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Law enforcers tortured Ruslan Tagibekov, a native of Dagestan, suspected of illicit trafficking in weapons. This was claimed by his defence. On February 18, Ruslan Tagibekov was formally charged.

The freelance journalists Aiten Ferkhadova and Ainura Geidarova have lodged a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in connection with the ban on leaving Azerbaijan imposed on them. The ban is caused by the inquiry into the criminal case against the edition “Meydan.TV”, their advocate has explained.

The public organization "Congress of Karachay People" has criticized the movie "Fifty Shades Darker" and demanded from the authorities of the Karachay-CherkessianRepublic (KChR) to ban the film in the republic.

In Yerevan, over a hundred persons have demanded the release Arthur Sargsyan, accused of helping members of the "Sasna Tsrer" detachment, whose state of health has sharply deteriorated on the tenth day of his hunger strike.

The list, presented by a group of rights defenders to the Commission on Pardoning under the Azerbaijani President, includes, first of all, prisoners with serious health problems, persons, on whom there are decisions of the European Court of Human Rights ECtHR, and the "prisoners of conscience", recognized as such by the Amnesty International (AI).

Lernik Osyan, a soldier of the Defence Army of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), received a fatal gunshot wound today in the conflict zone under unclear circumstances, the NKR’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has stated.

A son and a nephew of Vardan Oskanyan, the former Foreign Minister of Armenia, have kidnapped a man and threatened to kill him, investigators assert.

The “Universal Pictures International” Company incurs losses because of the decision to ban screening of the film in Vladikavkaz, said the Company’s Russian representative office.

The International Association of Islamic Business (IAIB), set up in Moscow, has stated preparation for opening its offices in Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia for the development of halal businesses.

The "Rustavi-2" TV Channel of Georgia has switched over to protest broadcasting, claiming the injustice in the country. The Channels urges its spectators to support it.

The lists of political parties and blocs, which have declared their participation in the upcoming parliamentary elections, include 1539 candidates, Tigran Mukuchyan, the Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Armenia said on February 17 at a press conference, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

Workers of the “Zamchalovsky Anthracite", one of the companies of the "Kingcoal" group, said at the picket in Gukovo that they have received no wage debts from the start of the year. According to the protesters, should the authorities fail to resume payments, they will begin a mass hunger strike.

Suspicions of bribe-giving have been lifted from Alexei Volchenko, the leader of the movement "Polite Farmers”. Now, he is a witness in a new criminal case, this time initiated against the alleged intermediary of a bribe transfer, said Volchenko and his advocate.

Policemen have detained four suspected coordinators of "death groups", in which teenagers are induced to commit suicide, authorities of North Ossetia have reported. The detainees have stated that they had just "made a joke."

The citizens of Azerbaijan, released from police after the raid to detain migrants, are back at the construction sites of Derbent, said the townspeople.

Ingushetia will set up a public council involving militants’ widows, Yunus-Bek Evkurov, the head of Ingushetia, has announced today, adding that the council will deal with adaptation of family members of killed militants to peaceful life.

On February 16, Ella Pamfilova, the chair of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Russia, arrived in Dagestan. Her meeting with members of political parties, public activists, and authors of complaints to the CEC was held behind closed doors. Not all people who wanted to attend the meeting with Ella Pamfilova succeeded in their wish. Later, Ella Pamfilova held another meeting at which the opposition talked about the violations revealed by them during the election in September 2016.

Staff members of a unit of the military police from Chechnya, who perform combat missions in Syria since last December, may stay there until August. This was reported by an official of the Chechen law enforcement authorities.

On February 16, the "Congress of Karachay People" made an open appeal to the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of the Russian Federation in connection with the intention of the leaders of South Ossetia to adopt for the country the official name of "Alania".

At a meeting in Baku held on February 16, Valery Gerasimov and Joseph Dunford, chiefs of general headquarters of Russia and the United States, respectively, agreed on joint measures to improve the safety of the military activities, reduction of tension and risks of incidents. This was reported by the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD).