Russia

The arrest of journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Tatar-Bashkir service, in Russia came as shocking and devastating news to those who knew her. Kurmasheva, a dual Russian-U.S.

citizen of Tatar origin, was detained in Kazan, the capital of the republic of Tatarstan, on Wednesday and charged with failure to register as a foreign agent, according to her employer. “What happened [to Kurmasheva] is a terrible tragedy.

I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone to fall into the clutches of the regime,” Tatar political expert Ruslan Aysin, who was personally acquainted with the journalist, told The Moscow Times. Though Kurmasheva lives in the Czech Republic with her husband and two children, she returned to Tatarstan for a family emergency in May and was first detained when attempting to travel back to Prague in June. The authorities confiscated both her American and Russian passports upon her initial detention and later issued her a fine for failing to declare her U.S.

citizenship to Russian authorities.Kurmasheva, according to RFE/RL, was waiting for the authorities to return her travel documents and was hoping to fly back to her family before Wednesday’s unexpected detention.  Although RFE/RL and its regional affiliates are labeled “foreign agents,” Kurmasheva herself has not been designated as one. Kurmasheva is the second American journalist to be detained in Russia this year after Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was detained in March on charges of espionage that he, the U.S.

government and his employer deny. The United States has not yet commented on her detention.She faces up to five years in prison if found guilty of violating Russia’s “foreign agents” law. A native of Kazan, Kurmasheva has devoted both her professional and personal life to advancing causes and shedding light on the life of indigenous people and minorities in Russia’s ethnic republics, including Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Mari El, people who know her told The Moscow Times.She was particularly passionate about telling the stories of indigenous non-Slavic women of the Volga-Ural region and promoting the use of her native Tatar language, her friends said. “As a mother, as a woman, as a public figure and as a professional, she always lived for Tatar language and for Tatarstan,” said Kurmasheva’s friend Alima Salakhatdinova. Salakhatdinova described Kurmasheva as an “exemplar” and “admirable” parent who was passionate about passing on the Tatar language and traditions to her two children — and who was also an avid lifelong learner herself.Kurmasheva’s voice is well-known to the thousands of Tatar learners worldwide who have listened to audio lessons and books that she narrated for RFE/RL’s multimedia Tatar-language education project “Äydä! Online.”“She was very passionate about creating content and finding new opportunities for teaching the Tatar language,” Salakhatdinova told The Moscow Times.“We have been listening to fairy tales and novels narrated by Alsu [in Tatar] and then today I saw [a video of] her in handcuffs, being escorted by masked men,” she added, calling the experience “surreal.”Kurmasheva is currently awaiting a court hearing at a temporary detention center in Kazan some 800 kilometers east of Moscow. In addition to the charges of violating Russia’s foreign agent law, authorities may be planning to accuse Kurmasheva of collecting information about the Russian military with an aim to deliver it to foreign entities and “discredit” the country, regional news agency Tatar-Inform reported, citing a source. Kurmasheva, according to investigators, had obtained information about mobilized employees of a university in Tatarstan and used this information to create “analytical materials,” the news agency said. Her arrest, according to political expert Aysin, was likely executed on Moscow’s orders against the wishes of the Tatarstan government, which prefers to attract as little media attention to the republic as possible in hopes of preserving its positive international reputation. Her efforts to shed light on the lives and cultures of Russia’s ethnic minorities, who have been subjected to increased pressure from the Kremlin — including by being sent off to fight in Ukraine — could also be an underlying reason for the arrest, Aysin said. “I think the fact that she was working for RFE/RL ...

was less important than that she was a person who covered the issues of nationalities,” Aysin told The Moscow Times. 





Unlimited Portal Access + Monthly Magazine - 12 issues-Publication from Jan 2021


Buy Our Merchandise (Peace Series)

 


Contribute US to Start Broadcasting



It's Voluntary! Take care of your Family, Friends and People around You First and later think about us. Its Fine if you dont wish to contribute and if you wish to contribute then think about the Homeless first and Feed them. We can survive with your wishes too :-). You can Buy our Merchandise too which are of the finest quality.

Debit/Credit/UPI

UPI/Debit/Credit

Paytm


STRIPE


[Russia] - Russia Arrests Concert Hall Attack 'Financier,' Claims Ukraine Link


Victims of the Crocus City Hall Attack


[Russia] - Poland Says Raided Russian Spy Network


[Russia] - Russian Police Detain 9-Year-Old Girl Over 'Terrorist' Text Messages


Gabonese Firm Supplied $1.5 Bln in Aircraft Parts to Russia in 2023


Moscow Says Talks Ongoing Over Gershkovich Exchange


[Russia] - No Plans for Putin to Meet With Concert Attack Survivors, Kremlin Says


Shuttered Siberian Queer Bar Fined for ?LGBT Propaganda?


2 Russian Journalists Detained in Navalny ?Extremism? Case?


[Russia] - Russia's Buryatia Scraps Mayoral Elections in Capital City


Russia's Spy Chief Visited North Korea for Security Talks – State Media


[Russia] - By Visiting Loyal Small-Town Russians, Putin Seeks to Ease Concert Hall Attack Blunder


Russia Sentences Online War Critic to 6 Years Jail


[Russia] - Moscow Attack Death Toll Rises to 143-- Authorities


[Russia] - Czechs Bust Major Russian Propaganda Network


[Russia] - Russia, Mali To Strengthen Counterterrorism Efforts


Russian Investigators Say Received 143 Missing Persons Reports After Concert Attack


[Russia] - 'I'm Trying to Forget It': Moscow Concert Attack Survivors Grapple With Trauma


Woman Injured in Drone Crash at Belgorod Government Building


Russian Attacks Kill 3 as Ukraine Calls for More Air Defenses


[Russia] - Authorities Raid Warehouse Near Moscow for Migrant 'Document Check'


?We All Have the Same Face to Them?: Deadly Moscow Attack Magnifies Discrimination Against Central Asian Migrants


Exiled Pussy Riot Member Shtein Sentenced in Absentia for ?War Fakes?


Antidepressant Sales in Russia Hit 5-Year High ? Vedomosti


[Russia] - Ukraine Says Detained 2 Russian FSB Agents


[Russia] - Samsung Pay to Stop Supporting Russia's Mir Card


Russia Nationalized 15 Defense Firms Since 2023 ? Top Prosecutor


Number of Wounded in Crocus City Hall Attack Rises to 360


Niger Regime Chief Talks ?Security Cooperation? With Putin


Russia Calls U.K. Courts ?A Farce? Over Assange Case


Lukashenko Says Helped Russia Stop Concert Gunmen From Fleeing to Belarus


Russian Security Chiefs Blame Concert Attack on Ukraine, West


[Russia] - Ukraine Says Weekend Missile Attack Damaged 4 Russian Ships


Moscow Court Remands Eighth Suspect in Concert Hall Attack


Moscow Concert Attack: What We Know


Russia?s FSB Says Bomb Attack Plotter Killed in Blast During Arrest Attempt


Russia Extends Evan Gershkovich?s Pre-Trial Detention Ahead of Arrest Anniversary


Ukrainian Shelling of Russia's Belgorod Region Injures 5


Russian Rights Chief Says Torturing Concert Attack Suspects ?Inadmissible?


[Russia] - Putin Says 'Radical Islamists' Behind Moscow Concert Attack


Moscow Court Remands 3 More Suspects Over Concert Hall Attack


?Endless Wave of Violence?: Leading Russian Anti-Torture Activist on Concert Attack Suspects? Treatment


What Was Putin Doing During the Moscow Concert Hall Attack


[Russia] - Siberian Teenagers Assaulted Over Unconventional Hairstyles


Jailed Kremlin Critic Kara-Murza's Wife Urges Prisoner Swaps


Kyrgyzstan Warns Citizens Against Travel to Russia After Concert Attack


[Russia] - Russian Missile Attack on Kyiv Wounds 9


Binance Crypto Firm?s Successor in Russia Announces Closure


[Russia] - Central Asian Teen Hailed for Saving Dozens from Moscow Auditorium Attack


'Kill Them All,' Ex-Russian President Medvedev Says of Concert Hall Gunmen


Kremlin Refuses to Comment on Islamic State Links to Moscow Attack


Russia?s FSB Thwarted Attack on Putin Campaign Office ? Mediazona


Russia Arrests Gold Mine Director After Collapse Traps Workers


7 Wounded in Russian Missile Attack on Kyiv


[Russia] - Russian Court Remands 4 Suspects Over Concert Hall Attack


[Russia] - Russian Opposition Blasts Putin's Broken Security Promises After Moscow Attack


Day of Mourning in Russia as Toll From Concert Hall Massacre Climbs to 137


[Russia] - Kyiv Says 2 Russian Ships Hit in Crimea Strikes


[Russia] - Putin Allies Demand Return of Death Penalty After Moscow Attack


[Russia] - 'Terrorists Have No Nationality' Tajik President Tells Putin


Kyiv and Ukraine's Lviv Region Report 'Massive' Russian Attack, No Casualties


[Russia] - Russia Says It Shot Down Ukraine Missiles Fired at Crimea


Putin Wants To Blame Ukraine for Moscow Attack ? Zelensky


?It Could Have Been Me?: Russians Mourn Victims of Deadly Concert Hall Attack


Russian State Media Release Interrogation Videos of Concert Attack Suspects


Spacecraft Carrying First Belarus Woman Cosmonaut Lifts Off


[Russia] - Moscow Concert Attack: What We Know


[Russia] - Russian Army Claims Seized Ukrainian Village Near Bakhmut


Putin Vows Retribution for 'Barbaric' Moscow Attack


Russia Arrests Concert Hall Gunmen as Death Toll Rises


World Leaders Condemn Russian Concert Hall Attack


[Russia] - One Dead, Oil Refinery on Fire After Drone Attacks in Russia


[Russia] - At Least 60 Killed, 145 Injured in Mass Shooting Outside Moscow


Islamic State Group Claims Russia Gun Attack


[Russia] - Timeline of Attacks in Moscow Since 1999


U.S. Says No Sign of Ukraine Role in ?Terrible? Moscow Attack


[Russia] - Russia Jails Man 23 Years Over 'Railway Explosion' Plot


Russian Rescuers Hope to Reach Trapped Miners ?In Coming Days?


Russia Adds ?LGBT Movement? to ?Terrorists and Extremists? List


Russia's Central Bank Keeps Rates at 16% Amid Stubborn Inflation


[Russia] - Kremlin Planning New Mobilization for Kharkiv Offensive-- Vyorstka


[Russia] - Russia's FSB Says Detained 7 Pro-Ukraine Partisans in Moscow


[Russia] - Kremlin Says Russia in a 'State of War'


[Russia] - Russian Navy Fired on Civilian Fishing Trawler, Killing Sailors-- Dozhd


Woman Killed in Ukrainian Strike on Russia's Belgorod


Russia Attacks Ukraine With Deadly Barrage, Zelensky Appeals for Aid


[Russia] - Siberia's Krasnoyarsk to Shutter Prisons After Inmates Sent to Fight in Ukraine


Russia Sentences ?Volga Maniac? Serial Killer to Life in Prison


[Russia] - Russia Aborts Spacecraft Launch Seconds Before Liftoff





66