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On March 13, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) reported detention in Dagestan and Moscow of nine persons suspected of extorting money and threatening the head of one of Dagestani mass media and his relatives, and of attacking the journalist.

In 2017, an overall decrease in the number of victims to the armed conflict in the regions of Northern Caucasian occurred against the backdrop of an increase in the number of civilian casualties. This is evidenced by the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot".

In the village of Vale, near the Saint Nino Chapel, unidentified people burned down Catholic books and icons. Local residents suggest that someone is trying to sow enmity between the Catholic and Orthodox believers.

The advocates and relatives of Muslimat Kurbanova, who returned home from Syria, intend to appeal against the verdict awarded to her, considering it too harsh. The court could have passed a more lenient sentence, if it had followed the new, not old, wording of the article, which provides for a softer punishment, an advocate for Muslimat Kurbanova told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Irina Berchiyan has managed to visit her native Baku for the first time in 30 years. The woman joined the "Armenia-Azerbaijan Civil Peace Platform", an organization supporting the settlement of the Karabakh conflict on the Azerbaijani conditions.

Rovshan Azizov, an English language teacher, has appealed to the court to be reinstated in his job at a school in Baku. According to the teacher, he was dismissed for his civil position. On March 12, the school principal admitted at trial that the teacher was dismissed because of his calls for peace between the peoples of Azerbaijan and Armenia he had voiced in front of pupils, Rovshan Azizov said.

The today's visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Dagestan was accompanied by reinforced security measures: in the morning, the central square of Makhachkala was cordoned off by policemen and special service agents; a large number of armoured vehicles were parked nearby; and snipers were deployed on roofs of houses.

In the Stavropol Territory, members of the movement "Golos" (Vote) and the local Navalny's office have held a series of trainings for observers. Participants of the trainings interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" noted the trainings gave them confidence that observers were able to prevent violations at polling stations.

Today, Murtazali Gasanguseinov, a father of the murdered shepherds, has succeeded in meeting Denis Popov, Prosecutor of Dagestan. At the meeting with the chair of the Dagestani Prosecutor's Office, Murtazali Gasanguseinov was accompanied by rights defender Djambulat Gasanov, a representative of the Gasanguseinov family.

On March 12, an advocate of Oyub Titiev announced that the police came to the conclusion that the cigarettes found during a search in the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" contained marijuana. The advocate questioned the conclusions made by the experts.

On March 12, acting Dagestani leader Vladimir Vasiliev announced that the problem of dilapidated schools is to be solved by the method of "all-nation construction" with allocation of the money from the Dagestani budget and investment of the funds by outstanding natives of a district or a city.

In Azerbaijan, there is no any political intrigue in the upcoming presidential election, and they virtually have no alternatives, but one candidate only, Anar Mamedli, the head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre (EMDS), told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Family members of Pyotr Parpulov, who was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment in a high-security penal colony for high treason, were notified that the former air traffic controller had been refused a pardon.

In Moscow, on the exhibition space of the "Vorobyovy Gory" metro station, the exhibition "The Republic of Adygea on Vorobyovy Gory" has been opened, which represents mostly works of Adyg artists and masters of arts and crafts. About 150 people gathered at the opening of the exhibition, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

In Azerbaijan, the authorities want to hold a "calm election campaign" to avoid any public debate about the rescheduling of the election. This opinion was voiced by political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

Said Mamedov, a resident of Makhachkala, who was declared by law enforcers a member of the Makhachkala unit of the "Islamic Stat" (IS), a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court, had to confess to possessing ammunition and explosives under torture, his mother Madina Mamedova has stated.

A sociological poll on the upcoming presidential election was held in cities and large settlements of Chechnya; its respondents were about 1500 people from various social groups, from pensioners to law enforcers, a source from the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Chechnya told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Today Magomed Khazbiev, an Ingush oppositionist, has announced a hunger strike in protest against persecutions and custody conditions at the SIZO (pre-trial prison), where he is kept.

About 30 relatives and fellow villagers of Gasanguseinov brothers-shepherds, who were killed in the Dagestani village of Goor-Khindakh, Shamil District, went out to an unsanctioned rally in Makhachkala and demanded a meeting with Vladimir Vasiliev, the acting head of the republic.

The Soviet District Court of Makhachkala has sentenced Muslimat Kurbanova, a resident of Dagestan, who voluntarily returned from Syria, to eight years of imprisonment in a penal colony with a delay in punishment until her child's 14th birthday.