🎿🚫 Local residents in Gudauri do not allow foreign ski instructors to work.

Several people have already approached me with the same messages that “their own” laws apply at the winter resort. They are intimidated by forbidding them to train skiers and snowboarders. Threats come to instructors from different countries, among them: Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians and even Europeans (one of the applicants is an Austrian). Locals are forbidding them to work, threatening physical violence or equipment breakdown. According to eyewitnesses, the local police do not take any action and do not respond to allegations. I know from friends and acquaintances that the situation in Gudauri in recent years is really difficult. Conflicts with local residents are regular, reaching fights and tragic incidents.

💰⚠️ One of the largest Georgian enterprises, Rustavi Azot, has been sold.

100% of the shares of the largest chemical enterprise for the production of mineral fertilizers and industrial chemistry in the Transcaucasus from "E U Investments" was bought by Singapore's "Indorama Corporation". It acquired all 100% of the shares of the Georgian company. The cost and terms of the deal were not specified. Indorama Corporation is one of the largest strategic investors in Georgia. It intends to invest significant resources in the modernization, development and expansion of the enterprise.
ℹ️ According to the results of 10 months of 2022, nitrogen fertilizers took the fourth place in the ranking of the country's main export commodities. They accounted for 5.1% of the total, and the cost exceeded the amount of 207 million dollars. Exports of nitrogen fertilizers more than doubled in 2022.

🧑‍🏫👶 From 16.01 classes have resumed in schools and municipal kindergartens in Georgia.

The holidays lasted more than 20 days. Doctors urge parents not to let their children go to school or kindergarten with symptoms of colds. According to them, rhinoviruses, adenoviruses, the so-called Hong Kong strain, influenza type H3N2 and several subtypes of covid-19 are widespread and frequent in the country.

🇷🇺➡️🇬🇪 For 8 months of 2022, Russian citizens purchased more than 28,000 buildings, structures, apartments and land plots in Georgia.

From January 1 to September 9, 2022, the ownership of 12,335 citizens of the Russian Federation for 15,164 buildings and structures was registered, of which 13,262 are residential apartments. During the same period, 10,975 citizens of the Russian Federation registered ownership of 13,850 land plots in Georgia. How many of them are persons with dual citizenship is not specified in the statistics.
ℹ️ The above information is obtained using the electronic and automatic controls of the "National Public Registry Agency".

👮🏻‍♂️ The Court of Appeal reduced the sentence of 6 men convicted in the case of violence against journalists on July 5, 2021 by one year.

Instead of 5 years in prison, six previously convicted men will stay there for 4 years. They were charged under Part 3 of Article 118 and Articles 154 and 156 of the Criminal Code of Georgia - infliction of less serious harm to health, obstruction of journalistic activities and persecution. However, all six convicts were acquitted under Article 225 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which provides for participation in group violence.
ℹ️ Pride Week 2021 was held in Tbilisi with many incidents. On July 5, the actions of radical groups - opponents of the march for dignity - escalated into the persecution of journalists. More than 50 media representatives were injured, the offices of several LGBT organizations were destroyed. Local and international non-governmental organizations accuse the Georgian authorities and police of "deliberate inaction."

❗️Several MPs who left the ruling party last year and formed the Power of the People coalition are talking about a possible assassination of Saakashvili.

According to them, the politician's patrons still have plan B: get rid of him as a golden witness, blame the authorities for the death of the ex-president and, under this pretext, try to organize mass riots in the country.
“Firstly, these people will get rid of the golden witness, whose political value in prison is zero, and secondly, and most importantly, they will blame the authorities for the death of Saakashvili and, under this pretext, will try to organize mass riots in the country, the ultimate goal of which will be violent change of power and the opening of a second front in Georgia”.

📈 In 2022, Georgia received a record number of remittances: $4.4 billion, it is a historical maximum.

This statistics became known after the National Statistical Office calculated the data for December. In the last month of last year, again with a record high of $317 millions, Russia was in first place. In the top five countries: Italy - $43 million, USA - $34 million, Greece - $20 million and Israel - $19 million.
ℹ️ Russia became the record holder among countries based on the results of transfers for the whole of 2022. Transfers from there to Georgia amounted to more than $2 billion, which is 47.29% of the total amount for the year. Monthly chart in the picture.

🇬🇪🛫 The Civil Aviation Agency of Georgia has reported statistics for 2022.

