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The situation in recent years in Ingushetia is comparable with the pre-war situation in the 1990s in the neighbouring Chechen Republic. This is the opinion of Ruslan Badalov, Chairman of the Chechen Committee of National Salvation, expressed at the conference on human rights in Russia that was held on June 9-10 in Finland.

The two-peak Elborus mountain, the highest peak of Russia and Europe, located in the junction of the borders of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachaevo-Circassia, and the Mamay Mound memorial with the statue of Mother-Homeland in Volgograd have been enlisted among seven Russian wonders.

On June 12, the Court on Grave Crimes of Azerbaijan started proceedings on the case of citizen of Saudi Arabia named Nail Abdul Kerim al-Bedevi, also known as Abu Dzhafar, and 17 other defendants. All of them are accused of setting up an armed terrorist group.

A mass protest action was held on June 11 in the Gudermes District of Chechnya, near the disposition of the special-purpose battalion "Vostok" (East) of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff (known as GRU).

The monitoring conducted by the military observers from the Mixed Peacekeeping Forces (MPKF) and a representative of the OSCE Mission has shown that on June 11 four explosions took place in the area of the "Tamarasheni" peacekeepers' post in South Ossetia.

Russian businessman Levon Airapetyan has moved an idea to organize a marriage ceremony of 300 young couples. The event will take place this September in the village of Vank, Martakert District of Nagorno-Karabakh, and the government has started registering the interested persons.

Mekhriban Alieva, wife of the President of Azerbaijan, was elected to be a Good Will Ambassador of good will of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). She was awarded a diploma on granting this title by Ekmeleddin Ikhsanoglu, Secretary General of the OIC, at the International Conference "Strengthening Women's Role in Intercultural Dialogue" held in Baku.

The candidature of Mary Yovanovich, a new US Ambassador to Armenia, will be considered at the session of the Senate's Foreign Affairs Commission on June 19. Ms Yovanovich was nominated to the position by US President Georges Bush on March 28.

The organizers of the contest of the Union of Journalists of Dagestan "Golden Eagle" wanted to award the prize in nomination "Debut of the Year" to the newspaper "Nastoyaschee Vremya" (Current Time); however, the ceremony was disrupted by the journalists who had been earlier dismissed from this newspaper.

Today, in the course of a tripartite TV bridge Baku-Moscow-Yerevan its participants have discussed the outcomes of the meeting of Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Serzh Sarkisyan and Ilham Aliev on June 6 in St-Petersburg, and also the ways of settling the Karabakh conflict.

The city of Karabulak in Ingushetia is under the regime of counterterrorist operation, a source in the Republic's operative headquarters has informed. According to the FSB (Federal Security Bureau), militants are hiding in Karabulak ready to commit a series of terror acts in Ingushetia.

Billionaire and senator from Dagestan Suleiman Kerimov has sold huge stock packages in Russian Savings Bank ("Sberbank") and "Gazprom", and after selling out other assets, he will have practically no investments in Russia left. The businessman invests the obtained funds into foreign financial institutions.

A powerful explosive detonated in a highways in southeast of Chechnya, when trucks with Perm Territory OMON (Special Militia) fighters sent to Chechnya to take their service were moving along. There no casualties and victims, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Chechnya reports.

Alan Waddams, head of the representative office of the European Commission in Azerbaijan, has declared that the EU will render Azerbaijan every help in acceding the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Svetlana Isaeva, chair of the Dagestan NGO named "Dagestan Mothers for Human Rights", has complained to the public prosecutor that inspectors refuse to check the data on whereabouts of kidnapped persons.

The European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg has passed a decision against the Republic of Armenia, having recognized illegality of Gagik Sarukhanyan's removal from elections.

The Investigatory Committee at the Ministry of Internal Affairs has stopped the criminal case opened in relation to journalist Manana Aslamazyan after the Constitutional court of the Russian Federation ruled on May 27 that the challenged legal provision was applied illegally and is non-constitutional.

On June 7, militiamen of the Moscow Region released 49 natives of Uzbekistan, who were violently detaining and forced to work by citizens of Azerbaijan.

The opening ceremony of the "Noah's Ark" First International Movie Festival to be held on June 13-19 in the capital of Chechnya will be visited by well-known American actors Mark Dacascos and Armand Assante.

The international economic forum under the motto "Abkhazia-2008. Investments, Prospects", organized by Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of Abkhazia with the help of the Republic's Government, will take place on June 17-21 in the sea report of Pitsunda.