News

A series of piquets in defense of Evgeny Vitishko, activist of "Ecologic Watch in Northern Caucasus" and "Yabloko" party, passed off in Krasnodar. Suren Gazaryan, Vitishko's colleague in "Ecologic Watch" and the party, was the organizer of the piquets.

In Nalchik, the capital of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), at the Memorial to victims of repressions of the Balkar people, a memorial rally took place, attended by about three hundred persons. During the event, calls were pronounced to start collecting signatures under petition in favour of self-determination of the Balkar nation.

A group in Kabardino-Balkaria calling itself "Black hawks" and positioning itself as an anti-Wahabiite one gave a warning to Asker Japuev, emir of Kabardino-Balkar gunmen, concerning possible actions of armed underground against the residents of the republic. "Black hawks" state that they have already exposed the gunmen's accomplices and threaten with punishment to those who extort money from entrepreneurs.

A technical failure was acknowledged as the cause of a crash of an airliner belonging to Iranian company Caspian Airline which was flying from Tehran to Yerevan on July, 15, 2009.

Last night there was an explosion near a shop in Buinaksk, there are no victims or injured ones, a representative of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Dagestan reported. The bomb was stuffed with damage agents in form of bolts and screw nuts.

On March 5, Alaif Gasanov and Elchin Namazov, advocates of Bakhtiyar Gadjiev, 28, who was arrested on Friday, March 4, could meet their client in SIZO (pre-trial prison) No. 2 of the city of Gyandzha. They believe the arrest of Gadjiev, who is under threat of up to two years in prison, to be a political order.

A group of Volgograd scientists headed by Rector of the Volgograd Medical University (VMU) received the Prize of the Russian Government for development of a new drug named "Asparkam-L".

Yesterday, on March 6, Suren Gazaryan, a member of the Board of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus", was released from the IVS (temporary detention facility) of the Tuapse UVD (Interior Department) after 7 days of administrative arrest. He refuted the earlier information that he had applied for political asylum in Germany.

As reported by a source from law enforcement bodies, at night on March 6, two residents of Chechnya were hospitalized in Moscow with injuries caused by traumatic weapons.

One of the four suspected militants detained in Moscow on February 15 - Khasu Batalov - had been on the federal search list as a potential commander of militants, subordinated to Dokku Umarov. He tried to go abroad with faked documents to another name.

In Finland, journalist Mikael Storsjo is accused of helping 22 Chechens to enter Finland via Turkey without visas. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by Ilyas Akhtaev, a Chechen, who is now in Finland waiting for his refugee status.

As stated at a briefing in Tbilisi by Nikoloz Vashakidze, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, another round of Geneva talks on security in the Caucasus was fruitless again because of Russia's unconstructive position. The Russian party believes that Geneva negotiations have no alternative.

As reported by Vladimir Markin, spokesman of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), at night on March 7 in Makhachkala Ramazan Utarbiev was detained, a participant of the fight, during which on December 6, 2010, Yegor Sviridov, a fan of the "Spartak" Football Club, was killed.

Social art project "Shrovetide Now" passed off on March, 5 and 6, in Rostov Children's and young people's Art Center, with informational support of Committee of Youth Policy of Rostov regional administration. The young people presented a modern review of the folk holiday.

Last night some unidentified people fired upon militia personnel in the village of Semender, in the suburbs of Makhachkala, four militiamen got wounded, a representative of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Dagestan reported.

On March 5, Galina Kozhevnikova, 36, a human rights defender and deputy director and one of the founders of the "Sova" Information and Analytical Centre passed away.

As reported by the regional Ministry for Emergencies (MfE), in the Kazbek District of Dagestan, local rescuers saved 15 residents who got under a snow avalanche; one person died.

Activists from the Human Rights Watch plan to hold a press conference in Moscow to discuss the report of this organization "Women should know their place: enforcement of Islamic dress code for women in Chechnya".

Today in Elista, the Central Hurul "Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni" has hosted a solemn prayer service on the occasion of the Kalmyk national holiday named Tsagaan Sar and symbolizing the advent of spring. Alexei Orlov, head of the republic, issued a decree announcing March 5 to be a day off.

As a result of the monitoring held in the courts of Azerbaijan, violations have been revealed, which stimulate corruption; in this context, disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against 17 judges.