Category: EU

Hundreds of men in the Russian republic of Chechnya have been rounded up and detained recently on suspicion of being homosexual, and at least three have died while in custody, according to a prominent Russian newspaper.

Novaya Gazeta, which reported the crackdown Saturday, said it was aware of other sources who say the death toll may be far higher. The gay men who have disappeared from the streets of Grozny, the Chechen capital, and other towns and cities are said to have ranged in age from 16 to 50.

Novaya Gazeta, a Moscow-based publication known for independent investigative reporting and its willingness to confront Russian officialdom, said it learned of the action against gay men in Chechnya from the Interior Ministry in the Caucasus republic, local activists and law enforcement sources.

The men were detained “in connection with their nontraditional sexual orientation, on suspicion of such,” Novaya Gazeta reported. It said none of the detainees had openly disclosed their sexual orientation — a move the paper equated with asking for a death sentence in the largely Muslim North Caucasus region.

The account also quoted locals as saying Chechens who used gay contact groups on social messaging networks have been abandoning them and closing their accounts. It further quoted sources in Chechnya’s special services as describing the police sweep as “a preventative clear-out” aimed at discouraging public gay rights rallies.

Chechen leader: no gay men here

There was no immediate comment on the report from authorities in Moscow, which has granted its Muslim-majority Caucasus republics freedom to enforce traditional Muslim values.

However, a spokesman for Chechnya’s authoritarian leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, denied the Novaya Gazeta report in a statement to the Russian news agency Interfax that claimed no one in the republic is homosexual.

“You cannot arrest or repress people who just don’t exist in the republic,” Alvi Karimov said.

“If such people existed in Chechnya, law enforcement would not have to worry about them,” Karimov added, “since their own relatives would have sent them to where they could never return.”

Novaya Gazeta has a history of confrontation with the Chechen government and the republic’s Kremlin handlers.

Reporter’​s death

In 2006, Gazeta reporter and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya wrote a series of reports critical of Russia, Kadyrov and Moscow’s role in the second Chechen war.

In her last interview, Politkovskaya described Chechen leader Kadyrov to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as a “coward armed to the teeth and surrounded by security guards.”

She said she hoped to see Kadyrov “someday sitting in the dock, in a trial that meets the strictest legal standards,” facing justice for atrocities allegedly committed by his forces during the Moscow-backed war against separatists in Chechnya.

Politkovskaya’s interview with RFE/RL took place October 5, 2006. Two days later, she was shot dead at point-blank range as she entered an elevator in her Moscow apartment building. Her colleagues blamed the assassination on Kadyrov.

The fateful interview that week coincided with then-Prime Minister Kadyrov’s 30th birthday, a milestone that meant he could seek the republic’s presidency, which he did a few months later.

Five men were eventually convicted of killing Politkovskaya.
…

France’s centrist presidential contender Emmanuel Macron singled out the far-right National Front as his chief rival Saturday, vowing to win the first round on April 23 as a new poll showed the election race getting tighter.

“The National Front, our main opponent, is attacking us on all sides. Never boo them. Fight them,” a defiant Macron told a rally in the southern city of Marseille.

“I want us to kick far from this campaign and from the country the party of hatred and contempt and all those who make us so ashamed. We are going to be ahead in the first round and we’re going to beat them,” he said.

The presidential race is even closer than it was a week ago, an opinion poll indicated Saturday.

First-round voting intentions for the front-runners, Macron and National Front leader Marine Le Pen, showed both slipping a percentage point to 25 percent and 24 percent, respectively.

Many undecided

Third-place conservative Francois Fillon gained 2 points to 19 percent, while the far left’s Jean-Luc Melenchon climbed a point to 15 percent, according to the survey by the BVA polling institute conducted March 29-30.

Complicating predictions, 38 percent of people either could not say how they would vote or may yet change their minds. That was down 2 percentage points from a week earlier, but showed the race remains wide open.

The poll showed independent Macron had solidified his voter base, with 63 percent of those opting for him sure of their decision, up 8 points from a week ago and his highest certainty score since campaigning began in earnest in February.

However, Le Pen still had by far the most solid voter base, with an unchanged 81 percent of her voters certain to pick her.

Shock election outcomes abroad, including the U.S. presidential victory of Donald Trump and Britain’s Brexit referendum vote, have fed expectations that Le Pen’s anti-euro, anti-immigration platform could sweep her to power in France.

The poll, though, like others this year, showed Macron beating her with 60 percent of votes in the May 7 second round. Fillon’s recovery from the lows that followed a fake work scandal surrounding his wife put him within 5 points of Le Pen and 6 points of Macron, with some voters previously tempted to abstain deciding to go for him after all, BVA’s commentary said.

BVA put Melenchon’s climb since a strong performance in the first TV debate on March 20 partly down to more of his natural sympathizers deciding to vote.

It said official Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon, who was in fifth place at 11.5 percent and also has hard-left policies, could be vulnerable.

Meeting with Estrosi

Le Pen was due to hold a meeting in Bordeaux on Sunday, but it was her two main rivals who made headlines Saturday. During his visit to Marseille, Macron met conservative and security hard-liner Christian Estrosi, part of his strategy to show he wants to transcend the right-left divide.

Estrosi is a key ally of conservative former President Nicolas Sarkozy. He stands a long way to the right of the Socialist government in which Macron was economy minister until last year, but was among those who tried and failed to oust scandal-hit Fillon as the candidate of the Republicans.

Fillon sought to get his campaign back on track by turning back the clock with a warning about France’s heavy debts.

France faces the same fate as Greece, he said during a visit to Corsica, reviving a controversy he stoked on the Mediterranean island in 2007 when — during his term as prime minister under Sarkozy — he said he was head of a “failing state.”

Fillon has based his campaign on the need to rein in spending and cut France’s deficit, pledging 100 billion euros ($106.5 billion) of spending cuts and a reduction of 500,000 public sector jobs, proposals that are tougher than those of any other mainstream candidate.
…

At least 18 people, including three children, were injured when a bonfire effigy exploded at a town carnival outside Paris, officials said Saturday.

Organizers had poured gasoline on a wooden figure of a man, preparing for a bonfire that normally concludes the annual town carnival in Villepinte, north of the capital. Emergency workers said the effigy exploded when it was ignited by remote control, showering chunks of burning wood and splinters onto a crowd of several hundred people.

Five of those injured were in serious condition, authorities said, but no one’s life was in danger. Most victims suffered burns.