Passenger traffic at Georgian airports has been restored by 85% of the pre-pandemic values ​​of 2019, and this is 78% more than in 2021.
📍 in total, 4,441,316 passengers were served (85% from 2019 and + 78% by 2021):
✔️Tbilisi: 85% by 2019 and +78% by 2021
✔️Batumi: 99% by 2019 and + 20% by 2021
✔️Kutaisi: 91% by 2019 and + 182% by 2021
📍 21,430 flights in total (88% by 2019 and +43% by 2021)
📍 41 airlines operate at Georgian airports in 60 destinations: in 2022, 9 new routes and 10 airlines were added in the country (Condor Airlines, Flyone Armenia, Varesh Airlines, Flyadeal, Armenia Airways, Pars Air, Southwind Airlines, Air Moldova, Thai Air Asia X and Fly Arna)
📍 in terms of the number of passengers carried in 2022, Wizz Air is the leader: 588226 people (13% of the aviatransfer market)
🇬🇪 Domestic airports:
Mestia +83% by 2021 and +8% by 2019
Ambrolauri +35% by 2021 and +33% by 2019
Natakhtari +148% by 2021 and +96% by 2019

⚡️Smog covered Tbilisi - air quality reaches critical levels.

This is evidenced by the results from the air quality portals. The situation is worst on the capital's Agmashenebeli and Rustaveli avenues, as well as in the Varketili region. The concentration of PM2.5 in Tbilisi is now 15.6 times higher than the WHO recommended average annual air quality value.
❗️Specialists advise people with heart and lung diseases to avoid physical activity.

🇬🇪💔🇺🇦 In the Ukrainian Dnipro, from the impact of a Russian missile on January 14, citizens of Georgia were killed.

According to Ukrainian media, they were members of the family of Zakaria Noniashvili, who has been on the front line since the first days of the war. Previously, they lived in Mariupol. Tatyana was during the invasion on the territory of Azovstal, where she spent more than 80 days under shelling, but in order to save her life, the woman had to surrender. At the end of 2022, she was released during an exchange of prisoners and the family moved to Dnipro. The bodies of Tatyana and grandmother have not yet been identified. Daughter, 19-year-old Liana, unfortunately, was found dead.
ℹ️ The death toll from Russian shelling in Dnipro has risen to 45, including 6 children. 79 people were injured (of which 16 were children).

⚽️ Georgian Football Super Cup will be held in a new format.

According to the new rules, the mini-tournament will be played by three teams that have received a ticket to European cups and the winner of the Georgian Cup. This was told by the President of the Football Federation Levan Kobiashvili. According to the results of the last season, Dinamo Tbilisi, Dinamo Batumi, Dila from Gori, as well as the owner of the Georgian Cup Torpedo Kutaisi will fight for the Super Cup.
❗️The tournament calendar will be published soon.

🚕 Bolt announced a reduction in taxi fares of all categories in Tbilisi since the beginning of the year.

According to the company: “Along with quality and safe services, it is important for us to ensure accessibility for our customers. That is why we have decided to reduce the fare of each category available in the capital. We believe that with this good news, it will be easier for everyone to move around the city in cold and snowy winter weather.”
❓Have you noticed a price drop?

List of all taxis and links to their applications here:
📍 Bolt for iOS / Android
📍 Yandex Go for iOS / Android
📍 Maxim: iOS / Android

🇬🇪🛫 The airline "Belavia" announced the sale of tickets on the route Minsk-Kutaisi.
Flights operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
🎫 Ticket price from $133.

🇬🇪💔 Georgia says goodbye to Vakhtang Kikabidze.

From the large concert hall with the song of Chito Gvrito and applause, the coffin and a large funeral procession advanced to the Vera cemetery.
Perhaps Buba would have asked everyone, as he usually did, to smile, but today it was impossible to hold back the tears.

🌬The National Environment Agency states that the cause of air pollution in Tbilisi is ...the Karakum desert.

According to their report dust and poor air quality are associated with transboundary pollution and most likely came from Central Asia.
Users on social networks are skeptical of this statement, commenting that they smell burning for several days and have difficulty breathing during peak traffic hours.

👮🏻‍♂️ An employee of the Batumi City Hall faces up to 9 years in prison because of a bribe.

According to the anti-corruption agency of the State Security Service of Georgia, the detainee accepted 2,400 lari ($900) from a citizen and promised official patronage to operate a catering point in Batumi without a permit.
This crime is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 6 to 9 years.

⚡️⚡️ Tragedy in Kakheti.

Tonight in the city of Sagarejo (40 km from Tbilisi) an armed man (former soldier, born in 1974) opened fire from a machine gun at people from the balcony of a residential building. According to eyewitnesses, the shooting lasted for about an hour.
👮🏻‍♂️According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, five people died, including one policeman. Five people were injured, they underwent operations, the condition is assessed as serious.
The attacker committed suicide...

❗️Details of the shooting in Kakheti.

Nodar Atuashvili, shooter at Sagarejo, served in the Georgian Defense Forces from 2006 until 2021, and also participated in a peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan.
📍 There was a child in the apartment with him, but he managed to run out of the house and hide.
📍The attacker fired from a machine gun at passers-by, arrived police officers and ambulances
❗️ Five people died, five more are in the hospital.
📹 video Mtavari Archi

💨 The National Environment Agency is warning of strong hurricane-force winds in several areas.

From January 20 to 23, a strong wind is predicted in the Kolkheti, Imereti and Gori-Surami regions, the gusts of which will reach 30 m/s.