Week in the Caucasus: review of main events on December 30-January 5

Terror act in the city trolleybus in Volgograd; commissioning of several dozens apartment blocks for locals in Ingushetia; cancellation of the total ban on rallies, not related to the Olympics, in Sochi; resignation of the General Public Prosecutor of Georgia, – see the review of these events in the Caucasus during the week of December 30, 2013, to January 5, 2014, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Terror act in city trolleybus in Volgograd

On December 30, a trolleybus in Volgograd was struck by a blast, which was later recognized as a terror act. Seventeen people were killed, including the man, who, according to investigators, committed a suicide bombing. The terror act occurred less than 24 hours after the explosion at the railway station in Volgograd, which killed 19 people. According to the regional authorities, 65 people were hospitalized after the explosions.

According to a source from the local law enforcement bodies, the terror act at the Volgograd railway station could be committed by Pavel Pechonkin, a native of the Republic of Mari El and a member of the "Buynaksk" armed grouping. The source has reported unofficially that along with Pechonkin, the natives of Dagestan Asker Samedov, 23, and Magomed Isaev, 26, are suspected of involvement in the above terror acts. According to the source, after the first terror act in Volgograd, law enforcers began checking the people sympathetic to militants in Dagestan; and on January 4, large-scale targeted checks were conducted in the village of Balakhani, Untsukul District of Dagestan. On December 31 in Volgograd, they launched a major counterterrorist operation.

Ingushetia: over thousand families move into new flats before New Year

On December 30, in the city of Malgobek, they commissioned 32 apartment houses of the total residential area of 90,400 square meters, built for 800 families resettled from the landslide area. On the same day, the ceremony of commissioning 17 high-rise residential buildings was held in Magas, the capital. Here, investors have built houses with a total area of 43,000 square meters, which allowed 461 local families to improve their housing conditions.

Cancellation of total ban on public actions not related to the Olympics in Sochi

On January 4, it became known that Russian President Vladimir Putin made amendments to his decree of August 19, 2013, which completely banned any mass actions during the Sochi Olympic and Paralympic Games. According to the amendments, public events that are not related to the Olympics are now allowed, but the number of participants, the time and the venue thereof will be defined by the Administration of Sochi "in coordination with the respective territorial body of the Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA)."

Public society activists and the opposition had criticized the initial decree and now are sceptical as to the amendments. Thus, Boris Nemtsov, a Russian politician and a former candidate for the Mayor of Sochi, believes that during the Olympic Games local residents will not be able to get permits from the FSB and the MIA on holding their protests in the city. The LGBT activist Nikolai Alekseev said that sexual minorities will be also unable to hold their actions; he referred to earlier numerous refusals to sanction such actions.

Resignation of Georgia's General Public Prosecutor

On December 30, Otar Partskhaladze, the General Public Prosecutor of Georgia, announced his resignation, because the public had questions concerning his biography. This happened after on December 23 the Mayor of Tbilisi Gigi Ugulava, who is now under trial, said that Partskhaladze had committed a theft and robbery in Germany, for which he was sentenced to conditional imprisonment for one year and one month. Otar Partskhaladze himself issued a statement on December 24, according to which he was in fact convicted in Germany, but not for robbery – just for altercation with a policeman.