International workshops in Armenia discussed 20th-century ethnopolitical processes in the South Caucasus and their impact on today’s developments #Armenia #SouthCaucasus #Workshops #Research #Politics pic.x.com/45BqdmcfMX
— Արարատի Ձայն (@Voice1ofArarat) Apr 22, 2026
Day: April 22, 2026
The State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) arrested a Georgian citizen on alleged “espionage” for a foreign intelligence service, without specifying the country, and said Interpol red notices will be sought for two more Georgians facing similar charges.
Speaking at an April 22 briefing, first deputy head of the SSSG, Lasha Maghradze, said the detained individual will be charged under Article 314 of Georgia’s Criminal Code, which carries a sentence of eight to twelve years in prison. He added that the same charge will be brought in absentia against two other suspects, who are currently not in Georgia.
Maghradze said the agency’s counterintelligence operations revealed that “the detained person was recruited by a foreign country’s special service and was assigned a pseudonym.” He did not name the country allegedly involved.
“An officer of a foreign intelligence service instructed the Georgian citizen, in exchange for a certain sum of money, to collect various types of information against Georgia’s interests for the purpose of passing it to the foreign special service,” Maghradze said.
According to him, the investigation found that the detainee had been tasked with gathering information on Georgian law enforcement agencies, including the State Security Service, the Interior Ministry, and the Defense Ministry, “regarding the locations of their deployments, forces, and assets, as well as photo and video documentation of their facilities.”
He added that the suspect was also instructed to collect information on the locations of “strategic infrastructure” across Georgia, “including bridges, roads, railways and other designated facilities, as well as photo and video documentation of said locations, and other matters.”
Maghradze further said the two other Georgian citizens had been identified for a “similar crime,” saying that they were “recruited by the same foreign country’s special service employees and, in accordance with the assignments they received, were collecting information of various kinds to the detriment of Georgia’s interests and transmitting it to representatives of a foreign country’s special service.”
He added that “relevant operational and investigative measures had been carried out over a long period.”
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One year ago today, on April 22, 2025, gunmen opened fire on tourists in the scenic Pahalgam valley of Indian-administered Jammu & Kashmir, killing dozens of civilians in one of the deadliest attacks the region had witnessed in years. Within hours, before any investigation had commenced, the Indian state machinery; its media anchors, its intelligence briefers, its cabinet ministers had already written the verdict: Pakistan was responsible. We would rather avoid discussing Indian obsession with Pakistan.
Georgia’s population nears four million
Georgia’s population exceeded 3.9 million (3,929,581) as of November 2024, according to census data from the National Statistics Office.
The revised figures show that women make up 52% of the population, while men account for 48%. The gender gap is particularly noticeable in major cities: in Tbilisi and Kutaisi the share of women is higher, while in some municipalities the ratio is nearly equal.
The population remains concentrated in the capital, with about a third of the country’s residents living in Tbilisi. Among the regions, Imereti and Kvemo Kartli have the largest populations.
Overall, 62% of the population lives in urban areas, compared with 38% in rural areas, indicating a continued trend towards urbanisation in Georgia.
Outside the capital, a high share of the urban population is also recorded in the south-west, in Adjara, largely driven by the growth of the resort city of Batumi. By contrast, in mountainous and less urbanised regions, the proportion of urban residents is significantly lower.
The age structure shows that the largest segment of the population is of working age, with those aged between 30 and 40 particularly prominent. At the same time, the gender gap widens with age: in the oldest groups, women significantly outnumber men.
The share of women is especially high among those aged 85 and over, where the number of women is 2.6 times greater than that of men.
Georgia’s population nears four million