Kavkaz

MOSCOW – Russia is preparing a request for Georgia to extradite a Russian soldier who fled his military unit in South Ossetia in January, but has not yet filed the order, a military investigator said on Thursday. Lt. Gen. Alexander Sorochkin, head of the Military Investigation Department at Russia’s Investigation …

TBILISI, Georgia — A Georgian court ruled Wednesday that eight opposition supporters accused of plotting a coup and terrorist acts should remain in custody for two months as they await trial. Police released video recordings this week allegedly showing the men trying to buy weapons with the intent of causing …

MOSCOW – The first film about last August’s war between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia is to be broadcast on Russian television at primetime on Sunday. The made-for-TV movie, directed by Igor Voloshin, is called “Olympus Inferno” and tells the story of a Michael, a young Russian-American entomologist who …

Georgia’s Interior Ministry has reported that ten members of the opposition Democratic Movement-United Georgia party have been arrested on charges of purchasing automatic weapons. The party’s leader Nino Burjanadze says the charges are false and are part of a “campaign of terror” against the opposition.

Relations between Georgia and Azerbaijan are strengthening year by year, Georgian parliament speaker David Bakradze said. “Our interests are interdependent. Azerbaijan is a country with which Georgia will develop strategic and friendly relations,” he said, Novosti Azerbaijan reported.

Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili said the Turkish-proposed Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform has acquired no “clear shape” yet and consultations were on their “very early stage.” “We always welcome multilateral mechanisms,” Saakashvili said while speaking at a news conference on a sideline of a high-profile Brussels Forum late on March …

MOSCOW- Russia will not back away from its recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in order to begin a dialogue on relations with Georgia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. Davaid Bakradze, a spokesman for the Georgian parliament, said on Thursday that Tbilisi was ready to begin a dialogue …

TBILISI – Georgia plans to build a high voltage electricity line to Turkey that will increase its exporting capacity tenfold, according to Sulkhan Zumburidze, director of the state power dispatcher Georgian State Electrosystem. Zumburidze told Reuters on Thursday that the project will cost 220 million euros to complete, and will …

Sergeant Alexander Glukhov disappeared in January from his unit in breakaway South Ossetia and said he wanted asylum in Georgia. A Russian soldier who upset Moscow by leaving his unit and turning up in Georgia has been charged with desertion, Russian prosecutors said on Tuesday, while Tbilisi said it had …

Georgian Minister of Agriculture Bakur Kvezereli said Wednesday the most affordable agricultural land in the region is actually in Georgia. “One hectare (10,000 square metres) of agricultural land sells for 350-1000 USD in Georgia. We expect Turkish entrepreneurs to purchase land in Georgia,” Kvezereli said.