The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed concern over Armenia's rapprochement with the European Union. In an interview with TASS, Vladislav Maslennikov, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of European Problems, stated that this could negatively impact relations with Russia and integration processes in the post-Soviet space.
The Southern District Military Court continued to consider the case of Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, editor of the religion department of the Dagestan publication Chernovik, and two other defendants, Kemal Tambiev and Abubakar Rizvanov. They are accused of financing terrorism, according to the Memorial Human Rights Center.
The meeting began with an interrogation of persons who conducted a second additional expert examination on the journalist's case at the prosecutor's request. Nothing forbidden, as before, was not found. In particular, the prosecutor asked if it could be argued that in Gadzhiev's interview with preacher Israil Akhmednabiev, there was Sharia propaganda with the possibility of introducing its norms in Dagestan and requests for financial assistance. According to expert Ekaterina Dailof, in order to recognize a text as propaganda, it is not enough just to present someone's views in it, there must be a goal - persuasion. The experts did not set such a target in the interviews.
Earlier, Abdulmumin Hajiyev's articles were confirmed to contain no propaganda of religious intolerance and calls for terrorism. Recall that the accusation against the journalist was based on two components: the transfer of 16 thousand rubles to ISIS (banned in the Russian Federation) and propaganda of terrorism in twenty articles. Both theses were not confirmed in court. In addition, none of the witnesses for the prosecution was able to provide incriminating information about Hajiyev. However, he has been under arrest since 2019.