News

A search has been launched for a woman from the city of Dagestanskie Ogni, who has left for Syria, and who, in the opinion of investigators, had organized a transfer of raised money to militants, the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) has announced.

The Georgia's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has detained two persons, who had conducted an inspection in the Tbilisi high-rise residential building on the eve of the explosion, the MIA has stated.

Today, the supplier of natural gas to Chechnya has announced its intent to appeal against the court judgement that obliges the company to write off the consumers' debts, which are "hopeless to collect".

The US Department of State expressed concern about human rights violations in Chechnya and called on Russia to respond to reports of renewed attacks on members of the LGBT community in the republic and to release Oyub Titiev, the head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" office in Grozny.

Today, Ingush activists have handed over to the Kremlin the letter signed by residents of the republic with the demand to cancel the agreement on the border with Chechnya and return the Prigorodny District to Ingushetia.

On January 17, the leader of Chechnya announced his intention to dismiss the heads of departments and municipalities if their activities in the first quarter of 2019 would be ineffective. Instead of loud resignations, personnel changes of officials close to Ramzan Kadyrov are likely to be expected, local residents say.

Today, one resident of Nagorno-Karabakh and two residents of Armenia are still being kept in Azerbaijani prisons. Armenia has no arguments to force Azerbaijan to return prisoners, notes MP Naira Zograbyan.

The positions of the Azerbaijani army in the Karabakh conflict zone were fired from machine guns, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for Azerbaijan reports today.

On the day of the explosion on the outskirts of Tbilisi, tenants of a nine-storey building several times called the emergency service because of the smell of gas at the block. However, officers of the emergency service did not detect any gas leak.

On January 17, the Russian Supreme Court (SC) refused to toughen the sentence to Victoria Budaikhanova, a native of Dagestan, sentenced to a conditional imprisonment after her return from Syria.

The European Parliament has called on the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately release the blogger Mekhman Guseinov, as well as other detained activists and journalists, the resolution said on January 17.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has quickly responded to the complaint of the defence of Samvel Mairapetyan, the owner of the N2 TV Channel against the ban on his travel abroad. The ECtHR believes that the authorities should allow the businessman to go to Germany for medical treatment, said his advocate.

A court in Baku has imposed administrative penalties on five members of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) – on December 16, two activists were sentenced to 20 days' arrest and three others were fined.

The federal authorities have failed to stop the persecutions of the employees of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", launched by the Chechen authorities, and left without reaction the violation of LGBTs' rights in the republic, the annual report of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) asserts.

The primary task of the federal centre of Dagestan is not the fight against corruption, but to control the region under the budget deficit and increasing foreign policy pressure, as well as ensuring the local population's loyalty, the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

Today, at the office of the "Musavat" Party, five oppositionists have continued their hunger strike with the demand to release blogger Mekhman Guseinov and other political prisoners. Some political prisoners continue the hunger strike in penal colonies and SIZOs (pre-trial prisons), their relatives report.

In accordance with the court decision, the "Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Grozny" Company is to write off more than nine billion roubles from debtors. Attempts to secure payments of debts created social tensions, the Prosecutor's Office for Chechnya reports.

Pavel Grib does not complain about the conditions of detention at the Rostov SIZO (pre-trial prison), and his health state does not prevent him from being under arrest, reports today the chairman of the Public Observation Commission (POC) for the Rostov Region.

A free excursion to the Galanchozh District is scheduled for January 26, and any citizen of Chechnya can take part in it, reports the spokesperson for the Ministry of Tourism for Chechnya. The initiative was announced after Ingush activists had voiced a call to abandon the resettlement of Chechen residents to the above territory.

In Tbilisi, a child and two adults hospitalized after an explosion in a multi-storey building continue receiving medical treatment in hospitals. The child's condition is assessed as satisfactory, doctors report today.