Tag Archives: Georgia

ICC investigates war crime in Georgia-Russia war

JAN. 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) officially launched an investigation into alleged war crimes during an eight day war in August 2008 between Georgia and Russia. Georgia, a signatory of the treaty which set up the ICC, said it would comply with the investigation. The ICC’s investigation has the potential to damage recently improved Georgia- Russia relations.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Georgian lari hits all-time low

JAN. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Georgian currency, the lari, hit an all-time low of 2.47/$1, despite various interventions by the Central Bank to prop it up. Its previous low had been set in 1999, providing context for just how much value currencies in the South Caucasus and Central Asia have lost. The lari is down around 25% from a year earlier.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Georgia makes military deal with Saudi

JAN. 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s state-owned Delta, which manufactures weapons and other military equipment, said it had secured a deal worth up to 100m lari (around $40m) to build “several dozen” military evacuation vehicles for Saudi Arabia, an important deal in an economically tough environment. Georgia has invested fairly heavily in its defence and military equipment sector.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Georgian Opera House prepares for new season after $40m renovation

JAN. 29 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — It’s been one of the longest and most expensive renovation projects in Georgia’s history but now the 165-year-old Zacharia Paliashvili Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre, originally called the Tiflis Imperial Theatre, is finally set to reopen its doors.

The curtains will be opened tomorrow night on the theatre’s six year, $40m renovation, a project paid for by former PM Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Cartu Fund.

The first night will be reserved for invited guests only but members of the public can buy tickets for subsequent nights to see for themselves what has been promised has been a lavish renovation of one of the world’s most famous Russian Empire-era opera houses.

A grand and imposing building with a touch of Moorish swagger, the opera house dominates the central avenue running through Tbilisi. It was designed in the mid-19th century by Viktor Schröter, a German architect who lived in St Petersburg.

The main performance at the reopening of the theatre is a rendition of Georgian composer Zacharia Paliashvili’s symphony orchestra.

Standing in line to buy a ticket was, 70-year-old Lia Machitadze.

She wore a fur coat to ward off the January chill, large sunglasses and bright red lipstick. “I couldn’t wait for my aunt to take me to the opera when I was a little girl,”she said as she fluffed her hair up a little. “And now I can’t wait to experience its magical atmosphere again.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Russia says IS have set up a training camp in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge

JAN. 27 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia said the radical Islamic group IS had set up a training centre in the Pankisi Gorge, prompting a quick and irritated denial from the Georgian government.

The spat has the potential to upset relations between Georgia and Russia at a delicate time. Over the past few years, since former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili lost power in 2013, relations between the two neighbours have improved. They fought a war in 2008 over the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Russian news agencies quoted Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, as saying at a press conference in Moscow: “We are getting reports IS militants use this remote area to train, rest and replenish their reserves. The terrorist threat from the Pankisi Gorge has not faded.”

The reference to the “terrorist threat” was to the Pankisi Gorge’s previous role as a hide-out for Chechen fighters battling Russian forces in the North Caucasus during the 1990s and the early 2000s.

The Pankisi Gorge is a predominantly Muslim area and Georgian security forces are increasingly concerned about IS recruitment from the region but Georgia’s PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili refuted Mr Lavrov’s allegations.

“The Georgian government carries out a full inspection of all the regions under its control. A few people from Pankisi Gorge have gone to Syria to fight for the Islamic State, though a strict control is imposed on their entry back to the country,” he said.

“I can say there is no terrorist threat in the Pankisi Gorge.”

Bidzina Lebanidze, political scientist at the Free University in Berlin said that he thought that Russia was trying to play mind games with Georgia by making the accusations to try to discredit it.

“It seems to be just another instrument in the Kremlin’s arsenal to put pressure on the pro-Western government in Tbilisi and to damage its international reputation,” he told The Conway Bulletin.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Spanish parliamentarian describes Georgian political prisoner

JAN. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a speech at his swearing-in ceremony as the new president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Pedro Agramunt, a Spanish parliamentarian, described Gigi Ugulava, the former mayor of Tbilisi, as a “political prisoner”. The description will irritate the current Georgian government. Ugulava was imprisoned in 2015 for 4-1/2 years for misspending public money, charges he has said are politically motivated.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Heli-Skiing expands in Georgia

JAN. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Austrian company Wucher Helikopter said it applied to the government of Georgia for permission to open a heli-skiing business near the Gudauri ski resort, 30km south of the border with Russia. Wucher Helikopter has worked in the Gudauri-Stepantsminda area since 2013. Its expansion would be a boon to Georgia’s winter tourism.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Editorial: Iran’s return

JAN. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – There is much excitement in our region over the emergence of Iran after over a decade of US-imposed sanctions.

New flight connections, new pipelines, new transmission lines and more is what a sanctions-free Iran could bring to the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

Iran has struck a deal with Air Astana to open the Almaty-Tehran air route. It has also revived talks with Turkmenistan about gas fields and pipelines around the Caspian.

Potentially, a new network to the east of the Caspian Sea could facilitate the European Union’s plans to import gas from the region. Azerbaijan may well be interested in such deals as well. In addition, Iran could become an important supplier of gas to both Armenia and Georgia.

On the flip side, Iran’s accession to the global oil market will undoubtedly drive the price of oil further down, it has huge oil reserves and production capacity, increasing the pressure on the budgets of oil-exporting economies in the region.

ENDS

Editorial from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Georgian PM gives $185,000 to Church

JAN. 16 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili gave $185,000 to the Georgian Orthodox Church the day after taking office at the end of last year, local media reported by quoting official documents, attracting derision from opponents.

The donation was taken from the President’s Reserve Fund, a cash stockpile used for natural disasters and other emergencies such as the Tbilisi flood in 2015.

The President’s Reserve Fund totals $2m, meaning that the amount donated to the Church measured nearly 10% of its total value.

“The money-flow from the state to the Church is unstructured and we need to support the Church’s educational infrastructure,” the PM’s office said in a statement.

His opponents, though, have accused him of using funds ear- marked to save lives and rebuild homes and businesses after emergencies for his own political needs.

Eka Chitanava, Director of the Tolerance and Diversity Institute, an NGO working on religious freedom in Georgia, said: “The latest $185,000 donated by the PM is significant. The money was taken from the natural disaster budget, a fund they are not supposed to use for this.”

The Georgian Orthodox Church is one of the most powerful institutions in Georgia and its support would be useful to Mr Kvirikashvili and his Georgian Dream coalition in helping to win a parliamentary election scheduled for October.

It holds great sway over Georgia’s traditionally conservative society.

There was also frustration among ordinary Georgians over Mr Kvirikashvili’s donation.

“I understand the church is important,” Khatuna Gvelesiani, 30, said. “But to take it from a fund which should cover natural disaster, like the flood we had in June, can’t be justified. I am outraged.”

The Georgian Dream was the first political party ever to be endorsed by the Church in 2012 although this support has waned. It faces a tough battle to win the October election.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Georgia holds Russia gas import talks

JAN. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze said that he wanted to increase the amount of gas imported from Russia to 20% of Georgia’s total consumption, up from 11%, as he prepared to meet Gazprom executives for more talks. Plans to boost gas imports from Russia have irritated many Georgians. Georgia and Russia fought a war in 2008.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)