News

The houses of residents of the Astrakhan Region, located near the "Ashuluk" military testing ground are not seismically resistant, said the spokesman of the Chief Department for the Astrakhan region of the Russian Ministry for Emergencies (MfE).

In Astrakhan, the termless hunger strike in protest against the outcomes of the March 4 presidential election, started on March 15, continues. The number of the participants of the protest action is now 12.

The struggle to improve social conditions of Armenians is the topic of the exhibition of documentary photos "Great Expectations", which opened in Yerevan on March 16.

On March 16 in Tbilisi, students from various universities held a protest action, demanding the de-politicization of the bodies of students' self-government and reduction of tuition fees.

In Sochi, Svetlana Kravchenko, a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot", was attacked during performance of her professional duties. The culprits took away her video camera.

The city of Gudauri has commissioned the longest and the fastest gondola-type ropeway in the Caucasus. Its first passengers were the President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili, the country's First Lady Sandra Elisabeth Roelofs and the Mayor of Tbilisi Gigi Ugulava.

According to unofficial sources, within the last three days four more persons have been arrested in the context with the events in the city of Guba, where the unrest burst out on March 1 with a demand of resignation of the head of the Guba District. Local law enforcement bodies neither confirm nor deny this information.

On March 16, a decision was made at the sitting of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of the Stavropol Territory to form a temporary city election commission in Lermontov. The new commission will organize the repeated elections to the City Council.

A public coordination group for protecting the rights of Khadidja Ismailova, a journalist of the Azerbaijani Service of Radio Liberty, was founded in Azerbaijan. Besides, a journalistic preventive response group was set up, led by the well-known columnist Shakhveled Chobanoglu, which will start its own investigation into the crimes committed against Ismailova.

The contest of stories and comments hosted on the social network Facebook on the topic "The Choice of the Caucasus" held among its readers by the Internet medium "Caucasian Knot" is over. As a result, most of the votes were cast for the comments posted by the reader with the nickname Abu Hurayra, and by Isa Musaev and Yulia Alyatina.

The contest of comments to the materials of the "Caucasian Knot" on the Russian presidential election – "The Choice of the Caucasus" – is over. On March 7-15, readers voted for the messages pre-selected by the editorial board. As a result, most votes were cast by the comments made by users with nicknames "Musulmanin", "Povolzhie" and nart82, who will receive prizes.

Several solo pickets were held in front of the representative office of the Krasnodar Territory in Moscow. As reported by Alexei Todorenko, the applicant of the action and the chairman of the NGO "For Krasnodar", in total 20 persons by replacing each other took part in the picket.

Since March 14 on, employees of the "Chechkommunenergo" Company began large-scale raids aimed to identify malicious utility bill debtors. Local residents find their actions illegitimate.

The Kakheti regional branch of the NGO "Human Rights Centre", located in Gurjaani, Georgia, was closed because of termination of funding, said its director Ucha Nanuashvili.

Relatives of Leila Kholukhoeva, a resident of the Nasyr-Kort District of Nazran, who had stated the persecution of her family by employees of the GOVD of Nazran and Malgobek ROVD (City and District Interior Divisions, respectively), fear for their safety. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by Ms Kholukhoeva's relatives themselves.

In Chechnya, several thousand books were gathered within a charity campaign to help prisoners. The books will be sent to correctional institutions of the republic, said a source from the Committee for Youth Matters of the Chechen Government.

Today in the morning, a delegation of the Council of Federation of the Russian Parliament, which included representatives of Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, has flown to Syria. The delegates plan to study the situation around a possible resettlement of the Circassians who wish to return to their historical homeland, said Adam Bogus, the acting chairman of the movement "Adyge Khase – Circassian Parliament" of Adygea.

In Ingushetia, the trial of Nazir Guliev, the former head of the Karabulak OVD (Interior Division), and his deputy Ilyas Nalgiev, who are accused of torturing Zelimkhan Chitigov, will continue at the Karabulak City Court on March 19. The two previous sessions – on March 12 and 15 – heard the defence witnesses.

The actors of the burned down building of the State Drama Theatre of South Ossetia are unsatisfied with the progress of reconstruction work and demand to build a new modern building with preservation of the architectural appearance of the old theatre. In defence of their position, as the actors told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, they are ready to go out to a rally.

Today, the federal judge of the Lenin District Court of Vladikavkaz pronounced the decision in favour of journalist Lora Tskaeva, who filed a lawsuit against Alexander Pikalev, the cleric of St. George's Cathedral, the blogger of the "Livejournal".