TBILISI, DFWatch–The success of an opposition candidate in Ukraine’s presidential elections has given Georgia’s former leader Mikheil Saakashvili new hope of making a comeback in Kiev politics. After losing power in his home country, Saakashvili re-launched his career as politician in Ukraine, serving first as governor of Ukraine’s strategically important Odessa Oblast for 18 months, … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Tbilisi City Court on Tuesday approved the extradition of UK fugitive Jack Shepherd, whom British media have dubbed ‘the speedboat killer’. At the hearing, Shepherd himself also expressed his consent to be extradited, explaining that it was not an easy decision, but he wants to clear the issue and reunite with his family. The … Read more
GALI, DFWatch–Sokhumi has set a fixed price for obtaining a residene permit, a document that is required, but hard for many here to obtain. The price will now be set to 600 Russian rubles, or USD 25, which is a relatively decent amount even for impoverished Gali residents. However, local ethnic Georgians who compose the … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Five unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) violated ‘South Ossetian airspace’ simultaneously, entering from Georgia proper, breakaway South Ossetia claims. “One of them hovered over the town of Kvaisa for 20 minutes and then flew towards Georgia,” Egor Kochiev, the head of South Ossetian delegation, said on Friday after a meeting of the Incident Prevention and … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s exiled former president Mikheil Saakashvili has asked his political party to find a replacement for him as leader, in order to make it more “flexible”. In a video address publisheed on Facebook, the former president suggested Grigol Vashadze as the best candidate to take over the helm of the United National Movement, but … Read more
TBILISI, DWatch–Officials in Tbilisi are puzzled by media reports of inscriptions in the Georgian alphabet on the weapons of the terrorist who slaughtered 49 people and wounded dozens more in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand on Friday. Photos published by Daily Mail show inscriptions on the sides of several cartridges that apparently were used … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–A 29 year-old man has died under suspicious circumstances while in detention by separatist forces in breakaway Abkhazia. The man was detained earlier for trying to cross the administrative borderline between the breakaway republic and Georgia proper. The detainee’s death, which Sokhumi claims was a suicide, happened in a Russian military facility in the … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–A man from Pankisi valley in Georgia have been killed in Syria. Ruslan Tokhosashvili, 35, was the 33rd Kist militant from Pankisi killed in Syria, local-based radio station, Radioway, reports. Tokhosashvili reportedly left his native village of Birkiani for Syria in 2014 and joined the terror group Islamic State. Birkiani is the home village … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–The Georgian government’s reputation for interfering in business was further strengthened on Monday as the founder of the country’s largest bank accused several named officials of trying to force the bank to help in the election campaign. Mamuka Khazaradze, the founder of Georgia’s largest bank, TBC, has accused the authorities of trying to threaten … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s ruling party has lost its constitutional majority after three of its members of parliament left the party on Friday. Ever since the party seized power from Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement in October 2012, Georgian Dream has controlled at least two thirds of seats in the national assembly – until now. But although … Read more