Officials said there was no indication that the incident involved arson or terrorism, but the explosion and flames did cause momentary panic.
…

Austria’s top diplomat on Friday called on both sides of the conflict in Azerbaijan’s autonomous breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh to renew the political settlement process.

Marking the first anniversary of deadly clashes in the Azeri region, which is populated mostly by ethnic Armenians, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, current chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), emphasized his hope for a fresh start in the largely stalled peace negotiations.

“Clashes and serious violations of the cease-fire on the Line of Contact, resulting in casualties, were of particular concern to us throughout the past year,” Kurz said in a public statement. “It is now high time for a focus on pragmatic and practical steps for confidence-building as well as a resumption of substantive negotiations.”

The United States, Russia and France, which co-chair OSCE’s Minsk Group for conflict mediation, used diplomacy to halt the violence between Armenian-backed separatists and Azeri forces, which was the deadliest incident since a 1994 cease-fire established the current territorial division. Although they have been unable to secure a binding peace resolution, former U.S. Ambassador Carey Cavanaugh said, the renewed push by the OSCE presents a rare opportunity for U.S. and Russian coordination.

“President [Donald] Trump had made clear during his campaign, and since then, that he would like to find a way to have more positive relations with Russia. This might be one of those areas where that is more easily tackled,” said Cavanaugh, who once co-chaired the Minsk Group as a special negotiator alongside Russian and French diplomats.

Opportunity to surprise

“For two decades we’ve been working together as co-chairs on this, and I can tell you as a former co-chair — and I have talked with my successors — that the cooperation would surprise people,” he said.

Unlike the Syrian and Ukrainian conflicts, Nagorno-Karabakh is place where U.S. and Russian interests converge. Considering the constant cease-fire violations since the 2016 clashes left more than 100 people dead, Nagorno-Karabakh, he said, cannot be considered a frozen conflict, but rather “a simmering one, which needs a lot of attention and has a lot of danger.”

The only solution that can prevent further violence is close coordination between U.S. and Russian diplomats, whose nations would both benefit from a sustained peace in the region.

But that can only happen, Cavanaugh said, if both Azeri and Armenian-aligned factions show Washington and Moscow that they are ready to re-engage the peace process.

“The sides need to send clear signals to Moscow, to Washington, to Paris, that they are prepared now really to work on peace again.”

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Armenian service.
…

Pressure is growing on the Hungarian government to withdraw a draft bill on higher education that could lead to the closure of the Central European University in Budapest, which was founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

The U.S. State Department as well as dozens of academics in Hungary and abroad Friday called on Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government to ensure CEU’s independence and operations.

Orban said Friday on state radio that the CEU was “cheating” because it did not have a campus in its country of origin and because it issued diplomas recognized both in Hungary and the United States, giving it an undue advantage over local institutions. The CEU is accredited in New York state but does not have a U.S. campus.

“This is not fair to Hungarian universities,” Orban said. “There is competition among universities and it is inexplicable why we should put our own universities at a disadvantage … while securing an unfair advantage for the foreign university.”

Nobel Prize winners

Fourteen winners of the Nobel Prize in economics were among about 150 academics from U.S. and European universities who advocated for the CEU in an open letter addressed to education officials and Reka Szemerkenyi, Hungary’s ambassador in Washington.

“It would be a sad outcome for the training of students from the region, for academic research in Hungary, and for our own cooperation with Hungarian academics, if the proposed legislation came into force,” the academics said.

Orban, however, conditioned CEU’s survival to a bilateral Hungary-U.S. agreement on the university. He did not hide his disdain for the Hungarian-born Soros’ policies supporting the university and numerous non-governmental organizations that Orban considers “foreign agents” working against Hungarian interests.

University vows to stay open

CEU rector Michael Ignatieff has vowed to keep the university open despite the draft bill, scheduled to be debated by lawmakers next week. The bill sets new conditions on foreign universities operating in Hungary and was seen as directly targeting the CEU.

Among the 28 foreign universities in Hungary, only CEU would fail to meet a requirement to also have a campus in its home country.

“Contrary to the prime minister’s statement, there is no current Hungarian law that requires universities to have operations in their home countries in order to award degrees in Hungary,” the CEU said. “We have been lawful partners in Hungarian higher education for 25 years and any statement to the contrary is false.”

The CEU also said it was notified Friday by Hungary’s education authority that its accreditation in New York state met the conditions for operating in Hungary.

US speaks out

The U.S. State Department also took exception to the proposed legislation, saying it would impose “new, targeted, and onerous regulatory requirements on foreign universities.”

“If adopted, these changes would negatively affect or even lead to the closure” of the CEU, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. “We urge the government of Hungary to avoid taking any legislative action that would compromise CEU’s operations or independence.”

Hungarian university organizations also expressed their support for the CEU.

“CEU is a very significant scholarly center,” said Laszlo Lovasz, president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. “It is good that it operates in Budapest.”
…

Poland’s defense minster said Friday that he expected to sign a multibillion-dollar deal with U.S. firm Raytheon to buy eight Patriot missile defense systems this year.

Antoni Macierewicz told reporters in Warsaw that the $7.6 billion deal was necessary in light of what he called “a growing threat from the East.” Poland has increased efforts to modernize its military since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine three years ago.

“Those systems allow us to guarantee the security of the Polish state,” Macierewicz said.

Deputy Defense Minister Bartosz Kownacki said the missile system would help protect against Russian missiles based in Kaliningrad, an enclave of Russian territory between Poland’s northeastern border and Lithuania.

Raytheon also expressed satisfaction that the deal was moving forward. Congress must approve any contract for the sale of advanced U.S. military technology.

Macierewicz said the Polish government and Raytheon “concluded a very important stage of our discussions on the acquisition of medium-range missile systems to ensure Poland’s security.” He said that some issues were still outstanding, but that the deal could be signed by the end of 2017 if all conditions were agreed upon.

The defense minister acknowledged the talks were sometimes difficult and said Raytheon’s earlier price estimate for the missile systems, $12.7 billion, was “unacceptable.”
…

The leader of Bosnia’s Muslim community this week vowed to continue fighting radicalization via education and sustained pressure on extremist offshoots within the small Balkan nation.

After a recent meeting with White House and State Department officials, Grand Mufti Husein Kavazovic told VOA in an exclusive interview that he felt reassured that the new administration supports Bosnian unity and sovereignty, and the Balkan nation’s efforts against radicalization abroad.

Last week Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hosted 68 foreign ministers and other leaders from around the world to discuss a global coalition strategy to defeat Islamic State militants. Bosnia’s foreign minister also attended the meeting.

