“Very important changes have taken place in our region, namely Georgia received the status of an official candidate for accession to the European Union. Two of our neighbors have this status (including Turkey). And if we used to say: “Where is the EU and where is our region,” now the EU is in fact and in essence our region,” said Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan during government hour in parliament.

Early presidential elections took place in Azerbaijan today. According to Azerbaijani media, incumbent President Ilham Aliyev won. He has ruled the country since 2003, inheriting the post from his father Heydar Aliyev, and is seeking his fifth presidential term.

The Magas District Court of Ingushetia imposed a fine of 250 thousand rubles on local resident N. Kh. Tsechoev. He was found guilty under the article on repeated discrediting of the army (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code).

The office of the Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia agreed with the arguments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the city of Grozny, which did not find a crime in the beating of prisoner Nikita Zhuravel in a pre-trial detention center by the son of the head of Chechnya, Adam Kadyrov. Accordingly, the initiation of a criminal case on this fact was refused.

At many polling stations during voting in the presidential elections in Azerbaijan, journalists are prohibited from filming and observers are removed. This was reported by a number of local media.

All 309 imams of Chechnya received a LADA Granta car and 100 thousand rubles from the Kadyrov Foundation. The charity event was organized in honor of the night of the ascension of the Prophet Muhammad. According to the most minimal estimates, the gifts could cost 247 million rubles.

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation received a petition from the Prosecutor General's Office to transfer to the court of the Krasnodar Territory the criminal case of five residents of Dagestan accused of participating in riots at the Makhachkala airport. The petition states that the accused have extensive connections in the law enforcement bloc and the judiciary of Dagestan and can put pressure on the participants in the trial.

The Grozny garrison military court sentenced mobilized Volgograd resident Maxim Galchenko to five years in prison. He was found guilty of leaving his unit without permission (Part 5 of Article 337 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

On February 7, early presidential elections are being held in Azerbaijan. The election campaign of candidates began on January 15. The Central Election Commission has registered seven candidates for the presidency.

The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation has updated the register of “undesirable” organizations, adding to it the “Crimean Tatar Resource Center”, based in Ukraine.