The Daily Beat: 9 November
The NATO Military Committee, led by Chair Admiral Bob Bauer, visited Georgia. According to the defense ministry, Admiral Bauer met with Defense Minister Juansher Burchuladze, discussing NATO-Georgia cooperation, the regional security landscape, and ongoing security challenges in and around Georgia, focusing on the Black Sea region and implementing security and defense reforms. NATO-Georgia Military Committee Plenary Meeting was also held during the visit. Georgia hosted NATO’s highest military body for the fifth time.
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili met French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace in Paris. According to the official press release, PM Garibashvili thanked President Macron for backing Georgia’s EU integration efforts and highlighted the importance of France’s political and practical support to Georgia. Reportedly, the European Commission’s decision to recommend Georgia’s candidacy to the European Council was the main topic of the meeting. Irakli Garibashvili left for France to participate in the Paris Peace Forum.
President Salome Zurabishvili also departed for France to attend the Paris Peace Forum, where she is scheduled to participate in a panel discussion with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel. President Zurabishvili half-kiddingly claimed that the Paris Peace Forum would provide an excellent opportunity to demonstrate depolarization as PM Garibashvili will also be there. The government administration confirmed that the President has not applied for consent to authorize her foreign trip. This is her first foreign visit since the ruling Georgian Dream party’s failed impeachment attempt for unauthorized foreign visits.
The Interior Ministry (MIA) reacted to the alleged disappearance of Russian activist and Alexei Navalny’s supporter, Rafail Shepelev, from Tbilisi, saying that it launched the investigation over the possible disappearance of the Russian citizen. According to the MIA statement, Russian citizen Rafail Shepelev left his Tbilisi residence for Gori, from where he took a taxi to the village of Kirbali, near the Tskhinvali Region occupation line, further crossing the occupation line and heading into the Russia-occupied territory. Yesterday, the Russian news website “Meduza” reported about the alleged disappearance of Rafail Shepelev from Tbilisi, suspected of ending up in a Russian jail.
The State Security Service (SSSG) reported that Levan Dotiashvili, a Georgian citizen arrested on November 6 by the Russian occupation forces in the vicinity of the occupied Tskhinvali region, near the village of Kirbali (Gori district), has been released. He was arrested while trying to enter the St. George of Lomisi Church in the village of Kirbali, which was sealed by the occupying forces in June this year, with his friend Tamaz Ginturi, who was shot dead by the Russian occupation forces on the spot.
The representatives of civil society gathered in front of the monument of prominent Georgian thinkers and public figures, Ilia Chavchavadze and Akaki Tsereteli, in central Tbilisi, congratulating the Georgian people on the European Commission’s decision and publicly reading the joint statement. “The common national goal – to become a member of the European Union – transcends all political and other differences. This goal unites the whole society, all citizens. This is what the European Union expects of us,” reads the joint statement.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, large-scale actions against fraudulent call centers in 23 countries, including Georgia, were carried out with the participation of the Office and representatives of relevant agencies of 11 countries. Prosecutor’s Office reported the conduct of a large-scale operation on the territory of Georgia in July 2023 in cooperation with Swiss colleagues, aimed at uncovering fraudulent call centers of a transnational nature and the persons involved in their organization, which operated not only in Georgia but also in many EU Member States.