“We try to show the right path to our Muslims wherever we can, constantly pointing out dangers of extremism of any kind, and how un-Islamic it is,” Kazazovic told VOA. “We also organize gatherings and conferences for our students, with students from Catholic and orthodox schools and universities in Bosnia. And we preach in our mosques what Bosnia has been forever: different cultures and faiths in one place, which makes it very fortunate and rich.”

Radicalization in 1990s

In Bosnia, where Muslims represent the largest faith community, militant Islam was nearly nonexistent until the 1990s Balkans wars, when radicalized Arab Muslim mercenaries intervened to help battle Serb forces. Some foreign extremists who stayed in Bosnia embraced a radical brand of Islam that Kavazovic has adamantly opposed.

Kavazovic has warned Bosnians against succumbing to fanatical rhetoric aimed at recruiting fighters into Syria and Iraq. In 2015, one of his own imams was repeatedly, violently attacked by extremists for refusing to use Bosnia’s Muslim pulpit as a platform for espousing a radical agenda.

According to intelligence agencies, more than 200 radicalized Bosnians have traveled to Syria and Iraq since 2012, where they fought with jihadist groups, including Islamic State. Bosnian Security Minister Dragan Mektic told VOA in December that about a third of them have been killed. More than 40 fighters returned to Bosnia, where they were all investigated and processed. Bosnia introduced a law two years ago that imposes strong sanctions against those who fight abroad or recruit others to do so.

In 2016, Bosnia’s Ministry of Security found that munitions from Bosnia were used in the January 2015 attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, and that some Yugoslav-made weapons were used in the November 13 Paris attacks that same year.

Extremists marginalized

Asked about so-called para-mosques, new places of worship in Bosnia formed by followers of the radical Wahhabi version of Islam, Kavazovic said his organization is continuing efforts to marginalize the groups.

“We wanted to send clear message,” he said of a recent move to exclude them from Bosnia’s official Muslim community.

“The Islamic community cannot have members who are tightly closed, not transparent, [and] who do not respond to the community, so we do not know what they preach [or] what their goal is,” he said. “Of course, human rights and rights to worship must be respected, but we must know if there is a violent side to their preaching, or something that will damage society. Eventually, some of these groups came back to the community, and those who did not, about 20 of them, are monitored by the authorities.”

Kavazovic’s meetings with U.S. officials were arranged by the Bosnian Embassy in Washington.

In St. Louis, which is home to the largest Bosnian diaspora in the United States, imams recently hosted an open house dubbed “Make America Whole Again,” in which Republicans and supporters of President Donald Trump were invited to visit a new mosque and learn more about Islamic culture, but few attended.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Bosnian Service.
…

Only days before Serbia’s presidential election, seven major newspapers have hit the stands with the same front pages: the ruling candidate’s campaign poster.

The propaganda coup on Thursday by populist Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic’s campaign team further stoked fears about the overall fairness of the Sunday vote.

The papers splash the red and blue AV logo and carry no headlines or news on the front pages.

Former Serbian President Boris Tadic said “today’s print media have revealed the real state of democracy under Vucic’s rule.”

Tadic said “we are looking at the North Korean scenario for Serbia if he wins the election.”

The mainstream media under Vucic’s control have been demonizing most of the 10 opposition challengers running in the election, without giving them the opportunity to respond.
…

Armenia’s ruling party goes into an election on Sunday neck-and-neck in the polls with a former coalition partner, making it hard to predict the winner

of a vote that will usher in a new parliamentary system of government.

Under constitutional changes critics say were designed to prolong the political life of President Serzh Sarksyan, parliament, not voters, will elect the president for the first time and the office of prime minister will become more powerful, with the presidency becoming a largely ceremonial role.

Sarksyan, the 62-year-old leader of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), has repeatedly denied that the changes, which were approved by the electorate in a December 2015 referendum, were made for his benefit.

He has been president since 2008, but his current presidential term, his second, expires next year, and critics say the new system gives him some attractive options: to keep wielding executive power by becoming prime minister; to do so by simply remaining leader of the RPA; or to quit but keep

exercising influence via a handpicked successor.

To be assured of having those options, Sarksyan will need his party to win Sunday’s vote, which comes as the ex-Soviet state of 3.2 million is in the grip of an economic slowdown that has sparked rising discontent.

“This election stands as a crossroads for Armenia, as either a decisive turning point or as a possibly divisive tipping point, with the country’s stability and security in the balance,” said Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies Centre in the capital Yerevan.

The outcome is uncertain.

The ruling RPA is neck-and-neck in opinion polls with an opposition alliance led by a wealthy businessman, Gagik Tsarukyan. The alliance has ruled in coalition with the RPA before, but it’s unclear if it will agree to do so again if, as expected, it fails to win enough support to rule alone.

Another smaller party, which currently rules with the RPA, has said it will do a deal however, if it gets into parliament, offering the RPA a potential political lifeline.

Armenia depends heavily for aid and investment on Russia, which has been hard hit in the past three years by an economic downturn. Armenia has felt the impact, with growth falling to 0.2 percent last year from 3 percent in 2015.

Analysts say the election may be better organized than previous polls, which have been marred by irregularities, but that there is still a risk of post-election unrest.
…

Turkish banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a prominent ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, came to New York this week to school investors on his state bank’s plans to sell new dollar bonds.

Instead, he was placed under arrest by U.S. authorities and accused of conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran by teaming with wealthy Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars of illegal transactions through U.S. banks to Iran’s government.

“United States sanctions are not mere requests or suggestions; they are the law,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said in a statement in New York, where Atilla was arraigned Tuesday.

He was arrested at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Monday.

Gold, currency allegedly sent to Iran

Atilla “protected and hid Zarrab’s ability to provide access to international financial networks,” U.S. authorities said in documents filed in the U.S. court. The documents allege that gold and currency were sent to Iran, while documents were forged to disguise the transactions as food shipments so as to comply with humanitarian exceptions to the sanctions law.

Atilla’s arrest and the case of Zarrab — arrested last year in Florida — drew a sharp rebuke from the Turkish government, which said it planned to raise the matter with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson when he visits Ankara this week, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Turkish media.

Relations between the U.S. and Turkey are frayed over the Syrian civil war and Turkish demands for the extradition of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the Turkish leadership blames for July’s failed coup in Turkey.

Diplomatic dispute?

In terms of the impact of the recent development on the U.S. Turkish relationship, some analysts suggest it could potentially be an issue as the two sides view the case through different lenses.

