Tata Shoshiashvili

243 Posts

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Before joining OC Media as a reporter, Tata worked as a journalist in the Georgian newspaper Resonance for over two years. She is interested in politics, social issues and especially everything relat

Pashinyan and Putin in Moscow on 8 May. Official photo

Armenia

Russia and Armenia agree on withdrawal of border guards

by Tata Shoshiashvili

•2 min read

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have agreed on the withdrawal of Russian military and border guards from several regions of Armenia at a meeting in Moscow. On Thursday, Russian Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told state news agency RIA Novosti that Russian border guards would remain stationed on Armenia’s borders with Iran and Turkey ‘at the request of the Armenian side’. Peskov said the decision was made in a one-on-one meeting betwee

A barricade at the gates to Parliament on 1 May. Photo: Robin Fabbro/OC Media

Freedom of Expression

Georgian Dream to create database of ‘undesirables’

by Tata Shoshiashvili

•3 min read

The ruling Georgian Dream party has announced they will establish a database of people involved in or publicly supporting ‘violence, threats, and blackmail’ during the protests against the draft foreign agent law. Parliamentary Speaker Shalva Papuashvili announced that the party’s political council had decided to establish the database in a press briefing on Wednesday. Papuashvili did not clarify further on the criteria for inclusion in the list, or the type of information that would be s

Bidzina Ivanishvili

Ivanishvili touts conspiracy theories at massive pro-government rally in Tbilisi

by Tata Shoshiashvili

•5 min read

The billionaire founder of Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party — Bidzina Ivanishvili — has given a conspiracy-fueled address at a massive pro-government rally in Tbilisi. In a speech in front of tens of thousands of people outside parliament on Monday evening, Ivanishvili suggested that Western countries were being controlled by a secret global conspiracy that the Georgian Government was successfully resisting. He decried what he called the ‘global party of war’ — which he said was responsib

Bidzina Ivanishvili

EU Parliament calls for sanctions against Bidzina Ivanishvili

by Tata Shoshiashvili

•3 min read

The EU Parliament has adopted a scathing condemnation of Georgian Dream’s foreign agent draft law, calling for the sanctioning of the party’s founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, and hinging Georgia’s accession talks with the abortion of the draft law. The European Parliament approved the resolution with 425 MEPs voting in favour of it, 25 against, and 30 abstaining. The resolution strongly condemned Georgian Dream’s reintroduction of the controversial foreign agent bill, underlining that the draft

Bidzina Ivanishvili

Georgian Dream eliminates taxes on offshore assets brought to Georgia

by Tata Shoshiashvili

•4 min read

Georgia’s ruling party has hastily pushed through legal amendments exempting taxes and duties on offshore assets being brought into the country — a move seen by many as preparation for Bidzina Ivanishvili to move his assets to Georgia. Georgian Dream introduced the amendments on 10 April, and quickly passed them in all three readings this week as the capital has been gripped by protests against the foreign agent bill. According to the amendments, tax incentives will be provided to all off

Lazare Grigoriadis in court in November 2023. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Georgia

Georgian foreign agent law protester Lazare Grigoriadis sentenced to nine years

by Tata Shoshiashvili

•3 min read

Tbilisi City Court has convicted Lazare Grigoriadis of attacking a police officer and arson during the March 2023 protests against Georgia’s draft foreign agent law, sentencing him to nine years in prison. Lazare Grigoriadis, 22, was the first person to be detained for their participation in the foreign agent law protests in March 2023, with ruling Georgian Dream party figures and pro-government media commenting on his appearance and ‘orientation’ in the months that followed his arrest. His se

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