The Telavi District Court fined activist Malkhaz Machalikashvili 1,000 lari (approximately $380) for making a public, insulting comment directed at Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the ruling "Georgian Dream" party. Machalikashvili was not present at the hearing.

On the night of September 16, 71 drones were destroyed over Russian territory, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported. The regions targeted included the Kuban, as well as the Rostov and Astrakhan regions.

Martin Galstyan, Governor of the Central Bank of Armenia, stated that a potential increase in the cost of Russian gas could have extremely severe economic consequences for the republic. The regulator factors this possibility into its calculations but does not currently view it as a primary scenario.

Chechen activist Mansur Movlaev, who has been held in an Almaty pre-trial detention center for 16 months, has attempted suicide. Vadim Drozdov, the lawyer representing him, reported this to *Novaya Gazeta Europe*.