TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgian police have detained six Ukrainian and one Georgia citizen who are members of the Donbass Battalion, a volunteer detachment of Ukraine’s National Guard. The seven are suspected of ‘illegal purchase and possession of firearms, ammunition and explosive devices’, the Ministry of Internal Affairs stated. Semen Semenchenko, opposition MP to the Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada and commander … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Several thousand people attended a rally in Tbilisi Sunday to support the United Opposition and its demand to dissolve parliament and hold snap parliamentary elections. The opposition repeated its claim that the presidential election was falsified and therefore illegitimate, demanded snap elections and offered the government an ‘ultimatum’: Either negotiate in ‘a different legal … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Chidaoba has been added to the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. The traditional Georgian style of wrestling has bred dozens of Olympic and world champions in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling as well as judo. “The practice is a complex phenomenon that combines elements of wrestling, music, dance and special … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–A regional official in the United Opposition is in a critical condition after being stabbed outside his house, five days ahead of the runoff election for president. Two persons implicated in the murder attempt are ‘associated with Georgian Dream’, the opposition claims. Georgian Dream and the authorities vehemently denied having any ties with the … Read more
GALI, DFWatch–Breakaway Abkhazia is fastening its grip on Georgian schools in Gali, local teachers told DFWatch. Sokhumi suspects that the schools in this southern district with a predominantly ethnic Georgian population are violating a relatively recent policy to only allow Russian as the instructional language up to 7th grade, and instead teaching in Georgian. “We … Read more
GALI, DFWatch–The Georgian government has unofficially given Gali residents a green light for smuggling cigarettes, likely as part of the election campaign, according to locals DFWatch spoke to. They have received explicit messages from Georgian law enforcers, they said. “Everybody knows each other here, almost all law enforcement knows who smuggle cigarettes. For the past … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–A 30 year old woman and her 9 months old son died in an explosion in an apartment block in Tbilisi Thursday morning, the emergency management service reports. The explosion occurred at around 11am in the eastern Ponichala district and was reportedly caused by a gas leak. Several other people were also injured, including … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Russian border forces have begun installing reinforced barbed wire fence through the village Dzukaantkari (Dzukata) near Gori, as part of a gradual demarcation around the breakaway region South Ossetia. The new and ‘more solid’ type of fences are replacing the old fences that were installed in 2009 and run right through the center of … Read more
GALI, DFWatch–None of the political parties in Georgia’s presidential election campaigned in the conflict zone, according to locals DFWatch spoke to in Gali, the southern district of breakaway Abkhazia. This is unlike previous elections, when the ruling party had local campaign workers out among the population promising various benefits, a resident of the village Tagiloni … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Tskhinvali has resumed installation of barbed wire fence along the administrative borderline between Georgia proper and the breakaway republic of South Ossetia. The de facto security committee plans to install one km long fence in the vicinity of the villages of Balta and Atotsi in the Kareli district. The reason for the resumption of … Read more