Georgian Dream passes laws to curb protests, ban individuals from politics

The laws were fast-tracked and passed unanimously in a parliament fully controlled by the ruling party.

Mikheil Gvadzabia

• 16 October 2025 • 4 min read

Azerbaijan

Russia revokes citizenship of Azerbaijani diaspora head in Ulyanovsk

Bishop Mkrtish Proshyan. Image via Wikimedia

Armenian Apostolic Church

Another Armenian bishop charged amid deepening church–state confrontation

Spayka lorries on the road in Russia. Official photo for illustrative purposes via Spayka.

Armenia

Armenian lorry drivers protest tightening Russian restrictions

Georgia

Council of Europe’s Venice Commission recommends repeal of several restrictive Georgian laws

Georgia

Georgia’s SSG concedes that Imedi outage was technical malfunction, not sabotage

Previously, the Georgian State Security Service (SSG) had suspected the pro-government channel’s 45-minute outage was due to sabotage.

Oct 16, 2025 11:57 AM

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan a ‘top contender’ for stabilisation force in Gaza

Other contenders reportedly include Indonesia and Pakistan.

Oct 16, 2025 11:45 AM

Georgia

Finnish Foreign Minister fined $1,800 for ‘blocking the road’ after visiting Tbilisi protest

Finnish Foreign Minister and OSCE Head Elina Valtonen’s appearance at the Tbilisi protest drew the ruling party’s ire.

Oct 16, 2025 10:10 AM

Podcasts

Podcasts

Podcast | Can OC Media survive in a new global reality?

OC Media’s Robin Fabbro, Dominik Cagara, and Mariam Nikuradze talk about OC Media’s plans to survive and thrive in the new global reality.

Listen & subscribe wherever you get your podcasts

In Focus

A participant of the 4 October rally waving the Georgian flag in central Tbilisi. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Georgia’s EU U-turn

Between frustration and persistence, the Georgian protest movement reflects on 4 October

by Mikheil Gvadzabia

•15 min read

After the unfulfilled ‘peaceful revolution’ of 4 October, Georgia’s anti-government movement continues amidst debate, repression, and uncertainty.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on 9 October 2025. Official photo.

Azerbaijan–Russia Relations

Explainer | Have Russia and Azerbaijan buried the hatchet?

by Nate Ostiller

•7 min read

Azerbaijan and Russia have been at odds since the deadly Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in December 2024, which Baku has blamed on Russian air-defence missiles.

Georgia

Dancing fabrics and contested poetry: inside Georgia’s resilient animation scene

by James Lewis

•8 min read

Georgian artists continue to demonstrate the medium’s capacity to spread joy, even amidst difficult political circumstances.

Reviews

Review | Tonratun — A dispatch from a communal Armenian bakery

by Lily Samarine

•4 min read

Armenian director Inna Mkhitaran’s debut documentary opens up the private, feminine world of the village bakery.

Reviews

Review | My Grandmother — portraying the well-choreographed chaos of Soviet bureaucracy

by Tamar Agatha Kapanadze

•2 min read

Kote Mikaberidze’s 1929 slapstick satire My Grandmother is a brilliant piece of Soviet Georgian cinema still relevant today.ag

A rendering of the Anakli Deep-Sea Port project. Official photo.

Anaklia Port

Can China revive Georgia’s long-stalled Anaklia Port, and at what cost?

by Helena Bedwell

•7 min read

While new Chinese funding has appeared to reinvigorate the long-stalled and controversial deep-sea port in Anaklia, scepticism remains.

Nani Tsulaia and Marizi Kobakhidze distributing newspapers in Tbilisi’s Eliava market on 25 July. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Georgia

In Photos | ‘Letters to the citizens of Georgia’: the newspapers delivered by the mothers of the jailed

by Mariam Nikuradze

•14 min read

The mothers of Georgians arrested during the protests have been travelling across the country to share letters from their imprisoned children.

Our Newsletters

OC Insider

As Azerbaijan and Russia apparently make up, have we learned anything?

16 October 2025

Nate Ostiller

Culture Dispatch

Tracking the rise of authoritarianism in Georgia

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Women‘s Rights

Interview | Erasing ‘gender’: How Georgia’s new draconian laws affect women’s rights

As Georgia continues to backslide on its commitments to both the EU and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — particularly SDG5 on gender equality — Tamar Dekanosidze discusses the chilling effects of newly enacted legislation, from the controversial foreign agent law to the erasure of the word ‘gender’ from national law.

London Georgian Film Festival

The 9th London Georgian Film Festival: Vision and diversity amidst political hostility

Ambassadori Island Batumi commissions 26-hectare land

Georgia’s largest investor in insurance, Vienna Insurance Group, celebrates 200th Anniversary

What awaits audiences at the WINECAST Film and Wine International Festival

Opinion

Azerbaijan

Opinion | The state’s punitive reflex won’t save Azerbaijani women from femicide and abuse

by Gulnara Mehdiyeva

•6 min read

Harsher sentences for the killers of women won’t bring them back to life — but more proactive prevention might save them.

Riot police guard the presidential palace in Tbilisi after protesters brought part of the fence down. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Georgia

Opinion | 4 October: an unsuccessful uprising or a trap for Georgian democracy?

by Eduard Marikashvili

•5 min read

Whatever the truth of the 4 October events, they have given Georgian Dream the perfect pretext to finish its repressive crackdown.

Illustrative image of a journalist in prison.

Abzas Media

Opinion | By imprisoning Abzas Media, Azerbaijan has turned its prisons into newsrooms

by Gulnara Mehdiyeva

•6 min read

A new form of prison journalism has emerged — one with a uniquely feminist lens.

Georgian Dream passes laws to curb protests, ban individuals from politics

Russia revokes citizenship of Azerbaijani diaspora head in Ulyanovsk

Another Armenian bishop charged amid deepening church–state confrontation

Armenian lorry drivers protest tightening Russian restrictions

Council of Europe’s Venice Commission recommends repeal of several restrictive Georgian laws

Georgia’s SSG concedes that Imedi outage was technical malfunction, not sabotage

Azerbaijan a ‘top contender’ for stabilisation force in Gaza

Finnish Foreign Minister fined $1,800 for ‘blocking the road’ after visiting Tbilisi protest

Podcasts

Podcast | Can OC Media survive in a new global reality?

In Focus

Between frustration and persistence, the Georgian protest movement reflects on 4 October

Explainer | Have Russia and Azerbaijan buried the hatchet?

Dancing fabrics and contested poetry: inside Georgia’s resilient animation scene

Review | Tonratun — A dispatch from a communal Armenian bakery

Review | My Grandmother — portraying the well-choreographed chaos of Soviet bureaucracy

Can China revive Georgia’s long-stalled Anaklia Port, and at what cost?

In Photos | ‘Letters to the citizens of Georgia’: the newspapers delivered by the mothers of the jailed

As Azerbaijan and Russia apparently make up, have we learned anything?

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Opinion

Opinion | The state’s punitive reflex won’t save Azerbaijani women from femicide and abuse

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