News

Opponents of the visit to Armenia of the Azerbaijani delegation, which arrived to participate in the meeting of the "Euronest" Parliamentary Assembly, held two protest actions in Yerevan.

Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev have taken the announced verdict calmly; they understood from the very beginning that the verdict would assume imprisonment; and justice could only be achieved at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), their advocate, Alexander Nemov, has stated.

The Federation Council (the Upper House of the Russian Parliament, or the Senate) has given its consent to the President of Russia for the use of the country's armed forces outside its borders. The consent will allow protecting the interests of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics DPR and LPR), the senators assert.

Azerbaijani journalist Avaz Shikhmamedov, also known as Avaz Khafizli, was killed, and his cousin is suspected of the crime. Colleagues of the murdered journalist note that Avaz Shikhmamedov spoke out in defence of the rights of sexual minorities, which caused discontent in his family.

Border guards were injured while detaining drug trafficking suspects near the border with Iran, the State Border Guard Service of Azerbaijan reported.

In Chechnya, a court sentenced Salekh Magamadov to eight and Ismail Isaev to six years of imprisonment. The case against the brothers has been fabricated, and the defence will appeal against the verdict, says advocate Alexander Nemov.

In Tbilisi, participants of a protest action demanding the release of former president of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili tried to block the road and get a meeting with the Prime Minister of Georgia. The police detained eight protesters for disobedience.

During the past 24 hours, more than 20,000 residents of Donbass arrived in the Rostov Region, the border guards have informed. The refugees' inflow into Russia continued amid the recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) and the decision to send Russian troops to these regions.

The belonging to the LGBTI community is not a crime; the suffering of the natives of Chechnya, Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev, must be stopped immediately, Marie Struthers, the director of the human rights organization Amnesty International (AI) for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

In the territories that passed under Azerbaijan's control after the 2020 autumn war, during the past week, sappers from the ANAMA (the Azerbaijani Mine Action Agency) found more than 40 anti-personnel and anti-tank mines.

Residential buildings in the Karabakh village of Krasny Bazar continue to be shelled by Azerbaijani militaries despite the fact that the village has a peacemakers' base, local residents have complained. Shelling keeps people in constant fear; their livestock is stolen.

The Union "For Freedom of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners" has included 126 people into the list of activists persecuted by authorities. The list has grown four-fold within two months.

The Mayor of Makhachkala has announced the city readiness to accommodate 200 refugees in a boarding house in the suburb of the capital of Dagestan. Some social network users have supported the call to help refugees, while others called for resettling those who came from Donbass in those regions of Russia where the culture and mentality are closer to theirs.

Mikhail Saakashvili, the third president of Georgia, went on an indefinite hunger strike with the demand for proper medical treatment. The decision on hunger strike is made despite the doctor’s warning about the risk of death, Mikhail Saakashvili says in court.

During solo pickets in Makhachkala, colleagues of Abdulmumin Gadjiev, accused of financing terrorism, demanded to release him from arrest and stop pressure on journalists. Residents of Makhachkala demonstrate their interest in the Abdulmumin Gadjiev’s case and support the picketers, participants of the protests note.

During the week of February 14-20, 2022, no killed or wounded in the ongoing armed conflict in Northern Caucasus were reported. These are the results of the calculations run by the “Caucasian Knot” based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

The positions of the Azerbaijani troops in the villages of Shushakend and Tagavard were shelled from the territory controlled by Russian peacekeepers, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan reported.

The European Union (EU) exerts insufficient pressure on Azerbaijan concerning the return of Armenian prisoners of war (POWs), opposition activists say. They called on their supporters to organize a protest action during a meeting in Yerevan of the bureau and commissions of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.

Arrival of refugees from Donbass to Southern Russia; murder of a tourist in Karachay-Cherkessia; replacement of the chair of the Dagestani government; resignation of Dmitry Trapeznikov from the post of Mayor of Elista, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of February 14-20, 2022, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.

Nagorno-Karabakh activists have marked the 34th anniversary of the liberation movement by laying flowers and wreaths at the Memorial Complex in Stepanakert. It is necessary to consolidate the Armenians and return to the main idea of the national liberation movement – reunification with Armenia, the activists have stated.