According to the Interior Ministry, unknown individuals fired automatic weapons at the policemen in the Zavodskoy district of the city at 7:05 p.m. Moscow time last Sunday. An Interior Ministry operations major and his partner, a sergeant of the police force, were killed on duty.

The hostage, Oksana Bolshakova, was released in the course of the militia operation in the village of Shaami-Yurt. The woman was kidnapped in February 2003 in Budyonnovsk , Stavropol Territory and then taken to Kizlyar, Dagestan.

"But the responsibility will rest with the Azerbaijan authorities that agreed on the arrival of the hostile country's servicemen," stated Akif Nagi.

According to chairman of the Chechen International Human Rights Committee Aslanbek Abdurzakov, in difficult periods of the Georgian-Russian relations, the theme of the Pankisi Gorge always emerges as one of the means to either destabilize a situation in Georgia or put pressure upon it.

Due to the action, construction works are ceased in the towns of Rustavi and Marneuli, which are mainly populated by Azerbaijanians.

The fact that the Swiss Parliament joined the countries that recognized the Armenian Genocide in the beginning of the XX century in the Ottoman Empire is a victory of both Armenians and the Armenian Diaspora world wide and of all the human beings knowing the history.

Results of the action are unknown yet. On December 22, at daybreak, federal forces resumed their search for rebels.

On December 11, 2003, some information agencies reported that two teenagers, residents of the village of Prigorodnoye, were killed while placing a landmine. Members of the Human Rights Center "Memorial" have conducted their own investigation and ascertained the real circumstances of the young boys' death, which completely contradict the version of the regional operations headquarters.

Despite the fact that the Azerbaijan leadership unambiguously deny the presence of political prisoners in the county, the international community, particularly the Council of Europe, view this matter from a diametrically opposite prospective.

As the journalist himself reported, he applied to the Georgian Consulate in Vienna on behalf of the radio station last Friday, December 19, asking to grant him a visa to cover the presidential election in the republic. Consulate officials assured him the procedure was purely formal and the question would be settled soon.

"The West is flirting with Putin and this of course is linked to its need for Russia's energy resources," Akhmed Zakayev said. "This is clearly pragmatism but in this case it is criminal pragmatism, in fact a form of racism. Chechnya is part of Europe but where else in Europe would the West allow such human rights abuses to go on for such a long time?"

In the village of Goy-Chu (former Komsomolskoye), which was completely destroyed during the second Chechen war, 68% of respondents said they had to "share" their compensatory money with functionaries, and 33.5% gave them a half of the sum they received.

Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are those post-Soviet countries that are given Not Free Country status in the report "Freedom in the World 2003" prepared by the Freedom House human rights organization.

The All-Georgian Association for the Defense of Human Rights is demanding that a criminal case be initiated against former Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze.

The program is carried out by the Czech charitable organization "Man in Trouble".

The first republican meeting of Chechen non-government organizations (NGOs) took place in Grozny on December 10.

A consultation was held at the Government House in Grozny on December 16. President of Chechnya Akhmad Kadyrov, Russia's Minister for Chechnya Stanislav Ilyasov, the representative of the South Federal District Mr. Korobeynikov, and heads of Chechen ministries and departments took part in it.

This act of charity is initiated by the Civilization regional public charitable foundation.

According to the head of the president's public and political office, Azerbaijan has not met only two obligations in the field of information and press undertaken by the country to the Council of Europe. The country is expected to meet them by the end of the current year.

Reports appeared on December 17 that activists of the National Movement's local branch had been beaten in Batumi and its local leader, Giya Masalkin, had left Adjaria from political considerations.