History of Georgia (2000-2014

2003 Mar 24
In Georgia Pres. Shevardnadze confirmed that the US was flying U-2 spy planes over the Pankisi Gorge area to help fight Chechen rebel infiltration.

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2003 Aug 18
All of Georgia was without power for the entire day, and officials in the impoverished former Soviet republic were struggling to determine the cause of the blackout.
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2003 Sep 19
The government of Georgia scrapped an accord guaranteeing religious freedom for Catholics. The next day the Vatican issued an unusually strong rebuke to the former Soviet republic and its dominant Orthodox Church.
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2003 Nov 2
Georgia held parliamentary elections and opinion polls said the opposition would take control unless there was massive fraud. Parliamentary candidates allied with Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze held a slim lead in elections that European monitors said were marred by irregularities.
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2003 Nov 5
In Georgia opposition parties protested for a 2nd day, accusing President Eduard Shevardnadze's government of rigging the results of parliamentary elections.
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2003 Nov 22
Opposition supporters broke into Georgia's Parliament and took it over, scuffling with lawmakers and forcing President Eduard Shevardnadze to flee as thousands of protesters outside demanded his resignation.
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2003 Nov 23
Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze signed his resignation papers as leaders of protesters already occupying parliament urged tens of thousands of supporters to seize more organs of state power and some military units defected to the jubilant protesters thronging the capital's streets. Nino Burdzhanadze, leader of the United Democrats opposition, declared herself acting president and announced a new election within 45 days.
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2003 Nov 25
Georgian lawmakers set a new presidential election for Jan 4. The foreign debt stood at $1.8 billion, the unemployment rate was 30% and the average monthly salary was $20.
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2003 Nov 26
In Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili (35), a US educated lawyer, said he would run for president as the sole candidate of the opposition National Movement party. His campaign later became known as the “rose revolution.”
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2003 Dec 10
Aslan Abashidze (65), a former Soviet bureaucrat who has ruled the region of Adzharia since Georgia's 1991 independence, refused to accept Georgia's interim leadership or parliament.
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2003 Dec 29
A Georgia rocket attack damaged offices of an independent TV station.
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2004 Jan 4
The former Soviet republic of Georgia voted for a successor to President Eduard Shevardnadze. Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgia's young firebrand opposition leader, declared himself the victor in presidential elections with some 85% of the vote.
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2004 Jan 8
Authorities in Georgia's autonomous region of Adzharia imposed a state of emergency, fearing the newly elected Georgian president may try to rein in the province.
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2004 Jan 18
In Georgia an explosion at a scientific institute in Tbilisi killed two people and injured two others. It occurred during a transfer of nitrogen, an indication that a canister of the gas could have blown up.
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2004 Jan 25
Mikhail Saakashvili was inaugurated as Georgia's president.
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2004 Feb 26
Mikhail Saakashvili, the new president of Georgia, said he is ready to negotiate full autonomy for the separatist Abkhazia region to end the decade-long conflict.
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2004 Mar 14
Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili put the country's military on alert after the restive Adzharia region barred him from entering.
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2004 Mar 15
Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili put trade restrictions on Adzharia (Ajaria) after Aslan Abashidze ignored a deadline to accept federal authority.
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2004 Mar 18
Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili met with Aslan Abashidze in Batumi, Ajaria, to settle misunderstandings.
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2004 Mar 19
Georgia's authorities lifted sanctions against the defiant Adzharia (Ajaria) region, carrying out a new agreement aimed to avert tensions.
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2004 Mar 28
Georgians voted in the country's third election in less than six months. Supporters of President Mikhail Saakashvili swept to victory in Georgia's parliamentary election, according to early results.
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2004 Apr 2
Georgian authorities reported that they had detained four men on suspicion of plotting to assassinate the president, and officials accused the autonomous province of Adzharia (Ajaria) of being behind the alleged plot.
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2004 Apr 19
The annual environmental Goldman Prizes were awarded in SF. Winners included Manana Kochladze of Georgia for winning concessions to protect villagers and a pristine gorge from an oil pipeline.
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2004 May 2
Adzharian (Ajaria) forces blew up the three major bridges connecting their recalcitrant province with the rest of Georgia in what their leader said was a preventive measure against Georgian military action.
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2004 May 5
Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov helped ease Aslan Abashidze out of Adzharia (Ajaria), Georgia.
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2004 May 6
The leader of the breakaway region of Adzharia fled after street protests, and Georgia's president flew into the restive province, vowing to pursue the integration of two other separatist regions.
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May 2004
Georgia’s Pres. Saakashvili asked Kakha Bendukidze (48), industrialist, to return to Georgia from Russia and serve as the new economy minister. Bendukidze returned in June and began work.
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2004 Aug 15
Sporadic gunfire and shelling took place overnight in the disputed Georgian region of South Ossetia in violation of a fragile ceasefire, wounding seven Georgian servicemen.
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2004 Aug 17
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili appealed to world leaders to convene an international conference on the conflict in breakaway South Ossetia, where daily exchanges of gunfire threaten to spark a war. The province operated as a conduit for smuggling between Georgia and Russia.
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2004 Aug 18
In South Ossetia 3 Georgian peacekeepers were killed in overnight shooting.
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2004 Dec 5
In Abkhazia (Georgia) the two candidates vying for the region's presidency agreed to conduct new elections and run on a joint ticket.
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2004
Irakly Okruashvili, Georgia’s interior minister, sacked some 12,000 police officers as part of a major anti-corruption drive.
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2004
Georgia’s Pres. Saakashvili installed Levan Varshalomidze to replace Aslan Abashidze as head of the Ajaria region.
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2005        Feb 1
In Gori, Georgia, a car bomb exploded outside a police station, killing three policemen and injuring 13 other people.
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2005        Feb 3
PM Zurab Zhvania, who helped lead Georgia's revolution that toppled the corruption-tainted regime of Eduard Shevardnadze, died in a friend's apartment from what officials claimed was an accidental gas leak from a heater.
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2005        Feb 17
Georgia’s parliament approved Zurab Nogaideli as premier.
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2005        Mar 10
Georgia lawmakers voted unanimously for Russia to withdraw troops from soviet-era bases by Jan 1.
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2005        May 9
In Tbilisi Pres. Bush, before a cheering crowd of tens of thousands of people, said that the former Soviet republic of Georgia is proving to the world that determined people can rise up and claim their freedom from oppressive rulers.
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2005        May 10
Cheered by tens of thousands in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, President Bush urged the spread of democracy across the former communist world and beyond.
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2005        May 2
, In Azerbaijan officials opened the first section of a $3.6 billion, 1,100-mile pipeline that will carry Caspian Sea oil to Western markets. The presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Turkey were on hand for the ceremony at the Sangachal oil terminal.
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2005        May 30
Russia agreed to begin withdrawing its troops from two Soviet-era bases in Georgia this year, resolving one of the most serious disputes between Moscow and its pro-Western neighbor.
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2005        Aug 2
Georgia’s Pres, Saakashvili said he is counting on US help to facedown Moscow and reassert control over Abkhazia and Southern Ossetia.
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2005        Aug 12
Leaders of Georgia and Ukraine called for an alliance that would champion democracy in the former Soviet lands.
