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.
After being weakened by massive protests, Georgia’s ruling party has regained its footing and has taken several steps to neutralize government critics.
Georgia said the plan would be illegal, while Abkhazian authorities tried to pre-empt criticism that it would deepen the territory’s dependence on Russia.
A European court ruling opened the door for a government-friendly owner to take control of the country’s top opposition outlet, the management of which has vowed to fight.
The remote, Muslim-majority region is often seen as separate from the rest of Georgia. But increasingly, Pankisi residents share the same frustration as other Georgians: an overbearing, unresponsive state.
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.
Tbilisi’s Russian expat community disputes Moscow’s narrative of a surge of Russophobia in the country, but some say that the ongoing tensions have put them in a complicated place.
Georgia’s economy is increasingly dependent on tourism, and that sector has become increasingly dependent on Russians. The losses from Russia’s tourism embargo could cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars.
Protesters are demanding the resignation of the interior minister, but he may be too indispensable to the real power in the country: Georgian Dream chairman Bidzina Ivanishvili.
The reform would be a long-demanded shift from a system that allows the ruling party to amass power out of proportion to its support. Protesters were not mollified.
The Kremlin response has internationalized the crisis, which has already roiled Georgian politics over the ruling party’s perceived softness toward Russia.
Georgian Dream came to power promising never to use violence against protestors, as was common under the former government. Now, images of tear gas and rubber bullets have shaken Georgians.
