Dmitry Menyaev, a 21-year-old transgender man and Russian citizen, was found dead in his brother’s apartment in Batumi on August 15. Authorities are investigating the case under the “incitement to suicide” provision, which is commonly applied in Georgia when a person is found dead under unclear circumstances. Menyaev’s family, however, suspects that other people may …

Several members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) condemned Russia’s continued occupation of Georgia’s Abkhazia and Tskhinvali/South Ossetia regions on August 21, calling the 2008 Russo-Georgian war the beginning of Moscow’s “more aggressive stance towards its neighbors.” The UNSC held a closed meeting on August 20 to discuss the situation in the Russia-occupied Georgian …

Jailed former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili accused the Georgian Dream government of setting a trap for him, deceiving him, and terrorizing his family, saying he kept the “horrific pain and tragedy” inside out of love, respect, and loyalty to Bidzina Ivanishvili, in a statement released as part of a series of letters in which the …

Georgia’s Interior Ministry said on August 19 that 7,880 “citizens of various countries” crossed into Georgia from Russia through the Larsi border checkpoint in the previous 24 hours, rejecting reports and concerns that “20,000 Russian citizens” had entered the country through the checkpoint in a single day. The ministry’s statement came a day after a …

Georgia’s external merchandise trade, excluding non-declared trade, reached USD 15.519 billion in January-July 2026, up 7.5% year-on-year, according to preliminary data released by the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) on August 19. Kyrgyzstan remained Georgia’s largest export market, Turkey its top import partner, while motor cars continued to dominate both exports and imports. Exports …

Georgia’s Interior Ministry announced the arrest of a U.S. and Uzbek citizen who was internationally wanted by U.S. law enforcement authorities, following “close bilateral coordination” with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). “The man was wanted on charges of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, providing material support, and attempting …

Ex-Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, currently serving a five-year sentence in a money laundering case, hinted in a Facebook post at pressure to confess — or “take blame” — in a new corruption case, citing a letter sent to him “on [Bidzina] Ivanishvili’s instruction.” While it is not fully clear from the post whether Garibashvili explicitly …

Repsol, a Georgian petroleum importer that supplied the gasoline that was shipped to Abkhazia amid shortages, said it wasn’t agreed with the firm and falls outside the scope of its responsibility where the gasoline is resold after it was purchased by Georgian company which transported it to the occupied region. According to Repsol, a limited …

An illegally detained Georgian citizen has been released from custody in the occupied Tskhinvali/South Ossetia region to Tbilisi-controlled territory, the State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) said on August 14. While the SSSG did not disclose the individual’s identity, in line with its recent practice, the Res news agency based in occupied Tskhinvali identified him as 46-year-old …

The Communications Commission (ComCom), Georgia’s media regulator, fined opposition-leaning TV Pirveli channel GEL 5,000 [USD 1,915], marking the second such fine imposed on the broadcaster under controversial 2025 amendments that granted the regulator broader powers to regulate media content. In an August 13 statement, the commission said its monitoring of TV Pirveli’s coverage on July …

Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze appointed Levan Zautashvili, former Deputy Minister of Regional Development, as the state representative of the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region, the Government Administration reported on August 12. Zautashvili had previously held the same post after then-Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili appointed him as a governor in 2017. Until then, Zautashvili served as general …

Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze claimed that “Deep State” and its “agents” in Georgia seek to undermine Russian tourism in the country, including by artificially stoking “Russophobia,” in remarks made at the August 12 briefing during which he also warned against inciting “enmity between peoples.” During the briefing, Kobakhidze repeatedly referred to “Deep State” …

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said Moscow is “open to further expanding pragmatic ties” with Tbilisi, reiterating Moscow’s repeated calls for intensified engagement while stressing presently “absent” political contacts with Georgia. “We are open to further expanding pragmatic ties with Tbilisi,” Galuzin told Russian state news agency TASS, according to the interview published on …

Georgia’s Government Administration Head Levan Zhorzholiani met on August 10 with Belarusian Ambassador to Georgia Nikolai Rogashchuk, with the talks focused on the “dynamics of relations” between the two countries, including trade and economic ties, and “prospects for future cooperation.” “The sides discussed trade and economic ties between Georgia and Belarus and opportunities for further …

The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Georgia-based SHPS Shelbit, stating that the company and its owner, Siavash Kayvanpour, were involved in cryptocurrency transactions linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and sanctions evasion, while the National Bank of Georgia later said the company was not a regulated virtual asset service provider in Georgia and had …

