News

In Dagestan on Thursday, the legal regime of counterterrorist operation (CTO) in the 20-kilometre band on the administrative border with the Stavropol Territory and in the Tarum District, the republic's operative headquarters has reported.

The reasons for refusal and future actions of the organizers will be announced at a press conference to be held on January 17 by the organizing committee, Abakar Abakarov, one of the organizers of the event, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

At the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, medical support will be provided by nearly 1300 health professionals from Moscow, Republic of Tatarstan and Krasnodar territorial medical institutions. This was reported by the Ministry of Public Health for the Krasnodar Territory. Doctors are ready to render medical assistance at 39 centres located at 18 Olympic venues.

In Chechnya, local residents report that within recent days, law enforcers regularly detain in the streets and interrogate young people as suspected followers of radical Islam. According to the local residents, the law enforcers persecuted men wearing beards and women in hijabs. Officials from the law enforcement bodies explain the situation by taking preventive measures.

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev and Plamen Oresharski, Prime Minister of Bulgaria, have confirmed their intention to come to Sochi to attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games. The Bulgarian National TV Company is preparing to a large-scale coverage of the 2014 Olympic Games.

In December 2013, at least 107 people suffered in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus; of them, 62 people died and 45 were wounded. These are the results of calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from open sources.

A negative information environment is deliberately created around the lawyer Murad Musaev in order to put pressure on him and discredit him in the eyes of the jurors at the trials, in which he is involved, in particular, in the trial on the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, the lawyer Tatiana Okushko believes. Other experts treat the latter trial as a politicized one.

In Dagestan, law enforcers have put Murad Musaev, a native of Buynaksk, on the wanted list on suspicion of involvement in terrorism. This was reported today by the Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). Earlier, Murad Musaev was put on the wanted list by Voronezh law enforcement bodies.

In Nalchik, during a search of a young man, policemen found two hand grenades, ammunition, and drugs. This was reported by the press service of the Chief Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Kabardino-Balkaria.

In Sochi, Oksana Toropova, 28-year-old businesswoman, and her mother Olga Martynyuk, 49-year-old teacher, are accused of beating a court marshal in the office of a judge of the Khosta District Court. The mother and her daughter deny the accusations.

In Dagestan, a criminal case was opened on the fact of death of a woman as a result of policemen's use of their firearms in pursuit of a car, the Investigating Department for Dagestan of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) has reported. In the opinion of Salikh Gadjiev, the Deputy Chairman of the Independent Trade Union of Interior Workers and Prosecutors of Dagestan, the policemen have wrongfully used their firearms.

For safety reasons, Olympic torch relay in Dagestan will be held in the "Anji Arena", and the number of torchbearers will be cut from 270 to 67. This was reported by an official from the Ministry for Sports of Dagestan.

The Krasnodar Territorial Court has dismissed the appeal filed by Nikolai Alekseev, an LGBT activist, against the Court's decision to refuse to hold a gay pride parade in Sochi.

The implementation of a policy of civil reconciliation would at first create a surge of violence, but this is the only way to lead the North Caucasus out of its crisis, say the authors of the report “The North Caucasus: quo vadis?” Irina Starodubrovskaya and Konstantin Kazenin. They noted that the recommendations of the report are primarily addressed to civil society, not to the authorities.

At the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games to be held in Sochi on February 7, the British delegation will be headed by Maria Miller, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sports. This was announced by an official from the Department for Culture, Media and Sports.

Consideration on the merits of the case on the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, an observer of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" has been postponed till January 20, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

According to the preliminary information, four suspected militants and three law enforcers were killed in a special operation carried out in the Khasavyurt District of Dagestan. This was reported by a source from law enforcement bodies of the republic.

For the first time since 2008, the Georgian airline "Airzena Georgian Airlines" resumes direct passenger charter flights between Tbilisi and Sochi. This was reported by the airline managers. Starting from February 4, the airline will perform flights twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

On Wednesday, an inter-faction working group has introduced to the Russian State Duma a package of draft laws aimed at tightening the anti-terrorism laws. The draft laws propose to include new articles to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, to severely restrict circulation of electronic money, and to expand the powers of the FSB by allowing its agents to conduct personal searches of citizens.

57 new schools will be built in Northern Caucasus under the federal target programme (FTP) "South of Russia" for 2014-2020 adopted in late 2013. This was reported by Igor Slyunyaev, Minister for Regional Development of the Russian Federation. In 2014, 1.8 billion roubles are to be allocated for the above purpose from the budget.