News

Today, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for the Southern Federal District (SFD) has confirmed the fact of illegal detention of citizens of Ukraine at the firm "Artex-Agro", headed by Nadezhda Tsapok - mother of Sergey Tsapok, suspected of organizing the massacre in Kuschevskaya village.

The decision to close the "Georgian Times" was taken today by the managers of the newspaper. The publication is owned by Malkhaz Gulashvili, leader of Georgian Orthodox radicals.

The trade union of the Southern Federal University (SFU) in Rostov-on-Don has sent an open letter to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev with a complaint about low salaries of teachers and a request to address the problem.

Tu-154 crash questions the work of "Dagestani Airlines"; OSCE summit in Astana failed to help in settling conflicts in Southern Caucasus; cities of Southern Russia start getting ready to receive 2018 World Football Cup matches, - look these and other events in the review of the week of November 29-December 5, 2010, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

The Muftiate of the Stavropol Territory took part in Moscow in the inaugural conference, which today has created a new centralized religious organization of Muslims - the Russian Association of Islamic Accord (All-Russian Muftiate).

Armen Arzumanyan, press secretary of the President of Armenia, has confirmed the fact of assault and battery of Mayor of Yerevan Gagik Beglaryan against Aram Kandayan, a staff member of the protocol department of President Serzh Sargsyan's administration. According to the latest information, the Mayor has resigned.

Zainudin Magomedov, a resident of Dagestan, has appealed to human rights organizations, the prosecutor's office and interior minister asking to restore violated rights of his family members. According to his story, his sons were illegally detained by law enforcement officers, who had also tortured the detainees.

Today, at the working meeting of law enforcement bodies in Vladikavkaz, Ivan Sydoruk, Deputy General Public Prosecutor of Russia, said that the number of terror acts committed this year in the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD), has increased by 100 percent as compared with the same last year's period.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has found the complaints of two women from Rostov-on-Don on torturous detention conditions at the local pre-trial detention facility (known as SIZO) justified and ruled that Russia should pay out compensation to them in the sum of 50,000 euros.

Overload of the center of Yerevan with high-rise buildings can result in seismic risks because an increase of the number of high-rise buildings in the center of the city in case of an intensive earthquake may cause "domino effect". This was reported to the journalists by Alvaro Antonyan, Director of Seismic Service of Armenia.

Gogita Arkania, resident of Gali district detained on accusation of terrorism, has acknowledged his guilt at the same time accusing Russian major Evgeny Borisov of organizing acts of terror in the territory of Georgia. This was reported by representatives of Georgian Ministry of Interior Affairs.

On December, 7, an assault upon Bakhrom Khamroev, member of Russian "Memorial" Human Rights Center, took place in Moscow.

The investigation has rejected the version that the crash of the Tu-154 of the "Dagestani Airlines" at the Domodedovo Airport on December 4 was caused by low-quality fuel, put into the aircraft fuel tanks at the stay at the Vnukovo Airport. As reported by the Airport, the Transport Department of the Russian ICPO (Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office) has allowed using the earlier sealed up vessel of fuel for fuelling other aircrafts.

The crash of the aircraft of "Dagestani Airlines" on December 4 is actively discussed on local blogs and forums. Dagestani Internet users note that they would prefer to fly by aircraft of other airlines, but this is not possible.

The pilots of the company deny that the reason for the emergency landing of the Tu-154 aircraft in the Domodedovo Airport on December 4 was the fault of the crew.

Today, in the village of Tatarka, Stavropol Territory, local Cossacks held a rally to protest against deteriorating living standards and problems of the settlement.

Experts in Georgia are actively discussing the arrest of six suspects of the autumn terror acts. According to Mamuka Areshidze, an expert in Caucasian matters, Russian security services are actively using residents of Abkhazia as their scouts in the territory of Georgia. A military expert Irakli Sesiashvili does not exclude that should the suspects' guilt be proved, a diplomatic scandal may burst out between the USA and Russia.

Today, in Pushkin Square, residents of the Astrakhan Region held a picket against the "lawlessness", reigning in the region, as they assert.

A 27-year-old resident of Volgograd has posted in his blog under his nickname Yanissimo in LiveJournal an appeal to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev with complains against the obstacles he faced in treating his little daughter, deeply rooted into the health care system. His story has caused wide public resonance. Yesterday, on December 6, Mr Medvedev read the text of the open appeal.

Seven residents of the Korostin village, Kotovsk District of Volgograd Region, have been detained in Moscow near the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for holding an unsanctioned picket. According to the picketers, a similar gang as in Kuschevskaya, sheltered by local militia, operates in their village.