The Jim Bakker Show

Russian, Turkish leaders re-affirm their pact on Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting in Sochi, Russia. Sputnik/Alexei Nikolsky/Kremlin via REUTERS

By Denis Pinchuk

SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) – The leaders of Russia and Turkey on Wednesday publicly re-affirmed their commitment to working together to end the conflict in Syria, despite a gas attack on a Syrian city that tested their fragile alliance.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan, both subject to mounting criticism from Western governments over their rights records, have formed a pact on Syria despite backing rival sides in the civil conflict there.

They met on Wednesday in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, their first meeting since a deadly April 4 chemical attack on the Syrian city of Khan Sheikhoun.

Erdogan at the time blamed the attack on Russia’s ally, the Syrian government, while Putin suggested the attack had been faked to discredit Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Speaking to reporters after their talks, Putin and Erdogan said they were still focused on working together to end the conflict in Syria, which has turned the country into a breeding ground for violent Islamist militant groups.

“We stand by our Russian friends in the fight against terror,” Erdogan said at a joint press conference, standing alongside Putin.

Both leaders said they would maintain their support for a stop-start peace process, based in the Kazakh city of Astana, in which Moscow, Ankara and Tehran are co-sponsors.

In the latest round of talks there, representatives of Syria’s armed opposition said they were suspending their participation.

SAFE ZONES

Erdogan and Putin also voiced support for a proposal, backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, to create so-called safe zones in Syria to protect civilians from the fighting.

“We all take the view that we need to… create mechanisms that would guarantee a cessation of bloodshed and create the conditions for the start of a political dialogue. In this respect our position and that of the Turkish president totally coincide,” Putin said.

On the gas attack, Putin and Erdogan did not mention previous differences over who was to blame. Instead, Erdogan said that he had reached agreement with Putin that whoever was responsible should be punished.

Russia’s military intervention in support of Assad has kept the Syrian president in power, while Turkey backs the armed opposition groups who are trying to oust him.

Turkey shot down a Russian air force jet in 2015 near the Turkish-Syrian border, creating a diplomatic crisis and prompting trade sanctions. Putin and Erdogan say they have put that crisis behind them.

Some diplomats see the alliance between Erdogan and Putin as offering at least a chance of steering the warring sides in Syria towards talks after six years of fighting that has killed hundreds and thousands of people and displaced millions.

Some of the trade restrictions introduced after the Russian jet was shot down are still in place, a lingering irritation in Russian-Turkish relations.

After the talks in Sochi on Wednesday, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Turkey had agreed to lift restrictions on imports of Russian wheat within days. There was no immediate confirmation of this from Turkish officials.

Turkey is the second largest Russian wheat importer after Egypt. For Turkey’s flour millers, Russian wheat is one of the most important sources of supply.

Putin, at his joint news conference with Erdogan, said though that Russia would leave in place for now some of its restrictions on Turkey — an embargo on tomato imports and curbs on entry visas for Turkish citizens.

Putin said that Russia would resume buying Turkish tomatoes, but it needed time to make sure that Russian farmers who sank money into growing tomatoes at home did not lose out on their investment.

(Additional reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ece Toksabay in ANKARA; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Ken Ferris)

Germany challenges Russia over alleged cyberattacks

Hans-Georg Maassen, Germany's head of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt fuer Verfassungsschutz) addresses a news conference in Berlin, Germany, in this file photo dated June 28, 2016. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

By Andrea Shalal

BERLIN (Reuters) – The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency accused Russian rivals of gathering large amounts of political data in cyber attacks and said it was up to the Kremlin to decide whether it wanted to put it to use ahead of Germany’s September elections.

Moscow denies it has in any way been involved in cyber attacks on the German political establishment.

Hans-Georg Maassen, president of the BfV agency, said “large amounts of data” were seized during a May 2015 cyber attack on the Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, which has previously been blamed on APT28, a Russian hacking group.

Maassen, speaking with reporters after a cyber conference in Potsdam, repeated his warning from last December in which he said Russia was increasing cyber attacks, propaganda and other efforts to destabilize German society.

Some cyber experts have drawn clear links between APT28 and the GRU Russian military intelligence organization.

Maassen said there had been subsequent attacks after the 2015 Bundestag hack that were directed at lawmakers, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Chancellor Angela Merkel, and other party-affiliated institutions, but it was unclear if they had resulted in the loss of data.

Germany’s top cyber official last week confirmed attacks on two foundations affiliated with Germany’s ruling coalition parties that were first identified by security firm Trend Micro.

