Russia To Keep former newspaper journalist Accused of Treason Behind Bars: Court

Moscow: A Russian court on Wednesday ordered former newspaper journalist Ivan Safronov to be kept in custody for another three months pending trial on charges of state treason that have sent a chill through Russia’s media landscape.

Safronov, who left journalism and began working at Russia’s space agency in May, was detained by security agents outside his flat on July 7 and accused of passing military secrets to the Czech Republic in 2017, a charge he denies. He could face up to two decades in jail if found guilty at a trial that is likely to be held behind closed doors because of the sensitive nature of the charges.

Some Russian journalists and rights advocates fear he is the victim of a crackdown on the media and that the secrecy surrounding the case is being used to conceal bogus charges. 

Safronov committed the alleged crime when working as a journalist covering military affairs for the Kommersant newspaper.

Belarus Cracks Down On Journalists, Two Moscow-based Associated Press correspondent Deported

Belarus, shaken by three weeks of massive protests against its authoritarian president, on Saturday cracked down hard on the news media, deporting some foreign journalists reporting in the country and revoking the accreditation of many Belarusian journalists.

Two Moscow-based Associated Press journalists who were covering the recent protests in Belarus were deported to Russia on Saturday. In addition, the APs Belarusian staff were told by the government that their press credentials had been revoked.

The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms this blatant attack on press freedom in Belarus. AP calls on the Belarusian government to reinstate the credentials of independent journalists and allow them to continue reporting the facts of what is happening in Belarus to the world, said Lauren Easton, the APs director of media relations.

The Belarusian Association of Journalists said accreditation was also taken away from Belarusians working for several other media. Germanys ARD television said two of its Moscow-based journalists also were deported to Russia, a Belarusian producer faces trial on Monday and their accreditation to work in Belarus was revoked. The BBC said that two of its journalists working for the BBC Russian service in Minsk also had their accreditation revoked.


The program director for ARDs biggest regional affiliate, WDR, which oversees coverage of Belarus, called the treatment of its camera team absolutely unacceptable. This shows once again that independent reporting in Belarus continues to be hindered and is made almost impossible, Joerg Schoeneborn said.

Protests in Belarus began after the Aug. 9 election that officials said gave President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office with 80% support. Protesters say the election results were rigged and are calling for Lukashenko, who has run the country since 1994, to resign.

The protests, some of which drew enormous crowds estimated at 200,000 or more, are the largest and most sustained challenge of Lukashenko’s 26 years in office, during which he consistently repressed opposition and independent news media.

The hard-line leader has cast about for a strategy to end the wave of protests, with little success. In the first days of demonstrations, around 7,000 people were arrested. Some protesters were killed and many of the detainees were beaten by police. The violence didn’t deter the protests and may have galvanized the opposition. Strikes have broken out in several state-owned factories, which are the backbone of Belarus’ economy.

The U.S. Embassy in Belarus on Saturday issued a statement saying we are concerned by the continued targeting of journalists, the blocking of independent media and opposition websites, intermittent internet blackouts and random detentions of peaceful citizens exercising their rights of freedom of assembly and speech.

Fight against Corona: Russia to begin COVID-19 vaccine trials on 40,000 people next week

Moscow, Russia: Mass testing of Russia's first potential COVID-19 vaccine to get domestic regulatory approval will involve more than 40,000 people and will be overseen by a foreign research body when it starts next week, backers of the project said on Thursday.

These were the first details on the shape and size of the upcoming late-stage trial of the vaccine given by its developers, who are aiming to allay concerns among some scientists about the lack of data provided by Russia so far. The vaccine, called "Sputnik V" in homage to the world's first satellite launched by the Soviet Union, has been hailed as safe and effective by Russian authorities and scientists following two months of small-scale human trials, the results of which have not been made public yet.

But Western experts have been more sceptical, warning against its use until all internationally approved testing and regulatory steps have been seen to be taken and proved a success. "A range of countries is running an information war against the Russian vaccine," Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) that is backing the vaccine, told a briefing. The vaccine data will be published in an academic journal later this month, he said.

Russia has received requests for up to a billion doses of the vaccine from around the world and has capacity to produce 500 million doses per year via manufacturing partnerships, he said.

