The authorities of Kabardino-Balkaria are against the procession of Circassians. Results of the week

Residents of the North Caucasus suffered from a new flood; the Chechen fighter who beat up his neighbors has still not been punished; in Kabardino-Balkaria they are threatening to be held accountable for participating in a march on the day of remembrance of the victims of the Caucasian War. About this and more - in the new episode of the Caucasus.Realities podcast.

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Flood in the Caucasus and the south

There is a new flood in the North Caucasus and southern Russia: after heavy rains in Chechnya, houses were damaged, in the Kuban the evacuation of residents of the coastal areas of Armavir was announced, a section of a gas pipeline was damaged in Ingushetia, roads were damaged in Karachay-Cherkessia. At the same time, a federal emergency regime is still in effect in the Caucasus, which was introduced in early April due to large-scale flooding in Dagestan and Chechnya.

Heavy rainfall has been occurring in the south and the Caucasus for several days now; a storm warning is in effect until May 23.

According to Chechen officials, the most serious damage in the republic was recorded in the Sharoysky district - it is located in the mountainous part. There, after the rains, cracks appeared in the walls of residential buildings, several roads were washed away by the flood - officials did not provide more specific details. Local residents were warned about the danger of mudflows.

Five households were flooded in Alkhan-Yurt, and about ten farms were damaged in the village of Goyty. In Grozny, water flooded several streets; in the Nozhai-Yurtovsky and Vedeno districts, residents were left without electricity - the authorities said that the problem had already been fixed.

In Adygea, 40 yards were flooded . In the Stavropol Territory, 42 houses and more than a hundred plots of land were damaged.

In Karachay-Cherkessia, part of the Kislovodsk-Karachaevsk highway collapsed, and in Ingushetia, the road near the village of Dzheirakh was flooded. As Sapa Kavkaz writes with reference to the head of the village of Dzheirakh, the water has nowhere to go from Stolovaya Mountain due to a clogged pipe. Streets and courtyards were flooded in Karabulak. The water level in the Sunzha River has reached a critical level: in the city of the same name, the flood damaged the gas pipe passing through the river.

In Kuban, due to rising water levels in rivers, residents of several districts of Armavir were asked to move valuables to the upper floors and stay with relatives for a while or go to evacuation centers. For example, the village of Staraya fell into the evacuation zone - as the Kub Mash TV channel writes , local residents have repeatedly complained to the authorities about the floods. It is alleged that the water in the courtyards stands for weeks after rains, but the services do not respond to calls.

However, just a day later, on May 21, the authorities announced a reduction in the threat and the closure of collection points. Earlier, more than 50 households in the region were already affected by floods, and a mudflow damaged 100 meters of a road in the Ust-Labinsk region.

A dangerous increase in the level of the Sadonka River was announced in North Ossetia - because of this, the village of Sadon could be flooded there. In 2002, this settlement was resettled precisely after the flood, but many residents returned to their homes during this time.

This is already the second time in the North Caucasus in two months. At the beginning of April, a state of emergency was introduced here - the main blow then fell on Dagestan, where less than 760 houses and 812 plots were flooded, at least seven people were killed. At least 50 thousand people applied to be recognized as victims of the disaster. The restoration is still not complete.

According to political scientist Ruslan Aisin, natural disasters, the consequences of which the authorities repeatedly fail to cope with, can increase protest sentiments in the region.

“Taking into account the fact that the North Caucasus (and Dagestan in particular) is an explosively passionate region, any natural cataclysm that is repeated, that is not solved, its consequences are not resolved by the authorities, can cause a wave of indignation, which, as a result, can develop into some kind of mass organized protest. Because problems accumulate, these problems are not solved for years, decades, I would even say, they are ignored. Of course, people’s patience is not endless. And, as often happens, social protest can develop into political demands and political actions. Are the Russian authorities afraid of this? Of course, they are afraid, but they cannot do anything, because the entire management vertical does not work, it only imitates presence,” the expert believes.

Kadyrov's athlete attacked his neighbors

This week in Chechnya began with a scandal: a video of an attack by Akhmat club fighter Jihad Yunusov on an elderly neighbor and her daughter appeared online. As a result, the athlete, who has connections among high-ranking Kadyrovites, was expelled from the club, but nothing is known about the initiation of a criminal or administrative case.

