News

The criticism of Ramzan Kadyrov addressed to Vitaly Mutko, one of Russian Vice-Premiers, is caused by the fact that the head of Chechnya sees himself as a federal-level politician and is seeking to expand his influence, Dmitry Oreshkin and Alexei Malashenko, political analysts, believe.

The police have asked to move the tent of activist of the "Force in Unity" movement into the territory of Georgia, but the protesters have managed to maintain the status quo, David Katsarava, the head of the movement, has stated.

The court has upheld the demand of the prosecution and extended the arrest of Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", until March 22, 2019.

Over the past 24 hours, positions of Azerbaijani militaries were shelled from Armenia and the territories "near the occupied villages," the country's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has stated.

The Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) refused to satisfy the complaint against the verdict against the oppositionist Orkhan Bahyshly, sentenced to six years in prison on charges of drug possession. Orkhan insists on the political background of his case.

More than 50 Azerbaijani activists have appealed to the authorities of the country and the European Union (EU), calling to accelerate the work on a new agreement on strategic partnership. They have urged to include the issue of legal and political reforms as priorities into the agreement.

The transfer to Chechnya of territories of Dagestan will cause discontent among the republic's residents, experts have suggested. Residents of Dagestan have confirmed that they are ready to protests, if the issue arises of changing the republic's border.

Socio-economic problems will affect Nikol Pashinyan's rating; however, there will be no sharp drop in the trust in the government, the Armenian political analysts, interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot", believe. In their opinion, only concessions in the Karabakh issue can crash his rating.

Early parliamentary elections in Armenia; decision of the Constitutional Court of Russia on the border agreement between Chechnya and Ingushetia; approval of the sentence to Vladimir Bessonov by the Rostov Regional Court; failed court hearing in the Vladimir Tskaev's case in Vladikavkaz; publication of report on honour killings in Northern Caucasus, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of December 3-9, 2018, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Out of 144 reports received by the police about violations at the Armenian parliamentary elections, 58 contain crime attributes. The country's Investigating Committee has announced that 38 received reports about violations contain features of criminal offenses.

On the eve of the court session, scheduled for December 10, on the case of Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", Kumi Naidoo, the Secretary General of the human rights organization Amnesty International (AI), spoke in Oyub's support. He posted in the Twitter his photo in a T-shirt with Titiev's portrait.

During the week of December 3-9, at least one person perished in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus; there is no information about any wounded ones. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

In the evening on December 7, in the Khasavyurt District, Marat Alinchiev, who had been on the federal wanted list, was shot dead, according to reports posted on the websites and Telegram channels that support law enforcers. The man, who was found by law enforcers, refused to surrender and was shot dead after he opened fire, the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee has stated.

Dozens of people gathered on December 8 for a musical protest action, which took place in the Georgian border village of Atotsi. Activists opposed the installation of pillars with barbed wire by the South-Ossetian party.

On December 7, the Council of Teips (Clans) of the Ingush People suggested to the Chechen authorities to define the Ingush-Chechen administrative border with the help of the Sharia Court, emphasizing that the interrelations of the two nations depend on fixing the border.

On December 8, Lyudmila Alekseeva, a Russian human rights defender, the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG), passed away in her 92nd year of age. She often visited Northern Caucasus and criticized the situation with human rights in the region.

The court has ruled to detain Oleg Umarov, the head of the "Dobro Cherkesov" (Circassians' Wealth) Charity Foundation, who was detained on suspicion of possessing drugs, for two days, his advocate has informed.

During the past 24 hours, positions of the Azerbaijani Army were shelled for 28 times, the country's Ministry of Defence has stated.

Robert Kocharyan, the second President of Armenia, accused of overthrowing the constitutional order, believes that the decision to arrest him was made under pressure from Nikol Pashinyan, the Prime Minister.

Residents of the villages of the Tuapse District of the Krasnodar Territory, whose houses were damaged by flooding in late October, have complained that they were ordered to move out, until December 15, of the sanatorium, where they were temporarily accommodated.