Eka Beselia. (Interpressnews.) 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 - [...]
A map of Georgia. (RFE/RL.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Georgia may make it a criminal offense to make maps of the country without the two breakaway republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia as constituent parts. Parliament is to review a draft bill that, if passed, will impose criminal sanctions, including up to two years imprisonment, for producing and [...]
Mamuka Khazaradze. TBILISI, DFWatch--The confrontation between Georgia’s biggest private financial institution and the government grew worse on Thursday as the National Bank sanctioned two of the key persons in TBC Bank. The National Bank of Georgia issued a statement on Thursday which orders to suspend the signature rights of Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, [...]
(Cominf.org) TBILISI, DFWatch--Separatist leader Anatoly Bibilov from the breakaway region South Ossetia presented awards to Russian journalists for ‘objectively’ covering the 2008 war. The event in Moscow on Tuesday honored a number of journalists with medals dedicated to "the 10th anniversary of the Victory of South Ossetians in the Patriotic War" in August. Among [...]
Zarina Doguzova. (Rosturizm official website.) TBILISI, DFWatch--A woman originally from the Georgian breakaway territory of South Ossetia was Thursday appointed head of Russia's federal tourism agency Rosturizm, TASS reports. Prior to her new job, Zarina Doguzova, 33, worked at the communications department at the administration of President Vladimir Putin, where she supervised the division [...]
Shopping center at Rukhi. (Facebook.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Traffic resumed Tuesday across the Enguri bridge, the only crossing between the breakaway region Abkhazia and Georgia proper, locals told DFWatch. However, the bureaucratic hurdles bar most of Gali residents from crossing the conflict line. January 11, breakaway authorities declared a quarantine and unilaterally blocked passage on Enguri [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch--From August, 2019, several new flight destinations will connect Kutaisi with cities in Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Estonia, Netherlands and Italy. The new flights to Basel, Copenhagen, Brussels, Tallinn, Eindhoven and Bari will be offered by Wizzair, the Hungarian budget airline, operating out of David the Builder Kutaisi International Airport. The new routes will become operational [...]
Eka Beselia expressed hope that the investigation will reveal who are behind the smear campaign. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Police in Georgia detained 16 persons on Friday after compromising videos were spread on social media showing a well-known politician from the ruling Georgian Dream party. The detainees, who include two opposition activists and a popular singer, [...]
