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Polish President Lech Kaczynski arrived to Georgia to celebrate 5th anniversary of Georgia's Rose Revolution. When Polish president car was approaching Russian check point nearby brorder with Osetia presidential convoy got shot up. Shooting was directed from the side of Russian check point - presidential minister Michal Kaminski said. President Kaczynski wanted to visit refuge camp of Georgians who were forced to leave Osetia occupied by Russian Army. After the incident convoy was forced to return to Tbilisi.

I was in Tbilisi recently to report on the Russian anschluss into Georgia. You must not expect me to be impartial on the matter. I have visited Georgia four times in as many years and witnessed the country's self-transformation after its Rose Revolution. It went from two centuries of asphyxiating "protection" by Russia, followed by a post-Soviet decade of mafiotic corruption, to a kind of light unto nations under its young president, Mikheil Saakashvili. No doubt all that was provocation enough for Moscow. Even before the war began in early August, the Russians had prevailed on Georgia's Abkhaz and South...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25, 2008 – Russia continues to defy international calls for the country to pull its forces out of Georgia, and humanitarian operations continue, a Pentagon official said here today. Russian troops continue to occupy the breakaway region of South Ossetia, and Russian troops continue to maintain troops in Gori, a Georgian city that is the gateway to South Ossetia, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. “It is fair to say they are still not living up to the terms of the cease-fire agreement,” Whitman said during a meeting with reporters. The terms of the cease-fire include monitoring by military...

Georgia did not believe Russia would respond to its offensive in South Ossetia and was completely unprepared for the counter-attack, the deputy defence minister has admitted. Batu Kutelia told the Financial Times that Georgia had made the decision to seize the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali despite the fact that its forces did not have enough anti-tank and air defences to protect themselves against the possibility of serious resistance. “Unfortunately, we attached a low priority to this,” he said, sitting at a desk with the flags of Georgia and Nato (to which Georgia does not belong) crossed behind him. “We...

Greetings from Tbilisi. I returned from Yerevan last Friday after spending four days there. My friend was actually evacuated by her organization and had to wait for official permission to return to Tbilisi, which we received on Friday morning. We were on our way back to Tbilisi within an hour. A major problem now is internally displaced persons (IDPs). There are both Georgian and Ossetian villages within the disputed area of South Ossetia (which is important in the discussion of South Ossetia being absorbed by Russia, since some people have told me "well now they got what they wanted and...

Russia’s invasion of Georgia has unleashed a refugee crisis all over the country and especially in its capital. Every school here in Tbilisi is jammed with civilians who fled aerial bombardment and shootings by the Russian military—or massacres, looting, and arson by irregular Cossack paramilitary units swarming across the border. Russia has seized and effectively annexed two breakaway Georgian provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It has also invaded the region of Gori, which unlike them had been under Georgia’s control. Gori is in the center of the country, just an hour’s drive from Tbilisi; 90 percent of its citizens have...

Russia’s invasion of Georgia has unleashed a refugee crisis all over the country and especially in its capital. Every school here in Tbilisi is jammed with civilians who fled aerial bombardment and shootings by the Russian military—or massacres, looting, and arson by irregular Cossack paramilitary units swarming across the border. Russia has seized and effectively annexed two breakaway Georgian provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It has also invaded the region of Gori, which unlike them had been under Georgia’s control. Gori is in the center of the country, just an hour’s drive from Tbilisi; 90 percent of its citizens have...

TBILISI, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Georgia's Interior Ministry said on Saturday that Russian troops had blown up a railway bridge about 45 km (30 miles) from the Georgian capital Tbilisi. Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said troops had destroyed the bridge in the Kaspi region west of Tbilisi, "paralysing the Georgian railway network". Reuters could not independently verify the report. A Reuters correspondent saw Russian armoured personnel carriers and soldiers advance to the area on Friday from the Russian-occupied town of Gori near breakaway South Ossetia.

