Month: April 2026

Ahead of the holiday season, Russian tour operator Biblio-Globus sharply cut accommodation prices at major hotels and resorts it leases in Abkhazia. In effect, it has launched price dumping that could drive local hotel owners out of business.

Local dumplings or foreign tourists? Small business in Abkhazia

Small business in Abkhazia is highly sensitive to any developments — from tensions in Russian-Abkhaz relations to gossip on social media

Social media is full of videos showing people can holiday for next to nothing in respectable seaside hotels in Abkhazia, with three meals included. Room rates range from 180 to 400 roubles, or roughly $2 to $5.

The videos describe the deals in glowing terms.

“A clean, cosy room for two with a sea view, just steps from the shore. Decent breakfast, lunch and dinner. And all of it costs 360 roubles ($4.81) a day for two. It feels like winning the lottery,” one Russian tourist says.

Local owners of small hotels and guesthouses, as well as people renting out summer apartments, have little reason to celebrate. They say such heavy undercutting could leave them without income.

Biblio-Globus has done this before. Last year, it kept what critics called absurdly low holiday prices at Abkhaz hotels until July. Other accommodation stood virtually empty as a result, while owners suffered heavy losses. Many said the Russian tour operator had effectively driven them to the brink of bankruptcy.

“Bad season”: Why are Abkhazia’s hotel owners losing money – and what’s Russia’s role?

The main antagonist in this tourism drama is the Russian tour operator Biblio-Globus

“The tourist season in Abkhazia runs from May to October. People live on what they earn in those months through the rest of the year. Because of last year’s dumping, local hotel owners effectively lost two months. Many ended up in debt instead of making a profit.

If you look at how many small hotels are being advertised for sale on social media, you can at least begin to grasp the scale of the crisis in the local tourism industry,” says guesthouse owner Elvira.

Last year, the dumping issue became so serious that the parliament of Abkhazia held a separate session on it. But it took no effective action.

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Hotel prices in Abkhazia

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With the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the “Hungarian Rhapsody Project” is carrying out filming in Azerbaijan, AzerNEWS reports.

Construction of a new high-voltage overhead power line in Azerbaijan under the AZURE project is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2026 and be completed by the fourth quarter of 2027, AzerNEWS reports.

Georgia’s Foreign Ministry, officials of the ruling Georgian Dream party, and pro-government media have been insisting that Germany update the country’s profile on the website of the Federal Foreign Office by reflecting incumbent government representatives “in accordance with the changes resulting from” the October 2024 parliamentary elections and the subsequent vote for president.

In particular, the call is to remove the listing of Salome Zurabishvili as president and of Ilia Darchiashvili as foreign minister and replace them with Mikheil Kavelashvili and Maka Botchorishvili, respectively. Both Botchorishvili’s appointment as a foreign minister and Kavelashvili’s election by the Georgian Dream-dominated college to succeed Zurabishvili took place after the disputed 2024 parliamentary vote and amid the GD-led government’s struggle to gain domestic and international legitimacy.

The first such request was reportedly verbally communicated on March 4, 2026, and the second, a written note, on April 9, according to documents published by the pro-government Imedi TV channel. In the written note dated April 9, the MFA said it “once again reminds the German Federal Foreign Office that on December 29, 2024, Mr. Mikheil Kavelashvili was elected by the Parliament of Georgia as President of Georgia, and that since December 1, 2024, Ms. Maka Botchorishvili has held the post of Foreign Minister,” asking the ministry to reflect the changes on its website. Pro-government journalists have mentioned “another note” by the end of April, as it remains unclear how many communications have been sent already.

As of April 2025, the German Foreign Office’s website still lists Ilia Darchiashvili as foreign minister, who was replaced by Maka Botchorishvili, and Salome Zurabishvili as president of Georgia, who was succeeded by Mikheil Kavelashvili.

For several weeks, officials and pro-government media have been actively commenting on the issue, criticizing Berlin for what they say cannot be dismissed as just a “technical error.”

“It can be said that the German Foreign Ministry has shattered the myth of German precision,” Georgian Dream Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili said on air on pro-government Rustavi 2 on April 15, adding, “Of course, we cannot be so naïve as to believe that for two years now employees of the German Foreign Ministry have been unable to correct a technical error. We cannot accept this as a technical error. It is not very difficult to correct two names. It is about the will that the German side must express to simply place correct information on its website.”

“The German administration is putting itself in a comical position when it does not even want to change formal information about the president on its website,” Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told journalists on April 28. “This does not even require criticism. It is simply comical, what we are seeing,” he added.

Relations between Georgia and Germany remain strained, marked by repeated accusations from Georgian Dream officials against German Ambassador Peter Fischer over what they describe as his interference in Georgia’s internal affairs and violations of the Vienna Convention.

Also Read:

• 17/01/2026 – Pro-GD Media Claim German Ambassador Pushed ‘Iranian Scenario’ in ‘Secret’ Meeting with Youth
• 06/11/2025 – German Ambassador Returns to Tbilisi After ‘Consultations in Berlin’

During the consultations, the parties reviewed the current state of cooperation in consular affairs between Azerbaijan and Serbia, as well as prospects for its further development.

United Kingdom’s King Charles III said that Americans “would be speaking French” if not for Britain’s role in history, responding to an earlier remark by United States President Donald Trump about Europe, AzerNEWS reports.