western leaders have demanded answers from the Kremlin and warned of “an appropriate, joint reaction” should answers not be forthcoming.  
 
But the Russian government has dismissed the German demands, arguing Berlin had yet to provide proof or share evidence of its findings.  
 
Indeed, Kremlin officials have openly floated conspiracy theories that Germany may have staged the attack in a false-flag operation to initiate another round of Western sanctions or undermine key Russian-German trade deals.     
 
On Tuesday, Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, insisted Navalny left Russia with no poison in his system — and that the country had long ago destroyed its Novichok reserves under existing international chemical weapons agreements. 
 
“Therefore, we have many questions for the German side,” added Naryshkin. Similarly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Germany to stop “politicizing” the Navalny case during a phone conversation with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Tuesday. The Kremlin has yet to approve an investigation into what felled the opposition leader — arguing it thus far sees no evidence of criminality behind whatever ailed “the Berlin patient.”    
 
Government officials rarely pronounce Navalny’s name in public.   
 
The Russian argument was undercut by separate toxicology reports issued by Sweden and French laboratories on Monday.   
 
Both findings separately supported the German conclusions about the use of Novochik. 
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Europe has called on China to take down trade barriers and rebalance the economic relationship, following a virtual summit held Monday between EU leaders and Chinese President Xi Jinping. EU officials also raised human rights issues including the crackdown on protests in Hong Kong – but Beijing is rejecting any interference in its affairs. Henry Ridgwell has more from London.
Camera: Henry Ridgwell   Produced by: Rod James 
 
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Scientists at a Russian university have announced the discovery of a remarkably well-preserved ice age cave bear, with much of its soft tissue including its nose, flesh and teeth intact.In a statement, scientists from North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) in Yakutsk say reindeer herders on Great Lyakhovsky island in the New Siberian Islands archipelago discovered the carcass in the melting permafrost. NEFU is considered the premier center for research into woolly mammoths and other prehistoric, ice age species.Scientists at the research center have hailed the find as ground-breaking. Previously, scientists had only the bone of cave bears to study. The species, or subspecies, lived in Eurasia in the Middle and Late Pleistocene period and became extinct about 15,000 years ago.Preliminary analysis suggests this specimen to be between 22,000 and 39,500 years old, but it will be carbon dated to confirm that.Recent years have seen major discoveries of mammoths, woolly rhinos, ice age foal, several puppies and cave lion cubs as the permafrost inside the Arctic Circle melts. 
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Europe has called on China to take down trade barriers and rebalance their economic relationship, following a virtual summit held Monday among EU leaders and Chinese President Xi Jinping.  European leaders also raised human rights concerns, but Beijing has rejected what it calls interference in its affairs.  Monday’s videoconference was a substantially downsized version of the original plan to hold a face-to-face summit among all 27 European Union heads of state and the Chinese president in the German city of Leipzig.  A resurgent coronavirus pandemic in Europe forced the change of plan. The virtual meeting was attended by Xi, along with European Council President Charles Michel; European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the council of the EU. European Council President Charles Michel arrives for an online press conference at the European Council building in Brussels, Sept. 14, 2020.Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Michel reiterated demands for China to open its markets. “Europe needs to be a player, not a playing field,” he told reporters. “Today’s meeting represents another step forward in forging a more balanced relationship with China.”  European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attends an online press conference at the European Council building in Brussels, Sept. 14, 2020.Von der Leyen was more direct. “We expect that the market access barriers in China will be removed,” she said. Europe has voiced frustration at its lack of access to Chinese markets and at having to compete with state-backed industries. Brussels sees the current trade relationship with China as deeply unfair, but is not seeking a trade war, said analyst Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London. “The reality is that the EU would want to be strengthening its economic relationship with China with some adjustments,” he told VOA.  “I think COVID-19 has changed a lot of things in terms of the relationship with China. Many of these countries have found China less than an entirely reliable trading partner or supplier of essential goods like medical supplies. So, some of that will change. But they really don’t want to have an economic decoupling with China,” Tsang said. Human rightsThe trade talks were overshadowed by growing criticism in Europe of China’s human rights record. The EU has requested that Beijing end its clampdown on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong following the imposition earlier this year of a so-called “national security law,” which critics say effectively ends the right to protest and freedom of speech. The law will allow the Communist Party to markedly expand its power in and tighten control of the Asian financial hub. Europe has voiced growing alarm over China’s treatment of the Muslim Uighur population in Xinjiang province, where human rights groups say millions of people are being detained amid reports of forced labor and sterilizations. China denies the accusations.  Speaking at a press conference after the summit, Merkel said Europe would continue to raise these issues with Beijing. “The human rights dialogue will continue. (Chinese President Xi Jinping) offered this,” Merkel said. “So, there are already points of contact for further joint action. But that does not mean that there is agreement on these issues.”  European Council President Charles Michel, top right, speaks with China’s President Xi Jinping, top left, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, bottom right, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a virtual summit, Sept. 14, 2020.The United States has also repeatedly raised concerns over China’s human rights record. Speaking on France Inter radio Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked Europe to take a tougher stance.  “We’ve always said that when human rights are under risk — whether it’s the inability to practice one’s religion and one’s faith, or the simple ability to speak and exercise the basic rights of conscience — that the United States has a role in making clear that that’s unacceptable,” Pompeo said.  “It’s what we’ve done with respect to what’s taking place in western China. It’s what we’ve done in other parts of the world. It’s what we hope and we expect of other nations around the world. And we think the Europeans understand this risk in the same way that we do. We hope that they’ll take actions that reflect the seriousness with which these human rights violations need to be viewed.” Reaction from XiChina’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported that Xi rejected any interference in Chinese affairs during Monday’s virtual summit, particularly on human rights.  The Brussels-Beijing relationship is strained, analyst Tsang said.  “Governments generally, and the EU as a whole, also take a more robust stance, reflecting the shift in public opinion towards China.” The EU is China’s top trading partner, and analysts say Beijing wants to avoid further disputes amid its trade war with the United States. Brussels said it will continue to bring up security and human rights concerns, even as it seeks more trade. 
 
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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny published a photo of himself in a Berlin hospital bed Tuesday as he recovers from a nerve agent poisoning last month in Siberia.Navalny, surrounded by his family as he sat up in bed, said he was pleased to be able to breathe independently.“I miss you all,” Navalny wrote in the post on Instagram. “I can still hardly do anything, but yesterday I could breath all day on my own.”It is the first publicly shared image of Navalny since he was airlifted to Berlin’s Charite Hospital two days after becoming sick during a flight in Russia on August 20.Navalny’s spokeswoman confirmed shortly after the photo’s posting that the 44-year-old planned to return to Russia.Germany, France and Sweden have concluded that Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, a Soviet-era agent that Britain said was used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England two years ago.Western countries have requested an explanation from Moscow, which says the accusations that it was involved in the poisoning are unfounded. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that Moscow needs Germany to provide information about the case to clear up what happened.Peskov said Russian authorities cannot understand why French and Swedish laboratories were allowed to test Navalny’s medical samples and Russia was not.Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the West of using Navalny’s poisoning as an excuse to impose new sanctions on Moscow.Navalny’s illness has further strained ties between Russia and the West. Relations deteriorated to a post-Cold War low after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and Skripal and his daughter were poisoned.German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been pressured to punish Moscow by postponing work on a nearly completed natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. 
