http://www.rferl.org/archive/Georgia/latest/652/659.html RFE/RL's latest news, features, commentary, and multimedia content on Georgia http://www.rferl.org/img/rssLogo.gif http://www.rferl.org/archive/Georgia/latest/652/659.html en-US Copyright 2009 - RFE/RL, Inc. 60 Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:08:49 +0000 Pangea CMS – RFE/RL Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko says that Ukraine will support Georgia's territorial integrity and not recognize its breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Yushchenko_Says_Ukraine_Supports_Georgias_Territorial_Integrity/1884796.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Yushchenko_Says_Ukraine_Supports_Georgias_Territorial_Integrity/1884796.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:20:50 +0000 From Our Bureaus Georgia urged fellow former Soviet republic Belarus today not to follow Russia in recognizing the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgia_Asks_Belarus_Not_To_Recognize_South_Ossetia_Abkhazia/1881595.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgia_Asks_Belarus_Not_To_Recognize_South_Ossetia_Abkhazia/1881595.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:27:56 +0000 News An EU-Russia summit in Stockholm is set to be a low-key affair, with neither side holding out hopes of major breakthroughs in a relationship that stalled after the Russian-Georgian war more than a year ago. http://www.rferl.org/content/EU_Russia_Gear_Up_For_Unambitious_Summit/1880819.html http://www.rferl.org/content/EU_Russia_Gear_Up_For_Unambitious_Summit/1880819.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:00:58 +0000 Features http://www.rferl.org/content/EU_Russia_Gear_Up_For_Unambitious_Summit/1880819.html#relatedInfoContainer Transparency International has just released its annual index of corruption in countries across the globe. The Corruption Perceptions Index 2009 finds that high levels of corruption in some countries could slow international efforts to help them cope with, or recover, from the global economic crisis. We speak with Jana Mittermaier, head of Transparency International's Brussels office, to learn more. RFE/RL correspondent Charles Recknagel conducts the interview. http://www.rferl.org/content/Transparency_Campaigner_Warns_Corruption_Could_Slow_Recovery_In_Fragile_Countries/1880774.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Transparency_Campaigner_Warns_Corruption_Could_Slow_Recovery_In_Fragile_Countries/1880774.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:46:35 +0000 Features http://www.rferl.org/content/Transparency_Campaigner_Warns_Corruption_Could_Slow_Recovery_In_Fragile_Countries/1880774.html#relatedInfoContainer Former Deputy Interior Minister Tamaz Ninua and his wife were found shot dead in their apartment in Tbilisi on November 13, RFE/RL's Georgian and Russian services report. http://www.rferl.org/content/Former_Top_Georgian_Official_And_Wife_Found_Dead_/1878162.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Former_Top_Georgian_Official_And_Wife_Found_Dead_/1878162.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:21:20 +0000 From Our Bureaus The prominent Russian journalist and free-press advocate Oleg Panfilov has moved to Tbilisi. Panfilov, a longtime critic of the Russian authorities, said he had been receiving death threats. He took Georgian citizenship last year. http://www.rferl.org/content/Russian_FreePress_Advocate_Moves_To_Georgia/1877790.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Russian_FreePress_Advocate_Moves_To_Georgia/1877790.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:48:37 +0000 Transmission http://www.rferl.org/content/Russian_FreePress_Advocate_Moves_To_Georgia/1877790.html#relatedInfoContainer Adam Michnik, the editor in chief of Poland's "Gazeta Wyborcza" and a leading member of the Polish democratic opposition from 1968 to 1989, was in Prague this week to attend a conference marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain. He spoke to Irina Lagunina of RFE/RL's Russian Service about Russia, the West, and the post-Soviet letdown felt in the former Eastern bloc countries. http://www.rferl.org/content/Twenty_Years_After_Communisms_Fall_Polish_Dissident_Says_Life_Probably_Not_A_Paradise_But_Its_Not_Hell_Anymore/1877551.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Twenty_Years_After_Communisms_Fall_Polish_Dissident_Says_Life_Probably_Not_A_Paradise_But_Its_Not_Hell_Anymore/1877551.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:58:06 +0000 Features http://www.rferl.org/content/Twenty_Years_After_Communisms_Fall_Polish_Dissident_Says_Life_Probably_Not_A_Paradise_But_Its_Not_Hell_Anymore/1877551.html#relatedInfoContainer Before the autumn revolutions in Eastern Europe, there was the Moscow Spring in the Soviet Union. In 1989, Mikhail Gorbachev's reform policies hit their high-water mark, as the USSR held its first competitive elections, press freedom flourished, and civil society awakened. http://www.rferl.org/content/Revolutions_of_89_The_Moscow_Spring/1876450.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Revolutions_of_89_The_Moscow_Spring/1876450.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:14:45 +0000 Features http://www.rferl.org/content/Revolutions_of_89_The_Moscow_Spring/1876450.html#relatedInfoContainer Georgia has said Russian forces detained five Georgian citizens off the Black Sea coast near the breakaway Russian-backed region of Abkhazia, and accused Moscow of trying to escalate tensions. http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgia_Accuses_Russia_Of_Black_Sea_Detentions/1875180.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgia_Accuses_Russia_Of_Black_Sea_Detentions/1875180.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:52:34 +0000 From Our Bureaus Police in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia have arrested four Georgian teenagers and charged them with illegally crossing the border and possession of arms and explosives, RFE/RL's Georgian and Russian services report. http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgian_Teenagers_Detained_By_South_Ossetian_Police/1872122.