News

In Makhachkala, three suspected members of armed underground were killed during a special operation. This was reported by a source from the law enforcement bodies.

The court has scheduled for February 22 the consideration of the appeal filed by the defence of ecologist Evgeny Vitishko, who was sentenced in the case of "Krasnodar Territory Governor Tkachov's summer cottage" and whose conditional sentence was changed by the court to the real imprisonment.

Tonight, the Azerbaijani armed forces committed two subversion acts on the border with Nagorno-Karabakh. As a result, Junior Sergeant Armen Ovannisyan was killed. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). In its turn, the Azerbaijani MoD has denied the information about the incident.

Today, at the trial in the case of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, an observer of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta", the court has dismissed the motion filed by Vladimir Stepanov, new advocate of defendant Rustam Makhmudov, to return of the indictment in the case to the prosecutor.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will come to the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. The message about the visit of the leader of China was published on the official website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, and it was immediately confirmed by Qin Gang, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson.

On January 20, at 9:20 a.m., Olympic torch relay started up in Volgograd from Gogol Street. City residents have expressed their dissatisfaction with the difficulties to move around the city, since many streets were blocked.

In Astrakhan, members of the Jewish community have reported on a sudden inspection of the synagogue by law enforcers. According to them, they were looking for illegal immigrants.

All person killed during the special operation carried out in the village of Semender near Makhachkala have been identified. This was reported by law enforcers.

Bomb explosion at entertainment complex in Makhachkala and a special operation where seven suspected militants were killed; information appearing on the web about the death of Doku Umarov, the leader of North-Caucasian militants; election of jurors for Anna Politkovskaya's murder case and searches at lawyer Musaev's before the court session, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of January 13-19, 2014, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

During the week of January 13-19, 2014, at least 37 persons suffered in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. Of them, 16 persons were killed, and 21 persons were wounded. These are the results of calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

The grouping "Ansar al-Sunna" claims responsibility for the terror acts in Volgograd. This was announced by the statement disseminated on the websites supporting North-Caucasian militants.

Hundreds of people took part in the procession in memory of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, which was organized in Moscow by the "Committee of January 19". The action was held under the anti-fascist slogans, and it was attended by members of the "Yabloko" Party, the "Red and Black Block", the LGBT community, trade unions and other organizations.

On January 21-23, Co-Rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee will visit Azerbaijan to assess how the country fulfils its obligations to the Council of Europe. Local human rights defenders are preparing to submit a list of Azerbaijani political prisoners at the meeting with the PACE Co-Rapporteurs.

For the period of January 20-March 21, the boundaries of the border zone in the Gagra District of Abkhazia will be changed because of the Olympic Games in Sochi. The appropriate decision was made by the Government of Abkhazia.

On January 17, the Chechen Prosecutor's Office appealed to the Zavodskoi District Court of Grozny to recognize the website "Chechenews" as extremist.

In Rostov-on-Don, Pavel Nagibin, an activist of the Other Russia, and Arkady Zykov, a member of the "Russian Resistance", were arrested. Their colleagues associate their arrest with the upcoming Olympic torch relay in the city.

In the city of Teberda, the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR), on Saturday, policemen detained a young man, in whose house they had found ammunition. This was reported by the press service of the Chief Department of the Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for the KChR.

On Saturday, Volgograd hosted a picket demanding to ensure people's safety by power agents, organized by the regional branch of the "Volya" (Will) Party. There were four picketers.

The policeman from the city of Izhevsk, wounded in a shootout in Buynaksk on December 25, died on Saturday, said the MIA of Udmurtia.

At the trial held at the Adler District Court of Sochi against a former policeman Sergey Kuznetsov, accused of abuse of office by beating Pavel Solovyov, a builder at Olympic facilities, the defence witnesses claimed innocence of the ex-policeman.