The Daily Beat: 25 August
According to “Novaya Gazeta – Europe,” six Ukrainian citizens have been stranded at the Georgian-Russian Zemo Larsi (Upper Larsi) border checkpoint for a week as Georgia refuses entry, and they fear returning to Russia. Five of them are former prisoners from the Kherson region, and another is Ukrainian, who was held in a Russian filtration camp. One of them, an HIV-positive man, has reportedly been without medication for four days.
Foreign Ministry told the Civil.ge that information about the stranded Ukrainians at the Georgian-Russian border is “another groundless accusation” against authorities. According to the foreign ministry, the Georgian side “immediately” held a meeting with chargé d’affaires of the Ukrainian embassy in Tbilisi and offered assistance to the Embassy in transferring citizens to Ukraine. The Ukrainian embassy is now trying to identify persons and obtain permits from Ukraine’s relevant authorities, which takes some time, said the foreign ministry.
Tbilisi City Council approved the draft plans for the development regulation at an extraordinary session, thereby supporting the construction of several controversial construction projects and skyscrapers in the capital. All the controversial construction projects approved by the City Council are linked with Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Cartu Foundation and other business people closely associated with the ruling Georgian Dream party. The opposition parties claimed constructing such buildings in the city would lead to urban genocide and left today’s session before voting.
International intelligence community InformNapalm has published material based on gigabytes of information obtained by hackers belonging to the Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma, Alexander Babakov, reported the Russian language Georgian media outlet “SOVA.” Reportedly, Babakov’s letters contained correspondence with Georgia’s “Conservative Movement,” where the latter informed him of the work done in Georgia and shared plans on strengthening Russian influence in the country.
