During the annual "Year in Review" press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin, responding to a question about support for young families, noted the tradition of early marriages in the North Caucasus. He said he believed this was "right" and suggested "following their example," citing Ramzan Kadyrov's large family.
Pro-Kremlin pranksters Vovan and Lexus conducted a remote interview with the fifth president of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili. To do this, they introduced themselves as Russian oppositionist and foreign agent Garry Kasparov.
Zurabishvili, known for her criticism of the Kremlin and the current Georgian government loyal to it, answered a question about the future prospects of Abkhazia. This self-proclaimed republic, the former territory of Georgia, is under the de facto control of the Russian Federation.
"What is happening in Abkhazia is interesting in that there is a real movement of disagreement with how the Russians behaved in relation to the region in recent years. In my opinion, the only option for the future of Abkhazia is Europe. Only general integration into Europe can be a solution. This should not be done through direct negotiations, because antagonism still exists. Even if they no longer love Russians, this does not mean that they suddenly love Georgians. We will have to overcome this. And it is possible to overcome this only through a common perspective. And the general perspective is Europe," Zurabishvili said.
She also admitted that there is now a catastrophic lack of funds for the Georgian opposition. Previously, money came from the American agency USAID and some European funds.