DFWatch staff

U.S. Senator Steve Daines meeting Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze just as the controversial law takes effect. (gov.ge) TBILISI, DFWatch--Georgia's new 'FARA' law took effect on May 31, requiring organizations, media outlets and individuals to register as "agents of a foreign principal" if they engaging in advocacy for foreign actors. Failure to comply could result in fines [...]

(Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Frustration is mounting among Armenian alcoholic beverage exporters as their trucks carrying cognac and spirits are being stopped and checked while transiting Georgia en route to Russia, prompting diplomatic exchanges between Yerevan and Tbilisi. On May 13, Armenian beverage producers demonstrated outside the Georgian Embassy in Yerevan, alleging that Georgian authorities were deliberately hindering [...]

(DFWatch.) TBILISI, DFWatch--As Georgia prepares for its Independence Day celebrations, official guests will be faced with a tricky question: Whose celebration to attend? The opposition's or the government's? Or both? Which event foreign dignitaries choose to attend could signal their stance on Georgia’s deepening political crisis. After 235 days of protests bolstered by Western governments, the [...]

Will Neal. (Photo by The Daily Beast.) TBILISI, DFWatch--British journalist Will Neal, who has been a resident of Georgia since 2022, was denied re-entry into the country on May 20 after returning from a trip to the United Kingdom and the European Union. Neal was turned away at the Armenian-Georgian border without a clear explanation, according [...]

Vice President JD Vance swearing in Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. (Office of Vice President of the United States.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the U.S. will consider measures against anti-American governments, answering a question about Georgia. Opposition media celebrated Rubio’s comments, but the GD government downplayed them, stressing that Georgia [...]

Mikheil Saakashvili's health condition has worsened and if the current trend continues, irreversible processes will start in 1-2 months, states the Council of Doctors set by the Public Defender. “The patient has entered the phase of active catabolism,” reads the document released by the Office of Public Defender of Georgia Monday based on the visit and [...]

Vadim Krasikov. TBILISI, DFWatch--In prisoner exchange talks with the United States, Moscow has offered to include a hitman affiliated with Russian intelligence, who is serving a life sentence in Germany for the elimination of Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a citizen of Georgia. Russian officials have suggested that the assassin, Vadim Krasikov, be placed on a [...]

(Formulanews.ge) TBILISI, DFWatch--Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s comments, which many Georgians see as bowing down to an aggressive Russia, continues to cause anger, outrage and shame in the country.  The hashtag #ღარიბაშვილიარგამოხატავსჩემსპოზიციას has gone viral on social media. It literally translates to "Garibashvili does not express my opinion". Georgians from a broad range of backgrounds and especially [...]

Inal Ardzinba, the de facto Minister of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia. TBILISI, DFWatch--Georgia has dismissed an appeal by the breakaway region Abkhazia to the United Nations to be given status as an “observer state”.  A spokesperson for Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called it a propaganda move with no real chance of succeeding. "Occupying regimes have [...]

Alexander Lukashenko. TBILISI, DFWatch--Autocratic leader Alexander Lukashenko said Monday that Belarus might recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia if President Putin tells him to do so.  “As soon as I understand and the President [of the Russian Federation] tells me that there is a need for this,” Lukashenko said in an interview with pro-governmental Russian journalist Vladimir [...]

Zurab Adeishvili. TBILISI, DFWatch--Zurab Adeishvili, a former Georgian justice minister who is an adviser to Ukraine's Prosecutor General, was attacked and beaten in Kyiv on Monday. Adeishvili was  approached by four men in the street who proceeded to beat the Georgian politician, writes "Ukrainskaya Pravda" based on a source in the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine [...]