Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of February 25-March 3

Announcement of official outcomes of presidential elections in Armenia and non-recognition of them by the opponents of the winner Sargsyan; termination of protest action in Dagestan of Chechens-Akkies, who demanded to have their lands in the Novolak District back; inspection of Georgian producers of wine and mineral water by Russian experts; conviction in terror case in the Stavropol Territory; end of nomination of candidates for the post of Anapa Mayor – so far, ten pretenders, – look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of February 25-March 3, 2013, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Armenia: CEC announces outcomes of presidential election; all the rivals of the winning Sargsyan refuse to recognize them

On February 25, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Armenia announced the results of the election of the country's president, which took place on February 18 and which was won by the incumbent president and the leader of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, who won in the first round with a total of 861,373 votes (58.64 percent). The inauguration ceremony of Serzh Sargsyan is scheduled for April 9.

The oppositional forces believe that the election passed with violations, and the totals were falsified. Raffi Ovannisyan, one of the candidates and the leader of the "Heritage" Party, who gathered 36.75 percent of votes, submitted his complaint to the CEC demanding to nullify the totals and recount the votes; however, the CEC dismissed the candidate's application. Arman Melikyan, another ex-candidate, is preparing as compliant to the Constitutional Court of Armenia. Andreas Gukasyan, who also ran for the presidency, called all the presidential candidates who deny Sargsyan's victory to unite efforts and send confirmations of invalidity of the CEC's decision. Vardan Sedrakyan, another ex-candidate, has called to use the post-election period for launching a nationwide movement and "get rid of the ruling regime" prior to inauguration of the president. Election violations were also stated by the election offices of Grant Bagratyan and Paruir Airikyan.

On March 2 it became known that representatives of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia and the oppositional "Heritage" and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) "Dashnaktsutyun" began consultations on the post-election situation in the country; however, as the negotiators say that so far there is no consensus reached as to further actions.

Dagestan: Chechens who demanded to return lands in Novolak District stop their protest

On February 26, the Chechens-Akkies, who held their action from February 23 in the Novolak District of Dagestan with a demand to return to them the lands they had possessed before the deportation of 1944, suspended their rally and unblocked the highway that had been blocked for several days. The protesters said that should the authorities fail to take steps to address their problems, on April 26 they would resume their endless rally.

The Chechens-Akkies demanded to meet the head of the republic Ramazan Abdulatipov. On February 25, the protesters had a meeting with officials from the district administration, Deputies of the National Assembly of Dagestan and the Chairman of the National Council of Chechens of Dagestan, who tried to persuade the protesters to go home. In the opinion of the protesters, the meeting was a failure. After long talks and persuasions, on February 26, the elder persons managed to persuade the youth, who made the majority of the protesters, to disperse and give the authorities two months for settling the raised problems.

Georgia: Russian experts inspect Georgian wineries and mineral water factories

On February 25, a group of experts from the "Rospotrebnadzor" (Federal Agency for Consumer Supervision) came to Georgia to inspect the enterprises, which had expressed their readiness to export wines and mineral water to Russia. The latter banned the import in spring of 2006, as the "Rospotrebnadzor" had quality claims. On March 1, the visit was over. According to Levan Davitashvili, the head of the National Wine Agency of Georgia, the inspection was a success: the quality management systems and sanitary conditions were checked at 40 wineries and four mineral water factories, including "Borjomi".

In spite of the fact that the inspections revealed a number of drawbacks in the work of the above Georgian factories, the results of the checks could be treated as optimistic, said Gennady Onischenko, the head of the "Rospotrebnadzor". According to his story, the revealed deficiencies were not of only private, but also of systemic character; however, in experts' opinion, they can be eliminated. Mr Onischenko has added that Russian experts were preparing a final report on the inspections.

Stavropol Territory: court passes conviction in terror case

On February 28, the Stavropol Territorial Court convicted three local residents accused of terrorism, including the terror act in Pyatigorsk in August 2010, when a triggered explosion of an improvised explosion device (IED) injured 46 persons. The announcement of the verdict lasted for two days. The court appointed the imprisonment terms as requested by the prosecution – Anvarbek Amangaziev, 28, was sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment; Islamkhan Andurakhmanov, 39, – to 24 years; and Eldar Kaibaliev, 31, – to 22 years of imprisonment.

The party of state prosecution was satisfied with the verdict; however, the advocates of all the three convicts stated their intention to appeal against it.

Krasnodar Territory: 10 pretenders to the post of Anapa Mayor

On March 2, the Krasnodar Territory terminated the stage of nominating and submitting documents for registration of candidates for the posy of the Mayor of the city of Anapa scheduled for March 24, 2013. The post became vacant after the former Mayor Tatiana Evsikova resigned in December 2012 for her health reasons.

Currently, Sergey Sergeev is an acting Mayor; he is also a candidate to the post from the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party. The list of other party activists who also run for the position of the Mayor includes Ruslan Bulatov from the LDPR (Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia); Sergey Burlutskiy from the Party "Civil Platform"; Sergey Egishyan from the "Patriots of Russia"; Valentin Ivanchenko ("Communists of Russia"); Andrei Kurkov ("Party for Justice!"); Rimma Raevskaya (People's Party "For Women of Russia"); Alexei Egorov ("Yabloko"); Victor Tyurin (CPRF – Communist Party of the Russian Federation) and Stanislav Shishkin from the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia).