On September 16, former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan appealed to Azerbaijan’s Ombudsman, Sabina Aliyeva, requesting an inspection of the detention conditions for Armenian prisoners at the Umbaki penitentiary complex. An audio recording of the appeal was published on his official social media pages.

On the morning of September 18, Rostov Region Governor Yuri Slyusar reported that air defense forces had shot down over 50 drones overnight across Rostov, Bataysk, Taganrog, and five districts of the region.

Dagestan has made it into the top five Russian regions for country house bookings for the summer of 2026. This was reported by *AiF-Dagestan*, citing data from the service Avito Travel.

On September 17, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan denied parole to Samir Ashurov, an activist with the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (PFPA). The cassation court upheld the decision previously made by the Baku Court of Appeal.

Norwegian authorities are investigating the death of Maryam, a 14-year-old girl from a Chechen family. She died on September 9—roughly five weeks after being forcibly removed from her home and placed in a child welfare facility.

Sergei Shoigu, Secretary of the Russian Security Council, stated that Armenian authorities are shifting their foreign policy course, distancing themselves from Moscow while expanding cooperation with Western nations. He made these remarks during a meeting of the Presidium of the Security Council’s Scientific-Expert Council.

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.

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported the interception and destruction of 641 drones overnight on September 17. The drones were reportedly shot down over 20 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, including southern regions.

Another group of fighters has departed from Grozny Airport for the "special military operation" zone. Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya, announced this on September 16.
 

The documentary *Imprinted in Memory* (Zapechatlennye v pamyati), directed by Kristina Pashin, has won the international MYTH film award. The awards ceremony took place on September 12 in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine.