News

The today's special operation in the city of Izberbash resulted in a complete destruction of the house, where militants were hiding, said a source from the local law enforcement bodies. According to the source, one of the organizers of the terror acts in Volgograd may be among the casualties.

The Krasnodar Territory is collecting humanitarian aid for residents of the Eastern Ukraine and Crimea, said the press service of the territorial administration. The help to compatriots living in Ukraine was declared by Krasnodar Governor Alexander Tkachov at a rally on March 2 in Krasnodar.

At the request of the local Prosecutor's Office, the investigating authorities of Chechnya have resumed the criminal case on the kidnapping in 1995 of a resident of the Shatoy District. Also, the Office has initiated a criminal inquiry into the kidnapping in January 2002 of another local resident – from the city of Gudermes.

All the operative and rescue services in the districts of the Rostov Region, bordering on Ukraine, were put under the high alert mode since March 2.

Statements made in Southern Russia in support for compatriots in Ukraine and press conference of Viktor Yanukovych in Rostov-on- Don; commemoration of those killed in Khojaly and Sumgait; suspension of three banks in Ingushetia and Dagestan, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of February 24-March 2, 2014, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

During the week of February 24 to March 2, 2014, at least one person was killed in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus; no information about wounded persons was reported. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

About 50 people staged a protest against the construction of a cafe in the territory of the ancient Armenian pagan temple of Garni, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

On March 2, Vladikavkaz hosted a picket against the activity of the metallurgical enterprise – the Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) "Electrozink", which was attended by 12 people. They came out with posters reading: "We are against inhumane 300-meter sanitary zone of 'Electrozink'!" and "Save us and future generations of Ossetia!"

A rally scheduled for March 2 of Makarenko Micro-District residents was held as a meeting with Igor Vasiliev and Yuri Dzaganiya, assistant of Sergey Obukhov, an MP of the Russian State Duma. It was attended by more than fifty activists, who represented ten apartment buildings of the micro-district and who signed complaints against the idleness of local authorities and inaction of the builders, who left the area in uninhabitable condition.

According to various estimates, the march and subsequent rally held in Krasnodar in support of the Crimea, brought together from 10 to 12 thousand people – activists of political organizations, Cossacks and budget-paid employees. The action was organized by the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) party and the "Kuban Orthodox Union".

The US Department of State has criticized, in its annual report on the global situation with human rights, the Russian government for restricting the fundamental human rights and freedoms, with particular emphasis on the situation in North Caucasus.

An initiative group of citizens of South Ossetia intends to open a bank account for accumulating funds for financial support of the fighters of the disbanded Ukrainian special detachment "Berkut", Anatoly Tadtaev, the head of the initiative group, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The information about beatings in a colony located in Karelia spread by Lom-Ali Gelogaev, a native of Chechnya, via his advocate is untrue, Vitaly Fefelov, the head of the press service of the UFSIN (Department of the Federal Penitentiary Service) of the Republic of Karelia, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on March 1.

Attacks on civilians are not a new tactics used by the North-Caucasian underground, but such attacks are outside the ideology of jihad, said Alexei Malashenko, a senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

The oppositional rally dated to the clashes of demonstrators with the police on March 1, 2008, and held in Yerevan in Freedom Square attracted more than 10,000 people. The Armenian National Congress (ANC), which organized the rally, said that civil initiatives and employees of the "Nairit", "Grand Candy" and a number of other major companies had joined them.

The joint programme of the HRC "Memorial" and the "Civil Assistance" Committee entitled "Harmonization of Interethnic Relations through Promoting Minor Businesses" was finalized in the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia with a workshop for educators, a roundtable in the employment centre and graduation of trainees in the "Kurtata" Business Centre.

In the 2013 annual report on the human rights situation in the world, the US Department of State has criticized the Azerbaijani government for restricting the fundamental human rights and freedoms. Oppositionists and civil society activists have welcomed the report, while the official Baku has rejected the criticism.

Roman Shikarev, the organizer of the rally against discrimination of Sochi residents has received a court ruling on his complaint against inaction of the city administration (Mayoralty) at considering his notification about a public action. The Court has found the complaint reasonable and ordered the officials to eliminate the violations.

Sochi rights defenders and activists have declared the need to discuss the police's actions during the preparation and holding of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. Activists plan holding a roundtable and invite there top-ranking officials of the police, prosecutor's office, FSB and administration of Sochi.

The court has extended the detention for the participants of the "Million Mask March" by two months. Relatives of the detainees accused of resisting the police, are dissatisfied with this decision and believe that it was dictated by the court by the country's top authorities.