Elena Patyaeva—a friend of Seda Suleymanova, who disappeared three years ago after being forcibly returned from St. Petersburg to Chechnya—was detained in Grozny. On August 23, Patyaeva stood by the monument to journalists who died for freedom of speech, holding a sign that read: "I demand an investigation into the murder of Seda Suleymanova." This was reported by the human rights project "Slovo Zashchite" (Word for the Defense).
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the mothers of the children killed in Beslan during his visit to North Ossetia. The video released by the Kremlin shows only three women, who are shown for only a few seconds. They were not allowed to ask questions on camera.
Putin assured the women that Russia would defeat "neo-Nazism". "Just as we fought terrorists in the Caucasus, today we have to fight those who commit crimes in the Kursk region, in Donbass, Novorossiya. But just as we achieved our goal in the fight against terrorism, we will achieve this goal in this area of the fight against neo-Nazism and, of course, we will punish the criminals," he said.
Later, Putin instructed the head of North Ossetia Menyailo to monitor the criminal case on the terrorist attack in Beslan, which took place in 2004. As the co-chair of the organization "Mothers of Beslan" Aneta Gadieva said, after the official part, the women complained to the president about the investigation that had dragged on for 20 years. Putin responded by saying that he was not aware of the details.