Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) has denied reports suggesting that other military personnel or a sabotage group might have crossed the border following the incursion of Azerbaijani soldier Nasimi Musayev into the Syunik region. The agency stated that only Musayev—who is currently in custody—managed to illegally enter Armenian territory.

The Telavi District Court fined Georgian citizen Aleksi Kenchoshvili 1,500 lari for verbally insulting Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze on social media. The case was heard based on a report filed by the Hate Speech Division of the Human Rights Protection Department under the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

A video from School No. 6 in Sumgait showing several schoolgirls leaving the building was widely circulated on social media on 29 September. The footage shows girls wearing headscarves in accordance with Muslim religious practice, some of them crying. Azerbaijani media reported that the girls were prevented from attending classes because they were wearing headscarves.

More than 150 human rights defenders, journalists, civil society and political figures, as well as civil society organisations, have called on the Kazakh authorities to halt the extradition to Russia of Mansur Movlaev and Yulia Yemelyanova. The joint statement was issued after both lost their appeals against court decisions denying them asylum in Kazakhstan.

The Muftiate of Dagestan has called on the republic's residents to treat information reports with caution and to avoid participating in the dissemination of provocative materials.

The Nalchik City Court has fined a 40-year-old local resident for distributing extremist materials. According to law enforcement, the woman posted an advertisement on an online platform to sell a religious book that had been added to the Federal List of Extremist Materials in 2015.

Марат Камболов, бывший российский федеральный чиновник, объявлен избранным президентом Южной Осетии. На досрочных выборах 18 сентября он, по данным местной Центральной избирательной комиссии, получил более 85% голосов. Москва назвала результат подтверждением доверия жителей республики к новому руководству и заявила о намерении продолжать углубление союзнических отношений с Цхинвалом. Тбилиси и Брюссель, напротив, объявили голосование незаконным и не имеющим юридических последствий.

Russia’s North Caucasus regions are taking part in the three-day voting that began today and will run from 18 to 20 September, with elections for the ninth State Duma, regional legislatures and heads of several federal subjects. Observers note that in regions where governors are being elected, the favourites are already known: they are the incumbent republican leaders, who have received the Kremlin administration’s backing in advance and are expected to retain their positions.

The Tbilisi City Court has sentenced Grigol Liluashvili, the former head of Georgia’s State Security Service (SSG), to 13 years in prison. The court found him guilty on four counts of accepting bribes.

Mairbek Vachagaev, a prominent Chechen historian, political analyst and scholar of the Caucasus who lives in France, has suffered a profound personal loss. His mother, Mizan Vachagaeva, died in Chechnya this morning.