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgian_Teenagers_Detained_By_South_Ossetian_Police/1872122.html Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:27:58 +0000 From Our Bureaus The Central Election Commission of the breakaway Republic of Abkhazia has registered five candidates who applied to run in the presidential election on December 12. A sixth would-be candidate, Djamalik Ayba, withdrew his application before the November 2 deadline. http://www.rferl.org/content/Five_Presidential_Candidates_Registered_In_Abkhazia/1872025.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Five_Presidential_Candidates_Registered_In_Abkhazia/1872025.html Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:15:40 +0000 Caucasus Report http://www.rferl.org/content/Five_Presidential_Candidates_Registered_In_Abkhazia/1872025.html#relatedInfoContainer November 6 is the second anniversary of a brutal police crackdown in Tbilisi on demonstrators who had for days picketed the parliament building to demand early parliamentary elections and the release of persons they considered political prisoners. Georgian media have recently been discussing the possibility that the opposition will launch a new wave of protests on November 7 to demand President Mikheil Saakashvili's resignation. But with the opposition divided over tactics and strategy, the ... http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgian_Opposition_Gears_Up_For_New_Protests/1871141.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgian_Opposition_Gears_Up_For_New_Protests/1871141.html Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:27:23 +0000 Caucasus Report http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgian_Opposition_Gears_Up_For_New_Protests/1871141.html#relatedInfoContainer Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze has renounced his Russian citizenship, RFE/RL's Russian and Georgian services reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgian_Foreign_Minister_Renounces_Russian_Citizenship/1870936.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgian_Foreign_Minister_Renounces_Russian_Citizenship/1870936.html Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:39:13 +0000 From Our Bureaus Georgia plans to launch a Russian-language television channel targeting ethnic minorities across the Caucasus, in its latest challenge to Moscow's influence in the strategically important region. http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgian_Plans_RussianLanguage_Regional_TV_Channel_/1870585.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgian_Plans_RussianLanguage_Regional_TV_Channel_/1870585.html Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:06:14 +0000 News The chairman of Georgia's opposition Labor Party is in Washington to discuss Georgian-U.S.-Russian relations and the recognition of Kosovo and Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, RFE/RL's Georgian and Russian services report. http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgian_Opposition_Wants_US_To_Renounce_Recognition_Of_Kosovo/1870549.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgian_Opposition_Wants_US_To_Renounce_Recognition_Of_Kosovo/1870549.html Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:08:22 +0000 From Our Bureaus Russian military intelligence believes Georgia might again attack South Ossetia, the pro-Moscow region over which the two countries fought a war last year, a powerful spy chief said. http://www.rferl.org/content/Russia_Spy_Chief_Warns_Of_New_Georgia_War/1870384.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Russia_Spy_Chief_Warns_Of_New_Georgia_War/1870384.html Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:00:19 +0000 News Last week’s announcement that the next Russian census will be held in 2010 as originally scheduled is welcome news indeed. There had been considerable speculation that the census had been delayed largely for political reasons, and it is encouraging to think that the opinions of experts who say the census information is crucially needed were heeded in this case. http://www.rferl.org/content/Russia_Is_Dying_To_Learn_Its_Census_Data/1869329.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Russia_Is_Dying_To_Learn_Its_Census_Data/1869329.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:38:55 +0000 Commentary http://www.rferl.org/content/Russia_Is_Dying_To_Learn_Its_Census_Data/1869329.html#relatedInfoContainer Testifying in court in the ongoing trial of military officers accused of plotting to overthrow the Georgian leadership, the commander of Georgia's land forces could not confirm that two of the charged officers were pursuing any broader political objective. Nor could he say positively that three other men identified as the masterminds of the alleged coup were present at the Mukhrovani military base on the crucial morning of May 5. http://www.rferl.org/content/Commanders_Testimony_Fails_To_Substantiate_Mukhrovani_Coup_Allegations/1869340.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Commanders_Testimony_Fails_To_Substantiate_Mukhrovani_Coup_Allegations/1869340.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:38:27 +0000 Caucasus Report http://www.rferl.org/content/Commanders_Testimony_Fails_To_Substantiate_Mukhrovani_Coup_Allegations/1869340.html#relatedInfoContainer RFE/RL's first Russian-language news program to the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia began today. http://www.rferl.org/content/RFERL_Begins_RussianLanguage_Program_To_South_Ossetia_Abkhazia/1869140.html http://www.rferl.org/content/RFERL_Begins_RussianLanguage_Program_To_South_Ossetia_Abkhazia/1869140.html Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:13:33 +0000 From Our Bureaus http://www.rferl.org/content/RFERL_Begins_RussianLanguage_Program_To_South_Ossetia_Abkhazia/1869140.html#relatedInfoContainer The son of the late Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia has been charged with attempted murder, RFE/RL's Russian and Georgian services report. http://www.rferl.org/content/Son_Of_Late_Georgian_Leader_Charged_With_Attempted_Murder/1866489.