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It was “senior comrades” and not the demands of Orthodox activists who convinced Apti Alaudinov, the commander of the “Akhmat” special forces, to apologize to Schema-Abbot Gavriil. However, in the context of the practice of public apologies designed by the Chechen authorities, the case became unique of its kind.

The Chechen law enforcers accused within the criminal case of kidnapping the blogger, Areg Schepikhin, have escaped placement into custody.

Orthodox activists have voiced a request to reinstate Schema-Abbot Gavriil, who was dismissed after his statements about Muslims, in the Valaam Monastery and to give a legal assessment to the Apti Alaudinov’s words about the Orthodox priest.

Apti Alaudinov, Commander of "Akhmat" Special Forces, has apologized to Schema-Abbot Gavriil "purely because of his age." At the same time, he expressed outrage that the people who demanded an apology to the priest failed to react to Gavriil's statements about Muslims.

In Moscow, a court arrested blogger Areg Schepikhin for two months in a case on calls for extremism and incitement of hatred. The court hearing was held without allowing journalists to enter the courtroom. Footage from the courtroom shows traces of beatings on the Areg Schepikhin’s face.

Schema-abbot Gavriil, who stated in his sermon that Muslims, on orders of a mullah, could slaughter all residents of Moscow, has been dismissed from his post as the head of the Sochi stead of the Valaam Monastery. The dismissal of Schema-abbot Gavriil followed a demand for an apology voiced by Apti Alaudinov.

The Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has included Chechen human rights defender Ruslan Kutaev*, who lives abroad, in the register of foreign agents.

Social media users treat the prices of sacrificial animals on the Eid al-Adha (Kurban Bayram) holiday as too high; and not everyone agrees with the call of the Chechen Mufti not to sell animals’ skins. The charitable funds of the republics of Northern Caucasus have reported on the free distribution of animal meat and food packages.

When commenting on the statements of blogger Areg Schepikhin about Chechens and Muslims, fighters of the “Akhmat” special forces claimed that the incitement of ethnic hatred during military operations should be punishable by death.

A court has sentenced four residents of Tatarstan to long terms of imprisonment in a case on the attack on Pskov paratroopers in Chechnya in 2000.

The Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) has initiated a criminal case against Areg Schepikhin, a blogger, who was kidnapped at the Yaroslavsky Railway Station in Moscow. Today, they plan to choose a freedom restriction measure for his kidnappers.

The Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation reports about the institution of a criminal case after the incident with a blogger at the Yaroslavsky Railway Station, announcing the detention of “all the suspects involved in the case.” Only three out of the six suspects have been detained pending trial to determine the pre-trial restriction measure, sources in the law enforcement bodies report.

Evgeny Popov, a Russian State Duma MP, and Eva Merkachova, a human rights defender, regard the actions of law enforcers who had kidnapped Areg Schepikhin at the train station and took him away in a car trunk as unacceptable. A source from Chechen authorities said that law enforcers saved the blogger from Muslims’ wrath; and the detention was not too harsh.

The kidnapping of the blogger, Areg Schepikhin, has recalled the involvement of Chechen law enforcers in the disappearance of Salman Tepsurkaev and the detention circumstances of Zarema Musaeva. The details of the incident leave open the issue of whether law enforcers in Moscow were notified of the actions of their Chechen colleagues.

In his videos, blogger and entrepreneur Areg Schepikhin, who was kidnapped at the Yaroslavsky Railway Station in Moscow in the evening of June 3, spoke out against Muslims and Jews and also insulted Chechens and Dagestanis.