News

Elias II, head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Catholicos of all Georgia, has headed today the requiem service at the coffin of deceased Alexis II, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow. The service was conducted in the Georgian language.

Advocate Musa Pliev, who is representing the interests of Magomed Evloev's family in the court, became an adviser to Yunus-Bek Evkurov, new President of Ingushetia. The appointment was made yesterday, on December 7, by a President's Decree.

The Swiss Confederation will represent the interests of Russia in Georgia. On Friday, December 5, The Swiss Federal Council approved draft agreements with Moscow and Tbilisi and entrusted the head of the Foreign Matters Department Micheline Calmi-Ray of foreign cases to sign the corresponding documents.

The militia of the capital of Komi has partially recognized bad custody conditions of Ashot Kirakosyan, a citizen of Armenia, in special detention facility of Syktyvkar UVD, where he had spent 4.5 pending extradition out of Russia for breaking migratory rules.

Father of the Chechen girl Elza Kungaeva, for whose murder former Colonel Yuri Budanov was convicted, promises to apply to the Strasbourg Court should a decision is made on the Colonel's conditional early relief (CER).

The so-called "Manor House" situated at No. 2/1 in Putin Avenue in the capital of Chechnya has been recognized fit for habitation, Gennady Nigmetov, the supreme category responsible specialist of the Russian State Research Institute for Emergencies, has stated.

The Patriarchy of Georgia refutes the information about religion-based discrimination of local Armenian population and believes that brotherly relations between the Catholicos Patriarch of All Georgia and the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of all Armenians will contribute to removal of the tension that has arisen because of several churches.

According to the "Sova" Information and Analytical Centre, in January-November 2008, 21 natives from the Caucasus were murdered and 63 more wounded on the motive of racial hatred. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Galina Kozhevnikova, Deputy Director of the Centre.

Active rehabilitation is under way in Tskhinval, however, it is impossible to resolve the problems in the private housing sector before winter. About 500 houses have been completely ruined or burnt. According to the owners, the South Ossetia authorities promise to start their restoration only in spring.

The Muslims of Kabardino-Balkaria are getting prepared for their feast - Kurban-Bairam, which starts on December 8 and will last for three days. The KBR president has decreed to make this day a holiday.

The law enforcement agencies report that, today, two militants have been killed in the course of a special operation conducted in the Barsukin district of Nazran, Ingushetia. According to Yuri Turyghin, Ingushetia prosecutor, the persons were connected with a number of terrorist acts and attacks on militia officers.

Today, two suspect militants have been killed and one FSS officer perished in the course of a special operation conducted in the settlement of Novy Khushet in the outskirts of the Dagestan capital.

The international human rights organization Human Rights Watch expressed its concern about the fate of Rasul Kudaev, former prisoner of Guantanamo, who is now held in the Russian pre-trial prison.

A tender for the right to rent land plots in the "Azov-City" gambling zone will be held soon in Rostov region. The new tender is connected with the fact that two winners of the previous tender - Casinos Austria and "Formula-1" - have dropped from participation in the project.

The orthodox church of Abkhazia morns for Russia's patriarch Alexi II. Office for the Dead is served in all churches and monasteries of Abkhazia.

Eduard Kokoity treats ironically the publications in the press to the effect that the South Ossetia president tries to take into his own hands the control over the financial flows from Moscow, allocated for the republic's rehabilitation. He says people will make their own conclusions.

The authorities of Ingushetia call on the militants who are not involved in serious crimes to stop illegal activities and lay down arms in exchange of being exempt from criminal prosecution.

During the last month, ten members of the armed units have been killed and 28 detained on the territory of the Chechen Republic. These data have been cited by Ruslan Alkhanov, Chechen minister of interior, at the meeting of chiefs of the power authorities in Grozny.

The murder of seven young women whose bodies were found last week in different districts of Chechnya has caused concern among many Chechen residents. While the investigation of the incidents continues, residents of the republic propose various opinions on their possible causes.

The Volgograd regional public charity organization "UNESCO Club "Dignity of the Child" has again become an object of persecution by Volgograd law enforcement agencies.