News

The Georgian authorities and the opposition have agreed in the negative assessment of the treaty signed by Russia and South Ossetia. At the same time, the opposition has once again accused the Georgian authorities of weakness.

Olga Eschenko, a mother of four children and a participant of the rotating hunger strike of parents with many children, is holding her "shift" today, standing on her knees on the steps of the administration of the Volgograd Region.

None of MPs of the Chechen Parliament has published his/her tax declaration for 2013. This was reported by the Centre of Anti-Corruption Research and Initiatives "Transparency International-Russia". In addition to Chechnya, the "Transparency International" (TI) found no declarations of a number of members of regional parliaments of 44 subjects of the Russian Federation.

Experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" were critical of the possible existence of "firing list" of Ramzan Kadyrov's enemies.

In Dagestan, the court has sentenced a 16-year-old resident of the village of Vitsyatli of the Tsuntin District to two years of conditional imprisonment. The teenager was found guilty of posting on the Internet texts of extremist content and arms trafficking.

Azerbaijan starts celebrating the holiday of Novruz Bayram, which symbolizes the coming of spring and the awakening of nature. Nine days, starting from March 20 till March 28, are announced as days off on the occasion of the holiday.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev accused of committing a terror act during the Boston Marathon Race will soon be brought to trial also for the murder of a police officer. According to the jury's decision, there are sufficient reasons for that.

Today, up to 20 Armenian servicemen have been killed and wounded on the Armenian-Azerbaijani contact line, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan has reported.

Today, in the morning, in the settlement of Separatorny in Makhachkala, an armed attack was undertaken on a policeman, who was in a car. He was wounded, but also managed to wound one of the attackers by response fire. Then, the attackers disappeared.

The rally, held in Grozny on March 18 in support of Russia's incorporation of the Crimea, gathered more than 10,000 people, the city administration has reported. In their turn, residents of Grozny complained about their participation in the rally under compulsion.

The Krasnodar activist Sergey Titarenko, accused of extremism, is a political prisoner and should be released from criminal prosecution, says the statement of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

Aishat Dalgatova, a resident of Makhachkala, and her one-year-old baby, whose disappearance was reported earlier, have been found; however, their relatives would not disclose the circumstances of their return.

The material by Nikolai Sergeev and Grigory Tumanov, published by the "Kommersant", asserts that operative agents are fulfilling the order of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) to find Ruslan Geremeev, a former officer of the battalion "Sever" (North) of the Interior Troops of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), for questioning as a witness in Boris Nemtsov murder case.

A resident of the Chechen capital is suspected of killing his daughter. According to investigators, he strangled the young woman, when he suspected her of immoral behaviour.

A new treaty on strategic partnership and alliance has not become a document to secure the absorption of South Ossetia by Russia, and at present, it excludes the possibility of the "Crimean example." This opinion has been expressed by Russian experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot". Politicians of North Ossetia believe that the both parties will benefit from the treaty.

On March 18, Makhachkala hosted an All-Dagestani rally devoted to the 1st anniversary of the Crimea's joining to Russia. The event was also attended by delegations from Kaspiysk, Buynaksk, and Kizlyar. Most of the participants of the rally were students and staff members of the public institutions of Makhachkala.

In Chechnya, the case against Vizir Zaurbekov, a resident of the Shatoy District, accused of aiding and abetting members of illegal armed formations (IAFs) has been submitted to the court.

On March 18, Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights, disseminated the text of his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) concerning the case against Intigam Aliev and continuing harassment of human rights defenders in Azerbaijan.

In Dagestan, an 83-year-old participant of the hunger strike in the village of Shushiya of the Novolak District has stopped her hunger strike at the request of other protestors. According to the hunger-strikers, their health state is normal.

As stated by Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary General, the cooperation treaty, signed by Russia and South Ossetia, undermines security in the region.