News

Despite the inefficiency of the Geneva discussions, they should not be stopped, as there is no better format for discussing problems today, Georgian political analysts believe.

The revenge fight between Irishman athlete Conor McGregor and Dagestani fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov will take place in 2019. This was announced by UFC President Dana White on January 1.

The number of children returned from the Middle East on December 30, 2018, included a six-year-old granddaughter of Nalchik resident Madina Naloeva. The girl was taken away from Russia in 2015. According to Children's Rights Commissioner Anna Kuznetsova, other 36 children are to be returned from Iraq in January.

Some women of Grozny treated as unnecessary a requirement for junior schoolgirls to wear headscarves for the New Year's morning festivities. Such a decision made by parents created problems for teachers with their chiefs, teachers reported.

The Azerbaijani positions in the Karabakh conflict zone, including in the border villages, have been shelled 46 times over a day, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for Azerbaijan reports today.

Two men held a resident of Novorossiysk in an apartment for several hours and beat him up, his relatives have stated. Suspects have been detained; supposedly, they are related to law enforcement structures.

The family left homeless due to a fire on New Year's night in the Trusov District of Astrakhan was provided with other housing, the authorities have stated.

The increase in the number of non-combat casualties among Armenian servicemen was a consequence of the impunity of the command and the poor training of technical and medical services of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the rights defenders interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

Magomed Magomedkerimov, a native of Dagestan, has won the final of the Professional Fighters' League (PFL) in the middleweight category.

The administration of Baku SIZO-1 (pre-trial prison) did not allow the father of the blogger Mekhman Guseinov to visit his son today, as the father, Rafig Guseinov himself, told the "Caucasian Knot", expressing his concern for his son.

The murder in Nazran of Ibragim Belkharoev has nothing to do with domestic (everyday) reasons, since the deceased was close to the Chechen leadership, social network users believe.

Almost a month after the murder of Julietta Gukasyan, a resident of Gyumri, her relatives still know nothing about the motives of the crime and the investigation progress, said Asmik Gukasyan, a daughter of the murdered woman. According to her, a detained Russian soldier should be handed over to the Armenian side.

In the centre of Grozny, the atmosphere of suspicion was felt during the New Year's festivities because of intensified inspections, residents of Grozny reported.

In 2018, the ceasefire regime on the contact line of the armed forces of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan was about 10,000 times violated by the Azerbaijani side. The Azerbaijani armed forces fired more than 97,000 shots at the Armenian positions and used both small arms and grenade launchers, states the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for Nagorno-Karabakh in its report on the results of 2018.

In the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD), the past year is remembered by several crises, including expansion of the territory of Chechnya by Ramzan Kadyrov despite mass protests in Ingushetia, interethnic conflict which led to the resignation of the Kabardino-Balkarian leader, and a number of top-ranking officials fell under arrest and investigations in Dagestan.

At the venue of the attack on Ibragim Belkharoev, shell cases of two different calibres were found, the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) informs. The criminal case was initiated under the article about the murder committed by a group of persons.

On the fifth day of his dry hunger strike, after his health condition has deteriorated, Mekhman Guseinov, an Azerbaijani blogger, began drinking water in custody, his brother has informed.

On December 31, six activists held a rally "Strategy 31" in Volgograd, at which they demanded the freedom of assembly and reduction of social tension, recalling that protesters in Paris had achieved the fulfilment of their demands.

The blogger Mekhman Guseinov was transferred from the colony to the Baku SIZO (pre-trial prison) in connection with the new criminal case opened against him, his advocate said on December 31.

Russian and Armenian gas suppliers will raise prices, but this will not affect tariffs for consumers in Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan has assured today after talks with the Russian president.