News

Presidential elections in Dagestan were accompanied with religious rites. This proves the desire of some residents of the republic to achieve 'sacred unity' with the authorities, sociologist Denis Sokolov said.

By 6:00 pm in Ingushetia, 156,391 voters participated in the presidential elections in Russia, no violations were recorded, the republican election commission reported.

The activity of voters was "unprecedented," "such high interest in the Russian elections in Armenia has not been observed yet."

People say that they took photos of their ballot papers and sent them to their bosses via WhatsApp to show who they voted for.

Observers complained of a ban on walking around the site. They told that the representatives of the electoral committee and two young men in sports suits demanded them to "sit still" in their places.

In the election of deputies of the State Duma of Russia in 2016 in Chechnya, the highest voter turnout in Russia was 94.92%.

Some voters admitted that they were not familiar with the candidates' programs and made the choice intuitively, judging by the candidates' appearance.

The Kotaik Regional Court of Armenia has released Avetis Avetisyan, a participant of the "Million Mask March", convicted to five years in prison, from the courtroom, having satisfied the application for the conditional early relief (CER).

Ruslan Mutsolgov, the head of the election office of the "Yabloko" Party, said that his home was visited by employees of the Centre for Combating Extremism (CCE) and invited his brother, Magomed Mutsolgov, to a "prophylactic conversation".

Large-scale quality checks of beef, mutton and chicken meat sold in Chechen marketplaces were launched after the statement of the head of the republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, about the need to combat genetically modified (GM) foodstuffs. The inspectors' actions caused sellers' discontent.

In the Stavropol Territory, law enforcers detained Minatulla Omarov who participated in protests against the ban on wearing hijabs by schoolgirls.

The Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) has upheld the decision to arrest six activists of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) detained before a rally held on March 10 against the early presidential election.

On March 15, about 200 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Chechnya gathered in a private house in Nazran. They reported to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent their problems with the extension of refugee status. The IDPs also recorded a video message to the authorities of the country.

An office of oppositionist Alexei Navalny has submitted to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Russia a list of 53 people to be sent to Chechnya as observers at the presidential election. Ella Pamfilova, the chair of the CEC, has stated that she takes "additional responsibility" for those who go to the republic to observe the voting process.

Members of the front "For the sake of the Armenian state" held a rally and a march in memory of Arthur Sargsyan, who died a year ago after a hunger strike at SIZO. Participants of the action handed out pieces of bread to residents of Yerevan to remind them of the deed of Arthur Sargsyan, who in 2016 delivered food to members of the "Sasna Tsrer" unit to the police building they had seized.

The US mission to the OSCE has called for the release of rights defender Oyub Titiev and expressed its concern over his continued persecution, the Voice of America Russian Service reports.

The case of the murder of brothers-shepherds Nabi and Gasangusein Gasanguseinov is being falsified, so that those guilty could escape punishment, the casualties' relatives and their advocates have stated at today's press conference in Makhachkala.

Results of the forensic examination, which showed the presence of genetic traces of shepherd brothers killed in the Dagestani village of Goor-Khindakh on submachine guns, were formulated with gross procedural violations and were kept in secret from defence for a long time, reported advocates of the Gasanguseinov family. 

About 500 observers from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), the "Yabloko" Party, the "Civil Initiative" and Alexei Navalny's office will come to Sochi polling stations to monitor the voting at the Russian presidential election, sources from the opposition have stated today.

As a result thereof, 11 tourists from Russia, Ukraine and Sweden were injured in the Gudauri Ski Resort; seven of them were delivered to Tbilisi by helicopter and reanimobiles, Avtandil Talakvadze, Director of the Centre for Emergencies Coordination and Emergency Care of the Georgia's Ministry of Public Health, has reported.