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Who Is Building a Cosmodrome in Guria? – The Empire of Lies by Russian “Exiles”

Who Is Building a Cosmodrome in Guria? – The Empire of Lies by Russian “Exiles”

In western Georgia’s Guria region, the village of Shukhuti begins with an unmarked turnoff that leads to a rough, winding road. At the end lies a fenced-off plot of land, guarded by Russian security personnel, protecting the site of what is slated to become a cosmodrome. On this site, plans are underway to build the checkpoint for the “Kolkhida” cosmodrome—an initiative spearheaded by two Russian women, Yulia and Maria Arkhipova. The pair arrived in Georgia from Russia around the onset of the w

Saturday, 12 July 2025
Monday, 02 June 2025
როგორ შედის სანქცირებული ტრაილერები რუსეთში

Secret on Wheels: How Sanctioned Trailers Enter Russia

Despite sweeping Western sanctions on Russia following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, European-made trucks—including models from Volvo, MAN, Mercedes, and Scania—continue to appear on Russian roads. A detailed investigation by iFact reveals how these vehicles, officially banned from the Russian market, are still finding their way into the country through complex re-export schemes involving Georgia and its regional neighbours. In this article, you will find numerous facts, data, and evid

Friday, 09 May 2025
სანქციების შავი ხვრელი: როგორ აღწევს მძიმე ტექნიკა რუსეთში?

The Sanction Loophole: Heavy Machinery’s Hidden Route to Russia

Authors: Ia Asatiani, Aydan Yusif, Mariam Katchkatchashvili According to Georgia’s foreign trade data, 54 tractors and bulldozers were exported to Kyrgyzstan in 2022 and 2023. The Kyrgyz government reports that it did not receive any. No such discrepancy was recorded before the war in Ukraine. Previously, Georgian and Kyrgyz trade databases reported matching figures for heavy machinery in this category. Similarly, the tractors and bulldozers intended for Armenia vanished without a t

Friday, 25 April 2025
სკამერების დაბრუნება - A.K ჯგუფი

“The Return of the Scammers: A.K. Group Agents Continue Their Fraud”

Authors: OCCRP, iFact, GMC, and Studio Monitor When we exposed the Georgian “empire” of call centers a month and a half ago, you might have thought it would put an end to their fraudulent activities. But things turned out differently. Following our journalistic investigation, A.K. Group employees began gradually disappearing—leaving the office, deleting their social media accounts, and removing posts that showcased their lavish lifestyles. Just days after the international expo

Thursday, 10 April 2025
როგორ მოიპარა ქართულმა ოცნებამ სახალხო დამცველის აპარატი

How Georgian Dream Stole the Public Defender’s Office

For nearly three decades, Georgia’s Public Defender has served as a vital watchdog for human rights, exposing violations, identifying the responsible parties, and urging officials to take corrective action. According to its mandate, the institution is meant to be politically independent. And for most of its existence, through five different ombudspersons, it largely was. But over the past two years, that independence has come under serious doubt. Public dissatisfaction has grown, with ma

Friday, 14 February 2025
Hit by Sanctions, Georgian Oligarch Ivanishvili Brings Assets Home

Hit by Sanctions, Georgian Oligarch Ivanishvili Brings Assets Home

Bidzina Ivanishvili’s ruling Georgian Dream party has been accused of election fraud and increasingly authoritarian leadership, and he was sanctioned by the U.S. in December. Some of his prized assets are now held in entirely domestic structures. By: James Dowsett (OCCRP), iFact, and GMC  In response to international sanctions, Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder and honorary chair of Georgia’s ruling party, has transferred ownership of multiple companies from offshore juri

Wednesday, 05 February 2025
ძმები ფხაკაძეების ბიზნესები

The Price of Staying Quiet

A week ago, members of the "Georgian Business Association" convened to discuss whether to take a unified stance on the ongoing events in the country. "Wissol Group" participated in this meeting. It was decided that the association would not express a collective position. Previously, "Wissol Group" had not taken a stand on the protests. The company also refrained from signing a statement published on the Free Business Platform, in which various businesses demand the release of political p

Wednesday, 22 January 2025
სანქცირებული ნავთობი საქართველოს გავლით ევროპაში

Ghost Cargo: The Hidden Journey of Sanctioned Oil to Europe

In 2023-2024, 99,000 tons of oil of Georgian origin entered Spain from Georgia, totaling 49 million euros. This statement has two suspicious circumstances: Georgia neither produces nor extracts such a quantity of oil, and these export figures are not found in the National Statistics Office of Georgia database but in Spain’s records. Due to these suspicious circumstances, we became interested in understanding what explains this situation—is it merely a technical error in the databases, or

Friday, 27 December 2024
cover-pirveli tve

Protests against the Russification

Protests against the Russification of the country began a month ago in Tbilisi and the regions and are ongoing to this day. The main demands remain unchanged: the release of unjustly detained prisoners and the scheduling of new elections. The government continues its strategy of ignoring the protests, refusing to address the demands or make concessions. Key events over the past month: * During the brutal and criminal dispersal of the protests, more than 300 individuals w

Tuesday, 17 December 2024
Georgia's Visa-Free Future at Risk: What the EU's Report Means

Georgia's Visa-Free Future at Risk: What the EU's Report Means

by Nino Apakidze The recent suspension of visa-free travel for Georgian diplomatic passport holders has raised concerns over whether the European Union (EU) may extend this measure to ordinary citizens. With mounting pressure on the Georgian government and new political developments, the question of Georgia’s future in Europe’s visa-free regime has taken center stage. The Mechanism Behind a Potential Suspension The EU’s visa liberalization policy allows Georgian citizens to tra

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