News

The international human rights organization Amnesty International has stated that human rights are still violently broken in Northern Caucasus, while access of NGOs to the region is hindered.

The main base of the mission of OSCE observers in Georgia, located in Karaleti village, Karel District, has ceased to exist today.

Russian inquiry bodies have resumed their investigation into the murder of Paul Khlebnikov, former editor-in-chief of Russian Forbes, as reported by Larissa Maslennikova, who is representing the interests of the Khlebnikovs.

Maskhud Abdullaev, son of Supyan Abdullaev, a close associate of leader of militants Doku Umarov, a student of the Al-Akhsar University, who was deported from Egypt, is nowadays in Chechnya.

Maksharip Khidriev, a resident of Ingushetia, accused of taking part in blowing up the "Neva-Express" train, has stated that he was tortured by electroshock during inquiry, and "interrogations took place in the forest and a cellar."

The newspaper "Corruption and Crime", the editor-in-chief of which Vyacheslav Yaroshenko died on June 29 in Rostov-on-Don, will be continued, as stated by Sergey Sleptsov, its deputy editor-in-chief. According to his story, the paper materials are now published in other editions, but the paper as such will resume in autumn.

Within the territory of nine settlements of the Elborus District of Kabardino-Balkaria - Tyrnyauz, Kendelen, Bedyk, Bylym, Tegenekli, Terskol, Elborus, Neitrino and Verkhni Baksan - today, the counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime was introduced.

The Toyota car, which was used as a tool for undermining the cortege of President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov, was driven by a man, as reported by the spokesman of the investigation.

Irakliy Aladashvili, editor-in-chief of the Georgian independent military-analytical magazine "Arsenali", believes that Mikhail Saakashvili's government is not as aggressive now as last August, and Russia has no pretext for war with Georgia.

Today, Turkish media report that signing of the intergovernmental agreement on the "Nabucco" energy project, which had been planned for mid-July, can be postponed because of unsettled problem of filling in the trans-Caspian gas main with gas.

The parliament of Georgia plans to officially forbid any use of special structures for blocking roads in the course of protest actions. Currently, the respective amendments are prepared to the Law "On Assemblies and Manifestations".

On June 30, the first group of military observers of the United Nations Mission will leave Abkhazia. By July 15, this will be done by all the military observers and workers of the police component of the Mission. This was reported today to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Edmond Mulet, Assistant to UN Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations.

As of today, under the amnesty law adopted by the Parliament of Armenia on June 19, 215 persons have been released.

The talks of Dmitri Medvedev with Ilham Aliev, which took place during Russian President's visit to Baku, ended with signing of two joint statements and a range of other documents. During negotiations it was decided that since January 1, 2010, the "Gazprom" will start buying Azerbaijani gas in the volume of 500 million cubic metres.

The prize for the best film in the contest programme "Prospect" of the 31st Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF-31), which passed on June 19-28 in the Russian capital, was awarded to the Georgian film "Conflict Zone" filmed by Director Vano Burduli.

The body of Gitikhma Dzhavatkhanov, a resident of Novaya Urada village, Kumtorkalin District of Dagestan, who was regarded as missing since June 27, was identified by his relatives in the Makhachkala morgue.

The delegation of Abkhazia will take part in the sixth round of Geneva debates on safety in Transcaucasia, planned to start on July 1. Tomorrow, on June 30, the Abkhazian delegation takes off for Geneva.

Today, the Court on Grave Crimes of Azerbaijan has held a preparatory session on the case of the explosion in "Abu-Bekr" Mosque on August 17, 2008, when a grenade was thrown into the mosque during the evening prayer, killing two and wounding 13 persons.

Today, the southwest region of Russia starts operative-strategic exercises "Kavkaz-2009", treated already by western media as a prologue to a new war against Georgia; Russian experts also tend to think so.

Vyacheslav Yaroshenko, editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Corruption and Crime", who was beaten by unknown persons in the end of April, has died in Rostov-on-Don.