http://www.newsgeorgia.net The Republic of Georgia's All English News Wire Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:01:24 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The European Union stepped up its engagement in Georgia on Monday, launching an observer mission to oversee the withdrawal of Russian troops, appointing a special envoy to coordinate diplomatic efforts and preparing a major increase in economic aid. EU foreign ministers formally approved the deployment of a 200-strong civilian observer mission ... http://www.newsgeorgia.net/2008/09/15/eu-steps-up-engagement-in-georgia/ Georgia's president said Monday he hopes a visit from NATO's chief will accelerate his nation's drive to join the Western alliance, pressing for sustained international support following its defeat by Russia in a brief and bitter war. Mikhail Saakashvili said Georgia and NATO should work hard to show that Georgia is ... http://www.newsgeorgia.net/2008/09/15/nato-chief-envoys-visit-georgia-to-show-support/ At the height of the crisis over Russia's invasion of Georgia last month, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin summoned the top executives of his nation's most influential newspapers and broadcasters to a private meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. The Kremlin controls much of the Russian media, and Putin occasionally ... http://www.newsgeorgia.net/2008/09/15/in-wake-of-georgian-war-russian-media-feel-heat/ Russian peacekeepers are withdrawing from five checkpoints in western Georgia where they have been since the conflict between the two countries broke out last month, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Saturday, according to the state-run Interfax news agency. Russian troops Russian soldiers pack up their gear at the Georgian checkpoint in Poti ... http://www.newsgeorgia.net/2008/09/13/russian-forces-withdraw-from-key-georgian-checkpoints/ Some senior military figures, including the deputy chief of staff, the commander of land forces and the chief of the national guard, have been dismissed from their posts. The Georgian Ministry of Defense said on September 3 that Alexandre Osepaishvili, the deputy chief of staff of the armed forces, had been ... http://www.newsgeorgia.net/2008/09/13/new-deputy-chief-of-army-staff-appointed-some-key-army-officials-dismissed/ EU has enough pledges from its member states to form a 200-strong team of monitors and deploy it in Georgia before the beginning of October, the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told Reuters on September 13. “We have plenty of pledges and we will do it,” Solana told Reuters, referring ... http://www.newsgeorgia.net/2008/09/13/eu-ready-for-georgia-monitoring-mission-solana/ A Georgian policeman was killed after “the Abkhaz separatists opened fire” in direction of the police post in the village of Ganmukhuri on September 13, the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs said. Ganmukhuri is located at the administrative border with breakaway Abkhazia. Georgia reestablished its administration in the village last week. Source: ... http://www.newsgeorgia.net/2008/09/13/mia-policeman-killed-at-abkhaz-border/ National Bank of Georgia (NBG) reduced its key interest rate from 11 to 10% citing increased business risks and liquidity crunch, the NBG’s monetary policy committee said in a statement after an extraordinary meeting on September 10. The central bank reduced the rate from 12 to 11% on August 20. The committee ... http://www.newsgeorgia.net/2008/09/13/central-bank-cuts-key-rate-to-10/ · President says US backed assault on South Ossetia · Nato membership 'would destabilise region' Georgia's attack on the breakaway region of South Ossetia was unnecessary and unprovoked and was encouraged by the United States, Russia's president, Dmitry Medvedev, said in an interview yesterday. "For Russia, August 8 was like September 11 for ... http://www.newsgeorgia.net/2008/09/13/medvedev-describes-georgia-attack-as-russias-911/ It's mutual mistrust, rather than a difference in basic outlook, that plagues the relationship between Russia and the west A decade ago a member of Abkhazia parliament told me that "the conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia would not be resolved until Russia and the west divide their spheres of interests". We ... http://www.newsgeorgia.net/2008/09/13/suspicious-minds/