News

The "Strength in Unity" movement in Georgia has announced it will collect signatures to introduce amendments to the Constitution of the country banning the cultivation and export of marijuana.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has opened communication on the case of the Azerbaijani theologian Sardar Babaev, his advocate has stated today.

The absence of reaction of republic's and federal authorities to the problem of the Chechen-Ingush border has forced Ingush public organizations to convoke a general civil forum on the republic's territorial integrity.

The Azeri Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reported today that during the last 24 hours Azerbaijani positions in the Karabakh conflict zone were shelled for 82 times.

Robert Kocharyan, the second Armenian president, demands from the court to recognize Nikol Pashinyan's statements as slander.

Zaza Saralidze, the father of the murdered schoolboy, has applied to Tbilisi Mayoralty for an official permit to install tents in front of the parliament building in order to keep holding protests regardless of weather.

The father and mother of the Gasanguseinov brothers killed in the Dagestani village of Goor-Khindakh held a five-hour picket in Makhachkala, but did not succeed in meeting the leader of Dagestan. The parents of the killed brothers say they will hold daily pickets until the leader of the republic accepts them. 

In Azerbaijan, imprisoned activist Giyas Ibragimov has complained of being placed into a dungeon (punishment cell) because of reading a book after the beginning of the night's sleep regime time. The Penitentiary Service claims that Giyas Ibragimov violated the regime, but denies the fact of his placement to the punishment cell.

A 17-year-old Azerbaijani activist, who earlier claimed she was persecuted for participating in the campaign "Let's tell about a dictator", became a suspect in the case on unsanctioned action after posting a video from a polyclinic.

The voting at elections to the Council of Elders of Yerevan showed the increased confidence of Armenian residents in the process. This was stated by Lene Wetteland, an adviser of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, in her interview published by the "Caucasian Knot".

Should officials started dialogue with public activists and acted professionally, the confrontation in Kendelen could have been avoided, Aslan Kudaev, the organizer of the equestrian march in honour of the 310th anniversary of the Kanjali Battle, has stated today.

Law enforcers have announced Sergey Stefanenko, a citizen of Ukraine, who was detained in the Krasnodar Territory (also named Kuban by the main river), to be an exposed agent of the Ukrainian Security Service (known as the SBU).

Since the morning on September 19, relatives of Rashid Pugoev from Prokhladny cannot contact him, reports a local group in Instagram. Users of the social network have expressed the opinion that the disappearance of the young man may be related to the conflict between Kabardian and Balkar people in the village of Kendelen.

Today, in Makhachkala, a father and a mother of the brothers-shepherds killed in the Dagestani village of Goor-Khindakh, have held a picket in the hope to meet the leader of the republic. The parents demanded to punish the persons who killed their sons, but no officials came out of the building to meet the Gasanguseinov spouses.

After handing over the low-liquid "Chechenneftekhimprom" to the Chechen authorities, the "Rosneft" will retain its main asset in the republic, therefore the dispute between Ramzan Kadyrov and Igor Sechin will continue, economists reported.

Interethnic conflict in Kabardino-Balkaria; actions in Southern Russia against pension reform, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of September 17-23, 2018, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

The Commission for the Control of Interpol's Files (the CCF) has accepted for consideration the complaint filed by Aslan Yandiev, a native of North Ossetia, extradited from Slovakia to Russia. The complainant believes the search for him after the UN demand to suspend his extradition was ungrounded, the association "VayFond" reports today.

In the centre of Grozny, builders have completed the reconstruction of yard areas and are to finish the improvement of streets till the 200th birthday of the city, the authorities reported. The construction works, which took 1.3 billion roubles only from extrabudgetary sources, are being conducted in a hurry, and that fact affects their quality, the local people complain.

Over the past day, the Azerbaijani positions in the Karabakh conflict zone were shelled 89 times, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for Azerbaijan reports today.

The "My Step" bloc headed by comedian Hayk Marutyan gained 81.06% of the votes at the elections to the Council of Elders of Yerevan, the Central Election Commission (CEC) reported.