http://www.rferl.org/archive/Georgia/latest/659/659.html RFE/RL's latest news, features, commentary, and multimedia content on Georgia http://www.rferl.org/img/rssLogo_RFERL.gif http://www.rferl.org/archive/Georgia/latest/659/659.html en-US Copyright 2010 - RFE/RL, Inc. 60 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:57:41 +0000 Pangea CMS – RFE/RL According to a poll conducted by Russia's independent Levada Center, the United States is now the country considered by the greatest number of Russians to be an enemy of their country. http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-us-worst-enemy/25021735.html http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-us-worst-enemy/25021735.html Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:01:06 +0000 Transmission http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-us-worst-enemy/25021735.html#relatedInfoContainer Georgian Interior Minister Irakli Garibashvili told journalists that one suspect is a Defense Ministry official and two are former police officers. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-arms-caches/25021702.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-arms-caches/25021702.html Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:42:39 +0000 Georgia Czech police have arrested an alleged high-ranking member of a Georgian organized criminal group. http://www.rferl.org/content/czech-georgian-arrest/25021691.html http://www.rferl.org/content/czech-georgian-arrest/25021691.html Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:28:14 +0000 Georgia Ten Georgian servicemen have been killed in Afghanistan in the last month. The appearance of a purported Taliban video threatening “jihad” against Georgia ignited a firestorm of political accusations among supporters of President Mikheil Saakashvili and Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-taliban-saakashvili-threat-terrorism-politics/25020506.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-taliban-saakashvili-threat-terrorism-politics/25020506.html Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:35:53 +0000 Georgia internet_team@rferl.org (Robert Coalson, Luka Kalandarishvili) Countries in Central Europe and Central Asia are increasingly being ruled by autocratic governments with little regard for democracy, according to the 2013 "Nations In Transit" report by democracy watchdog Freedom House. http://www.rferl.org/content/freedom-house-report-/25020038.html http://www.rferl.org/content/freedom-house-report-/25020038.html Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:07:42 +0000 News internet_team@rferl.org (Heather Maher) Former Georgian Prime Minister Ivane Merabishvili has started a hunger strike in pretrial detention. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-merabishvili-hunger-strike/25019691.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-merabishvili-hunger-strike/25019691.html Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:59:59 +0000 Georgia Georgian investigators say they have found several caches filled with weapons, explosives, drugs, and documents targeting opponents of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's party. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-arms-caches-saakasvili/25019490.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-arms-caches-saakasvili/25019490.html Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:40:00 +0000 Georgia internet_team@rferl.org (RFE/RL's Georgian Service) Georgia's Interior Ministry has pledged to destroy a secret archive of illegally obtained video and phone recordings used by the administration of President Mikheil Saakashvili to blackmail journalists, politicians, and activists. But getting rid of dirty laundry is not as easy as it seems. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-secret-tapes-destroy/25019275.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-secret-tapes-destroy/25019275.html Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:56:02 +0000 Georgia internet_team@rferl.org (Nona Mchedlishvili) Georgia has resumed wine exports to Russia for the first time since 2006, with a first batch of 30,000 bottles from the Dugladze winery crossing the Georgia-Russia border on June 15. http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-georgia-wine-returns/25017834.html http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-georgia-wine-returns/25017834.html Sat, 15 Jun 2013 08:53:31 +0000 Georgia The Georgian Interior Ministry says a terrorist attack has been prevented in the capital, Tbilisi. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-terror-attack-tbilisi/25016090.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-terror-attack-tbilisi/25016090.html Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:20:56 +0000 Georgia Georgia's defense minister says two bases for Georgian troops in Afghanistan have been closed after 10 Georgian soldiers were killed there in recent attacks. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-closes-afghanistan-bases/25015174.