Previously convicted Circassian activist recognized as a "foreign agent"

The Russian Ministry of Justice has included in the list of "foreign agents" Circassian activist, leader of the organization "Khabze" Martin Kochesokov, who now lives in Turkey.

According to the department, Kochesokov "took part in the dissemination of messages and materials of foreign agents, made calls for actions, the results of which could lead to a violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation."

In 2021, Martin Kochesokov was given a three-year suspended prison sentence for drug possession. He was detained on June 7, 2019 in the KBR on the Kavkaz highway. According to investigators, marijuana was found in his car. The activist himself insisted on his innocence, claiming that the security forces planted the drugs on him. He spent several months in jail and under house arrest.

The persecution of Kochesokov was connected with his public position, calls for the study of the national languages of the peoples living in the Russian Federation, as well as the need for popular elections of heads of regions instead of appointing them from Moscow.

Последние новости
Azerbaijan celebrates 34 years since its restoration of independence
News
Azerbaijan celebrates 34 years since its restoration of independence
18 October 2025

Today, Azerbaijan celebrates the 34th anniversary of its restoration of state independence. On August 30, 1991, the Supreme Council of the Republic adopted the Declaration on the Restoration of Independence, and on October 18 of the same year, the Constitutional Act enshrining this status was adopted.
Four Crimean Tatar women arrested for two months
Human rights
Four Crimean Tatar women arrested for two months
17 October 2025

The Kyiv District Court of Simferopol remanded four Crimean Tatar women: Esma Nimetulayeva, Elviza Aliyeva, Nasiba Saidova, and Fevziye Osmanova, in pretrial detention for two months. The hearing was held behind closed doors, with limited access for support.
The arrested former head of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration will be removed from the Security Council.
Politics
The arrested former head of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration will be removed from the Security Council.
17 October 2025

Former head of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration and former president of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), Ramiz Mehdiyev, will be removed from the Security Council on charges of attempting to seize power. The court previously placed him under house arrest for four months.
A defendant in the case of his involvement in the attack on Pskov paratroopers in Chechnya received a lengthy prison sentence
Human rights
A defendant in the case of his involvement in the attack on Pskov paratroopers in Chechnya received a lengthy prison sentence
17 October 2025

The Southern District Military Court found Islam Batsiev, a native of Dagestan, guilty of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer (Article 317 of the Russian Criminal Code) for participating in the attack on Pskov paratroopers as part of Basayev and Khattab's field detachment. Batsiev was sentenced to 21 years in a maximum-security penal colony.