News

Karolina Kanaeva, an activist from Mordovia, who stood in defence of Chechen gays, has left Russia after threats received from opponents of LGBT people. A wave of threats was preceded by Kanaeva's appeal to Ramzan Kadyrov and a comment by Djambulat Umarov, a Chechen Minister.

Ruslan Kasheshov, an entrepreneur from the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), has stated that he had confessed to the illegal dealing with explosives, drugs and complicity with the IS ("Islamic State", a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court) under torture.

Aliabbas Rustamov, a rights defender has been hunger-striking in his colony for five days already, demanding a positive decision on his conditional early relief (CER), Azerbaijani journalist, Shakhveled Chobanoglu, has informed today.

The authorities have enhanced the security at Dargavs Necropolis, which was temporarily closed for visits after tourists started to post selfies with buried skulls, reports today Valery Kubalov, the director of the National Museum of North Ossetia.

A TV report with apologies of a 16-year-old teenager for criticizing the Chechen authorities provoked indignation of local residents. The purpose of the new report prepared by the "Grozny" TV Channel is to intimidate young people and potential critics of the Ramzan Kadyrov's regime, believe experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

New information about the Chechen "execution list"; adoption of the law on the Dagestani volunteer militia; Agile Spirit 2019 multinational military exercises, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of July 22-28, 2019, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

The Armenian authorities registered 453 families affected by the earthquake of 1988 to be moved from temporary buildings to new housing. About 6.3 million US dollars are planned to be allocated for the above purposes, Nikol Pashinyan announces.

The ceasefire regime in the Karabakh conflict zone was violated 17 times during a day, and villages in the regions bordering Armenia were shelled, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for Azerbaijan reports today.

A soldier was killed in a shelling attack from the Azerbaijani side, the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reported.

On July 28, a rally was held in central Batumi, at which its participants called for the establishment of relations with Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Russia.

The appointment of the 28-year-old Khas-Magomed Kadyrov as Mayor of Argun has continued the practice of appointing relatives of the head of Chechnya to senior positions without taking into account their managerial experience, local residents said.

On July 28, colleagues of Abdulmumin Gadjiev, a journalist of the Dagestani edition "Chernovik" (Draft), arrested under the case of financing terrorism, have held an action in his support in social networks.

At his solo picket, Vlad Pogorelov, a Volgograd activists, demanded to protect lives and rights of members of the LGBT community. Some of the passers-by supported the picketer; but one man snatched a poster from the activist and threw it into the garbage bin.

The multinational military exercises Agile Spirit 2019 have started in Georgia. They are intended to master defensive skills, which corresponds to the country's position, military experts believe.

The Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation has gifted a six-year-old video hero, who said he was dreaming of becoming Ramzan Kadyrov's bodyguard, ready to die for him. The boy's parents filmed the video, seeking an award, while Chechen authorities used it for self-promotion, said local residents.

The Grozny resident, whose kidnapping was reported by the blogger, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, accused him, in his video message, of collaborating with the authorities. Social network users have treated this statement as a fake. Rights defenders are sure that the author made his video under pressure.

The ban on direct Russia-Georgia flights resulted in a decrease in the number of Russian tourists, but it was compensated by the increase of tourist inflow from Europe, the Georgia's Association of Entry Tourism has reported. Russian tour operators have reported that they found alternatives to the Georgian direction.

The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the officials of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of Dagestan on the issue of demonstration in support of the arrested journalist Abdulmumin Gadjiev. Gadjiev's relatives are not able to visit him in the SIZO (pre-trial prison) for the second month, the journalist's mother said.

Moris Machalikashvili, a nephew of Malkhaz Machalikashvili, is suspected of assaulting policemen during the riots outside the parliament building in Tbilisi.

The plans of Armenian authorities to build a new 150-kilometre road to Nagorno-Karabakh nullify the successes in resolving the conflict, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has stated.