It is alleged that the conflict in the vestibule of a high-rise building in Grozny began because of a video surveillance camera installed by a family from the apartment next to Yunusov.

Judging by the date of the shooting, the attack occurred in early May. As soon as the video appeared online, the Chechen authorities reported Yunusov’s expulsion from the Akhmat club, and also rejected his participation in the local league of the same name - the athlete fought his last fight there two years ago, this was his third defeat, said the head of the league, Magomed Bibulatov. He kept silent about the fact that Yunusov had already agreed to return there this year.

Deputy Prime Minister Akhmed Dudayev commented on the athlete’s behavior, promising that he would receive a well-deserved punishment. The police only reported on the beginning of the investigation, based on the results of which the security forces must decide whether there are grounds to bring Yunusov to justice. The Ministry of Internal Affairs for Chechnya has not reported its findings for almost a week now.

In the past, Jihad Yunusov repeatedly met with Ramzan Kadyrov and his closest associate Abuzaid Vismuradov - the athlete’s Instagram has several pictures with these officials, and local television even filmed a story about the meeting of the head of Chechnya “with one of the most promising fighters,” as Yunusov was called. Since the attack, there have been no updates on his social networks, as well as comments under posts - Yunusov has disabled this function.

The Chechen Niyso movement doubts that the athlete will actually be punished by law.

“The situation with Yunusov demonstrates the reluctant reaction of the authorities and looks like an attempt to hush up the matter. Unlike the usual apologies on camera, meetings of relatives, insults and other “rituals” of the Russian administration, here they limited themselves to a statement from the Ministry of Internal Affairs that an investigation would be launched. Everyone understands perfectly well that if in his place were a person not connected by any ties with the top of the regime, he would have been awaited by a terrible package of repressions and, most likely, forcible deportation to Ukraine is a classic punishment for the occupation regime, even for minor offenses they will most likely try to excuse the athlete from responsibility, because he belongs to the category of “favorite gladiators”, with whom Kadyrov was pleased, the FSB and other authorities, in turn, will turn a blind eye, as usual,” said a representative of the movement.

Life sentence for ex-State Duma deputy from Dagestan

The Supreme Court of Dagestan issued a verdict in the case of former State Duma deputy from Dagestan Magomed Gadzhiev. In the case of contract murder and raider seizure, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia - the convict himself has been abroad for several years, where he tried to obtain a second citizenship in exchange for information about the Russian elite.

According to the court, Gadzhiev ordered the murder of the rector of the Institute of Theology Maksud Sadikov in 2011. His nephew also died along with him. The case could not be investigated for 11 years; it was suddenly resumed in 2022. The name of the proposed customer was announced a few months later. It was then that an investigation appeared in the Romanian publication Romania Breaking News, in which the ex-deputy was accused of trying to obtain citizenship with the help of foreign intelligence services.

In response to this, in Russia Gadzhiev was recognized as a “foreign agent” - the ex-deputy was one of the co-authors of this law. The Project publication wrote that the initiator was Senator from Dagestan Suleiman Kerimov due to a commercial conflict with a former business partner.

Later, Gadzhiev’s family was recognized as an “extremist association,” and he himself was accused of murder and the seizure of the Sudoremont company. His brother Akhmed Gadzhiev, a former deputy of the People's Assembly, received 10 years in prison in absentia for this episode.

Is the trial of the ex-deputy just revenge or could he really be involved in a murder 15 years ago? Lawyer and anti-corruption expert Ilya Shumanov explained in a conversation with the editors.

“This is one of the most serious, in my opinion, crimes that exist in modern Russia: organizing a murder committed by an organized group for hire, extortion on an especially large scale.

This looks like a demonstrative reprisal against a former system player who fell out of the elite ranks. I would not call this case completely fabricated, because too many facts indicate the participation, perhaps not of him, but of members of his family. The motive is clear - the re-registration of shares in the company ZAO Sudoremont to dummies. It is clear that this is a crime that led to the enrichment of almost a hundred million rubles for him and his family members.