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Five years after a wave of asylum seekers flooded into Europe, the region is facing another reckoning on migration, with familiar bickering and lack of consensus on the way forward.The numbers of arrivals are far smaller today than they were in 2015. The iconic images now driving migration back into the headlines are no longer of drowned toddlers, but rather of the thousands of migrants left homeless by fires at a squalid Greek island camp.Whether the European Union can finally come together on migration will be tested when its executive arm next Wednesday unveils a long-awaited migration and asylum pact that will need member state approval to become reality.”It’s going to be a very tough negotiation,” predicted former EU official Stefan Lehne, now an analyst at the Brussels-based Carnegie Europe policy institute.“Everybody agrees the current situation is a mess,” Lehne said of the patchwork of migration initiatives, but, he added, there remains little agreement on how to fix it.Migrants flee from the Moria refugee camp during a second fire, on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece, Sept. 9, 2020.Cannot afford to fail?The European Commission pact is expected to emphasize initiatives toward countries of origin and transit to keep asylum seekers from leaving, beef up border patrols and push for more burden sharing of migrants already within EU borders.The fire that devastated Europe’s largest migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos last week has lent urgency in coming up with solutions.Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotaki, who has called for more EU support in building a new structure — and in handling the migrant influx in general — called the blaze and its aftermath a “warning bell” for the 27-member bloc.“Europe cannot afford a second failure on the migration issue,” he said.European Council President Charles Michel, left, makes statements after his meeting with Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at Maximos Mansion in Athens, Sept. 15, 2020.So far, however, less than half of EU member states, along with Switzerland, have offered to take in a few hundred accompanied minors from the now-devastated Moria camp. Several hundred more have been voluntarily moved to tent camps on the island, leaving most of Moria’s more than 12,000 initial inhabitants still sleeping outside.These and other recent migrant numbers dwarf those of 2015, when roughly one million asylum seekers reached European shores. While Germany opened its doors, welcoming the majority of them, others, particularly eastern European countries, slammed them shut.By contrast, about 48,000 migrants have reached Europe so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration, most via the Mediterranean — with another 268 dead or missing en route.Dozens of African migrants wait to be assisted by a team of aid workers of the Spanish NGO Open Arms, after spending more than 20 hours at sea, in the Central Mediterranean sea, Sept. 8, 2020.“We no longer have the arrival numbers we had in 2015-2016—which means in principle we should be able to talk about migration management and the challenges in a more rational, pragmatic way,” said Marie De Somer, head of migration and diversity at the European Policy Center, a Brussels research institution.But she added, “The divisions remain strong.”Toughening stancesFive years after the migrant crisis, states like Greece, on the frontlines of the influx, are still demanding greater burden-sharing from other bloc members, with some reluctant to do more.“If we give in to the pressure, we risk making the same mistakes we made in 2015. We risk giving people false hopes,” said Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who has declined to take in minors from the Moria camp.Still, Carnegie’s Lehne believes member states are more in harmony today on one aspect.“In 2015, you really had big divisions between one group of countries that was very much for opening the borders and allowing refugees to come—and another group very much opposed,” he said.Lehne believes that has changed.“Everybody in Europe now agrees it has to be a managed process. It cannot simply be opening borders and letting everybody in,” he said.Turkish special forces team patrol on a speed boat along the Maritsa river at the Turkish-Greek border near Karpuzlu village, in Edirne region, Turkey, March 11, 2020.In recent years, the EU has beefed up its border patrols and paid transit countries like Turkey, Libya and Morocco to keep migrants on their shores. In Niger, France opened a migrant processing center to screen asylum-seeking claims thousands of kilometers from European shores.Far-right parties have also surged in recent years, partly riding on their anti-immigration platforms, helping to shape Europe’s tougher migration stance.For their part, rights groups have accused front line countries of foot-dragging or failing to allow vessels carrying migrants to land—and Greece of escorting migrant boats back to Turkish waters.The coronavirus pandemic, activists say, has also offered new pretexts to turn back ships carrying migrants over health concerns.Michael Newman, a migration policy advisor for humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres, said he was “appalled” at the EU’s bureaucratic discussions on migration “when disasters are unfolding in front of our eyes.”“I think we come short of words to describe both the situation lived by migrants, and authorities’ response,” he added.By contrast, EU lawmaker Nicolas Bay, of France’s far-right National Rally party, said that Brussels bureaucrats risked rolling out an overly soft migration policy, offering incentives for more migration.“By piling laxity on top of laxity, they’re adding to the (migration) drama,” he told French radio.Some of these arguments are playing out among EU member states. Analyst De Somer, of the European Policy Center, noted a broader skepticism of reaching member state agreement on a migrant deal.De Somer, however, suggested the Lesbos fire might help act as a catalyst.“One thing it did do,” De Somer said, “is to showcase to the wider public the urgency and importance of coming up with a European solution.” 
