News

The three explosions that occurred in the evening on February 8 in two districts of Grozny, the Chechen capital, were not terror acts. In one case a grenade blew up, while the two other explosions could be just of everyday origin, sources from power structures of Chechnya believe.

Shortly before his death, Magomed Gamzatov, one of the leaders of the Didoy ethnic minority residing in Dagestan received a letter from the administration of the President of Russia. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by a relative of Gamzatov.

Two women-residents of Chechnya, whose relatives thought them to have been kidnapped, were found by Chechen law enforcers in North Ossetia. Such incidents, according to a MIA officer, are used by some media and human rights organizations for allegations that kidnappings continue in Chechnya.

The office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" in Grozny was approached by Magomed Edilov, 51, a local resident and a friend of a resident of the Moscow Region, who perished in a special operation in Chechnya. Mr Edilov complained of being harassed by FSB agents.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg fined Russia to a sum of 160 thousand euros for disappearance and death of residents of Chechnya Movsar and Movladi Nasukhanovs and Magomed Dudarov in 2002.

On February, 9, Elchin Gasanov, one more of the activists of the party People's Front of Azerbaijan (PPFA) , reporter of "Yukselish Namine" ("For the Sake of Revival") was summoned to the police department of Sumgait.

On February, 9, Somali pirates captured a Greek tanker Irene SL in shore of Oman the crew of which includes a citizen of Georgia.

A regular soldier, private Kotinyan, Gevorg Andranikovich, born in 1992, died in an emergency incident in the Defence Army of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The City Court of Pyatigorsk, Stavropol Territory, has passed a verdict of guilty to a district militiaman of the local OVD (Interior Division), who tried to improve his performance indicators by planting drugs on citizens and then "finding" them.

On Monday, February 7, a 56-year-old local resident died in the Astrakhan Regional Infectious Hospital from complications caused by A/H1N1 influenza virus (swine flu).

Despite declarations about solving the terror act in the "Domodedovo" Airport, investigatory bodies continue searching those involved; Dokku Umarov promises dozens of suicide bombers for Russia; eleven years later, rights defenders demand to investigate the tragedy in Novye Aldy, riots in Egypt force Azerbaijan to evacuate plenty of its citizens, - look these and other events in the review of the week of January 31-February 6, 2011, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

As reported by the press service of the regional FSB department, on Monday, February 7, Lieutenant Colonel Khanahmed Yarakhmedov, deputy head of Penal Colony No. 2 of the Russian Federal Penal Service (known as "UFSIN"), was detained, when receiving a bribe of 80,000 roubles.

On February 8, Makhachkala hosted a rally of residents of the village of Khrakh-Uba (Khrakhoba), which is part of the village soviet Novoaulskiy, Magaramkent District of Dagestan, but is located inside the Khachmaz District of Azerbaijan. The protesters - about 300 persons - demanded to protect villagers' rights.

The Supreme Court (SC) of Azerbaijan has upheld the sentence passed by the court of the Kusar District to Usman Garisov, a resident of Dagestan on charges of contraband and drug use. He was sentenced to four years in prison.

The Presnya Court of Moscow has extended till May 11 the custody of the two persons accused of murdering Yuri Volkov, a fan of the "Spartak" Football Club.

The investigation has established the supposed killer of four children during the massacre of the family of farmer Ametov and his friends from Rostov-on-Don in the village of Kuschevskaya.

Experts have found attributes of incitement to ethnic hatred in the video appeal of Ramazan Utarbiev, who is searched on suspicion of involvement in the murder of the Moscow football fan Yegor Sviridov, reports a source close to the investigation.

According to latest data, this morning in downtown Grozny, a gas cylinder blew up in one of the shopping kiosks situated near the bus stop, leading to the "Minutka" Square. The saleswoman who worked in the kiosk was slightly injured. The version of a terror act is completely rejected by the Chechen law enforcement bodies.

Stratfor Analytic center integrating the veterans of CIA has issued an analytical note in which it did not rule out that Dokku Umarov, one of the gunmen's leaders, had taken the responsibility for terror in Domodedovo in order to raise his rating among the members of armed underground.

According to several eyewitnesses of the incident, at night of February, 7, in Lenin district of Grozny two young men were beaten up and taken to an unknown place by members of the top brass. Law enforcement bodies avoid providing any comments on the matter.