British Ambassador Gareth Ward was summoned to Georgia’s Foreign Ministry on February 26 over the United Kingdom’s decision to sanction two pro-government television channels, Imedi TV and POSTV. “We have had communication with the British side,” Georgian Dream Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili told the pro-government broadcaster Rustavi 2 on February 25. “Tomorrow I expect that…

Imedi TV said it will launch its own “Imedi Bank” within “a few months,” with financial backing from the broadcaster’s “loyal friends and sponsors,” days after being sanctioned by the UK for spreading “Russian disinformation.” Sanctioned on February 24 along with POSTV, another major pro-government channel, Imedi said on February 27 that it will have…

Three persons have been charged with violating the rules for handling environmentally hazardous substances, the prosecutor’s office announced on February 26, shortly after media reported about locals in Melauri village of Samtredia municipality, Western Georgia, discovering a “surgical waste” dump allegedly containing amputated human body parts. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the investigation found that…

The ruling Georgian Dream party decried the UK’s sanctioning of two pro-government channels and again appealed to the U.S. to change its attitude towards Tbilisi in a conspiracy-filled statement made after the February 27 political council meeting attended by the party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili. The statement, read out by GD Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, comes…

Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said it is “closely monitoring” the situation in the Middle East with “deep concern,” in a statement made late on February 28, hours after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, followed by retaliatory attacks by Tehran across the region. “We emphasise the importance of diplomatic efforts to…