Russia

The Asian Development Bank has approved USD 415 million loan to improve Georgia's North–South road corridor. Work is expected to start next year

The timing of the exercises, coinciding with the 11th anniversary of the Georgia-Russia war in 2008, and the involvement of Russian military elements based in Crimea and Abkhazia. where the Russian presence is deemed illegal, makes these military drills controversial and offensive, particularly to Ukraine and Georgia.

With more than 50% of votes counted, five parties look on course to clear the 5% threshold to enter parliament.

Georgian politicians of all persuasions, who constantly wrap themselves up in EU and NATO flags, have been acting in a way which makes Georgia look like an unstable banana republic not an aspirant for EU or NATO membership. There seems to be no one in Georgia who is able to exercise restraint on a political class that has got used to shooting from the hip, creating a highly polorised, divided and disillusioned society. The international community now needs to step in and step up.

"The discussions were held in a buisness like atmosphere against the background of recent developments on the ground", said a statement by the EU, OSCE and UN who co-chair the process.

On Tuesday, PACE approved a resolution that will allow the Russian delegation to take part in the Assembly's June session. The resolution was backed by 118 members, 62 parliamentarians voted against it, while 10 abstained.

David Bakradze, of the opposition European Georgia Party, has in the meantime raised the issue of Russia's return to full participation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which is going to be discussed at a meeting in Strasbourg this week. Bakradze said that it was not acceptable that Russia be allowed to return to PACE given its recent actions.

There is continued diplomatic fallout from the incident in the Georgian parliament on Thursday, with the Russian government declaring Georgia unsafe for Russian visitors. Russian airlines were told to cancel their flights to the country.

20 June was a sad day for Georgian politics. It started with a political blunder, and ended in an orgy of rioting that left dozens injured.