Domestic Politics

During his visit to Georgia, Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, has called for an end to the country's political crisis, referring to it as “of great concern to the European Union” and asking all parties to “step up their efforts to de-escalate the situation and come together to find common ground”.

Rivalry between the national institutions in Tunisia threatens the basis of this rare but fragile democratic state in North Africa. Some parties have called for street protests in support of one side or the other.

Last year, 72 terrorism-related crimes were foiled in Russia, 25% more than in 2019, President Putin told the FSB.  Experts stress that extremist activity remains one of major challenges for the post-Soviet states. Bur Russians seem unclear who is friend and who is foe in their war on terror.

Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan appeared to be well entrenched on Thursday despite the fact that the command of the armed forces called on him and his government to resign. Opposition attempts to rally round the call and force the prime minister out failed when Pashinyan called his own supporters out on the streets. Radio Liberty reporting from Yerevan estimated the pro-Pashinyan crowd to have been around 20,000.

Opposition supporters have been protesting in the Georgian capital Tbilisi after Georgian special police forces this morning stormed the headquarters of the main opposition party – the United National Movement (UNM) – and arrested its Chairman, Nika Melia.

Last week Georgia's prime minister Giorgi Gaharia resigned citing disagreements with the ruling party. A new government is likely to be approved next week, but the opposition keeps contesting the results of last October's parliamentary elections and demanding news polls. Most opposition MPs have not taken up their seats in the new parliament.