News

As reported by Alexander Bastrykin, Chairman of Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO), Russian inspectors found a plan of operation aimed at poisoning the system of water supply in Tskhinvali in August 2008.

On August 4, the Moscow-based Press Centre of the RIA "Novosti" hosted a roundtable on the topic: "First anniversary of the start of barbarous aggression against peaceful people of South Ossetia".

Magomed Archakov, a resident of Ingushetia, detained by law enforcement bodies on July 2 on suspicion of hiding a militant, has been released from custody under recognizance not to leave.

The killer, who attempted on Isa Yamadaev, a brother of Sulim Yamadaev, ex-commander of the "Vostok" battalion, on July 28 in Moscow, was armed with a silent pistol - firearm of special units of the GRU (Russian Military Intelligence) and FSB (Federal Security Bureau).

Residents of the settlement named Vishnevaya Balka, Krasnooktiabrskiy District of Volgograd, are taking their free-of-charge medical examination in the mobile medical centre. The aim of the study is to reveal the hazardous effect of emissions of the castor factory on human health.

Real customers and organizers of the murder of the employee of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" Natalia Estemirova will be never not just punished but even named, as some friends and colleagues of the perished human rights defender in Chechnya believe.

On August 5, the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations promulgated a document about the situation with human rights in Azerbaijan, passed on the outcomes of the discussion at the 96th Session on July 13-31 in Geneva of the third periodic report on Azerbaijan.

Five days ago, in the city of Argun, the house that belonged to the family of suicide bomber Rustam Mukhadiev, who had blown up himself in central Grozny near the building of the theatre-concert hall, was burnt down. Local residents say that the action was carried out by employees of power agencies of Chechnya.

The inhabitants of three five-storey apartment blocks located on the Geidar Aliev Avenue in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, were offered to leave their flats before September 1 and move to new flats in the Narimanov District of the capital.

After studying the changes of the Russian antiterrorist legislation made in recent years, the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) has concluded that the toughening measures mastered in the Caucasus were then transferred to the rest of Russia. This was stated by FIDH expert Ann Lyo Ueru, who is specializing on Russia, in particular, on antiterrorist methods within the conflict in Chechnya.

Georgiy Tugushi, 32, elected the new Ombudsman of Georgia at an extraordinary session of parliament on July 31, pans to preserve in his work many of the priorities fixed by his predecessor Sozar Subari. At the same time, in his opinion, every time has its challenges and moves its priorities, therefore, Mr Tugushi puts the refugees' problems into the forefront.

On August 4, at the Supreme Court of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), at the trial on the events of October 13, 2005, an anonymous witness hidden under pseudonym "Seliverstov, Gerasim Lukich", an employee of the OMSN (special militia unit) of the KBR's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), gave his evidences.

The Georgian party has noted no special movements of Russian and South-Ossetian militaries after the decision of President of South Ossetia to close the border; local residents continue to cross the border, although the situation remains restless.

At a meeting with journalists dated to the first anniversary of the August events in South Ossetia, Grigoriy Karassin, Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that Russia had offered Georgia, through international intermediaries, to sign a document entailing prohibition of warfare in the territory of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, but Georgia refused to sign it.

Mother of Agasif Shakiroglu, chairman of the youth coalition "Khedef" (Aim), who was arrested on August 3 in Baku, believes that her son has fallen victim of a "pre-planned provocation."

Representatives of the family of journalist Anna Politkovskaya ask the Moscow Regional Military Court to return the murder case of the observer of the "Novaya Gazeta" back to the Prosecutor's Office. The same demand was moved by the state accusation; the defence has also supported the petition.

The overwhelming majority of Russian citizens - 86 percent - believe that Russia was right, or sooner right than wrong, during the war in South Ossetia in August 2008. This data was presented at a press conference held in the press centre of the RIA "Novosti" by Olga Kamenchuk, Director for Communications of the All-Russian Centre for Studying Public Opinion (known as VTsIOM), who summed up the results of the recent poll.

The today's appointment of Vadim Brovtsev as a new prime minister of South Ossetia is Eduard Kokoity's personal initiative; and the Kremlin has nothing to do with it, asserts Albert Dzhussoev, one of the major opponents of President of South Ossetia. He is very critical towards this choice, saying that today "is not the time to make experiments on the sick body of poor South Ossetia."

The editor-in-chief of the Internet resource "Ingushetia.Org" Rosa Malsagova has stated that she is receiving threats and can leave her post.

Today at midnight, the border of South Ossetia with Georgia will be closed, as declared by Eduard Kokoity, President of the republic, who has explained it "by recent frequent provocations from the Georgian party," and instances of "swine flu" in Georgia.