News

At night on June 13, some 30-60 militants entered the village of Benoy-Vedeno, Nozhai-Yurt District of Chechnya, and for several hours kept the settlement under their full control, a source in the law enforcement bodies of Chechnya has informed.

The regime of counterterrorist operation has been introduced today in the village of Bairamaul, Khasavyurt District of Dagestan. For two hours special fighters were storming the house, where, under the operative information, militant Saipudin Ibragimov, 32, announced into search, was hiding.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has called on the authorities of Azerbaijan to detect those persons in charge of torturing Sardar Dzalaloglu, leader of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan.

Today, the Venetian Commission of the Council of Europe has started discussing the changes in the Law of Armenia "On Rallies, Meetings, Marches and Demonstrations", which had been passed in the second reading.

Today, the city of Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic, has launched the First International Film Festival named "Noah's Ark". The contest comprises 44 movies from 21 countries of the world.

Today in Baku, Emin Guseinov, head of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety of Azerbaijan, was detained by employees of the Special Service of State Security who are in charge of guarding the presidential administration.

The situation in recent years in Ingushetia is comparable with the pre-war situation in the 1990s in the neighbouring Chechen Republic. This is the opinion of Ruslan Badalov, Chairman of the Chechen Committee of National Salvation, expressed at the conference on human rights in Russia that was held on June 9-10 in Finland.

The two-peak Elborus mountain, the highest peak of Russia and Europe, located in the junction of the borders of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachaevo-Circassia, and the Mamay Mound memorial with the statue of Mother-Homeland in Volgograd have been enlisted among seven Russian wonders.

On June 12, the Court on Grave Crimes of Azerbaijan started proceedings on the case of citizen of Saudi Arabia named Nail Abdul Kerim al-Bedevi, also known as Abu Dzhafar, and 17 other defendants. All of them are accused of setting up an armed terrorist group.

A mass protest action was held on June 11 in the Gudermes District of Chechnya, near the disposition of the special-purpose battalion "Vostok" (East) of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff (known as GRU).

The monitoring conducted by the military observers from the Mixed Peacekeeping Forces (MPKF) and a representative of the OSCE Mission has shown that on June 11 four explosions took place in the area of the "Tamarasheni" peacekeepers' post in South Ossetia.

Russian businessman Levon Airapetyan has moved an idea to organize a marriage ceremony of 300 young couples. The event will take place this September in the village of Vank, Martakert District of Nagorno-Karabakh, and the government has started registering the interested persons.

Mekhriban Alieva, wife of the President of Azerbaijan, was elected to be a Good Will Ambassador of good will of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). She was awarded a diploma on granting this title by Ekmeleddin Ikhsanoglu, Secretary General of the OIC, at the International Conference "Strengthening Women's Role in Intercultural Dialogue" held in Baku.

The candidature of Mary Yovanovich, a new US Ambassador to Armenia, will be considered at the session of the Senate's Foreign Affairs Commission on June 19. Ms Yovanovich was nominated to the position by US President Georges Bush on March 28.

The organizers of the contest of the Union of Journalists of Dagestan "Golden Eagle" wanted to award the prize in nomination "Debut of the Year" to the newspaper "Nastoyaschee Vremya" (Current Time); however, the ceremony was disrupted by the journalists who had been earlier dismissed from this newspaper.

Today, in the course of a tripartite TV bridge Baku-Moscow-Yerevan its participants have discussed the outcomes of the meeting of Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Serzh Sarkisyan and Ilham Aliev on June 6 in St-Petersburg, and also the ways of settling the Karabakh conflict.

The city of Karabulak in Ingushetia is under the regime of counterterrorist operation, a source in the Republic's operative headquarters has informed. According to the FSB (Federal Security Bureau), militants are hiding in Karabulak ready to commit a series of terror acts in Ingushetia.

Billionaire and senator from Dagestan Suleiman Kerimov has sold huge stock packages in Russian Savings Bank ("Sberbank") and "Gazprom", and after selling out other assets, he will have practically no investments in Russia left. The businessman invests the obtained funds into foreign financial institutions.

A powerful explosive detonated in a highways in southeast of Chechnya, when trucks with Perm Territory OMON (Special Militia) fighters sent to Chechnya to take their service were moving along. There no casualties and victims, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Chechnya reports.

Alan Waddams, head of the representative office of the European Commission in Azerbaijan, has declared that the EU will render Azerbaijan every help in acceding the World Trade Organization (WTO).