Daur Kove, Abkhazia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs (/Apsnypress)
Abkhazia has denounced Georgia’s recent ‘peace initiative’ to simplify trade and movement of people for Abkhazia and South Ossetia, while the US, EU, and a number of other countries welcomed the initiative.
Ian Kelly (US Embassy/Facebook)
The US Ambassador to Georgia, Ian Kelly, has suggested Georgia should ‘of course […] have contacts with civil authorities’ in Abkhazia, and possibly in South Ossetia. He supported Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili’s appeal to Russia to improve relations and calling for ‘direct dialogue with the Abkhazians and the Ossetians’. Kvirikashvili has come under intense criticism from the opposition since making the appeal last week.
Avtandil Khurtsidze (boxingscene.com)
World champion boxer Avtandil Khurtsidze and professional mixed martial arts fighter Levan Makashvili were among 33 members and associates of a Russian crime syndicate detained in New York on 7 June for allegedly engaging in a panoply of crimes around the country.