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2005        Sep 10
More than 500 U.S.-trained Georgian soldiers left for Iraq as part of a regular rotation of troops by the former Soviet republic.
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2005        Nov 23
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili predicted his country will become a member of the Western military alliance NATO by 2009.
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2006        Jan 11
In Georgia a court convicted a man of trying to assassinate President Bush and the leader of Georgia during a rally last year, and it sentenced him to life in prison. Vladimir Arutyunian (27) also was convicted of killing a policeman during a shootout while authorities were trying to arrest him several weeks after the May 10, 2005, grenade incident.
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2006        Jan 22
Explosions hit pipelines running through southern Russia, cutting the natural gas supply to Georgia and Armenia during a cold snap.
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2006        Jan 22, Georgia began receiving natural gas late in the day from Azerbaijan following explosions on pipelines in southern Russia that cut off delivery of gas to Georgia and its neighbor Armenia during a cold snap.
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2006        Jan 24
Georgia’s energy minister said Iran has expressed a readiness to export natural gas to Georgia to make up for a sharp drop in Russian deliveries.
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2006        Jan 27
Georgia's president said that Iran had agreed to start providing emergency gas supplies to the Caucasus mountain nation as early as this weekend, signaling an end to an energy crisis made worse by an extreme cold snap.
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2006        Jan 29
Russia resumed sending natural gas to Georgia after finishing repairs to a major pipeline damaged by mysterious blasts a week earlier.
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2006        Mar 9
About 8,000 Georgians took to the streets for the capital's biggest anti-government demonstration since President Mikhail Saakashvili was swept to power after leading the Rose Revolution protests more than two years ago.
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2006        Mar 26
Georgian police stormed a prison in Tbilisi after inmates rioted in an escape attempt from Ortochala prison, sparking a gun battle that left two guards and an unknown number of inmates dead.
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2006        Apr 6
It was reported that Russian health and sanitary officials had imposed a ban on Georgian and Moldovan wines effective May 1. Authorities said the wines contained pesticides and heavy metals. The ban was soon extended to brandy and sparkling wines.
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2006        May 28
A new $4 billion pipeline from Baku, via Georgia to Ceyhan, Turkey, began pumping oil.
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2006        Jun 3
The long-awaited first shipment of Caspian oil from the new Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline got on its way from a Turkish port.
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2006        Jul 5
Pres. Bush met with Pres. Saakashvili and backed Georgia’s bid to join NATO.
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2006        Jul 6
Four former officers in Georgia's Interior Ministry were convicted of causing bodily harm leading to death in the case of a banker, Sandro Girgvliani (28), whose beating and stabbing death became a political scandal in this former Soviet republic.
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2006        Jul 13
The presidents of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia formally opened a pipeline designed to bypass Russia and bring Caspian oil to Europe, a route that President Bush said would bolster global energy security.
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2006        Jul 26
Georgian authorities reported sporadic fighting in a mountainous region where police are trying to subdue a defiant militia leader, the latest confrontation in a volatile former Soviet republic plagued by separatist movements.
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2006        Jul 27
Georgia’s Pres. Saakashvili said his troops had established control over the Kodori Gorge area after Emzar Kvitsiani, a former presidential envoy, said he was reactivating a local militia.
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2006        Aug 10
Rights activists said at least nine inmates have died in Georgian prisons in the past 10 days as the Caucasus Mountains nation suffers through high temperatures not seen in two decades.
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2006        Sep 11
Leaders of the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia said they would hold a referendum on independence in November, a move likely to infuriate the government in Tbilisi and stoke already spiraling tensions.
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2006        Sep 29
Georgia charged four Russian military officers with spying, while Russian government planes evacuated dozens of diplomats and their relatives as the diplomatic dispute worsened between Moscow and the former Soviet republic.
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2006        Sep 30
Russia said that it has suspended plans for further withdrawal of its troops from Georgia amid worsening relations between the two neighbors.
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2006        Oct 2
Georgia released four Russian officers whose arrest on spying charges prompted Moscow to announce sweeping travel and communications sanctions in the worst bilateral crisis in years.
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2006        Oct 3
Russia suspended all transport and postal links with Georgia until further notice, sharply escalating their dispute. The blockade caused economic problems for Armenia, Georgia's landlocked southern neighbor, since Russia is its main trading partner.
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2006        Oct 5
Georgians voted in municipal elections seen as a crucial test for President Mikhail Saakashvili during a diplomatic crisis with Russia.
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2006        Oct 5
Russia froze Georgians’ work permits and nearly doubled its gas bill.
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2006        Oct 6
Opposition leaders alleged that Georgia's local and regional elections were riddled with fraud, but international monitors said the balloting was conducted "with general respect for fundamental freedoms."
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2006        Oct 12
Georgia blocked the next round of talks on Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization in retaliation for Moscow's blockade of its small southern neighbor.
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2006        Oct 24
Georgia's Foreign Ministry said it had protested to the UN about Russia's crackdown on illegal Georgian migrants, demanding a stop to what it called "persecution on ethnic grounds."
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2006        Oct 26
A Georgian man was killed and another was wounded when they stepped on a mine in a volatile area near the breakaway province of South Ossetia.
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2006        Nov 2
Russia's state-controlled natural gas monopoly said that it would more than double the price it charges Georgia, further heightening tensions between the ex-Soviet neighbors.
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2006        Nov 12
Voters in the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia declared overwhelming backing for its independence drive in a referendum that underlined a sharp split between Russia and the West and is likely to increase tensions in the Caucasus region. A similar 1992 referendum proclaiming the province's independence went unnoticed by the international community, leaving it in limbo.
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2006        Dec 14
In Georgia the last train carrying military hardware and property owned by units of the Group of Russian Troops left the Tbilisi garrison for Armenia. The last of Russia’s servicemen were to leave the next day. This ended a 200-year-old Russian presence in Tbilisi.
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2006        Dec 22
A top executive with Russian gas giant OAO Gazprom said Georgia will pay more than double what it pays now for Russian natural gas under a new agreement.
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2006
Thomas Goltz authored “Georgia Diary: A Chronicle of War and Political Chaos in the Post-Soviet Caucasus.”
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2006
A Georgian undercover agent made contact with a Russian seller of uranium in North Ossetia. The seller was arrested when they met in Tbilisi with 3.5 ounces of enriched uranium, which made it weapons grade material.
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2007 Jan 18
President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia's ambassador to Georgia to return to the Georgian capital after recalling him four months ago, saying that the two countries must "normalize" badly strained ties.
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2007 Feb 7
Georgia signed a regional cooperation agreement with Azerbaijan and Turkey which included plans for a railway connecting the three countries.
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2007 Mar 5
Badri Patarkatsishvili, one of the most famous Georgian oligarchs, left Georgia. His departure was announced in London as the relocation of his activities of "Georgia in the West," underscoring the desire to leave the country definitively. The millionaire, who holds first-rank influence in both finances and the media, co-holds one of the most important Georgian media concerns, Imedi, which includes a radio station and a television station.
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2007 Mar 11
In Georgia’s Kodori Valley Russian helicopters coordinated a ground and air attack on 3 settlements and fired a guided missile at a Georgian government building.
