Armenia
- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has fired the head of the State Protocol Service, Gagik Vanoyan. The decision was made over an error during the official visit of the Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov to Armenia, where the leader was referred to as the president of Kazakhstan, whose name is Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
- Pashinyan urged candidates and voters participating in the local government elections to inform him of any illegal pressure they had experienced. MPs from the Strong Armenia party contacted Pashinyan regarding people being fired from their jobs because of their political views.
- Tashir Capital, which controls the Armenian Electric Networks (ENA), has called the government’s decision to recognise 100% of the company’s shares as a public priority an ‘illegal act’.
Azerbaijan
- Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office has opened a criminal case against seven people living and working in Turkey. According to a statement published on Monday, the individuals are suspected of calling for the violent overthrow of Azerbaijan’s constitutional order, inciting religious hatred and hostility, and distributing materials calling for religious extremist activity. The suspects include Rıdvan Kaya, a contributor to Haksöz magazine and the Haksöz Haber website; Zekeriya Ceran, a writer for Köklü Değişim and presenter on Değişim TV, who is also known as Abdullah İmamoğlu, according to the Prosecutor’s Office; Fatih Tezcan, founder of the Analiz Merkezi website; lawyer Ahmet Şanlı; researcher Fahrettin Taşkaya Saral; Abdurrahman Tumer, who uses a Facebook profile under that name; and Alparslan Tanrıkulu, a moderator and athlete.
Georgia
- The Foreign Ministry has criticised the EU for condemning the government’s plans to ban the opposition. Yesterday, EU Commission spokesperson Christian Wigand said that banning political parties threatens fundamental freedoms, democratic pluralism, and fair political competition.
- The National Agency of State Property once again has put 10 former sanatorium buildings in Tskaltubo up for auction, offering a total of 433,309 square metres for privatisation. Some of the properties are listed as immovable cultural heritage monuments and are subject to Georgia’s law on cultural heritage.
- The mother of detained twin brothers Davit and Giorgi Peikrishvili, Nino Abramishvili, says her son Davit was beaten in prison. The Special Penitentiary Service ‘categorically denies’ the claim. Abramishvili is requesting a meeting with her son, but the service says he is subject to visitation restrictions.
- A pre-trial hearing in the case against former Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili was held at Tbilisi City Court yesterday. Publika reported Garibashvili did not attend the hearing. The prosecution asked for the hearing to be closed to the public, arguing that current and former officials would be questioned and that professional or state secrets could be disclosed. The judge rejected the request.
- The Enguri HPP says the control systems and voltage regulators of generators 1, 3, 4, and 5 failed to respond properly during Georgia’s nationwide blackout on 24–25 July. On 16 October, the company signed a €560,000 ($630,000) contract with Voith Hydro to upgrade the equipment.
South Ossetia
- South Ossetian President Marat Kambolov appointed former Russian official Ekaterina Tolstikova first deputy Chair of Government. Tolstikova previously served as Deputy Minister of Education and Science in Russia, and also worked in the government of Daghestan and at the Kurchatov Institute National Research Centre.
The North Caucasus
- The Moscow City Court has refused to review the case in which the so-called combat wing of followers of Batalkhadzhi Belkhoroev (‘BOBR’) from Ingushetia was designated a terrorist organisation. The decision was made in 2023, and last week Russia’s Supreme Court banned the entire community.
- Adam Kadyrov’s informal security unit, Team K-13, reportedly includes children of the local elite. The 18-year-old Kadyrov’s Instagram account published a group photograph showing them wearing military uniforms without identifying insignia and carrying weapons. It was previously reported that a Dustum-13 central base had been established within the Akhmat SOBR special police unit. It is unclear whether this is the same formation. Chechen National Policy Minister Ilman Vakhidov commented on the publication, saying that the unit had no official status.
- The Magas District Court sentenced a 42-year-old resident of Ingushetia to 10 years in prison for an armed robbery at a post office in Nazran. The perpetrators demanded that postal workers hand over money intended for pension and benefit payments to residents, but the workers refused. The robbers then took away a sack containing letters and other correspondence.
- A court in Grozny fined Saint Petersburg resident Elena Patyaeva ₽150,000 ($1,800) for a solo picket marking the anniversary of the abduction of her friend, Seda Suleimanova, a native of Chechnya.
- The Ingush Council of Elders issued an appeal to the Tumgoev and Kodzoev teips (clans), calling on them to peacefully resolve their dispute over ancestral towers. The appeal followed the publication of a statement by the Tumgoevs containing threats. Previous disputes between teips over towers have escalated to shootings
- The Chechen opposition movement NIYSO claims that two people wanted for illegal arms trafficking were shot dead in Chechnya in the evening. This information has not been independently confirmed and no other media outlets seem to have reported the shooting.
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.