News

Today, festivities in honour of the Russia's Independence Day were held in Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Astrakhan and Maikop. In Volgograd and Rostov-on-Don, celebrations were accompanied by protests.

Today, in front of the courthouse in Yerevan, where the case of the "Million Mask March" is considered, an action in support of the defendants was held. More than a hundred people demanded "to release political prisoners," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

On June 12, celebrated as the Day of Russia, a mass festive demonstration was held in the centre of Grozny, the Chechen capital. "The total number of participants may exceed one hundred thousand persons," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told at the Mayoralty.

Today, at 6:15 a.m. Moscow time, the dwelling settlements of Zalukodes, Zolskoe, Svetlovodskoe and Shardakovo of the Zolsky District of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) were put under the counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime. During a special operation in the forest in the outskirt of Svetlovodskoe, three militants who opened fire at law enforcers were killed.

Today, the OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier and Rasa Ostrauskaite, Deputy Director of the OSCE Centre for Conflict Prevention, arrived in the Rostov Region, where they visited the temporary accommodation centres (TACs) of Ukrainian refugees who came to the Rostov Region.

In Azerbaijan, the publication of the newspaper "Mirror" has been suspended because of financial problems, and the suspension is not associated with the prosecution against journalist Rauf Mirkadirov. This was announced by Elchin Shikhly, the newspaper's editor-in-chief. According to him, the fate of the newspaper remains uncertain, and the newspaper's staff members are on unpaid leaves.

On June 11, in Astrakhan, near the monument to Ilya Ulyanov, city residents held a rally sanctioned by the city authorities in support of the referendum on the direct election of the city Mayor. The rally was organized by Oleg Shein, the leader of the local branch of the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party.

On June 11, the civil initiative "Save Afrikyans' Clubhouse" organized a protest action against the demolition of the house No. 11 in Teryan Street in the centre of Yerevan. Protestors filmed a video, in which city residents expressed their attitude to the decision to demolish the building.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has decided to close its office in Nazran. This was reported on June 11 by the press service of the ICRC.

On June 11, at about 8:00 p.m., in Gadjiev Street in Makhachkala, policemen shot and killed a man who opened fire on them. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by a source in the Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). No policeman suffered.

Tonight, in Rostov-on-Don, a member of the diplomatic mission from Sri Lanka was killed, his colleague was wounded, said a regional law enforcement source, adding that suspects have been detained.

In the Krasnodar Territory, an activist Darya Polyudova spent a night at the police station and was fined for petty hooliganism during her solo pickets against felling the Pioneer Grove near Novorossiysk, the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" reports.

Yusup Lakaev, a Russian citizen, a resident of Grozny, who was detained in the Georgian city of Batumi, was sentenced by the local court to 12 years in prison.

At SIZO (pre-trial prison) No. 1 in Baku, Bashir Suleimanli, the executive director of the Centre for Election Monitoring and Democracy Training (CEM&DT), is not allowed to meet his relatives, his advocate Fariz Namazly told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. In its turn, the Penitentiary Service of Azerbaijan has refuted this information.

The villages of Blutan and Tsakhkavank in the Gadrut District of Nagorno-Karabakh are on the verge of collapse. This was reported by residents of the Blutan community. According to the locals, the situation can be improved by development of road, establishment of transport connection and restoration of the school.

On June 20, the court will consider the appeal filed against the decision of the Khasavyurt City Court on the administrative arrest of Sadiyat Arslanova and Aisha Abakarova, volunteers of the Charitable Foundation "Be Merciful". This was reported Mansur Sepikhanov, an advocate of the arrested volunteers.

The opposition factions of the Armenian Parliament, including the "Armenian National Congress" Party, the "Dashnaktsutyun" Party, the "Heritage" Party, and the "Prosperous Armenia" Party, have put forward 12 demands to the authorities, including the abolition of the mandatory component of the funded pension system and the issue on Nagorno-Karabakh.

During the detention of Gatagazhev family members, who arrived from Samara to the funeral of Arthur Gatagazhev, law enforcers committed a number of violations of the law. Several complaints filed by the Gatagazhev family members have been already confirmed. This was reported by Ingush Ombudsman Djambulat Ozdoev.

In Georgia, a group of prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment has stopped the hunger strike. They went on it demanding to reconsider their cases and to expend the amnesty law on them. MP Shalva Shavgulidze believes that the Parliament will consider by the fall the issue to adopt necessary legislative amendments taking into account the demands voiced by the hunger-strikers.

Khanmirza Ashurbekov was killed in the shootout that occurred on the Buynaksk-Untsukul highway. This was confirmed by his family members. The Khanmirza Ashurbekov's relatives do not believe the official version on the shootout presented by law enforcers. This was stated by one of the Khanmirza Ashurbekov's relatives.