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2007 Apr
Georgia reported that outbreaks of African swine fever began at the end of April in 10 regions across the country. 20,000 pigs were soon slaughtered. In June the UN said that the outbreak could have a "catastrophic" economic impact unless its spread is halted.
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2007 May 11
Authorities in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia launched a blockade of all ethnic Georgian villages in the province and demanded that the central government withdraw its police troops from the settlements.
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2007 May 20
Guram Sharadze (67), the leader of a Georgian opposition movement, was gunned down on a street in a central part of the capital, Tbilisi.
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2007 Jun 19
Georgia border agents blocked a car trying to smuggle radioactive plutonium and beryllium from Azerbaijan.
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2007 Jun 28
Hundreds of ethnic Georgians confronted Russian peacekeeping forces in the breakaway region of South Ossetia, throwing paint and gasoline on the troops and forcing them to stop blocking a road project.
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2007 Aug 7
Georgia accused Russia of "undisguised aggression," saying two Russian fighter jets intruded on its airspace and fired a missile that landed near a house. Russia denied the allegation.
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2007 Aug 24
Georgia said it fired on a Russian plane flying over its territory. The Tbilisi City Court, behind closed doors, convicted 13 people from minor opposition parties for plotting a violent overthrow of the government. Maia Topuria, the lead defendant and head of the pro-Moscow Justice party, was sentenced to 8 ½ years in prison.
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2007 Aug 25
A senior official of the separatist region said a plane of uncertain origin went down over Abkhazia, a day after Georgia reported that its forces fired on a plane believed to be Russian that had violated the country's airspace.
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2007 Sep 14
Georgia’s defense minister said Georgia will cut the size of its military contingent in Iraq from 2,000 soldiers and other personnel to around 300 by next summer.
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2007 Sep 20
A clash between Georgian and separatist Abkhazian forces too place some 330 yards inside Abkhaz-held territory. Several Abkhaz soldiers were wounded and 2 former Russian military officers were killed.
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2007 Sep 27
Irakli Okruashvili, Georgia's hawkish former defense minister, was detained on corruption charges, days after he alleged that President Mikhail Saakashvili had ordered him to kill a prominent businessman.
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2007 Sep 28
Thousands of opposition supporters rallied in Georgia's capital, demanding that the president step down following the arrest of Irakly Okruashvili (33), a former defense minister who accused the leader of involvement in a murder plot.
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2007 Oct 7
Irakly Okruashvili, Georgia's former defense minister, retracted allegations that the president of this former Soviet republic was involved in a murder plot and other corruption. Okruashvili's lawyer, Eka Beselia, said the statements "were made under duress."
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2007 Oct 10
Ministers from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine signed a deal to build an oil pipeline linking the Black and Baltic seas.
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2007 Oct 15
The Security Council voted unanimously to extend the UN observer mission in Georgia, expressing "serious concern" at violence that has escalated tensions between Georgia and the breakaway region of Abkhazia.
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2007 Nov 7
In Georgia police forced dozens of opposition supporters from a site in Tbilisi, where five days of protests had drawn thousands, but demonstrators later returned and renewed their calls for the president's resignation. Georgia’s Imedi television station, regarded by the government as an opposition mouthpiece, went off the air after riot police entered its headquarters. Imedi was owned by opposition tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili. The government declared a 15-day state of emergency.
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2007 Nov 8
Georgia's pro-Western Pres. Mikhail Saakashvili said that the country would hold early presidential elections in January to defuse a crisis fueled by protests against him. Troops armed with hard rubber clubs patrolled the center of Tbilisi to enforce a state of emergency imposed after a violent crackdown on anti-government protesters.
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2007 Nov 9
Georgian opposition leaders said they would end streets protests against President Mikhail Saakashvili after he called for an early presidential election for January.
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2007 Nov 15
Georgia’s parliament lifted the country’s state of emergency imposed last week by Pres. Saakashvili.
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2007 Nov 15
A top Russian general said that Russia has completed its withdrawal of troops that had been based in Georgia since the Soviet collapse. He said peacekeepers remained in Abkhazia along with forces in South Ossetia with the participation of Georgia.
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2007 Nov 16
Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili dismissed the prime minister and nominated an influential banker for the post in an apparent attempt to win votes ahead of a hastily called presidential election.
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2007 Nov 21
The presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey launched the construction of a railroad that will link ex-Soviet republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia with Europe, bypassing Russia.
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2007 Dec 26
Georgia's top television station suspended its broadcasts, saying it was protesting the pressure authorities have exerted because of the station's links to a billionaire presidential contender challenging the government.
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2007
Kakha Bendukidze, Georgian industrialist, founded the Free University of Tbilisi to teach law, business and languages. Each graduate was expected to finance a new student
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2008        Jan 5
Georgians voted to determine whether to keep Mikhail Saakashvili as president in the former Soviet republic, where he was once considered a symbol of democratic reform but now faces accusations of authoritarian leanings. Saakashvili's supporters poured onto the streets, tooting car horns and waving white-and-red national flags, celebrating victory based on exit poll results. Saakashvili received 52.8% of the vote according to preliminary results.
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2008        Jan 6
In Georgia several thousand people rallied in Tbilisi, claiming early election results that indicated Mikhail Saakashvili would narrowly win a second presidential term were fraudulent.
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2008        Jan 7
, President Mikhail Saakashvili said his re-election demonstrates that Georgia is on the road to becoming a European democracy, while his opponents denounced the vote as fraudulent and vowed to renew street protests.
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2008        Jan 10
In Georgia authorities formally charged Badri Patarkatsishvili, a billionaire businessman, who ran in this month's presidential election with plotting to overthrow the government. Patarkatsishvili left Georgia in November and has spent time in Britain and Israel. He has acknowledged offering large sums of money to police if they side with protesters
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2008        Jan 13
In Georgia tens of thousands of opposition supporters rallied in Tbilisi to protest what they denounced as massive vote fraud that helped US-allied Mikhail Saakashvili win a second presidential term
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2008        Jan 15
In Georgia tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Tbilisi, pressing for a presidential runoff but celebrating an agreement giving the opposition more control over the main state-funded television station
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2008        Feb 12
Badri Patarkatsishvili (52), a Georgian tycoon, was found dead in his mansion near London. Police said they were treating the death as suspicious. He had claimed he was the target of assassination plot after helping lead anti-government protests in his homeland. He had built his fortune in Russia, where he became Berezovsky's business partner. However, the two men claimed in British court documents that the Russian government forced them to sell their stakes in oil company Sibneft, Russian Aluminum and television channel ORT for a fraction of their value. Interim tests indicated that Patarkatsishvili died of natural causes
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2008        Mar 5
South Ossetia appealed for international recognition as an independent nation, further adding to simmering tensions in Georgia and throughout the strategic South Caucasus region
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2008        Mar 6
A lawmaker said Abkhazia, a region that broke away from Georgian government control in the 1990s, intends to seek international recognition as an independent nation, citing Kosovo as a precedent
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2008        Mar 25
Air travel between Georgia and Russia resumed, more than 17 months after Moscow suspended flights because of tension between the ex-Soviet neighbors.
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2008        Apr 3
President Bush won NATO's endorsement for his plan to build a missile defense system in Europe over Russian objections. The proposal also advanced with Czech officials announcing an agreement to install a missile tracking site for the system in their country. NATO decided not to put Georgia and Ukraine on track to join the alliance after vehement Russian opposition, but the alliance pledged that the strategically important Black Sea nations will become members one day
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2008        Apr 20
A Georgian unmanned reconnaissance flight was shot down over the Georgian rebel region of Abkhazia. The next day Georgia's air force commander said a Russian fighter jet shot down the spy plane as it flew over Abkhazia, but Russia said it had been shot down by separatist forces and that the flight violated UN ceasefire agreements. A UN report on May 26 said a Russian jet shot down the spy drone
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2008        Apr 29
Russia announced it was beefing up its peacekeeping force in Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions, saying it had evidence Tbilisi was readying its forces for an attack
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2008        May 1
Russia said an extra contingent of its troops had begun arriving in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia, a move Tbilisi said was an illegal act of military aggression
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2008        May 4
Abkhazian anti-aircraft forces shot down 2 unmanned Georgian spy planes. A Georgian Foreign Ministry official, dismissed the claims as "completely absurd disinformation" aimed at increasing tension in the area
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2008        May 8
Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia said it had shot down another Georgian spy drone
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2008        May 21
Georgia held parliamentary elections.
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2008        May 22
Partial returns and an exit poll showed President Mikhail Saakashvili's ruling party heading for a strong majority in Georgia's parliamentary election. United Opposition co-leader David Gamkrelidze alleged widespread cheating and pressure on opponents by authorities in areas outside Tbilisi
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2008        May
Georgia’s population, as it aspired to NATO membership, was about 4.5 million.
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2008        Jun 5
The European Parliament called for the peacekeeping mandate for Russian troops in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia to be revised. The chamber also demanded the EU sends its own border mission into the conflict zone in Abkhazia
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2008        Jun 6
Russia's new Pres. Medvedev met with leaders of a fractious alliance of ex-Soviet republics, warning Ukraine and Georgia not to lead their countries into NATO
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2008        Jul 29
Russian proxies in South Ossetia started shelling pro-Georgian villages there
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2008        Aug 2
Overnight fighting that included sniper and mortar fire between Georgian forces and separatists in the breakaway South Ossetia region left six people dead and 13 wounded
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2008        Aug 3
The breakaway republic of South Ossetia began sending hundreds of children across the border to its Russian ally amid increasing violence between the republic and Georgian government forces
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2008        Aug 7
Heavy shelling overnight in the Georgian breakaway province of South Ossetia wounded at least 21 people. Cyber attacks from Russia began to target Georgian government Web sites. An organization known as the Russian Business Network was the leading suspect in the attacks. Georgia’s Pres. Saakashvili ordered the shelling of Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia
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2008        Aug 8
Georgian troops launched a major military offensive to regain control of South Ossetia, prompting a furious response from Russia, which sent tanks into the region. The convoy was expected to reach the provincial capital by evening. Georgia said it shot down two Russian combat planes. Separatist officials in South Ossetia said 15 civilians had been killed in fighting overnight. Georgia later acknowledged that it used M85 cluster munition near the Roki tunnel that connects South Ossetia with Russia, while Russia denied use of cluster bombs.
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2008        Aug 9
Georgia, the third largest contributor to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, said it's pulling out its 2,000-strong contingent from Iraq to join the fighting in the breakaway province of South Ossetia
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2008        Aug 9
Separatist forces in Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia launched air and artillery strikes to drive Georgian troops from their bridgehead in the region. The Abkhazian move was prompted by Georgia's military action to regain control over another breakaway province, South Ossetia
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2008        Aug 9
Russia sent hundreds of tanks and troops into the separatist province of South Ossetia and bombed Georgian towns in a major escalation of the conflict that has left scores of civilians dead and wounded. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Moscow that some 1,500 people have been killed, with the death toll rising. The death toll in South Ossetia was later put at fewer than 200. Russian military aircraft bombed the Georgian town of Gori. Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili proposed a cease-fire. As part of his proposal, Georgian troops were pulled out of Tskhinvali and had been ordered to stop responding to Russian shelling
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2008        Aug 10
Georgian troops retreated from the breakaway province of South Ossetia and their government pressed for a truce, overwhelmed by Russian firepower as the conflict threatened to set off a wider war. Georgia said it has shot down 10 Russian planes, including four brought down Aug 9. It also claimed to have captured two Russian pilots, who were shown on Georgian television. Ukraine warned Russia it could bar Russian navy ships from returning to their base in the Crimea because of their deployment to Georgia's coast
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2008        Aug 11
Swarms of Russian jets launched new raids on Georgian territory and Georgia faced the threat of a second front of fighting as Russia demanded that Georgia disarm troops near the breakaway province of Abkhazia
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2008        Aug 12
Georgia's Pres. Mikhail Saakashvili said his government will declare that its breakaway regions are occupied territories and will designate Russian peacekeepers as occupying forces. Russia ordered a halt to military action in Georgia, after five days of air and land attacks sent Georgia's army into headlong retreat and left towns and military bases destroyed. A Dutch television journalist was killed overnight when Russian warplanes bombed the central Georgian city of Gori. Russia later counted 133 civilian deaths in South Ossetia. Rights activists later said fewer than 100 civilians were killed in South Ossetia. The war cost some 850 lives and left over 35,000 displaced civilians, mot of the Georgian
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2008        Aug 13
Russian tanks rolled into the crossroads city of Gori then thrust deep into Georgian territory, violating the truce designed to end the six-day war. Georgia said that 175 Georgians had died in five days of air and ground attacks that left homes in smoldering ruins. EU foreign ministers agreed in principle to send monitors to supervise a French-brokered ceasefire between Russia and Georgia in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Russia will spend at least $400 million in 2008 on restoring South Ossetia's battered capital Tskhinvali
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2008        Aug 14
Georgian and Russian troops faced off at a checkpoint outside the key city of Gori, calling an already shaky cease-fire into question. An American official said Russia appears to be sabotaging airfields and other military infrastructure as its forces pull back. The Russian General Prosecutor's office said it has formally opened a genocide probe into Georgian treatment of South Ossetians. For its part, Georgia this week filed a suit against Russia in the International Court of Justice, alleging murder, rape and mass expulsions in both provinces
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2008        Aug 15
Russian troops allowed some humanitarian supplies into Georgia’s city of Gori but kept up their blockade of the strategically located city, raising doubts about Russia's intentions. Relief planes swooped into Tbilisi with tons of supplies for the estimated 100,000 people uprooted by the fighting. An international rights group said it has evidence that Russian warplanes dropped cluster bombs in civilian areas in Georgia
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2008        Aug 16
Russian forces pulled back from the center of a town not far from Georgia's capital after Russia's president signed a cease-fire deal. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov later suggested there would be no immediate broader withdrawal. Georgia's Foreign Ministry said Saturday that Russian-backed separatists from the province of Abkhazia had taken over 13 villages in Georgia and a power plant. Russian troops blew up a key railroad bridge linking the Caucasus to the Black Sea coast
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2008        Aug 17