“For the U.S., it is a case of sanctions law violation,” said Ihan Tani, a journalist who follows U.S.-Turkish relations. “But some people close to the Turkish president seem to be involved with Reza Zarrab.”

Tani added that because of the involvement of close aides of the Turkish president, the issue could escalate into a diplomatic dispute.

But Tani said Atilla knew that U.S authorities viewed him as a potential suspect.

“He knew that he was part of the U.S. investigation here. So why did he come to this country? It is hard to understand. If he took a risk, now he is paying for it,” Tani said.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment on his motives to travel to the U.S.

Lender’s shares drop

The arrest could have major financial implications for Turkish state lender Halkbank. Bank shares posted their biggest one-day fall on Wednesday.

Halkbank, Turkey’s fifth-largest bank in terms of assets, vowed to investigate.

“Our bank and relevant state bodies are conducting the necessary work on the subject, and information will be shared with the public when it is obtained,” Halkbank said in a statement.
…

Russian high school student Roman Shingarkin had some explaining to do when he got home after becoming one of the faces of anti-Kremlin protests at the weekend. His father is a former member of parliament who supports President Vladimir Putin.

At the height of a protest in Moscow on Sunday against what organizers said was official corruption, 17-year-old Shingarkin and another young man climbed onto the top of a lamp-post in the city’s Pushkin Square.

Hundreds of protesters in the square cheered and whistled as a police officer, dressed in riot gear, shinned up the lamp-post and remonstrated with the two to come down. They refused, and the police officer retreated, to jubilation from the protesters down below.

As images of the protests, the biggest in Russia for several years, ricocheted around social media, Shingarkin’s sit-in on top of the lamp-post was adopted by Kremlin opponents as a David-and-Goliath style symbol of defiance.

Shingarkin was eventually detained when, after the protest in Pushkin Square had dispersed, police persuaded him to climb down. He was taken to a police station but as a minor, he could not be charged. From the police station, he had to ring his father to ask to be picked up.

His father, Maxim Shingarkin, was from 2011 until 2016 a lawmaker in the State Duma, or lower house of parliament. He was a member of the LDPR party, a nationalist group that on nearly all major issues backs Putin.

Putin last year gave the party’s leader, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a medal for services to Russia. With Putin standing next to him, Zhirinovsky proclaimed: “God protect the tsar.”

Shingarkin had not told his father he would be going to the protest, but the former lawmaker quickly guessed what had happened.

“When I rang my dad from the police station, he immediately understood why I was there,” Shingarkin, wearing the same blue and black coat he had on during the protest, said in an interview with Reuters TV.

“I went there [to the rally] out of interest to see how strong the opposition is, how many people would take to the streets, and at the same time to get a response from authorities to a clear fact of corruption.”

He decided to climb up the lamp-post because he “could see nothing from the ground.”

Contacted by telephone on Wednesday, Shingarkin senior said he was sympathetic with his son’s motives for attending the protest.

“He has a social position, against corruption, I support it completely,” Maxim Shingarkin said.

But he emphasised that his son’s actions did not mean that he or the family were opponents of Putin.

The Russian leader, Shingarkin senior said, is popular among voters and there is no one to replace him, but he is let down by the officials around him.

Roman Shingarkin said for now he would not attend any more protests unless they were approved by the authorities.

He said he might venture to a non-approved demonstration once he turns 18, because if he gets into trouble then, the police will charge him and not involve his parents.
…

The United States is examining its next steps in the campaign to defeat Islamic State militants and stabilize the refugee crisis with regional allies, as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson embarks on trips to Turkey and NATO headquarters this week. The top U.S. diplomat will press NATO allies to demonstrate a clear path to increase defense spending, in his first meeting with counterparts from this security bloc.

U.S.-led forces are increasing their campaign to retake the Syrian city of Raqqa from Islamic State militants. Stabilizing areas where militants have fled and allowing refugees to return home is high on the agenda for the U.S. and its anti-Islamic State coalition partners.

In Turkey, Tillerson will try to build on progress from last week’s meeting of coalition partners in Washington.

“While a more defined course of action in Syria is still coming together, I can say the United States will increase our pressure on ISIS and al-Qaida, and will work to establish interim zones of stability through cease-fires to allow refugees to go home,” he said, using a common acronym for Islamic State, which is also known as ISIL and Daesh.

But it could be a tall order, according to Middle East expert Daniel Serwer.

“The Turks would like to have safe zones; they have been proposing them for years,” he said. “But they are, in fact, extraordinarily difficult to create, and to defend, and to maintain.”

NATO

Days before Tillerson’s first meeting with NATO foreign ministers, Tillerson met with his counterparts from the Baltic states. They expressed confidence in Washington’s support for NATO.

“We’re passing what we consider very important messages of the need to develop transatlantic security and economic links, so it was, overall, a very good introductory meeting,” Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics told VOA’s Ukrainian Service.

After Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea, NATO agreed to send troops to Lithuania and to Estonia, Latvia and Poland, in a move to deter potential Russian aggression.

“I wouldn’t say the military presence is insignificant,” Estonian Foreign Minister Sven Misker told VOA’s Russian Service. “These are very well-trained, well-equipped forces. But when you look at the numbers, the presence is slightly modest compared to what Russia has in place on the other side of the border. So it shouldn’t be viewed as escalatory in any way … but I think it’s sufficient to make Russia change its calculus. It makes clear to Russia that they should not launch a provocation and think that they can do it with impunity.”

Tillerson is going to the NATO talks before he goes to Moscow, a move that ends the controversy over his earlier decision to skip the event.

“[NATO allies] want the commitment by Tillerson to maintain sanctions [on Russia for its actions] on Ukraine; they want a commitment from Tillerson that his president isn’t going to sell out the alliance to the Russians,” Serwer said.

Tillerson will make it clear that it is no longer sustainable for the United States to maintain a disproportionate share of NATO’s defense spending. He also will consult with allies about their shared commitment to improve security in Ukraine and the need for NATO to push Russia to end aggression against its neighbors.

NATO member states have until 2024 to meet a shared pledge to contribute 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense.

Estonia is the only Baltic nation to spend 2 percent of the GDP for defense purposes. Lithuania and Latvia have pledged to reach that level by 2018.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Russian and Ukrainian services.
…

Scotland’s Parliament voted Tuesday to seek a new referendum on independence from Britain, clearing the way for the country’s first minister, its top lawmaker, to ask the British government to approve such a vote.

