Students' public prayer provoked discontent among officials in North Ossetia.

Public prayer by students at the North Ossetian Medical Academy was captured in photos posted on Telegram channels. The university's ethnic composition has changed, including due to a large number of students from India and Chechnya, the North Ossetian ombudsman noted, calling on the university's leadership to conduct preventative measures.

Students at the North Ossetian State Medical Academy (SOGMA) are performing public prayer in public places, the Telegram channel "Multinational" reported, posting a photo of several people performing namaz in the courtyard. According to the channel, "in classrooms, as well as directly in the courtyard and other places not designated for prayer, certain groups of students regularly engage in unauthorized missionary activity with the goal of demonstrating the superiority of their religion."

Conflicts and clashes are also reported among students, and students sometimes bring weapons to classes. "In some cases, aggression and threats are directed at faculty members as well. Security and management fail to respond to such incidents, which only increases the level of permissiveness, students claim," the November 26th publication stated.

Unlike foreign students, it is North Caucasian students who are particularly prone to conflict. Recent conflicts have involved students from neighboring republics.

The Human Rights Commissioner of North Ossetia, Tamerlan Tsgoev, responded to the publication.

At SOGMA, both the ethnic and religious composition of students has changed dramatically in recent years, he noted. "While at SOGU (North Ossetian State University) or GMI (North Caucasus Mining and Metallurgical Institute), conditional migrants from Central Asian countries often simply 'register and pay,' receiving the opportunity to conditionally legalize their employment on construction sites in the form of a student visa, then SOGMA students are slightly different in this regard (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Africa, etc., a significant portion of whom adhere to Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism). In addition, over these years, the percentage of students from neighboring, mainly Islamic, republics has grown significantly at SOGMA. Unlike foreigners, it is North Caucasian students who are distinguished by their conflictual nature potential. Recent conflicts occurred specifically with students from neighboring republics. The intervention of authorities and activists "extinguished" those recent incidents, but systematic work was not carried out. This is not good," he noted in his Telegram channel on November 26.

In his opinion, the work should primarily be carried out by the university's leadership. "In this situation, the medical institute's leadership is required to take active preventative measures with its students, including detailed and regular outreach regarding the religious practices and rituals used and their relationship with the educational process in a secular, multi-confessional society," -

The university's prospects directly depend on the students coming to study in the republic, according to the authors of the Telegram channel "Ossetia." "Without students from India and Chechnya, it faces closure or merger with the Ossetian State University. The republic doesn't need the number of doctors it produces, especially considering that more young people are leaving to study in the capital today than in Soviet times. The situation is similar at other Ossetian universities. There is simply no other way to preserve Ossetia's medical talent pool!" the Telegram channel wrote on October 7.

"Caucasian Knot" reported that Dagestani MMA fighter Erziman Bayramov was charged with hooliganism after a conflict with a passerby in the town of Murino in the Leningrad Region. The incident began with a remark made against Bayramov for performing namaz on the street. The prosecution of Bayramov was subsequently dropped.