News

December 24, 2019 17:49

• Refugees occupy ministry building in Georgia

  Since September, internally displaced persons (IDPs), or forced migrants, have been conducting a protest rally at a building of the Ministry of Refugees, Labour, Health, and Social Affairs of Georgia, where they have arranged a sleeping corner for themselves. The protestors claim that the money allocated by the state for rented housing is not enough.

December 24, 2019 17:38

• Kadyrov approves murder of Khangoshvili

  At a press conference held on December 23, Ramzan Kadyrov declared the authorities of Russia and Chechnya were not involved in the killing of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin. Following President Vladimir Putin, Ramzan Kadyrov also called Zelimkhan Khangoshvili a terrorist.

December 24, 2019 11:34

• Social network users criticize words of commander of Kadyrov regiment about "traitors"

  Ironic comments were made by social network users to the video with the speech by Zamid Chalaev, the commander of the Akhmat Kadyrov patrol-and-post service (PPS) regiment in Chechnya; while local residents report about the escalation of anxiety atmosphere in the republic.

December 24, 2019 11:27

• Law enforcers raid Astrakhan mosque

  On December 23, law enforcers were on duty during prayer at the Red Mosque in Astrakhan, and also conducted house-to-house raids in the district where Muslims live. Such law enforcers' raid was not the first one in the city.

December 24, 2019 08:52

• PFPA treats arrest of its activist in Azerbaijan as political

  On December 22, Kenan Azizli, an activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), was arrested for ten days on charges of disobedience to the police. The PFPA believes that he is prosecuted on the basis of trumped-up charges for political reasons.

December 24, 2019 08:48

• Prosecution mitigates charges against Chechen law enforcers accused of kidnapping Khasavyurt resident

  Two Chechen law enforcers accused of kidnapping Alexei Kardashov, a resident of the city of Khasavyurt, were transferred from SIZO (pre-trial prison) under house arrest; and the charge itself has been eased, the Committee against Torture (CaT) has reported. Israeli activists link the slip in the investigation with the interest of Chechen authorities.

December 23, 2019 22:37

• Observers report violations at elections in Azerbaijan

  Ballot papers throws-in, "carousels", removal of observers from polling stations and other irregularities have been fixed at the municipal elections in Azerbaijan by the Centre for Election Monitoring and Democracy Education (CEM&DE). Analysts pointed to the absence of an acute rivalry among candidates.

December 23, 2019 22:33

• Journalists urge ICRF head to take up Gadjiev's case

  Colleagues of Abdulmumin Gadjiev have timed their action demanding to objectively investigate the case of the arrested journalist of the "Chernovik" weekly to the visit of Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) to Dagestan.

December 23, 2019 21:25

• HRC "Memorial" puts Yegor Lesnykh on the list of political prisoners

  Over the past two months, nine more persons have been added to the list of Russian political prisoners, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" has declared. The updated list includes Yegor Lesnykh, a native of the city of Volzhsky, convicted under the "Moscow case".

December 23, 2019 21:19

• Resident of Dagestan fined for keeping IS flag

  The court has fined a resident of the Rutul District of Dagestan, at whose home law enforcers found a flag of the "Islamic State" (IS), a terrorist organization banned in Russia by he court, the FSB has informed.

December 23, 2019 16:48

• Lubyanka attack reminds of attacks in Caucasus

  A man who attacked a FSB building in Moscow could have been taken alive, but he was killed, like it often happens during special operations in the Caucasus, notes Caucasus expert Alexei Malashenko. The attack occurred against the backdrop of a speech by President Vladimir Putin, and that recalled the events of 2014, when militants attacked Grozny on the day of the Russian President's address to the Federal Assembly.

December 23, 2019 16:41

• Azerbaijan claims sniper shelling attacks in conflict zone

  The positions of the Azerbaijani troops in the Karabakh conflict zone and in villages on the border with Armenia were shelled 23 times within 24 hours, including from sniper rifles, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan reported.

December 23, 2019 12:37

• Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of December 16-22, 2019

  President Putin's answers to questions on the problems of the southern regions of Russia; sentence to a Georgian doctor in South Ossetia; trials in cases against Ingush activists in the Stavropol Territory; attack on a son of the first president of Georgia in Tbilisi; opening of a monument to Stalin in Volgograd, and request of the Georgian Communists to restore the monument to the Soviet leader in Gori, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of December 16-22, 2019, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

December 23, 2019 11:32

• "Spiegel" reveals details of transferring data on Khangoshvili to Germany

  Back in 2012, an official of the Russia's FSB handed information about the wanted Zelimkhan Khangoshvili over to German law enforcement bodies, "Der Spiegel" writes.

December 23, 2019 11:29

• Georgian Communists demand to return Stalin's monument to Gori

  On Stalin's birthday, members of the Georgian Communist Party and their supporters held a rally in his homeland, the city of Gori, demanding t0 reinstall hat the monument to the former Soviet leader, which was dismantled nine years ago.

December 23, 2019 11:27

• Instagram users outraged at video with rape victim in Dagestan

  The Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has posted on the Instagram a video depicting a testimony of the minor, of raping whom Musa Aliev, a resident of Mutsalaul, who has reported torture, is suspected. Users have criticized the MIA for posting the video with a child.

December 22, 2019 11:36

• Rostov-on-Don townspeople hold action in support of political prisoners

  On December 20, solo pickets were held in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don, demanding to release political prisoners. In Rostov-on-Don, protesters went out to their action with posters in support of activists Vladislav Mordasov, Yan Sidorov, and Anastasia Shevchenko.

December 22, 2019 11:18

• Georgian activists hold bicycle marathon in support of Gaprindashvili

  On the border with Abkhazia, members of the Georgian "Golos" (Vote) movement have held an action demanding to liberate doctor Vazha Gaprindashvili, convicted for violating the Georgian-South-Ossetian border.

December 22, 2019 11:04

• Kocharyan's supporter suspected of bribing witness in March 1 case

  Varuzhan Mkrtchyan has been detained on suspicion of offering a bribe to a participant in the trial of the case of Robert Kocharyan, the second President of Armenia. As an exception, the Mkrtchyan's case was handed over to the Special Investigating Service (SIS).

December 21, 2019 18:02

• Czech Republic extradites Serzh Sargsyan's nephew to Armenia

  Narek Sargsyan, accused of possessing drugs and weapons, has been extradited from the Czech Republic and brought to Yerevan.