This morning, after receiving an update from his national security team on the situation in Georgia, President Bush delivered a brief statement from the White House Rose Garden. (Transcript) The United States and our allies stand with the people of Georgia and their democratically elected government. Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected. Moscow must honor its commitment to withdraw its invading forces from all Georgian territory … The people of Georgia have cast their lot with the free world, and we will not cast them aside. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Tbilisi, Georgia today and met...

TBILISI, Georgia, Aug. 14, 2008 – A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport jet departed Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and landed at Tbilisi International Airport here yesterday, delivering $1 million in humanitarian aid to reduce the suffering of the people of the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Air Force Staff Sgt. Chris Broegemueller, assigned to the 86th Airlift Wing's Contingency Response Group at Sembach Air Base, Germany, helps to push out the first of 16 pallets aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III in Tbilisi, Georgia, Aug. 13, 2008. The humanitarian assistance delivery consisted of $1 million...

AMERICA'S George Bush delivered a stark warning to Russia this week that led Russia to begin to pull back its forces in Georgia. Mr Bush sent his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, to Georgia and told his defence secretary, Robert Gates, to organise a humanitarian-aid operation. The first American military aircraft landed at Tbilisi airport on Thursday August 14th. This conflict is about more than the two separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, or displacing Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia’s hot-headed president. It is about Russia, resurgent and nationalistic, pushing its way back into the Caucasus and chasing others out, and...

The use of units comprised of ethnic Chechens to do much of the very dirty work in Georgia. The nickname [‘Shrek’] given by his comrades to the bald, pug-eared soldier was the only moment of light relief during a day of tense drama in which The Times witnessed Russia breaching the ceasefire agreement over South Ossetia at will. At a checkpoint set up by the Russian Army on the approach to the city of Gori from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, an armoured personnel carrier blocked the road and riflemen had fanned out in the surrounding bushes, their weapons trained on...

Kaczynski in Tbilisi: ‘We are here to take up the fight” Created: 13.08.2008 11:18 Polish President Lech Kaczynski delivered a confrontational speech in support of Georgia at a rally in Tbilisi, Tuesday. “We are here to take up the fight. For the first time in years our eastern neighbours show their true face that we have known for hundreds of years”, Kaczynski addressed the crowds gathered at a rally in Tbilisi on Tuesday evening. “They think other nations should be subordinated to them. We say no! That country is Russia,” Kaczynski shouted to the applauding crowd. The Polish President accused...

GORI, Georgia — On the day that Russia declared an end to its war in Georgia, Jumberi, a taxi driver who gave only his first name, took a long drag on a Marlboro Red cigarette and said that after the first bomb hit, all he saw was body parts. He motioned to the shattered windshield of his Toyota Corolla and the bloody handprints on the side of the car — left there when the wounded and dying collapsed as they begged him to take them to the hospital. "I heard the sound of the jets, but I did not see...

In any community – a school class, a workshop, an army unit or a prison cell – laymen are tested for strength. Tests may be different: a special procedure of "initiation", a provocation, a physical contest or psychological pressure. In the same way, a goalkeeper in a soccer game is tested at the start with long-distance and precarious blows. Global policy follows similar rules. During recent decades, the West has been systematically testing Moscow leaders for strength. Yury Andropov was tested by a South Korean aircraft illegitimately entering the air territory of the USSR. Mikhail Gorbachev's personal psychological and political...

For Immediate Release Office of the Press SecretaryMay 10, 2005 President Addresses and Thanks Citizens in Tbilisi, Georgia Freedom Square Tbilisi, Georgia 1:27 P.M. (Local) PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. President, thank you for that introduction. Citizens of a free Georgia, Laura and I were in the neighborhood -- we thought we'd swing by and say gamarjoba. (Applause.) I am proud to stand beside a President who has shown such spirit, determination, and leadership in the cause of freedom. (Applause.) And Laura and I are proud to stand with the courageous people of Georgia, in this place that has earned a...

Georgia move fails to halt raids Georgia insists that all its forces are now outside South Ossetia Russia has continued air raids deep inside Georgia, after it rejected Tbilisi's announcement that it had called a ceasefire and wanted talks.Jets bombed targets near Tbilisi, including the airport, and Russia said its warships had sunk a Georgian boat that approached and tried to attack. Russia earlier took control of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, forcing Georgian troops to withdraw. The US has accused Russia of seeking "regime change" in Georgia. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili told the BBC his forces had...

