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On February 25, the leaders of the Chechen Diaspora in Norway held a rally near the Norwegian parliament against mass deportation of Chechen refugees to Russia. For those immigrants from Chechnya who obtained their residence permits in this country, a ban will be introduced on visits to their homeland.

On March 4, the Nizami District Court of the city of Gyandzha passed a ruling on a 1-month arrest of Bakhtiyar Gadjiev, an active Facebook user. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent learnt about it from his brother Vugar Gadjiev.

The Azeri parliament has ratified the Declaration on the "Southern Gas Corridor", a joint document with the European Union (EU).

Starting May this year, the authorities of the capital of Adzharia will offer a new service to city visitors. The guests of the resort will be able to use bike taxis. The most environment-friendly, cheap and safe transport will move around the old town, the seaside promenade and the botanical gardens.

Russia will not give guarantees of non-use of force to Georgia, because Moscow does not threaten Tbilisi, said Grigory Karasin, State Secretary and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, at the 15th round of Geneva talks on security and stability in Transcaucasia, held in the evening on March 4.

The message about the state order on purchase of a luxury car worth 8.5 million roubles for the Ministry of Finance of Dagestan, which was published in his LiveJournal by the well-known blogger and lawyer Alexei Navalny, caused great resonance in the Internet. According to the latest data, the Dagestani Ministry has refused to buy the expensive foreign-made car.

Valery Kuznetsov, Prosecutor of the Rostov Region has made a presentation to the Governor of the Rostov Region, asking to consider the issue of compliance of Grigory Skripka, Chairman of the Regional Committee for Environment Protection and Natural Resources, to his post. In the opinion of the Prosecutor's Office, he exhibited inaction and abuse of official powers.

The man, who was killed during today's shelling in Makhachkala, was a former FSB officer; he was recently employed as assistant of the head of the Russian Federal Tax Service (FTS) for Dagestan, said a source in law enforcement bodies.

A law enforcement officer was killed today during a shootout in central Nazran. Besides, a suspected militant was killed and one more was wounded.

Magomed Gaziev, a resident of the village of Shamkhal, who was kidnapped on March 1 by unidentified persons, is kept in the temporary detention facility (known as "IVS") of Makhachkala, where he was beaten and tortured, as his relatives report.

As reported by Anna Usachova, head of the press service of the Moscow City Court, Judge Alexander Zamashnyuk, who is presiding at the trial on the murder of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova, will be guarded for the purpose of his security.

The MIA of Dagestan reports that Nurullah Galimov, deputy head of the inter-regional inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service (FTS) of Russia for the city of Dagestanskie Ogni, was detained for taking a bribe of 270,000 roubles.

Nagorno-Karabakh has reported the death of a regular soldier of its Defence Army Grigory Shakhkyanov, born in 1991, as a result of violating ceasefire in the north-eastern direction of the Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact (in Verkhniy Chailu).

The civil lawsuit of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" against Andrei Krasnenkov, legal representative of the head of Chechnya, on protection of the business reputation of the HRC has been sent to the Izmailovo District Court of Moscow.

At night on February 25, unknown assailants opened airgun fire on the liturgical building of Jehovah's Witnesses, located in the city of Novoshakhtinsk (Rostov Region). No injuries were registered. This was reported today by Grigory Martynov, spokesman of the Administrative Centre of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.

As stated by Issa Akhilgov, head of the youth organization named "Assa", the picket on the Deportation Day of the Balkar nation, which was scheduled for March 8 near the memorial - the monument to victims of repression "Nine Towers" in Nazran, - was not sanctioned by the authorities.

On the day when appeals were considered against the verdict of the court, which had sentenced four activists of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" and the "Yabloko" Party to administrative arrests, protest actions were held in Moscow, Krasnodar and Tuapse demanding to release the arrested ecologists.

The Lithuanian film director Mantas Kvedaravichyus, author of the documentary "Barzakh" telling about disappearances and abductions in Chechnya, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about how his film was made.

On February 26, the Moscow Concert Hall "Izmailovskiy" hosted a traditional party of the first-year student, organized by the foundation for promotion of Karachay-Balkar youth named "Elbrusoid". One of the main topics raised by esteemed guests of the event in their addresses to former entrees was the behaviour of Caucasian youth in Moscow.

Under the order of the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, the Supreme Court (SC) of the Republic will reconsider the criminal verdicts against a group of convicts serving their terms in the prison of "Chernokozovo", located in northern Chechnya. Mr Kadyrov made the decision after visiting the prison a few weeks ago.