🧑‍🏫👶 The Ministry of Education of Georgia has published the dates of winter holidays for schools and kindergartens.

Their days off start from 30.12 and children will need to return to classes only 16.01. The Decree applies to public schools and kindergartens, in private institutions, the terms may differ and depend on the administration.

🇬🇪🛫 Since June 2023, Wizz Air has been introducing new flight routes from Georgia and adding the frequency of flights to existing ones.

The low-cost airline will fly from Kutaisi to 5 new destinations: Brussels, Madrid, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Poznan.
It will also add one flight per week on routes to Paris, Milan, Prague and Memmingen.
🎫 Tickets are still expensive, but soon there will be promotions and more choice.

🇪🇺 The EU agreed on the non-recognition of passports issued in the occupied territories of Ukraine and Georgia.

We are talking about territories controlled by Russia: they include both Crimea, annexed in 2014, and the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, as well as Abkhazia and South Ossetia, whose independence was recognized by only a few countries of the world. Travel documents issued in these territories will not be recognized in the European Union.
❗️Georgia also does not recognize such passports (including Russian-Crimean ones) and in 99% of cases their holders are not allowed into the country.

❗️The approach to service in the Georgian army can be changed.

This was stated by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili. In particular, the approach to the service for students who will be sent to the barracks for 1 month a year for 4 years will be revised. He paid special attention to the Girchi party and its project of alternative clergy: “This is an abomination. The biggest evil that Zurab Japaridze committed against the youth of the country. This legal loophole will be eliminated. We will no longer allow these wreckers to mislead our young generation.” Separately, he added that he had already discussed this issue with the patriarchy.
ℹ️ There is a "Christian Evangelical Protestant Church of Biblical Freedom" in the country, created several years ago by the opposition Girchi party to help young men avoid military service by registering them as priests. Under Georgian law, clergy and students in theological schools are exempt from compulsory military service.
🆗 The Girchi party has already responded to the Prime Minister’s statement, saying that “Compulsory military service is an outdated, inefficient and financially costly system that has nothing to do with the defense and security of the country and should consist of motivated and interested people, not of the people under duress ".

❗️The court session on the suspension of the sentence and possible release of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili has been postponed again, now to December 22.

The Tbilisi City Court must examine the medical documentation provided by the politician's defense.,,

🇬🇪❤️🇺🇦 Residents of Georgia (and expats) collected over 150 thousand dollars in two weeks for generators for Ukraine during the Share the Light / გაუზიარე სინათლე campaign.

In addition to those that will be purchased, 80 generators were donated by individuals and various organizations. As a result, 394 generators will go to Kyiv this week, after which the local NGO will distribute them to the most needy regions. According to the organizers of the action, the total capacity of the generators is enough to light three medium-sized villages. In particular, equipment with a capacity of 160 and 136 kilowatts will provide water supply to two cities in the Kyiv region - Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky and Boyarka.
❗️As President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said: "Generators are as important as armor to help Ukraine survive Vladimir Putin's energy terror this winter."

👍 17 December New Year's Fair will be held in art space Punji, where the products of Georgian, Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian masters will be presented!

Also at the market, you can taste real homemade Georgian wine, get a prediction for the coming New Year, eat gingerbread cookies and drinking hot non-alcoholic mulled wine!

In the meantime, subscribe to the market account: https://instagram.com/punji_market , where we talk about craftsmen and brands that will take part in our New Year's fair!

Entrance is free🎄
The market will be held on December 17 from 16:00-23:00 at Vasily Petriashvili 24

🚂 From today, the electric train traffic on the Tbilisi-Khashuri and Gardabani-Rustavi-Tbilisi routes has been resumed.

🚈 From Tbilisi to Khashuri, the cost of a ride is only 1 GEL. According to the schedule of the Georgian railway, it departs at 6:35 from Tbilisi and returns at 16:40 from Khashuri.
🚈 From Tbilisi to Gardabani with a stop in Rustavi, the train will run twice a day. Departure at 7:10 arrival at 8:13 ; departure from Gardabani at 8:25 arrival in Tbilisi at 9:32. Departure at 19:00 arrival at 20:05; departure from Gardabani at 20:20 arrival in Tbilisi at 21:26
📍 It is not yet known whether the famous Cuckoo will run in Borjomi this winter season, but as far as I know, there are such plans in the State Railways.

❗️ Ex-president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili has declared a hunger strike.

According to his statement, he is ready to proceed this form of protest until he is admitted to court hearings.
ℹ️ The case on a possible suspension of punishment due to health conditions was postponed from today to December 22, and he himself was forbidden to attend the trial even online.
📢 "Today I was denied the most basic right to attend my own trial. This is a violation of all Georgian and international norms, so I am forced to resort to an extreme form of protest - a hunger strike. Given my current state of health, I will starve until I receive solid guarantees of at least inclusion via video link in my own process. There is a limit to all bullying and humiliation." stated Saakashvili.

📹 The Georgian Penitentiary Service publishes video footage from the ward of the Vivamed clinic, where ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili is staying.

📍According to the Ministry of Justice, the politician often feigns, smokes electronic cigarettes and is aggressive towards staff.
📍According to the opposition and its supporters, the footage shows the terrible physical condition of Saakashvili.
📌 The Ministry of Justice published the video without the consent of the ex-president and the politician's family.

🇬🇪➡️❓🇪🇺 European Union - Georgia: prospects for association become vague.

The European Parliament adopted a Resolution on the implementation of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement. 430 MEPs voted for the adoption of the document, 52 opposed, 126 abstained.
❗️The decision adopted an amendment and a call for the release of ex-president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili and the imposition of sanctions against the ex-premier and the country's richest man Bidzina Ivanishvili. A separate appeal from the European Parliament to President Salome Zurabishvili suggests her to use the powers granted by the constitution to release Mikheil Saakashvili, and also to pardon Nika Gvaramia, director general of the opposition channel Mtavari Arkhi.
🗣 The ruling party reacted negatively to the resolution. Georgian Dream General Secretary and Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said MEPs "could keep this worthless EU candidate status if they link it to Saakashvili's release." Party chairman Irakli Kobakhidze called Saakashvili a dangerous criminal, a murderer and added: “As for the status, it is important politically, but we must explain to the society that from a different point of view, from the same financial and economic point of view, it does not give concrete results.”