Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of July 3-9, 2023

Attack on Milashina and Nemov in Chechnya, Zarema Musaeva’s case, persecution of pacifists and activists in Southern Russia, blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, and 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 July 3-9, 2023, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.

Attack on Milashina and Nemov in Chechnya

On July 4, in Chechnya, Elena Milashina, a journalist of the newspaper “Novaya Gazeta”, and Alexander Nemov, an advocate of Zarema Musaeva, were severely beaten by armed men in masks. Elena Milashina and Alexander Nemov were travelling to Grozny to attend the pronouncement of the verdict in the case against Zarema Musaeva. Elena Milashina was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. The attackers cut her hair and poured brilliant green on her face. Alexander Nemov got multiple bruises and a leg wound.

Thirteen Russian and international human rights organizations demanded to bring to justice those responsible for beating Elena Milashina and Alexander Nemov. Ramzan Kadyrov promised to “investigate the incident,” Chechen Ombudsperson Mansur Soltaev called the attack a provocation, and Akhmed Dudaev, Chechen Minister of Press, pointed out that “the style of Western intelligence services” could be traced in the attack.

Human rights defenders believe that the Chechen law enforcement bodies were involved in the incident. On February 6, 2020, in Grozny, Elena Milashina and Krasnodar advocate Marina Dubrovina were attacked by a group of people. Elena Milashina believes that they were beaten in connection with attending the trial in the case against Islam Nukhanov, who recorded a video about the luxurious life of Chechen officials.

Zarema Musaeva’s case

The defence of Zarema Musaeva requested the court to postpone the pronouncement of the verdict in the case because of the attack on defendant’s advocate Alexander Nemov. The court dismissed the defence’s motion and sentenced Zarema Musaeva to 5 years and 6 months of imprisonment. The defence considers the verdict unreasonable and intends to file an appeal against it, reports Sergey Babinets, the head of the “Team Against Torture” (TaT)*.

Persecution of pacifists and activists in Southern Russia

On July 6, in the Abinsky District of the Krasnodar Territory, the police drew up two protocols on discrediting the Russian Armed Forces against local resident Mikhail Sanzhakov. The man was fined by court.

In the Maikop District, a court fined local resident Nadezhda Dedkova, finding her guilty of discrediting the Russian Armed Forces. The Leninsky Court of Krasnodar fined local resident Georgy Belik 1000 roubles and 15,000 roubles for his two posts in the “Odnoklassniki” social network. In Mineralnye Vody, the law enforcement bodies suspected local resident Valentina Starykh of discrediting the Russian Armed Forces, after which the police filed three protocols against her under the above-mentioned article. On July 7, the court found Valentina Starykh guilty and fined her.

On July 7, in Cherkessk, a court fined local resident Roman Latoshyn 1000 roubles for writing a pro-Ukrainian slogan at the entrance of his apartment building. The Ust-Labinsky District Court considered a post with the illustrations for Remarque’s novel on the “Odnoklassniki” social network as propaganda of Nazism and fined local resident Dmitry Batygin 1000 roubles. Although Dmitry Batygin explained that both his post and the Remarque’s novel itself were anti-fascist, the judge considered otherwise. For Dmitry Batygin, it has been the second fine within a month.

Blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh

On March 22, Azerbaijan cut off gas supplies from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. The gas supply seemed to have been restored on July 8, but on the other day, “gas pressure in the only Armenia-Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) gas pipeline began to drop, which meant that the Azerbaijani side closed a valve on the gas pipeline,” the Nagorno-Karabakh Information Centre reported. During the 210 days of the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, the gas supply was disrupted by Azerbaijan for a total of 143 days.

The Lachin Corridor has been blocked since December 12, 2022 by Azerbaijani picketers, who demanded from Russian peacekeepers to provide them with the access to the “Gyzylbulag” and “Demirli” mining deposits for monitoring. On April 28, the activists suspended their action, after which Azerbaijani law enforcers took control of the road. On April 23, an Azerbaijani border checkpoint was installed at the entrance to the Lachin Corridor. Stepanakert considers the new checkpoint an integral part of the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh.

On July 6, the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh reported that the unrecognized republic had been deprived of any supply of goods, including food products, for 20 days. In Stepanakert, shops stay with empty shelves, and of fruits and vegetables, people can buy only those grown in Nagorno-Karabakh, local residents say.

Official data on natives of Southern Russia perished in Ukraine

German Aldamov, Bilal Dadarov, Khasi Khakimov, Abdulkerim Chupalov, Ruslan Dovdaev, Dinmagomed Tsytsaev and Musa Arsamerzaev perished in the special military operation in Ukraine, the “Grozny” state-run TV Channel reported in a video report on its Instagram** page. Their relatives in Urus-Martan were handed over the awards that the dead fighters were awarded posthumously.

Thus, since the beginning of the special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine, the information about at least 111 fighters from Chechnya has been officially confirmed. In total, by July 9, the authorities and the law enforcement bodies reported about at least 2220 residents of Southern Russia perished in Ukraine, including 1183 residents of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) and 1037 residents of the Southern Federal District (SFD).

In Dagestan, the authorities reported about 564 local residents perished in Ukraine, in the Volgograd Region – 425, in the Rostov Region – 243, in North Ossetia – 195, in the Stavropol Territory – 157, in the Astrakhan Region – 160, in the Krasnodar Territory – 155, in Kabardino-Balkaria – 97, in Ingushetia – 38, in Adygea – 30, in Kalmykia – 24, and in Karachay-Cherkessia – 21.

*TaT – The “Team against Torture” (formerly the “Committee against Torture” – CaT) was created by the lawyers who had earlier worked for the CaT, which was included into the register of the NCOs performing the functions of foreign agents.

**On March 21, 2022, the Tverskoi Court of Moscow banned the activities in Russia of the Meta Company, owning the Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, in connection with extremist activities.