Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of September 6-12, 2021

Special operation in Dagestan; military exercises in Nagorno-Karabakh; law enforcers’ report about prevention of terror acts in Ingushetia, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of September 6-12, 2021, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.

Special operation in Dagestan

On September 10, a counterterrorist operation (CTO) legal regime was introduced in the Buinaksk District of Dagestan. During the special operation, two suspected militants were killed, who refused to surrender and opened fire, the National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC) reported. Weapons, ammunition, and an improvised bomb were found at the place of the shootout. The special operation took place in the forest near the village of Talgi, and a lot of soldiers were accumulated in the village, local residents said. According to sources, the killed suspects were identified as Urudj Ramazanov and Airuz Abdulaev. The special operation became the second in Dagestan since the early 2021. Earlier, the CTO was carried out in Makhachkala on March 11. It should be noted that on September 7, Sergey Melikov, the acting leader of Dagestan, announced that there were no illegal armed formations (IAFs) in the republic, but law enforcers continued to carry out preventive operations in the region with the introduction of the CTO legal regime.

Military exercises in Nagorno-Karabakh

On September 6-11, the military exercises of the Azerbaijani and Turkish troops with live fire were carried out in the Lachin District of Azerbaijan, through which the corridor between Yerevan and Stepanakert passes. The troops mastered the skills of conducting reconnaissance, organizing ambushes, and detecting and destroying saboteurs, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan reported. The joint exercises in Nagorno-Karabakh will allow the Azerbaijani and Turkish troops practicing in the fight against terrorists, but they can also be regarded as a political message about joint actions of the two countries in the event of military threats to Azerbaijan, analysts say. The exercises of Turkey and Azerbaijan demonstrated to Armenia the vulnerability of the Lachin corridor, Armenian political analysts suggest. The exercises of the troops of Azerbaijan and Turkey, like the manoeuvres of Russian peacekeepers, do not pose a threat of aggravation of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian military experts note.

Adoption of law on amnesty for participants in “Gavrilov’s Night” in Georgia

On September 7, the Georgian parliament adopted the law on amnesty for participants of the protests in Tbilisi in June 2019. Let us remind you that on June 21, 2019, law enforcers dispersed the protesters using tear gas and rubber bullets. Those events are known as the “Gavrilov’s Night”: the action began after Sergey Gavrilov, a Russian State Duma member, took the chair of the speaker of the Georgian parliament at a meeting of the parliamentary Orthodox assembly. 240 people were hospitalized. At least three policemen were charged with abuse of power while dispersing the protest action. The law provides for the exemption from criminal liability of all convicts and defendants, both protestors and law enforcers. Those who gave the order to open fire, those who followed such an order, and those who inflicted harm to the health of people will not be subjected to the amnesty.

Opposition parties proposed alternative draft laws that did not provide for an amnesty for the law enforcers. Rallies were held several times on the above occasion. One of them gathered more than 200 participants on June 20. It should be noted that the amnesty affected about 15 activists who had already served their sentences. The law on amnesty is important for the opposition “United National Movement” (UNM) Party, as its chairman Nika Meliya is the main accused of organizing group violence during a rally in front of the parliament, and he faces up to six years of imprisonment.

Beginning of trial in case on Aslan Gagiev

On September 7, in Rostov-on-Don, the Southern District Military Court held preliminary hearings in a case against Aslan Gagiev, accused of creating a criminal grouping and organizing murders in North Ossetia. In June 2018, Aslan Gagiev was extradited to Russia from Austria, and he pleads not guilty. According to the investigators’ version, the Aslan Gagiev’s criminal grouping is involved in more than 60 murders in the Caucasus and the Moscow Region.

Law enforcers’ report about prevention of terror acts in Ingushetia

On September 6, the FSB reported on the detention in Ingushetia of four local residents suspected of plotting terror acts and attacks on law enforcers. Firearms and edged weapons, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and incendiary devices, as well as components for their manufacture, were found in their houses, the law enforcement bodies reported. According to the investigators’ version, two of the detainees were “adherents of a radical religious movement” and swore allegiance to the leader of the “Islamic State” (IS, a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court, – note of the “Caucasian Knot”), while the other two agreed to help them find places for a terrorists’ camp. Three of the arrested suspects are minors, and the fourth recently turned 18 years old. Mothers of the detainees said that their children did not give rise to suspicions of sympathy for terrorists.