Armenia
- A report from the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council — Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan — claims that Armenia would suffer significant economic losses if they left the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). The report claimed the impact on other member states would be minimal.
- Defence Minister Suren Papikyan revealed on social media that Armenia has purchased military training aircraft from the Czech Republic. The statement came following an official visit to the Czech Republic.
- Pashinyan appointed Lilit Stepanyan, an MP from his ruling Civil Contract party, as governor of Kotayk Province.
- The Anti-Corruption Committee has confirmed that 14 people have been arrested in Stepanavan on charges of giving, assisting in, and receiving electoral bribes ahead of the local elections on 25 October. According to Hetq, among those arrested is Arsen Gevorgyan, a candidate for the Stepanavan City Council and head of the Strong Armenia party's electoral list. The local elections in Stepanavan are set for 25 October.
Azerbaijan
- Iran’s Foreign Ministry has issued a statement on school uniform rules in Azerbaijan. The statement does not specifically mention the hijab school ban and states that the Azerbaijani people are wise enough to protect their religious beliefs and national interests and resolve any challenges that arise.
- Azerbaijani relatives of missing people from the First Nagorno-Karabakh War staged a protest outside the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday.. The protest was organised by the Karabakh Missing Families Public Union at Place du Luxembourg. The families said more than 4,000 people had gone missing during the war, including 71 children, and called for information about their relatives as the peace process continues.
Georgia
- The Justice Ministry has opened an investigation into allegations that Davit Peikrishvili was beaten in Gldani Prison. His lawyer accuses inmates of assaulting him on 16 October. The Special Penitentiary Service denies that any violence took place. Davit Peikrishvili’s lawyer and family accuses Kipiani, while Kipiani’s lawyer says he was not held in the same cell as Peikrishvili. Both are associated with Georgia’s criminal underworld.
- Former Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili has published his ninth letter from prison. In it, he writes about the court hearing on 19 October, the strengthening of defence during his time in office, and the Davit Gareji issue. He claimed that, as Defence Minister, he set up a working group to investigate alleged wrongdoing over the Davit Gareji border issue and the use of incorrect maps.
- Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset called on Georgia’s ruling party to protect political pluralism and the role of the opposition. He warned that banning five opposition parties and increasing restrictions on civil society, independent media and protests could weaken democracy.
- Gakharia for Georgia has asked the Constitutional Court to consider its case separately from those against other opposition parties. The party says Georgian Dream must provide legal grounds and evidence for seeking to ban it, noting that it has taken part in parliamentary, electoral and commission processes.
Abkhazia
- Seventeen organisations in Abkhazia were fined for violating the labour code. The violations primarily concerned wage payments.
South Ossetia
- The Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn House of Russian Abroad has donated around 300 books from Russian publishers to South Ossetia. The donated titles included well-known plays, classic short stories, dictionaries, encyclopaedias and children’s books.
The North Caucasus
- Chechen special police regiment commander Zamid Chalaev threatened local residents, saying he would ‘shoot them without trial or investigation’ if they went outside at night and gave anyone a lift. This statement was made after an increase in patrols and raids in the republic, which local residents confirmed to OC Media.
- In Bulgaria, 40-year-old Circassian Anzor Unezhev was detained at Russia’s request and subsequently arrested. He had left Russia and had been living with his family in Turkey in recent years. When crossing the border, he requested political asylum.
- A court in Nalchik fined local resident Alim Pshigotizhev ₽300,000 ($3,600) for donating ₽300 ($3) to the Anti-Corruption Foundation, founded by the late politician Aleksei Navalny.
For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.