The Kremlin promised to start withdrawing combat troops from Georgia on August 18, as Western pressure mounted on Russia to quit the ex-Soviet republic
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2008        Aug 18
Russia said its military began to withdraw from the conflict zone in Georgia, but left unclear exactly where troops and tanks will operate under the cease-fire that ended days of fighting in the former Soviet republic
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2008        Aug 19
Russian soldiers took 20 Georgian troops prisoner at a key port in western Georgia and commandeered American Humvees awaiting shipment back to the United States after taking part in earlier US-Georgian military exercises. Georgia and Russia exchanged prisoners captured during their brief war
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2008        Aug 20
A top Russian general said 64 of the country's soldiers were killed and 323 wounded in this month's fighting with Georgia. Russia informed Norway that it plans to suspend all military ties with NATO, a day after the military alliance urged Moscow to withdraw its forces from Georgia. Georgia later reported that 170 of its soldiers were killed in the war
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2008        Aug 21
Russian forces blocked the only land entrance to Georgia's main port city, a day before Russia promised to complete a troop pullout from its ex-Soviet neighbor
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2008        Aug 22
A Russian armored column moved away from a base in western Georgia and Russian forces also were leaving the key central city of Gori, the day that Russia's president had said a pullback would be complete
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2008        Aug 23
A top Russian general said his country's forces will keep patrolling the key Georgian Black Sea port of Poti even though it lies outside the areas where Russia claims it has the right to station soldiers in Georgia
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2008        Aug 24
The USS McFaul, a US Navy warship carrying humanitarian aid, anchored at the Georgian port of Batumi, sending a strong signal of support to an embattled ally as Russian forces built up around two separatist regions. In central Georgia, an oil train exploded and caught fire, sending plumes of black smoke into the air. A Georgian official said the train hit a land mine and blamed the explosion on departing Russian forces
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2008        Aug 25
Russia's parliament voted unanimously to urge the president to recognize the independence of Georgia's two breakaway regions, a move likely to stoke further tensions between Moscow and the small Caucasus nation's Western allies. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned ex-Soviet Moldova against repeating Georgia's mistake of trying to use force to seize back control of Transdniestria, a pro-Moscow breakaway region
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2008        Aug 26
Russia formally recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the breakaway Georgian territories at the heart of its war with Georgia, heightening tensions with the West as the US dispatched a military ship bearing aid to a port city still patrolled by Russian troops. In a direct challenge to Russia, the US announced it intends to deliver humanitarian aid to the beleaguered Georgian port city of Poti, which Russian troops still control through checkpoints on the city's outskirts
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2008        Aug 27
A US military ship docked at the southern Georgian port of Batumi. Meanwhile, Russia's missile cruiser, the Aurora, and two missile boats, anchored at the port of Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia. The moves by both sides underscored an escalating standoff between Moscow and the West over this small Caucasus nation devastated by war with Russia
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2008        Aug 27
The Group of Seven (G7) industrialized democracies condemned Russia for its actions in Georgia, underlining the country's growing estrangement from the West
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2008        Aug 28
Russian forces turned over 12 Georgian soldiers on the border of Abkhazia. Georgia's foreign minister said ethnic Georgians were being cleared from their homes in South Ossetia. A joint declaration from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization denounced the use of force and called for respect for every country's territorial integrity. Mikhail Mindzayev, the interior minister of South Ossetia, said an unmanned Georgian spy plane was shot down over South Ossetia by local forces
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2008        Aug 29
A Georgian Foreign Ministry official says Georgia is to recall all diplomatic staff from its embassy in Moscow because of the Russian military presence in Georgia
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2008        Aug 30
The UN says Russian soldiers are telling thousands of refugees in Georgia who want to return to their homes that their security can't be guaranteed. All hoped to return to villages that are in the "security zones" that Russia has claimed for itself. Russian PM Vladimir Putin urged the EU to ignore calls to punish Moscow over the Georgia conflict as Tbilisi appealed for targeted punishment of the Russian leadership
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2008        Aug 31
President Dmitry Medvedev says Russia will follow the recognition of Georgia's breakaway provinces with agreements on economic and military aid
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2008        Sep 1
Hundreds of thousands of Georgians joined together in anti-Russian protests
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2008        Sep 3
A US Navy ship loaded with humanitarian aid steamed through the Dardanelles on its way to Georgia, as the Bush administration prepared to roll out a $1 billion economic aid package for the ex-Soviet republic
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2008        Sep 4
In Georgia US Vice President Dick Cheney condemned Russia for what he called an "illegitimate, unilateral attempt" to redraw this US ally's borders by force
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2008        Sep 5
The flagship of the US Navy's Mediterranean fleet anchored outside the key Georgian port of Poti, bringing in tons of humanitarian aid to a port still partially occupied by hundreds of Russian troops
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2008        Sep 5
EU nations called for an international probe to find out which country should shoulder responsibility for starting the conflict between Georgia and Russia
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2008        Sep 7
Italy's foreign minister, after meeting US Vice President Dick Cheney, said the EU wants to work closely with the United States in resolving the Georgian crisis.
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2008        Sep 8
French President Nicolas Sarkozy pressed Moscow to honor its pledge to withdraw troops from Georgia, while Russian soldiers prevented international aid convoys from visiting Georgian villages in a tense zone around the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Pres. Medvedev and Sarkozy revised the EU-brokered deal to end the fighting between Russia and Georgia. Medvedev said 200 EU monitors would deploy to regions surrounding South Ossetia and Abkhazia by next month. After that, Russian troops would pull out of those regions by Oct. 11 to a line that preceded last month's fighting
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2008        Sep 9
Russia said it will station 7,600 troops in South Ossetia and in Abkhazia, announcing an imposing long-term presence less than a day after agreeing to pull forces back from areas surrounding the provinces
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2008        Sep 10
A Georgian police officer was killed by gunfire that came from the direction of a Russian checkpoint near separatist South Ossetia
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2008        Sep 10
Israeli defense officials say the government has told all businessmen involved in military sales to Georgia to immediately cease visits to the former Soviet republic. The officials said the directive was decided upon this week because Israel is concerned about damage to its relations with Russia
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2008        Sep 13
Hundreds of Russian forces packed up and withdrew from positions in western Georgia. A Georgian official said Russia had met a deadline for a partial pullout a month after the war between the two former Soviet republics. A Georgian policeman at a post near Abkhazia was killed by gunfire that came from the direction of a position where Abkhazian and Russian forces have been based. Some 1,200 Russian servicemen still remained at 19 checkpoints and other positions, 12 outside South Ossetia and seven outside Abkhazia
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2008        Sep 16
Georgia’s government said intercepted mobile phone calls show that Russian tanks and troops invaded before Georgia unleashed its offensive against South Ossetia, pressing its claim that Russia was the aggressor in the war last month
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2008        Sep 17
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed friendship treaties with Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and promised them the backing of Russia's armed forces
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2008        Sep 22
Georgian forces shot down a Russian drone near the breakaway province of South Ossetia
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2008        Sep 29
In Georgia almost 300 monitors from 22 EU nations were in place to oversee Russia's promised troop withdrawal from the large swaths it has occupied since the August war
