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The murder in Nazran of Ibragim Belkharoev has nothing to do with domestic (everyday) reasons, since the deceased was close to the Chechen leadership, social network users believe.

Almost a month after the murder of Julietta Gukasyan, a resident of Gyumri, her relatives still know nothing about the motives of the crime and the investigation progress, said Asmik Gukasyan, a daughter of the murdered woman. According to her, a detained Russian soldier should be handed over to the Armenian side.

In the centre of Grozny, the atmosphere of suspicion was felt during the New Year's festivities because of intensified inspections, residents of Grozny reported.

In 2018, the ceasefire regime on the contact line of the armed forces of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan was about 10,000 times violated by the Azerbaijani side. The Azerbaijani armed forces fired more than 97,000 shots at the Armenian positions and used both small arms and grenade launchers, states the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for Nagorno-Karabakh in its report on the results of 2018.

In the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD), the past year is remembered by several crises, including expansion of the territory of Chechnya by Ramzan Kadyrov despite mass protests in Ingushetia, interethnic conflict which led to the resignation of the Kabardino-Balkarian leader, and a number of top-ranking officials fell under arrest and investigations in Dagestan.

At the venue of the attack on Ibragim Belkharoev, shell cases of two different calibres were found, the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) informs. The criminal case was initiated under the article about the murder committed by a group of persons.

On the fifth day of his dry hunger strike, after his health condition has deteriorated, Mekhman Guseinov, an Azerbaijani blogger, began drinking water in custody, his brother has informed.

On December 31, six activists held a rally "Strategy 31" in Volgograd, at which they demanded the freedom of assembly and reduction of social tension, recalling that protesters in Paris had achieved the fulfilment of their demands.

The blogger Mekhman Guseinov was transferred from the colony to the Baku SIZO (pre-trial prison) in connection with the new criminal case opened against him, his advocate said on December 31.

Russian and Armenian gas suppliers will raise prices, but this will not affect tariffs for consumers in Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan has assured today after talks with the Russian president.

The positions of the Azerbaijani Army were shelled from large-calibre machine guns, including those positions stationed in nine villages in the border areas, the country's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has stated today.

In Southern Caucasus, the year of 2018 is remembered by the revolution in Armenia, the elections of presidents in Azerbaijan and Georgia, and mass protests in different regions. The "Caucasian Knot" has summed up the results of the year in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia.

During the week of December 24-30, 2018, no information was reported about people killed and wounded 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 other open sources.

In Ingushetia, Ibragim Belkharoev, a well-known religious figure and great-grandson of Sheikh Batal-Khadji Belkhoroev, was shot dead; his driver Abo Aushev was seriously wounded.

A special flight with 30 Russian children arrived on December 30 from Iraq at the airfield Ramenskoe near Moscow, the head of Chechnya had stated.

The working group on the unified list of political prisoners has condemned the new accusation put forward against the blogger Mekhman Guseinov, and called on international organizations to urgently react to the human rights situation in Azerbaijan.

On December 30, residents of Volgograd laid flowers at the memorial stone installed at the place of the terror act committed five years ago in a city trolleybus. After the incident, some townspeople refused to use public transport whatsoever.

Tarik Topchu was too late to appeal against the abolition of his residence permit, the Supreme Court (SC) of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) has ruled.

On December 27, in Baku, Talekh Khasmamedov, a rights defender and a member of the Centre for the Protection of Political Prisoners (CPPP), was detained on suspicion of extortion, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has reported. His wife and colleagues-activists are sure that Talekh is being persecuted on trumped-up charges.

In Azerbaijan, cases of persecution of journalists for criticizing the authorities have become more frequent, announces the international organization "Reporters Without Borders" (RWB). Rights defenders have called on the international community not to stand aside to stop the repression against the media.