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The Week in Brief

Friday, February 29
Tbilisi and Moscow offered conflicting accounts of just how much agreement has been reached over the breakaway regions. Some suggest Russia is seeking plausible deniability; Georgian officials blame ‘inter-agency inconsistency.’

Tempers flared over a Georgian journalist detained in secessionist Abkhazia. Mikheil Saakashvili vowed to send police to free the reporter if the separatists don’t release him posthaste.

The opposition is now running a parliamentary election campaign, after lackluster turnout forced the cancellation of a planned nation-wide hunger strike. The decision to call off the protest divided the nine-party opposition coalition, and the moderate Republicans are likely to be the first to leave the group.

Parliament approved a non-partisan board of trustees for the Georgian Public Broadcaster which is now set to appoint a new director general for the station. The opposition demands the resignation of the current director general, accusing the channel of political bias during the presidential campaign.

The UN human rights chief, on her first visit to Tbilisi, said Georgia can claim progress in human rights reform but still has plenty of improvements to make.