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2008        Oct 1
EU monitors began patrolling Georgian territory and Russian troops allowed some of them into a buffer zone around the breakaway region of South Ossetia despite earlier warnings from Moscow they would be blocked
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2008        Oct 3
A car exploded outside the Russian military's headquarters in South Ossetia, killing 7 people and wounding 3. The South Ossetian government said a car, that had been confiscated in an ethnic Georgian village after weapons were found in it, exploded near a building where leaders of the Russian peacekeeping force were located
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2008        Oct 5
A Georgian Interior Ministry official said Russian troops have begun dismantling positions in the so-called security zones inside Georgia that they have occupied since August's brief but intense war
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2008        Oct 8
Russian forces pulled back from positions outside South Ossetia, bulldozing a camp at a key checkpoint and withdrawing into the separatist region as EU monitors and relieved Georgian residents looked on
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2008        Oct 22
Officials said the EU, the US and other international donors have pledged more than $4.5 billion for rebuilding parts of Georgia that were damaged in its war with Russia
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2008        Oct 25
In Georgia an explosion killed Gia Mebonia, mayor of the small town of Mujhava, while he was inspecting a house damaged by overnight shelling near the separatist region of Abkhazia. A villager was also killed and a local police officer was seriously injured
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2008        Oct 27
Georgia's Pres. Saakashvili dismissed PM Vladimir Gurgenizde and recommended Grigol Mgaloblishvili (35), the country's ambassador to Turkey, as his replacement. Saakashvili said Gurgenizde would now head a government finance commission
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2008        Oct 29
Russia's parliament quickly ratified treaties cementing close economic and military ties with Georgia's two breakaway provinces
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2008        Nov 4
Human Rights Watch reported that both Georgia and Russia used cluster bombs during their brief summer war. Georgia’s bombs, purchased from Israel, killed at least 3 Georgian civilians, including 2 who touched unexploded bombs and died after the fighting ended. Many of the bombs were said to have malfunctioned
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2008        Nov 7
In Georgia thousands of the United Opposition coalition demonstrated in the first major protest against President Mikhail Saakashvili since the August war with Russia. At least two significant opposition parties, The Republican Party and the Christian Democrats, stayed away from the protest, citing the need for postwar unity against Russia
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2008        Nov 10
An explosion killed two Georgian police officers near the disputed region of South Ossetia. EU monitors called the attack an unacceptable breach of the cease-fire that ended the Georgia-Russia war
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2008        Nov 15
A Georgian policeman was shot dead by a group of armed Abkhazians. The group was said to have entered Georgian-controlled territory to plant land mines. Abkhazian presidential envoy Ruslan Kishmariya said police from the separatist side killed one and wounded two Georgian "saboteurs" in the tense Gali district
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2008        Nov 19
Georgia and Russia held their first major, mediated talks since their August war
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2008        Nov 20
Georgian officials said Russian and separatist forces attacked a Georgian police checkpoint near the village of Ganmukhuri, near the breakaway province of Abkhazia. Anatoly Zaitsev, the chief of staff for the Abkhaz armed forces, said that a group of Abkhaz troops patrolling the area were shelled from the Georgian side and returned fire, and no Russian troops were involved
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2008        Nov 23
In Georgia gunfire that broke out as Pres. Saakashvili and Polish Pres. Lech Kaczynski were traveling near a roadblock at the edge of Georgia-controlled territory. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said there was no gunfire from Russian or South Ossetian positions and suggested Georgia engineered the incident to discredit Russia and South Ossetia. In Tbilisi Nino Burjanadze, a former ally of Pres. Saakashvili, founded a new party: the Democratic Movement-United Georgia
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2008        Nov 29
Georgia said it is cutting diplomatic relations with Nicaragua after the Central American nation recognized the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia
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2008        Dec 13
Russian troops retook Perevi village near the breakaway region of South Ossetia just hours after withdrawing. The move drew criticism from Georgia, the EU and US Senator John Kerry, who was on a half-day visit to Tbilisi
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2008        Dec 22
OSCE talks on the Georgia collapsed, when Russia demanded the group join Moscow in recognizing the statehood of the provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The mission will expire on Dec 31
-------------------------

===============
20-2-2014
موت الرئيس السابق لجمهورية أوروغواي (رفاييل أدييغو برونو ) عن 90 عاماً

وهو من مواليد 23-2-1923
وكان رئيساً لجمهورية أوروغواي لمدة قصيرة في الفترة من 12-2-1985 إلي 1-3-1985

وكان قد سبقه الرئيس ( جريجوريو كونرادو ألباريس )
وجاء بعده الرئيس (خوليو ماريا سانجونيتي )
مرادفات:
جريجوريو كونرادو ألباريس = غريغوريو كونرادو ألباريس
---------------

2009 Jan 19
Russia released a text by President Dmitry Medvedev ordering the government to introduce economic sanctions against countries supplying weapons to Georgia.
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2009 Jan 30
, Georgia's PM Grigol Mgaloblishvili (35) resigned, citing health reasons after just three months on the job as President Mikhail Saakashvili's second-in-command.
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2009 Feb 18
Georgia and Russia agreed to let monitors visit anywhere they want in Georgia and its 2 breakaway provinces.
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2009 Mar 23
Georgian officials released videotapes allegedly showing opposition members buying weapons with the aim of sparking violence during demonstrations against the president planned for next month.
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2009 Mar 29
In Russia the film "Olympius Inferno," was first broadcast on state television. It offering the Kremlin's version of the August war with Georgia and contained anti-American overtones, reflecting Russia's anger over US support for Georgia.
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2009 Apr 9
In Georgia tens of thousands of protesters thronged the streets in front of the parliament, calling on Pres. Mikhail Saakashvili to step down in the largest opposition demonstration since last year's war with Russia.
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2009 Apr 10
About 20,000 demonstrators kept up the pressure on Georgia's president to resign, with some pelting his residence with cabbages and carrots on a second day of protests.
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2009 Apr 22
In Georgia thousands of opposition supporters from the provinces poured into the capital to join the protests aimed at forcing President Mikhail Saakashvili to step down.
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2009 Apr 30
Russia signed a deal with Georgia's two breakaway regions giving Moscow the power to guard the borders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a move sharply criticized in Tbilisi.
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2009 May 5
Georgia said it had ended a brief mutiny at a military base near the capital that broke out after the arrest of a former special forces commander accused of planning to disrupt NATO exercises.
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2009 May 6, NATO launched military exercises in former Soviet Georgia after heavy criticism from neighboring Russia and a brief mutiny in the Georgian military.
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2009 May 7
In Georgia opposition protesters clashed with police in Tbilisi in the first outbreak of violence since demonstrations began in April.
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2009 May 7
The European Union extended its hand to former Soviet republics, holding a summit to draw them closer into the EU orbit despite Russia's deep misgivings. Presidents, premiers and their deputies from 33 nations signed an agreement meant to extend the EU's political and economic ties. The six ex-Soviet republics to whom the partnership would apply are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
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2009 May 11
Georgia's pro-Western president and four of his fiercest opponents failed to agree on a way to resolve the country's political crisis, a negotiator said, promising continued street demonstrations to demand his resignation.
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2009 May 21
In Georgia police killed Giorgy Krialashvili, a former military officer accused of plotting mutiny, and wounded two others in an overnight gunbattle. Protesters condemned the shootings and blocked Tbilisi streets in the seventh week of an anti-government campaign.
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2009 Jun 15
Moscow vetoed a Western-proposed resolution to extend the mandate of UN monitors in the breakaway region of Abkhazia. It designed to buy time to negotiate a long-term plan for the 16-year-old monitoring mission in the Black Sea rebel region.
