The Daily Beat: 20 May

Georgia’s Intelligence Service, currently operating as a special government body under the prime minister, will soon become part of the State Security Service and be renamed the National Intelligence Agency. A legislative package amending 26 relevant laws has already been submitted to Georgian Dream’s one-party parliament with plans to pass it through standard procedure and enact it on July 1.

The legislative package in the GD Parliament proposes amendments to the Defense Code, integrating the National Agency for Military Conscription and Recruitment into the Defense Forces during wartime. Since 2024, the Agency has taken over from municipalities the management of citizen registration for military service and the issuance of summonses.

Russian occupation forces illegally detained three Georgian citizens near the occupation line in the Gori Municipality, the State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) reported on May 20. According to the agency, one of the detainees has already been released and returned to Georgian-controlled territory, while the other two remain in unlawful detention.

Georgian authorities announced on May 20 that they have extradited several individuals wanted in France for trafficking-related crimes committed by a transnational criminal group. The suspects were arrested on Georgian territory by the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a result of joint efforts between Georgian and French law enforcement, the Prosecutor’s Office said.

New ambassadors have been appointed to Italy and Hungary, as announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on May 20. Tamar Liluashvili has been named Georgia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Italy, while Nikoloz Laliashvili has been appointed as Georgia’s new Ambassador to Hungary.