News

On January 3, Chechnya held religious events in honour of the holy Kunta-Khadji Kishiev revered in the republic. Some residents of Chechnya and Instagram users believe that Kishiev's person has been largely mythologized.

Today, the protest action held outside the building of the Georgian Parliament resulted in a skirmish of activists with policemen. Lasha Chkhartishvili, an activist of the Labour Party of Georgia, was accused of petty hooliganism and disobedience to a law enforcer.

Chechen authorities should not spend money on New Year festivities, some Instagram users believe. They and other social network users, and residents of Chechnya have criticized participants in the New Year celebrations.

The court has upheld the Central Election Commission (CEC), which cancelled the registration of Zaur Gurbanly, a member of the "Republican Alternative" (ReAl) Party, as a candidate for parliament of Azerbaijan.

On the sixth day of his hunger strike at Azerbaijani colony, Ikram Ragimov, the editor-in-chief of the "Realliq.info" website, has reported a deterioration of his health and custody conditions.

The "Edelweiss" Judo Sports Club in Chechnya has announced the creation of the "Akhmat" Club, for which the "Edelweiss" will play the role of the youth staff. This new renaming of the sports club did not surprise local residents, but caused their criticism.

Within the past 24 hours, Azerbaijani positions on the border with Armenia and in the Karabakh conflict zone were shelled for 23 times, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD) has informed today.

Arthur Beterbiev, the light heavyweight champion in professional boxing versions of IBF and WBC, intends to refuse from defending his title in China in a fight with the Chinese, Meng Fanlong, because of this country's policy regarding Muslim Uyghurs.

An examination has shown that a bomb-like object found in a street of Nazran is a fake explosive device, an informed source has stated.

The eldest daughter of the head of Chechnya has opened her "Paris" restaurant in the building of the closed city library of Grozny, where NGO activists used to gather in early 2000s, local residents told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. Instagram users have noted that the restaurant was opened amid unemployment and money deficit in Chechnya.

Two couples from Chechnya have illegally received 280,000 euros of benefits, the Austrian police have stated.

The funds donated to Makhachkala by the Mayor of Moscow have been spent inefficiently, local residents, who have criticized the quality of the work done, assert.

Over 120,000 people gathered in central Grozny on the New Year's Eve, the Chechen authorities have reported. Employees of budgetary organizations had to participate in festivities under the threat of layoffs, Grozny residents have told.

On the eve of New Year, in the capital of Chechnya, law enforcers visited houses of city residents and warned them of responsibility for drinking alcoholic beverages on the New Year's Eve, residents of Grozny reported.

Internet users argue about the behaviour of four residents of the Kayakent District, accused of administrative offence after they had danced lezginka in the middle of the roadway in Derbent. The young people face administrative penalties for violating parking rules.

Modern Chechen young people perceives the Russian army not as a participant of the military campaigns in the republic, but as a chance to avoid the fate of unemployed people by gaining the right to serve at the law enforcement bodies, explain experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

After the authorities removed his tent set up near the Georgian parliament, Malkhaz Machalikashvili has informed about disappearance of 22,000 signatures gathered in support of the parliamentary investigation into the death of his son. Machalikashvili has announced a new campaign, saying that he needs some 12,000 signatures more.

Akhmed Imagozhev, who was hospitalized after the attack on the road-and-patrol service (DPS) post in Magas, whom law enforcers treat as one of the attackers, has come to senses and started talking; investigators are working with him. The resources that are tracing the activities of the "Islamic State"* have reported that the IS* had claimed responsibility for the attack.

Dozens of activists with posters in support of Robert Kocharyan gathered at the SIZO (pre-trial prison), where the second president of Armenia is kept, and congratulated him and Armen Tavadyan, the owner of 5TV Channel on the New Year.

The photo depicting the alleged participants of the New Year's attack on the post near Magas of the road-and-patrol service (DPS) post with their knives at the background of the flag of the "Islamic State" (IS*, a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court) is a fake, some Facebook users assert. The attackers had been recruited by law enforcers themselves, other social network commentators have suggested.