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Vitaly Mutko, the head of the Russian Ministry of Sports, has announced that he will resign in case of poor performance of the Russian national team at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi by his fault. However, the Minister has clarified that when talking about failure, he implies not poor athletic performance, but problems with training of the athletes, participating in the Olympic Games.

In the village of Mutsalaul of the Khasavyurt District of Dagestan, unidentified persons committed an armed attack on a private house. As a result, an 11-year-old girl was killed, and her mother and a man, who were in the house, were wounded. This was reported today by an official from the Chief Department of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) for Dagestan.

Residents of the Magaramkent District of Dagestan, who protest against the construction of the Samur water intake refused to take part in the meeting of the republic's government. The protestors claimed that officials should visit the place where the problem occurred.

On December 25, Mansur Adjigisiev, a resident of the Stavropol Territory, died at the City Hospital of the city of Georgievsk. He was detained on suspicion of illegal possession of arms and received medical treatment under arrest at the Georgievsk City Hospital.

In the town of Kotovo of the Volgograd Region, car owners held a flash mob to protest against rise in prices of gasoline and diesel fuel. The protest action was attended by 16 car owners.

On December 25, a number of Russian cities, including Novosibirsk, Moscow, Krasnodar, Sochi, and Voronezh, hosted actions rallies in support of Evgeny Vitishko, a Kuban activist and ecologist, who was sentenced in the case of the "Tkachov's summer cottage".

On December 25, the 42-year-old Zaur Gasanov, a Category II invalid of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and a father of five children, committed self-immolation in central Baku opposite the building of the Azerbaijani Trade Unions Confederation. In this way he expressed his protest against confiscation of his cafe. Policemen managed to extinguish the fire. Zaur Gasanov was hospitalized in grave condition, said his father.

Nelly Modenova, a resident of Nalchik, has filed a lawsuit to the city court demanding from the Ministry of Finance to compensate the damage she suffered on April 6, 2012, when her apartment was burnt during a special operation, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" has informed today.

The names of the men who were killed today in Buynaksk in a shootout with the police are known, said the spokesman for the Investigating Department (ID) for Dagestan of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF). They were members of the "Buynaksk" grouping, said the press service of the republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

Today, four activists, by changing each other, held solo pickets in support of ecologist Evgeny Vitishko. The poster, which the picketers passed over to each other, read: "Freedom to Evgeny Vitishko!" and bore the five Olympic Rings decorated with barbed wire.

Today, the Rostov Regional Court has passed an acquittal in the criminal case against Vladislav Zhuravlyov, the former deputy mayor of Novocherkassk, who had been earlier sentenced to probation by the Novocherkassk City Court for intolerant remarks. Mr Zhuravlyov himself told it to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The Russian Cabinet of Ministers has decided to increase subsidies for the Sochi Olympics in the amount of 1.6 billion roubles. The money is allocated for the organization of the 22nd Winter Olympic Games and the 11th Paralympic Winter Games.

Sergey Khadjikurbanov, one of the defendants in the case of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, an observer of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta", was transferred to a special regime module of the SIZO (pre-trial prison) "Matrosskaya Tishina" (Sailor's Silence) in Moscow. This was reported by his advocate Alexei Mikhalchik.

In 2013, in Azerbaijan, at least 5 persons died from torture in the military units of the National Army, and 115 persons complained about torture, inhuman treatment and abuse. This was declared by Elchin Bekhbudov, the leader of the Committee against Torture, when presenting the annual report of the organization at the press conference.

Sochi began the demolition of buildings in the territory of the resort complex "Caucasian Riviera". The public is deprived of the possibility to control the process of demolition. Members of public organizations fear that, together with buildings recognized unauthorized by the court's decision, the historical monument may also be demolished.

26-year-old Khamzat Aldiev, a resident of Ingushetia, who has been earlier affected by the amnesty, is suspected of attacking law enforcers. The court pronounced a pre-trial restriction measure to Khamzat Aldiev as detention in custody till February 22. At present, he is kept at the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of Grozny. This was reported by his advocate.

The Islamic Party of Azerbaijan (IPA) has addressed to Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazadeh, the leader of the Caucasian Muslims Office (CMO), asking him to take steps to cancel the festivities on the occasion of the coming New Year.

At the trial conducted by the Adler District Court of Sochi on the charge of a policeman Sergey Kuznetsov of abuse of office and beating Pavel Solovyov, a builder of the Olympic facilities, the witnesses have confirmed that they had seen the policeman beating the victim, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

Today, in the village of Psykhurey, Baksan District of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, a woman folk healer was killed, said the spokesman of the Republic's Department of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).

Today, about three thousand residents of the Magaramkent District of Dagestan have broken the police cordon and stopped the construction of a water intake near the village of Azadogly, which, according to villagers, threatens the ecology of the unique Samur forest, said Magomedanifa Beibutov, a Deputy of the District Assembly.