Azerbaijan has tightened migration rules for Russian citizens and stateless persons permanently residing in the Russian Federation. According to the government resolution published on December 29, the maximum period of their visa-free stay in the country is now 90 days a year. The new conditions will enter into force in 2025.

The American business newspaper The Wall Street Journal in its analytical article made conclusions about the weakening of Russian influence in the South Caucasus after the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war. According to the mass media, this is evidenced by the statements of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev with demands and criticism of Moscow in the context of the plane crash that occurred on December 25.

State Duma deputy Adam Delymkhanov said that residents of Chechnya who engage in illegal cryptocurrency mining will be severely punished and equated with terrorists. According to him, the miners' actions are causing problems with electricity.

Immediately after his inauguration, the new president of Georgia, the nominee of the Georgian Dream party, Mikheil Kavelashvili, signed all the laws adopted in November by the parliament it formed. This was reported by the Georgian service of Radio Liberty.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that the AZAL plane that crashed in Kazakhstan was damaged "due to shelling from the ground." According to him, the tail section of the plane was severely damaged as a result of gunfire.

A farewell ceremony for the deceased crew members of the AZAL plane was held in Baku. We are talking about pilots Igor Kshnyakin and Alexander Kalyaninov, as well as flight attendant Hokuma Aliyeva. It is also reported that the bodies of 24 Azerbaijani citizens killed in the plane crash were delivered from Aktau to Baku, after which they will be handed over to their families.

The Sovetsky District Court of Makhachkala extended the arrest of the former mayor of Izberbash in Dagestan, Magomed Isakov, for two months.

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office must give a legal assessment of the threats made by the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, against Uzbek officials. He is obliged to publicly apologize to the people of Uzbekistan. This was stated by the country's MP Odiljon Tojiyev.

The passenger plane of the Azerbaijani airline AZAL, which crashed in the Kazakh city of Aktau on December 25, was fired upon in the airspace of the capital of Chechnya. The fact that this is a proven fact was reported by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.