News

On August 14, Strelka village, Temryuk District of the Krasnodar Territory, hosted the district festival "Water-Melon Paradise" with participation of more than 30 farmers.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by Svetlana Isaeva, chair of the NGO "Mothers of Dagestan for Human Rights" that in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, two persons were kidnapped yesterday in Kazbegova Street.

On August 14, another protest action with participation of several dozens of street traders unhappy with the decision of Tbilisi Mayoralty to place them into organized marketplaces was held in the Gldani-Nadzalad District.

Aslambek Vadalov, who was named to be successor of Dokku Umarov, leader of the "Imarat Kavkaz", and several more Amirs of the "Imarat" have retired. In his statement, placed in the Internet, Vadalov gave no explanation of his reasons.

A mass fight between Russian and Dagestan soldiers burst out in a military unit deployed near Naro-Fominsk not far from Moscow. The incident happened in early July, but its video record appeared in the Internet only on August 10.

As reported by General Alexander Zelin, Commander-in-Chief of the Air Forces of the Russian Federation, Russian military aircrafts will restart flights from two airports in Abkhazia.

The sudden death of Arshaluis Akopyan, a human rights activist and a member of the Helsinki Association of Armenia, happened on August 11 in Canada, where he went to apply for political asylum. As reported by Mikael Danielyan, Chairman of the Association, with reference to the data of medical examination, Arshaluis died from meningitis.

Today from early morning the central Volgograd is covered with smoke having some chemical smell. Employees of the Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) are at a loss to explain the reason of this phenomenon.

In the context of aggravated fire-hazardous situation, the Ministry for Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has entered a complete ban on access to the woods of the region.

The explosion happened in the morning on August 13 in an one-storey house in the Nasimin District of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The house took fire.

The Council of the European Union has decided to extend the mandate of the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia till September 14, 2011. This was reported by the press service of the EUMM.

For the fourth week already the trade ship "REF 607" remains in the sea port of the city of Novorossisk, Krasnodar Territory; the crew refuse to go to sea or ashore in protest against their salary debts. For two weeks the ship owner is inaccessible by communication means. Should there be no news from him within the next few days, the ship may be arrested.

Madina Lupezheva, a resident of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), has stated that on August 12, 2010, at about 9:30 p.m., her son Lupezhev, Aslan Arsenovich, left his home and never returned. The woman asserts that he was kidnapped.

Higher vocational training is completely suspended in seven and partially (in some specialities) in six higher schools of Armenia. The decision was made after the checks by the commission for licensing educational programmes.

The Tbilisi City Court has sentenced eight activists of the radical Orthodox movement "Union of Orthodox Parents of Georgia" to 4.5 years of imprisonment each. They were detained after the incident in May 2010 in the TV Company "Kavkasia". The convicts were accused of hooliganism and "interfering with journalist's professional work."

As reported by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", Magomed Mutsolgov, 15, who was kidnapped on August 8 by power agents, was brought to some unknown place, where he was tortured and beaten.

The republic's concept of tourism development till 2015 defines six mountain-recreational zones, which may become tourist centres with highly developed transport infrastructure.

Foodstuffs and articles of prime necessity arrived from Ingushetia and Khasavyurt to villagers of Anchikh, Akhvakh District of Dagestan, who suffered from fire. Every fire victim received 10,000 roubles.

The statement that appeared in separatists' websites that the explosion committed on August 9 near the Gazprom office in Moscow was organized by a group of suicide bombers "Riyadus Salikhiin" (Righteous' Gardens) is causing serious doubts in local observers.

The fate of Zelimkhan Mutsolgov and Ibragim Tochiev, who were kidnapped by power agents on August 5, is now clear. Beaten Mutsolgov was thrown out by unknown persons from a car in the suburb of Nesterovskaya village, and Tochiev was presented charges of participation in the armed underground. The latter's relatives state that he was also strongly beaten.