TBILISI, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Russian jets bombed the Vaziani military airbase outside the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Friday, a senior Georgian security official told Reuters. "No one was wounded but some buildings have been destroyed," said Kakha Lamaia. The airbase is some 25 kilometres (15 miles) from Tbilisi. "They have declared war against us," said Lamaia.

Nikoloz Rurua, the deputy chairman of the Georgian parliament's Committee for Defense and Security, says helicopters that attacked the Kodori Gorge came from Russian territory, RFE/RL's Georgian Service reported. Georgia says Russian helicopters fired on the gorge on March 11, which Russia denies. A multinational commission, including the United Nations, the Georgian government, Abkhazia's separatist government, and peacekeepers from the Commonwealth of Independent States, is investigating the incident. "Three helicopters, preliminarily identified as Mi-24 attack gunships, flew [into the Kodori Gorge] from Russian territory or, to be precise, from the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria," Rurua said. "They made a circle above...

Forty-three-year-old Ilya serves as an acolyte at the Russian Orthodox Church named after Aleksandr Nevsky in Tbilisi. He arrived in Georgia from his native Volgograd seven years ago. Ilya says he's praying the confrontation between Russia and Georgia does not end up affecting ordinary people like himself living in Georgia. Already, hundreds of Georgians have been expelled from Russia for alleged illegal immigration. Russia has imposed a series of measures against Georgians living in Russia, despite Tbilisi's release of four Russian soldiers accused of spying. Ilya says the deterioration in relations between Georgia and Russia has not yet been reflected...

The espionage dispute between Georgia and Russia intensified September 29, with a statement from the Georgian Interior Ministry that Russian military "movements" had begun in territory bordering Georgia, and accusations from Moscow that the arrest of four Russian officers is part of a scheme to advance Georgia’s ambitions to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Preliminary hearings for the four Russian officers in Georgian custody have been held, while an evacuation of the families of Russian diplomats from Tbilisi has begun. The Georgian Interior Ministry claimed that the government had detected signs of movement among Russian forces near the Georgian...

PRAGUE, July 28, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has ordered the Abkhaz government in exile to move from Tbilisi to the Kodori Gorge. The move is a bold step toward restoring central control over the breakaway province. The Kodori Gorge, a remote mountain valley in the northeast of Abkhazia, is the only part of the province still controlled by the Georgian authorities. Most of Abkhazia has been ruled independently of Tbilisi since achieving de facto independence in 1993.

Practically all Georgia has remained without an electricity The new misfortune has fallen upon Georgia. As a result of failure on LEP "Imeretia" practically all country has remained without an electricity. Now the power supply system of the country works in an extreme mode. As have informed RBC in the Ministry of fuel and power of Georgia, failure has occured today approximately at 1:00 Moscow time. Under the preliminary information, because of a strong wind the transmission line "Imeretia" connecting power supply systems on which the electric power acts from the Western Georgia in central and east regions of...

The man charged with throwing a grenade at President Bush during a speech earlier this year has sewn his mouth shut. The suspect had a court appearance in the former Russian republic of Georgia and communicated that he stitched his mouth closed in a gesture of solidarity with prison inmates who have gone on a hunger strike. The man is accused of throwing a grenade towards President Bush, and the president of Georgia while they were addressing a rally in Tbilisi back in May. Both leaders were behind bullet proof glass, and the grenade did not explode.

Georgia’s interior minister said a man who admitted throwing a live grenade toward US President George Bush during a rally in the ex-Soviet nation was acting alone and had no links to any foreign special services. Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said Vladimir Arutyunian, who was indicted in September by a US grand jury on charges of trying to assassinate the president, will face trial in Georgia soon. “Arutyunian was a terrorist acting alone,” Merabishvili told the 24 Hours newspaper. Arutyunian faces terrorism and murder charges in Georgia stemming from the May 10 incident in Tbilisi and the killing of...

