Chronicle

From 15 January to 13 February 2009

15 January 2009	The Council of Europe criticizes Azerbaijan’s decision to ban international radio stations from broadcasting on national frequencies
16 January 2009	Riot police break up opposition protest in Armenia
16 January 2009	Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry expresses concern over Russian arms delivery to Armenia
16 January 2009	Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan says that relations between Armenia and Turkey as well as Azerbaijan and Armenia may normalize in 2009
16 January 2009	A Georgian police officer is shot dead near Georgia’s de facto border with South Ossetia
19 January 2009	Russia notifies Georgia of its willingness to inspect Georgia’s military bases in line with the OSCE 1999 Vienna Document on confidence and security-building measures
19 January 2009	Russian presidential decree orders an arms embargo on Georgia
19 January 2009	Abkhaz leader Sergey Bagapsh says he is “bewildered” over a memorandum signed between Georgia and the Russian state-controlled electricity trader Inter RAO on the exploitation of the Enguri hydro power plant (HPP)
20 January 2009	OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek visits Georgia
21 January 2009	Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian says that Armenia and Turkey have come close to normalizing relations
22 January 2009	Azerbaijani police detain opposition campaigners in the city of Sabirabad
22 January 2009	Georgia says it will not allow Russia to inspect its military bases citing “force majeure”
22 January 2009	European Commission will allocate 16 million Euros for the development of Azerbaijan’s judicial system
25 January 2009	Georgia resumes natural-gas supplies to South Ossetia
27 January 2009	Abkhaz Deputy Interior Minister Zakan Jugelia is shot dead
27 January 2009	The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) orders the Georgian state to pay 26,700 Euros to the founders of 202 TV
28 January 2009	Georgia’s Conservative Party, a member of the opposition, calls for Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili to be brought to trial in connection with the murder of banker Sandro Girgvliani
29 January 2009	Twelve opposition parties in Georgia call for President Saakashvili’s resignation in a joint declaration
30 January 2009	Georgian Prime Minister Grigol Mgaloblishvili resigns, citing poor health
2 February 2009	Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili offers to set up an advisory group of Georgian expatriate economists
3 February 2009	Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze says Georgia has no plans to sign agreements on non-use of force with Abkhazia and South Ossetia
4 February 2009	Georgia’s ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Viktor Dolidze resigns
6 February 2009	Armenia confirms a USD 500 million loan from Russia to help mitigate the effects of the global economic crisis
7 February 2009	US Vice President Joe Biden declares that the United States will not recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
8 February 2009	Russia reaffirms plans for building military bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia
9 February 2009	EU’s inquiry mission into the August war visits Georgia
10 February 2009	Chairman of Russian energy company Gazprom Alexei Miller meets South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity in Moscow to discuss the construction of the Dzuarikau-Tskhinvali gas pipeline to link South Ossetia with North Ossetia in the Russian Federation
10 February 2009	The OSCE says two OSCE monitors were released after being briefly detained in a Georgian conflict zone
10 February 2009	Georgia’s former ambassador to the OSCE Viktor Dolidze confirms his intention to join the opposition after leaving the OSCE
11 February 2009	The head of the Azerbaijani Air Force Lieutenant General Rail Rzayev is shot dead
12 February 2009	The Armenian National Congress (HAK), an umbrella opposition movement, officially announces its intention to resume public rallies
13 February 2009	The UN Security Council agrees to extend its Georgia mission for four months
13 February 2009	Former Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli’s party Movement for a Fair Georgia holds a protest rally in Adjara