Following the June 22 decision by the European Union to extend its sanctions on Russia for another six months, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev soberly declared two days later that the country’s faltering economy would force the government in Moscow to make some difficult choices... MORE

On June 9, the Georgian government finally selected two winners, two consortia that are to move to the final stage of the bidding process to design, construct and operate the deep sea port of Anaklia, on Georgia’s Black Sea cost. Both consortia are owned by... MORE

Members of the so-called Islamic State (IS) have been quite active in the Pankisi Gorge, one of the most picturesque mountain gorges in Georgia, since the very start of the conflicts involving the IS in Syria and Iraq. Pankisi, situated in the northeastern part of... MORE

Discussions surrounding the proposed Iran-Armenia railway project have intensified in early June, after a statement made by Russian Railways’ CEO, Vladimir Yakunin, who said that the project would not be expedient: “It is like opening a window to nowhere, to the wall of a neighboring... MORE

Three weeks ago, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appointed Georgia’s former president, Mikheil Saakashvili, as governor of Ukraine’s Odesa province, with a dual mission: to jump-start reforms based on his experience in reforming Georgia, and to consolidate Ukrainian control in a territory potentially targeted by Russia.... MORE

The general election in Turkey on June 7 has radically changed the country’s political landscape. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has lost its absolute majority, winning only 258 of the 276 seats it needed, and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has now... MORE

The appointment of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili as the head of government administration (governor) of Odesa province in Ukraine produced a wave of speculation about his future plans in Georgia. Immediately after taking office in Odesa, Saakashvili gave several interviews for Georgian media outlets,... MORE

At the European Union’s Eastern Partnership summit in Riga (May 21–22), the EU’s neighborhood and enlargement policies came to a grinding halt. To some extent this is an effect of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the centerpiece country of the EU’s Eastern Partnership. But, irrespective of... MORE

The executive secretary of the opposition faction United National Movement (UNM), Zurab Japaridze, unexpectedly announced, on May 25, he was leaving the party (Georgiatoday.ge, May 28). Former Georgian president and UNM chairman Mikheil Saakashvili left the country over a year ago to avoid criminal charges... MORE

President Petro Poroshenko and the government of Arseniy Yatsenyuk have invited a significant number of foreign experts to take up government posts and design the reforms in Ukraine. Appointing and naturalizing foreign officials to such an extent is unprecedented in the post-communist, post-Soviet countries of... MORE