A director at Moscow's Gamaleya Institute, which developed the vaccine, said 40,000 people would be involved in the mass testing at more than 45 medical centres around Russia.

The data is being provided to the World Health Organization (WHO), Dmitriev said, and to several countries that are considering participating in the late-stage trial, including the United Arab Emirates, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. Sputnik V has already received approval from domestic regulators, leading President Vladimir Putin and other officials to name Russia the first country to license a COVID-19 vaccine.

The registration took place, however, ahead of the start of the large-scale trial, commonly known as a Phase III trial, considered by many as a necessary precursor to registration. At least four other potential COVID-19 vaccines are currently in Phase III trials globally, according to WHO records.

Brazilian state agrees to produce Russian COVID-19 vaccine

Curitiba: A Brazilian technology institute said on Wednesday it expects to produce a controversial coronavirus Russian vaccine by the second half of 2021, shortly after the state of Parana signed a memorandum of understanding with Moscow.

Russia has touted it as the world's first registered coronavirus vaccine, although experts have also raised safety concerns for going to market while other pharmaceutical companies are still carrying out mass testing. Parana's Technology Institute, known as Tecpar, said it may import the vaccine earlier than the production date, if Brazil's federal health regulator Anvisa approves the vaccine.

Tecpar signed the cooperation agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which said in a statement from Moscow that its goal was to "organise the production of the Sputnik V vaccine and its distribution in Brazil and other Latin American countries."

Brazilian public health experts and former senior regulatory officials said on Tuesday they had safety concerns about the vaccine, which has not passed the usual mass testing required of vaccinations. At a press conference, Tecpar Director Jorge Callado said they were still waiting for Russia to send in its phase 1 and 2 vaccine test results, and that their understanding is they are still conducting phase 3 trials. He added that Parana would likely participate in the phase 3 testing, subject to Anvisa authorisation.

Brazil has the world's worse coronavirus outbreak after the United States, with over 3 million confirmed cases and 100,000 deaths, making it a global hub for testing coronavirus vaccines, including British and Chinese candidates.

'Seriously doubt' Russia coronavirus vaccine was proven safe - Dr. Anthony Fauci

Top U.S. infectious disease official Dr. Anthony Fauci said he doubts that Russia has proven a newly announced COVID-19 vaccine as safe and effective.

"Having a vaccine... and proving that a vaccine is safe and effective are two different things," said Fauci. "I hope, but I haven't heard any evidence to make me feel that's the case, I hope that the Russians have actually definitively proven that the vaccine is safe and effective. I seriously doubt that they've done that." Fauci's comments were released as a preview of an exclusive conversation with National Geographic as part of their event, 'Stopping Pandemics,' airing Thursday, August 13 at 1pm ET (1700gmt).

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia had become the first country in the world to grant regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine after less than two months of human testing, a move hailed by Moscow as evidence of its scientific prowess.

The vaccine still has to complete final trials, raising concerns among some experts at the speed of its approval, but the Russian business conglomerate Sistema has said it expects to put it into mass production by the end of the year.

Russia supported China, Russian foreign ministry said- "US TikTok move unfair"

Russia: U.S. efforts to clamp down on popular short video-sharing app TikTok are an "egregious" example of unfair economic competition for U.S. dominance in the international information space, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Saturday.

"The actions of the U.S. authorities run counter to the basic principles of a free market economy and violate rules of the World Trade Organization," Zakharova said in a commentary posted on the foreign ministry's website. U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order banning any U.S. transactions with Chinese tech firm ByteDance, owner of TikTok, starting 45 days from then.

Washington has also threatened to ban TikTok's business in the United States if it is not sold to a U.S. company before Sept. 15.

These restrictions have violated a wide range of Washington's international obligations to ensure the free and wide distribution of information, the free choice of its sources, and to encourage cooperation in this area, Zakharova said.

She said that Moscow is calling on Washington to reconsider its methods to preserve the monopoly of U.S. IT giants in international social networks and ensure they meet generally accepted values and international legal norms.

"We hope that specialized international structures and human rights organizations will react appropriately and give an impartial assessment of these actions," she added.