News

The capital of South Ossetia, the city of Tskhinvali, was by 80 percent disconnected from gas supply, as Alan Gabaraev, Director of the "Energy" Association, has reported.

Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov has signed an order to allocate one billion roubles for rebuilding the city of Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia.

The decision of the Central Bank of Armenia to give up the policy of the fixed exchange rate of the dram has led to the fall of the dram rate against dollar also in Nagorno-Karabakh, where the dram is also the national currency. Essential foodstuffs have disappeared from groceries, and those on sale are now some 20-25 percent more expensive. US dollars are in deficit in banks and exchange booths.

In Adygea, Vladimir Karataev, former editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Zakubanye", has been charged with fulfilment of actions aimed at kindling hatred and enmity, and at humiliating dignity of a group of persons on the basis of a nationality, accomplished with use of mass media.

On March 3, at about 8:45 p.m., in Nazran, at the house belonging to Murat Zyazikov, former president of Ingushetia, a car blew up, killing one person.

In the majority of currency exchange booths of the capital of Armenia dollars and euros are bought but not sold. Presently, foreign currencies can be bought in banks only. The main reason is the decision of the Central Bank to restrict its interventions into the currency exchange house and return to the policy of floating exchange rate.

The city of Sochi (Krasnodar Territory) has launched its electoral campaign of the Mayor, towards the election to take place on April 26. The City Electoral Commission (CEC) will stop receiving documents from candidates for the Mayor of Sochi on March 26, as Yuri Rykov, chairman of the Commission has explained.

The NGO named "Mashr" has published a list of casualties in Ingushetia in 2008 and is going to present, till the end of this month, its report on violations of human rights and freedoms in the Republic in 2008. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Magomed Mutsolgov, head of the "Mashr".

The body of Magomed Albogachiev, former head of Ali-Yurt village, Ingushetia, kidnapped at night on March 3 in Nazran District, was found today in the morning in the highway Ali-Yurt - Surkhakhi. Now, the culprits who had kidnapped Albogachiev are searched.

The international journalists' organization "Reporters without Borders" (RwB) has made a statement in the context of the fourth anniversary from the date of murder of Elmar Guseinov. The document notes that during this whole time the killers of the well-known Azerbaijani journalist were not found, while the independent press is still persecuted in the country.

Today, Anastasiya Volochkova, a famous Russian ballerina, is coming to North Ossetia. She plans to hold negotiations on setting up a programme under her patronage in the Republic aimed at revealing and developing talents in children.

The boys born in Chechnya on the birthday of Prophet Mohammed will get 50,000 roubles each, President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov said in a press conference today.

So far, the Armenian airline named "Armavia" does not possess the final information as to the demand for the air flight "Tbilisi-Yerevan-Moscow" started since March 1, however, it believes that the route will be efficient.

Issuance of Russian passports to residents of South Ossetia has been temporarily suspended. This was stated by Alan Pliev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic.

Experts of the Russian Centre of Military Forecasting believe that the "arms scandal" - the charge moved by Azerbaijan against Russia of arms deliveries to Armenia - is beneficial for the European Union (EU) in view of supporting NATO and has to do with the process of settlement of the Karabakh problem.

Today in Baku, a group of journalists, political and public figures and members of the diplomatic corps have visited the grave of Elmar Guseinov, editor-in-chief of the "Monitor" magazine, on the occasion of the 4th anniversary of his murder.

In several recent days the population of Armenia has sharply increased their demand for US dollars, which is indicated by queues at currency exchange booths in Yerevan. However, the stock of dollars that can be bought there has shrunk radically.

From March 4, Russia plans to restart issuing visas to citizens of Georgia, although in incomplete volume. Swiss diplomats will act as intermediaries.

Today, a suit was lodged to the Supreme Court (SC) of Russia against construction of the second cargo port in the Imereti Valley in Sochi. Representatives of the public assert that there is no need for the second cargo port in Sochi, as it was officially stated that Sochi needs much less cargoes for Olympic construction than declared earlier.

The cassation complaint lodged by the Russian General Prosecutor's Office on cancellation of the "not guilty" verdict passed on the murder case of Anna Ploitkovskaya, observer of the "Novaya Gazeta", has today become available to the participants of the process. Murad Musaev, advocate of one of the acquitted persons, saw no grounds for cancelling the verdict in the complaint.