The Daily Beat: 7 June
Information Integrity Coalition and the International Society for Fair Elections released a study suggesting that the strategic communications departments of the government, defense, and foreign affairs ministries are not active and rarely produce communication materials. A study revealed that the stratcoms of the civil service, including the defense and foreign affairs ministries, “don’t perform their tasks properly” as the government’s Facebook pages are mostly busy targeting the opposition activities. According to the study, the foreign affairs and defense ministries pay little attention to Russian hybrid threats and misinformation.
The ruling Georgian Dream party accused President Salome Zurabishvili of hindering the “smooth functioning” of the National Bank (NBG) by failing to nominate candidates for two vacant seats on the NBG’s board. The ruling party claimed that Salome Zurabishvili had violated all the agreed deadlines to nominate the incumbent finance minister Lasha Khutsishvili as one of the board members, enabling the appointment of the NBG President. President’s administration declined the accusations, saying that the bank continues to perform its activities professionally as it is well-run by a highly qualified acting president. According to the president’s administration, Zurabishvili will nominate the new board members of the central bank in nearest future.
According to the government’s last progress report, recently published on the parliament’s webpage, authorities plan to renovate fully and restaff the prison hospital. The government is also set to build a new medical block on the territory of the prison hospital. When Radiotavisupleba, an online outlet, asked if this renovation was somehow related to ex-President Saakashvili’s troubled imprisonment, the penitentiary department responded that it was wrong to link everything with Saakashvili.
State Security Service reported the detention of a Georgian citizen near the South Ossetia occupation line. According to the state security agency, all the existing mechanisms, including EUMM’s hotline, are already activated, and international partners and co-chairs of the Geneva International Discussions are duly informed of the incident. State Security says Russia as occupying power is responsible for all the wrongdoings in and around occupied territories.
