News

Opinions differ in Dagestan as to the chances of the five candidates for presidency, approved on November 19.

In the context of the recent collapse of the Church Surb Gevorg in Tbilisi, erected in 1356, the Supreme See of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) has accused the authorities of Georgia of indifference to preservation of the Armenian relics located in this country.

Militia Major Alexei Dymovskiy from Novorossisk, who had earlier asked Russian Premier Putin about a personal meeting in his video appeal, has given up his intention, now saying that his meeting with Putin will be an "offence to his honour."

The totals of the first ever city students' contest of photo works under the motto "Bright Prospects" have been summed up in the capital of North Ossetia.

The development prospects and safety issues of Southern Caucasus as a whole and Azerbaijan in particular were the debate points at the international conference "Safety Challenges in Southern Caucasus: Realities and Prospects of Regional Cooperation" held on November 20 in Baku.

On November 20, the Georgian parliament unanimously (86 votes) adopted, at its plenary session, the Law "On Amnesty", which assumes to halve the punishment for the people imprisoned for drug using. The current legislation provides up to 10 years of imprisonment for drug using.

The crew members of the Greek tanker "Thelema Т", now in the roads (off-harbour) in the vicinity of the city of Novorossisk, Krasnodar Territory, continue to fight for their salary debts and refuse coming ashore. The employer company promises to square up with the Ukrainian seamen on November 26.

In Yerevan, at the National Aesthetics Centre, within the plan of actions dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the date of signing the UN Convention on Children's Rights, a solemn opening of the exhibition of Swedish artist Ilon Vikland was held.

On the initiative of the Ministry of Labour and the National Commission on Invalids' Matters, from early December Armenia will start a month-long campaign aimed to attract the attention of the society to people with limited physical capabilities, with the main accent on defence of invalids' rights. This was reported by Jema Bagdasaryan, deputy minister for labour of work and social care.

Ramil Usubov, head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan, has submitted his private suit against Eyub Kerimov, editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Femida-007". The Minister asks to bring the journalist to criminal liability under the slander article, which assumes up to three years of imprisonment.

The gunmen who are now hunting in Moscow for Isa Yamadaev - one of the three still alive brothers - were promised a generous reward. Isa's close relatives are sure of that and say that his appeal to Dmitri Medvedev was caused not so much by his fear for his own life, but by his desire to draw Russian President's attention to what really happens today in the Chechen Republic.

On November 19, the sitting of the public board under the Ministry of North Ossetia for Nationalities concluded that social problems and propaganda of violence in the Internet and mass media are among major reasons of extremism.

The Military Investigatory Department for the Baltic Fleet continues its investigation of numerous cases of non-statutory relations in the military unit deployed in the city of Pionerskiy, Kaliningrad region. According to the investigation, the group of sailors who hazed their comrades-in-arms, included, apart from natives of Dagestan, recruits from other Russian regions.

On Thursday, November 20, the Reception Centre of Foreign Press in Paris hosted a press conference of Arseniy Roginskiy, a well-known Russian historian, human rights activist and chair of the board of the Society "Memorial". Mr Roginskiy answered a broad spectrum of questions asked by French journalists: about the work of human rights defenders and NGOs in Russia, about the confrontation with the authorities, about disputable history items and about many other things.

President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov has stated that that he feels easy with the opposition and called oppositionists to work hardy towards creating new jobs.

The four Georgian teenagers detained in South Ossetia on charges of illegal crossing the border and storing explosives will stay behind bars for at least two months.

Mesterlyu Shakhbanov, head of the administration of the city of Buinaksk, said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the first suspects had been detained in the context of kidnapping his son - Magomedshamil Shahbanov - on November 17. The detainees are kept in the Buinaksk GOVD (City Interior Department). The GOVD categorically refused to give any comments, while the MIA and Prosecutor's Office of Dagestan said that they had no information of this sort.

Magomed Mutaelumov, a resident of Makhachkala, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent today that the pilgrims of Dagestan who failed to make their hadj because of the red tape with drawing their documents are preparing protest actions.

Within the last year, Russia saw stronger pressure on those who defend human rights in Chechnya and in Northern Caucasus as a whole; therefore, the European Union should present "unambiguous demands to Russia to take particular steps towards stronger defence of human rights in Northern Caucasus." This is stated in the address of human rights activists to the government of Sweden, the chair-country of the EU, and the European Union as a whole, dated to the "Russia-EU" Summit in Stockholm.

On November 18, a documentary "Letter to Anna", dedicated to journalist Anna Politkovskaya, made on the basis of conversations of director Eric Bergkraut with Politkovskaya in 2003-2004, was presented.