DFWatch staff 
TBILISI, DFWatch – The leader of Georgia’s breakaway region Abkhazia is opposed to so-called neutral passports being introduced. Neutral identity papers is a form of documentation used in Georgia for persons who are from the breakaway parts. Last summer Georgia’s parliament introduced a neutral passport that may be offered for people who live in Abkhazia. … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – One of the topics of Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili and U.S. president Barack Obama’s January 30 meeting will be ways of responding to international security challenges. It’s the Georgian president’s administration which writes this in a press release Wednesday. Saakashvili and Obama have met several times before, but this will be the … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – People at a Chinese settlement south of Tbilisi say the police came and questioned them two days after DFWatch wrote about the place. The Interior Ministry denies that the police was there. DFWatch December 6, 2011, reported on a Chinese market where women and children seemed to be living under cramped conditions … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – The new TV station being established by people around Georgian opposition financier Bidzina Ivanishvili is being sued. It’s called Igrika and was recently bought by a company which is owned by the wife of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire who has said he plans to run in the election this fall and then … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – U.S. president Barack Obama will host his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Saakashvili in the Oval Office on January 30 to discuss the upcoming parliamentary election in Georgia, expected in October. They will discuss democratic reforms that will ensure that Georgia is a vibrant and stable democratic state. Other topics will be the issue … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – Russia’s South Strategic Command is planning the exercise ‘Caucasus 2012’ in September. Foreign military attaches were briefed about the exercise at a meeting in Moscow last December with the head of the Russian military’s chief of staff. It will involve not only army but also border guards, air force, interior ministry, security and … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – Bank Cartu of Georgian tycoon Bidznia Ivanishvili sues Georgian National Bank because an audit is being delayed, claiming political motivations. The National Bank started an audit of Cartu right after police seized two million US dollars and one million euros worth of cash last October, suspected of being part of a money … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – One Georgian crew member and the Azerbaijani captain have died after a Turkish tanker sunk off the coast of Albania on Sunday. Georgia’s consulate in Turkey reports that the body of 22-year-old Beka Urushadze has been identified. The Embassy reports that one more Georgian, Malkhaz Lazishvili, is still missing following the accident, and … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – The Georgian Chamber of Control is looking closer at the financial activities of an organization which campaigned for Tbilisi mayor Gigi Ugulava in 2010. The organization is called Our Vote to Gigi Ugulava and had several well-known Georgian singers among its members. This is the result of recent changes in the law about … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – Police yesterday evening arrested the regional leader of the opposition Free Democrats party in the town of Lanchkhuti, western Georgia. Spokespersons for the party say the police did not allow Elguja Chkhaidze access to a lawyer after his arrest, violating his right to defense. During the search of his home the police … Read more