News

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.

In Armenia, Gevorg Safaryan, a member of the oppositional "Constituent Parliament", who has been earlier detained on suspicion of using violence against a public officer, is arrested for two months by the court decision. This was reported by Tigran Airapetyan, an advocate of Gevorg Safaryan.

In Sochi, staff members of schools and heads of the territorial public self-administrations have expressed their dissatisfaction with the fact that the Sochi Mayoralty instructed them to use their day-off to remove snow from the streets for free.

In Derbent, the observation deck of Naryn-Kala Fortress, where people were shelled on December 30, is open to the public. The city authorities explain that the security was enhanced at Naryn-Kala due to the holidays.

Khadija Ismayilova, Gilal Mamedov, and Parviz Gashimli, three journalists, who are serving their prison sentences in Azerbaijan, have reported that they expect from the authorities not only a pardon, but also rehabilitation. In their statements disseminated with the help of their advocates, they have repeatedly pleaded not guilty.

The condition of advocate Vyacheslav Merzakulov, who jumped out of a window of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republican Hospital, remains severe but stable. Physicians report on his suicide attempt. Relatives of the advocate deny the allegation and plan to file a complaint about the negligence of physicians.

On January 1, the body of Khizir Ezhiev, a lecturer of the Grozny State Technical University, whose kidnapping had been earlier reported by residents of Chechnya, was found in a forested area on the outskirts of the village of Roshni-Chu of the Urus-Martan District of Chechnya.

In Chechnya, investigating bodies are considering a criminal case opened against a local resident, accused of recruiting young people into the ranks of the militants for taking part in the warfare in Syria.

The health condition of the persons wounded on December 30 by gunfire at the viewing platform of the Naryn-Kala Fortress in Derbent is better. Two persons were transferred to the republic's hospital of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA); and two other victims – a male and a female – were moved today from intensive care unit to a general ward.

In the capital of Ingushetia, in Alania Square, the first electronic library has been installed, where residents can freely download to their mobile phones any of the 300 books – works of foreign and domestic classics, including Ingush authors.