“We recognize this as a campaign being directed from Russia. Our counterpart is trying to generate information that can be used for disinformation or for influencing operations,” he said. “Whether they do it or not is a political decision … that I assume will be made in the Kremlin.”

Maassen said it appeared that Moscow had acted in a similar manner in the United States, making a “political decision” to use information gathered through cyber attacks to try to influence the U.S. presidential election.

Maassen told reporters that Germany was working hard to strengthen its cyber defenses, but also needed the legal framework for offensive operations.

Berlin was studying what legal changes were needed to allow authorities to purge stolen data from third-party servers, and to potentially destroy servers used to carry out cyber attacks.

“We believe it is necessary that we are in a position to be able to wipe out these servers if the providers and the owners of the servers are not ready to ensure that they are not used to carry out attacks,” Maassen said.

He said intelligence agencies knew which servers were used by various hacker groups, including APT10, APT28 and APT29.

The German government also remained deeply concerned about the possibility that German voters could be manipulated by fake news items, like the bogus January 2016 story about the rape of a 13-year Russian-German girl by migrants that sparked demonstrations by over 12,000 members of that community.

He said another attempt was made in January shortly after the Social Democrats named former European Parliament President Martin Schulz as their chancellor candidate, with a Russian website carrying a blatantly false story about Schulz’s father having run a Nazi concentration camp.

However that story did not receive as much attention.

Officials also remained concerned that real information seized during cyber attacks could be used to discredit politicians or affect the election, he said.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Madeline Chambers)

Russian, Turkish leaders re-affirm their pact on Syria

By Denis Pinchuk

They met on Wednesday in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, their first meeting since a deadly April 4 chemical attack on the Syrian city of Khan Sheikhoun.

Erdogan at the time blamed the attack on Russia’s ally, the Syrian government, while Putin suggested the attack had been faked to discredit Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“We stand by our Russian friends in the fight against terror,” Erdogan said at a joint press conference, standing alongside Putin.

Both leaders said they would maintain their support for a stop-start peace process, based in the Kazakh city of Astana, in which Moscow, Ankara and Tehran are co-sponsors.

In the latest round of talks there, representatives of Syria’s armed opposition said they were suspending their participation.

SAFE ZONES

Erdogan and Putin also voiced support for a proposal, backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, to create so-called safe zones in Syria to protect civilians from the fighting.

Russia’s military intervention in support of Assad has kept the Syrian president in power, while Turkey backs the armed opposition groups who are trying to oust him.

Some of the trade restrictions introduced after the Russian jet was shot down are still in place, a lingering irritation in Russian-Turkish relations.

Turkey is the second largest Russian wheat importer after Egypt. For Turkey’s flour millers, Russian wheat is one of the most important sources of supply.

Putin said that Russia would resume buying Turkish tomatoes, but it needed time to make sure that Russian farmers who sank money into growing tomatoes at home did not lose out on their investment.

(Additional reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ece Toksabay in ANKARA; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Ken Ferris)

As U.S. and China find common ground on North Korea, is Russia the wild card?

FILE PHOTO: The Friendship and the Broken bridges over the Yalu River connecting the North Korean town of Sinuiju and Dandong in China's Liaoning province, April 16, 2017. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo

By James Pearson and Alexei Chernyshev

SEOUL/VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) – When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent Lunar New Year greetings this year, the first card went to Russian President Vladimir Putin, ahead of leaders from China and other allies of the isolated country, according to its official news agency.

Some academics who study North Korea argue Kim could be looking for Russia to ease any pain if China, which accounts for about 90 percent of North Korea’s trade, steps up sanctions against the isolated country as part of moves to deter its nuclear and missile programs.

U.S. President Donald Trump lavished praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping last week for Beijing’s assistance in trying to rein in Pyongyang. A day later, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pressed the United Nations Security Council to impose more sanctions to further isolate Pyongyang.

There is no sign of any sustainable increase in trade between Russia and North Korea, but business and transport links between the two are getting busier.

A new ferry service starting next week will move up to 200 passengers and 1,000 tonnes of cargo six times a month between North Korea and the Russian port of Vladivostok.

Shipping data on Thomson Reuters Eikon shows there has been a recent steady flow of oil tanker traffic from Vladivostok into North Korean east coast ports.

Last Thursday, five North Korean-flagged oil tankers had loaded up at Vladivostok-area ports and identified North Korean ports as their destination. It was not known what products they were carrying.

Earlier this year, Russian government officials visited Pyongyang to discuss more cooperation in rail transport, according to media reports. A Russian-built railway link between the Russian eastern border town of Khasan and the North Korean port of Rajin has been used to carry some coal, metals and various oil products.

“North Korea does not care about China’s pressure or sanctions because there is Russia next door,” said Leonid Petrov, a North Korea expert at Australia National University.

“Pyongyang has been playing off Beijing and Moscow for half a century, letting them compete for the right to aid and influence North Korea.”

Russia, especially Vladivostok, is also home to one of the largest overseas communities of North Koreans in the world, and they send home tens of thousands of dollars in much-needed hard currency each month.

Speaking at the United Nations last week, Tillerson called on states to sever diplomatic and financial ties with Pyongyang and suspend the flow of North Korean guest workers. The Security Council has not yet agreed on any course of action.

While Russia has not indicated it will oppose U.N. sanctions or seek to dilute them, its ties with the United States are fraught, which could complicate its joining any U.S.-led initiative on North Korea.

Trump and Putin spoke in a telephone call on Tuesday and discussed North Korea, among other issues, both sides said. There was no word of any agreement.

“LOYAL PARTNER”

Samuel Ramani, a Russia expert at Oxford University, said support for the Pyongyang regime could bring economic benefits for Moscow. It would demonstrate Russia was “a loyal partner to anti-Western regimes facing international isolation and sanctions”, he said.

“As Russia has close economic links with other countries at odds with the West, like Iran, Venezuela and Syria, this symbolic dimension of the Russia-North Korea relationship has strategic significance.”

The United States is calling for an embargo in oil sales to North Korea, which imports all its fuel needs. China, North Korea’s main supplier, is unlikely to agree because that would be potentially destabilizing for the Pyongyang regime, but it may impose curbs on the trade, experts say.

China exports about 500,000 tonnes of crude and 270,000 tonnes of products each year, oil industry sources in China say. Russia, the other major supplier of oil to North Korea, exported about 36,000 tonnes of oil products in 2015, the latest year for which figures are available, according to U.N. data.

Russia has already taken over the supply of jet fuel to North Korea after China halted exports two years ago, according to the industry sources in China.

Russia is also the source of foreign exchange for North Korea, mostly from Vladivostok.

The city of 600,000 people, just about 100 km (60 miles) from the border with North Korea, is home to thousands of North Koreans who mainly work on construction or do home renovations. A city web site advertises “Korean Professional Contractors” and says they work “Cheaply and Fast”.

One North Korean man, who works as a handyman, told Reuters he was obliged to hand over a portion of his income – $500 – to the North Korean state each month. Thin and in his 30s, he did not disclose his monthly income, but said he charged 4,000 roubles (about $70) for a day’s labor.

The man said he had worked in Russia for 11 years, leaving his wife and daughter back home whom he only saw on rare visits.

Like all North Koreans, he wore a badge on his lapel bearing the portrait of late North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung.

“It’s better here than in North Korea,” said the man, who did not want to be named. “It’s a very difficult life there. Here you can make money.”

But the most symbolic upturn in ties between Russia and North Korea is the start of regular trips of the Mangyongbong ferry from Monday between Vladivostok and the North Korean town of Rajin.

Vladimir Baranov, the head of Vladivostok-based Investstroitrest company, told Reuters his company had chartered the Mangyongbong and would be the general agent for the ferry route. The aging boat used to ferry tourists between Japan and North Korea, but Tokyo banned its visits in 2006 as part of sanctions against Pyongyang.

An editorial in Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper described the ferry service to Russia as “a move that puts a damper on international efforts to strengthen the encirclement of North Korea aimed at halting its nuclear and missile development.”

Still, despite the differences with the United States and the existing links with North Korea, experts say Russia is unlikely to sharp increase trade with Pyongyang because of its low foreign exchange reserves and general unreliability.

“All trade with North Korea has to be subsidized,” said Andrei Lankov, a Russian North Korea expert at Seoul’s Kookmin University. “I do not see the Russian government spending its dwindling currency reserves to support the regime they despise and see as incurably ungrateful, and also prone to risky adventurism”.

(Additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova, Natalia Chumakova, Gleb Gorodyankin, Alexander Winning and Andrew Osborn in Moscow, Steve Holland in Washington,; Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, Chen Aizhu and Josephine Mason in Beijing; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

U.S. says failure to act on North Korea could be catastrophic

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks at a Security Council meeting on the situation in North Korea at the United Nations, in New York City, U.S., April 28, 2017. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith

By Michelle Nichols and Lesley Wroughton

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned on Friday that failure to curb North Korea’s nuclear and missile abilities could lead to ‘catastrophic consequences,’ while China and Russia cautioned Washington against threatening military force to solve the problem.