The legislature in Edinburgh voted 69-59 to seek Britain’s parliamentary endorsement, which is required, for a referendum that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wants to hold within two years — before Britain has completed its departure from the 28-nation European Union.

British voters narrowly approved a departure from the EU last year, and London will begin the formal process leading to Britain’s exit from the union on Wednesday.

Despite the overall vote last year in favor of leaving the EU — based on ballots cast in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — nearly two-thirds of Scottish voters elected to remain in the bloc. Since then, Sturgeon has insisted that independence is the only way for Scotland to maintain its formal EU relationship.

Scottish voters chose not to declare independence from London in a referendum three years ago, but that was months before discussions began about Britain’s possible departure from the Brussels-based EU.  

‘Democratically indefensible’

Sturgeon has argued that last year’s Brexit vote necessitates a new independence referendum. On Tuesday, she said “it would be democratically indefensible and utterly unsustainable” for London to block a new Scottish vote.

Sturgeon first predicted a push for a new independence referendum last year, hours after British voters elected to leave the EU. She said it would be “unacceptable” for Scotland to be forced to leave the EU along with the rest of Britain, in light of Scots’ strong support for remaining in the bloc.

For her part, British Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will not support a new Scottish vote until Britain has formally departed the EU — a process of negotiations that experts say could take take several years.

“Now is not the time,” May said of a new Scottish referendum, adding that Britons “should be working together, not pulling apart,” as the Brexit unfolds.
…

Britain has launched a new pound coin that authorities say will be difficult to counterfeit.
…

The European Union peacekeeping force (EUFOR) in Bosnia warned its political leaders Tuesday that it was prepared to intervene at short notice should violence resume two decades after the end of its ethnic war that killed 100,000 people.

Concerns are rising about increasing instability in the historically volatile Balkans, including secessionist pressures in Bosnia, a parliamentary boycott in Montenegro, and renewed tensions between Serbia and its former province of Kosovo.

“A lot has been achieved but a lot can be lost again,” Major General Anton Waldner said at a ceremony in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, marking his takeover of the command of EUFOR, which has 800 troops deployed in Bosnia.

“There is still an executive mandate which allows significant reinforcement at short notice of [EUFOR]. I will not hesitate to call [on] these reserve forces if needed,” said Waldner, an Austrian. “You, political leaders, have the most powerful key in your hands.”

EUFOR’s new operations chief, General James Everard, said there were “external influences at play in the wider Western Balkans region, and in Bosnia, [that] have the potential to challenge progress.”

Western leaders have accused Russia of seeking to exploit diminishing EU leverage in the Balkans by manipulating political events in the region. Russia, which denies such allegations, is a historical ally of the Serbs.

“In the face of such challenges it is essential that we persevere together,” added Everard, a Briton.

Last year, Montenegro’s authorities accused a group of Serb and Russian nationalists of planning a coup during elections to get an opposition alliance into power.

Russia strongly opposes the former Yugoslav republic’s bid to join NATO, but it rejected the accusations.

EUFOR first deployed in Bosnia in 2004, replacing the 60,000-strong NATO Stabilization Force.

For its part, NATO had said that in case of any violent flare-up in Bosnia, it could quickly deploy military assets, mainly from Italy and Germany.

Fears of fresh conflict in Bosnia have risen amid calls from Serbs for the secession of their postwar autonomous entity from Bosnia and their overwhelming vote to keep a national holiday that Bosnia’s central top court has ruled unconstitutional.

Postwar Bosnia’s two highly autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and the Bosniak-Croat Federation, largely eclipse a weak central cabinet in Sarajevo. This has meant that economic reforms and development often become hostage to ethnic politicking and conflicting visions of the nation’s future.
…

Amnesty International has called on the Turkish government to stop its crackdown on the media and release imprisoned journalists in the country.  

“Turkey now jails more journalists than any other country. One third of all imprisoned journalists in the world are being held in Turkish prisons,” said a statement by the human rights advocacy group.

“This crackdown must end. Journalists must be allowed to do their jobs, because journalism is not a crime,” the statement added.  

In the wake of last year’s failed coup attempt, the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has responded with a rigorous crackdown on those who were deemed involved. In the process, tens of thousands of teachers and civil servants were fired.

Besides many military officers, journalists and activists have also been imprisoned.

The Turkish government has been defensive of its actions, but many in the international community accuse it of using the military coup attempt as a tool to target opponents and suppress human rights in the country.

Earlier this month, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner addressed the issue.

“We urge Turkey to respect and ensure freedom of expression, fair trail guarantees, judicial independence and other essential freedoms. We also firmly believe in freedom of expression  and that any freedom of expression, including for speech and the media – and that includes also speech that some may find controversial or uncomfortable – only strengthens a democracy and it needs to be protected,” Toner said.

Despite continued criticism from the international community, Turkey continues to target journalists.     

Utku Cakirozer, a Turkish Parliament member from the Republican People’s Party, told VOA that as a result of the government’s crackdown on journalists, 90 percent of the media is now under government control.

“All international reports are saying that Turkey is the worst country in the area of press freedom, Cakirozer said. “Many journalists have no jobs. There is a climate of fear in Turkey.”

Cakirozer added there are 153 journalists held in Turkish prisons.

Nina Ognianova, program coordinator for Europe and Central Asia for the Committee to Protect Journalists, expressed concerns over the situation of press freedom in Turkey.  

“Turkey’s international partners must press the country’s leaders on the issue of press freedom and freedom of expression as a matter of urgency,” she said.    

Ognianova added that if the crackdown continued, Turkey would soon lose its independent media.

“Turkey’s crackdown on the press threatens to destroy any remnants of critical independent media in the country to devastating effects not only for Turkey, but also for Turkey’s international partners,” Ognianova said.

 
…

The leader of Bulgaria’s Socialist party has conceded defeat after exit polls showed her party placing second in the parliamentary election held Sunday.

Socialist leader Kornelia Ninova congratulated former Prime Minister Boiko Borisov’s GERB party as the election’s winner.

An Alpha Research exit poll said GERB won 32.2 percent of the vote, with the Socialist Party coming in second with 28 percent. A separate exit poll by Gallup International Balkan had GERB with 32.8 percent and the Socialists with 28.4 percent.

Official results are expected Monday.  

The election had been seen as a test of Bulgaria’s loyalties to the European Union and to Russia, with which it has historic political and cultural links. Bulgaria is set to take over the bloc’s presidency in 2018.

