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The capacity of the explosive device that went off near the Rizhskaya station is preliminary estimated at about 2 kilograms of trotyl equivalent with damaging elements, the public relations center of the Federal Security Service has reported.

A representative of one of the candidates who lost believes "it is a useless occupation in any case."

The tender is announced within the framework of the Humanitarian Aid to Nagorny Karabakh program financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

"The next year is declared the year of Russian in the republic, but Azerbaijan is carrying out a discrimination reform of the education system," members of the Association of Teachers of Russian in Azerbaijan Schools said.

An explosion took place when a Russian military convoy was moving in the Achkhoy-Martan district of Chechnya on August 30.

The International Helsinki Federation, the Moscow Helsinki Group, and the "Caucasian Knot" Media will hold the "Presidential Election in Chechnya 2004 — New and Improved" press-conference in the Independent Press Center, Moscow, on September 1, 2004.

We call your attention to the statement issued by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) and the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) on August 30, 2004.

"I've brought up my children here and I don't want to go back to Chechnya and jeopardize their life," one of the refugees living in the Pankissi Gorge said.

The main problem of precinct election commissions (PECs) was a low turnout in the August 29 presidential election. But PEC officials made up the lack of voters by the most simple and accessible means. They threw in ballots.

"The winner had been known in advance. People just knew nothing depended on the participation or nonparticipation in this farce," Aydamir Suleymanov, a 47-year-old resident of Grozny, said.

A source in the republican election commission has told the Caucasian Knot correspondent about it. According to commission's information, over 30% of voters have already voted in the presidential election.

Election staff of Movsur Khamidov, who is running for the republican presidency, have told the Caucasian Knot correspondent they registered tampering with voters in the village of Sernovodskaya, Chechnya's Sunzha district.

The Chechen side has allotted about 10 vehicles to deliver voters to the place of destination. The busses will drive from both places of refugees' compact residence and places of their living in private houses.

Chechen law enforcement agencies have no information on the implication of republican residents, killed in Tu-134 and Tu-154 plane explosions, in terrorist activity.

Musavat party leader Isa Gambar holds that the Azerbaijan authorities use the trial against opposition leaders, including Arifoglu, to keep society in awe.

In spite of the assertions of Election Commission officials, violations took place in the course of the election campaign nevertheless.

Chechens officially registered in Dagestan do not want to vote, and unregistered refugees do not have a vote at all.

"The situation has become less tense after the withdrawal of Georgian troops from the conflict zone," EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Heikki Talvitie said and added the opposite party should do the same thing.

Having spent 43 hours under illegal arrest in an airport, Hajji Bayram Bolat was sent back to Istanbul. FSB officers explained it by "instructions from Moscow".

"The Azerbaijan authorities are moving in the wrong direction with respect of freedom of conscience and honoring its international obligations in this field," said Preeta B. Bansal, Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).