News

Azerbaijanis from the village of Soganlyg near Tbilisi have held a protest action against the spread of Wahhabism in connection with the murder of 23-year-old Fikret Akhmedov. According to the protesters, the murder took place on religious grounds.

In the village of Evpraksino of the Astrakhan Region, a six-year boy fell victim to a fire. Other six children were accompanied out of the burning private house. This was reported by Dmitry Dubrovsky, the head of the press service of the Department for the Astrakhan Region of the Russian Ministry for Emergencies (MfE).

After the release of 57 out of the 71 persons arrested administratively in connection with the riots in the Azerbaijani settlement of Nardaran, the remaining 14 are still in custody; their arrest expires before January 15, Natiq Kerimov, one of the elders of Nardaran, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Tenants of the blasted residential building in Volgograd believe that their problems are only partially addressed by city authorities. They demand a meeting with the regional governor and expect their problems will be solved at the regional level.

Today, at the preliminary session on the murder of Azerbaijani journalist Rasim Aliev, the aggrieved party has asked the court to return the case to the prosecutor's office; as well as to attract the doctors, who treated the journalist, as witnesses. The court rejected the first petition and left the second one without consideration. The trial will continue on January 12.

The threat of avalanches is the reason for partial restriction of skiers' traffic on alpine slopes of Sochi.

Today, the police have released 12 persons who were arrested after the unrest which occurred in the village of Nardaran not far from Baku. This was reported by Natiq Kerimov, the elder of Nardaran. According to him, in total, 57 administrative detainees have been already released.

In Armavir, a man was killed as a result of the explosion in the territory of a garage complex. His body was withdrawn from the ruins of the collapsed building. This was reported by a source from the operational services of the Krasnodar Territory.

A group of eight armed men has kidnapped Lasha Glurdjidze, a resident of the village of Bershueti of the Gori District, and his friend Saba Sekhniashvili has managed to escape. This was reported by local residents.

Starting from December 31, Armenia suffers from heavy snowfalls which resulted in the closure of 109 roads. This was reported on January 4 by Armen Yeritsyan, Minister of Territorial Administration and Emergencies.

Since December 30, 2015, the Port of Batumi is closed because of the storm warning. This was reported by Tengiz Gadiliya, Captain of the Port of Batumi, on January 4. According to him, a four-point sea storm was recorded, and as a result, the schedule of parking and unloading of vessels was disrupted.

Baku has increased the number of policemen on duty in front of the Embassies of Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Gevorg Safaryan, a member of the movement "Constituent Parliament" of Armenia, accused of using violence against a power official, has stopped his hunger strike after he was transferred to a solitary cell.

After a statement of a woman-passenger about a suspicious object on board, seven passengers of flight YuT-249 of the airline "UTair" refused to fly from Moscow to Sochi. Following a check conducted by experts with dogs, the aircraft took off to Sochi.

A woman has been detained in Abinsk, Krasnodar Territory, on suspicion of false reports that a café had been mined.

An audio record supposedly made by Zalim Shebzukhov, one of the leaders of North-Caucasian militants, has appeared on the Internet. The author condemned the passage of militants into the terrorist "Islamic State" (IS) and called the members of the underground to return to "Imarat Kavkaz", which is also banned in Russia.

On January 3, in the Caspian Sea, off the coast of Turkmenistan, bodies of two Azerbaijani oilers were found; they perished in the fire on the "Guneshli" oil platform. Today, they will be brought to Azerbaijan.

In Ingushetia, family members of Elizaveta Alieva are placed under state protection. Elizaveta Alieva has filed a complaint about kidnapping, and one of the defendants in the case has already been detained. Elizaveta Alieva herself claims being feared for the lives of her family members. Furthermore, she worries about the fate of the children of her disappeared sister.

New Year celebrations in Northern Caucasus under reinforced security measures; armed attack on people in Derbent; presentation of final charges on Nemtsov's murder, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of December 28, 2015-January 3, 2016, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

During the week of December 28, 2015-January 3, 2016, at least fifteen persons fell victim to the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. Of them, four persons were killed, and eleven 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.