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Georgia has launched an investigation into “treason” and “sabotage” over remarks made by Giorgi Baramidze, a member of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) and a former interior and defense minister, about prisoner exchange during the 1992-1993 war in Abkhazia. In an August 7 statement, the Prosecutor General’s Office said …

Georgia’s Revenue Service said on August 6 that an Azerbaijani-registered vehicle was turned back to Turkey after customs officers found it was transporting sanctioned goods of European origin in transit to Russia. The vehicle entered Georgia through the Sarpi customs checkpoint on July 24. While the Revenue Service did not specify the nature of the …

Georgia’s Communications Commission (ComCom), the state media regulator, has fined pro-government POSTV GEL 2,500 (about USD 950) for violating “impartiality” principles, marking the first known such fine against a pro-Georgian Dream channel. ComCom said on August 6 that the fine followed June 22–23 monitoring, which found POSTV’s news broadcasts disseminating “personal opinions” and failing to …

Two teenage girls, Nia Imnadze and Anastasia Beruashvili, were arrested late on August 5 as the prosecution further expanded the circle of minors implicated in the high-profile murder case of 28-year-old tutor Giga Avaliani, who died after spending three weeks in a coma following an assault near his apartment block in Tbilisi in October 2025. …

Opposition United National Movement (UNM) held its 13th congress on August 5, electing an interim “governing council” and its head, Irakli Pavlenishvili, to lead the party for six months until a new permanent chair is chosen, while a separate “Reformers’ Board” intended to be independent of the UNM and include people from outside the party …

Former Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, currently serving a five-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in a money laundering case, has been charged with taking a bribe, shortly after claiming that he was subjected to pressure and blackmail to take the blame in a forthcoming corruption case. The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia announced on August …

Two crossing points along the occupation line between the occupied Tskhinvali/South Ossetia region and Tbilisi-controlled territory will operate more frequently, while close relatives of residents of certain settlements in the Akhalgori and Java districts will have simplified entry procedures, the Tskhinvali-based Res news agency reported on August 20. According to the report, the plans were …

Georgian film director Uta Beria has accused the country’s National Film Center, the government agency responsible for facilitating state funding for filmmakers, of withholding part of the funding awarded to his Tear Gas project, which features protests in Tbilisi, and later attempting to prevent its premiere at the Locarno Film Festival. Tear Gas is a …

Brick structures and ceramic vessels have been uncovered during ongoing rehabilitation works on Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi’s main thoroughfare, City Hall confirmed on August 19. The announcement came a day after the Movement for Cultural Heritage, a civil society group, reported the discovery, saying the brick structures were “presumably part of the old 19th-century ‘Garetubani’ collector …

Georgia’s jailed former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili alleged that the “anti-corruption battle” launched by the authorities last year sought his “political destruction,” and announced a “fight” in a widely anticipated statement published on Facebook on August 18. The statement came a day after his previous post, where ex-PM shared a fragment of a “letter” he …

Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze held a briefing on August 18 to defend King Erekle II’s decision to sign the Treaty of Georgievsk with the Russian Empire in 1783, calling it the “only correct and unavoidable decision” in light of Georgia’s “national interests” at the time. Kobakhidze opened the briefing with a brief lecture …

Adjara TV journalist and presenter Koba Partenadze, who repeatedly reported being attacked in the streets in Batumi, was detained on August 17 on administrative charges of petty hooliganism and insulting police officers. According to the Interior Ministry, Partenadze “verbally insulted” law enforcers during questioning as a witness on August 16 in one of the criminal …

Heavy and prolonged rain in the late hours of August 14 caused flooding in Tbilisi, with water entering basements, houses, and metro stations, causing soil collapse, and damaging building walls and infrastructure across the city. Videos circulated on social media showing cars struggling through deep streams of water and debris in streets across various neighborhoods …

Paata Kunchulia, mayor of the Ozurgeti municipality from the ruling Georgian Dream party, announced his resignation on August 14, citing disappointment over a lack of support, the difficulties of being in politics, and a “hunt” from what he described as “agent opposition media outlets.” In a lengthy Facebook post announcing the decision, Kunchulia highlighted what …

A driver of a minibus has been detained following a fatal crash that killed four Belarusian citizens and injured 17 people on a trip in Georgia’s western Guria region on August 12, the Interior Ministry confirmed to Civil.ge According to media reports, the minibus was traveling from Gomismta, the region’s popular mountain resort and tourist …