While Washington has pressed Beijing to rein in its ally Pyongyang, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the U.N. Security Council that “the key to solving the nuclear issue on the peninsula does not lie in the hands of the Chinese side.”

Tillerson urged the 15-member body to act before North Korea does and called on states to sever diplomatic and financial ties with Pyongyang. He said that because China accounted for 90 percent of North Korean trade, its role was particularly important.

“Failing to act now on the most pressing security issue in the world may bring catastrophic consequences,” Tillerson said in his first remarks to the council as secretary of state.

The United States was not pushing for regime change and preferred a negotiated solution, but Pyongyang, for its own sake, should dismantle its nuclear and missile programs, he said.

“The threat of a nuclear attack on Seoul, or Tokyo, is real, and it’s only a matter of time before North Korea develops the capability to strike the U.S. mainland,” Tillerson said.

While Tillerson repeated the Trump administration’s position that all options are on the table if Pyongyang persists with its nuclear and missile development, Yi said military threats would not help.

Yi said dialogue and negotiations were the “only way out” and called on parties to stop arguing over who must take the first step. China wants talks first and action later, while the United States wants North Korea to curtail its nuclear program before such talks start.

“The use of force does not solve differences and will only lead to bigger disasters,” Wang told the council.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday that a “major, major conflict” with North Korea was possible over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

‘FRIGHTENING’ CONSEQUENCES

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov also said on Friday the use of force would be “completely unacceptable.”

“The combative rhetoric coupled with reckless muscle-flexing has led to a situation where the whole world seriously is now wondering whether there’s going to be a war or not,” he told the council. “One ill thought out or misinterpreted step could lead to the most frightening and lamentable consequences.”

Gatilov said North Korea felt threatened by regular joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises and the deployment of a U.S. aircraft carrier group to waters off the Korean peninsula.

China and Russia both also repeated their opposition to the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea. Gatilov described it as a “destabilizing effort,” while Wang said it damaged trust among the parties on the North Korea issue.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told the council that to bring North Korea back to the table the international community “must send a strong message that provocation comes at a high price.”

“There is no doubt that dialogue is necessary … however under the current situation where North Korea continues to advance its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, meaningful dialogue is clearly not possible,” he said.

The Trump administration is focusing its North Korea strategy on tougher economic sanctions, possibly including an oil embargo, a global ban on its airline, intercepting cargo ships and punishing Chinese banks doing business with Pyongyang, U.S. officials told Reuters earlier this month.

Since 2006, North Korea has been subject to U.N. sanctions aimed at impeding the development of its nuclear and missile programs. The council has strengthened sanctions following each of North Korea’s five nuclear tests.

(Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Frances Kerry)

Estonia says Russia may put troops in Belarus to challenge NATO

FILE PHOTO: Estonia’s Defence Minister Margus Tsahkna speaks during the official ceremony welcoming the deployment of a multi-national NATO battalion in Tapa, Estonia, April 20, 2017. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins/File Photo

By Robin Emmott

VALETTA (Reuters) – Estonia’s defense minister said on Thursday that Russia may use large-scale military exercises to move thousands of troops permanently into Belarus later this year in a warning to NATO.

Russia and Belarus aim to hold joint war games in September that some North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies believe could number more than 100,000 troops and involve nuclear weapons training, the biggest such exercise since 2013.

Defence Minister Margus Tsahkna said Estonia and other NATO governments had intelligence suggesting Moscow may leave Russian soldiers in Belarus once the so-called Zapad 2017 exercises are over, also pointing to public data of Russian railway traffic to Belarus.

Tsahkna cited plans to send 4,000 railway carriages to Belarus to transport Russian troops and gear there, possibly to set up a military outpost in its closest ally.

“For Russian troops going to Belarus, it is a one-way ticket,” Tsahkna told Reuters in an interview in Malta.

“This is not my personal opinion, we are analyzing very deeply how Russia is preparing for the Zapad exercises,” he said before a meeting of EU defense ministers.

Russia’s Defence Ministry did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment on the subject.

Moscow denies any plans to threaten NATO and says it is the U.S.-led alliance that is risking stability in eastern Europe. The Kremlin has not said how many troops will take part in Zapad 2017.

