OC Media
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Open Caucasus Media — the Caucasus with depth. News, commentary, and multimedia from the North and South Caucasus.
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Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov received the 1st Class Medal For Contribution to the Development of the Farming Movement in Russia. It is the second time he has received an award from the same farming association.
Kadyrov awarded medal for contributing to the development of the Russian farming movement
Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov was awarded the highest honour of the Russian Association of Peasant (Farming) Enterprises.
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The Bank of Russia has announced it was cancelling the public vote to choose the symbols for the new ₽500 ($6) banknote, citing ‘a large number of attempts to artificially increase the number of votes for certain sites’.

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Bank of Russia cancels vote for new ₽500 banknote featuring North Caucasus locales
Chechen authorities, led by Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov, accused the Central Bank of supporting nationalists.
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The Nubarashen landfill, Yerevan’s largest and oldest municipal waste site, has once again caught fire, forcing emergency crews into intensive containment efforts.
Yerevan’s Nubarashen dumpsite burns again, worsening city’s already poor air quality
The toxic fire coincided with the celebrations of Yerevan’s 2,807th anniversary.
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Nobel laureate and prominent economist Daron Acemoglu has agreed to serve as an adviser to Our Way, the political movement founded by detained Armenian tycoon Samvel Karapetyan.
Nobel Prize winner Daron Acemoglu joins Samvel Karapetyan against Pashinyan
Daron Acemoglu will join jailed mogul Samvel Karapetyan’s political movement as an economic advisor.
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A fire has broken out again at the Nubarashen landfill.

🔺 Established in the 1950s without a permit, Nubarashen is Armenia’s largest open-air dump, receiving nearly all of Yerevan’s municipal waste.
From noxious fumes to empty pledges: Yerevan’s long struggle with its ‘toxic bomb’ dumpsite
Despite new plans to replace the country’s largest open-air dump with a modern waste processing plant, experts and locals remain unconvinced.
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The opposition Telegram channel NIYSO has published a fragment of a livestream by Yug-Neft oil company beneficiary Aslanbek Akhmetkhanov, in which he sharply criticises the principles used to select ‘volunteers’ for the full-scale war in Ukraine.
​​Chechen businessperson criticises sending drug and alcohol users to fight in Ukraine
Aslanbek Akhmetkhanov instead called for ‘specialists and true warriors’ to be sent to the frontlines.
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Georgia’s State Security Service (SSG) has arrested a former senior prison official, accusing him of taking part in an alleged plot to stage the prison beating of prominent government critic Giorgi Bachiashvili.
Georgian security services arrest former senior prison official for ‘staging’ Bachiashvili beating
The arrest came just a day after another former official implicated in the investigation was found dead in a purported suicide.
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➡️ Explainer | Have Russia and Azerbaijan buried the hatchet?

⭕ After almost a year of traded barbs, insults, and even threats of military action, the tensions between Azerbaijan and Russia appear to have been put to rest overnight.
Explainer | Have Russia and Azerbaijan buried the hatchet?
Azerbaijan and Russia have been at odds since the deadly Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in December 2024, which Baku has blamed on Russian air-defence missiles.
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Following his recent re-entry into politics, Armenia’s former human rights defender Arman Tatoyan has officially announced that his newly formed political movement Wings of Unity will contest the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Former human rights defender Tatoyan to challenge Pashinyan in 2026 elections
Former human rights defender Arman Tatoyan is intending to run against Pashinyan with his new political movement Wings of Unity.
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Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze has announced intentions to rehabilitate the central Rustaveli Avenue after the upcoming New Year’s celebrations. The avenue has been the centre of daily anti-government protests, which have continued for over 300 days.
Tbilisi City Hall vows to ‘rehabilitate’ protest stronghold Rustaveli Avenue in 2026
The rehabilitation of Tbilisi’s central avenue has been postponed several times.
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The Georgian National Communications Commission has issued written warnings to TV Formula and its parent company Formula Multimedia, ordering them to cease receiving funding from a Cyprus-based company owned by the channel’s founder, Davit Kezerashvili.
Georgian comms regulator moves to block funding from TV Formula
It is the first time a public warning has been issued to Georgian media related to foreign funding.
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The Georgian police have detained nine more people in connection with the 4 October anti-government protest in Tbilisi, bringing the official number of detainees in the case to 45. Among those arrested is a 71-year-old paediatrician.
Outrage as 71-year-old Georgian paediatrician among latest detainees following 4 October protests
The total number of detainees following 4 October has now exceeded 40.
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Seven journalists icluading Mzia Amaghobeli from Georgia, have been named the 2025 IPI-IMS World Press Freedom Heroes for their exceptional courage and resilience in the fight for free media.
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Two natives of Ingushetia are set to stand trial as participants in the killing of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the Head of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection Forces.
Two natives of Ingushetia to stand trial over killing of Russian General Kirillov
According to investigators, Ramazan Padiev and Batukhan Tochiev rented a flat for the direct perpetrator of the killing.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly apologised for the deadly Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) crash in December 2024, acknowledging that the incident, which claimed the lives of 38 people, had been caused by a Russian anti-aircraft missile.
Putin admits fault for deadly plane crash to Aliyev in awkward press conference
Putin nonetheless partially cast the blame on Ukrainian drones entering Russian airspace at the time.
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Several Polish border guards were attacked by assailants in Tbilisi, resulting in two of them being hospitalised with severe injuries and requiring surgery. The guards were reportedly attacked with metal rods and knives.

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The first section of a new Grozny district named after Russian President Vladimir Putin has been opened. Chechen Head Kadyrov and Russian Deputy Prime Minister attended the opening ceremony on Tuesday, which coincided with Putin’s birthday.
New district named after Putin opens in Grozny
Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak attended the district’s opening ceremony.
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Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has raised eyebrows after comparing ‘EU bureaucracy’ to the infamous Nazi Germany propagandist Joseph Goebbels.

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The Armenian government has moved to significantly ease its universal income declaration system amidst mounting criticism and confusion surrounding reforms that were set to take effect on 1 November.
Armenia softens income declaration regulations after public backlash
Reforms introducing a mandatory universal income declaration system were set to take effect from 1 November.
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The Second Western District Military Court has upheld a treason sentence against Ingush physicist Ruslan Shadiev, who donated around $15 to pro-Ukrainian Russian fighters. He has been sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Ingush physicist sentenced to 18 years in prison over $15 donation to pro-Ukrainian Russian fighters
Ruslan Shadiev was found guilty of treason for transferring money to organisations banned in Russia.
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Georgia’s Interior Ministry has announced the arrest of 13 more individuals in connection with the 4 October anti-government protest in Tbilisi, bringing the official number of detainees in the case to 36.
Georgian authorities detain 13 more in connection to 4 October
The total number of detainees following Saturday’s events has reached 36.
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A Georgian volunteer fighter in Ukraine declared wanted by Russia has been released from custody in Armenia, after a court ruled his extradition to Russia would put his life at risk.
Armenia releases Georgian volunteer fighter wanted by Russia
Armenia denied a request from a court in Russian-occupied Ukraine to extradite Georgian volunteer fighter Giorgi Kinoiani.
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