The European Union’s annual report noted “severely curtailed” human rights in Georgia while drawing attention to reduced bilateral political contacts and dialogue between Brussels and Tbilisi amid what the document described as “significant democratic backsliding.” The EU Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World, published on August 11, contains two documents, with one …

The Investigation Service of Georgia’s Finance Ministry announced the arrest of a manager of an unregistered cryptocurrency service provider who allegedly facilitated uncontrolled international transactions through virtual asset transactions worth tens of millions of USD. According to the agency, the suspect, whose name has not been identified, “without mandatory registration with the National Bank of …

Police arrested two individuals over “violence and threats” after Adjara public broadcaster journalist Koba Partenadze reported being attacked in the coastal city of Batumi. “One of the detainees, who is accused of violence, physically assaulted an individual in Batumi on August 9 during an altercation,” the Interior Ministry said in an August 11 statement. According …

Georgian prosecutors charged three men over an August 2024 incident in which opposition politician Nika Melia, a co-chair of the Ahali party and one of the leaders of the Coalition for Change, was assaulted while speaking to journalists during an election campaign event in Samtredia, a town in western Georgia, when a man punched him …

Russia’s Foreign Ministry marked the 18th anniversary of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war in an August 8 statement, which again blamed the then-Georgian government for starting the conflict. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, on the night of August 7-8, 2008, “in violation of all international agreements on the peaceful settlement of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict, …

August 7, 2026, marks the 18th anniversary of the Russian invasion of Georgia. The war, which lasted approximately five days, claimed the lives of more than 200 Georgian soldiers and over 300 civilians, and displaced thousands. Eighteen years on, the trauma of the conflict continues to resonate deeply across Georgian society. In the aftermath of …

Romania’s Foreign Ministry has expressed its “firm disagreement” with Romanian band Morandi’s planned August 7 performance in Sokhumi in the Russia-occupied Abkhazia region, reaffirming its support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. “The Romanian MFA expresses its firm disagreement regarding the Morandi band’s performance planned for August 7 in Sukhumi in Georgia (in the Abkhazia …

Jailed opposition politician Nika Melia received another conviction on August 6, as Tbilisi City Court Judge Nino Elieshvili found him guilty of “contempt of court,” involving the alleged “verbal assault” of Judge Tornike Kochkiani. Melia, co-chair of the opposition Ahali party and one of the leaders of the Coalition for Change, has been in custody …

Georgia was hit by another nationwide power blackout on the evening of August 5, the third such incident in two weeks following the July 24–25 outages. Power was cut at around 20:10, forcing Tbilisi Metro, among other services, to stop operating, while individual consumers across the country were reporting the outage on social media. Electricity …

George Zurabashvili, the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, met on August 5 with Mark Clayton, Deputy Director at the UK Foreign Office’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Directorate (EECAD) and a former UK ambassador to Georgia, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said. Clayton was part of a UK Foreign Office delegation, while the …

The program on Georgian Studies at Harvard University in the U.S., launched in 2022 within the Davis Center of Russian and Eurasian Studies with the backing of the Georgian government, has closed after Georgian Education Ministry refused to extend funding. The Ministry cited the university’s failure to submit an “agreed program” about the project’s future behind …

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said “several serious incidents” involving Russian citizens had recently occurred in Georgia, in response to a question about concerns over “Russophobia,” as she called for “anti-Russian manifestations” to be investigated and those responsible to be held accountable. Zakharova made the remarks during an August 20 briefing in response to …

The State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) said on August 19 that a Georgian citizen who was illegally detained near the village of Perevi in Sachkhere municipality on August 17 was released from custody in the occupied region and returned to Tbilisi-controlled territory. The SSSG statement did not mention Russian occupation forces or the Tskhinvali …

Ruling Georgian Dream and opposition Strong Georgia/Lelo were announced as the only political parties to run in the October 3 by-elections to fill vacant seats in municipal councils (Sakrebulos) in four municipalities. According to Georgia’s Central Election Commission (CEC), the two, running under ballot numbers 41 and 9, respectively, were the only forces that applied …

Georgia was among more than 40 countries identified in a White House report as being associated with elevated risks of illegal transshipment of goods to the United States to evade U.S. tariffs on Chinese products. According to the report titled “The Great Transshipment Scam,” Chinese goods subject to high U.S. tariffs are increasingly being routed …

