The Chechen Republic retained its first place among Russian regions with the lowest smoking prevalence. Moreover, the rate in the republic has decreased even further since the beginning of the year.

Boris Ebzeev, the former head of Karachay-Cherkessia, a Constitutional Court judge and a longtime member of Russia’s Central Election Commission, died this week at the age of 76. His political career spanned several different eras of Russian rule — from the establishment of constitutional justice in the early 1990s to Vladimir Putin’s political system of centralized power. The Russian-Chechen war holds a special place in his biography: in 1995, Ebzeev disagreed with the majority of the Constitutional Court, which ruled that the actions of the Russian authorities in Chechnya were lawful. Twenty-five years later, he was already a member of the Central Election Commission when Vladimir Putin was “resetting” the Constitution to allow himself to run for president again.

On August 24, a resident of Chechnya performed Muslim prayers on a fenced-off section of road in Astrakhan where road-marking work was being carried out. On August 26, a video of the prayer appeared on local social media, after which FSB and police officers identified the Muslim man.

A search and rescue operation on the Sunzha River has been completed in the Gudermes District of Chechnya. Rescuers have recovered the body of a second person who was in a car that fell into the river on the evening of August 24.

Several people have been detained in Adygea and Kabardino-Balkaria on terrorism charges, the Russian Federal Security Service reported. The agency provided no evidence of the detainees' guilt.

Over 113,000 people and over 33,000 vehicles crossed the Russian-Georgian border through the Verkhniy Lars checkpoint in a week, the North Ossetia head of state's press service reported, citing Irbek Tomayev, Deputy Prime Minister of the republic.

In Chechnya, rescuers have recovered a car from the bottom of the Sunzha River, which was in the water along with two people. One of the occupants has been found, and the search for the other is ongoing. Footage of the rescue operation appeared on local social media groups on August 24.

In Dagestan’s Karabudakhkent District, a criminal case against the head of the private Chudo kindergarten in the village of Paraul, where 10 children suffered carbon monoxide poisoning in February, has been sent to court, the republic’s prosecutor’s office said.
The woman is accused of providing services that failed to meet safety requirements for consumers’ lives and health. The case will be heard by the Karabudakhkent District Court.

In Ingushetia, debts for gas, electricity, and water have accumulated to more than 22 billion rubles. The head of the republic, Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov, described the situation as serious and stated that "radical measures" would be required to improve payment collection.

At least two people died in the mountains of Kabardino-Balkaria in one day. On August 19, rescuers evacuated the bodies of a 48-year-old tourist from St. Petersburg and a 51-year-old Indian woman, and also transported two injured people from the mountains.