Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of August 26-September 1

Scandal in Chechnya with mobile operators in connection of participation of Grozny Mosque in the all-Russian sights contest; killing in Ingushetia of Akhmed Kotiev, Secretary of the Ingush Security Council; fifth anniversary of Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, – look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of August 26-September 1, 2013, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Scandal with participation of Chechen Mosque in all-Russian sights contest

On August 30, it became known that the list of finalists of the nationwide multimedia project-contest "Russia-10" includes five sights from the Southern Federal District (SFD) and three sights from the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) – among them, the Mosque "Heart of Chechnya", which became the winner in the NCFD. However, the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov announced the voting totals to be false and withdrew the Grozny Mosque from the contest. Prior to the announcement of the results, residents of Chechnya complained about problems they had encountered when trying to cast their votes by means of SMS-messages for the "Heart of Chechnya". Ramzan Kadyrov said about the intention of the MPs representing Chechnya in the Russian State Duma, to address law enforcement authorities urging them to check the actions of mobile operators. The head of the republic also noted that thousands of Chechen residents want to file lawsuits demanding the return of money paid by them for uncounted SMS-messages.

On the day of announcement of the finalists of the contest, representative offices of the "MegaFon" and "VimpelCom" (Beeline) mobile operators in Grozny were attacked and stopped; they resumed their normal work only on the following day.

According to the mobile operators, the problem with receiving votes for the "Heart of Chechnya", which by the end of the second round of the "Russia-10" contest was 403,380 votes behind the winner – the Kolomna Kremlin (located in the Moscow Region), which collected a total of 38,603,629 votes, was caused by the insufficient power of the provider's equipment used by the organizers of the contest.

Ingushetia: Akhmed Kotiev, Head of the Security Council, shot dead

In the morning on August 27, the car with Akhmed Kotiev, the Chairman of the Security Council of Ingushetia, was shelled near the village of Nizhnie Achaluki in the Malgobek District, when the official was on his way to work. His driver was also shot dead. Over a hundred cartridges were found in the scene of the crime. As stated by Yunus-Bek Evkurov, who is now the acting head of the republic, the reason for the attack was in the service activities of Kotiev, who supervised the work of the adaptation commission of former on militants created in Ingushetia in 2011.

On August 28, investigators found out that the attempt on Kotiev was organized by the members of the illegal armed formation (IAF), commanded by Arthur Getagazhev and acting in the Malgobek District. One of the websites that support Ingush militants has reported that the shelling of Akhmed Kotiev's house in Malgobek last June was a warning to the official from the armed underground; Kotiev disregarded it and was killed.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia mark fifth anniversary of recognition of their independence

On August 26, South Ossetia and Abkhazia held celebrations of the fifth anniversary of recognition of their independence by Russia; its respective decree was signed after the five-day-long was in South Ossetia in August 2008. On the occasion of the anniversary, Tskhinvali was visited by delegations from North-Caucasian regions, Transnistria, Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh. On August 25, Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia, saw a one-day working visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On August 26, an official statement was made by Paata Zakareishvili, the Georgian State Minister for Reintegration, who reiterated that Russia had violated the principles of the international law. It is worth noting here that the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia was recognized, apart from Russia, only by Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru, Vanuatu and Tuvalu; while members of the pro-presidential Georgia Party "United National Movement" have repeatedly stated that the authorities of the Pacific island state of Vanuatu had withdrawn their recognition of Abkhazia's independence; however, there was no official confirmation of this information.

Azerbaijan: CEC approves 21 contenders for presidency

The country is in the process of nominating presidential candidates for the election to be held on October 9, 2013. As of August 31, the total number of approved presidential candidates reached 21. Those who were approved during the last week include Sardar Jalaloglu, the leader of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan; Professor of the Baku State University Jamil Gasanli, the backup candidate from the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF); and Ilgar Mamedov, the leader of the civil movement "Republican Alternative" (ReAl), who is now under inquiry and arrest. However, so far, only the incumbent President Ilham Aliev is officially registered as a presidential candidate.

The nomination documents of Rustam Ibragimbekov, a screenwriter and leader of the NCDF, were not accepted by the CEC of Azerbaijan on the grounds that he has Russian citizenship and has not been permanently residing in the country for the past 10 years. Ibragimbekov appealed against the CEC's refusal, but the Baku Court of Appeal dismissed his complaint.

Georgia: ex-head of CEC and ex-Speaker are among presidential candidates

According to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia, as of August 31, 43 applications had been received from those who want to run for presidency at the election scheduled for October 27. Last week, the Party "European Democrats" nominated Zurab Kharatishvili, the former chairman of the CEC, who resigned from the post on August 12; while the Party "Democratic Movement-United Georgia" nominated Nino Burjanadze, the former parliament speaker. The "United National Movement" asks to register an MP David Bakradze as its presidential candidate; and the "Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia" – Georgy Margvelashvily, the ex-Minister of Education and Sciences.

At this stage, only two presidential candidates have been officially registered – Mikhail (Gela) Saluashvili, a nominee of his initiative group, and the leader of the Labour Party Shalva Natelashvili.