News

The total number of activists detained on December 24, during the rally of Nikol Pashinyan's opponents has reached 94. The protesters treat the police's actions as particularly harsh.

The law enforcers, whom the authors of the investigative journalism believe to be involved in the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, had flown to Grozny and Vladikavkaz and could carry out special missions there, Hristo Grozev, a Bellingcat journalist and the author of the investigation into the attempt on Navalny, has suggested in his interview with the Meduza.

Alexander Ivanov, who was a member of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh, has been buried in Bashkortostan today. The Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) did not report about his death.

At the opposition rally held in the centre of Yerevan, the police have detained 77 people, some of whom have already been released, the police report.

Today, Bagaudin Myakiev, who served his sentence in a case on clashes with the police, has posted on the Internet a photo with a poster, in which he pointed to the freedom of assembly guaranteed by the Constitution and demanded to release participants of the protest in Magas.

A cortege of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan broke through the crowd of protesters and drove away from the government building. The police reported about 69 people detained at the protest action.

In Yerevan, the Armenian capital, policemen have set up a cordon around the government building aiming to prevent the disruption of the parliament session by supporters of the opposition who demand Pashinyan's resignation.

Russian peacemakers have escorted another column of buses with 488 refugees from Yerevan to Stepanakert, making the total number of returnees in excess of 43,000 people, the Russian Ministry of Defence has informed today.

The civilians found in the forest in the Gadrut District have been discharged from the hospital and placed under doctors' supervision, while the soldiers had received frostbite and continue their treatment at hospital, a source from the medical centre in Stepanakert has informed.

It is not difficult to identify those killed in counterterrorist operations (CTOs); therefore, Chechen law enforcers should explain their mistake in identifying Kazbek Baidulaev and other persons killed in CTOs, the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

Relatives of eleven residents of the village of Anzorei, whom investigators had treated as members of an extremist community, told the "Caucasian Knot" that they knew nothing about Sharia patrols. The case files indicate that the defendants had intimidated local residents with threats and beatings.

Oksana Sotieva, Inal Djabiev's widow, has asked Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president, to help in achieving punishment of those responsible for her husband's death; she relies on Medvedev's great authority in South Ossetia.

The ban on leaving Azerbaijan for journalist Shakhveled Chobanoglu, which had been in effect since 2015, has been lifted. The General Prosecutor's Office did not inform the journalist about the possibility for him to leave the country until a month passed after the ban had been lifted, while there was a need for medical treatment abroad during that very month, Shakhveled Chobanoglu claims.

Vazgen Manukyan, whom the opposition wants to see as the Prime Minister of Armenia, has got the experience of heading the government and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) during the crisis. He is a suitable candidate to become the Prime Minister, participants of the protest actions in Yerevan claim.

After a special operation in Grozny, law enforcers kidnapped at least seven persons, but their relatives did not file any complaints to the police, authors of the 1Adat Telegram Channel stated. In Chechnya, people are afraid to file complaints to the police and seek legal aid, which only harm their relatives and friends, say human rights defenders interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

During the escalation of the Karabakh conflict, 60 civilians of the unrecognized republic were killed, and 163 others were injured, Ombudsman Artak Beglaryan reports. During the combat actions, about 45,000 residents of the region were left homeless, the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh report.

Manvel Paramazyan, Mayor of Kajaran, was summoned for questioning to the Investigating Committee of Armenia after he had demanded the resignation of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Residents of Syunik gathered for a support rally in front of the building, and most of them came from Kajaran.

Garnik Isagulyan, the head of the "National Security" Party, has been criminally prosecuted for his words about a reward for the assassination of the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan; he is also suspected of defamation for his allegations of sponsoring the "Velvet Revolution" from Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Several dozen protesters stay in Republic Square in central Yerevan, the capital of Armenia; activists spent the night in tents and are waiting for the start of the rally in the afternoon.

A court in Moscow has found the refusal to pay compensations to relatives of those who perished in December 2016 in the Tu-154 crash near Sochi to be legitimate; the claimants' representative has announced. The defence intends to appeal against the refusal.