News

The mission to liquidate toxic pesticides in the Nubarashen burial, located in Yerevan outskirt, will be granted to the "Ecotech" Polish company. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it at the Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) of Armania.

Yesterday, on December 14, the authoritative international organization Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) addressed Armenian leaders with a call to release the political prisoners Nikol Pashinyan.

On December 14, an unidentified explosive device stuffed with striking elements was triggered en route of a militia car in Makhachkala. The explosion caused no casualties or victims, said a source from the UVD (Interior Department) of the capital of Dagestan.

Today, on December 15, Dagestan has opened its Congress of Dagestani Nations. It will last for one day and plans to adopt an appeal and a resolution. The event is held in the new Palace of Sports named after Ali Aliev, located between the cities of Kaspiisk and Makhachkala.

Leonid Zelentsov, Rector of Rostov State Building University (RSBU), where the perished Maxim Sychov was a student, has submitted a resignation application. This was announced today by Vasily Golubev, Governor of the Rostov Region.

Death of "Spartak" fan in Moscow and murders of students in Rostov-on-Don and Vladikavkaz again aggravate ethnic conflicts in Russia; Northern Caucasus sees incessant explosions, assaults and special operations, more and more heating the situation in the region; Georgian MPs criticize but adopt the "Freedom Charter" in the second reading, - look these and other events in the review of the week of December 6-12, 2010, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

The militia detained a group of young people near the metro station "Sennaya Ploschad" in St Petersburg, where disorders were expected in the evening on December 15. Some of them had traumatic pistols and edged weapons on them.

More than 700 persons have been detained in Moscow during the unrest. Many of them had traumatic and edged weapons, truncheons and electric shockers on them, which were confiscated. Several victims are reported. The protesters, who gathered near the Kiev Railway Station, disperse.

An alpine trail at the ski resort "Roza Khutor", which will host in February 2011 the European Cup in alpine skiing, has been commissioned in Sochi. Ecologists, in their turn, have blocked today the building works at one of the Olympic objects, stating that rare flora species are liquidated during the construction.

The organizers of the rally in memory of the deceased student Maxim Sychov in Rostov-on-Don apologized to Muslims for some of the slogans, which were heard scanned in the course of the march. They were chanted wither by provocateurs or representatives of the marginalized youth, said Arthur Zykov, acting head of the public movement "Tikhiy Don".

Yesterday, on December 14, accusations were presented to a participant of the mass brawl that burst our in the city centre. According to some detainees, national intolerance was the cause of the incident.

Balkar elders who had been carrying out an open-ended action of protest in Manezh square left it on December, 13, in connection with mass disturbances in Moscow.

Yesterday, December, 14, Memorial Day of lost journalists was held by the Journalists' Union of Dagestan in Makhachkala. Remembrance day of the journalists who perished carrying out their professional duty will be held in the Journalists' House in Nikitsky boulevard in Moscow. Its beginning is expected at 13:00.

Murders of Dagestani journalists are not investigated, because often militiamen are associated with customers of murders, said Ali Kamalov, chairman of the Union of Journalists of Dagestan, at the recent international conference in Moscow "Securing Safe Future of Journalism in Eastern Europe".

Today, the Central House of Journalists in Nikitskiy Boulevard in Moscow will host the awarding ceremony of Andrei Sakharov Prize "For Journalism as a Deed". The nominees are about a hundred journalists from various regions of Russia, including the Caucasus.

On December 10, the Day of Adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Moscow opened its International Film Festival on Human Rights "Stalker", in which the film by Vadim Tsalikov "Beslan. Hope" took part. The heroine of this film was awarded with a prize of the festival.

Another building in Tbilisi, compactly populated by refugees from Abkhazia and South Ossetia will be resettled. This was decided by the Ministry on Refugees' Matters and Accommodation of Georgia. Refugees are ready to radical protests, while the Ministry argued that the building is in private ownership.

International and Russian human rights organizations assert that over the past six months the human rights situation in Northern Caucasus has not improved, and ask the Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to trace fulfilment by Russia of the resolution on Northern Caucasus.

Today, on December 14, Rostov-on-Don has opened an exhibition-contest of social advertisements "Clean Hands". Winners of the contest were announced at the opening.

On Monday, December 13, a conflict between residents of two districts of Dagestan because of pastures turned into a mass brawl with use of firearms and involvement, according to the militia, of over 200 persons. Two participants of the incident were taken to hospital; 20 more were detained.