Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili and Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze congratulated the country's Muslim community on Ramadan. This year, the holiday fell on March 20. However, due to the death of Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of All Georgia on March 17, the festivities in Georgia were canceled.

Azamat Maryshev was sentenced by the Nalchik Military Court to five years in a general regime penal colony for leaving his unit without leave during mobilization.

A resident of Karachay-Cherkessia received a suspended sentence for donations totaling less than two thousand rubles to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). This is Alexei Navalny's former project, which is designated as terrorist in Russia. According to the defendant, he decided to financially support the organization after watching its videos online, which included a donation link.

In the international "2026 Happiness Index," Armenia ranked 89th out of 147 countries. Among the South Caucasus regions, it ranked ahead of Georgia (91st) and Azerbaijan (102nd). However, Armenia trailed several post-Soviet states, such as Lithuania (28th), Kazakhstan (33rd), and Russia (79th).

Former Federation Council member Rauf Arashukov from the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, serving a life sentence in the Black Dolphin prison colony in Orenburg, expressed a desire to be transferred to a prison colony in Mordovia. The reason for this transfer is the fact that his father, Raul Arashukov, is also serving a life sentence there for stealing gas and organizing two murders.

Eid al-Fitr, one of the key Islamic holidays that concludes Ramadan, will begin on the night of March 19-20. Most republics of the North Caucasus Federal District have declared the holiday non-working.

Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of All Georgia, the spiritual leader who led the Georgian Orthodox Church since 1977, has passed away. News of his death at the age of 93 was announced on March 17 from the intensive care unit of the Caucasus Medical Center.

A Maykop court has arrested another teenager allegedly involved in the arson of cell phone equipment. Investigators allege that a group of young people, acting on instructions from an unidentified person, set fire to the cell phone station. Although it was not completely destroyed, it was at risk of being disabled.

The Southern District Military Court sentenced Ibragim Nagoyev, a resident of Adygea, to 11 years in prison for involvement in the "Council of United Circassia." Russian law enforcement agencies consider the organization to be part of the banned "Anti-Russian Separatist Movement."

Federation Council Chairperson Valentina Matviyenko congratulated Ingushetia on the 256th anniversary of its accession to Russia, noting the "dynamic development" and growth of production in the republic, which she called "one of the main strongholds of our state in the North Caucasus."