Why does this story look like such a public execution in a legal sense? There is a chronology of what is happening with Gadzhiev: his excommunication from power, a conflict with Suleiman Kerimov, whose inner circle Gadzhiev was part of, expulsion from United Russia, recognition as a “foreign agent”, being put on the wanted list, an extremist lawsuit for the seizure of family assets worth two billion rubles, and now 2026 - a life sentence in absentia. This series of actions looks like an escalation of persecution and, in fact, every lever that was possible was used to punish him in some way.”

Protest ban in Kabardino-Balkaria

21 Circassians around the world remember the victims of the Caucasian War - in Kabardino-Balkaria, for the sixth year in a row, the traditional memorial procession on this day was banned .

As reported by the regional human rights center, a week before the mourning date, local police officers began handing activists warnings prohibiting participation in uncoordinated rallies. This document lists the articles that threaten all violators, writes the "Caucasian Knot". Those who refused to meet with the local police officer were contacted by employees of the Center for Combating Extremism and tried to convince them.

Human rights activists in Kabardino-Balkaria published several appeals to local authorities. For example, the head of the public organization “Republic is a Common Cause” Khadzhimurat Khakuashev called the ban on the march a practice of intimidation and pressure. He demanded that the authorities join the mourning events, and not fight them. The Caucasian diaspora in Turkey declared the “right to protect their historical memory and the memory of their ancestors.”

Representatives of public organizations in Kabardino-Balkaria wrote a collective letter addressed to the head of the republic, Kazbek Kokov. In it, activists recalled that marches on May 21 take place all over the world, and “only in the historical homeland of the Circassians, in Nalchik, the same thing happens every year: bans, warnings, detentions, arrests.”

Kokov did not respond to the appeal; the ban on the march in the republic was not lifted. Let us remember that last year the event was refused allegedly due to the “high level of terrorist threat.” The procession took place anyway, and eight people were arrested. Before this, the authorities used anti-Covid restrictions as excuses for refusals, and later - the “undesirability” of the procession due to Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Due to the Caucasian War, which lasted until 1864, and the mass deportation of Circassians to the Ottoman Empire, only about five percent of the representatives of the Circassian people remained in their historical homeland. The only country that has recognized the Circassian genocide today is Georgia. On May 21, Russian authorities limit themselves to official publications about the memorable date. In such a post, the head of Kabardino-Balkaria stated that the conquest of the Caucasus by the Russian Empire and the oppression of peoples is “the result of complex geopolitical processes of that era.” The head of Adygea, Murat Kumpilov, used the memorial day to promote war against Ukraine.

Kuban: beach cleaning and ban on sending children to a camp in North Ossetia

In Tuapse, the rate of cleaning oil products from the beaches was sharply reduced after the authorities announced that the city had been “completely washed.” Despite the fact that local residents deny this claim, the governor of the Krasnodar Territory continues to insist on the safety of summer holidays in the region. However, the authorities of North Ossetia were not convinced by this - the republic banned sending children on vacation to Tuapse.

According to the Agency, since May 12, the removal of oil-contaminated soil has fallen 10 times. Officially, because the city was cleared. However, a Forbes journalist who visited Tuapse described that at the refinery “sneakers stick to the asphalt,” and in the Grozneft microdistrict “the pungent smell makes you dizzy.”

The city has been hit by drone attacks several times since mid-April. After the raids on the Rosneft oil refinery and the sea terminal, fires broke out, oil products spilled into the Tuapse River and then into the Black Sea, and residents reported “oil rains.” A regional-level emergency regime was introduced on the territory of the Tuapse Municipal District, and the consequences of pollution are still being eliminated.

The new date for the complete cleaning of local beaches, announced by the Vice-Governor of Kuban Dmitry Maslov, is June 1. But his boss, the head of the region Veniamin Kondratiev, has already stated that all summer camps are absolutely safe for children - they are preparing to accept 350 thousand schoolchildren this year. However, among them there will be no residents of North Ossetia, where it is officially prohibited to issue vouchers to Tuapse. Instead, the children will go on vacation to Kavminvody.

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