News

The wreckage of the Su-25, which took off today from Gyumri, was found in the mountains of the Shirak Region; the pilots died, the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reported.

Armenian authorities have announced their readiness to consider a US proposal for the supply of weapons. The country's financial capacity does not allow any large-scale purchase of American-made weapons; it is more reasonable for Armenia to still buying armaments from Russia, the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

The Krasnodar branch of the "Committee against Torture" (CaT) has complained to the Prosecutor's Office of the Krasnodar Territory about the custody conditions at the local SIZO (pre-trial prison) of the wheelchair-bound Alexander Kiba, his advocate said on December 3.

The main New Year Tree for the capital of Armenia will cost 71 million drams, the Mayoralty has reported. This money should have been spent on solving social problems, residents of Armenia believe.

The experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" are convinced that the circumstances of the murder of Ismail Barkhanoev, a former employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, fail to meet the customs of the blood feud killing.

No extraordinary parliamentary elections, which the opposition insists on, will be held, Irakli Kobakhidze, the Executive Secretary of the "Georgian Dream" Party, has stated.

Officials are collecting personal data on family members of activists who have set up an initiative group to hold a referendum in Ingushetia on the border agreement with Chechnya, said Magomed Mutsolgov, a human rights defender, in his appeal to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).

Tatiana Moskalkova, the Russian Ombudsperson, has stated today that the Prosecutor's Office should be involved in checking the complaint of Maxim Lapunov about the refusal to initiate a case on his arrest and beating up by law enforcers in Chechnya.

Against the background of a sharp conflict with Yunus-Bek Evkurov, the Ingush clergy has supported the political demands of the Ingush opposition to cancel the agreement on the border with Chechnya.

During the week from November 26 to December 2, 2018, at least three people perished in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus; no information was received about the wounded people. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

There is no separate law in Russia against girls' circumcision; and such mutilations should be prohibited by the order of the Ministry of Public Health (MPH), experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

The second round of presidential election in Georgia; shootout between law enforcers and suspected militants in Kabardino-Balkaria; start of campaign before the parliamentary elections in Armenia, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of November 26-December 2, 2018, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

The death of the contract soldier, Gor Sarkisyan, in one of the military units of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is being investigated as a case of bringing to suicide, the Investigative Committee of Armenia has stated.

Today, the North-Caucasian District Military Court has found Pyotr Gnipel, a 19-year-old native of the Giaginskaya village, guilty of acquiring components for an explosive device, which he was supposed to hand over to supporters of the "Islamic State" (IS, earlier – ISIL), a terrorist organization banned in Russia by the court.

The Tbilisi City Court has stopped considering the claim lodged by Zaza Saralidze, who demanded to cancel the police's ban to set up tents in Rustaveli Avenue. Tents were set up, despite the ban; and the consideration of the lawsuit is senseless, the judge has explained.

Today, Arthur Davtyan, the Public Prosecutor General of Armenia, has submitted a petition to the Parliament asking to give consent to the initiation of a criminal case against Aram Arutyunyan, an MP from the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), a source from the press service of the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The armistice regime in the Karabakh conflict zone was violated for 30 times during the last 24 hours; the militaries' positions stationed in the village of Agdam of the Tovuz District came under fire, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD) has stated today.

In the capital of Georgia, law enforcers have detained six citizens of Ukraine and a citizen of Georgia; weapons and ammunition were found on them during a search, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) reported on December 2.

In one of the military units of the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD), a contract serviceman was killed in his combat position. A criminal case has been initiated.

Several activists held solo pickets in Volgograd on December 2 demanding that the Russian authorities end the conflict with Ukraine because of the incident in the Kerch Strait and condemning the annexation of the Crimea.