Georgia said on Tuesday a Russian-planned plot had been uncovered within the military of the former Soviet republic and a rebellion was under way.
Georgia’s opposition said dozens of supporters had been detained overnight ahead of mass rallies against President Mikheil Saakashvili on Thursday.
The Georgian-Russian conflict, which began on August 7, has dealt a devastating blow to the country’s fledgling tourist industry.
What began as a skirmish has become a tragedy of global importance.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a peace deal with Georgia on Saturday but his troops pushed even deeper toward the capital, Tbilisi.
Georgia said on Tuesday that Russian attacks on the country continued as 100 000 people gathered at a rally in central Tbilisi.
A Russian envoy called on Nato to hold an extraordinary Russia-Nato council on Tuesday to discuss the dire situation in Georgia.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili accused Moscow of trying to overthrow his government on Monday as troops pushed into two separatist regions.
Georgia and South Ossetian separatists reported a heavy battle involving artillery on Thursday in the breakaway region.
The United Nations said on Monday that a Russian air force plane shot down an unmanned Georgian spy drone over Abkhazia last month, strengthening Tbilisi’s claims that Moscow is aiding the rebel territory.The UN report was the weightiest independent endorsement to date of Tbilisi’s allegation that a Russian jet downed its spy plane on April 20.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili declared victory on Thursday in a parliamentary election that the opposition said was rigged in his favour and vowed to challenge by calling street protests. Saakashvili said Wednesday’s vote was fair, but the rigging allegations and the threat of protests will test his claim to lead the most democratic state in the region.
The alleged downing by a Russian MiG-29 of a Georgian reconnaissance drone could be a foretaste of battles to come as Georgia seeks Nato membership and protection from the West, analysts say. The dramatic confrontation in the skies over Abkhazia pitted one of the most modern Russian fighter planes against the unmanned aircraft.
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/ 13 February 2008
Wealthy Georgian businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili, who led and financed a big opposition campaign against President Mikhail Saakashvili, has died in London, one of his aides said on Wednesday. A report on Georgian public television said the businessman had died of a heart attack.
Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili was on Monday celebrating Orthodox Christmas and victory in a presidential election his opponents called rigged. The central election commission said late on Sunday Saakaashvili had won 52,8% of votes cast on Saturday, almost twice as many as his nearest challenger
Georgia’s opposition called for its supporters to take to the streets on Sunday after a disputed exit poll showed incumbent Mikheil Saakashvili winning in the first round of a snap presidential vote. Saakashvili predicted victory, saying in a statement that independent exit polls "show that we are winning in the first round".
Georgians began voting on Saturday in a snap presidential election called by fiery pro-Western reformer Mikheil Saakashvili to face down unrest and restore his democratic credentials. The election, where Saakashvili faces six challengers, opened under thick snow in the strategic ex-Soviet republic’s ancient capital, Tbilisi.
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/ 8 November 2007
Troops were deployed in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, on Thursday and news programmes taken off air as international concern grew over President Mikheil Saakashvili’s imposition of emergency rule. The Nato military alliance, France and Human Rights Watch added their condemnation.
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/ 7 November 2007
Georgian police firing rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons fought running battles with anti-government protesters on Wednesday, plunging the ex-Soviet republic’s capital, Tbilisi, into chaos. All day hundreds of riot police in black body armour clashed with demonstrators demanding the resignation of President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Authorities in ex-Soviet Georgia have turned to a new weapon in their struggle against rebel separatists in the breakaway region of South Ossetia: disco. Officials have announced that disco legends Boney M, known for such 1970s hits as <i>Rasputin</i> and <i>Daddy Cool</i>, will play a concert on Saturday in the tiny, Georgian-controlled village of Tamarasheni.
Ex-Soviet Georgia said on Tuesday that two Russian fighter jets had violated its airspace and dropped a 700kg bomb, but this had not exploded. Shota Utiashvili, the head of the interior ministry’s public relations department, said that the bomb was dropped on the village of Tsitelubani, about 65km north-west of Tbilisi.
Georgia on Monday handed over to international mediators four Russian army officers whose arrest on spying charges triggered the worst crisis in years between the ex-Soviet neighbours. As the handover was going ahead, Moscow ignored international appeals for a similar goodwill gesture and announced it would cut air, sea and land links between the two countries.
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/ 29 September 2006
Russia began pulling out some of its diplomats and their families from Georgia on Friday as the small ex-Soviet state pressed spying charges against a group of Russian army officers. Nato, which pro-Western Georgia wants to join to the dismay of Russia, urged both sides to show restraint but said it had no clear role to play in helping defuse the row.
A young Georgian wrestler late on Thursday pulled two Ford minibuses tied to his ear and weighing 4,5 tonnes over a distance of 41m and 10cm, in an attempt to make a new entry into the Guinness Book of World Records. The two minibuses were chained together and linked to a nylon rope attached to Lasha Pataraia’s left ear.
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/ 27 January 2006
Georgia announced on Friday a deal with Iran to provide natural gas from the start of next week, offering hope of relief following a severe disruption to energy supplies as a result of a mysterious attack on the main pipeline from neighbouring Russia. President Mikheil Saakashvili hailed the deal struck in Tehran.
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/ 1 November 2005
A man who admitted throwing a live grenade toward United States President George Bush during a rally in Georgia acted alone and had no links to foreign nations. 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, said Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili.
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/ 15 September 2005
City officials in the capital of ex-Soviet Georgia voted to rename a street after United States President George Bush, an official statement released on Thursday said. The decision to rename the rundown residential street was taken at a council meeting on Wednesday.
An electricity blackout left much of Georgia in darkness on Friday, stranding thousands of people in subway cars and cutting off water supplies in the capital of one of the world’s poorest countries. A break in high-tension wires cut off power at 1.30pm local time.
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/ 29 December 2003
Unidentified assailants on Monday shelled the studios of a top independent television station, damaging the building but hurting no one as the ex-Soviet republic is preparing for parliamentary elections. The offices of the Rustavi-2 station were shelled from a grenade launcher shortly before dawn on Monday.
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/ 28 November 2003
Georgia’s opposition has pledged to put up a single presidential candidate for the forthcoming elections after the resignation of Eduard Shevardnadze in an attempt to shore up popular support for the difficult programme of reform ahead. Opposition leader Mikhail Saakashvili said the candidate would be selected before the end of the week.
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/ 24 November 2003
Georgia’s crumbling economy, which sparked the unrest that forced President Eduard Shevardnadze to resign, now lands in the lap of its new leaders and could decide whether they manage to stay in power. About 54% of Georgia’s population live below the poverty line, but the country sports dozens of billionaire businessmen.
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/ 24 November 2003
Georgia’s veteran President Eduard Shevardnadze resigned on Sunday to scenes of wild jubilation in the streets of Tbilisi, as the man who helped end the Cold War was forced to step down after weeks of angry protests. He handed over power to former Parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze in a dramatic climax to mounting popular unrest.
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/ 23 November 2003
Georgia’s army has not been given any orders to use force against the opposition, the country’s defence minister said on Sunday. He spoke a day after opposition protesters stormed the Georgian Parliament, forcing embattled President Eduard Shevardnadze to flee and sending the former Soviet republic to the brink of chaos.