Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of January 6-12, 2025

Zaira Pirova’s escape, pollution in Anapa, drone attacks, persecution of pacifists and activists in Southern Russia, protests in Georgia, 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 January 6-12, 2025, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.

Zaira Pirova’s escape

Zaira Pirova, a resident of Dagestan, left for Georgia, as she was being forced to marriage and subjected to pressure in her family. However, relatives were trying to find the girl. Zaira Pirova claimed that she was in danger in her family.

A Zaira’s father claimed that his daughter had been kidnapped. Zaira contacted her relatives, but could not convince them that she left home voluntarily. The girl said that she was missing her family.

On January 8, the girl’s father gave her two days to think over the situation and promised that if she returned, she would be given “special treatment.” On January 9, Zaira has decided to return home, saying that she wanted to “establish trusting relationships” with her family.

Pollution in Anapa

On December 15, two tankers crashed in the Kerch Strait because of a storm, resulting in an oil spill. About 50 kilometres of beaches from Anapa to Temryuk are polluted with fuel oil, and volunteers have organized the rescue of birds stained with oil products.

On January 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that the authorities were not doing enough to eliminate the environmental disaster in Kuban. The President of Russia ordered the creation of a headquarters with the participation of federal agencies. Volunteers have been cleaning the shores and rescuing birds from the very beginning of the disaster, but the creation of another headquarters could interfere with their activities, Telegram users note.

Russian Minister for Emergencies Alexander Kurenkov emphasizes that the most difficult situation has developed near the port of Taman, where fuel oil is leaking into the sea from a damaged part of a tanker.

More than 147 thousand tons of sand contaminated with fuel oil were removed from the coast of Anapa and the Temryuk District, the Kuban operational headquarters reported in its Telegram channel on January 10. At the same time, volunteers cleaning the coast in the suburbs of Anapa warn that unidentified people are loading clean sand, not contaminated with fuel oil, into trucks with tractors and taking it away from the coast.

Drone attacks

Svetlana Kambulova, the head of Taganrog, announced a state of emergency “in relation to houses damaged as a result of an air attack at night on January 5,” the Taganrog city administration reported on its Telegram channel. Based on the results of the commission’s work, a decision will be made on the provision of financial assistance to the victims.

On the night of January 10, sixteen drones were destroyed in the Rostov Region. As a result of their attack, seven houses and a school building were damaged in the Kryukov farmstead in the Kuibyshevsky District. In the village of Chaltyr in the Myasnikovsky District, a fire broke out in a private house, and in the village of Krym, a fire broke out on the territory of an enterprise. In the Myasnikovsky District, one person was injured, Acting Governor of the Rostov Region Yuri Slyusar reported on his Telegram channel on January 11. The official noted that he visited “the crash site of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)” in the Kuibyshevsky District.

That same night, the Russian air defence forces destroyed two drones in the Krasnodar Territory and ten over the Sea of Azov. The previous night, an air defence system was activated in Slavyansk-on-Kuban, and local residents reported that they heard explosions.

As a result of the fall of the drone fragments in the village of Petrovskaya in the Slavyansky District, a gas pipeline and roof were damaged in a private house, and windows were shattered. There were no casualties, Krasnodar Territory Governor Veniamin Kondratyev reported on the “VKontakte” social networking service.

On the night of January 8, two drones were destroyed in the Krasnodar Territory, one in the Volgograd Region, and four over the Sea of Azov, the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) reported on its Telegram channel.

Persecution of pacifists and activists in Southern Russia

The Izobilnensky District Court of the Stavropol Territory found local resident Sergey Shesterov, who had suffered a stroke, guilty under a criminal article on repeated discrediting of the Russian Armed Forces. A court sentenced Sergey Shesterov to nine months of suspended imprisonment and banned him from using the Internet for one year.

The Leninsky District Court of Krasnodar found local resident Inna Tishkina guilty in three cases on discrediting the Russian Armed Forces.

Krasnodar resident Vladimir Yarotsky, earlier fined for calls for terrorism, was charged under a criminal article on disseminating “fakes” about the Russian Army. The new charge became known from a complaint filed by Vladimir Yarotsky’s advocate that his client had been held in a SIZO (pre-trial prison) for more than six months.

Protests in Georgia

On January 11, a protest action was held in Batumi, the participants of which demanded to hold new parliamentary elections. Ten people were detained, including Mziya Amaglobeli, the founder of the “Batumelebi” and “Netgazeti” online publications. The reason for the detention was a poster with a call to start a general strike, which the woman pasted on the wall. When Mziya Amaglobeli was released, she found herself in a crush and, trying to get out, waved her hand, accidentally hitting the Batumi police chief. A criminal case was instituted against Mziya Amaglobeli for attacking the police officer. The article provides for up to seven years of imprisonment. Three of the ten people detained at the Batumi protest action demanded an investigation into the law enforcers’ actions, and one of the detainees claimed being beaten.

On the other day, the protest action with the demand to release the detainees took place in Batumi. Journalists gathered in front of the Georgian government building in Tbilisi and demanded to release their colleague Mziya Amaglobeli. On January 12, the police detained at least six persons, including Elene Khoshtariya, the leader of the “Droa” Party. According to the Georgian Ombudsperson’s information, five of the detainees reported improper treatment by law enforcers.

On January 11, Georgia’s fifth president Salome Zurabishvili began her tour of the regions to meet and talk with the population. At the first meeting in Zugdidi in the Samegrelo region, Salome Zurabishvili has stated that Russia is trying to bring confrontation to society and divide it into two sides.

Salome Zurabishvili has announced that she will continue to serve as president, seek new parliamentary elections, and maintain contacts with foreign partners, and will also attend the inauguration of Donald Trump. The Kissinger scholarship emphasizes that the West considers Salome Zurabishvili the only legitimate representative of the highest authority in Georgia. Georgian analysts believe that the scholarship will be used for Salome Zurabishvili’s foreign trips and meetings with Western leaders.

Official data on natives of Southern Russia perished in Ukraine

By January 12, the authorities and the law enforcement bodies reported about at least 5644 residents of Southern Russia perished in Ukraine, including 2726 residents of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) and 2918 residents of the Southern Federal District (SFD).

In Dagestan, the authorities reported about 1195 local residents perished in Ukraine, in the Volgograd Region – 1070, in the Krasnodar Territory – 630, in the Rostov Region – 611, in the Stavropol Territory – 560, in the Astrakhan Region – 430, in North Ossetia – 335, in Chechnya – 224, in Kabardino-Balkaria – 216, in Kalmykia – 108, in Ingushetia – 107, in Karachay-Cherkessia – 89, and in Adygea – 69.