Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili replaced Defence Minister David Sikharulidze with his 28-year-old deputy Bacho Akhalaia, blaming unsatisfactory results from Sikharulidze, tasked with rebuilding the former Soviet republic's armed forces.
In this edition: One year after the war between Russia and Georgia, Saakashvili is still ruling the country; an ongoing border dispute between Slovenia and Croatia; London's famous black cabs are looking like an endangered species.
South Ossetia commemorated the Russia-Georgia war with a candle-light vigil on empty artillery shells in Tskhinvali. The rebel province also opened a war museum on Saturday to mark the conflict's first anniversary.
Exactly a year after a devastating conflict between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway province of South Ossetia, tensions have flared between the two neighbours, with each accusing the other of warmongering.
Georgia has dismissed Russian claims that it is rearming, a year after its offensive in the breakaway region of South Ossetia. But tensions along the border with the separatist enclave remain high on the eve of the anniversary of the August 2008 war.
Tensions have flared on the eve of the first anniversary of Russia’s war with Georgia. In an interview with FRANCE 24, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili says Moscow’s mission to unseat him is not over.
Ahead of the first anniversary of the 2008 Georgian-Russian conflict, tensions are again running high. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili tells FRANCE 24 that Russia has not finished its mission in Georgia.
Georgian police used their truncheons to disperse a group of about 50 protestors in central Tsibili, according to a Reuters photographer, breaking up a demonstration demanding the release of several opposition activists detained last week.
Thousands of anti-government protesters have temporarily blocked Tbilisi's railway station and are planning further action at key highways and the Georgian capital's airport to demand President Mikheil Saakashvili's resignation.