“We see what they are doing on the other side of the EU-NATO border. Troops may remain there after Zapad,” Tsahkna said, saying that Tallinn had shared its concerns with Baltic and NATO allies. He put the number of potential troops in the thousands.

Such a move could see Russian troops on the border with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia just as the U.S.-led NATO alliance stations multinational battalions in the Baltic region in response to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea.

“QUESTION OF TRUST”

The scale of this year’s Zapad exercises, which date from Soviet times when they were first used to test new weapon systems, is one of NATO’s most pressing concerns, as diplomats say the war games are no simple military drill.

Previous large-scale exercises in 2013 employed special forces training, longer-range missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles that were later used in Russia’s annexation of Crimea, its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine and in its intervention in Syria, NATO diplomats said.

Russia, bridling at NATO’s expansion eastwards into its old Soviet sphere of influence, says its exercises are a response to NATO’s 4,000-strong new deterrent force in the Baltics and Poland that will begin to rotate through the region from June.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said in January the scenario for the Zapad 2017 exercises would “take into account the situation linked to increased NATO activity along the borders of the Union state,” Russian media cited, in a reference to the union of Russia and Belarus.

The exercises, to be held simultaneously on military training grounds in Russia and Belarus, aim to focus on joint planning, command tactics and joint troop formations, he said.

“In the future we plan to strengthen the practical nature of such exercises, taking into account the emerging foreign policy realities,” Shoigu added, in an apparent reference to the expansion of NATO, which is soon to include Montenegro.

The U.S. Army’s top European commander has called on Russia to open its exercises to observers to calm Baltic concerns.

Asked about Moscow’s possible motives for leaving troops in Belarus, Tsahkna said it was likely about President Vladimir Putin’s image as a strong leader at home, as well as cementing ties with Belarus, which was alarmed by the Crimea annexation.

“Russia has presidential elections next year and Putin needs to show strength to the Russian people,” Tsahkna said. “It’s also a question of trust with Belarus.”

The West has sought to improve ties with Belarus over the past two years, lifting some sanctions in an overture to the country’s President Alexander Lukashenko, the man the West calls Europe’s “last dictator.”

But Belarus remains Russia’s ally and a member of Putin’s Eurasian trade bloc. Belarus Defence Minister Andrei Ravkov has echoed Russia’s position that NATO is a threat, also accusing Ukraine of raising tensions by aligning itself with the West.

(Additional reporting by Dmitry Solovyov in Moscow; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Anti-Putin protesters get a smart phone app to help get out of jail

By Parniyan Zemaryalai

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Anti-Kremlin protesters who run the regular risk of being detained by the police are being given a helping hand: A smart phone app that allows them to instantly inform others where and when they have been arrested.

Russia faces a presidential election next year, which Vladimir Putin is expected to contest, and was last month shaken by large anti-government protests. More are planned.

The result of a collaboration between a Russian firm, a human rights group and an opposition movement, the notification system, called Red Button, automatically transmits the location and emergency contact details of a detained protester.

That, says its St Petersburg-based developer Alexander Litreev, should allow others to act quickly to help free them as it will include details of the police station where the individual is being held.

“Using this information, human rights defenders can help this person in some way, like sending him a lawyer,” Litreev told Reuters in an interview.

“When I see that people are being detained and experiencing violence at the hands of the authorities, and people can’t do anything about it, I think this must be fought against,” he said.

Litreev said he sympathized with the country’s liberal opposition and sometimes attended protests himself.

President Vladimir Putin remains by far the most popular politician in Russia, but opponents argue he keeps a check on dissent through control of the media, especially television, and limiting protest.

In developing the app, he partnered with the Open Russia foundation, founded by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and OVD-Info, a human rights organization that monitors detentions.

The app will also allow observers to track how protests unfold as it is linked to a special Twitter page that will generate maps and notifications.

It is currently available for devices on iOS and Android and, according to Litreev, some 4,000 users have already downloaded the app, which is free. A version for Windows will launch in the summer.

The alert system is due to go live on April 29 — the day when Open Russia has called for nationwide demonstrations against the government. Another protest, organized by opposition politician Alexei Navalny, is scheduled for June 12.

(Editing by Andrew Osborn and)

Russia, ahead of planned protest, bans Kremlin critic’s foundation

Former Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky speaks during a Reuters Newsmaker event at Canary Wharf in London, Britain, November 26, 2015. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

By Polina Devitt and Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Wednesday it had banned a pro-democracy movement founded by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky which has called for big anti-government protests on Saturday ahead of a presidential election next year.

