News

Shamsail Saraliev, a Russian State Duma member from Chechnya, has announced that 75 Russian military personnel have been returned from the Ukrainian captivity without exchange and 173 other prisoners of war have been returned through exchange. The military personnel have been returned from the Ukrainian captivity through the mediation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Russian Ministry of Defence reports.

Khasanbek Turchaev, a native of Chechnya, who is serving his sentence in the case on participating in the war in Syria on the militants’ side, has been deprived of his French citizenship.

If a person who has committed a crime against public safety or law enforcers is hiding, law enforcers must punish one of his relatives, Ramzan Kadyrov has stated, explaining this by Chechen traditions.

Six people have served their arrests; three others were fined and one was sentenced to compulsory labour for their calls posted in the WhatsApp* to go out to a rally in support of the detained rioters at Makhachkala Airport.

Pavel Chaichenko, who served in the Volgograd Region, was sentenced to four years of imprisonment in a penal colony for transferring to the commanders a part of the bribes from two military men who asked not to be sent to the special military operation zone in Ukraine.

Refugees from Palestine are provided with accommodation, food, their documents are being processed, and charitable organizations provide clothing upon request from those who arrived to the republic from the Gaza Strip, state activists from the organizations helping refugees.

The training at the Russian Special Forces University included only two lessons on shooting and a theoretical lecture on arranging ambushes. After that, volunteers were loaded onto a plane and sent to the special military operation zone, states the diary of Rasul Taspenov from Kazan, who in the autumn of 2022 went to fight in Ukraine as a fighter of the “Akhmat” special forces military unit.

During the week from December 25 to December 31, 2023, three persons were wounded during the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus – an alleged militant and two civilians. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

Mass New Year celebrations in Derbent, like the holiday itself, were inappropriate amid the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as the special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine, some commentators have stated in the local public.

The Primorsky District Court of Novorossiysk has rejected the lawsuit lodged by Mark Chub, who tried to obtain the alternative civilian service (ACS), referring to his religious beliefs.

A 57-year-old resident of Dagestan died in a hospital of a penal colony, where he was taken after 3.5 years in a SIZO (pre-trial prison). The defendant’s health was constantly deteriorating, but the court did not soften the pre-trial restriction measure, reported Shamil Khadulaev, the deputy chair of the Public Oversight Commission of Dagestan.

The first prise in the contest in memory of Dagestani journalist Akhmednabi Akhmednabiev went to Irina Babicheva, a correspondent of the regional “161.ru” portal, for her article about the tragedy in the city of Yeisk, when sixteen people perished as a result of the crash of a Su-34 aircraft.

The criminal case on beating of a teenager with disabilities in a shopping centre in Rostov-on-Don has been closed in connection with the defendant’s death.

Presidential election and repressions in Azerbaijan, persecution of pacifists and activists in Southern Russia, scandal with the “Pitsunda” state dacha, return to Georgian politics, Kadyrovs are establishing order, and official data on the natives of Southern Russia who perished in Ukraine, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of December 25-31, 2023, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.

Journalist Idris Yusupov* held a solo picket in Makhachkala in solidarity with the people of Palestine. Journalist Magomed Magomedov held at the same place a picket in support of Abdulmumin Gadjiev, and his protest action caused a lively reaction from passers-by.

In Vienna, about 50 activists held a rally with the demand to conduct an investigation into the death of a native of Chechnya in an Austrian prison. The rally participants called on for stopping the deportation of natives of Chechnya to countries where torture and extrajudicial killings await them.

A military court sentenced a contract soldier from Kuban to three years of imprisonment in a penal colony, finding him guilty of evading military service.

The defence convinced a court in Malgobek to release from custody Leyla Gatagazheva, a native of Ingushetia, accused of having connections in Syria with militants of the “Islamic State” (IS, a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court, – note of the “Caucasian Knot”).

Relatives of people suspected of extremism are responsible for their actions. That has been announced by Ramzan Kadyrov. The authorities of Chechnya will get rid of their critics wherever they are, the Chechen leader notes.

Forced migrants from Palestine who arrived in Nalchik have faced a lack of job offers and a shortage of cash. The refugees express their hopes that after the New Year holidays, the authorities will resolve the issue of educating children in local schools.