On May 2, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published its annual report on global press freedom. For the first time since 2002, when the annual ranking began, the press freedom situation was rated as difficult worldwide. The report's authors believe economic pressure is the main factor behind the global decline in the Press Freedom Index.

On May 3, Karachay-Cherkessia celebrated the Day of Revival of the Karachay People – the 68th anniversary of the return of the Karachays to their homeland, exiled during the mass deportation of November 1943. This year, the holiday was combined with celebrations marking Victory Day.

On May 5, Islam Seynaroyev, the former head of the Ingush branch of the Russian Pension Fund, was detained in Turkey at the request of Russian authorities. He is suspected of organizing a criminal group and embezzling pensions on an especially large scale. Investigators believe that one of his accomplices is Magomed-Bashir Kalimatov, the brother of the head of the republic, who is currently in custody.

On the afternoon of May 5, a traffic police patrol was attacked in Makhachkala. Two police officers and one of the attackers were killed. Five people, including bystanders, were wounded. Investigators later reported that the militants' actions were coordinated from abroad.

On May 6, North Ossetian leader Sergei Menyailo appointed Yuriy Abayev, a former Russian army officer and veteran of the war in Ukraine, as the republic's Minister of Labor and Social Protection. The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense considers him a war criminal due to his soldiers' involvement in the execution of Ukrainian soldiers.

On May 6, in the town of Kamenskovo in the Vladimir region, a mass brawl broke out between Ingush nationals staying at the 777 Hotel and local residents. Video of the brawl went viral on social media, causing widespread controversy.

On May 7, Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov announced that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev would not attend the May 9 parade on Red Square. The cancellation of the visit is further evidence of rising tensions between the countries.

On May 12, the RIA Rating agency published a ranking of Russian regions based on salary trends. Using statistical data, researchers calculated how many years it would take for each region to earn half its workers 100,000 rubles per month. Seven regions of the North Caucasus were in the bottom ten.

On May 13, Mansur Movlaev, a native of Chechnya and activist with the opposition movement 1ADAT (designated extremist and banned in Russia), was detained in Almaty after escaping from the Shali District Police Department. At the request of Chechen police, he was placed on an international wanted list as a suspect in attempted extortion. A court in Kazakhstan ordered his arrest for 40 days, though his defense insisted on the arrest, fearing Kadyrov's men would kidnap him if released.

On May 14, mass arrests of suspected members of a terrorist cell began in Kabardino-Balkaria. During a two-day operation in Nalchik and Nartan, security forces detained 48 people. Their relatives claim that during the searches, officers planted SIM cards in the suspects' homes to fabricate charges.

On May 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree "On the Admission of Citizens of the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia to the Citizenship of the Russian Federation." The document regulates a simplified procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship for residents of the self-proclaimed republics, which most countries recognize as part of Georgia.

On May 19, the press services of the FSB and the Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR) released a statement announcing that a series of terrorist attacks had been thwarted in Stavropol Krai and that nine residents of the Andropovsky District had been detained for planning attacks on police officers during the 80th anniversary of Victory Day. Seven of those detained are minors; all face up to 20 years in prison.

On May 21, the Adyge-Khabl District Court of Karachay-Cherkessia began a trial for a cell of the At-Takfir wal-Hijra religious organization, banned in Russia. Six people are in the dock, all facing charges under Article 282.2 of the Russian Criminal Code for participating in the activities of an extremist organization.

On May 23, a mentally ill woman attacked passengers waiting on the platform at Hamburg Central Station. She managed to injure 18 people before Abu-Bakar-Siddik Agayev, a Chechen national, knocked the knife out of her hands.

On May 24, Adam Maloroyev, a native of Ingushetia living abroad and wanted by the federal government for "failure to report a crime," released a video message via Telegram channels in which he stated that FSB officers tortured him into incriminating himself and two Dagestanis convicted of terrorism.

On May 29, FSB officers detained Akhmed Abusupyanov, chairman of the Main Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Rostov Region. He is suspected of collaborating with the At-Takfir wal-Hijra religious organization, which is banned in Russia. A year ago, Abusupyanov negotiated with prisoners in Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 1 in Rostov-on-Don who had taken two Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) employees hostage.

