Five employees of the Russian agency Sputnik Azerbaijan with citizenship of this country were released on bail. Russian citizens, the head of the publication Igor Kartavykh and the editor-in-chief Yevgeny Belousov remain under arrest.

The average nominal salary in the North Caucasus Federal District in the period from January to April 2025 amounted to 51.3 thousand rubles. This is 13% more than in the same period last year, according to Rosstat data.

Diplomatic tensions are growing between Russia and Azerbaijan amid the high-profile deaths of the Safarov brothers after being tortured by FSB officers. It all began on June 27 in Yekaterinburg – the city saw mass detentions and arrests of people from Azerbaijan in connection with the 2001-2011 contract killings. Two key suspects died after being detained, with signs of brutal beatings found on their bodies. For more details, watch our video.

Access to Azerbaijani news sites has been restricted in Russia. It is noted that problems with access are observed in Moscow, Astrakhan, Volgograd, St. Petersburg, Vologda, Chelyabinsk and other regions.

On May 2, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published its annual report on global press freedom. For the first time since 2002, when the annual ranking began, the press freedom situation was rated as difficult worldwide. The report's authors believe economic pressure is the main factor behind the global decline in the Press Freedom Index.

On June 25, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that an attempted coup by the "criminal-oligarchic clergy" had been thwarted. Following house searches, 16 people were detained, including Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, the leader of the "Holy Struggle" movement, who criticized the government for its decisions on Nagorno-Karabakh and led protests last spring. But Pashinyan hasn't stopped there and is threatening to remove the Catholicos of All Armenians.

On June 28, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov married his third son, 17-year-old Adam, known for beating defendant Nikita Zhuravel, his collection of orders and medals, and his indecently rapid rise through the Chechen security forces. On their wedding day, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the newlyweds and their parents.

Representatives of Chechen human rights organizations and diaspora groups held rallies in Brussels and Vienna in support of their fellow refugees facing imprisonment in Europe or deportation to Russia.

On May 15, the European Court of Human Rights released its decision on the attack on participants of a press tour in Chechnya in 2016. The ECHR found that Russia failed to ensure the victims' right to an effective investigation and awarded them €6,000 in compensation.

On June 25, the Supreme Court of Dagestan concluded another trial concerning the armed incursion of Shamil Basayev and Khattab into the republic in August 1999. This time, Sochi resident Alexander Ponomarenko, who claims he has never been to Dagestan, was sentenced to a lengthy prison term. Such cases are routinely pursued by investigators and the prosecutor's office. In May and June alone, at least seven people were convicted for the events of 1999-2000, and six more were detained and will soon appear in court.