News

66 terror acts have been prevented in Northern Caucasus since the start of this year - this statistics was announced today at a meeting in the city of Essentuki dedicated to security in the NCFD (North-Caucasian Federal District) by Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB (Federal Security Bureau). However, according to President Dmitri Medvedev, it has not improved the operative situation in the region.

Only a small portion of crimes committed in the Armed Forces of Armenia become known to the country's public, said Arthur Sakunts, head of the Vanadzor-based Office of the Helsinki Civil Assembly, in his comment on frequented murder cases in the Armenian Army. According to his story, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is concealing information, especially facts related to cases of beating and bullying.

The Sixth Interregional Festival of Gesture Songs "Like Wing Beat" has opened in Volgograd with participation of pupils of correction schools for deaf and hearing impaired children from 20 regions of Russia.

Today, on the World Day of Quitting Smoking, in Rostov-on-Don, activists of youth organizations will offer students of universities and broad public to exchange cigarettes for milk cocktails.

In Sochi, on November 16, the International Tolerance Day, at the end of the International Week of educational action against xenophobia "Crystal Night - Never Again", young antifascists gathered fresh photos of hate symbol available in the city and sent them along with their appeal to the local Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov.

People in Finland known little about what is happening in Chechnya; and the book by Arkadi Babchenko, a journalist and a veteran of the Chechen warfare, "The Colour of War" fills the gap in knowledge, said Anu Lenkvist, translator of the book into Finnish. The interests of residents of Finland to the conflict in Northern Caucasus as a whole is great, "says rights defender Oksana Chelysheva.

The so-called "Circassian problem", so broadly discussed in media, does not worry Circassians themselves, since it is largely contrived and imposed on Circassians from outside, said Hasan Dumanov, a historian from Kabardino-Balkaria. However, in the opinion of Zamir Shukhov, Chairman of "Worldwide Adyg Brotherhood", the Circassian problem today is one of the most pressing, since the new generation of Circassians, both in Russia and around the world, is revealing an increase in national consciousness.

As reported by Vladimir Lolaev, head of the division of veterinary and agriculture of South Ossetia, his subordinates plan to liquidate by bloodless method about 1000 pigs in the outbreaks of the epidemic of African swine fever (ASF).

Today, the Baku Court of Appeal, Azerbaijan, has passed a decision on early-conditional relief from prison of Adnan Gadjizade, a young blogger and head of the youth movement "Ol" (Be).

The two young men, who were beaten and detained on November 14 by power agents in the automotive market in the town of Urus-Martan, were later released, according to one of the eyewitnesses of the incident, through intervention of other power agents-acquaintances. Law enforcement bodies assert that they have no information about the incident.

Khanifat Gichueva, a resident of Chernyaevka village, Kizlyar District of Dagestan, has reported that on November 17 her husband - Sheikhulislam Abusupyanov - did not come home. The woman believes that he was kidnapped by power agents.

All the entrances to the mines of Tirniauz, Kabardino-Balkaria, will be bricked up to avoid their further use by gunmen and criminal persons, Prime-Minister Alexander Merkulov reported today at the session of the republican Government.

The three men killed in the settlement of Barsuki today have been in contact with Yusup Dzangiyev, resident of Ingushetia detained on November, 17, National Anti-terror Committee reports. Law enforcement bodies call Dzangiyev the leader of Karabulak group on gunmen.

Public Prosecutor's office of the Polish capital has referred to the Circuit the case of extradition of Ahmed Zakaev, former head of the Government of self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI), announced for international search by Russia. This news was reported by Monika Levandovskaya, Press Secretary of the office.

The leadership of Dagestan has addressed to the militants who decided to stop their terrorist and extremist activities in the territory of the republic with particular proposals on their return to peaceful life. A special memorandum lists the conditions under which former rebels may be exempt from criminal responsibility for earlier committed crimes.

Fire burns down forests and pastures of Georgia and southern regions of Russia; lists of observers over observance of human rights in prisons and colonies of the SFD and NCFD have been updated; local criminal gang is accused of massacre in Kuschevskaya village, Krasnodar Territory, - look these and other events in the review of the week of November 8-14, 2010, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Six children-pupils, aged 8-14, of the foster home of Malik and Khadizhat Gataev, who currently live in a social village (the so-called "SOS-village") in Vilnius, Lithuania, will remain in the institution for an indefinite period.

According to the preliminary data of the 2010 census, about three million people live in Dagestan. About a quarter of the total population was registered in the capital - Makhachkala, where about 700,000 people live.

Alexei Navalny, a well-known blogger and a shareholder of the Open Joint-Stock Company "Transneft", has posted on the Internet scanned copies of documents confirming numerous violations committed by the Company, its subsidiaries and contractors in building the "Pipeline System Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean (PS ESPO)". According to the documents, companies from the Southern Federal District (SFD) of Russia took part in corruption schemes.

On December 12, a new Operation "Arms" with the aim to persuade the population to voluntarily surrender weapons and ammunition will start in the republic. This is the third such operation, but this time no monetary compensation will be paid out for the surrendered armaments.