On June 3, blogger Areg Shchepikhin, who published videos insulting Chechens, Dagestanis, and Muslims in general, was kidnapped from a cafe at Moscow's Yaroslavsky Station. He was soon found. Criminal charges have been brought against both the kidnappers and their victim.

On June 10, Euler analysts published a study titled "Regional Labor Markets in Maps and Graphs." After examining Rosstat data for 2024 and 2023, they concluded that the highest concentration of available labor is found in the North Caucasus Federal District.

On June 14, following Israeli strikes on a uranium enrichment center in Iran, Rospotrebnadzor (the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing) instituted round-the-clock radioactive monitoring in southern Dagestan. No excess of natural gamma background levels was recorded.

On June 17, the London Review Bookshop in England hosted a presentation of Lana Estemirova's book "Please Live: The Chechen Wars, My Mother, and Me," about human rights activist Natalia Estemirova. The book was published in English. The author hopes that it will eventually be translated into Russian, but first—and Lana emphasizes this is a matter of principle—she plans to publish her memoirs in Ukrainian.

On June 23, the Cherkessk City Court found 45-year-old disabled Jehovah's Witness Vladimir Fomin guilty of participating in and recruiting members of an extremist group (Article 282.2 of the Russian Criminal Code) and sentenced him to four and a half years in a general regime penal colony. According to the "Jehovah's Witnesses: The Legal Situation in Russia" project, this is the 13th Jehovah's Witness in Karachay-Cherkessia to be prosecuted for their religious beliefs.

On June 25, FSB officers detained Magomed-Sultan Magomedov, the State Secretary of Dagestan (pictured left). He is suspected of embezzlement and the illegal privatization of the state-owned enterprise Dagnefteprodukt. The stolen property was confiscated from the official, and he was dismissed from his post, but not arrested.

On the night of June 26, an explosion occurred near the North Caucasus Police College on Mutaliyev Street in the Ingush city of Nazran. There were no injuries.

On June 27, in Yekaterinburg, officers from the FSB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Russian National Guard conducted a joint raid on apartments housing Azerbaijanis. Two of those detained during the raid—brothers Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov—died from beatings, sparking a diplomatic conflict between Russia and Azerbaijan.

On the night of May 1, the Russian army struck Ukraine with five Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 170 drones of various types. The Odessa, Kharkiv, Sumy, Donetsk, and Kyiv regions were damaged. In Odessa, two people were killed and 15 were injured. Several fires broke out, and multi-story residential and private buildings, a supermarket, a school, and cars were

On May 21, memorial events dedicated to the victims of the Russo-Caucasian War were held in Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Turkey, and other regions where the Adyghe people live. In Nalchik, several people were detained during a procession in memory of those who died for the independence of the Circassian people.

On June 25, the Supreme Court of Dagestan concluded another trial concerning the armed incursion of Shamil Basayev and Khattab into the republic in August 1999. This time, Sochi resident Alexander Ponomarenko, who claims he has never been to Dagestan, was sentenced to a lengthy prison term. Such cases are routinely pursued by investigators and the prosecutor's office. In May and June alone, at least seven people were convicted for the events of 1999-2000, and six more were detained and will soon appear in court.

On May 15, the European Court of Human Rights released its decision on the attack on participants of a press tour in Chechnya in 2016. The ECHR found that Russia failed to ensure the victims' right to an effective investigation and awarded them €6,000 in compensation.

Representatives of Chechen human rights organizations and diaspora groups held rallies in Brussels and Vienna in support of their fellow refugees facing imprisonment in Europe or deportation to Russia.

On June 28, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov married his third son, 17-year-old Adam, known for beating defendant Nikita Zhuravel, his collection of orders and medals, and his indecently rapid rise through the Chechen security forces. On their wedding day, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the newlyweds and their parents.

On June 25, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that an attempted coup by the "criminal-oligarchic clergy" had been thwarted. Following house searches, 16 people were detained, including Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, the leader of the "Holy Struggle" movement, who criticized the government for its decisions on Nagorno-Karabakh and led protests last spring. But Pashinyan hasn't stopped there and is threatening to remove the Catholicos of All Armenians.