In a statement, the General Prosecutor’s Office said it had decided that the activity of the Open Russia foundation, which it called a British organization, was “undesirable” in Russia.

The ban comes days before what Open Russia hopes will be large anti-government protests it has called to try to put pressure on Putin, who is expected to run for what would be a fourth presidential term next year, to leave politics.

Khodorkovsky, a prominent Kremlin critic, said in a social media posting that prosecutors had acted because they were “touched to the quick” by the planned rallies.

The authorities regard any demonstrations not sanctioned in advance as illegal and were taken aback by the scale of large anti-corruption protests last month.

Along with Khodorkovsky’s foundation, the Prosecutor’s Office said it was also banning the Institute of Modern Russia, which it said was a U.S. organization, and the Open Russia Civic Movement, which it said was British.

“These organizations are carrying out special programs and projects on the territory of the Russian Federation aimed at discrediting the upcoming election results in Russia and having them declared illegitimate,” it said.

“Their activity is aimed at inciting protest actions and destabilizing the domestic political situation, which poses a threat to the foundations of the constitutional system and state security.”

Under a 2015 law, organizations deemed “undesirable” can be banned and their members can be fined or jailed for up to six years for ignoring the ban.

Putin freed Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man, in 2013 after he had spent a decade in jail for fraud, a charge Khodorkovsky said had been fabricated to punish him for funding political opposition to Putin. The president has said he regards the businessman as a common thief.

“Russian authorities have worked relentlessly for many years to create the most hostile environment for civil society possible,” Sergei Nikitin, the head of Amnesty International’s Russian branch, said in a statement.

“Open Russia’s activity was a huge obstacle for them, be it defending human rights, supporting independent candidates in elections at different levels, and acting as a media outlet. By banning this organization, they think they’ve overcome this obstacle.”

(Editing by Andrew Roche)

Russia says U.S. missile strike on Syria was a threat to its forces

FILE PHOTO: Battle damage assessment image of Shayrat Airfield, Syria, is seen in this DigitalGlobe satellite image, released by the Pentagon following U.S. Tomahawk Land Attack Missile strikes from Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, the USS Ross and USS Porter on April 7, 2017. DigitalGlobe/Courtesy U.S. Department of Defense/Handout via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu complained on Wednesday that a U.S. missile strike on a Syrian air base earlier this month had posed a threat to Russian troops and was forcing Moscow to take extra measures to protect them.

Speaking at a security conference in Moscow, Shoigu restated Russia’s view that the strike — which Washington conducted in response to what it said was a deadly chemical weapons attack by Syrian government forces — was “a crude violation of international law.”

U.S. officials said at the time that they had informed Russian forces ahead of the strikes. No Russian personnel were injured in the attack.

As well as housing Syrian military jets, satellite imagery suggested that the base which was struck was home to Russian special forces and military helicopters, part of the Kremlin’s effort to help the Syrian government fight Islamic State and other militant groups.

“Washington’s action created a threat to the lives of our servicemen who are fighting against terrorism in Syria,” said Shoigu.

“Such steps are forcing us to take extra measures to ensure the safety of Russian forces.” He did not specify what those measures were.

The Russian Defence Ministry said after the U.S. strike that Syrian air defenses would be beefed up, while Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev complained that the attack was just one step away from clashing with the Russian military.

(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Andrey Ostroukh)

Air strikes kill at least 12, damage hospital in Syria’s Idlib: medics, monitor

Damaged vehicles and hospital are pictured at a site hit by overnight airstrike, in Kafr Takharim, northwest of Idlib city, Syria April 25, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian or Russian air strikes killed more than a dozen people and severely damaged a hospital in and around a town in rebel-held Idlib province on Tuesday, local medical workers and a monitoring group said.

The attacks came as Syria’s air force and Russian jets intensified their bombardment of Idlib, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Idlib is an insurgent stronghold, one of the few large areas still under rebel control in the west of the country. Rebels and their families who have chosen to leave areas under government siege around Damascus in evacuation deals have headed for Idlib.

A spokesman at the hospital in Kafr Takharim in Idlib told Reuters an air strike hit its courtyard killing 14 people, including patients.

The Observatory said there were no deaths from the hospital strike, but that the bombardment had put it out of action.

Separate air strikes southwest of Kafr Takharim killed at least 12 people including civilians and rebel fighters, the Observatory said.

(Reporting by Ammar Abdullah and John Davison; Editing by Alison Williams)

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