Today, Karachay-Cherkessia commemorates the 69th anniversary of the return of the Karachay people, deported by Joseph Stalin during the Soviet era. This momentous event occurred on May 3, 1957, when the first train carrying Karachays returning to their historical homeland arrived at the autonomous republic's railway station.
A court in Cherkessk sentenced five members of the organization "Citizens of the USSR", banned in the Russian Federation, to 5-8 years in a general regime penal colony. Another four were given suspended sentences.
According to investigators, from March 2019 to June 2020, a group of people who called themselves "citizens of the USSR" and denied the collapse of the Soviet Union operated in Karachay-Cherkessia. They did not recognize the Russian government as legitimate, refused to obey its laws, pay for utilities and repay loans.
The members of the cell, according to investigators, were also convicted of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. The Cherkessk City Court found the "citizens of the USSR" guilty of extremism and illegal arms trafficking.