News

So far, nobody has taken responsibility for today's explosions in Moscow metro; however, power agencies tend to believe that they were organized by Chechen militants, whose leader Dokku Umarov announced this February that the military action zone would expand over the whole Russia's territory. Umarov stated then that the war would return into Russians' houses; and they would see it not only on TV as reported from somewhere away in the Caucasus. The State Duma believes that it is already the case; and new, more efficient forms and methods of fighting terror should be searched for.

Two brothers, residents of the Chechen city of Shali, were kidnapped by local power agents. Their fate and whereabouts are unknown. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has learnt about it from an activist of a local NGO, who referred to brothers' relatives.

Rescuers brought up 12 bodies of the casualties of the explosion at the Lubyanka metro station, eight of them have been already identified. The list of victims who were hospitalized was published.

The count of casualties of the terror acts committed in Moscow metro has reached 37 persons. Under the latest data, 65 people were injured.

In the Rostov Region, spring high water continues; in many districts the water level is critical; homes are flooded in a number of dwelling settlements.

On March 27 in Volgograd, rallies were held in front of the building of the city mayoralty, where appeals were voiced out to initiate the resignation procedure of the city mayor Roman Grebennikov. The action was organized by communists.

The meeting on March 27 of residents of the city of Gori with Georgian oppositionists took place in tense atmosphere. Zurab Nogaideli, leader of the "Movement for United Georgia", has stated that the reason was in provocations, which had been planned by the authorities.

On March 25, Tbilisi hosted a sitting of the Board of the Charter of Journalistic Ethics of Georgia. In the opinion of the experts, the hostess of the "Imedi" TV Channel Natiya Koberidze had broken the journalistic ethics.

In Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, employees of the local prosecutor's office and militia made a raid over saunas, where, according to their operative data, sexual services were rendered. 65 slot machines were confiscated, and 23 women engaged in prostitution were brought to administrative responsibility.

Protest actions of air traffic controllers against signing new collective labour agreement started on March 26 in Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd and Krasnodar. Today in the morning, after the night shift, all dispatchers of these regions - about 120 persons in total - remained in the buildings where they work.

The Human Rights Society (HRS) "Memorial" calls to amnesty, by the Victory Day, those militaries, who were convicted for voluntary leaving their military units.

The international seminar on non-violent conflict settlement "Overcoming European Crisis by Non-Violent Methods; Philosophy and Practice" held in Georgia became a forum, where experts from different countries could exchange opinions on conflicts in the Caucasus.

In the Volgograd Region, as a result of high water, over three thousand citizens are under the threat of flooding. This was reported by the press services of the Regional Ministry for Emergencies (MfE). Residents of seven districts - Frolovskiy, Mikhailovskiy, Ilovlinskiy, Olkhovskiy, Pallasovskiy, Bykovskiy and Kumylzhanskiy - have already suffered from high water.

Five persons were heavily wounded, when unidentified persons opened fire on a group of residents of Aksai village, Khasavyurt District of Dagestan, the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic reports.

On March 25, Chechen MPs made a decision to establish an annual prize and a medal named after Ahmat Kadyrov, former President of Chechnya, assassinated in a terror act at the Grozny "Dynamo" Stadium on May 9, 2004. This award, as conceived by Chechen parliamentarians, should become a sort of an analogue of the Nobel Peace Prize.

On March 25, in Tbilisi, at the building of the Ministry for Punishment Enforcement, an action was held by the opposition with a demand to release political prisoners and illegal detainees.

The embassies of the EU countries in Azerbaijan have revealed no due interest in the action of the South-Caucasian human rights network aimed to draw attention to human rights activists' problems. This was stated to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Tatiana Kryuchkina, a representative of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS). According to her story, only the embassy of Italy and representative office of the European Commission have officially answered to the questionnaires about the work conducted in this direction.

In the run-up to the Congress of the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), to take place in Yerevan on April 6-8, the Federation has appealed to the authorities of Armenia to release all the country's political prisoners.

On March 25, the capital of North Ossetia was the venue of a rally held by the public organization of power agents-veterans "Law Is Above Power" with a demand to return the privileges and compensatory payments.

Most of the Circassians of the world support the idea of recognition of Adygs' genocide, Zaur Zaukozhev, deputy chairman of the Circassian Congress of Adygea believes. He is supported by other Adyg public activists of the republic.