Vakhtang (Buba) Kikabidze, a Georgian singer and actor universally loved across the former Soviet Union, has died at the age of 84, drawing the curtain on an era.
The government has been facing calls, including from its American and European allies, to ensure that the former president is being adequately treated. But it accuses Saakashvili of faking his condition.
As Georgia sees a surge in demand for cargo transit amid the Ukraine war, the government hopes to resume construction of a controversial deep sea port.
The EU demanded that Georgia “deoligarchize” as a condition of gaining formal candidate status. Parliament now is debating a law on how to get that done.
Kyiv’s moves against the family of Georgia’s informal leader are just the latest exacerbation of what has become a bitter rivalry between strategic partners.