Tbilisi Officials Name Street After Bush 14,11:47 AM ET TBILISI, Georgia - City officials in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi voted Wednesday to rename a street in honor of President Bush, who was met by enthusiastic crowds here in May but also escaped an apparent attempt on his life. "George Bush is doing a lot for the development of democracy in the world and is helping Georgia with its democratic transformation. And we are proud that one of Tbilisi's streets will carry his name," said Mayor Gigi Ugulava. The measure passed 29-12, with opposition lawmakers in the assembly voting against...

TBILISI, Georgia — A man who confessed to throwing a live grenade toward President Bush during a rally in Georgia intended its shrapnel to hit the area where the president and others were standing, the suspect said video footage broadcast Saturday. "I threw the grenade, not directly at where there was bulletproof glass, but toward the heads ... so that the shrapnel would fly behind the bulletproof glass, you understand?" Vladimir Arutyunian said. Bush and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili (search) were on a podium protected with bulletproof glass at a massive rally in Tbilisi in May when the grenade was...

The man believed to have thrown a hand grenade in Freedom Square while U.S. President George Bush was delivering a speech on May 10 was arrested late July 20 in a Ministry of Internal Affairs special operation in which the suspect was shot and a ministry official killed. Speaking at a late night briefing, Minister of Internal Affairs Vano Merabishvili said that the suspect, 27-year-old Vladimer Arutunov, opened fire on three policemen sent to locate him and that as a result the Head of the Anti-terrorism Center Zurab Kvlividze was killed and Arutunov injured. Arutunov, alternatively identified as Vova Arutinian,...

Georgian police have announced the arrest of a 27-year-old ethnic Armenian suspected of throwing a live hand grenade in the direction of the Georgian and U.S. presidents during a high-profile public appearance in Tbilisi in May. The suspect, Vladimir Arutyunian, was captured overnight following a shootout that claimed the life of a senior police officer who specialized in counterintelligence. The final stage of Arutyunian's capture was broadcast live on Georgia's main television channels. Addressing reporters during an impromptu news briefing, Interior Minister Ivane Merabishvili said Arutyunian was apprehended in the Vashlijvari suburb of the Georgian capital Tbilisi. Arutyunian resisted arrest,...

A street protest in central Tbilisi touched off a sequence of events that resulted in a furious debate in Georgia’s parliament -- punctuated by a fist-fight among MPs – over the governing methods of President Mikheil Saakashvili’s administration. A June 30 court Tbilisi court decision -- in which Aleko Davitashvili, president of the Georgian Wrestling Federation, his brother, Davit, along with Georgian judo champion Giorgi Revazishvili, were sentenced to three months of pre-trial detention on blackmailing charges – sparked the unrest in the capital. The trio was arrested on June 28 for allegedly blackmailing Greek businessman Vili Iordanov for $8,000....

Grenade at Bush Speech Brings Speculation By MISHA DZHINDHIKHASHVILI Associated Press Writer TBILISI, Georgia (AP) -- Was it a bid to undermine a visit by President Bush - or evidence of a real assassination plot? A grenade found near a stage where Bush addressed crowds of Georgians on Tuesday has set off a flurry of speculation. The array of potential culprits - from disgruntled Georgians to local minorities and even Russian saboteurs - reflects the instability of a volatile country struggling through transition. The address to tens of thousands of people in Tbilisi's Freedom Square was the centerpiece of a...

The city center in this former Soviet Republic was spruced up for President Bush's arrival Monday, with locals hoping the international attention he has brought will help revive the tourism that suffered under political unrest. Bush, the first U.S. president to visit Georgia, was greeted by giant billboards bearing his image, U.S. flags and freshly painted buildings and paved roads. Those roads were emptied, as police shooed pedestrians away for security. Few complained. "When the leader of today's free world turns his attention to you, you should be proud," said Katya Chichua, 50, who watched workers lay colorful Oriental rugs...