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday defended his plan to unilaterally rewrite Britain’s divorce deal with the European Union as an insurance policy against the bloc’s unreasonable behavior — even as his former attorney general joined the ranks of once-loyal lawmakers condemning the contentious move. Johnson said a planned law designed to override portions of the Brexit withdrawal agreement was needed because the EU might “go to extreme and unreasonable lengths” in its treatment of former member Britain.  “I have absolutely no desire to use these measures,” Johnson told lawmakers as he introduced the Internal Market Bill in the House of Commons. “They are an insurance policy.” Johnson’s Conservative government has acknowledged that the bill breaches the legally binding withdrawal treaty that Britain and the EU have both ratified. The legislation threatens to sink the already-foundering negotiations between Britain and the EU on a post-Brexit trade deal. The U.K. formally left the bloc on Jan. 31, but existing trade rules remain in effect until the end of this year under a transition designed to provide time to negotiate a long-term trade agreement. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks in the House of Commons in London, Sept. 14, 2020, in a video grab from footage broadcast by the UK Parliament’s Parliamentary Recording Unit.Ed Milliband, business spokesman for the opposition Labour Party, accused Johnson of “trashing the reputation of this country and trashing the reputation of his office.” With an 80-seat majority in the House of Commons, Johnson is expected to have enough votes to push his legislation through Parliament despite opposition anger.  The bill easily cleared its first House of Commons vote by 340 to 263 on Monday. It will now face attempts to amend or overturn it during several days of detailed scrutiny by lawmakers before another vote. Critics of moveThere is wide unease within Johnson’s party about the law-breaking move. Geoffrey Cox, who was the government’s top legal officer when Johnson negotiated the Brexit withdrawal agreement less than a year ago, said reneging on the deal would be an “unconscionable” breach of international law.  “I simply cannot approve or endorse a situation in which we go back on our word, given solemnly,” Cox, previously a strong supporter of Johnson on Brexit, told Times Radio. “The breaking of the law ultimately leads to very long-term and permanent damage to this country’s reputation.” As part of the Brexit divorce deal, Britain and the EU agreed to keep Northern Ireland — the only part of the U.K. to share a border with the bloc — bound to some EU rules on trade, to avoid the need for border checks on goods moving between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Both sides accepted the compromise to protect the open border, which helps underpin the peace process in Northern Ireland. The Internal Market Bill would give the British government the power to override the EU’s agreed role in oversight of trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. Johnson claims the EU has threatened to use “an extreme interpretation” of the withdrawal agreement to “blockade” food shipments from the rest of the U.K. to Northern Ireland unless Britain agrees to accept EU regulations. The EU denies threatening a blockade and says it merely wants Britain to live up to the terms of the agreement. EU leaders are outraged at the prime minister’s proposal and have threatened the U.K. with legal action if it does not drop the proposal by the end of the month. Two former Conservative U.K. prime ministers, John Major and Theresa May, have condemned the legislation. On Monday a third, David Cameron, said he had “misgivings.” What mystifies some observers is that Johnson is repudiating a treaty that he himself negotiated and hailed as an “oven-ready” deal that would “get Brexit done.” That declaration of victory was key to Johnson’s successful December 2019 election campaign. “There was a political imperative on the government to get an agreement and then to go to the electorate with the claim that they had, to coin a phrase, got Brexit done,” said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.  “I think it possibly was the case in some senses that it was ‘make the agreement in haste and then repent at leisure.’ And what we’re seeing now is the repentance.”What’s next Johnson’s move has dynamited the dwindling trust between Britain and the EU as they try to negotiate a new trading relationship. Talks are due to continue this week in Brussels despite the chill in relations. Both sides say any deal must be agreed by next month so there is time for it to be ratified by Dec. 31. If there is no deal, tariffs and other impediments to trade will be imposed by both sides at the start of 2021. That would mean huge economic disruption for the U.K., which does half its trade with the bloc. A no-deal exit on Jan. 1 would also hit some EU nations, including Ireland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, especially hard.  
 
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Automaker Daimler AG and subsidiary Mercedes-Benz USA have agreed to pay $1.5 billion to the U.S. government and California state regulators to resolve emissions cheating allegations, officials said Monday. The U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency and the California Attorney General’s Office say Daimler violated environmental laws by using “defeat device software” to circumvent emissions testing and sold about 250,000 cars and vans in the U.S. with diesel engines that didn’t comply with state and federal laws. The settlement, which includes civil penalties, will also require Daimler to fix the vehicles, officials said. The Stuttgart, Germany-based automaker said on Aug. 13 that it had agreements with the Justice Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Customs and Border Protection, the California Air Resources Board and others over civil and environmental claims involving about 250,000 diesel cars and vans. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler speaks, during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Sept. 14, 2020.Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler said Daimler did not disclose all of its software, which included “devices designed to defeat emissions controls.”  Daimler denies it cheatedIn a statement, Daimler said it denies the allegations that it cheated and does not admit to any liability in the U.S. The settlements resolve civil proceedings without any determination that Mercedes and Daimler vehicles used defeat devices, the company said. Plus, Daimler said it did not receive a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act from the EPA or California regulators, which is common when defeat devices are used. The company said it is not obligated to buy back the vehicles, as Volkswagen was, nor will it have an independent monitor to track its progress on the settlement.  “By resolving these proceedings, Daimler avoids lengthy court actions with respective legal and financial risks,” the company said. Different systemsDaimler also said the emissions control system in U.S. vehicles is different than models sold in Europe because of different regulatory and legal requirements. Daimler AG said the settlement would bring costs of about $1.5 billion, while the civil settlement will bring a one-off charge of $875 million. It estimated that “further expenses of a mid-three-digit-million” euros would be required to fulfill conditions of the settlements. But the company didn’t make it clear just how the vehicles would be cleaned up or whether it was accused of any wrongdoing in the U.S. like Volkswagen, which paid $2.8 billion to settle a criminal case as a result of cheating. Fiat Chrysler also is being investigated for allegedly cheating on emissions. VW admitted that it turned on pollution controls when vehicles were being tested in EPA labs and turned them off when the diesel vehicles were on real roads. The company duped the EPA for years before being discovered by a nonprofit climate group and researchers at West Virginia University.  Cost sends a messageFILE – Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen speaks at the Justice Department in Washington, Nov. 5, 2019.U.S. Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said the cost of the settlement is likely to send a message to deter other companies from engaging in similar conduct.  “We expect that this relief will also serve to deter any others who may be tempted to violate our nation’s pollution laws in the future,” Rosen said. Daimler’s $875 million civil penalty amounts to about $3,500 for each vehicle that was sold in the U.S. The company will also be required to recall the vehicles and pay to fix them and will need to replace some old locomotive engines with newer, low nitrogen oxide-emitting engines that should offset the illegal emissions from its vehicles, Rosen said. A Justice Department official said the company did not have to admit guilt as part of the settlement.  In addition, officials in California will receive $17.5 million for future environmental enforcement, as well as to support environmentally beneficial projects in the state, officials said. FILE – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra speaks during a news conference in Sacramento, Calif., Dec. 4, 2019.”Long term, cheating isn’t the smartest way to market your product. Daimler is finding that out today. But they’re not the first — nor likely the last — to try,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. “Installing defeat device software on your vehicles to deceive emissions regulators doesn’t qualify as doing more. It just means you’ll pay more in penalties once we catch you. And we will, because cheaters really aren’t as smart as they think.”  Germany investigatingDaimler’s pollution practices also are under investigation in Germany, and civil lawsuits claim the vehicles emitted more pollutants than advertised.  In April 2016, the Justice Department asked Daimler to conduct an internal probe into its exhaust emissions certification process. The request came as the EPA began checking all diesel engines after the Volkswagen cheating was revealed.  Steve Berman, a Seattle attorney who sued Daimler over Mercedes diesel pollution, said in 2016 his firm hired a company to test Mercedes diesels on real roads, finding that they spewed out too much nitrogen oxide almost all the time. Berman accused Mercedes of having a defeat device that was similar to VW’s. In September 2019, federal prosecutors charged a Fiat Chrysler engineer with rigging pollution tests on more than 100,000 diesel pickup trucks and SUVs sold in the U.S., the first indictment since a wave of similar cases against Volkswagen and its managers. The alleged scheme isn’t as large as the Volkswagen emissions scandal, which involved nearly 600,000 vehicles. But the charges showed that investigators are still on the case, months after Fiat Chrysler agreed to a $650 million civil settlement and said it would fix Jeep Grand Cherokees and Ram 1500 trucks with “EcoDiesel” engines made between 2014 and 2016. Prosecutors alleged the engineer manipulated software to make the pollution control system perform differently under government testing than during regular driving.  