Money transfers to Georgia from abroad totaled USD 350.05 million in July 2026, up 3.9% year-on-year, or USD 13.1 million, according to the latest data published by the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) on August 17. The European Union and the United States remained the largest sources of transfers, together accounting for 63% of total …

Pro-government Rustavi 2 had the highest commercial advertising revenue among Georgian TV channels in the second quarter of 2026, overtaking TV Imedi, another pro-government broadcaster sanctioned by the UK in February, for the first time since at least 2021, according to official data from the media regulator Communications Commission (ComCom) reviewed by independent media platform …

Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze appointed Ioseb Alibegashvili as state representative in Samtskhe-Javakheti, a region in Georgia’s south, after his predecessor, Zaal Gelashvili, passed away on August 5, the Government Administration announced on August 14. According to the official press release, Kobakhidze and Mamuka Mdinaradze, who temporarily serves as GD Regional Development Minister, met …

RFE/RL’s Georgian Service traced Solidus as a Georgian company that shipped “300 tons” of gasoline to Abkhazia, amid opposition scrutiny and questions after Georgian officials confirmed “business” supplied the occupied region during the shortages attributed to the Russia-Ukraine war. Solidus holds “special enterprise status,” which allows companies to carry out activities in Georgia’s occupied territories. …

Germany has designated Barbara Voss as the new ambassador to Georgia, to replace Peter Fischer, an outspoken diplomat who announced the end of his tenure late in June amid continued strain in bilateral relations. Voss, a longtime diplomat, has served in the German foreign service since 1992, with her career spanning both work at the …

Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze confirmed on August 12 that fuel had been supplied to occupied Abkhazia by “business” from Georgia proper amid a continuing shortage that has prompted the region’s de facto authorities to impose restrictions and prioritize supplies for essential services. The shortage comes as Russia, known to be Abkhazia’s supplier, has …

A group of lawmakers from several Turkish opposition parties has rallied against the “isolation” of Georgia’s occupied Abkhazia region, calling on Ankara to accept travel documents issued by Sokhumi’s de facto authorities, and to establish direct sea and air links between Turkey and the region. The calls, which follow a broader campaign — “End the …

Police launched an investigation after Adjara TV journalist and anchor Koba Partenadze reported repeated physical and verbal abuse against him in Batumi, the Interior Ministry confirmed to Civil.ge on August 10. The ministry has not clarified the article under which the probe is being conducted. In a Facebook video posted on August 10, several unidentified …

Tskhinvali said Georgian Dream’s statements accusing former President Mikheil Saakashvili of starting the August 2008 war mean that responsibility for the conflict “should be borne by the country.” As Georgia marked the war’s 18th anniversary, ruling Georgian Dream leaders, including Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, reiterated on August 8 their longstanding accusation that the former United …

Ruling Georgian Dream party officials marked the 18th anniversary of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war on August 8, reiterating their longstanding accusations that the former United National Movement government started the war, while the Foreign Ministry, in a statement published the same day, called on Russia to end its illegal occupation of Georgia’s territories and reaffirmed …

Davit Koldari, convicted in connection with the spring 2024 protests against Georgia’s foreign agents law, left prison on August 7 after serving two years and three months on a property-damage charge. “Davit Koldari was thrown out of Laituri Prison at 6 a.m. He was standing alone outside the prison, probably so that we would not …

Hungarian journalist and activist László Róbert Mézes, who was detained in Tbilisi on August 5, will leave Georgia voluntarily before the court hearing that was expected to rule on his deportation, local media reported, citing his lawyer. “László has decided to leave Georgia voluntarily. There will be no court proceedings,” Georgian lawyer Marika Arevadze wrote …

The State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) launched a “sabotage” investigation into what it alleges is a “discrediting information campaign” on social media involving fake “bot accounts” aimed at creating a “false perception” that Russian tourists face an “unfavorable environment” in Georgia. Announcing the launch of the probe at an August 5 briefing, Emzar Gagnidze, …

László Róbert Mézes, a Hungarian journalist who has lived in Georgia and covered anti-government protests, has been detained by the officers of the Interior Ministry’s Migration Department and may face expulsion. His lawyer Tornike Janelidze confirmed the detention to several Georgian media outlets on the evening of August 5. While the lawyer is expected to …

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ratified an agreement aimed at supporting the implementation of occupied Abkhazia’s 2026–2030 “state program” for socio-economic development. According to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, the agreement was signed in Moscow on December 27, 2025, to “expand socio-economic cooperation,” “improve living standards” in occupied Abkhazia, and boost the region’s “economic …