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During the past 24 hours four people joined the participants of an action of protest in form of a hunger strike in the town of Lermontov, Stavropol region. So, 22 persons are taking part in the hunger strike at the moment, two of them are in hospital. According to head of the region Valery Gaevsky, the protesters are using coercive methods to achieve their goal which will be estimated by law enforcement bodies respectively.

Starting from March 20, in Georgia, socially vulnerable persons will receive vouchers for 1000 laris (about 606 US dollars) for education at professional training centres or vocational colleges. This was announced today by Nika Gilauri, Georgian Prime Minister, at the government meeting.

Dmitry Pavluchenkov, ex-Chief of Operative-search department of Chief Directorate of Interior Affairs of Moscow, who entered into collaboration with the investigation evidenced that Ahmed Zakaev and Boris Berezovsky could have been paymasters of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, observer of "Novaya Gazeta", "Commersant" newspaper reports today. Committee of Inquiry of Russia (CIR) neither confirmed nor disproved this information.

The Supreme Court (SC) of Kabardino-Balkaria announced the verdict for the two persons involved in the attack on the Baksan hydroelectric power plant (HPP). A 28-year-old Murat Shogenov and a 25-year-old Timur Shebzukhov were sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment to be served in a high security colony and to restriction of freedom for a term of 1 year.

Reading out annual message of President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili to the supreme legislative body of the country was accompanied by an action of protest near the walls of the Parliament.

The French President Nicolas Sarkozy has instructed the government to develop a new draft law allowing punishing persons doubting of Armenians' genocide in the Ottoman Empire. Turkey welcomes the decision of the Constitutional Council of France, which recognized the law on punishing for denial of the Armenian genocide adopted by the Senate of France as unconstitutional. Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) also welcomes the decision. The Armenian Diaspora in France threatens with protest actions.

In 2012-2013, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees will allocate to Azerbaijan assistance amounting to 11.8 million US dollars.

Court arrested the governess of the family group in the Volgograd Region, suspected of beating a 6-year-old pupil. This was reported today by the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).

In Astrakhan, eight out of ten victims under the rubbles of collapsed nine-storey apartment building are identified, including three men and five women.

Today, the Moscow City Court extended till June 4 the period of arrest for Akhmed Evloev, the defendant in the case of the terror act in the capital's "Domodedovo" Airport. This was reported by the press service of the Court.

The EU calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to send an invitation to the PACE Special Rapporteur on political prisoners, expressed its strong support for the territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders and emphasizes the need for access of its representatives to Nagorno-Karabakh. This is stated by the document adopted by the Foreign Affairs Council of the EU at the meeting held on February 27.

Georgia is ready to cancel visa regime for citizens of Russia. This was announced by Mikhail Saakashvili in his annual report in the Parliament on February 28.

The leader of Chechnya dismissed Sultan Dudaev, the head of the Chechen Construction Office (CCO), from his position. The reason for dismissal of the top-ranking officer was in systematic failure to pay wages to workers of the organization. This was reported to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by the Office of the Chechen leader and the Government of the republic.

The fire on the tanker "Engineer Nazarov" in the water areas of Makhachkala injured four persons, one of whom died. This was reported by the Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) of Dagestan.

On February 28, in Yerevan, in front of the Armenian National Assembly building, a rally was held. The rally participants demanded the Parliament's approval of legislative initiate proposed by the opposition to introduce a 100-percent proportional election system.

The City Council of Milan decided to immortalize the memory of Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian journalist from the "Novaya Gazeta". It was decided to name one of the streets after her.

Mikhail Markus, a 75-year-old participant of the hunger strike held in the town of Lermontov, who was emergently hospitalized last night, was transferred from a resuscitation ward into a therapeutic unit. The pensioner continues his hunger strike. According to recent reports, the protest action involves 17 persons.

On February 24, in the Krasnodar Territory, unidentified persons inflicted bodily injuries to Igor Golubenkov, a co-chair of the public organization "Save Taman" and assistant of the Deputy of the Temryuk Settlement Council. According to the victim, the attack was customized.

Mikhail Markus, 75, one of the protesters against elections to the City Council of Lermontov, was taken to the intensive care unit after several days of hunger strike, a medic from the first aid city centre has reported today.

On February 26, in Astrakhan, an oppositional rally "For Fair Elections" took place. The action adopted a resolution and collected signatures to the letter to the Prosecutor's Office demanding to address the systemic refusals to sanction rallies and transfer them from away from administrative buildings to sleeping districts.