Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov congratulated Vladimir Putin on his birthday and stated that the Russian president's name holds "special significance" for the Chechen people. According to Kadyrov, the region will "never forget" the support Putin extended to his father—Chechnya’s first president, Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov—"at a time when the future of the Chechen Republic depended on the decisions being made."
Mikheil Saakashvili, former President of Georgia, accused billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, of hindering the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Saakashvili claims that Azerbaijan has decided to regularly supply petroleum products to Armenia, which at this stage can only be carried out via Georgian railways. However, Georgian authorities have set transit tariffs so high that they have effectively made deliveries impossible.
"Ivanishvili cannot help but realize that such a tariff is unaffordable," Saakashvili wrote, implying that the Georgian authorities' actions are aimed at disrupting the policy of rapprochement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
He also suggested that Ivanishvili's actions could be aimed at attracting the attention of US President Donald Trump or dictated by Moscow.
Furthermore, Saakashvili stated that Azerbaijani trucks are being towed en masse to impound lots in Tbilisi, and that drivers are being charged up to $1,000 at the border to pass through.