


*** FRIDAY, JANUARY 9 • 09:00 ET (15:00 CET, 14:00 UK, 18:00 TBS) ****
Tbilisi, Georgia – Grigol Vashadze, Foreign Minister of Georgia, will brief international media via teleconference on Friday, January 9, at 09:00 ET (15:00 CET, 14:00 UK Time, 18:00 TBS). The call will take place shortly before FM Vashadze and US Secretary of State Rice sign the US-Georgia charter, in Washington at 11 am ET Friday. The Foreign Minister will address questions related to the charter, as well as other recent developments in Georgia.
The EU must ensure that no one can hold it to ransom in future
EDITORIAL
The angry stand-off between Russia and Ukraine over gas is now seriously disrupting supplies to several European Union countries. Romania has lost 75 per cent of its supply; Bulgaria has only a few days' gas left; Slovakia is on the verge of declaring a state of emergency.
Russian gas supplies via Ukraine to southeast Europe and Turkey were halted on Tuesday as a result of a pricing row between Moscow and Kiev, and Austria and the Czech Republic reported sharp falls in supplies. The following is an overview of how the European Union, which receives about a quarter of its gas from Russia, and about a fifth of its gas via pipelines through Ukraine, is reacting and what options it has.
Irakli Alasania spoke to RFE/RL's Tbilisi bureau chief Marina Vashakmadze on December 25. The following is an edited transcript of that interview.
While Europe is shaken by the recent energy crisis initiated by a Russian-Ukrainian row, Turkey says the flow of Russian natural gas through a pipeline via the Balkans has stopped entirely. Ankara seeks other alternatives including Iran.
Radek Sikorski for NATO chief
THE reindeer are harnessed, the sledge laden. So what will Santa Claus bring the ex-communist countries for Christmas? Desirable presents are easy to think of.
Giorgi Lomsadze
The version of events leading up to Georgia’s August war with Russia outlined in a recently released report by an ad-hoc parliamentary commission jibed with the government’s official line.
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