On January 17, the first session of the Baku Military Court in the case of former Minister of State of Nagorno-Karabakh Ruben Vardanyan will be held. He will be tried for mercenary, financing of terrorism, attempt to seize power, as well as other criminal articles. Vardanyan may face life imprisonment. He went on hunger strike twice in the pre-trial detention center.

On February 15, early presidential elections will be held in the self-proclaimed republic of Abkhazia. Five candidates submitted documents to the CEC: acting of President Badra Gunba, ex-Minister of Economy, leader of the Abkhaz People's Movement Adgur Ardzinba, former trade representative of Abkhazia in Moscow Oleg Bartsits, ex-head of the Control Chamber Robert Arshba and chairman of the board of the commercial bank "Black Sea Development Bank" Adgur Khurkhumal.

The coast of the Caspian Sea in Dagestan is filled with dead seals thrown from the sea. Their remains on the shore near the Novolak district hospital are in the stage of decomposition.

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a long interview to the American podcaster of Ukrainian origin Lex Friedman. Commenting on Vladimir Putin's policy in Ukraine, Zelensky cited the war in Chechnya as an example. He metaphorically noted that the President of Russia was destroying Chechens "with love" - ​​"suffocating in his arms."

Investigators began an investigation into the incident in the village of Essentukskaya, Predgorny District, Stavropol Territory. At school No. 7, during the New Year's celebration, some students took out the flags of Armenia and Greece at the dance and started waving them. The teacher reacted to the situation by taking away the flags from the schoolchildren.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with the relatives of the dead crew members and the surviving flight attendants of the Embraer plane of the AZAL airline. On December 25, 2024, he was following a flight from Baku to Grozny and crashed in Aktau (Kazakhstan).

Real estate and other property worth more than 500 million rubles were confiscated from the ex-head of the Department of Social and Economic Development of the North Caucasian Federal District, Igor Hranovsky. Since March 2024, he has been under arrest and accused of embezzlement of budget funds.

The so-called "mask action" took place near the parliament building in the capital of Georgia. Demonstrators protested against the ban on the use of face coverings, including medical masks, during peaceful assemblies, introduced at the end of last year. Georgian Dream introduced the corresponding amendment to the law in an accelerated manner. Violation of this rule is subject to a fine of 2,000 GEL.

The police opened a criminal case on the arson of the Muslim center "Nur" in Serpukhov near Moscow. The "autonomous combat group" of the banned neo-Nazi movement NS/WP Crew in Russia took responsibility for what had happened.

The father of a 16-year-old girl born in Chechnya addressed the human rights commissioner in the republic, Mansur Soltaev, with his condolences. According to the man, the girl was detained by the juvenile department when she received her passport because she was wearing a hijab. Law enforcement officials explained that such a form of clothing represents a "danger to society."