Georgian authorities raid homes of former PM Gharibashvili and other former top officials

Raids were also conducted on the homes of former security chief Grigol Liluashvili and former Chief Prosecutor Otar Partskhaladze.

Mikheil Gvadzabia

• 17 October 2025 • 3 min read

Azerbaijan

Aliyev says tensions between Azerbaijan and France have been resolved

Certificatefor the RamzanKadyrov medal. Photo: Grozny-inform.ru.

Chechnya

Kadyrov awarded the Soviet-era ‘Group of Forces in Germany’ order

Georgian protesters gathered outside the Presidential Palace on 4 October. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Georgia’s EU U-turn

Georgia detains 16 more in connection to the 4 October Tbilisi protests

Georgia

Five Russians arrested in Georgia over alleged money laundering, crypto scheme

Students marching against the foreign agents law in May 2024. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media

Georgia

Georgian government announces controversial higher education reforms

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze presented the reform concept on Thursday.

Oct 17, 2025 1:22 PM

Ramiz Mehdiyev in an official photo via APA.

Azerbaijan

Former Azerbaijani ‘gray cardinal’ accused of plotting to kill Aliyev

Ramiz Mehdiyev, a longtime confidant of former President Heydar Aliyev, was arrested and charged with treason on Tuesday.

Oct 17, 2025 12:46 PM

Daghestan

Daghestan natives suspected of plotting assassination of ‘Russian dissident’ in France

The founder of the Gulagu.net project, Vladimir Osechkin, appears to have been the intended victim.

Oct 17, 2025 12:05 PM

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

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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 authorities raid homes of former PM Gharibashvili and other former top officials

Aliyev says tensions between Azerbaijan and France have been resolved

Kadyrov awarded the Soviet-era ‘Group of Forces in Germany’ order

Georgia detains 16 more in connection to the 4 October Tbilisi protests

Five Russians arrested in Georgia over alleged money laundering, crypto scheme

Georgian government announces controversial higher education reforms

Former Azerbaijani ‘gray cardinal’ accused of plotting to kill Aliyev

Daghestan natives suspected of plotting assassination of ‘Russian dissident’ in France

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

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

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

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