News

Sulim Yamadaev was dropped from command of the "Vostok" (East) battalion of the 42nd Motorized Rifle Division of the Ministry of Defence of Russia. This was stated today by President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov at the meeting with representatives of law enforcement bodies in Grozny.

The General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation is going to check up the legality of releasing from custody of two defendants in the criminal case on the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Villagers in Balakhani, Untsukul District of Dagestan, express their discontent with actions of employees of power agencies who are conducting a special operation in the vicinity. People say that uncontrolled fire is killing cattle and provoked a fire in the adjacent forest.

Today, a little more that five months prior to the regular presidential election in Azerbaijan, the social and political situation in the country remains depressively stable. There are all the attributes of unconditional domination of the existing power and absence in the society of any worthy opposition, Azerbaijani political scientist Rasim Agaev asserts.

According to Matthew Bryza, assistant of the US undersecretary of state, who is now in Tbilisi, "a certain progress can be noticed in Georgia towards free and fair elections."

This night, an attack was accomplished on the pre-election office of the Georgian ruling party "United National Movement", located in Varketili district of Tbilisi.

In the opinion of Matthew Bryza, assistant of the US undersecretary of state, no military alternative of settling the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict can ever exist, since it will only aggravate the fundamental disagreements that make the core of the conflict.

In St-Petersburg, a man who committed a crime on the motive of national hatred against natives of Azerbaijan is sentenced to five years of prison. The verdict was passed by the Kalinin District Court of the city.

In Georgia, the pressure on oppositionists is still exerted. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Kakhaber Dzaganiya, ideological secretary of the Labour Party of Georgia.

David Petrosyan, a political analyst of the News Agency "Noyan Tapan", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that Armenia de facto fails to follow the requirements of the recent PACE session as presented in Resolutions No. 1609.

Relatives of Issa Arsaev, who was killed on May 8 in Kantyshevo village, Nazran District, have stated to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the casualty was not a terrorist and did not prepare any terror acts.

Today, Matthew Bryza, assistant of the US undersecretary of state, has arrived to Georgia with an official visit. At the "Tbilisi-Marriott" Hotel, he had a meeting with the leaders of the United Opposition to discuss the forthcoming parliamentary elections and the events currently underway in Abkhazia.

Abas Abasov, one of the suspects of organizing the murder of Farid Babaev, leader of the Dagestan Regional Branch of the "Yabloko" Party, was freed under recognizance not to leave.

The conflict around the "Vostok" (East) special-purpose battalion, which is commanded by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff (the so-called "GRU"), continues to escalate. The investigation now possesses new information about possible involvement of special fighters in one more crime.

Today at night, in the centre of Tbilisi, a policeman has shot dead Giorgiy Gamtsemlidze, an activist of one of the electoral offices of the ruling party of Georgia - the United National Movement.

At the trial of the activists of Armenian opposition, the women-eyewitnesses in the case have stated that their earlier evidences that the three defendants had hampered the election process on February 19 were made under pressure, and rejected them.

Kakhaber Shartava, one of the leaders of the United Opposition and leader of the National Forum Party, has accused the governor of the Kvemo-Kartli District of bribing and intimidating local voters. The governor rejects the accusations.

The parents of the students who came to Stavropol from Chechnya and Ingushetia to get their education are concerned with frequent murders "of Caucasus-origin nationals" committed in this city and want to take their children away.

A court in the Astrakhan Region has appointed three years of conditional imprisonment to the doctor who had refused to provide free-of-charge hospitalization to a seven-year-old boy with a compound arm fracture; with the result that later surgeons had to amputate the arm.

The United Opposition has promulgated another revelatory video record. It depicts Goderdzi Bukiya, one of the candidates from the party in power "United National Movement", who confesses that he is engaged in business.