News

Germany has followed France and changed its attitudes towards asylum seekers from Chechnya. Some of them face deportation to their homeland. In Europe, most refugees from Chechnya are afraid of being persecuted by Ramzan Kadyrov's agents and they have to abandon public criticism of the republic's authorities.

The Association of Teachers and Researchers of the Ossetian Language and Literature collects signatures under an appeal to the President of Russia with a request to introduce a compulsory study of the second state language in schools of Northern Ossetia.

Natives of Chechnya, who lived in Cairo, were detained and placed to a deportation prison. This is reported by a member of the Dagestani Diaspora in Egypt.

Djambulat Umarov, Chechen Minister for External Relations, Press and Information, Elkhan Suleimanov, Chechen Minister for Public Health, and the Aishat Kadyrova's fashion house "Firdaus" continue to keep their pages in Instagram, despite the massive withdrawal of officials and institutions from the social network.

Ruslan Ugurchiev, a resident of Ingushetia, accused of illegal storage of arms and ammunition, has complained of torture aimed to obtain his confession, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" reported.

When explaining his refusal to testify, the former President of Georgia said that the Security Service of Ukraine (known as SBU) has combined in one notice the summons for various investigative actions.

Today, five persons have been detained in the Pankisi Gorge. One of them was wounded when he tried to throw a grenade to law enforcers, the State Security Service of Georgia reported.

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has suspected Talekh Bagirzade, the leader of the "Muslim Unity" movement, who is serving his 20-year-long imprisonment, of keeping some prohibited object in his prison cell, his advocate has stated.

One of the local residents detained today in the Pankisi Gorge is suspected of rendering assistance to Akhmed Chataev killed in a special operation in Tbilisi.

On December 25, Baatr Lidjiev, the deputy head of the Kalmykia's Permanent Mission under the President, suggested the TV series which showed a Buddhist statuette with an attached statuette of a naked woman had offended the believers' feelings.

Residents of the South-Ossetian capital reported interruptions with heating and water supply in their houses because of the electricity supply disconnection. To illuminate their apartments, the residents of Tskhinvali have to use church candles, since it is very difficult to find ordinary wax candles in stores.

Movsar Eskerkhanov, a refugee from Chechnya, said that he was forced to ask the authorities of the republic to forgive him for his coming-out.

More than 30,000 people have created their pages in the Mylistory social network after Ramzan Kadyrov got registered there, when his accounts in Facebook and Instagram were blocked, the press service of the government of Chechnya has reported. State Duma MPs and "Roskomnadzor" have demanded to explain the blocking of Kadyrov's accounts.

Aina Gamzatova, the editor-in-chief of the "Islam" magazine and the wife of the Mufti of Dagestan, has sent documents to the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) asking to register her as a candidate.

The Svaneti police are searching for a man who assassinated Lomar Niguriani, a Deputy of the Sakrebulo of the village of Mestia and the head of the district branch of the "United National Movement" (UNM) Party.

Today, in Sochi, in the vicinity of which a plane of the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) crashed a year ago, people held a memorial event to pay tribute to the memory of the victims. The mourning event was attended by several hundred city residents.

In Chechnya, security measures have been enhanced in connection with the information about terror acts in preparation for the New Year's holidays, reports a source of the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent from the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

In Chechnya, the authorities have demanded that during pre-New Year morning performances at schools, schoolgirls should wear kerchiefs. This was reported by parents of schoolgirls and teachers.

Killing of eight suspected militants during special operations conducted in three regions of Northern Caucasus; armed attack on a Rostov journalist of the "Caucasian Knot"; vote of confidence in an updated government of Georgia; release of Chechen activist Ruslan Kutaev from a penal colony; second dismissal of an appeal against the verdict to Astrakhan activist Igor Stenin; inclusion of the Chechen leader in the US sanctions list, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of December 18-24, 2017, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

On December 24 and at night on December 25, the Armenian Armed Forces violated the ceasefire for 156 times by using heavy machine guns, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD) has stated, not specifying any victims of the shelling.