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Dagestan officials were not properly prepared for the spread of coronavirus and failed to convince people of its danger in time, the heads of local editions have commented on local authorities' statistics on COVID-19 and viral pneumonia incidence, voiced out by the authorities.

Employees of the Chief Department for Combating Corruption under the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Azerbaijan have searched the apartment of Afghan Sadygov, the head of the online edition "Azel.TV"; he was detained, his wife and advocate have informed.

The operative-search operations in the Sunzha District of Ingushetia were preceded by a special operation conducted in March, during which an alleged militant was killed.

The Diaspora of Meskhetian Turks in the United States, named "Ahiska Turkish American Council", has organized a Ramadan action of spreading grocery packages among needy families in eight countries around the world, the organizers have informed.

The Chechen officials who gathered at the grave of Akhmat Kadyrov on May 10 violated the restrictions imposed because of coronavirus; however, they will not be punished, among other things, because of the controversial legality of these measures, the lawyers interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

The COVID-19 has been diagnosed in 33 prisoners kept in Azerbaijani jails, the country's Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has informed. Their relatives believe that there are many more infected inmates and worry about their health.

On May 12, lawyers of the "Legal Initiative" Project sent a request to the Investigating Department for Ingushetia of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) asking to check the treatment and diagnostic centre in Magas, whose doctors performed, in June 2019, a crippling surgery on a 9-year-old girl, says the statement posted on the website of the "Legal Initiative".

Two military servicemen have been detained within the case of the death of Sasun Margaryan, a conscript. The investigation is under the articles on violation of statutory relations and bringing to suicide.

A video showing a Chechen resident hiding from the police gathered compassionate comments on Instagram. Users who left their comments under the video called filming and publishing of such videos to be unacceptable.

It was too late when the authorities of Dagestan took measures against the coronavirus infection, some Instagram users claimed. Local residents themselves are to blame for the outbreak of the infection, because they violated the imposed restrictions, other users of the social network argue.

On May 12, Vakhid Usmaev, Secretary of the Security Council of Chechnya, was appointed the deputy chairman of the Chechen government. This is the third fellow villager of Ramzan Kadyrov, who was appointed to a high post from early February.

The Instagram account used by Ramzan Kadyrov was deleted in connection with the fact that the leader of Chechnya was included in the US sanctions list, reports the spokesperson for the Instagram owner. In addition to the Ramzan Kadyrov's unofficial account, Instagram pages of his associates are also unavailable.

In the Stavropol Territory, staff of the psycho-neurological boarding house has been staying under the quarantine for three weeks along with infected patients, and the authorities do not respond to appeals. This can be concluded from a video appeal posted on the Internet on May 12.

On May 20, Georgia is launching state support programmes for agrarian producers, Giorgi Gakhariya, the Prime Minister, stated on May 12. The programme provides payments to the farmers whose businesses have suffered from the coronavirus pandemic, subsidies to buy fuel, as well as exemptions from irrigation fees.

Playing music from minarets was a result of neglect and negligence of bodies of power, the political analysts and residents of Dagestan interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have noted.

Relatives of Vadim Cheldiev, a North-Ossetian opera singer, suspected of beating a policeman, have recorded a video appeal addressed to the law enforcers, who became eyewitnesses of the incident at the fuelling station. Members of the Cheldiev family clan asked law enforcers to meet them and tell who really hit the policeman.

The "Georgian Dream" Party never committed itself to the release of political prisoners as part of an agreement on the system for holding parliamentary elections, Archil Talakvadze, the Speaker of the Parliament, has stated. In their turn, oppositionists claim that authorities are trying to evade their obligation.

New generation communications technologies pose no threat to the health of North-Ossetian residents, the republic's information technology and communications department has assured.

A group of Armenian and Azerbaijani filmmakers have made a film about the conflict dated to the 26th anniversary of signing a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. It shows a possibility of cooperating in difficult political conditions, the NGO named "Reconciliation Resources" that has supported the project believes.

In a multi-storey apartment block in Kartoziya Street in the New District of Sukhumi, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Abkhazia and the state security service found a large hideout with weapons and ammunition.