Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of December 23-29

Terror act at the railway station in Volgograd; publication of names of plenipotentiary envoys of the leader of Dagestan in four regional districts; abolition of direct election of regional leader in Karachay-Cherkessia; adoption in Kabardino-Balkaria in the first reading of the law to abolish the election of regional leader, and election of Arsen Kanokov as the senator from the region; ratification of gas agreements with Russia by Armenian Parliament and opposition protest; Russian figure skating championship in Sochi, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of December 23-29, 2013, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Terror act at railway station in Volgograd

On December 29, in Volgograd, an explosion occurred at the railway station. Later, investigators classified it as a terror act. According to the recent information, as a result of the explosion, 18 persons were killed, including a female suicide bomber, and more than 40 persons were wounded, most of them hospitalized. An aircraft of the Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) brought to Moscow hospitals seven persons wounded in the terror act in Volgograd. The terror act became the third explosion in Volgograd since the beginning of 2013. At present, the investigators have two versions of the accident: the bomb could be activated by Oksana Aslanova, a 26-year-old suicide bomber from Dagestan, who was the wife of a militant killed during a special operation, and later, it became known that the explosion in Volgograd could be committed by a man.

Ramazan Abdulatipov names his plenipotentiary envoys in four territorial districts of Dagestan

On December 27, Ramazan Abdulatipov, the leader of Dagestan announced the names of his plenipotentiary envoys to represent him in four territorial districts of the republic. Vyacheslav Palamarchuk, Mayor of Kizlyar, was appointed a plenipotentiary envoy to the Northern District, Musafendi Velimuradov, the head of the administration of the Magaramkent District, was appointed to the South District, Ibragim Ibragimov, the former KGB Colonel, to the Mountainous District, and Shamil Zeinalov, a deputy of the Dagestani National Assembly, to the Central District. When naming the plenipotentiary envoys during the meeting, Ramazan Abdulatipov has stated that they will report to him about the situation in the districts and will not perform any administrative functions.

Karachay-Cherkessia abolishes direct election of regional leader

On December 26, MPs of Karachay-Cherkessia voted for the amendments to the Constitution of the Republic to abolish the direct election of the regional leader. 70 MPs, who attended the session, approved the draft law unanimously. They also adopted the amendments to the Law "On the National Assembly (Parliament) of the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia". The Law provides that the powers of the Parliament include the election of the leader of the republic. Members of public movements of Karachay-Cherkessia express different opinions, when evaluating the Parliament's decision to abolish the direct election of the regional leader.

In Kabardino-Balkaria, Parliament adopts in first reading law to abolish regional leader election and elect Arsen Kanokov as senator

On December 24, MPs of Kabardino-Balkaria unanimously voted to grant the power of the member of the Federation Council of the Legislative Assembly of the region to Arsen Kanokov, who on December 6 left his post of the leader of the republic, and on December 19 received a deputy mandate on the Parliament of Kabardino-Balkaria. Political analysts have interpreted the new appointment of Arsen Kanokov as down-grading and indicated that, although being withdrawn beyond the political life of the region, he is still in the system of state power.

Furthermore, on December 24, the MPs of Kabardino-Balkaria adopted in the first reading the draft law to abolish the direct election of the leader of Kabardino-Balkaria. The second and third reading of the draft law will be held till the end of May 2014. This was reported by Speaker Anuar Chechenov at the session of the Parliament.

Armenian Parliament ratifies gas agreements with Russia, opposition intends to challenge the decision

At the session of the National Assembly of Armenia held on December 23, the parliamentary majority voted for the ratification of the gas agreements with Russia, which provide the transfer of 20% shares of the Closed Joint-Stock Company (CJSC) "ArmRosGazprom" belonging to the government of the country, to the Russian Company "Gazprom" to pay Armenia's debt for gas to Russia. Meanwhile, Zarui Postandjyan, the leader of the parliamentary faction of the "Heritage" Party, collected electronic cards of MPs from the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and thus deprived them to vote in the electronic form. The opposition MPs, dissatisfied with the deal, did not participate in the voting and signed a protocol on the invalidity of the Armenian-Russian agreements. And on December 26, an extraordinary meeting of the National Assembly was held, which was attended by four out of its seven members, all of whom represented the opposition factions. At the extraordinary meeting, the counting commission of the National Assembly recognized invalid the parliamentary voting on ratification of the agreements with Russia.

Members of four opposition factions of the National Assembly have stated that they plan to appeal to the Constitutional Court to invalidate the ratification of the agreements because of the fact that, in their opinion, the voting procedure was violated. Members of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia have stated that the ratification of the agreements was held in accordance with the law.

And on December 24, in Moscow, the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council approved a "road map" of Armenia's accession to the Customs Union. The opposition spoke out against it and stated that the essence of the agreements on Armenia's accession to the Customs Union had been closed from the society.

Sochi hosts Russian Figure Skating Championships

In Sochi, starting from December 24, the Ice Palace Complex "Iceberg" is hosting the Russian Figure Skating Championships. On December 26, Ksenia Stolbova and Fyodor Klimov won in the discipline of pair skating. Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitry Solovyov won the ice dancing. Athlete Adelina Sotnikova won the Russian Figure Skating Championship for the fourth time in the discipline of ladies' singles. On December 25, the second day of competition, the second place of Evgeny Pluschenko in the discipline of men's singles, who was the leader after the short programme, became a sensation. Maxim Kovtun won the first place in the discipline. Some people believe that the organization of the Figure Skating Championship in Sochi failed. It should be noted that, following the results of the Russian Championship, the athletes will be selected to participate in the European Championship, which will be held in January in Budapest, and the results of the European Championship will determine the athletes to participate in the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi.