News

In Dagestan, since the beginning of the pandemic, 481 people died from viral pneumonia, the leader of the republic reports today. According to him, in April 2020, the incidence of pneumonia increased by 33.6% compared to 2019.

Seven residents of Karachay-Cherkessia were detained on suspicion of firearms trafficking. An underground workshop was organized in a house of one of the suspects, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) reports today.

Malkhaz Rekhviashvili, a presenter of the "Adjara" TV Channel, the chairman of the Alternative Trade Union, was dismissed from his position after he supported his colleague who had been suspended from the air. Malkhaz Rekhviashvili announced the intention to challenge the TV Channel director's decision on his dismissal in court.

Agil Gumbatov, an activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), who was placed for compulsory treatment to the Republican Psychiatric Hospital in the village of Mashtaga, complained of bad health state after treatment with unknown drugs. A spouse of Agil Gumbatov fears for her husband's health state and demands to release the activist.

Residents of Chechnya complain to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about the impossibility to get through phones of the "hotline" of the operational headquarters, engaged in solving all issues related to current restrictions imposed because of the spread of the coronavirus infection.

The restrictive measures introduced during the coronavirus pandemic are used by the Azerbaijani authorities to arrest oppositional activists, the US Helsinki Commission has stated.

Because of the difficult situation with coronavirus in Dagestan, the republic's Muftiate has invited Muslims to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr (Uraza Bayram, or end of fasting) within their families. Believers are advised not to invite guests, not to visit cemeteries, and observe the self-isolation regime.

Despite the fact that the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has announced, since May 12, a relaxation of the restriction regime introduced due to coronavirus, Magomed Daudov, Speaker of the Chechen Parliament, has stated that so far there have been no changes in the self-isolation regime. Instagram users criticized the decision not to lift restrictions and reminded Daudov about Kadyrov's words.

Mikhail Saakashvili, the third president of Georgia, remains the most significant figure of the "United National Movement" (UNM) Party and ensures its funding, Zaal Andjaparidze, a political analyst, has noted. His colleague, Ramaz Sakvarelidze, believes, in his turn, that Saakashvili has ceased to be perceived in Georgia as a Georgian politician.

Arthur Bugulov, a resident of North Ossetia, has been arrested until June 21 on charges of hooliganism, despite his positive test for coronavirus, his advocate, Sergey Denisenko, has informed.

The message that Dagestanis are unhappy with the broadcast of military songs from the loudspeakers installed on mosque minarets in Dagestan arrived on May 11 at the SMS service of the "Caucasian Knot".

In the city of Derbent and in the Derbent District of Dagestan, about 700 Azerbaijani citizens are waiting for the opening of the Russian-Azerbaijani border. For them, it was decided to set up a tent camp, for 210 places so far.

Azerbaijani activist Jeikhun Rzaev, who was detained in Mingachevir, was sentenced to 10 days of arrest for disobeying the police. Members of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) treat the activist's arrest as politically motivated.

A resident of Irafsky District set fire to a school, a kindergarten, and a private building out of personal hostility, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) reported. The police version of hooliganism is unconvincing, note Instagram users. They suggest that someone's economic interests stay behind the arson attacks.

In Chechnya, on the Day of Mourning and Sorrow of the Peoples of the Republic, subordinates of the leader of Chechnya visited his father's grave without wearing protective masks and without respecting social distancing. This can be concluded from the report broadcasted by the "Grozny" ChGTRK (Chechen TV and Radio Company). In Chechnya, top-ranking officials do not comply with their own regulations, for violation of which ordinary people are punished, local residents note.

Spread of the coronavirus infection in the Caucasus; Victory Day celebration in the conditions of self-isolation; Georgia's negative reaction to Mikhail Saakashvili's new post in Ukraine, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of May 4-10, 2020, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

By 10:45 a.m. Moscow time, in Northern Caucasus, 391 new cases of the coronavirus infection were registered within 24 hours, including 119 in Dagestan, the "Rospotrebnadzor" (Russian Federal Agency for Consumer Supervision) reports. Dagestan still leads in the total number of coronavirus-infected people in the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

Today, the capital of Georgia, which was closed because of the coronavirus epidemic, has been opened for entry and exit, the Georgian government announces.

The number of videos confirming human rights violations in Chechnya is growing, and that fact irritates the authorities, suggests Alexei Malashenko, a member of the Expert Council of the Carnegie Moscow Centre. Such videos are a form of public protest, Chechen blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov believes.

Sasun Margaryan, a soldier of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), has died from a gunshot wound.