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The Danish Refugee Council, within the framework of the Caucasus NGO Networking Initiative program and with the financial support of the Danish Foreign Ministry, announces a grant competition for non-government organizations (NGOs) working with refugees in the Caucasian region.

"I know that most of you will not continue studies, however, I am glad that you have fought together for the minority," Rafael Kazarian, an academician of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, said at a meeting of students devoted to their fight against the draft Law on Military Service.

The action was aimed not only at helping the children in need but at reminding of two dates: the 60th anniversary since the beginning of the illegal deportation of the Chechen and Ingush peoples and the 10th anniversary since the beginning of the Chechen war.

The organization's main objectives are to show concern for municipal improvements, to promote a healthy business atmosphere, to attract investments, to improve the ecological environment, and to restore sports traditions.

"Shevardnadze is to blame that Georgia has bogged down in corruption, that its territorial has been broken. Shevardnadze is to blame that the young men who took part in a hijacking and did not want to live under the Soviet system were shot dead in 1985," president of the Association Giorgy Kervalishvili said to journalists.

Rasul Kudayev and Ruslan Odigov from Kabardino-Balkaria are among the extradited Russian citizens. They were recruited by radical Islamic organizations and sent to Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has officially confirmed that Chechen rebel commander Ruslan Gelayev was killed in the mountains of Dagestan.

On February 26, the Krasnodar regional rights NGO Civic Voice jointly with the Krasnodar Club of Civil Education of the Krasnodar Regional NGO Creative Union "Southern Wave" held a round table discussion titled "Problems of Protecting Voters' Rights at the Elections on March 14, 2004."

Police officers of Chechnya's Shali district interior department face unprecedented pressure on the part of the administration of Chechen President Akhmat Kadyrov, reported officers of this department on terms of anonymity.

A meeting in memory of victims of the tragedy in the Azerbaijan town of Sumgait, where mass killings of Armenians took place on February 26-28, 1988, was held at the Memorial Complex in Stepanakert on February 28.

The press service of the Defense Ministry of the Republic of Nagorny Karabakh issued a statement, claiming that a group of Azerbaijan commandos was neutralized in the outskirts of the Bash Karvend settlement on February 26.

On the night of February 26-27, several Russian combat helicopters rocketed the outskirts of the Borzoy village, Chechnya's Shatoy district.

A GAZ-53 truck with civilians going to pick damsons hit a landmine near the village of Assinovskaya on February 25.

As a press release by the Transnational Radical Party reads, Khramov is to appear in court as there will be a hearing of the administrative case in connection with his detention during a meeting on Lubyanskaya Square in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Chechen genocide ordered by Stalin. To remind, the meeting was banned by the Moscow authorities.

Azerbaijan Defense Minister Safar Abiyev discussed the situation around the resolution of the Karabakh conflict with PACE rapporteur on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Terry Davis on February 27.

On February 25, the US Department of State presented its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

About 50 people from the Oktyabrsky district of the Chechen capital Grozny, displaced by the Sunzha River overflowing in June 2002, held an unauthorized meeting on February 26 to demand compensation for their homes destroyed by the flood.

The presentation of and discussion about three numbers of the Krasnodar rights catalogue-digest published by the regional branch of the Russian Society Memorial will take place in Krasnodar on March 3.

The text adopted on February 26 contains a call to the EU Member States to promote peace in Chechnya.

The main reason why some Russian politicians apply the rhetoric of nationalism and xenophobia is the ongoing war in Chechnya, stated Lev Ponomaryov, executive director of the all-Russian public Movement for Human Rights, on 26 February 2004, at the 1st All-Russian Assembly of Public Forces to Counteract Xenophobia and Extremism.