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Son_Of_Late_Georgian_Leader_Charged_With_Attempted_Murder/1866489.html Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:18:21 +0000 From Our Bureaus Even before the putative date (May 30) of next year's Georgian municipal elections has been confirmed, opposition parties are expressing concern that amendments to the election law proposed by the authorities will give President Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement (ENM) an unfair advantage over its opposition rivals. http://www.rferl.org/content/New_Bone_Of_Contention_Emerges_Between_Georgian_Opposition_Government/1865998.html http://www.rferl.org/content/New_Bone_Of_Contention_Emerges_Between_Georgian_Opposition_Government/1865998.html Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:28:19 +0000 Caucasus Report http://www.rferl.org/content/New_Bone_Of_Contention_Emerges_Between_Georgian_Opposition_Government/1865998.html#relatedInfoContainer Georgia's Interior Ministry says 16 Georgian citizens arrested by Russian forces near the breakaway republic of South Ossetia will be released, RFE/RL's Georgian Service reports. http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgian_Villagers_Arrested_By_Russian_Soldiers_Released_/1865454.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgian_Villagers_Arrested_By_Russian_Soldiers_Released_/1865454.html Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:58:07 +0000 From Our Bureaus The number of Georgian citizens arrested this week by Russian forces near South Ossetia has reached 21, RFE/RL's Russian and Georgian services report. http://www.rferl.org/content/Russian_Forces_Arrest_More_Georgians_Near_South_Ossetia_/1865031.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Russian_Forces_Arrest_More_Georgians_Near_South_Ossetia_/1865031.html Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:27:15 +0000 From Our Bureaus Georgian parliamentarians met on October 28 with top national security officials to discuss the implications of recent Russian allegations that international terrorists affiliated with Al-Qaeda are transiting Georgia en route to join the ranks of the North Caucasus resistance. http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgia_Braces_For_Provocations_On_Border_With_Russia/1863467.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgia_Braces_For_Provocations_On_Border_With_Russia/1863467.html Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:55:58 +0000 Caucasus Report http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgia_Braces_For_Provocations_On_Border_With_Russia/1863467.html#relatedInfoContainer In the wake of last week's scandal surrounding the internet footage showing Patriarch Ilia II, the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, apparently denigrating Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Ilia's press secretary Mikael Botkoveli has addressed a formal request to the Georgian Public Broadcaster to air a debate on the issue. http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgian_Public_Broadcaster_Unable_To_Grant_Patriarchate_Air_Time/1863460.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgian_Public_Broadcaster_Unable_To_Grant_Patriarchate_Air_Time/1863460.html Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:52:26 +0000 Caucasus Report http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgian_Public_Broadcaster_Unable_To_Grant_Patriarchate_Air_Time/1863460.html#relatedInfoContainer Georgia has nominated Oleg Panfilov, the director of the Moscow-based Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, as a candidate to be OSCE representative on freedom of the media, RFE/RL's Russian and Georgian services report. http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgia_Recommends_Panfilov_To_OSCE_Media_Freedom_Post/1862695.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Georgia_Recommends_Panfilov_To_OSCE_Media_Freedom_Post/1862695.html Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:08:57 +0000 From Our Bureaus From Kyiv to Tbilisi and from Warsaw to Prague, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has been playing the role of "comforter in chief," insisting that Washington stands by its friends in the former Socialist bloc -- even as it seeks better relations with Moscow. So how's he doing? http://www.rferl.org/content/Biden_Working_To_Make_It_All_Quiet_On_The_Eastern_Front/1862620.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Biden_Working_To_Make_It_All_Quiet_On_The_Eastern_Front/1862620.html Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:44:49 +0000 Features http://www.rferl.org/content/Biden_Working_To_Make_It_All_Quiet_On_The_Eastern_Front/1862620.html#relatedInfoContainer Georgia's rebel South Ossetia region has said it had detained 16 Georgian citizens for illegally crossing its de facto border, causing concern in Tbilisi and among European cease-fire monitors. http://www.rferl.org/content/South_Ossetia_Detains_16_Georgians/1861963.html http://www.rferl.org/content/South_Ossetia_Detains_16_Georgians/1861963.html Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:24:35 +0000 From Our Bureaus Foreign ministers of the three South Caucasus countries today met with an EU troika of top officials in Luxembourg. The routine meeting takes place yearly under the aegis of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreements the EU has with Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The EU is offering all three countries an upgrade to an Association Treaty, which could eventually bring with it free trade and visa-free travel, but would not open the door to EU membership. http://www.rferl.org/content/EU_Reviews_Cooperation_With_The_South_Caucasus/1861508.html http://www.rferl.org/content/EU_Reviews_Cooperation_With_The_South_Caucasus/1861508.html Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:24:02 +0000 Features http://www.rferl.org/content/EU_Reviews_Cooperation_With_The_South_Caucasus/1861508.html#relatedInfoContainer