News

Two out of ten residents of South Ossetia detained by Georgian police this October have been set free. They are father and son Kelekhsaev. Sofia Khorguani, Georgian deputy Ombudsman, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

On November 14, Rostov-on-Don hosted a roundtable on the Year of Family that Russia had announced in 2008. The participants were officials of the respective ministries of the region.

Annually, the Volgograd Region has 27 thousand newborns against 30 thousand abortions. In experts' opinion, the problem is in low morals and general disregard of contraception.

On November 14, President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov took command of the special operation intended to search militants in the Kurchaloy and Nozhai-Yurt Districts, and personally designed its plan. The operation had lasted till late at night, but no militants were found.

Commercial structures in Georgia will pay more for gas. Suppliers and distributors have made a deal.

The delegation of Abkhazia will take part in consultations in Geneva on safety issues in the Caucasus. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent learnt about it from Sergey Shamba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia. As he said, an official invitation to Geneva to take part in the debates as a party of the process was presented today to Sukhumi.

The experts of the Rostov-based medical-legal laboratory are studying the DNA of the unknown woman who perished in the explosion of the fixed-route taxi near the Central marketplace in the capital of North Ossetia on November 6.

Italian Deputy of the European Parliament Julietto Chieza is investigating disappearances of young people from South Ossetia, whose fate is still unknown. According to some sources, the Ossetians were captured by Georgian militaries.

The Amnesty International has disseminated a statement where its concern is expressed with the situation in Armenia after this year's March events.

Russia respects the territorial integrity of Georgia with account of Moscow's recognition of South Ossetia's and Abkhazia's independence. This was declared by Russian President Dmitri Medvedev who answered questions during a joint press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and chairman of the European Commission Zhoze Manuel Barrozu.

Another attempt to start dialogue between the residents of the Imereti Meadow of Sochi and the authorities of Krasnodar Territory about the terms of demolition of dwelling houses with the aim to get the city ready for the Olympiad has failed. The meeting was pre-planned for November 12, but it failed for the absence of power representatives.

Serzh Sarkisyan, President of Armenia, excludes any possibility for the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) to make part of Azerbaijan in any status. As he said, the history had demonstrated that Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan are incompatible.

The Federal Court of the Leninskiy District of Makhachkala has ruled to partially sustain the claim of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan against the Dagestan weekly "Chernovik" (Blueprint) on defence of business reputation. The newspaper is now obliged to place a refutation and bring apologies.

The United States have already expressed their deep concern with the plans to stop broadcasting of foreign radio stations BBC, Voice of America and Radio Liberty in Azerbaijani local frequencies. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that this statement was made today by Ann Dears, US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, in her comments on the situation with the issue.

On November 12, Pierre Moreli, Special Representative of the European Union, has officially informed that representatives of Abkhazia and South Ossetia were invited to the Geneva consultations on Caucasian security problems as participants of the negotiation process; the talks were scheduled on November 18-19.

Magomed Khazbiev, an oppositionist to the former President of Ingushetia Murat Zyazikov, has addressed the Republic's Prosecutor's Office with a complaint against the actions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Ingushetia.

In the evening on November 11, the six Georgians who stayed in South-Ossetian captivity were released in exchange for the two Ossetians who were freed by Georgia on November 12. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent learnt about it from Varvara Parkhomenko who works for the "Demos" Centre.

The city of Cherkessk, the capital of Karachaevo-Circassia, has hosted an expanded session of the International Circassian Association, which discussed, among other issues, promotion to resettlement of the compatriots living abroad to the territory of their historical homeland.

The Stavropol Territorial Court in Pyatigorsk has sentenced Nikolai Bobryashov, a figurant of the so-called case of "turnskins with shoulder-straps", to 15 years of imprisonment in a strict custody colony. A source in the court has added that he will also pay a fine of 25,000 roubles.

Yesterday, on November 11, citizen of Armenia Ashot Kirakosyan lodged a complaint to the Syktyvkar City Court of the Komi Republic against torturous custody conditions at the special detention facility of Syktyvkar militia. This news was reported to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Ernest Mezak, board member of the Komi human rights commission of the "Memorial".