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Abkhazian journalists and opposition figures push back against Russian sanctions

OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 9h

A group of Abkhazian opposition figures and journalists who have been stripped of their Russian citizenship or declared foreign agents by Moscow have begun a campaign against what they call politically motivated repression.

Opposition figures have said they are being punished via Russia by having their citizenship revoked.

Opposition politician Tsarukyan unveils new programme ahead of 2026 elections

OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 10h

Armenian tycoon and opposition politician Gagik Tsarukyan has announced his return to national politics, unveiling a new programme titled Offer to Armenia ahead of the country’s 2026 parliamentary elections.

Tsarukyan said the new initiative aims to unite ‘knowledgeable and capable individuals’ from Armenia.

Opinion | The state’s punitive reflex won’t save Azerbaijani women from femicide and abuse

OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 10h

⭕ Opinion | The state’s punitive reflex won’t save Azerbaijani women from femicide and abuse

Harsher sentences for the killers of women won’t bring them back to life — but more proactive prevention might save them.

Kobakhidze meets with Belarusian, Chinese ambassadors as Georgian Dream escalates anti-EU rhetoric

OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 10h

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has met with Belarusian Ambassador Mikalai Rahashchuk and Chinese Ambassador Zhou Qian. The talks come as Georgian Dream continues to escalate its anti-EU rhetoric.

The Belarusian ambassador also delivered a congratulatory letter from President Aliaksandr Lukashenka on Georgian Dream’s recent electoral victory.

UK lifts arms embargo on Armenia and Azerbaijan

OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 10h

The UK has lifted its long-standing arms embargo on Armenia and Azerbaijan, citing progress in relations between the two countries and ongoing efforts to support regional peace.

Minister of State Stephen Doughty said that London’s decision aims to ‘elevate bilateral relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan to a strategic partnership’.

Georgia restricts detained 4 October organisers from making calls or receiving visitors

OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 10h

Georgia’s Justice Ministry has restricted the five organisers of the 4 October anti-government protest from making phone calls, meeting visitors, or communicating with each other until 9 December.

The restrictions apply to five organisers charged with calling for a violent change of constitutional order.

Abducted by Kadyrov’s forces, blogger Areg Shchepikhin is sentenced to five years in prison

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OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 10h

The Presnensky District Court of Moscow has sentenced blogger Areg Shchepikhin to five years in a general-regime penal colony. Shchepikhin was found guilty of offending the feelings of believers, inciting hatred and enmity, and calling for extremism.

Areg Shchepikhin was convicted on charges of extremism and offending religious feelings.

OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 11h

At the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair, Georgia will be represented by the newly established Georgian Book Industry Association. The association collects 22 member organizations, including publishers, bookstores, and other literary institutions.

Three cryptocurrency mining farms discovered in a Daghestani village

OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 11h

The energy company Rosseti (Russian power grids) North Caucasus has reported uncovering three illegal cryptocurrency mining farms in the village of Maidanskoye in Central Daghestan.

The economic damage from the illegal electricity consumption exceeds several million rubles.

OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 13h

Georgia’s SSG has announced the arrest of three Georgian nationals linked to the ISIS. The agency says the suspects intended to bring in senior members of the ISIS to Georgia, which they planned to use as a transit territory for attacks.

➡️ Read more: oc-media.org/georgia-deta...

Opinion | 4 October: an unsuccessful uprising or a trap for Georgian democracy?

OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 13h

⭕ Opinion | 4 October: an unsuccessful uprising or a trap for Georgian democracy?

oc-media.org/opinion-4-oc...

Whatever the truth of the 4 October events, they have given Georgian Dream the perfect pretext to finish its repressive crackdown.

Georgian Dream seeks to extend proposed ban of political parties to individual politicians

OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 14h

Georgian Dream is seeking to extend its proposed party ban to individual politicians. Under the new amendments, politicians linked to parties banned by the Constitutional Court would also be barred from political activity.

oc-media.org/georgian-dre...

Previous proposed amendments called for essentially banning all major opposition parties, as well as future parties with a shared ideology.

Abducted by Kadyrov’s forces, blogger Areg Shchepikhin is sentenced to five years in prison

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OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 14h

Abducted by Kadyrov’s forces, blogger Areg Shchepikhin has been sentenced to five years in prison. Shchepikhin was found guilty on Monday of offending the feelings of believers, inciting hatred and enmity, and calling for extremism.

oc-media.org/abducted-by-...

Areg Shchepikhin was convicted on charges of extremism and offending religious feelings.

SSG investigates pro-government TV Imedi broadcast cut as sabotage

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OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 14h

Georgia’s State Security Service (SSG) has opened an investigation under the article of sabotage after the pro-government television station Imedi was unable to broadcast for around 45 minutes.

oc-media.org/ssg-investig...

Imedi, along with two other associated media outlets, were unable to broadcast for around 45 minutes on Monday evening.

Kadyrov awarded medal for contributing to the development of the Russian farming movement

OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 1d

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.

Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov was awarded the highest honour of the Russian Association of Peasant (Farming) Enterprises.

Balkar activist fined for offensive content about Circassians

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OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 1d

The Nalchik City Court has found Balkar activist Khadis Tetuev guilty of inciting hatred and enmity on ethnic grounds against Circassians.

A linguistic examination found elements of incitement to ethnic hatred in Balkar activist Khadis Tetuev’s work.

Bank of Russia cancels vote for new ₽500 banknote featuring North Caucasus locales

OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 1d

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’.

oc-media.org/bank-of-russ...

Chechen authorities, led by Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov, accused the Central Bank of supporting nationalists.

Yerevan’s Nubarashen dumpsite burns again, worsening city’s already poor air quality

OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 1d

The Nubarashen landfill, Yerevan’s largest and oldest municipal waste site, has once again caught fire, forcing emergency crews into intensive containment efforts.

The toxic fire coincided with the celebrations of Yerevan’s 2,807th anniversary.

Nobel Prize winner Daron Acemoglu joins Samvel Karapetyan against Pashinyan

OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 1d

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.

Daron Acemoglu will join jailed mogul Samvel Karapetyan’s political movement as an economic advisor.

From noxious fumes to empty pledges: Yerevan’s long struggle with its ‘toxic bomb’ dumpsite

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OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 4d

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.

Despite new plans to replace the country’s largest open-air dump with a modern waste processing plant, experts and locals remain unconvinced.

Chechen businessperson criticises sending drug and alcohol users to fight in Ukraine

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OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 4d

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.

Aslanbek Akhmetkhanov instead called for ‘specialists and true warriors’ to be sent to the frontlines.

Georgian security services arrest former senior prison official for ‘staging’ Bachiashvili beating

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OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 4d

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.

The arrest came just a day after another former official implicated in the investigation was found dead in a purported suicide.

Explainer | Have Russia and Azerbaijan buried the hatchet?

OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 4d

➡️ 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.

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.

Former human rights defender Tatoyan to challenge Pashinyan in 2026 elections

OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 4d

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 Arman Tatoyan is intending to run against Pashinyan with his new political movement Wings of Unity.