Helsinki, Finland — Finns headed to the polls Sunday to elect a new president, an office whose importance has grown on increased tensions with neighboring Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.

While the president’s powers are limited, the head of state — who also acts as supreme commander of Finland’s armed forces — helps direct foreign policy in collaboration with the government, meaning the changing geopolitical landscape in Europe will be the main concern for the winner.

Two top politicians lead the pack of nine candidates: former conservative prime minister Alexander Stubb, and ex-foreign minister Pekka Haavisto of the Green Party who is running as an independent.

Just behind the frontrunners are far-right Finns Party candidate Jussi Halla-aho, who experts believe could also make it to the second round.

The polls opened at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT), and will close at 8 p.m.

Voter Hannu Kuusitie told AFP the country needs a president with “leadership” and “humanity.”

“Of course, he must also be tough when necessary,” he added.

Relations between Moscow and Helsinki deteriorated following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, prompting Finland to drop decades of military nonalignment and join NATO in April 2023.

Russia, with which Finland shares a 1,340-kilometer border, swiftly warned of “countermeasures.”

Independent and ally

By August 2023, Finland observed an influx of migrants entering through its eastern border without visas.

Helsinki claimed Moscow was pushing the migrants in a hybrid attack to destabilize it, and Finland closed the eastern border in November.

“We are in a situation now where Russia and especially [Russian President] Vladimir Putin is using humans as a weapon,” Stubb said Thursday evening during a final televised debate.

“It’s a migrant issue, it’s a ruthless, cynical measure. And in that case we have to put Finland’s security first,” he added.

Main rival Haavisto stressed that Finland had to “send Russia a very clear message that this can’t go on.”

In the post-Cold War period, Helsinki maintained good relations with Moscow.

Incumbent President Sauli Niinisto — who is stepping down after serving two six-year terms — once prided himself on his close ties with Putin before becoming one of his most trenchant critics.

Against this backdrop, all the presidential candidates champion both Finland’s independence and its new role as a NATO member, said Hanna Wass, vice dean at the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Helsinki.

“They all seem to have a strong idea emphasizing self-sufficiency, in that in the future Finland should be in charge of its defense independently and also be an active contributor in building a shared European defense and Nordic cooperation,” Wass told AFP.

With such similar stances, the election will focus more on the candidates’ personalities, according to Tuomas Forsberg, professor of foreign policy at the University of Tampere.

“This will be more about electing an individual, where you look at the person’s credibility and reliability and perceived qualities as a leader of foreign policy,” Forsberg said.

Similar views

A poll published by public broadcaster Yle gave Stubb a first round lead with 27% of the vote, Haavisto in second on 23% and Halla-aho 18%.

Stubb was prime minister of Finland between 2014 and 2015, while Pekka Haavisto has held several ministerial posts.

“They both have broad experience in both domestic and foreign politics, which voters seem to value the most,” Wass said.

While sharing similar political views, Haavisto and Stubb represent different backgrounds, Forsberg noted.

“Their background and values … are seen as quite different because Alex is more a representative of the right and Haavisto of the left, even if Haavisto has tried to underline that there is nothing red about him, that he has taken the middle road as a Green,” Forsberg said.

In a second voting round between the two — which will be held on February 11 unless a candidate receives more than 50% — the election debates could be decisive, he added.
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OSWIECIM, Poland — A group of survivors of Nazi death camps marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II in a modest ceremony Saturday in southern Poland.

About 20 survivors from various camps set up by Nazi Germany around Europe laid wreaths and flowers and lit candles at the Death Wall in Auschwitz.

Later, the group was to say prayers at the monument in Birkenau. They were memorializing around 1.1 million camp victims, mostly Jews. The memorial site and museum are located near the city of Oswiecim.

Nearly 6 million European Jews were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust — the mass murder of Jews and other groups before and during World War II.

Marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the survivors will be accompanied by Polish Senate Speaker Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska, Culture Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz and Israeli Ambassador Yacov Livne.

The theme of the observances is the human being, symbolized in simple, hand-drawn portraits. They are meant to stress that the horror of Auschwitz-Birkenau lies in the suffering of people held and killed there.

Holocaust victims were commemorated across Europe.

In Germany, where people put down flowers and lit candles at memorials for the victims of the Nazi terror, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that his country would continue to carry the responsibility for this “crime against humanity.”

