Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of March 27-2 April, 2023

Armed conflict in Northern Caucasus, persecution of pacifists and activists in Southern Russia, continuation of the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, official data on the natives of Southern Russia who perished in Ukraine, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of March 27-April 2, 2023, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.

Armed conflict in Northern Caucasus

On the night of March 28, two law enforcers were wounded in an attack on a road-and-patrol police service (known as DPS) checkpoint on the border between Ingushetia and North Ossetia. On March 30, the FSB Department for Ingushetia reported that four residents of Ingushetia, including Mikail Moshkhoev, Ramazan Eldiev, Amir Bokov, and Amirkhan Gurazhev, were wanted in connection with a criminal case on the preparation of terror acts. Sources from the law enforcement bodies reported that the wanted men were also suspected of involvement in the attack on the DPS checkpoint and that Ramazan Eldiev was found dead. On April 1, it was reported that two more residents of Ingushetia, Adam Ozdoev and Movsar Kottoev, also suspected of plotting terror acts, were put on the wanted list.

On the night of March 29, sources reported about an attack on a police checkpoint in Gudermes, in which two persons were killed. Ramzan Kadyrov announced that law enforcers cordoned off two militants who refused to surrender, threw a grenade, and were killed. The Investigating Department for Chechnya of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) reported that relatives, born in 1963 and 1989, perished during a special operation. Later, it was reported that the dead men were identified as Ruslan Elkhadjiev and his sister’s son Zelim Elkhadjiev. A source of the “Caucasian Knot” reported that Ruslan Elkhadjiev was “mentally ill.”

On March 31, the General Prosecutor’s Office approved the indictment in a case against a resident of the Stavropol Territory. According to the investigators’ version, in February-March 2000, the suspect, being a member of the militant grouping led by Shamil Basaev, participated in armed riots near the village of Ulus-Kert in the Shatoi District of Chechnya. In particular, the investigators suggest that the suspect also took part in an attack on the Pskov paratroopers. On March 29, the indictment was approved in a case against two residents of Chechnya on the terror act committed in the village of Znamenskoye in 2005. The suspects were accused of involvement in a criminal grouping, terror acts, attempted assassinations of a law enforcer and a military man, a murder, a kidnapping, and illegal possession and transportation of explosive devices.

Persecution of pacifists and activists in Southern Russia

Last week, in Southern Russia, courts continued to fine residents for discrediting the Russian Armed Forces. Alexander Shinkorenko, a resident of Astrakhan, was fined for his comments on the social media, and a court also obliged local resident Kseniya Tsulimova to pay a fine. A protocol on discrediting the Russian Armed Forces was drawn up against resident of Astrakhan Viktor Lomakin. Nadezhda Starushek, a resident of the Astrakhan Region, succeeded in seeking to get the fine cancelled due to the expiration of the term for bringing to administrative responsibility.

The Slavyansk-on-Kuban City Court fined theologian Viktor Pivovarov, the archbishop of Slavyansk-on-Kuban and South Russia of the Rossiyskaya Orthodox Church (one of the alternative Orthodox jurisdictions; they recognize the canonicity of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). The Cathedral of the Rossiyskaya Orthodox Church is located in Slavyansk-on-Kuban, – note of the “Caucasian Knot”), for discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The priest confirmed that he voiced the words during a sermon that the court considered discrediting the Russian Armed Forces, since “the truth and only the truth must be told” during sermons in the church.

Blockade of road to Nagorno-Karabakh and continuation of conflict

The Lachin Corridor linking Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia and the outside world has been blocked by Azerbaijani activists since December 12, 2022. The activists demand from Russian peacekeepers to provide them with access to mining deposits. The unrecognized republic suffers from a shortage of food products and medicines, the gas supply is turned off regularly, and the republic’s authorities introduced a schedule for the supply of electricity. The road has been blocked for the 112th day already.

Azerbaijani picketers let cars of peacekeepers and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) pass along the Lachin road. ICRC employees take patients from Stepanakert to Armenia and deliver humanitarian cargos to Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the information reported by the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh, as of April 2, since the beginning of the blockade of the Lachin corridor, 252 patients have been taken to the medical centres of Armenia.

Official data on natives of Southern Russia perished in Ukraine

Since the beginning of the special military operation, the information about at least 132 residents of the Stavropol Territory perished in Ukraine has been officially confirmed. In total, at 11:00 p.m. Moscow time on April 2, the authorities and the law enforcement bodies reported about at least 1699 residents of Southern Russia perished in Ukraine, including 941 residents of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) and 758 residents of the Southern Federal District (SFD).

In Dagestan, the authorities reported about 420 local residents perished in Ukraine, in the Volgograd Region – on 309, in the Krasnodar Territory – 125, in North Ossetia – 159, in the Rostov Region – 166, in the Astrakhan Region – 112, in Chechnya – 98, in Kabardino-Balkaria – 85, in Ingushetia – 32, in Adygea – 27, in Kalmykia – 19, and in Karachay-Cherkessia – 15.