Opposition figure Gulu Mammadli stated that the arrest of Ali Karimli, leader of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), was expected, but the reasons go beyond simple criticism of the authorities. According to Mammadli, Karimli's publications in major Western media have increased his political significance and visibility abroad, which has caused concern among the Azerbaijani authorities.
In the Vedeno district of Chechnya, at Matrosskaya height, a monument to the Russian military who participated here in the second Russian-Chechen war was destroyed. According to the Minister of National Policy of the Republic, Akhmed Dudayev, this was done by “wild animals or a natural disaster.”
“Here, the norms and rules for installing a monument in places remote from populated areas, as well as basic protection measures against wild animals, were not observed. The monument was erected without notification or approval from the authorities. On the instructions of Ramzan Kadyrov, the slab will be restored to its original location and it will be properly landscaped,” Dudayev said.
On December 31, 1999, at height 1406 near the village of Kharachoy, 13 marines from the 2nd airborne assault company of the 61st Kirkenes Marine Brigade of the Northern Fleet were killed in a clash with members of the Chechen resistance.