News

Residents and guests of Sochi state the danger of walking along the streets because of unceasing construction of high-rise buildings, the absence of sidewalks and traffic of large-size freight transport in the city.

The Prosecutor's Office of the Astrakhan Region has revealed violations of the legislation on road safety: the inspection has revealed the inability of the city administration to take sufficient measures to clear snow from the roads.

The "Caucasian Knot" has decided to mark and thank – by the outcomes of the year – the most active and interesting, in our opinion, commentators of our materials. Our moderators have appointed winners in four thematic groups. The prize winners will be awarded with portable USB-connected hard drive having capacity of 1 TB.

Today, Bacho Dolidze, the spokesperson of Tbilisi Mayoralty was summoned to the police department. His interrogation had to do with the crackdown of the oppositional rally in May 2011, said Dolidze.

Ali Israilov, the father of Umar Israilov, an ex-bodyguard of Ramzan Kadyrov, who was shot dead in Vienna, has told in an exclusive interview to the "Caucasian Knot" about his son's relationships with Kadyrov and the reasons that had forced Umar to leave Chechnya, and also about the documentary evidence in his hand about the refusal of Austrian authorities to attract Kosum Yashurkaev to responsibility for murdering Umar.

In the evening on December 30, on Temryuk-Krasnodar road, a policeman hit down two women to death, the Chief Department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for the Krasnodar Territory reports.

In the village of Chontaul, Kizilyurt District of Dagestan, an identified criminal shot at a local resident who worked at a filling station. The victim died on the way to hospital.

The entry into force of the Law "On Amnesty" will worsen the country's crime situation. In this context, the police have to work in the state of emergency and strengthen patrols, said the Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Residents of Dagestani villages of Khrakh-Uba and Uryan-Uba, which are an enclave within Azerbaijan, state that the majority of those who resettled to Russia are jobless and have to live in rented apartments or with their relatives.

Several earthquakes in different regions of the Caucasus; murders near Vladikavkaz of Deputy Mufti of North Ossetia and Nalchik and rector of local agrarian university; pardoning by President of Azerbaijan of 87 prisoners; start of presidential race in Armenia; statement of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) about possible deprivation of deputy's immunity of two Russian MPs elected from the Krasnodar Territory and Volgograd Region, – look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of December 24-30, 2012, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

In the course of the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus, during the week from December 24 to December 30, 2012, at least 19 people were affected. Of them, 15 persons were lost, and four others were wounded. These are the results of the calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and on information from other open sources.

The opening of the first swimming pool, built in the territory of the sports complex of the Ingush State University (IngSU), was held on December 29 in the city of Magas.

A monument to Joseph Stalin has been installed in the centre of the village of Akura, Telavi District. This is the second recently reconstructed monument to Stalin in Georgia.

Rostov-on-Don hosted a picket of opponents of the "Dima Yakovlev's Law", during which Margos Tiratsuyan, an activist of the People's Freedom Party (ParNas), was detained.

On December 29, the Georgian Sergeant George Kikadze, who disappeared in Afghanistan, on December 19 was found dead. The circumstances of his death will be made public at the end of the inquiry, Irakli Alasaniya, the Minister of Defence of Georgia, said at a special briefing.

Gadjimurad Dalgatov, who was killed today during a special operation in Makhachkala, was the militant leader in the Kizilyurt District of Dagestan; and this November he posted a video on the Internet with threats to local residents, said a source from law enforcement bodies of Dagestan.

Residents of Rostov-on-Don have come to the picket in support of Alexander Tolmachov, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "I'm Authorized to State".

The General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Georgia has indicted in absentia the former Minister of Justice Zurab Adeishvili of abuse of office, organization of humiliation and inhuman treatment of prisoners, as well as of falsification of a criminal case.

Anatoly Boltykhov, a member of the public movement "Minin and Pozharsky Militia", has held a solo picket in front of the GUVD (Chief Interior Department) of the Volgograd Region demanding due attention of law enforcement bodies to killings and attacks.

Today, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Armenia has received applications from three other contenders for the presidency, namely: from a nonpartisan citizen of Armenia Pavlik Sarkisyan; Narine Mkrtchyan, the chair of the National Press Club; and Arman Melikyan, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Thus, the total number of applicants is nine.