News

Tamaz Batirashvili, an elder brother of Tarkhan Batirashvili, one of the leaders of the "Islamic State" (IS), a terrorist organization banned in Russia by the court, died in the warfare in Syria. This was reported by residents of the Pankisi Gorge.

The suspect was killed at detention, Azerbaijani law enforcement sources report.

The victims of a blast in the glass-making shop have been taken to hospital, the Armenian Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) has reported.

The large-scale exercises at the military base in Armenia are a planned event of the summer training schedule of the Russian Army, but not an indication of their preparation for an aggravation in the Karabakh conflict zone, experts believe.

The amendments to the second reading have not changed the original meaning of the bill on native languages, which still contains the principle for voluntary study of the national languages of the peoples of Russia. This was announced by activists from North Ossetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Ingushetia.

A regular soldier of the Armenian army was fatally wounded to his head and died.

The shelling of a police car in Dagestan was a local militants' attempt to remind about themselves about half a year after the previous attack; but this grouping has no direct links with the Islamic State" (IS), a terrorist organization banned in Russia by the court. This is the opinion of the Orientalists Mikhail Roschin, Akhmet Yarlykapov and the political analyst Alexei Malashenko.

The defence refused to name the person who pledged Vachagan Gazaryan, a former security chief of the third president of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan.

Public employees reported a large-scale subbotniks (Saturday voluntary work) in the territory of the cemeteries in the Kurchaloi District held on July 22. The subbotnik was the first such event organized after the appointment of Khamkhat Kadyrov the head of the district. Public employees reported that they were obliged to take part in the subbotnik.

The number of violations by Azerbaijan of the ceasefire regime has dramatically decreased, Levon Mnatsakanyan, the head of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), has stated. However, today the parties have exchanged threats of attacks on civilian objects.

The court in Baku has rejected the defence's motion to transfer Agil Magerramov, a member of the presidium of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), under house arrest. The defence intends to appeal against the refusal.

The former Dagestani head will now represent Russia's interests in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, sources report.

A trial in the case against Seda Dudurkaeva, who was detained in Istanbul and who was a daughter of the former chief of the Federal Migration Service (FMS) Department for Chechnya, is scheduled for mid-August, reported a detainee's mother. According to the woman, her daughter is kept in prison with two sons of 3.5 and 1.5 years old.

In Poti, a policeman is accused of abuse of authority after the man wounded by him died. The defence demanded to re-classify the case and pointed to the trauma got by the policeman during the detention of the suspected robber.

The Ukrainian tourist who got lost on Tetnuldi Mount in Mestiya died.

Despite his loss of the final fight of the World Boxing Super Series, Murat Gassiev was warmly greeted by hundreds of fans in Vladikavkaz. His fight with Oleksandr Usyk from Ukraine revealed boxing style weaknesses of the young Ossetian athlete; Gassiev needs experience of fighting with different rivals prior to passing over to the heavyweight category, his fans have noted.

The killing of two policemen in the Kizilyurt District was committed by the last grouping of militants, active in Dagestan, said a source from the republic's law enforcement bodies. The spokesman of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) did not confirm the information that a reward of one million roubles has been assigned for the capture of these militants.

Languages of minor nations of Russia are a unique cultural asset of the whole world; and a bill on the voluntary study of these languages will lead to their death, about 90 linguists from European countries have stated.

Kabardino-Balkaria has launched an educational project on the Circassian culture "Under the Tree", aimed at acquainting children with the richness of traditional Circassian culture, Professor Lydia Zhigunova from the Tulane University (USA), has stated.

Tactical exercises involving more than 3000 military personnel have been started at the Russian base in Armenia, the press service of the Southern Military District reported.