Former Defense Minister Bacho Akhalaia has been detained in Georgia. He is accused of organizing a violent protest that took place in Tbilisi on October 4. The State Security Service of Georgia (SSG) claims that Akhalaia remotely coordinated the actions of the protesters who attempted to storm the presidential residence.

Amid the ongoing normalization of relations between Yerevan and Baku, Nikol Pashinyan expressed hope for expanded economic cooperation, particularly the establishment of exports of Armenian goods to Azerbaijan.

The Tbilisi City Court has placed former head of Georgia's State Security Service, Grigol Liluashvili, in pretrial detention. The defendant did not attend the hearing because he "has not yet reviewed the case materials." A preliminary hearing will take place on February 16.

Grigol Liluashvili, the former head of Georgia's State Security Service, has been arrested on bribery charges.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev missed the informal CIS summit in St. Petersburg due to a busy work schedule. Aliyev's administration also noted that his absence from the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council on December 21 was due to Azerbaijan not being a member of the organization.

The court has extended the pretrial detention of Shahin Shikhlinsky, the former head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Yekaterinburg. He will be held in pretrial detention until at least May 31, 2026.

On Sunday, December 21, an expanded meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council (SEEC) was held in St. Petersburg. The meeting, chaired by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, was attended by the heads of state of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Chairman of the EAEU Board, Bakytzhan Sagintayev.

Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili stated that the ruling party's signing of a document in support of Ukraine was motivated not so much by fears of an international investigation as by a desire to irritate Russia.

The British Embassy in Tbilisi has called on the Georgian government to strengthen measures to prevent Russian oil supplies using the so-called "shadow fleet." The diplomatic mission believes that these schemes facilitate sanctions evasion and pose a threat to maritime security and the environment.

The National Security Service of Armenia reported that Yezras Nersisyan, the brother of Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II, was recruited by the KGB during the Soviet period and given the codename "Karo."