TBILISI, October 12 – Georgia is working to persuade Russia to reverse new restrictions on products from several major Georgian companies, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said Monday. “We are looking into this issue and hope that this decision will be changed. We are working on it,” Kobakhidze told reporters. Russia introduced the restrictions on October ... Read more
TBILISI, October 12 – Georgia’s government has increased a planned pension rise for people under 70 from 20 lari to 45 lari, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced Monday. From January 1, the monthly pension for people under 70 will rise to 415 lari, except for pensioners living in high-mountain areas. The 2027 draft budget had ... Read more
TBILISI, October 12 – Georgia’s Constitutional Court has refused a judge’s request to step aside from a case seeking to ban five opposition parties. The judge asked to be recused due to past involvement with the ruling party, raising doubts about her impartiality. Judge Manana Kobakhidze asked to recuse herself on October 9. She said ... Read more
TBILISI, October 11 – Georgia’s political and religious leaders gathered in Tbilisi on Sunday for an international symposium marking 1,700 years since Christianity was declared the country’s state religion. The symposium, titled “God, Homeland, Human,” opened at the Radisson hotel and was attended by Catholicos-Patriarch Shio III, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili ... Read more
TBILISI, October 12 – Georgia’s government has increased a planned pension rise for people under 70 from 20 lari to 45 lari, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced Monday. From January 1, the monthly pension for people under 70 will rise to 415 lari, except for pensioners living in high-mountain areas. The 2027 draft budget had ... Read more
TBILISI, October 12 – Georgia’s Constitutional Court has refused a judge’s request to step aside from a case seeking to ban five opposition parties. The judge asked to be recused due to past involvement with the ruling party, raising doubts about her impartiality. Judge Manana Kobakhidze asked to recuse herself on October 9. She said ... Read more
TBILISI, October 11 – Russia has suspended imports and sales of drinks from several major Georgian producers, including wine, beer, mineral water and Coca-Cola produced in Georgia, prompting a debate in Tbilisi over whether Moscow is applying political pressure. The restrictions took effect on October 9 under what the Russian authorities described as a temporary ... Read more
TBILISI, October 9 – Georgian prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into National Bank board member Nana Keinishvili over allegations that she was illegally involved in business activities, Interpressnews reported. The Prosecutor General’s Office said Friday that the case was opened under Article 337 of the Criminal Code, which covers unlawful participation in business by ... Read more
TBILISI, October 9 – Georgia’s Public Defender has rejected a claim by the lawyer of prisoner Giorgi Davitadze that an ombudsman representative advised him against undergoing a forensic examination. In a statement Friday, the Public Defender’s Office said the lawyer’s account was false and urged Davitadze’s side to stop spreading what it described as misinformation ... Read more
TBILISI, October 8 – Georgian prosecutors have charged a Georgian citizen accused of illegally acquiring and storing radioactive uranium that authorities say he planned to sell to a foreign national. According to Interpressnews, the Prosecutor’s Office said Wednesday that the suspect had been arrested following an investigation by the State Security Service’s counterintelligence department. According ... Read more
TBILISI, October 7 – Tbilisi plans to introduce yellow box markings at congested intersections in an effort to stop drivers from blocking traffic. Mayor Kakha Kaladze announced the plan at a city government meeting on Wednesday, saying the markings would be used at busy transport hubs where traffic lights alone have not solved problems with ... Read more
TBILISI, October 7 – Georgia’s State Security Service says it has arrested a Georgian citizen accused of trying to sell uranium-238 worth USD 700,000 to a foreign national. The story was reported by Interpressnews Wednesday and quoted the domestic intelligence agency SSS saying that the arrest followed a joint operation by its counterintelligence and special ... Read more
TBILISI, October 6 – Two opposition figures serving seven-year prison terms for the October 4, 2025 unrest in downtown Tbilisi have asked prosecutors for plea agreements. Murtaz Zodelava and Lasha Beridze raised the issue during a hearing in the Appeals Court on Monday. Another convicted defendant in the same case, Guri Zhvania, has also requested ... Read more