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-closes-afghanistan-bases/25015174.html Wed, 12 Jun 2013 16:19:11 +0000 Georgia Former Georgian parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze says she will run for the country's presidency in October. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-burjanadze-presidential-race/25014743.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-burjanadze-presidential-race/25014743.html Wed, 12 Jun 2013 11:26:49 +0000 Georgia internet_team@rferl.org (RFE/RL's Georgian Service) Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania has arrived in Afghanistan a day after seven Georgian soldiers died in a truck bombing at their base. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-minister-visit-after-bombing/25010007.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-minister-visit-after-bombing/25010007.html Fri, 07 Jun 2013 09:49:24 +0000 Georgia The Georgian military says six of its soldiers have been killed in a suicide attack in southern Afghanistan. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgian-soldiers-killed-afghanistan/25009592.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgian-soldiers-killed-afghanistan/25009592.html Thu, 06 Jun 2013 19:31:58 +0000 Georgia internet_team@rferl.org (RFE/RL's Georgian Service) NATO defense ministers have finished the second of two days of meetings in Brussels to discuss the alliance's operations in Afghanistan after its combat mission ends there in 2014. http://www.rferl.org/content/nato-afghanistan-georgia/25008287.html http://www.rferl.org/content/nato-afghanistan-georgia/25008287.html Wed, 05 Jun 2013 17:15:56 +0000 News internet_team@rferl.org (RFE/RL) A member of a European Parliament delegation, Krzysztof Lisek, has visited Georgia’s jailed former Prime Minister Vano Merabishvili. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-merabishvili-eu-visit/25006470.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-merabishvili-eu-visit/25006470.html Tue, 04 Jun 2013 09:02:45 +0000 Georgia In the eight months since Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement ceded power in the wake of the October 1 parliamentary elections, at least a dozen senior Interior Ministry personnel have been arrested and charged with abuse of office. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-interior-ministry-achilles-heel/25005620.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-interior-ministry-achilles-heel/25005620.html Mon, 03 Jun 2013 14:29:35 +0000 Caucasus Report http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-interior-ministry-achilles-heel/25005620.html#relatedInfoContainer Georgian Labor, Health-Care, and Social Protections Minister David Sergeyenko said in a televised statement last week that his ministry was discussing the possible legalization of marijuana with the Justice Ministry. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-drug-legalize-marijuana-tbilisi/25005677.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-drug-legalize-marijuana-tbilisi/25005677.html Mon, 03 Jun 2013 12:54:21 +0000 Georgia A spokeswoman for the Georgian Prosecutor-General's Office said in a televised statement on May 31 that investigations have been launched into embattled President Mikheil Saakashvili's purported use of more than $11,000 of budget money for Botox plastic surgery in New York in 2009 and 2011. http://www.rferl.org/content/saakashvili-charges-budget/25003038.html http://www.rferl.org/content/saakashvili-charges-budget/25003038.html Fri, 31 May 2013 10:16:51 +0000 Georgia Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili says a dispute about Georgia's administrative boundary with its separatist region of South Ossetia will be discussed at Russian-Georgian talks scheduled for June 5. http://www.rferl.org/content/ivanishvili-georgia-russia-border-breakaway-ossetia/25002971.html http://www.rferl.org/content/ivanishvili-georgia-russia-border-breakaway-ossetia/25002971.html Fri, 31 May 2013 09:07:25 +0000 Georgia internet_team@rferl.org (RFE/RL's Georgian Service) Local residents in the village of Ditsi say that Rostom Sosiashvili, 24, was detained by Russian soldiers on May 30. http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-georgia-south-ossetia/25001615.html http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-georgia-south-ossetia/25001615.html Thu, 30 May 2013 07:50:14 +0000 Georgia internet_team@rferl.org (RFE/RL's Georgian Service) The Defense Ministry's press service said Malkhaz Bokhua was arrested on May 29 on suspicion of being involved in the misuse of some $300,000 of military police funds in 2012. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-police-official-detained/25001588.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-police-official-detained/25001588.html Thu, 30 May 2013 07:25:37 +0000 Georgia internet_team@rferl.org (RFE/RL's Georgian Service) The Prosecutor-General's Office announced that former Prime Minister Ivane Merabishvili was charged with exceeding his powers during a rally in downtown Tbilisi in May 2011. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-merab/25000483.