News

Egle Kusaite, a young Lithuanian woman, accused of creating a group for committing a terror act on some military object in Russia, said that she had given confessional evidences in exchange for promises that her friends from near Moscow - Chechen Aishat and Apti Magmadov - would be left alive. Egle told about it to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent during a meeting in Vilnius.

Sergey Basmanov, Director of human rights center "Defense of Citizens' Rights and Interests" in Sochi, who had formerly reported threats against him declared that the personnel of law enforcement bodies have treated him improperly.

The action, which took place on November 18, the World Day of Quitting Smoking, in Rostov-on-Don showed that smokers are tough in quitting the habit.

Three officials of the Department of Federal Service of Drug Traffic Control (FSDTC) of Russia in Dagestan were detained on November, 18, for suspicion of bribery.

At night on November 19, unidentified assailants shelled the military unit and police station in the village of Khunzakh, the Khunzakh District, with grenade launchers; no one was hurt.

Yesterday at about 22:05 some unidentified persons fired upon a roadside cafe from a grenade launcher and self-firers in Derbent district of Dagestan. There are no victims or injured persons, the building got insignificantly damaged. Law enforcement bodies are currently searching the criminals.

Early in the morning of November, 19, Salyan district court of Azerbaijan granted the petition of a young blogger Emin Milly for early release for he had served over a half of his penalty term.

Almost every day militia bulletins in the Rostov Region state detection of banknotes with signs of forgery. According to the regional GUVD (Chief Interior Department), for the first 9 months of 2010, 1008 criminal cases were initiated under Article 186 of the Criminal Code (manufacture, storage, transportation or sale of counterfeit money or securities); of them, 113 criminal cases has been sent to the court, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The Vienna Court, which is hearing the murder case of Umar Israilov, a former bodyguard of President of Chechnya, assassinated in Austria, wants to interrogate the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov by means of a videoconference.

Today, the Lenin District Court of Vladikavkaz has decided on the freedom restriction measure in relation to Yusup Dzangiev, detained in Ingushetia on suspicion of terrorist activities.

Nana Pipiya, who tried to commit self-immolation in front of the Ministry for Refugees' Matters and Accommodation, has died in the Georgian burn centre, as reported by employees of the centre.

A protest rally of local residents is planned for November 20 in the district centre of Achkhoi-Martan in Chechnya; they want to demand from Russian authorities to stop the terror practiced by law enforcement bodies.

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).