A devastating flood in Dagestan has resulted in massive landslides, affecting more than 6,000 people and 25 communities. The disaster destroyed several roads and damaged approximately 200 homes. More than 3,000 people in the Derbent and Tsumadinsky districts were left without gas due to damaged utility lines. The main causes of the disaster are believed to be abnormally heavy rainfall, which oversaturated the soil, as well as aggravating factors such as chaotic construction and worn-out utility lines.
Four residents of Dagestan are being held in a Rostov-on-Don pretrial detention center on terrorism charges. Investigators claim they planned to set fire to a military base in Makhachkala on behalf of the Ukrainian Azov Regiment (banned in Russia), but the defendants deny their guilt and call the case fabricated.
Magomed Dzhavatkhanov, Ruslan Akkayev, Khadzhimurad Abdullayev, and Rajab Nazarov were detained in December 2022. Afterward, they claim they were subjected to brutal torture.
According to investigators, reading the philosophical works of Friedrich Nietzsche led them to adopt "neo-Nazi" views and support for Ukraine. During the searches, items bearing Azov symbols were allegedly confiscated from Dzhavatkhanov, and camouflage clothing and patches with "Nazi symbols" were seized from Akkayev. The defendants claim that all of these items were planted on them.