News

Niyameddin Verdiev, a resident of the village of Borsunlu, has lost his leg after triggering a mine in the Terter District, the Azerbaijani General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) has informed.

The footage of the advancement of Azerbaijani troops to Shushi is used as an element of the information campaign against Nikol Pashinyan, Armen Vardanyan, a political analyst, believes. The opposition is inefficiently using such videos to lower Pashinyan's rating; therefore, the record will give no result, Armen Badalyan, a political technologist, is sure.

On the 22nd day of his hunger strike, after he was visited by a doctor and Red Cross officials, Polad Aslanov, an Azerbaijani journalist, has been placed under medical supervision, his wife has informed.

Some of social media users claim that the footage depicting the advancement of the Azerbaijani troops to Shusha confirms the version about the treacherous surrender of the city. Their opponents associate the above version with the unwillingness to recognize the Azerbaijan's military successes.

A court found Bagavudin Omarov, a native of Makhachkala, guilty of organizing an extremist organization and sentenced him to three years of imprisonment. However, the time spent under arrest was taken into account, and the defendant was released after the verdict was pronounced. Bagavudin Omarov pleaded guilty.

The chairman of the Ukrainian government requested an explanation from his deputy Oleg Urusky concerning a photo in which the latter was captured standing next to the leader of Chechnya at the arms and defence technology sales exhibition in Abu Dhabi. The Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister said that he did not choose a position next to Ramzan Kadyrov.

A Tbilisi court acquitted two out of eight detained protesters accused of failure to obey to the legal requests of the police. Other three protestors got warnings from the court. The decision on the rest detainees was postponed at a request from their advocates.

Residents of Ingushetia should not ignore the Defender of the Fatherland Day, but the holiday coincides with the anniversary of the deportation, and that fact makes entertainment events unacceptable. This opinion was expressed by Murad Daskiev, the acting head of the Ingush Council of Teips (family clans), MP Zakriy Mamilov, and Issa Kostoev, an adviser to the leader of Ingushetia.

Return of refugees, post-war victims, and search for dead bodies in the Karabakh conflict zone; verdict of guilty to Rostov activist Anastasia Shevchenko; resignation of Giorgi Gakhariya from the post of Prime Minister of Georgia; FSB reports about detention of terrorists in Southern Russia; public outcry around court's decision on claim lodged by a Chechen prosecutor, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of February 15-21, 2021, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Some of Nagorno-Karabakh residents interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have treated the initiative of local MPs to recognize Russian as the official language along with Armenian as untimely. Others, on the other hand, believe that the status of the Russian language had to be reconsidered long ago.

During the week of February 15-21, 2021, there was no information about any casualties and wounded persons in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from open sources.

The video by the film director, Arshak Zakaryan, that before the capture of Shushi, Armenian militaries failed to react to intelligence data on the advancement of Azerbaijani Special Forces near the city looks reliable, military experts have admitted.

Tbilisi policemen have detained the activists who tried to set up a tent at a protest action timed to the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the first Georgian Constitution. The activists treated law enforcers' actions as a violation of their right to the freedom of assembly.

Ara Sagatelyan, a former head of staff of the Armenian Parliament, has been arrested within the case of fakes during the aggravation of the Karabakh conflict. The decision to detain his assistant, Mger Avakyan, was declared unlawful; and he was released.

The managers of Russian universities and colleges have discouraged pupils from participating in actions for Navalny, by misinterpreting the law or rejecting the legality as such, the publication of the "Novaya Gazeta" newspaper asserts.

On February 20, thousands gathered in Yerevan for a rally dedicated to the 33rd anniversary of the Karabakh movement. At the rally, opposition leaders voiced out their demand for the resignation of the Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan. Activists, while chanting "Armenia without Nikol", blocked several streets in the country's capital.

A woman and a man were beaten up, and their car was shelled in Magas, the capital of Ingushetia. The victims are a fortune-teller who came from abroad and her husband, a source said, suggesting that members of the so-called social movement to combat witchcraft may be involved in the incident.

After his beating up in Makhachkala, Ruslan Ablyakimov, an activist, filed an application to the police. The attack is connected with the announcement of the opening of Navalny's office in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, Mr Ablyakimov said.

The Ministry of Culture of Abkhazia has summed up the results of the first stage of the contest for projects of the monument to Vladislav Ardzinba, the first President of Abkhazia.

Eleven journalistic and public organizations have demanded from Armenian authorities to abandon the initiative of introducing criminal liability for insulting and slandering civil servants. Such amendments to the Criminal Code will lead to political persecutions of authorities' critics and censorship, human rights defenders believe.