News

Spain intends to use its forthcoming OSCE chairmanship starting from January 1, 2007, to settle the "frozen" conflicts in East Europe and South Caucasus.

Last Monday, a member of illegal armed formations gave himself up to the standby unit of the Grozny District Interior Department ("ROVD").

Today, militiamen have surrounded one of multi-storey houses in the centre of Makhachkala, capital of Dagestan, and started to check all its residents.

Mr. Namik Tahn, press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia has commented the official Ankara's position in response to Armenia's offer to establish diplomatic relations and open borders.

In the Yubileinaya Street of Makhachkala, unknown persons have shot dead a sentry militiaman who was on duty guarding the public order.

Several days ago in Moscow, in 3rd Park Street in Moscow, a young Jewish businessman, a native of the "Krasnaya Sloboda" (Red Settlement) in Azerbaijan was murdered.

The Russian Prosecutor-General's Office is now considering a version that connects the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, ex-FSB officer, in London with two other undiscovered poisonings, the London newspaper The Sunday Times asserts.

At night of January 1, the Ingushetian stations of mobile telephone communication were shelled twice.

As a result of a search conducted on December 29 in the house of Vaan Iliyazovich Aroyan, resident of the village Lusarat, Ararat region, a cache with a lot of weapons and ammunition has been discovered, reports the press-service of the Armenian National Security Service.

During a meeting with Azeri journalists, Turan Moraly, Turkish ambassador in Azerbaijan, has expressed his attitude towards cessation of broadcasting of Turkish channels in Azerbaijan.

Russians consider the development of relations with neighboring countries the main topic of RF foreign policy in 2006.

Ilkham Aliev, President of Azerbaijan, has signed a decree on approving the National Action Plan on the protection of human rights in the country.

Mario Scaramella, Italian lawyer, will spend the New Year holiday in the Roman prison of "Regina Koeli".

According to the TV company "Rustavi 2", a state of emergency has been introduced in Abkhazia, and the government military forces are located in the Ochamchirsk district adjoining the Galsk district.

Scotland Yard has been asked to interrogate Boris Berezovsky at the earliest opportunity on the case of murder of Alexandr Litvinenko, former FSB officer, and attempted murder of businessman Dmitri Kovtun, which is under investigation by the Russian prosecutor's office.

The Karelia prosecutor's office has accused of murder two residents of Chechnya who took part in a mass fight in the city of Kondopoga which resulted in ethnic-based disturbances in the city at the beginning of September.

"Interfax" reports that the Russian First Channel, according to its public relations directorate, expresses its perplexity in connection with the Baku decision to stop broadcasting its programs in Azerbaijan starting from July next year.

The Russian national movement "For Human Rights" and the Committee "For Civil Rights" express their grave concern in connection with the fact that, on December 28, Vladimir Bukreyev, the former judge who sentenced colonel Budanov, has been placed into the punishment cell of Moscow's pre-trial prison No 5 for 15 days under the pretext that a SIM-card was found on him.

At the end of November, Leonid Nevzlin told in his interview to the British The Times newspaper that not long before his death Alexander Litvinenko gave him certain materials, which "shed light on most important aspects of the YUKOS case."

On December 27, Robin Seaword, head of the Baku OSCE office, expressed his concern of inactivity of the Azerbaijani police in relation to assaults on representatives of opposition papers that took place last Sunday and Monday.