The aftermath of the landslide in the Elbrus District (glava.kbr.ru)
Over 1,200 people have been evacuated by helicopter from Kabardino-Balkaria’s Elbrus District, following a landslide near the village of Elbrus on 1 September.
The landslide destroyed the only road to the area, cutting off almost 8,000 people from five villages in the Baksan Valley, and leaving many without gas, food, and drinking water.
The landslide pushed three cars carrying five people into the river. Two were saved, while one body has been found. Around 500 people are still searching for the two remaining passengers, one of whom is the head of Elbrus’s local administration, Mussa Dzhappuyev.
On 5 September, Kabardino-Balkaria’s Ministry of Emergencies reported that traffic has been partially restored to all villages affected by the disaster.
‘Opening the road removes the need for us to continue evacuating local residents and tourists by air, and allows us to resume full-fledged delivery of food products, medicines, and other vital goods’, the president of Kabardino-Balkaria, Yury Kokov stated.
Restoration of the road to affected villages in the Elbrus District (glava.kbr.ru)
The area is a popular destination for Russian and international tourists and a convenient starting point for ascending Europe’s highest mountain, Elbrus. According to the Ministry of Emergencies, 38 tourist groups numbering 210 people are still on the trail up Elbrus, including 12 foreign groups.
Several inhabitants of the town of Tyrnyauz, 30 kilometres south of Elbrus, offered free accommodation to people affected by the disaster.
‘We’ll receive everyone who’s in Elbrus and [the nearby village of] Neytrino or any other dangerous zone. If you have nowhere to stay, whether you have children or elderly people with you, we’ll find accommodation for everyone in Tyrnyauz’, local activists wrote on VKontakte, Caucasian Knotreported.
Tyrnyauz was affected by a large landslide into River Baksan on 14 August. Almost 1,000 people were evacuated due to the threat of flooding. The local authorities managed to lower the river’s level by 16 August.
The United Russia party of President Vladimir Putin has won parliamentary majorities in two North Caucasus republics following elections which saw all current regional MPs keep their seats.
Voting began on 6 September for local elections throughout Russia, including in several parts of the North Caucasus.
These included the election of MPs to the parliaments of Kabarda-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia.
Separately, the heads of Kabarda-Balkaria and Ingushetia were elected by the local
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday visited Kabarda–Balkaria, North Ossetia, and Chechnya, reportedly for the first time in over a decade.
Putin visited Beslan in the run-up to the 20th anniversary of the Beslan School Siege on 1 September, and the Russian University of Special Forces in Grozny.
The Russian president had last visited North Ossetia in 2008, four years after the siege of the No. 1 School in Beslan by a group of armed North Caucasian militants led by Chechen guerrilla
Russian police have questioned the parents of an exiled Circassian activist from Kabarda–Balkaria.
On 6 August, RFE/RL reported that police visited the home of Circassian activist Martin Kochesoko’s parents.
Kochesoko is the head of the Circassian organisation Khabze, and is currently based in Turkey.
‘According to them, they came formally to look around and ask questions, that they are obliged to do this, that this is an order from above’, Kochesoko told OC Media.
While Kochesoko st
A member of the Russian State Duma has demanded that several people who did not stand for the national anthem in Kabarda–Balkaria be punished.
On Friday, Andrei Kartapalov, who chairs the Duma Defence Committee, published footage purportedly at a graduation ceremony in the Russian republic. It showed several attendees, including children, remaining seated during the Russian national anthem. Kartapalov later cited media as saying that some of them ‘covered their ears with their hands’ as t
Over 1,200 people have been 
