News

As confirmed today by Alexander Bortnikov, Director of the Russian FSB, among the suspected militants killed in the course of the special operation on March 3 in Ingushetia, one of their leaders known as Said Buryatskiy has been identified.

Participants of the rally held in Plievo village after its resident Mikail Pliev was kidnapped on March 5 on his way from Nazran to Pyatigorsk complain that militiamen dispersed the rally and applied force to some of the protesters.

On Friday, March 5, the office of the Institute of Reporters' Freedom and Safety of reporters (IRFS) hosted a meeting of journalists with families of arrested journalists Einullah Fatullaev and Ganimat Zakhidov, and of bloggers Adnan Gadjizade and Emin Milli.

The present stage of negotiations on normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations has the character of imitation. As stated by Professor of the Yerevan State University David Ovannisyan on March 5 at the roundtable "Dialogue Armenia-Turkey: Relation Recovery Process", the parties use any occasion to push negotiations into the track of deal-making and gambling.

As reported by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Armenia, the legislative body of the Autonomous Community Catalonia has unanimously voted for recognition of Armenians' genocide in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire.

The religious website "Way of Truth" launched last year by the republic's Centre of Spiritual and Moral Enlightenment was exposed to hackers' attack. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent learnt about it from a source from the Chechen Muftiyat.

After the visit on March 5 to Moscow of Nino Burdzhanadze, ex-speaker of the Georgian parliament and leader of the "Democratic Movement - United Georgia", activists of other oppositional parties - Labourites and Conservatives - have expressed their readiness to go to Moscow to establish relations.

Edward Nalbandyan, head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Armenia, has stated that adoption by the International Committee of the House of Representatives of US Congress of the resolution on Armenians' genocide is an indication of the commitment of American people to universal values. Turkey in reply to the resolution recalled its ambassador from Washington.

Two private houses in the special operation zone in Ekazhevo village, Nazran District of Ingushetia, had been mined with non-extractable mines, as reported by a source in power agencies. According to his story, these buildings will be blown up by sappers. The body of supposed Said Buryatskiy, found after examination of the operation venue, was already delivered to the Centre of Forensic-Medical Examination of the Ministry of Defence in Rostov-on-Don, where the genetic examination will be held to identify the casualty.

The situation with the freedom of mass media, operation of the law-enforcement system of Azerbaijan and situation with NGOs were the main topics of debates in the course of the visit to the country on March 1-5 of Thomas Hammarberg, High Commissioner of the Council of Europe on Human Rights.

In the Southern and North-Caucasian Federal Districts (SFD and NCFD), the forthcoming high water threatens to flood 731 dwelling settlements. This was stated on March 4 in Stavropol at the session of the Commission for Emergencies and Fire Safety.

Prior to start litigation on the case of Anastasia Denisova, head of the public organization "ETnIKA", accused of using counterfeit software in her home and office computers, the equipment, which was confiscated at search, was subjected to examination. The Prosecutor's Office of Krasnodar entrusted the Inter-Regional Public Organization (IRPO) "Union of Criminalists" to make the examination.

At today's session of the Parliament, Elmira Suleimanova, 72, was re-elected to the post of the Ombudsperson of Azerbaijan for her second term of 7 years. The opposition and human rights activists differed in their opinions on this re-appointment.

Activists of public and political circles of Dagestan have criticized the offer of Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of Russia to take fingerprints of all residents of Northern Caucasus. In their opinion, the procedure would break the rights of residents of the region, which is a full-fledged part of Russia, not an enclave inhabited exclusively by criminals.

Local residents are afraid that after the special operation conducted by Russian power agencies on March 3 in Ekazhevo village the republic will face new terror acts. During the operation militants suffered losses and in the near future, most likely, they will strike back. If the fact of liquidation of the ideologist of extremism Said Buryatskiy (Alexander Tikhomirov) is confirmed, their response may be even tougher.

Vladimir Chernositov, head of the UVD (Interior Department) of Novorossisk has lodged a suit on defence of his honour, dignity and business reputation against Vadim Karastelyov, head of the Novorossisk Committee on Human Rights, who represents the interests of ex-militiaman Alexei Dymovskiy.

Today, Rasul Magomedov, a resident of Balakhani village, Untsukul District, a teacher of the local secondary school and a member of the human rights organization "Mothers of Dagestan for Human Rights", has stated that he was kept till late at night by militiamen in one of the rooms of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Dagestan without any explanations.

Inspectors report about solving resonant murders in Northern Caucasus; exchange of prisoners of was between Georgia and South Ossetia is in deadlocked; Chechnya celebrates Prophet Mohammed's birthday; human rights activists are beaten in the Kuban River area, - look up these and other events in the review of the week of February 22-28, 2010, in Caucasian regions prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

As a result of a special operation conducted by FSB agents in Ekazhevo village, Nazran District of Ingushetia, one of militants' leaders - Said Buryatskiy (initial name - Alexander Tikhomirov) - was killed. Several sources in power agencies have reported about it today.

The situation with the Yazidis and Kurmanches, living in the Krasnodar Territory, who were long refused by local authorities of any documents, is gradually becoming better. By today, only no more than 20 percent of them still have Soviet documents, and this figure goes down step by step. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent learnt about it from the interview he took from Igor Kuznetsov, associate professor of the division of archaeology, ethnology of ancient and medieval history of the Kuban State University and one of the founders of the Centre of Caucasian-Pontic Studies.