GERB and the Socialists both campaigned to revive economic ties with Russia to benefit voters in the European Union’s poorest nation. But the Socialists vowed to go further, even if it meant upsetting the country’s European Union partners.

GERB did not win enough votes to govern alone, and will likely form a coalition government with the United Patriots, an alliance of three nationalist parties that the exit polls showed placing third.

The Socialists ruled out any option of serving in a coalition government. But Ninova said her party would look at options for forming a government should the center-right GERB party find it cannot do so on its own.

Borisov, 57, resigned as prime minister after his party lost the presidential election last year.  Parliament was dissolved in January, and the president appointed a caretaker government that will stay until a new government is formed.

 
…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right party won a state election by large margin, exit polls said Sunday, in an early setback to center-left hopes of unseating her in the September national vote.

Early results from the voting in Saarland state had Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) leading with 40 percent while the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) had around 30 percent.

The SPD was facing its first electoral test since nominating Martin Shultz to face off against Merkel in September.

The party has seen a recent surge in popularity.

Merkel is expected to run for fourth term as chancellor.
…

Francois Fillon’s aides used an umbrella to shield him from eggs thrown by protesters in southwest France on Saturday as the beleaguered conservative fell further behind centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-rightist Marine Le Pen in opinion polls.

The contrast between former front-runner Fillon, embroiled in a financial scandal, and new poll favorite Macron was striking as both candidates campaigned 29 days before the first round of France’s unpredictable presidential election.

Addressing a rally in the French island of La Reunion, in the Indian ocean, Macron departed from typical campaign speeches by inviting members of the audience — including a 6-year old who asked him “How do you get to be president?” — on stage to ask questions on a wide range of issues.

“It’s historic, we need to decide whether we want to be afraid of the century that has just started … or want to bring fresh ambition to France,” the 39-year-old former investment banker said to chants of “Macron President!”

Macron, a former economy minister to Socialist President Francois Hollande, set up his own centrist party last year.

Macron leads in polls

He has shot to first place in opinion polls since Fillon was put under investigation over suspicions he misused public funds by paying his wife hundreds of thousands of euros as a parliamentary assistant for work she may not have done. Fillon denies any wrongdoing.

Fillon slipped to 17 percent in a BVA poll published Saturday, which saw Macron getting 26 percent of the first-round vote, up 1 percentage point from a week ago with Le Pen at 25 percent, down one point.

The number of undecided voters for the first round remains high, with 40 percent of voters still undecided.

The poll showed Macron winning a second round vote with 62 percent of the vote versus 38 percent for Le Pen, who is to hold a rally in the northern France city of Lille on Sunday.

The poll was carried out partly before a TV interview Thursday night in which Fillon, 63, accused Hollande of leading a smear campaign against him.

Voters throw eggs, bang pans 

Met by some 30 protesters throwing eggs and banging pots and pans to shouts of “Fillon in prison” in the southwest France town of Cambo-les-Bains, Fillon told reporters: “Those protests are an insult to democracy … the more they protest, the more French voters will support me.”

Meanwhile, a faction of the centrist UDI party, which is allied with Fillon’s The Republicans, was kicked out of the party Saturday for rallying behind Macron.

The BVA poll also showed far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon gaining ground in the first round, up 2 points from a week earlier to 14 percent, now 2.5 points ahead of the ruling Socialist Party’s candidate Benoit Hamon.
…

Tens of thousands of pro-EU demonstrators rallied in London, despite heightened concerns about the terrorism threat, to mark the European Union’s 60th anniversary — just days before Britain’s exit from the EU is expected to formally begin.

Organizers said about 80,000 people joined the march calling for Britain to stay in the EU on March 25.

The demonstration came four days before British Prime Minister Theresa May said she would formally start Britain’s exit negotiations by invoking Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty.

Hundreds of blue EU flags were carried by protesters in the procession as it stretched through central London.

Banners carried by the demonstrators had slogans like “I am European,” and “I’m 15 — I want my future back!”

The protesters fell silent as they moved through Parliament Square, where a British-born terrorist earlier this week drove a car through crowds of people before crashing into a fence and stabbing a police officer to death.

One banner raised in front of Britain’s Parliament said, “Terrorism won’t divide us — Brexit will.”

About 10,000 EU supporters also marched in Rome on March 25 while about 4,000 gathered in Berlin.

Some material for this report came from AFP, BBC and AP.
…

Riot police in Belarus launched a massive crackdown Saturday on protesters trying to hold a banned march in Minsk. Hundreds were reported arrested, and a human rights leader said many of the detainees had been beaten by police and needed medical attention.

An estimated 700 people were trying to march through a central part of the capital, part of a wave of anti-government protests against a new tax on workers. Truckloads of police intercepted the protesters and attacked them with clubs.

Witnesses said unarmed civilians also were assaulted, and a Reuters reporter said at least 10 journalists were arrested.

Earlier Saturday, officials from the opposition group Vesna-96 said police had raided their headquarters in the capital and detained about 60 activists. All were later released, and there was no official comment on the incident.

Earlier this week, Belarus’ authoritarian president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, said dozens of militants planning an “armed provocation” had been arrested in Minsk and elsewhere in the former Soviet republic.

Lukashenko claims conspiracy

Lukashenko, who has been in power in Minsk since 1994, said the detained militants had undergone training in neighboring Ukraine and had been funded by Poland and Lithuania. Relations between Belarus and those two other neighboring, pro-Western states have been strained throughout Lukashenko’s time in power.

Lukashenko offered no evidence to support his claim that protesters in his capital had been trained and funded by other nations, nor did he provide any details of the alleged plot.

Protesters in Belarus have been staging civil disobedience actions in reaction to a new labor law that forces citizens to pay the government the equivalent of $250 if they work less than six months in a year, or if they fail to register with state labor exchanges.

Belarus, a country of 9.4 million people, has been mired in recession since 2015. Many opponents of the unpopular tax say they are effectively being penalized by the same government that has failed to reduce unemployment.

Responding to mounting public pressure, Lukashenko suspended collection of the unemployment fee earlier this month, but protests have continued.
…

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday warned Western nations against destabilizing the political situation in Macedonia.

His comments to a Moscow news conference came less than two days after the European Union’s enlargement commissioner, Johannes Hahn, visited Skopje in another bid to help break a political deadlock that has left the country’s parties unable to form a government since an election in December.

The crisis has sparked inter-ethnic tension, as three ethnic Albanian parties push for Albanian to be designated a second official language as a condition to joining any coalition government. That has led to daily protests for three weeks.

