News

Mass detentions of relatives of Umar and Magomed Khambiyevs, who had occupied high positions in Aslan Maskhadov's government earlier, started on February 29 in the villages of Meskety, Benoy, and Turty-Khutor.

The round table discussion "The Institution of Observation at the Elections: Purposes, Tasks, and Outlook" was held in Stavropol on March 5.

The first stage of the "How Much?" campaign was a large-scale action to post leaflets; the next stage will be the distribution of application forms among Ryazan residents with argued requests to government bodies about losses among Russian servicemen and financial expenditure on military operations.

The main task of the project was to stimulate interest of journalists, both professionals and students, to the activity of non-government organizations (NGOs), to form skills in working with them.

Abkhazian Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba received a member of the British NGO Conciliation Resources, Caucasus Program Manager Jonathan Cohen. They discussed projects carried out by the organization together with local NGOs.

An armed clash with an illegal armed group took place between the villages of Shuani and Yalkhoi-Mokhk in the Kurchaloy district. Six rebels were killed and another four injured. Aslan Gazuyev, commander of the Riada-as-Salikhin rebel group, was killed as well.

"Establishing, unfortunately, the inability of the international community to stop the war and thereby end the tragedy of the Chechen people, the Chechen National Rescue Committee calls upon the international community once again to stop at least high-handedness towards Chechen refugees," reads the statement by the organization.

The Yerevan Press Club, the Armenian Helsinki Committee, the Civil Society Institute, and the Caucasian Center for Peacemaking Initiatives issued a joint statement on the murder of Armenian officer Gurgen Margarian by an Azerbaijan serviceman in Budapest.

The head of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), Jean-Herve Bradol, said his kidnapping was aimed at "silencing those criticising conditions in Chechnya".

The 15-minute documentary about Mikhail Trepashkin A Hero of Our Time" will be presented at the Central House of Journalists in Moscow on March 11.

"On March 4, the government officially ratified a model procedure for journalists' obtaining accreditation at the offices of state, finally revealing the fear and even terror that the present regime feels towards free speech," reads a statement by the National Press Club.

"We call on Ajarian authorities to actively investigate this vicious attack against Komakhidze and to bring those responsible to justice," said Ann Cooper, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The supply of electric power to the camp for Chechen refugees Angusht, situated in Nazran, was resumed several days ago, after almost a two-week break.

Experts say one of every four displaced persons died from hunger and privation during four years. The Balkars were able to return to their homeland only in 1957.

The student from the Department of Medicine of the Chechen State University was released on March 5, said his classmates.

A large-scale search was conducted early in the morning on March 6 at the Satsita refugee camp in Ingushetia.

A new incident happened on the eve of International Women's Day. The Caucasian Knot correspondent learnt about it from the Novorossiysk City Committee on Human Rights.

Delegates of the Extraordinary Congress of the People of Kalmykia are arriving in Moscow in two buses on March 10, 2004. They are going to hold a picket at the monument to Karl Marx on Teatralnaya Square from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 10, 11, and 12 March, 2004. Up to 100 people are expected to be participants in the action.

Russia is ready to re-consider the question of giving a visa to Lord Judd, reported a source at the information and press department of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The President dismissed Viktor Kazantsev as the President's Plenipotentiary in the South Federal District and appointed Vladimir Yakovlev to this position.