Watchdog

MOSCOW -- The head of the Russian Interior Ministry's Anti-Extremism Center in the North Caucasus region of Ingushetia was shot dead in Moscow on November 2.

The Investigative Committee confirmed that Ibragim Eldzharkiyev was one of two men killed in a shoot-out in the Moscow district of Troparevo-Nikulino. The other victim was reportedly Eldzharkiyev's brother, Abdulakhmed.

A criminal investigation has been opened into the matter.

An unidentified law enforcement source told the state-run TASS news agency that officials believe the killing was connected to Eldzharkiyev's work.

Eldzharkiyev survived an apparent assassination attempt in January, when three bodyguards were wounded in a shoot-out near the border between Ingushetia and Chechnya.

He was named head of the Anti -Extremism Center last year after his predecessor, Timur Khamkhoyev, was sentenced to seven years in prison for torturing six detainees.

With reporting by Dozhd TV and TASS

MOSCOW -- Prosecutors in Moscow have opened a criminal investigation into a YouTube channel called Real Talk over two videos in which a group of children ask questions of representatives of Russia's gay community, according to a November 2 statement by Valentina Dekhtyarenko of the Pravozashchity Otkrytki human rights organization.

According to Dekhtyarenko, prosecutors have filed the case under Article 132 of the Criminal Code, which covers "violent acts of a sexual nature."

In September Russian state media reported that State Duma deputy speaker Pyotr Tolstoi had asked law enforcement officials to look into the videos, one of which featured a former porn actress. He called the videos "amoral" and "ethically impermissible."

Last month, the producer of the video was given an administrative citation for violating Russia's law on "propagandizing" nontraditional lifestyles to minors.

At the time, it was also reported that police were considering bringing criminal charges for immoral actions and enticing minors into dangerous activities.

Dekhtyarenko stated that the parents of the children in the videos had no complaints. The mothers of at least two of the children were threatened by investigators with the loss of their parental rights, she added.

In June 2013, President Vladimir Putin signed the so-called gay-propaganda law, which has been widely criticized by rights activists in Russia and abroad. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the law discriminates against gays.