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Sarajishvili and Borjomi return to Russian market

Rezonansi writes that Sarajishvili cognac and Borjomi mineral water will soon re-enter the Russian market.

In the near future, these Georgian brands will re-appear on Russian supermarket shelves. The Russian government has enforced an embargo on Georgian wine and mineral water since 2006, in spite of the products' popularity in that country.

According to a Pirveli Arkhi interview with George Piliev, Executive Vice President of Optima Group, the distribution firm representing the brand, Sarajishvili will enter Russia from the ports of Poti or Batumi, passing through a customs checkpoint at Novorossiysk. From there, the product will be sent to a distribution centre in Podmoskovye.



Bagaturia asserts corruption in Saakashvili family

Opposition MP Jondi Bagaturia has claimed in the newspaper Alia that President Mikheil Saakashvili and his family are corrupt, asserting that he intends to inform the foreign diplomatic corps of his findings.

Bagaturia attempted to reveal his findings during the parliamentary debate on Tuesday, but was prevented by a verbal sparring match with Saakashvili. "I was well prepared. Our party experts prepared very key arguments, but if Saakashvili did not bother me and let me do my work, my speech would have been better. I did not get a chance to say many things," he said in an interview with Alia. "Unfortunately Saakashvili's inadequate appearance, his rudeness, disrespect, and the mess that came from the room, had a certain effect on my speech. Over all, my speech was not so bad."

Bagaturia wanted to address issues relating to the August 2008 war, accusing members of the administrationof "run[ning] towards Red Bridge(at Azeri border) to save their skin and their wealth". He says he also wanted to raise the question of those 45 individuals arrested during the May 26, 2011 protests in Tbilisi, whom he calls "political prisoners".

After becoming heated with Bagaturia, Saakashvili briefly left the room. "I wanted to discuss many important issues, but Saakashvili's uncontrollable manners did not give me a chance to do so. I could never imagine that Saakashvili would flee Parliament; it was a shameful move," Baghaturia said.

Baghaturia also mentioned that he has not yet met with diplomats, but he intends to invite the diplomatic corps to a group meeting next week. The plan is to introduce diplomatic and civil society representatives to the documentation that he says will reveal corruption in the Saakashvili family.

"We will also introduce the diplomatic corps to legislative initiatives, which create a parliamentary investigation commission. This will investigate the black business and corruption of the President and his family," Baghaturia asserted.