Day: August 29, 2025
The banking sector of Azerbaijan has maintained stable expansion in the first five months of the year, reflecting resilience in both assets and lending activities. The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) has released fresh figures, highlighting positive trends in the sector’s balance sheet, Azernews reports.
On August 27, Georgian Dream Economy Minister Mariam Kvirivishvili met with U.S. Envoy Alan Purcell. Purcell is the chargé d’affaires who has served as acting U.S. ambassador in Georgia since Robin Dunnigan retired from diplomatic service and left the country in July.
“Charge Purcell met with Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Kvrivishvili on Wednesday to discuss the economic ties between our countries and the investment climate in Georgia for American companies,” the U.S. Embassy said in a brief statement, without providing further details.
The Ministry of Economy of Georgia shared more details about the meeting in its press release.
According to the Ministry, the sides at the meeting discussed “priority areas in Georgia-U.S. relations.”
“The attention was drawn to the importance of the bilateral strategic partnership,” the ministry said. “It was noted that the Georgian side is interested in resetting relations with the United States and restoring strategic cooperation,” the ministry added.
The United States suspended its strategic partnership with Georgia on November 30, 2024, after Georgian Dream abandoned EU integration efforts and responded to protests with brutal force.
“The minister highlighted the importance of President Trump’s peace initiatives, including the peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which has created new opportunities for development in the South Caucasus,” the press release said, adding Kvirivishvili’s note that “the achieved result is important for maintaining peace and security in the region, which is the Georgian government’s policy priority.”
According to the Economy Ministry, the sides discussed a “wide spectrum of economic cooperation,” including trade, investment, and transport.
“From both sides, attention was drawn to the importance of developing the Middle Corridor,” the press release said, adding that Georgia’s role as a “key player in regional transport projects” was emphasized.
“It was also noted that trade turnover between the countries is growing, reaching USD 1.6 billion in the January–July period.”
U.S.-Georgia Relations
Georgian Dream officials continue to lament what they call “absolute silence” from Washington. A day after the meeting, GD representatives commented on Russian media claims that former USAID chief Samantha Power had “admitted” financing efforts to support Moldova’s pro-Western government.
GD MP Levan Machavariani said the ruling party was “surprised by the silence of the U.S. administration toward Georgia … when we agree on absolutely everything, when in this and other areas we were, and remain, Mr. Trump’s supporters.” Machavariani and fellow MP Gia Volski also linked the USAID claims to an ongoing probe into Georgian NGOs.
With U.S.-Georgia relations at a low point, Tbilisi has declared its intention to reset ties with Washington “from a clear slate” and resume the strategic partnership “with a specific roadmap.”
In May, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers the Trump administration was reviewing relations with Georgia, saying the U.S. would consider whether it is “in our national interest to have an anti-American government governing an important part of the world.”
The U.S. MEGOBARI Act, which passed the House of Representatives in May with strong bipartisan support and awaits Senate consideration, envisions wider sanctions on Georgian Dream officials in response to Georgia’s deteriorating democratic situation and what it says is the ruling party’s rapprochement with Russia, China, and Iran.
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- 16/06/2025 – GD Foreign Minister Meets State Department’s Senior Advisor
- 15/05/2025 – Kobakhidze Describes Current US-Georgia Relations as “Active-Negative”
- 26/04/2025 – Davitashvili Visits United States, Participates in World Bank, IMF Spring Meetings
In today’s rapidly shifting global energy landscape, one of the most significant success stories is being written by the deep-rooted partnership between Türkiye and Azerbaijan. The STAR Refinery, an investment of Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company (SOCAR) in Türkiye, stands as a shining example of how brotherhood and strategic vision can turn into tangible economic strength. Recent figures reveal that during the first six months of 2025, STAR produced nearly 838,224 tons of jet fuel, marking a remarkable 54.8 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
The pro–Georgian Dream TV channel Imedi reported on transactions of civil society organizations whose bank accounts were recently frozen in a “sabotage” probe, portraying as a scandal what appeared to be modest purchases of protective equipment, such as medical masks, goggles, and first aid items, during the November–December 2024 protests.
For example, Imedi said Georgia’s Democratic Initiative, one of the affected CSOs, spent GEL 3,200 (about USD 1,200) on goggles, raincoats, and masks, while the Social Justice Center’s spending “exceeded GEL 2,000” (about USD 750) on goggles, first-aid items, and pepper spray.
It added that the Civil Society Foundation paid “more than GEL 1,200” (about USD 450) for gear, and Democracy Defenders spent “about GEL 500” on medical masks. “The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, too, buys facemasks,” the journalist said in the report, which presented procurement documents Imedi claimed to have “exclusively obtained.”
In a separate report, TV Imedi also reported 18 respirators and 20 goggles purchased for more than GEL 1,200 (USD 450) by the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) in May 2024, during the spring protests against the reintroduction of the Foreign Agents Law. The report aired what looked like purchase documents, and noted that the CSO head, Levan Natroshvili, “had to confirm” and admit the purchase following the account freeze.
Imedi said the mentioned reports are “part of the evidence” in the prosecution’s case files of the ongoing “sabotage” probe, under which the Prosecutor’s Office said on August 27 it requested to freeze bank accounts of seven CSOs, claiming their funds were used to equip protesters “who committed violent acts against law enforcement” during rallies.
The Office cited spending on items such as special gas helmets, protective goggles, medical masks, face-covering masks, and pepper spray. The prosecutors further pointed out that the organizational expenses were used on “financial patronage” of those ” involved in violent acts” and their family members, including by “paying fines, covering legal defense costs, and addressing other personal and organizational matters.”
The investigation is proceeding under several criminal charges, including “sabotage, attempted sabotage under aggravated circumstances, assisting a foreign organization or an organization under foreign influence in hostile activities, and financing actions against Georgia’s constitutional order and national security.” The charges carry harsh penalties ranging from seven years to life in prison.
“They are trumping up a sabotage case and couldn’t find anything except ethanol and bandages, because there isn’t any,” Lina Ghbinianidze, ex-head of the Social Justice Center, commented on Facebook on Imedi’s piece. “That ethanol and bandage, too, are needed to work in the field, and that’s called protecting the work safety of employees, not sabotage.”
“So, according to you, I had to ‘admit’ to buying 18 respirators and 20 goggles?” Levan Natroshvili of ISFED said in a Facebook post in reaction to TV Imedi’s report. “What is there to admit? Is that a crime, and must I be punished with life in prison?”
It appears to be the “sabotage” probe launched in February following a request by United Neutral Georgia, a hardline group aligned with Georgian Dream. In March, authorities froze solidarity funds that had supported protesters by covering fines for road blockages, and in April, investigators searched the homes of several fund managers. Ex-Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia is also facing an investigation under possibly the same “sabotage” probe over his 2019 decision to erect a checkpoint near the Tskhinvali occupational line.
The freezing of CSOs’ bank accounts follows separate inspection requests by the Anti-Corruption Bureau in August targeting several of the groups under Georgian Dream’s Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), and another series of inspections against largely the same groups under three different laws in June.
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