News

Javier Solana, High Commissioner of the European Union on Foreign Policy and Safety, who has arrived today to Tbilisi, has stated that he would not mediate the conflict between the opposition and the authorities of Georgia.

Three oppositional parties - the People's Front, Party of Citizens and Development and Liberal Party of Azerbaijan, united into the block named "Azadlyg", have officially declared their boycott of the presidential election appointed for October 15, 2008.

In Ingushetia, representatives of the opposition have made a decision to postpone for indefinite time the rallies in five dwelling settlements of Ingushetia, which were appointed for tomorrow, June 6.

The Central Electoral Commission of Georgia has promulgated the final totals of the parliamentary elections held May 21. Five parties will form the parliament of the country.

Dmitri Kozak, Minister for Regional Development of the Russian Federation, has stated that the final construction cost of all the objects erected for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympiad will be defined by the end of 2008 after finalizing the project and budget documentation.

On June 13-19, the city of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, will host the First International Film Festival under the name of "Noah's Ark". Preparation for the event is now especially fast.

The offer made by the "Gazprom" on gas purchase from Azerbaijan is a long-term deal based on the commercial European price. This news was made public on June 4 by Vasily Istratov, Russia's Ambassador to Baku, in a press conference.

The murder case of the "Novaya Gazeta" observer Anna Politkovskaya cannot be regarded as cleared. This was stated by Dmitri Muratov, editor-in-chief of the paper, who made his comments on the statement of inspector Vladimir Markin that by June 20 they plan to announce the end of the preliminary investigation of this crime.

After the parliamentary elections, Georgia faces a miserable situation in the sphere of human rights, which surely demands estimation, the National Defender of Georgia (Ombudsman) Sozar Subari has stated in today's press conference.

The Prosecutor's Office of Ingushetia treats the rallies planned for June 6 by the opposition of the Republic in several dwelling settlements as illegitimate and calls the residents "not to be on the bit of the offenders."

On June 4, the members of the all-Russian NGO "Voice of Beslan" lodged an application to the Public Prosecutor of the Russian Federation with a demand to interrogate the former president, and nowadays the prime minister of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin as a witness in case about the terror act in Beslan school in September 2004, and to initiate a criminal case against him.

The city of Rostov-on-Don was the venue the present the book named "Prisoners at Communism Construction Sites. GULAG and Power Engineering Sites. Collection of Documents and Photos".

In Chechnya, the conflict continues, caused by the intention of the authorities to remove the Memorial erected in 1992 in the Chechen capital in memory of the victims of 1944 deportation to a city suburb. People are revolted with the fact that the place allocated for the new memorial is now a garbage dump.

Israel plans to sign a long-term contract with Azerbaijan on delivery of natural gas. This was announced today by Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Minister for National infrastructure, in a press conference in Baku.

Today at night, a mass fight with participation of Armenian natives burst out in the Stavropolskaya Street of Moscow. The law enforcement bodies do not exclude the ethnic pretext of the conflict, although there is no official confirmation.

Today, the Supreme Court of Russia has upheld the guilty verdict to three participants of the criminal grouping who kidnapped people in North Ossetia, in spite of the fact that the victims in case insisted on cancelling the verdict.

The militants are searched in the Vedeno District of Chechnya who shelled on June 2 a Mi-8 helicopter, which was carrying militaries of a special subdivision of the Interior Troops.

The investigation has decided to release another figurant of the criminal case on Anna Politkovskaya's murder - Shamil Buraev, former head of the Achkhoy-Martan District of Chechnya.

Today, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan presided by Judge Muzaffar Agazade has considered a cassation complaint lodged by Einullah Fatullaev, editor-in-chief and founder of newspapers "Real Azerbaijan" and "Gyundelik Azerbaijan" (Daily Azerbaijan).

The USA and NATO are worried about the deployment of the railway troops of the Russian Ministry of Defence in Abkhazia, and think that such actions will not lead to improvement of Russian-Georgian relations.