News

In January-August of 2019, the number of visitors to Georgian nature reserves increased by 8% compared to the same period of 2018, the Agency for Country's Protected Areas has informed.

Law enforcers are putting pressure on Leyla Chemurzieva, accused of links with militants, demanding from her to testify against residents of Ingushetia unknown to her, her advocate has stated. One of the persons mentioned by law enforcers said that he had never heard of Chemurzieva.

Election results on unified voting day in Southern Russia; claim to court after summing up of the voting results at the presidential election in Abkhazia; closing of the border of South Ossetia with Georgia for an indefinite period; searches at offices and homes of Navalny's activists in Southern Russia; President Putin's trip to Dagestan on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the defeat of militants – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of September 9-15, 2019, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Among the newly elected members of the Stepanakert Council of Elders there are no women. Rita Mnatsakanyan, an MP of the National Assembly (Parliament) of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), has suggested ensuring the election of women to bodies of power at the legislative level. The society is scornfully treating women in politics are, NGO activists believe.

The closure of checkpoints on the Georgian-South-Ossetian border creates difficulties for the local population and increases tension, the co-chairs of the Geneva international debates have stated.

During the week from September 9 to September 15, 2019, one person perished in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus; there was no information about the wounded ones. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from open sources.

A Baku court has imposed an administrative fine on Ilgar Makhmud, an activist of the oppositional "Musavat" Party, accused of drug use; the activist himself denied the charge.

The bankruptcy manager has assured that in October, after the sale of underground courses, money will appear to pay off the wage debts to former workers of the "Kingcoal" Company, Tatiana Avachova, a member of the protest group, said at a picket in Gukovo. The picketers noted that this was not the first such promise.

The name of the paratrooper, Mikhail Bezelt, who, according to the official data, blew himself up on a mine in Chechnya, has appeared in the list of Donbass casualties. On the whole, the version of the contractor's death during exercises looks plausible, but it's strange that the exercise area had not been inspected by sappers, the law enforcers interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have noted.

On September 7-14, Azerbaijani military servicemen fired more than 650 shots at positions of the Defence Army, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has informed.

The detention of a witch in Chechnya and the report shown by the "Grozny" ChGTRK (Chechen State TV and Radio Company), where she was criticized by a doctor from the Centre for Islamic Medicine, was treated by some social networks commentators as a return to Middle Ages. Their opponents have supported the persecution of sorcerers in the republic.

After her two-day visit to Baku, Liliane Maury Pasquier, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) called for an open dialogue and enhanced cooperation of the Council of Europe with Azerbaijan. The PACE's position can seriously affect the solution of the problem of political prisoners, human rights defenders believe.

Schoolchildren and employees of budget-funded organizations were enlisted in large numbers to take part in the environmental subbotnik (community works), held yesterday in the Shali and Gudermes Districts of Chechnya.

During searches in Krasnodar, law enforcers seized computers and telephones local activists have stated, adding that by a Moscow court judgement their bank accounts were blocked. Political analysts treat this law enforcers' reaction as a response to the "Smart Voting" system.

The adaptation to peaceful life of the children returned to Dagestan is undertaken not only by state bodies, but also by volunteers, who help to bring the returnees' knowledge up to the level of their peers.

Georgia has refused to remove the block-post erected near the village of Tsnelis, but demanded from South Ossetia to open the border for the passage of residents of the pre-border regions, Irakli Antadze, the spokesman of the Georgian State Security Service (SSS), has stated. The South-Ossetian party will take steps to relieve tensions, if Georgia makes concessions, said Yegor Kochiev, the head of the South-Ossetian delegation.

Nika Meliya, an MP from the oppositional "United National Movement" Party, has violated the terms of his appointed freedom deprivation measure, when he took part, without a due permit, in a political talk show on a local TV channel, the Georgian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) has stated. In case of a repeated violation, the GPO threatens to arrest him.

On September 13, several dozens of law enforcers were checking documents of the drivers who drove their cars in the vicinity of the "Tangim" mosque in Makhachkala, the journalist, Idris Yusupov, stated. Nobody was detained during the raid, the Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has reported in its turn.

Within a week, Malsag Uzhakhov, the head of the Ingush Council of Teips (family clans) has suffered two heart attacks, and needs treatment at the SIZO (pre-trial prison) medical unit, his advocate has stated.

Magomedamin Vagabov, a resident of the Dagestani village of Gubden, accused of rendering assistance to militants, refused to plead guilty at trial on September 12. He explained that he had incriminated himself after torture with electric current.