News

The housing problems of the Armenian city of Gyumri, which was severely damaged in 1988 by the Spitak earthquake, still remain unresolved. Samvel Balasanyan, the Mayor, said that in order to solve them, Gyumri should be awarded a special status that assumes special funding.

From the beginning of 2015, the population of the Untsukul District of Dagestan is regularly suffering from electric power outages, which result, as locals report, in broken domestic appliances in many households. The district division of the city department of the Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) said that they have received no complaints on the matter.

The appearance of jihadist symbols in Chechnya is a form of protest, said the experts questioned by the "Caucasian Knot", who believe that local youth was involved in drawing the graffiti.

Communal officials and court marshals of Chechnya are conducting large-scale raids with the aim to collect debts for utility services. Locals say about frequent visits of communal officials to their homes.

Russia has published, for the first time in the Russian language the book of the French historian of Armenian origin Raymond Kevorkian "The Armenian Genocide. A Complete History". The book is a comprehensive study covering over nine hundred pages.

Yakhya Belkhoroev, a member of the Ingush Parliament, has reported that, according to the resolution presented by law enforcers, a searched of his house is connected with the investigation into the case against his nephew Abdul Belkhoroev.

Six natives of Chechnya, detained in Paris on charges of involvement in recruiting militants for the warfare in Syria, have been arrested in France, the Le Figaro has reported.

The court in Stavropol has extended the custody of Magomed Aliev and five other persons accused in promoting terrorism until April 13.

The case against six residents of Dagestan, accused of involvement in the terror act in Pyatigorsk in December 2013, has been sent to the court.

The Investigating Department (ID) for Dagestan of the ICRF has confirmed the initiation of a criminal case against Imam Yaraliev, the head of Derbent; however, no charges have been presented to him yet.

Three young men were detained in the Chechen village of Tsentaroy on suspicion of painting the flag used by militants of the "Islamic State" of the wall of one of the buildings, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

On February 12, in Grozny, employees of law enforcement bodies detained and took to some unknown place three young men with beards and shaved-off moustaches. Eyewitnesses reported that the young men were taken away from a regular bus.

The man who was killed near the city of Nartkala at night on February 12 was identified as a 35-year-old resident of Nalchik. In his car, components of an improvised explosive device (IED), stuffed with dowels, were found by policemen.

Residents of the Southern Federal and North-Caucasian Federal Districts (SFD and NCFD) complain about the continuing rise in food prices. According to the territorial statistical bodies and the Department of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), in February, the prices for certain food groups went up by 6-20%.

On February 12, it was announced at the sitting of the government of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) that the 2015 state budget has allotted 187.2 million drams (1 US dollar = 470 drams) for searching, researching and protecting historical monuments.

The official statements by the Armenian and Russian parties about the inquiry into the massacre of the Avetisyan family in Gyumri look not credible; while the public receives very little information about the case, said picketers in Yerevan.

Public and religious leaders of Ingushetia and Dagestan support the decision of regional authorities to ban the screening of the movie "Fifty Shades of Grey", which contains plenty of sexual scenes. Some residents have disagreed; meanwhile, the KBR and the Stavropol Territory have held the first-run of the movie.

The Basmanny Court of Moscow has rejected the claim of the Ukrainian MP Mustafa Dzhemilev against the Russian Federal Migration Service, which had imposed a five-year ban on his entering Russia. The court also refused to grant the petition for a temporary lift of the ban to let him come to Russia to defend his interests.

The American movie that starts its screening today will not be shown in most of the republics of Northern Caucasus under the motive that it is contrary to Islamic values and citizens' mentality; besides, religious and public figures spoke against the movie.

A group of Yerevan residents has held a picket in front of the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Armenia demanding the transfer Valery Permyakov, the Russian soldier, accused of massacring the Avetisyan family to local law enforcement bodies.