He called on all citizens to defend Germany’s democracy and fight antisemitism, as the country marked the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

“‘Never again’ is every day,” Scholz said in his weekly video podcast. “January 27 calls out to us: Stay visible! Stay audible! Against antisemitism, against racism, against misanthropy — and for our democracy.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose country is fighting to repel Russia’s full-scale invasion, posted an image of a Jewish menorah on X, formerly known as Twitter, to mark the remembrance day.

“Every new generation must learn the truth about the Holocaust. Human life must remain the highest value for all nations in the world,” said Zelenskyy, who is Jewish and has lost relatives in the Holocaust.

“Eternal memory to all Holocaust victims!” Zelenskyy tweeted.

In Italy, Holocaust commemorations included a torchlit procession alongside official statements from top political leaders.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said that her conservative nationalist government was committed to eradicating antisemitism that she said had been “reinvigorated” amid the Israel-Hamas war. Meloni’s critics have long accused her and her Brothers of Italy party, which has neo-fascist roots, of failing to sufficiently atone for its past.

Later Saturday, leftist movements planned a torchlit procession to remember all victims of the Holocaust — Jews but also Roma, gays and political dissidents who were deported or exterminated in Nazi camps.

Police were also on alert after pro-Palestinian activists indicated that they would ignore a police order and go ahead with a rally planned to coincide with the Holocaust commemorations. Italy’s Jewish community has complained that such protests have become occasions for the memory of the Holocaust to be co-opted by anti-Israel forces and used against Jews.

In Poland, a memorial ceremony with prayers was held Friday in Warsaw at the foot of the Monument to the Heroes of the Ghetto, who fell fighting the Nazis in 1943.

Earlier in the week, the countries of the former Yugoslavia signed an agreement in Paris to jointly renovate Block 17 in the red-brick Auschwitz camp and install a permanent exhibition there in memory of around 20,000 people who were deported from their territories and brought to the block. Participating in the project will be Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia.

Preserving the camp, a notorious symbol of the horrors of the Holocaust, with its cruelly misleading “Arbeit Macht Frei” (“Work Makes One Free”) gate, requires constant effort by historians and experts, and substantial funds.

The Nazis, who occupied Poland from 1939 to 1945, at first used old Austrian military barracks at Auschwitz as a concentration and death camp for Poland’s resistance fighters. In 1942, the wooden barracks, gas chambers and crematoria of Birkenau were added for the extermination of Europe’s Jews, Roma and other nationals, as well as Russian prisoners of war.

Soviet Red Army troops liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27, 1945, with about 7,000 prisoners there, children and those who were too weak to walk. The Germans had evacuated tens of thousands of other inmates on foot days earlier in what is now called the Death March, because many inmates died of exhaustion and cold in the sub-freezing temperatures.

Since 1979, Auschwitz-Birkenau has been on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites.
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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — Aryna Sabalenka continued to be an irrepressible force at the Australian Open as she powered to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Chinese 12th seed Zheng Qinwen on Saturday to successfully defend her title and add a second Grand Slam trophy to her cabinet. 

The Belarusian second seed has barely put a foot wrong as she became the first woman to retain the Melbourne Park crown since compatriot Victoria Azarenka in 2013. 

“It’s been an amazing couple of weeks, and I couldn’t imagine myself lifting this trophy one more time,” Sabalenka said. 

“I want to congratulate you, Qinwen, on an incredible couple of weeks here in Australia. I know it’s really tough to lose in the final, but you’re such an incredible player,” she said. “You’re such a young girl, and you’re going to make many more finals and you’re going to get it.” 

Sabalenka came into the match without dropping a set at the year’s first major. She remained perfect to join Ash Barty, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Lindsay Davenport in the elite club of players to have managed the feat since 2000. 

She unleashed monster groundstrokes to grab the final by the scruff of the neck with an early break, and thousands of Chinese supporters and millions back home watched Zheng fall behind 3-0. 

Sabalenka did not have her nation’s flags in the stands because of a ban over her country’s role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the charismatic 25-year-old has a big Melbourne fan base. She rode the Rod Laver Arena support to take the first set. 

Zheng, who had saved four set points, showed she was slowly growing in confidence in her second meeting with Sabalenka by firing up her own big forehand amid the rallying cry of “Jia You” from her compatriots in the crowd. 

The 21-year-old first-time finalist, bidding to match her idol Li Na — the Melbourne Park champion 10 years ago and first Chinese player to win a major — saw her hopes fade after two more errors on serve left her 4-1 down. 

Sabalenka shrugged off a shaky service game to close out the most one-sided final since Azarenka beat Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-0 in 2012. 

“It’s my first final and I’m feeling a little bit pity, but that’s how it is,” Zheng said. “I feel very complicated because I could have done better than I did in this match.” 
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CHISINAU, moldova — The chief negotiator for Moldova’s Russian-backed separatist Transniestria region said Friday that his team would no longer attend talks on the country’s future in areas under government control because he feared arrest. 

Transniestria split from Moldova before the 1991 collapse of Soviet rule and fought a brief war against the newly independent country, but it has existed for more than 30 years on the country’s eastern fringe with little turmoil. 

The two sides hold periodic talks on resolving their differences, but tension has risen in the new year over Moldova’s imposition of customs duties that the separatist side says will hurt its businesses. Moldovan officials described the latest session of talks earlier this month as “difficult.” 

Transniestria’s foreign minister, Vitaly Ignatiev, said he was wary of recent changes to Moldova’s criminal code toughening its provisions against separatism. He said he could no longer abide by the principle of alternating the talks between the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, and Tiraspol, the separatist region’s main town. 

“No resident of Transniestria can be safe from criminal prosecution if he is on the other side of the Dniester River,” Ignatiev said, referring to the government-controlled area of Moldova. 

“Within the context of our talks, we have repeatedly asked for guarantees against the use of repressive measures against citizens of Transniestria. But Chisinau won’t provide them.” 

Given the new criminal provisions, he said, talks could be held only in Transniestria or by video conference.  

The pro-European government in Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest countries, has pledged to press on with a drive to join the European Union.  

President Maia Sandu has denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and accused Russia of plotting to remove her. She says that Moldova could join the EU initially without Transniestria, citing membership granted to the divided island of Cyprus. 

Moldova’s chief negotiator, Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Serebrean, said last week that authorities were not insisting on the current practice of alternating the site of talks. 

The country’s criminal code, he said, sought to uphold Moldova’s territorial integrity and was not aimed at Transniestria’s residents, though he could not offer security guarantees “because I am not a prosecutor.” 

Ignatiev holds Ukrainian and Russian citizenship, and Kyiv has ordered him appear in a Ukrainian court this month to answer charges of welcoming Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and for more recent hostile statements about Ukraine.
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berlin — Analysts say new draft regulations announced by the European Union this week are likely to hit Chinese exports when approved and further strain relations between Beijing and Brussels.

The regulations, unveiled Wednesday, are intended to protect the bloc’s economy and keep sensitive technology from falling into the hands of geopolitical rivals. A statement accompanying the draft described the regulations as part of an initiative to boost the bloc’s economic security “at a time of growing geopolitical tensions and profound technological shifts.”

The package includes measures to strengthen export controls, identify potentially risky foreign investments in the tech sector, enhance the security of sensitive research and screen foreign investments.

In recent years, Chinese foreign direct investment into Europe has slowed, hitting an eight-year low in 2022, while concern about the security of supply chains, technology and infrastructure has risen, said Clara Brandi, professor of economics and political science at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability in Bonn.

“The initiative puts a strain on relations with China and Chinese firms, although China is explicitly mentioned very little in the relevant EU texts,” Brandi told VOA.

An EU Commission spokesperson told VOA the new proposal “responds to growing concerns about certain foreign investors seeking to acquire control of EU firms that provide critical technologies, infrastructure or inputs, or hold sensitive information, and whose activities are critical for security of public order at EU level.”

China wants curbs eased

The new measures come despite calls from China for the EU to relax restrictions on high-tech products. Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week.   

During that meeting, Li called on the EU to “uphold justice, compliance and transparency in economic and trade matters” and to “treat Chinese enterprises fairly.” Li also asked the EU to act “prudently” as it introduces restrictive economic and trade policies.

On the day the economic security package was unveiled, China’s Chamber of Commerce in the EU released a statement noting that more than half of its surveyed companies were concerned about the impact of the new screening mechanism.

More than one-fifth of the 180 Chinese companies surveyed said they planned to expand their presence in Europe over the next one to three years and to increase their investment and merger and acquisition activities.

Ian Choong, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore who specializes in security and Chinese foreign policy issues, said that with the new measures, “exports of certain, but not all, technologies to China” were likely to decrease.