TBILISI, October 5 – Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze says growing outside pressure since 2022 pushed the government toward tougher measures in order to defend the country’s sovereignty, ultimately making Georgia more independent. Speaking on Imedi TV’s Open Air programme on Saturday, Kobakhidze said it had been much harder in earlier years to withstand outside ... Read more
TBILISI, October 4 – Georgian opera singer Paata Burchuladze, imprisoned over the events of October 4, 2025, has published a letter from prison marking one year since the protest that led to his arrest. In the letter, reported by Interpressnews, Burchuladze republishes the declaration adopted at what organizers called a “National Assembly” during the October ... Read more
TBILISI, October 2 – Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili marked 14 years of Georgian Dream rule by arguing that the country has gradually regained sovereignty and reduced foreign influence since the party came to power in 2012. Papuashvili said the nine years before Georgian Dream’s election victory were not only a period of what he ... Read more
TBILISI, October 2 – Georgia’s Communications Commission has fined Formula TV 10,000 lari after finding that its news programs violated legal requirements on fairness and impartiality, Interpressnews reported. The regulator said it monitored Formula’s 5 p.m. news broadcasts from September 14 to 16 and found cases where presenters and correspondents expressed personal opinions while covering ... Read more
TBILISI, October 2 – A former deputy head of Georgia’s State Security Service has been released on 500,000 lari bail after spending more than four months in custody. Levan Akhobadze, a former deputy head of the domestic intelligence agency, is charged with bribery in a wider corruption investigation involving his former boss, ex-security chief Grigol ... Read more
TBILISI, October 2 – Britain has sanctioned four Georgian citizens as part of a new package targeting people accused of spreading Kremlin-supporting disinformation, Interpressnews reported. The four Georgians named in the measures are Nikoloz Mzhavanadze, Giorgi Iremadze, Mamuka Pipia and Paata Abuladze. The UK said they were part of a group that travelled to Russian-occupied ... Read more
TBILISI, October 1 – Georgia summoned Iran’s ambassador after a social media post about Queen Ketevan triggered unusually broad criticism in Tbilisi, with politicians from both the government and opposition accusing the diplomat of going beyond his role. Iranian Ambassador Seyed Ali Moujani had projected an image of Queen Ketevan onto the facade of the ... Read more
TBILISI, October 1 – Heavy rain caused flooding and traffic problems in Batumi and nearby Makhinjauri on Tuesday, with several streets and residential yards under water and a landslide partially blocking a major road, Interpressnews reported. Batumi City Hall said several streets and the yards of residential buildings were flooded after the downpour. Municipal crews ... Read more
TBILISI, September 30 – A delegation from the Moscow Patriarchate met Georgian Orthodox Church leader Shio III in Tbilisi on Wednesday. The main topic was the status of church life in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Russian delegation was led by Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, who heads the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations. ... Read more
TBILISI, September 30 – Georgia’s draft 2027 state budget would raise public sector salaries, pensions and spending on health and education. The base salary used in the public sector would rise to 1,735 lari next year, lifting salaries for public employees by up to 8.4%. The overall public-sector wage bill would increase by 395 million ... Read more
TBILISI, September 29 – A ruling Georgian Dream lawmaker says Georgia’s opposition could be reshaped again before the 2028 parliamentary election, arguing that foreign actors will try to rearrange parties to appeal to different groups of voters. Levan Machavariani made the claim in a lengthy post published Monday, describing most opposition parties as parts of ... Read more
TBILISI, September 29 – Georgia’s parliament is considering changes that would sharply raise the income threshold for paying property tax. A bill submitted to parliament on Monday would scrap the current 40,000-lari household income threshold and leave only a 100,000-lari threshold for property tax liability. The amendments to the Tax Code have already been presented ... Read more