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday granted a $1.5 billion loan to Belarus as a show of support for its embattled leader, Alexander Lukashenko, after weeks of street demonstrations that have accused him of rigging last month’s election to retain power in Minsk. The two leaders met at the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi for nearly four hours. Putin gave few details about the loan, although the Kremlin later said some of the new money would be used to refinance earlier loans. Russia also said the two presidents had agreed to boost trade cooperation and discussed energy supplies. Law enforcement officers detain demonstrators during a rally to protest the presidential election results in Minsk, Sept. 13, 2020.As for the protests, Putin said, “We want Belarusians themselves, without prompting and pressure from outside, to sort out this situation in a calm manner and through dialogue and to find a common solution.”Putin said defense cooperation between Russia and Belarus would continue. Russian news agencies reported Moscow was sending paratroopers to Belarus for joint “Slavic Brotherhood” exercises. Belarus authorities have cracked down on the demonstrations, detaining 774 on Sunday out of the estimated 100,000 who marched and chanted epithets against Lukashenko. He has denied rigging the August 9 election against opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has fled to Lithuania. FILE – Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya interacts with supporters in Warsaw, Poland, Sept. 9, 2020.Tsikhanouskaya, on social media, criticized the awarding of the loan to Belarus. “Dear Russians! Your taxes will pay for our beatings,” she said. “We are sure that you would not want that. This may prolong the death throes of Lukashenko, but it cannot prevent the victory of the people.” The United Nations human rights council says it will hold an urgent debate on the violence in Belarus.  In the Sunday protests, throngs marched through Minsk toward a government district, chanting, “Long live Belarus” and “You’re a rat,” a common taunt targeting Lukashenko. Coming to a halt, they chanted “fascists” as hundreds of riot police with shields blocked a road. The Interfax Russian news agency reported that shots were fired into the air to keep protesters away from an area of Minsk where the Belarusian leadership lives. 
 
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Mass protests continue in Belarus as thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators contest what they insist were rigged August elections to keep longtime leader Alexander Lukashenko in power. The latest weekend demonstrations come as the Belarusian strongman travels to Russia seeking critical support for his regime. For VOA News in Minsk, Charles Maynes reports.
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At its opening session, the U.N. Human Rights Council approved a proposal by the European Union to hold an urgent debate on the human rights situation in Belarus by a vote of 25 in favor, two against and 20 abstentions. The European Union cited the steep deterioration of human rights in Belarus following the allegedly rigged August 9th election of President Alexander Lukashenko in its request for an urgent debate.In her opening speech to the council, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michele Bachelet validated these concerns.  She said her office has been receiving alarming reports of ongoing violent repression of peaceful demonstrations, involving excessive use of force by law enforcement officials.“Thousands of arrests, many of them apparently arbitrary, and hundreds of allegations of torture or ill-treatment, including against children, with some reports indicating sexual violence,” said Bachelet. “Recently, abductions by unidentified individuals of people associated with the opposition have also been reported…There has been limited evidence of any steps by the authorities to address these reports.”  Country Violations Top UN Human Rights Council Agenda Council to discuss reports detailing summary executions, torture, arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances, sexual assault and other violationsBelarus’ ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Yuri Ambrazevich, said the EU proposal was part of a broad political campaign aimed at supporting political forces in Belarus who had lost the election.  He spoke through an interpreter.“The proposal of the European Union has nothing to do with human rights,” said Ambrazevich. “It is, however, aimed at rendering political pressure against the State of Belarus, which is a form of direct intervention in the domestic affairs of a sovereign State and is a gross violation of international law.” In her speech, Human Rights Chief Bachelet presented a bleak assessment of the human rights situation around the world.  In rapid-fire order, she highlighted gross violations in dozens of countries in all regions of the world — violations which suppressed the rights and freedoms of people, impoverished societies, triggering violence and conflict.  The human rights records of a number of these States will come under review during the Council’s three-week session.  They include Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine, Venezuela, Syria, and Yemen among others.The High Commissioner warns of ongoing political instability, social and economic upheaval and violence if the grievances, despair and inequality afflicting countless millions of people are not addressed.
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Two allies of stricken Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny are expected to have won local parliamentary seats in the Siberian city of Tomsk when results are released on Monday for a variety of regional and local elections across the country that the ruling United Russia party likely dominated.Ksenia Fadeyeva and Andrei Fateyev came out on top in two constituencies in Tomsk, the city where Navalny fell ill last month with what his doctors in Germany have said was poisoning by a rare nerve agent from the Novichok group of chemicals.Meanwhile, the ruling United Russia party topped the polls overall in Tomsk with more than 24 percent of the vote, according to early results published by regional election officials on Monday.In another Siberian city, Novosibirsk, the chief of Navalny’s local team, Sergei Boiko, reportedly also won a seat on the city council in the September 11-13 voting.The elections were closely watched for signs of protest against the ruling party that backs President Vladimir Putin amid mounting frustrations over declining living standards for many Russians and the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.Navalny had promoted a “smart” voting strategy designed to hurt United Russia and fielded dozens of candidates for city councils in Siberia.Citing data from exit polls and preliminary counting, Aleksei Turchak, the secretary of United Russia’s general council, said late on September 13 that the ruling party was set to win majorities in all regional legislatures and that its candidates for governor were well ahead.However, the independent monitoring group Golos cited numerous reports of irregularities in the September 13 elections, including ballot-box stuffing and ballots cast by real voters being switched.There were also concerns that early voting allowed over the previous two days because of the coronavirus pandemic had led to irregularities.The local elections were also seen as a crucial test for the increasingly unpopular ruling party ahead of next year’s national legislative elections.A total of 18 regional governor posts were contested, along with voters choosing 11 regional legislatures and 22 cities voting for municipal legislatures. Four by-elections were also held for vacant seats in the lower house of the national parliament, the State Duma.The polls came less than a month after the August 20 poisoning of Navalny, who is currently hospitalized in Berlin from the suspected ingestion of the Soviet-developed nerve toxin. His supporters blame Kremlin allies.Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation supported candidates it saw as best placed to unseat incumbents of United Russia. 
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Specialist labs in France and Sweden have confirmed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok, the German government said Monday. A German military laboratory previously confirmed the substance in his samples.         German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said that the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has also received samples and is taking steps to have those tested at its reference laboratories.  “Independently of the ongoing examinations by the OPCW, three laboratories have now confirmed independently of one another the proof of a nerve agent of the Novichok group as the cause of Mr. Navalny’s poisoning,” Seibert said in a statement.          He said Germany had asked France and Sweden for an “independent review” of the German findings using new samples from Navalny.         Navalny, the most visible opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was flown to Germany two days after falling ill on Aug. 20 on a domestic flight in Russia. Berlin has demanded that Russia investigate the case.         Seibert on Monday renewed Germany’s demand that “Russia explain itself” on the matter. He added that “we are in close consultation with our European partners on further steps.”         The Kremlin has bristled at calls from Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders for Russia to answer questions in the case, denying any official involvement and accusing the West of trying to smear Moscow.          Russian authorities have prodded Germany to share the evidence that led it to conclude “without doubt” that Navalny was poisoned with a military nerve agent from the Novichok group, the same class of Soviet-era agent that British authorities said was used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, in 2018. Berlin has rejected suggestions from Moscow that it is dragging its heels. Navalny was kept in an induced coma for more than a week as he was treated with an antidote, before hospital officials said a week ago that his condition had improved enough for him to be brought out of it.  It isn’t clear when Berlin’s Charite hospital will next issue an update on his condition. 
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At least 100,000 Belarusians took to the streets in the capital of Minsk on Sunday in one of the biggest protests yet against President Alexander Lukashenko after he claimed victory in a disputed election last month that his opponents say was rigged.Police said they detained more than 400 protesters in Minsk, with arrests continuing into the evening.With public outrage building against Lukashenko, who has ruled the former Soviet bloc nation for 26 years, Russia said it would support him by sending paratroopers to Belarus for “Slavic Brotherhood” joint drills.Law enforcement officers detain protesters during a rally against police brutality and the presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 13, 2020. (Credit: Tut.By)Protesters claim the August 9 presidential election was won by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Key opposition leaders have since either been jailed or fled the country, with Tsikhanouskaya now in Lithuania.Lukashenko has rejected claims the election was rigged and contends that foreign powers are behind the protests. Throngs of protesters marched through Minsk toward a government district Sunday, chanting “Long live Belarus” and “You’re a rat,” a common taunt against Lukashenko.Coming to a halt, they chanted “fascists” as hundreds of riot police with shields blocked a road.The Interfax Russian news agency reported that shots were fired into the air to keep protesters away from an area of Minsk where the Belarusian leadership lives.The unrest came as Lukashenko prepared to travel to Russia on Monday for talks with President Vladimir Putin.Moscow has expressed support for Belarus, potentially restructuring its debt and offering to send in Russian riot police if needed. 
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