The Georgian capital has become a stage set for a Hollywood action flick; some joke that the name of the film franchise is just driving as usual in the city.
Local families rushed to move belongings out of their farmsteads, as masked Russian soldiers began fencing off their property from the rest of Georgia.
The owner of Rustavi2, who just wrested back control of the station, now says he wants to sell it. Government critics see an elaborate plot to gag an opposition-friendly outlet.
The emblematic Georgian cheese pie would be the latest casualty of the ongoing crisis between Tbilisi and Moscow, if a Communist-backed proposal is implemented.
The host expressed what many Georgians – and Russians – feel, but many worried that it could unnecessarily escalate the ongoing crisis between the two countries.