“Of course, the EU limits will reduce technology exchange to some degree. I expect Beijing to reciprocate, which will further limit exchanges. Beijing will seek to impose some penalty on the EU in retaliation,” he predicted.

Asked if the new proposal might discourage foreign investment, the EU Commission spokesperson said the investment screening mechanism was “targeted,” and that there was “no evidence” that such screening procedures would slow down investments.

Security concerns

Still, the EU has become increasingly wary of security breaches initiated by countries like Russia and China, even as it tries to boost its own market competitiveness.

“The EU is trying to get rid of its strong dependence on third countries, which it became painfully aware of after Russia’s invasion into Ukraine. The EU’s new China doctrine task is about de-risking,” said Brandi.

She said the bloc’s concerns were largely justified.

The EU has been wary of China’s growing use of economic power to pursue political goals, including what it called “an economic blockade” in 2022, when Beijing slapped trade restrictions on Lithuania after it moved to withdraw from the Belt and Road Initiative and sought to open an office with representatives from Taiwan.

That and dozens of other examples, including Chinese students studying in the fields of dual-use technology, were cited in a recently adopted European Parliament resolution on the security and defense implications of China’s influence on critical infrastructure.

The bloc believes Chinese students studying in the tech field pose a risk of espionage, while China’s growing capability in AI, cloud computing and other fields is seen as a national security risk.

“There are concerns that China could use EU technologies to engage in the use of force or even aggression in the East and South China seas, or against Taiwan,” Chong said. “Such action could be very disruptive and costly to world trade, including to EU members.”

And as friction among NATO, Russia and China shows no signs of abating, Chong said the initiatives are also a strategic decision.

“Many EU members also are NATO members. They probably do not want to see their technologies being used against their U.S. ally in the event of a contingency in Asia, or for that matter against allies of the U.S. that align with the EU on democratic values,” he said.
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SYDNEY — Thousands of Australians protested the anniversary of British colonization of their country with large crowds Friday urging for Australia Day to be moved and for a day of mourning on the holiday some call “Invasion Day.”

The holiday marks the arrival of 11 British ships carrying convicts at Port Jackson in present-day Sydney on January 26, 1788. For many activists, the day marked the beginning of a sustained period of discrimination and expulsion of Indigenous people from their land without a treaty.

Thousands of people, many of whom waved Indigenous flags, rallied in front of the Victoria state parliament in Melbourne, calling for an official day of mourning to be declared across Australia. Large crowds in Sydney chanted for the Australia Day date to be moved. Protests have been organized in every major city in the country.

On Thursday, two monuments symbolizing Australia’s colonial past were damaged in Melbourne. A statue of British naval officer James Cook, who in 1770 charted Sydney’s coast, was sawn off at the ankles, and a Queen Victoria monument was doused in red paint.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people represented 3.8% of Australia’s population of 26 million, according to a Bureau of Statistics census in 2021. Indigenous people are the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority.

Tensions are high after Australian voters in October resoundingly rejected a referendum to create an advocacy committee to offer advice to parliament on policies that affect Indigenous people. The government had proposed the first constitutional change since 1977 as a step forward in Indigenous rights.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Friday that the national day was an opportunity for Australians to “pause and reflect on everything that we have achieved as a nation.”
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washington — Alsu Kurmasheva, an American journalist jailed in Russia on charges that press freedom groups say are politically motivated and baseless, marked 100 days in detention on Thursday, as her employer and family renewed calls for her immediate release.

“To be honest, it’s all becoming slowly but surely less bearable,” Kurmasheva wrote in a January 13 letter.

Kurmasheva is a longtime Prague-based editor at the Tatar-Bashkir service of VOA’s sister outlet, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

A dual U.S.-Russian national, Kurmasheva traveled to Russia in May 2023 for a family emergency. Her passports were confiscated when she tried to leave the country in June, and she was waiting for them to be returned when she was detained in October.

Kurmasheva was initially charged with failing to register as a “foreign agent,” but authorities later added additional charges of spreading false information about the Russian army. Kurmasheva and her employer deny the charges against her.

“Even one day unjustly behind bars is a tragedy,” acting RFE/RL President Stephen Capus said, “but a U.S. citizen wrongfully held in a Russian prison for 100 days is outrageous.”

Kurmasheva is being held in pretrial detention until at least February and faces a combined sentence of up to 15 years in prison.

“One hundred days of Alsu’s detention in Russia is 100 days too many,” Kurmasheva’s husband, Pavel Butorin, said in a post on X. “Russia must drop its criminal cases against Alsu and allow her to leave Russia. She needs to come home and hug her children again.”

Russia’s Washington embassy did not immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment.

Since Kurmasheva’s jailing, her employer and press freedom groups have called on the U.S. State Department to declare her wrongfully detained, which would open additional resources to help secure her release.

“Alsu Kurmasheva is a victim of Moscow’s war on journalism and its geopolitical disputes with the United States,” Clayton Weimers, executive director of the U.S. bureau of Reporters Without Borders, said in a statement.

“As an American journalist targeted for her work, Kurmasheva deserves nothing less than the full weight of her government working to secure her release,” Weimers added.

Some press freedom analysts have wondered whether Kurmasheva’s status as a dual national is complicating or delaying her potential designation as wrongfully detained, but other analysts told VOA that shouldn’t be a factor.

Wrongful detention determinations are important because they put political jailings on the U.S. government’s radar to drive their response, according to Sarah Moriarty, an international security fellow at the New America think tank.

“It’s important because it calls out these actions for what they are, which is really, at its heart, hostage-taking,” Moriarty told VOA.

Moriarty is the daughter of Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who was abducted in Iran in 2007 by Tehran. He is the namesake for the Levinson Act, which established a framework for responding to wrongful detentions of Americans abroad.

A State Department spokesperson on Wednesday said he had no updates on a potential designation for Kurmasheva.

“We are following closely the detention of Alsu Kurmasheva in Russia. We remain incredibly concerned about the extension of her pretrial detention,” spokesperson Vedant Patel said, adding that a request for consular access to the journalist was denied on December 20.

“When it comes to dual nationals who may be detained or arrested, Russia has no legal obligation to inform us of the detention of U.S. citizens who are dual nationals,” Patel continued, saying Moscow had acknowledged her detention to consular officials.

The process of making wrongful detention determinations is unclear, according to Joel Simon, the founding director of the Journalism Protection Initiative.

“The fact that there’s really no explanation in Alsu’s case is, I would say, not unusual,” said Simon, who also sits on the Center for Strategic and International Studies Commission on Hostage Taking and Wrongful Detention.

“It’s an opaque and mysterious process, and we don’t really know how these deliberations are carried out,” he said.

The absence of a designation in Kurmasheva’s case could be chalked up to slow-moving bureaucracy, according to Simon, or it may be a tactical decision if officials think not making the designation may better help get Kurmasheva released.

Kurmasheva is one of two American journalists currently jailed in Russia.

Evan Gershkovich, a Russia correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, was jailed in March 2023 on espionage allegations that he, his employer and the U.S. government deny. The State Department has declared Gershkovich wrongfully detained.

Gershkovich earlier this week marked 300 days behind bars. He will remain in pretrial detention until at least the end of January.

The National Press Club in Washington this week also renewed calls for the Kremlin to immediately release Gershkovich and Kurmasheva.

“We continue to demand the Russian government cease its cruel pattern of sweeping up innocent American journalists to serve as high-profile pawns in its quest to gain diplomatic leverage with the U.S. government,” Emily Wilkins, president of the National Press Club, and Gil Klein, president of the National Press Club Journalism Institute, said in a statement.

“Journalism is not a crime,” they said.
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Baku, Azerbaijan — Efforts to free investigative journalist Hafiz Babali from prison in Azerbaijan failed last week when the Baku Court of Appeal denied a motion to release him to house arrest.  

Babali, an editor at the independent Turan News Agency, was detained on December 13 on charges of “smuggling foreign currency” and ordered to be held in pretrial detention for three months.  

His lawyer, Rasul Jafarov, told VOA that Babali denies the accusations and believes the case against him is related to his investigative journalism. Babali is editor of Turan’s economy section.  

Since late 2023, accusations of smuggling foreign currency have been leveled against five other journalists, all of whom work at Abzas Media, an outlet that focuses on corruption.

If convicted, they could face up to eight years in prison. The journalists deny the accusations and link their persecution to investigations into suspected corruption among high-ranking officials in Azerbaijan.

The arrests came amid a spike in media detentions, with at least 10 journalists detained since November.