As growing concerns about dwindling global reserves help maintain oil prices close to the $50 a barrel mark, a major supply route linking newly developed oil and gas fields in the Caspian Sea with western markets is due to be opened. The pipeline is expected to spark an economic boom in Baku Within the next few weeks, oil from the Caspian will start flowing into a 1,762 kilometres long pipeline. The pipeline will run from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, via near Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, and across eastern Turkey to the port of Ceyhan, on Turkey's Mediterranean coast....

DERNIERE MINUTE: 07h01 - the Prime Minister géorgien was found died in an apartment in Tbilissi Zourab Jvania discovered was died, apparently poisoned with gas, in the apartment of a friend in whom it was, announced the Minister of Interior Department géorgien, Nano Merabihvili.(AFP)

<p>Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network has become deeply involved in international drug trafficking, using the money to buy arms and, possibly, radioactive material for use in a so-called "dirty" nuclear bomb, senior U.S. officials say.</p> <p>The seizure earlier this month of boats carrying heroin and hashish, and operated by al Qaeda-linked persons, has brought to light an al Qaeda drug operation that has grown tremendously since the September 11 attacks, the sources say.</p>

TBILISI (Reuters) - An explosion rocked the state television center in Georgian capital Tbilisi on Wednesday, in what the new government said was an attempt to disrupt elections scheduled to replace the overthrown president. "There are some forces in Georgia which are interested in bringing panic to this society, but I want to tell our society that we new leaders won't allow it," Georgia's interim president, Nino Burdzhanadze, told state television. "We will be able to hold normal presidential elections in January." The state security ministry said the explosion had been powerful but that there were no casualties. State television,...

Tbilisi. (Interfax) - Georgia's independent television channel Rustavi-2 reported that Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky, who currently resides in London, arrived in Tbilisi from Britain early Wednesday morning. Berezovsky was met at the airport by his friend, Georgian businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili, Rustavi-2 reported. Spokesman for the Georgian Border Department Shalva Lontaridze confirmed to the press that Berezovsky arrived in Tbilisi from London last night on a plane owned by Patarkatsishvili. He also said that Berezovsky was cleared through the customs with a passport under the name of Elenin Platon. At 5 a.m., following a meeting with Patarkatsishvili, Berezovsky left Tbilisi...

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<p>TBILISI, Georgia (CNN) -- Georgian demonstrators are maintaining an all night vigil outside the nation's parliament after a state of emergency was declared by President Eduard Shevardnadze.</p> <p>Tens of thousands of Georgians are demanding Shevardnadze's resignation and parliamentary speaker and leading opposition figure Nino Burdzhanadze appeared on television to declare herself an interim leader.</p>

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - The opposition seized Georgia's parliament Saturday, chasing out President Eduard Shevardnadze and declaring an interim government as tens of thousands of supporters thronged the streets of the capital. Shevardnadze, backed by his head of police, declared a state of emergency. Shevardnadze has long claimed that he is key to maintaining stability in the Caucasus region, located on strategically vital oil routes. Georgia's rugged mountains have provided shelter for insurgents fighting in neighboring Chechnya, and the United States has helped train Georgian military forces to try to uproot them. Facing a possible confrontation with the army and...

Opposition supporters in Georgia have seized the parliament building in the capital Tbilisi after weeks of protests over disputed elections. Crowds led by main opposition leader Mikhail Saakashvili broke into the building as parliament convened. Nino Burjanadze, outgoing speaker of parliament, says she has become interim president. President Eduard Shevardnadze has condemned the events as a "coup" and declared a state of emergency. Pressure has been mounting on the 75-year-old president to resign since the 2 November parliamentary elections, won by his party and its allies despite the country's economic crisis. I will not resign Eduard Shevardnadze He was addressing...

Troops sent into Tbilisi as civil war fears rise By Julius Strauss in Tbilisi (Filed: 12/11/2003) Georgia inched closer to civil war last night as interior ministry troops were ordered into the heart of the capital, Tbilisi, and President Eduard Shevardnadze denounced opposition leaders. Outside parliament thousands of angry protesters gathered for a fourth day, swearing defiance. Many were waving images of St George, their patron saint. A source close to the president said: "Considering the hot mood around the country, it's possible there will be a second civil war." The country slipped into civil war in the early 1990s....