News

The mass grave of 109 victims of the hostilities, buried on December 31 at the cemetery near Grozny, has become a place of pilgrimage for relatives of the people who disappeared during the First Chechen War. The people still cannot obtain information about their relatives.

On January 3, Chechnya held the memorial day in connection with the 153rd anniversary of the deportation of Saint Kunta-Khadji Kishiev, revered in the Chechen Republic. In Chechnya, the mosques committed religious rituals of dhikr and mawlid. The events of the memorial day were attended by tens of thousands of people.

Residents of Sochi, being unhappy with delayed replacement of pavement, have succeeded in seeking opening of a passage to Seaside Embankment till final completion of the repair works. Owners of cafes, restaurants, and shops have reported losses caused by the construction works on the embankment during the holidays.

At least 221 persons, who took their service in security and defence structures of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia, were killed in the warfare; and at least 97 persons perished in non-combat conditions during the past year, the Caspian Defence Studies Institute (CDSI) has reported, adding 20 perished volunteers.

Iza Bekauri, the head of the Kakheti Regional Development Fund, has associated the arson of the Culture House in the village of Duisi with the activities of the Fund, which was earlier criticized by local supporters of Islam.

The request to extradite Zurab Maisuradze, the ex-head of the Georgian Anti-Terrorist Centre, who was detained on Russia's demand, was politically motivated, the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Lithuania has regarded, and refused to extradite him.

Despite the demands of international mediators, Armenia is protracting the procedure of giving out the body of Chingiz Gurbanov, an Azerbaijani military, the spokesman of the State Commission on Matters of Prisoners of War, Missing and Captured Citizens of Azerbaijan has stated today.

The President instructed the Russian Government and the authorities of the Krasnodar Territory to attract ecologists and submit proposals on minimizing the damage to the environment while expanding recreation areas in the vicinity of Krasnaya Polyana.

The Azerbaijani Centre for Monitoring Political Prisoners has established the Award "Rights Defender of the Year". Leyla Yunus, the Director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD), has become its first Laureate by the outcomes of 2016.

During the New Year celebrations in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, the territory, where the main New Year Tree was installed, was cordoned off; policemen conducted personal inspection and did not let people out before the end of the event, said local residents.

On January 2, Adygea marks the Memory Day of soldiers, who perished in local conflicts, within which a mourning rally was held at the memorial near the Maikop garrison.

In January, the Russian skiers Alexander Legkov and Maxim Vylegzhanin will be deprived of medals of the Winter Olympic Games-2014 in Sochi, media report with reference to sources from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Despite the fact that, formally, there are no obstacles for migrants-Meskhetians to live and receive citizenship in Georgia, many of them face bureaucratic red tape, said the settlers interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

More than two weeks have expired since the submission of a request for a medical examination of the Azerbaijani activist Fuad Akhmedli to determine if he can stay in custody. Despite the urgency of the request, investigators would not react, said the activist's advocate.

On suspicion of murdering the Ingush TV presenter Amir Kokurkhoev, the police are looking for Rizvan Kotiev, a 26-year resident of the village of Nesterovskoe. Law enforcement bodies have appealed to local residents asking to help to detain the suspect.

The death of a Russian officer Victor Emelyanov in Yerevan has been officially confirmed today by the press service of the Russian military base of the Southern Military District, stationed in Armenia.

An Azerbaijani Nurana Gasanova fell victim to the terror act committed at a nightclub in Istanbul. She had Russian citizenship; however, her body will be sent for burial to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, said the Russian Consulate General in Istanbul.

At the New Year's night law enforcers in Chechnya conducted raids over cafes and restaurants of Grozny, during which young people drinking alcohol were detained, local residents have reported.

During the week of December 26, 2016-January 1, 2017, at least 10 persons fell victim to the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. Of them, six were killed, and four others were wounded. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

The police found no signs of violence on the body of Viktor Emelyanov, the headquarters deputy chief of the Russian military base in Armenia. The body of the Russian officer was discovered in one of the Yerevan hotels.