Some journalists and human rights defenders have noted the timing of the arrests, with a snap presidential election due to be held February.   

Aynur Elgunesh, editor-in-chief of Meydan TV, says the arrests took focus away from other issues, which benefited the government.  

“We began to focus a little more on ourselves, and arrests and agitations inevitably led to other issues being pushed back,” she told VOA.

Bahruz Maharramov, a member of the Azerbaijani parliament, told VOA he did not agree with the claim that the legal cases are related to media activity.

“There are specific legal facts about any citizen against whom criminal prosecution has been initiated. Work is being done in this direction,” he said.

One of the detainees, Elnara Gasimova, spoke with VOA shortly before being called in for questioning a second time.  

Gasimova, who also works for Abzas Media, said she expected to be detained on bogus charges.

“I do not accept the accusations related to the Abzas Media case, neither on my behalf nor on behalf of others, because we are journalists and are subjected to this treatment solely because of our professional activities,” she said.

Authorities later detained Gasimova on January 13 and ordered her held in pretrial detention for 2 1/2 months on charges of “group smuggling.”

Elgunesh told VOA that Abzas Media was trying to convey real information to the audience about owners of investments, the companies involved, and that few tenders — invitations to bid on a project — are held in the country.  

“At the same time, Abzas Media questioned the wealth of people represented in the highest level of power. Thus, it became a threat to the government. They saw that the law they drafted had little effect on independent journalists,” said Elgunesh, referring to a 2022 media law.

Enacted by President Ilham Aliyev in January 2022, the media law was condemned by media groups, international organizations and the Venice Commission, a Council of Europe body that advises on constitutional matters.

Human rights defender Anar Mammadli told VOA that freedom of media and expression have always been under government pressure.  

“Azerbaijani authorities, demonstrating political intolerance, are conducting a policy of pressure against those with different opinions, including critical journalists, media organizations and social media users. The main purpose of this is to prevent different, alternative opinions in the country,” he said.

Mammadli said the arrests of so many journalists in recent weeks is an indicator of the government’s intolerant attitude toward freedom of expression. To prevent this, he said, the government must show tolerance for criticism.

“It should not be afraid of criticism. It must demonstrate political will. Unfortunately, this does not exist,” he said.

Elgunesh says international organizations are paying attention to the human rights situation in Azerbaijan.

“We saw from the PACE session that the issue of human rights is on the agenda. I hope that external pressure will continue. In Azerbaijan, the government will not be able to narrow the boundaries of freedom of speech as much as it wants,” she said.

PACE is the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.  

In a statement to VOA, the European Union foreign policy and security affairs press office said freedom of expression and independent media are universal values.

“The human rights situation in Azerbaijan, and the situation of independent media in particular, remain an issue of concern that we repeatedly raise with our Azerbaijani counterparts,” said the statement, attributed to spokesperson Peter Stano. 

“We use every opportunity to call on Azerbaijan to uphold its domestic and international obligations regarding freedom of media and human rights of its own citizens.”

Azerbaijan is ranked 151 among 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index where 1 shows the best media environment.  

Maharramov, the parliamentarian, told VOA he does need believe the annual index compiled by Reporters Without Borders is objective.  

“We do not consider this kind of prejudice acceptable,” he said.

Babali’s lawyer says the efforts to secure his client’s release or move to house arrest will continue.

“If there is a desire or request from him, relevant complaints will be sent to the European Court of Human Rights,” Jafarov said.
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Tallinn, Estonia — A Russian court on Thursday sentenced a woman to 27 years in prison for a cafe blast that killed a prominent pro-war blogger after he was given a bust of himself that later exploded.

In a separate proceeding, a Moscow court convicted a former leader of separatist rebels in Ukraine who called President Vladimir Putin a coward of extremism and sentenced him to four years.

Darya Trepova, 26, was convicted by a court in St. Petersburg of carrying out a terrorist attack, illegal trafficking of explosive devices and forging documents in the April 2 blast at the cafe in which Vladlen Tatarsky was killed and 52 others were injured.

Tatarsky, 40, was an ardent supporter of the Kremlin’s military action in Ukraine and filed regular reports on the fighting from the front lines.

Trepova was seen on video presenting Tatarsky with the bust moments before the blast at the riverside cafe in the historic heart of Russia’s second-largest city where he was leading a discussion.

She insisted that she didn’t know the bust contained a bomb. Russian authorities have blamed Ukrainian intelligence agencies for orchestrating the bombing. Authorities in Kyiv have not directly responded to the accusation.

The court also convicted Trepova’s acquaintance Dmitry Kasintsev of concealing a grave crime for sheltering her after the blast and sentenced him to 21 months in prison.

The Moscow court imposed a four-year sentence on Igor Girkin, who used the surname alias of Strelkov (shooter), was the most prominent leader of Russian-backed separatist fighters in Ukraine’s Donetsk region in 2014, when rebellion arose after the ouster of Ukraine’s Russia-allied president.

He briefly became the self-declared separatist government’s defense minister, but left the post in August 2014 after rebel forces shot down a Malaysian passenger airliner over Donetsk, killing all 298 people aboard. He was convicted in absentia of murder in the Netherlands, where the flight had originated, for his role.

He returned to Russia and became a nationalist commentator and activist. He supported launching Russia’s war in Ukraine, but sharply criticized authorities for being inept and indecisive in carrying out the fight.

Girkin called Putin a “nonentity” and a person of “cowardly mediocrity.” He was arrested in July on extremism charges and remained in custody since then.

His conviction reflects the high sensitivity of Russian authorities to criticism and opposition. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, that sensitivity intensified sharply, with the passage of laws criminalizing statements and news reports that allegedly discredit the Russian military.

Two protesters calling for Girkin to be freed were detained by police outside the court building, Russian news agencies said.

Girkin’s sentence was considerable less harsh than those handed to some figures who have denounced the war, notably the 25-year sentence imposed on opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza.

Treopva’s sentence is the longest imposed on a woman in modern Russia, according to the Mediazona website that reports on human rights and justice issues.

Tatarsky, who had filed regular reports from Ukraine, was the pen name for Maxim Fomin, who had accumulated more than 560,000 followers on his Telegram messaging app channel.

Born in eastern Ukraine, Tatarsky worked as a coal miner before starting a furniture business. When he ran into financial difficulties, he robbed a bank and was sentenced to prison. He fled from custody after a Russia-backed separatist rebellion arose in 2014, then joined separatist rebels and fought on the front line before turning to blogging.

Tatarsky was known for his blustery pronouncements and ardent pro-war rhetoric.
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kyiv, ukraine — The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Wednesday that he’s worried that the war in Ukraine has been forgotten as the country prepares to mark two years since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. 

In an interview, UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi also told The Associated Press it was important to remind the international community that Ukrainians were living through a brutal war despite other global crises taking the spotlight. 

Speaking at the end of a weeklong visit to Ukraine, Grandi said that the invasion launched by Moscow on Feb. 24, 2022, continues devastating civilians by leaving houses destroyed, health centers damaged, and many facilities not functioning. 

“I think the big difference from last year to this year is that this year, this is not news anymore in the world,” Grandi said. “There is somehow a trend towards getting used to Ukrainian suffering.” 

War displaces 10 million 

UNHCR put the latest figure of people who have been displaced from the war at 10 million — 3.7 million are considered to be internally displaced, while another 6.3 million are categorized as refugees. 

The agency has called for $4.2 billion to help Ukraine this year — slightly less than last year. 

“We made that choice because we are aware that there are so many crises in the world, that that’s a factor, and therefore we really focused on the priority needs,” Grandi said. 

Politics holding up aid, says official

The U.N. refugee chief said that he was concerned that discussion over the issue of humanitarian aid to Ukraine had now become held up by political wrangling. He urged the United States and the European Union to pass their aid packages saying it was his duty to “remind everybody that humanitarian aid should not be hostage of politics.” 

In December, EU leaders failed to agree on a four-year, $52 billion package of assistance for Ukraine. Hungary blocked the agreement, which requires unanimity from all 27 EU members. The bloc is working, however, to find a way for the remaining 26 countries to come up with the money before an EU summit on February 1. 

In Washington, senators are trying for a bipartisan deal that would include nearly $61 billion in aid for Ukraine and make changes to U.S. border policy. But Republicans are renewing a push to scale back the amount of assistance for Ukraine, targeting money that would go to Ukraine’s civil sector and arguing that European nations could step in to fund those needs. 

“I very much hope that those discussions can be unblocked and be concluded positively in both places — in the EU and in the United States,” Grandi said. “If those packages are stuck, I’m very worried that that humanitarian assistance will not come. That will have an immediate impact here.” 
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