Day: August 24, 2020

Belarusian authorities stepped up arrests of political opponents and strike leaders Monday, after Sunday saw the latest unprecedented demonstration against President Alexander Lukashenko’s disputed re-election.  While the protest movement against Lukashenko’s 26-year reign entered its third week, the man known as “Europe’s last dictator” responded with fresh rhetoric and martial imagery. Most prominently, Nobel Literature…

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Monday praised “significant progress” in solving the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine, as he met with his Ukrainian counterpart in Kiev. Germany is a key player in what is known as the Minsk peace process aimed at ending the longrunning conflict with Moscow-backed separatists in the east of the…

Updated to add Charité hospital statement. The German government believes that Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was likely poisoned, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said Monday. Steffen Seibert’s comments during a press briefing align with claims from Navalny’s aides, who say he was poisoned with a cup of tea at an airport cafe. Navalny, 44, has been…

Russia has moved swiftly to expel an Austrian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move following the expulsion of its own diplomat from Vienna on accusations of industrial espionage. Austria gave the unnamed Russian diplomat until Sept. 1 to leave the country, according to Austrian media, for allegedly engaging in economic espionage in a high-tech company for…

Doctors in Siberia who treated Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny for a suspected poisoning before he was airlifted to a hospital in Germany said Monday that their efforts had saved his life. The 44-year-old opposition politician went into a coma after falling suddenly ill Thursday on a flight to Moscow, forcing the plane to make an emergency…

Austria has for the first time in its relations with Russia declared a Russian diplomat persona non-grata on suspicion of industrial espionage. The unnamed diplomat has until Sept. 1 to leave the country, the tabloid Kronen Zeitung reported Monday. “The Russian diplomat had carried out economic espionage in a high-tech company for years with the support…

Leading Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny will survive his apparent poisoning but won’t return to politics for several months, the organizer of his medical evacuation to Germany told the German tabloid Bild. Jaka Bizilj’s comments came as Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said the opposition figure’s family has not authorized anyone other than his doctors or herself…

Russia has confirmed 961,493 cases of coronavirus and 16,448 deaths. Aug. 24: What you need to know today Mexico will receive at least 2,000 doses of Russia’s candidate coronavirus vaccine as part of the injection’s Phase 3 clinical trials, Mexico’s foreign minister said Thursday. Russia said Saturday that it has produced the first batch of its coronavirus vaccine, after…

The highest number of new cases were in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Russia’s fatality rate has remained low compared to other badly-hit countries, raising speculation that Moscow could be underreporting figures. Russian authorities began easing anti-virus measures in June ahead of a massive World War II military parade in Moscow and a nationwide vote on…