“The current situation in Macedonia — I’d even call it a crisis, in many respects provoked artificially — is leading to the situation when attempts are made to split the society,” Lavrov said, adding the West should realize “the danger of such attempts.”

He also said he found it perplexing that Russia’s activities in the Balkans were considered provocative. Russian relations with Balkan nations shouldn’t be a cause for concern in the West, he said.

Official: West should be concerned

In an apparent rebuke, Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki told VOA that the West should be very concerned.

“We can perfectly imagine that a global power like Russia would have interests pretty much everywhere around the world,” he told VOA’s Macedonian service after spending a day meeting with U.S. legislators in Washington.

“What really matters is what would be in the interest of the countries in the region,” he added. “Regarding Macedonia, we are clear that EU and NATO membership are our priority. And we would like to achieve these objectives because we believe that this is the best recipe for peace, stability and economic prosperity in our region. We remain committed to these goals.”

European Union leaders and analysts have said the mounting political confrontation in Macedonia could spin out of control, adding to increasing ethnic tensions across a destabilizing Balkans.

Clear message urged

Last week, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic warned of serious consequences if the European Union does not give western Balkan countries a clear message about joining the bloc, citing growing nationalism and pro-Russian sympathies in the region.

On Wednesday, Serbian Defense Minister Zoran Djordjevic called for joint Serbian-U.S. military exercises.

On Monday, Montenegro’s Foreign Minister Srdjan Darmanovic said U.S.-led NATO allies have been supportive of an investigation into what Montenegrin prosecutors are calling a pro-Russian plot to overthrow the country’s pro-Western government to prevent it from joining the European military alliance.

US Senate’s approval needed

Montenegro’s bid to join NATO is awaiting approval from the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday that Montenegro’s accession to NATO would create a contiguous border along the Adriatic coast.

“Since Montenegro borders five other Balkan nations, including NATO allies Croatia and Albania, its NATO membership will support greater integration, democratic reform, trade, security and stability with all of its neighbors,” he said.

The Montenegrin, Serbian and Macedonian ministers were in Washington for a State Department conference of the global coalition to defeat Islamic State.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Macedonian and Serbian services. Some information is from AP.
…

London police on Thursday identified the attacker who killed four people near Parliament as Khalid Masood, a Briton who converted to Islam and had a lengthy criminal record for weapons possession and other charges.

Islamic State said Masood, 52, was a “soldier” of the extremist group who responded to its call to attack civilians and the military in countries allied with the United States in battling IS.

Masood had never been convicted of terrorist offenses, but British security officials said he had been investigated in the past “in relation to concerns about violent extremism.” Authorities said they thought he was acting alone Wednesday when he ran down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, a Thames River crossing leading to the Houses of Parliament, crashed his rented vehicle into a gate and fatally stabbed a policeman who tried to stop him.

Armed police shot and killed Masood moments later.

Raids across nation

In the hours after the attack, police conducted raids around the country in search of anyone who might have given support to Masood. Eight men and women were arrested Thursday on suspicion of planning terrorist acts.

The dead assailant, who was older than most Islamist attackers involved in recent spectacular terror attacks in Europe, had been a teacher of English and was known as a fanatical bodybuilder.

One of the civilians who was run down on the bridge, a 75-year-old man, died Thursday in a hospital, raising the casualty toll to four victims and Masood.

Although IS claimed responsibility for the attack, a statement posted online did not implicate the group in the planning or execution of the attack.

An Italian tourist who witnessed the carnage told reporters he saw Masood attack the policeman with two knives. “He gave [the officer] around 10 stabs in the back,” the visitor said.

Valiant efforts to resuscitate Constable Keith Palmer at the scene failed. The 48-year-old officer was a 15-year police veteran.

One American was among the dead: Kurt Cochran, 54, of Utah, who was in London with his wife to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. His wife, Melissa, was among the 30 people injured. Masood’s vehicle hit the Cochrans as they crossed Westminster Bridge.

The remaining victim of the attack was a British school administrator, Aysha Frade, 43.

London vigil

Mourners gathered in London’s Trafalgar Square on Thursday evening, about one kilometer from the crime scene, for a candlelight vigil. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, told the crowd of thousands that “those trying to destroy our shared way of life will never succeed.”

Khan said the vigil in the most recognizable public plaza in London was meant to honor the dead and injured, but also “to send a clear, clear message: Londoners will never be cowed by terrorism.”

Mark Rowley, head of counterterrorism efforts for London’s Metropolitan Police Service, said the eight people arrested Thursday were picked up during searches at six separate locations, and that investigations were continuing in London, Birmingham and other parts of England. He declined to say whether or how those detained were involved in Wednesday’s attack.

“It is still our belief, which continues to be borne out by our investigation, that this attacker acted alone and was inspired by international terrorism,” Rowley told reporters.  

WATCH: British PM May Condemns Terror Attack on Parliament

Prime Minister Theresa May struck a defiant tone in discussing the attack Thursday before Parliament, telling British lawmakers that what London experienced was “an attack on free people everywhere.”

“Yesterday, an act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy, but today, we meet as normal, as generations have done before us and as future generations will continue to do, to deliver a simple message: We are not afraid and our resolve will never waver in the face of terrorism,” she said.

Victims’ homelands

May thanked Britain’s friends and allies around the world “who have made it clear that they stand with us at this time.” She said the victims included nationals of France, Romania, South Korea, Germany, Poland, Ireland, China, Italy and Greece, as well as the United States.

The U.N. Security Council in New York, chaired by British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, observed a moment of silence Thursday for the London victims.

“You may know that today there are victims in London from 11 nations, which goes to show that an attack on London is an attack on the world,” Johnson said. “I can tell you from my talks here in the United States with the U.S. government and with partners from around the world that the world is uniting to defeat the people who launched this attack and defeat their bankrupt and odious ideology.”

In London, Parliament’s session began with a minute of silence Thursday. Police officers stood in silence nearby outside the headquarters of the city’s Metropolitan Police.
…

The Turkish foreign ministry says it has summoned Russia’s top diplomat in Turkey over the killing of one of its soldiers that has been blamed on a Syrian Kurdish group that Moscow is supporting. The dispute is putting increasing strain on rapprochement efforts between the countries.

The Russian charge d’affaires was summoned Thursday by the Turkish foreign ministry and warned that Turkey will retaliate against a Syrian Kurdish group if there is a repeat of Wednesday’s cross-border attack. The Turkish military claims that a sniper of the the YPG, a Syrian Kurdish militia, killed one of its soldiers.

Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu said in his weekly press briefing that Moscow was responsible for preventing such instances as its forces are deployed in the Kurdish-controlled Afrin region to monitor and prevent such occurrences.

“Steps that should be taken in order to prevent similar cases in the future” and a reprisal would be aimed at the Syrian Kurdish group if such an attack was repeated, said Muftuoglu.

Russian troops sent to Afrin

The Turkish army regularly shells Afrin, accusing the YPG and its political wing the PYD, of being terrorists, affiliated with the PKK, which is fighting the Turkish state. But Moscow has been courting the Syrian Kurdish groups.

This week, Russian forces were deployed in Afrin, despite protests by Ankara. The deepening dispute is casting a shadow over efforts to foster reconciliation between Ankara and Moscow, following a collapse in relations in 2015 after Turkish jets downed a Russian bomber operating from a Syrian airbase.

Former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who served widely in the region, says the latest dispute over Afrin reveals the limitations of rapprochement efforts.

“Ankara is quite active in promoting the positive progress in relations.” Selcen said. “But practically speaking, there is no progress. In fact, we can even speak of deterioration with what we can see in Afrin.”

Peace talks set for Geneva

Turkish displeasure reportedly also was expressed to Russia’s charge d’affaires over pictures of senior Russian officers in Afrin wearing YPG insignias on their uniforms. Moscow’s deepening relations with the Syrian Kurds are causing growing unease in Ankara. Foreign ministry spokesman Muftuoglu also called on Moscow to close the political offices of the PYD in the Russian capital.

Ties could be further strained with Moscow lobbying for the inclusion of the PYD at next week’s U.N.-sponsored Syrian peace talks in Geneva. Ankara has been at the forefront of trying to block their participation, asserting that the PYD is a terrorist organization.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that it is very important to overcome Turkey’s resistance and include the Syrian Kurds in upcoming talks.
…

Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Macedonia’s capital, Skopje, Tuesday to protest a visit by a European Union envoy who is trying to break the political deadlock that has left the country without a government for three months.

Waving red-and-yellow national flags, the protesters chanted “Macedonia! Macedonia!” – as EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn held talks with political leaders.

Protest organizers said they were holding rallies at 42 sites around the country, and unfurled giant banners along the route taken by Hahn from the airport to the capital.

Macedonia’s two largest parties do not have enough lawmakers to form a government after a general election in December.

They would need to form a coalition with one party from the country’s ethnic Albanian minority, which is demanding that Albanian be made the country’s second official language.

The long-governing conservatives rejected the minority demand outright. Conservative President Gjorge Ivanov, however, has refused to hand the rival Social Democrats a mandate to form a government until they do the same.

Ivanov, who did not meet with Hahn, argues that the language demand is an attempt to destroy Macedonia’s character.

Supporting Ivanov’s tough line, demonstrators have gathered regularly for the past three weeks, and organizers said that a crowd of 50,000 rallied in Skopje Tuesday _ a number not immediately confirmed by authorities.

“We’ve had enough of commissioners,” Bogdan Ilievski, a protest organizer, said. “The language we all understand is Macedonian and the [minority demand] is only aimed at breaking up the country. That’s why we won’t allow it to become the policy of any government.”

Ethnic Albanians make up a quarter of Macedonia’s population. Albanian is currently recognized as an official language in minority-dominated areas but not in the country as a whole.

Macedonia has been locked in a major political crisis for the past two years, sparked by a wiretapping scandal and corruption allegations.
…

Poland’s defense minister has accused European Council President Donald Tusk of working with Russia’s Vladimir Putin to harm Polish interests following the 2010 plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others.

The ministry notified the military department of the National Prosecutor’s Office on Monday that it suspected Tusk, who was Polish prime minister at the time, of an “abuse of trust in foreign relations.”

The move was the latest, and possibly most serious, in an internal political row between Poland’s ruling right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party and rival Tusk.

Poland was isolated and rebuffed at an European Union summit earlier this month when Tusk, a centrist, was reappointed as council president over Warsaw’s objections.

Tusk accused of treason

A spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office in Warsaw confirmed it had received the ministry’s notification, which effectively accuses Tusk of diplomatic treason. It now has 30 days to decide whether to investigate.

Tusk dismissed the accusations as “purely about emotions and obsessions.”

“This is not a matter of legal or political nature, it is purely about emotions and obsessions,” he said in emailed comments. “Therefore, it is not within my competence to comment on cases like this one.”

The PiS is led by Kaczynski’s twin brother Jaroslaw, Poland’s most powerful politician and a longstanding opponent of Tusk.

Lech Kaczynski died when in a plane carrying a Polish delegation crashed approaching Smolensk Air Base in Russia. He was flying from Warsaw to commemorate the 1940 Katyn massacre of Polish officers by Soviet secret police.

‘Illegal contract’ with Putin

Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz told the Gazeta Polska Codziennie daily on Tuesday: “Tusk made an illegal contract with Vladimir Putin to the detriment of Poland and should bear criminal responsibility for that.”

State news agency PAP quoted the notification as accusing Tusk of agreeing to terms that prevented Poland from playing a full part in investigating the causes of the crash.

Macierewicz alleged that Tusk failed to secure from the start an agreement with Moscow “to guarantee the participation of representatives of Poland in all investigative activities on the site,” and that this allowed Russia to limit the Polish role.

The notification also accused Tusk of failing to take steps that would enforce the return of the Tu-154 plane wreckage to Poland, the notification said.

Russia has repeatedly refused Poland’s demand to return the Tu-154 wreckage and its black box recorders, citing its own ongoing investigation.

Beyond negligence

The notification from the defense ministry covers the period from the plane crash on April 10, 2010 to 2014, when Tusk took up his current post as chairman of EU leaders’ summits. The alleged crime carries a sentence of one to 10 years in prison.

“It’s not about negligence, it is about a criminal offense,” Macierewicz said.

Polish prosecutors are already conducting several investigations into the Smolensk crash, including a case against a group of public officials also suspected of acting to Poland’s detriment in the year after the accident.

Tusk has frequently denied any responsibility for the crash, which an earlier official investigation concluded was an accident.

The accusation marks a sharp escalation of the conflict between PiS and Tusk, who led the rival Civic Platform party and was prime minister from 2007 to 2014. PiS has already accused him of neglecting the existence of a fraudulent investment  scheme when prime minister and selling off too many Polish businesses to foreigners.

Civic Platform party hopes Tusk may return to Poland after his EU stint and become its candidate for the next presidential election in 2020.
…