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2009 Jul 23
US Vice President Joe Biden pledged Washington's full support for Georgia a year after its war with Russia and urged Moscow to abide by a ceasefire pact and pull its troops back from two rebel regions.
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2009 Aug 1
Authorities in the separatist Georgian region of South Ossetia said two mortar shells were fired into the territory from Georgia proper. Georgia denied the claim and suggested it was a provocation ahead of the anniversary of last year's war with Russia.
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2009 Aug 8
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hailed the Russian victory in a war with Georgia a year ago, saying the war had redrawn the map of the Caucasus for good.
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2009 Aug 12
Russian PM Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to Abkhazia and said Russia will spend at least 15 billion rubles ($470 million) next year to build Russian military bases in Abkhazia and tighten the separatist Georgian region's borders.
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2009 Aug 31
A Georgian court sentenced a Turkish cargo ship captain to 24 years in prison for smuggling and border violations.
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2009 Sep 3
Russian’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko warned Georgia that attempts to block ships from reaching a Moscow-aligned separatist region of Georgia could end in military intervention.
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2009 Sep 10
In Russia Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez recognized the pro-Russian rebel regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states, a rare boost to the Kremlin's campaign for their international acceptance.
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2009 Sep 15
Russian news agencies said the country's coast guard warned that it will detain Georgian ships entering the territorial waters of Abkhazia. Viktor Turfanov, the head of the coastal division of the border guards service, said that Georgia this year has intercepted more than 20 ships in Abkhazian waters.
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2009 Sep 30
An EU-commissioned report said Georgia's attack on its breakaway South Ossetia region marked the start of last year's war with Russia, which retaliated with excessive force.
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2009 Nov 26
Georgia’s foreign minister said his country is very worried about the possible sale of French warships to Russia and intends to press the issue of security guarantees in France.
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2009 Dec 12
Abkhazia held elections. Preliminary results indicated that President Sergei Bagapsh defeated four other candidates. About 70% of the 130,000 registered voters took part in the vote. The province is also home to some 40,000 ethnic Georgians who are not eligible to vote because they don't hold Abkhazian passports. An estimated 200,000 ethnic Georgians fled Abkhazia in the 1990s.
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2009 Dec 15
The tiny Pacific island of Nauru recognized the rebel Black Sea region of Abkhazia, throwing its weight behind a Russian drive to win international recognition for Georgia's breakaway territories.
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2009 Dec 19
In Georgia a woman and her 8-year-old daughter were killed when a World War II memorial was intentionally blown up in Kutaisi. The 46-meter (150-foot) concrete and bronze war memorial stood on the proposed site for a new parliament building.
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2009 Dec 22
Hansjoerg Haber, EU monitoring mission chief, said Russia has failed to fully observe an EU-brokered peace deal that ended last year's war with Georgia. He said Russia has not met an obligation to withdraw its forces to positions held before the August 2008 conflict.
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2009 Dec 23
Georgia's Foreign Ministry reached a deal with Russia to open a border crossing that has been closed for three years. The two sides agreed during Swiss-brokered talks that the Verkhny Lars transit point will open in March.
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2010 Feb 12
The XXI Olympic Winter Games began in Vancouver, British Columbia, with the Olympics' first-ever indoor opening ceremony. Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died in a horrific crash on a training run, casting a shadow as Vancouver opened the Winter Olympic Games with a daredevil snowboarder, an aboriginal welcome, and Wayne Gretzky lighting the cauldron.
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2010 Feb 16
Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region said it would allow sponsor Russia to build a military base on its soil for land troops, strengthening the region's dependence on Moscow and provoking ire from Tbilisi..
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2010 Mar 1
Georgia and Russia reopened their only direct border crossing, more than three years after it was closed amid rising tension that erupted into war in 2008.
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2010 Mar 12
Georgian church leader Metropolitan Theodor said convicts would be able to build or maintain monasteries after clerics and prosecutors struck a deal allowing criminals convicted of minor crimes to serve their sentences in the monasteries.
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2010 Mar 13
In Georgia a hoax television broadcast said Russia had invaded and the president had been killed. It sparked wide anxiety in the country still traumatized by the August 2008 war in which Russian troops advanced deep into the country.
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2010 May 30
Voters in Georgia chose local leaders in the first ballot since President Mikhail Saakashvili led the country into a disastrous war with neighboring Russia nearly two years ago. Candidates from President Saakashvili's party dominated local elections, according to preliminary results.
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2010 Jun 25
Georgian police cordoned off the central square in Gori and at night toppled the a statue of former Russian dictator George Stalin.
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2010 Jun 27
Authorities in Georgia tore down another monument to Soviet dictator and native son Josef Stalin.
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2010 Jun 27
It was reported that Vienna residents have become victims of burglary in recent weeks. The Austrian interior ministry suspected that many of the burglers were from the Republic of Georgia and were supported by the Georgian Mafia. The alleged local head, a restaurant owner in Vienna, has been arrested. Police suspected the burglaries were part of plan to finance a coup against Geeorgian Pres. Saakashvili.
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2010 Jul 5
In Tbilisi, Georgia, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged US support for the former Soviet state.
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2010 Jul 19
In Russia the Khamovniki District Court in Moscow said in a statement it has convicted Tariel Oniani (58) on extortion and abduction charges. The native of Georgia had been convicted seven times and is wanted in Spain since 2005 on money laundering charges.
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2010 Aug 11
Russia said it has deployed high-precision air defense missiles in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, sending a defiant signal to Tblisi and the West two years after a war with Georgia.
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2010 Nov 5
Georgia's government announced the arrests of 13 people, including four Russian citizens, who are accused of spying for Russia's armed forces. The arrests, which took place in October, were announced on the day Russia's military intelligence agency celebrates its professional holiday, Day of the Military Intelligence Officer.
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2010 Dec 7
Georgia said it has arrested six people, all of them Georgian citizens, suspected of being agents for Russia and accused them of staging a series of explosions, including one outside the US Embassy in the capital.
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2010
Ronald Asmus authored “A Little War That Shook the World: Georgia, Russia and the Future of the West.” It covered the 2008 war in Georgia.
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2010
Thomas de Waal authored “The Caucasus: An Introduction.”
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2011 Apr 1
The United Nations' highest court threw out Georgia's complaint accusing Russia and separatist militias of years of ethnic cleansing in two breakaway Georgian provinces. The court said it had no jurisdiction in the case because Russia and Georgia had never attempted to negotiate a settlement to the dispute before Georgia brought it to the court.
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2011 May 25
In Georgia some 3,000 anti-government protesters demanded the resignation of Pres. Saakashvili and said they will try to block a May 26 military parade in the capital.
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2011 May 26
Georgian officials went ahead with an Independence Day military parade along the central avenue where two people were killed and almost 40 injured in the violent breakup of an anti-government protest hours earlier.
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2011 Jul 6
A Georgian court in the Black Sea port of Batumi convicted a Russian citizen and eight Georgians of espionage and gave them prison sentences ranging from 11 to 14 years.
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2011 Jul 7
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's personal photographer was arrested on suspicion of espionage, along with his wife and two other photographers.