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-merab/25000483.html Wed, 29 May 2013 08:58:27 +0000 Georgia internet_team@rferl.org (RFE/RL's Georgian Service) Georgia's foreign minister has expressed concern over the installation by Russian troops of barbed-wire fencing along the administrative boundary of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-russia-border-ossetia-fence/24999359.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-russia-border-ossetia-fence/24999359.html Tue, 28 May 2013 07:47:19 +0000 Georgia internet_team@rferl.org (RFE/RL's Georgian Service) Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has said that democracy, respect for human rights, EU and NATO membership, and the "de-occupation" of the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are essential elements of Georgia's independence. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-ivanishvili-tolerance/24997733.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-ivanishvili-tolerance/24997733.html Sun, 26 May 2013 12:58:35 +0000 Georgia Georgia's prime minister has said fierce political rival President Mikheil Saakashvili is not exempted from interrogation "if prosecutors find it necessary," without elaborating. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-saakashvili-interrogation/24996327.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-saakashvili-interrogation/24996327.html Fri, 24 May 2013 13:48:14 +0000 Georgia Two Georgian Orthodox Church clerics have been charged in connection with antigay violence that broke out last week in Tbilisi. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-orthodox-priests-antigay-violence/24995118.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-orthodox-priests-antigay-violence/24995118.html Thu, 23 May 2013 12:39:13 +0000 Georgia internet_team@rferl.org (RFE/RL's Georgian Service) In a new report, the global rights group Amnesty International documents abuses in 159 countries and territories that it says were "inflicted by those in power on those who stand in the way of their vested interests." http://www.rferl.org/content/amnesty-report-2012-human-rights-abuses/24994310.html http://www.rferl.org/content/amnesty-report-2012-human-rights-abuses/24994310.html Wed, 22 May 2013 23:01:26 +0000 Features internet_team@rferl.org (RFE/RL) The arrest of Vano Merabishvili, Mikheil Saakashvili's most powerful ally, appears to tighten the noose around the weakened Georgian president, who has seen his support base crumble since Bidzina Ivanishvili's rise to power last October. But observers in Georgia say the arrest may also be a response to a vicious religious crackdown against gay-rights groups – and a sign that Ivanishvili's true rival is no longer Saakashvili but the church. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-merabishvili-arrest-saakashvili/24994273.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-merabishvili-arrest-saakashvili/24994273.html Wed, 22 May 2013 16:36:48 +0000 Georgia internet_team@rferl.org (Nino Kharadze, Nona Mchedlishvili, Daisy Sindelar) The Georgian government of Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili is seeking to change the dynamic of Tbilisi's relationship with the breakaway region of Abkhazia. And the mostly ethnic-Georgian population of Abkhazia's Gali district is once again feeling the squeeze. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-abkhazia-breakaway-politics/24993710.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-abkhazia-breakaway-politics/24993710.html Wed, 22 May 2013 10:07:24 +0000 Georgia internet_team@rferl.org (Tea Shonia, Robert Coalson) A former prime minister of Georgia has been ordered to be held in jail for two months until his trial on charges of embezzlement and abuse of office. http://www.rferl.org/content/saakashvili-denounces-arrests-of-allies/24993422.html http://www.rferl.org/content/saakashvili-denounces-arrests-of-allies/24993422.html Wed, 22 May 2013 06:01:09 +0000 Georgia internet_team@rferl.org (RFE/RL's Georgian Service) Authorities in Georgia have arrested former Georgian Prime Minister Ivane Merabishvili and former Health Minister Zurab Chiaberashvili. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-saakashvili-allies-arrested/24992767.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-saakashvili-allies-arrested/24992767.html Tue, 21 May 2013 12:35:34 +0000 Georgia internet_team@rferl.org (RFE/RL's Georgian Service) Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili says the tiny Pacific island nation of Vanuatu has withdrawn its recognition of Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-vanuatu-recognition-abkhazia/24992623.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-vanuatu-recognition-abkhazia/24992623.html Tue, 21 May 2013 10:51:37 +0000 Georgia internet_team@rferl.org (RFE/RL's Georgian Service) Four men have been arrested in Georgia in connection with the violence last week that disrupted a planned gay-rights demonstration in Tbilisi. http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-men-arrested-antigay-violence/24992466.html http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-men-arrested-antigay-violence/24992466.html Tue, 21 May 2013 09:01:06 +0000 Georgia