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2011 Jul 9
In Georgia Irakli Gedenidze, Zurab Kurtsikidze and another photographer were charged with espionage. Natia Gedenidze was released without charge. Gedenidze, the personal photographer to the Georgian president, confessed to giving another photographer, Zurab Kurtsikidze, details of the president's itinerary, motorcade route and offices for unspecified remuneration.
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2011 Nov 13
Voters in Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia chose a new president for the first time since Georgia and Russia fought a brief war over control of the territory in 2008. South Ossetia has been led since 2001 by Eduard Kokoiti, who has served two terms as president and is now stepping down. Among those favored to succeed him is Anatoly Bibilov, who heads South Ossetia's emergencies services and has the support of Russia's dominant pro-Kremlin party. Anatoly Bibilov and former education minister Alla Dzhioyeva each won about 25 percent of the vote forcing a runoff in two weeks.
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2011 Dec 31
Georgia’s defense ministry said a Georgian soldier has been killed in Afghanistan, the 11th from the ex-Soviet state to die serving alongside NATO-led forces fighting the Taliban.
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2012 Feb 13
In India and Georgia assailants targeted Israeli diplomats in near-simultaneous strikes that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu blamed on archenemy Iran, and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah. The attacks wounded four people. A hitman on a rented motorbike attached a magnetic bomb to the back of an Israeli embassy car carrying the 42-year-old diplomat as she went to pick up her children from school in New Delhi. The woman, also the wife of the defense attache at the embassy, was left in a critical condition with spinal injuries and was flown to Israel for further treatment. 3 men of Iranian origin were later identified as suspects.
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2012 May 26
Georgia’s Pres. Mikhail Saakashvili inaugurated the country’s new Parliament building in Kutaisi.
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2012 May 27
In Georgia tens of thousands of people thronged the streets of Tbilisi to show their opposition to President Mikhail Saakashvili, in the largest anti-government demonstration in three years. It was organized by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire businessman who is Georgia's richest man and leading philanthropist.
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2012 Jun 30
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili named veteran Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili as the new prime minister ahead of an October parliamentary election. Under constitutional changes approved in 2010, the prime minister will gain additional powers to rival those of the president.
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2012 Aug 29
At least 3 Georgian commandos and 11 militants from Dagestan were killed during an operation to free hostages held along Georgia's border with Russia.
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2012 Sep 20
In Georgia street protests against the brutal abuse of prisoners escalated in Tbilisi, fueling anger against the Western-allied government and possibly boosting support for the opposition before a tight parliamentary election.
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2012 Sep 29
In Georgia an estimated 100,000 opposition supporters rallied in the capital in a show of strength days before a parliamentary election that presents the toughest challenge to the future of President Mikhail Saakashvili's government since he took office in 2004.
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2012 Oct 1
Georgia held parliamentary elections. The Georgian Dream party led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili edged out the United National Movement of Pres. Saakashvili.
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2012 Oct 2
Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili, a staunch ally of the West, acknowledged defeat in parliamentary elections and called on Bidzina Ivanishvili to form a new government. That puts the tycoon on track to be prime minister, which will be Georgia's most powerful job under constructional changes next year.
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2012 Nov 22
Georgia's new PM Bidzina Ivanishvili said he would move quickly to expand the Cabinet's powers, a change that would take away even more influence from the ex-Soviet nation's beleaguered pro-Western president.
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2012 Dec 18
In Afghanistan a coalition soldier went missing. Afghan police found the body and turned it over to NATO forces on Dec 29. He was one of 1,560 troops serving from the former Soviet republic of Georgia. 18 Georgian soldiers have been killed since the country joined the international military operations in Afghanistan in August 2009.
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2012
Donald Rayfield authored “Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia.”
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2013 Jan 10
Georgia opposition groups and NGOs announced that more than 1 million of Georgia's 4.6 million citizens have signed a petition calling for the resignation of Pres. Mikhail Saakashvili.
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2013 Jan 13
In Georgia 190 people considered political prisoners by the new parliament walked free under an amnesty strongly opposed by Pres. Mikhail Saakashvili. More than 3,000 other prisoners who had their sentences reduced under the amnesty will be freed in the next two months.
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2013 Jan 20
In Georgia more than 1,000 people protested outside of the president's residence in Tbilisi to demand that he immediately resign and hand over executive power to the speaker of parliament.
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2013 Apr 19
In Georgia some 10,000 supporters of embattled pro-Western President Mikhail Saakashvili gathered for a rally testing their strength ahead of October's presidential vote.
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2013 Jun 6
The Afghan governor of Kunar province alleged that an overnight NATO airstrike killed 3 civilians and wounded seven there, a claim the US-led coalition flatly denied. A civilian was killed when a bomb exploded inside a restaurant in the northern city of Sari Pul. Another 13 people were wounded. In western Farah province insurgents gunned down two tribal elders as they drove into the provincial capital. A suicide attacker drove a truck into the entrance of a camp in Helmand province in Now-e-Zad district and detonated it. 7 Georgian soldiers were killed.
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2013 Jun 12
Georgia said that it has closed two of its bases in Afghanistan after 10 of its soldiers were killed by militant attacks within the last four weeks. It will not reduce the number of troops serving there.
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2013 Jul 3
In Georgia a Turk and a Moldovan were detained after crossing the border from Armenia in a truck with tens of millions of dollars worth of heroin hidden in a secret compartment.
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2013 Jul 30
Georgia's culture ministry said it will restore a towering monument to Soviet dictator and native son Josef Stalin that was taken down three years ago. The restoration is part of a rollback of Pres. Saakashvili's legacy after his party lost a parliamentary vote last fall to a coalition headed by a Russia-friendly billionaire.
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2013 Oct 14
French authorities detained Davit Kezerashvili, a former Georgian defence minister, wanted in his homeland on corruption charges. Kezerashvili, who also headed the financial police, was charged in January with taking a bribe of $12 million (nine million euros) to facilitate alcohol smuggling in the ex-Soviet nation.

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2013 Oct 27
Georgia voted for a new president in an election that will bring the curtain down on Mikheil Saakashvili's decade-long rule but is unlikely to end political uncertainty in the former Soviet republic. Former university rector Giorgi Margvelashvili won 62% of the vote.
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2013 Oct 28
A Georgian court convicted former defense minister Bacho Akhalaia and ordered him sent to prison, in another blow for outgoing President Mikhail Saakashvili the day after a presidential election that was won by his rival.
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2013 Nov 2
Georgia's PM Bidzina Ivanishvili named Interior Minister Irakly Garibashvili (31) as his successor. Under changes to the constitution that will this month transfer many of the president's responsibilities to the prime minister, Garibashvili will become the country's most powerful politician.
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2013 Nov 17
Georgia inaugurated philosopher and former university rector Giorgi Margvelashvili (44) as the new president. He pledged to strengthen ties with the West and maintain its commitment to NATO.
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2013 Nov 29
Georgia and Moldova signed important agreements on political cooperation, reform and free trade with the EU at the summit of EU leaders in Vilnius.
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2013 Dec 21
The mayor of Georgia's capital Tbilisi was suspended from office after he was charged with misspending public funds in a case he and his opposition colleagues said was a witch-hunt against supporters of former president Mikheil Saakashvili.
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