Latest news in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, summary. Live

● Representatives of the European Union paid a working visit to Armenia to assess progress in developing a new EU–Armenia strategic agenda ahead of the planned March 19–20 trip by Commissioner Marta Kos and the first EU–Armenia summit. This was reported by The Brussels Times. The EU confirmed a €202.5 million assistance package for Armenia.

● If railway connections between Azerbaijan and Turkey are restored via Armenia’s Syunik region, travel time would be reduced by 25% compared to the current Baku–Tbilisi–Kars transit route, according to a European Commission study.

● On February 23–24, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan will be on a working visit to Switzerland, where he will speak at high-level segments of the UN Human Rights Council and at the Conference on Disarmament.

● About 100 Armenian trucks have been stuck on the Georgian-Armenian border on the Georgian side since February 12 because Georgian border guards are not allowing them to pass. The trucks were in transit from Russia carrying construction materials. Drivers told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Armenian service that no one in Georgia is providing clear explanations and they are in a desperate situation. Armenian truck drivers have faced similar problems before: last year, alcohol transporters spent weeks and sometimes months at checkpoints when leaving Georgia for Russia while Georgian authorities conducted extensive laboratory testing of transit cargo not intended for Georgia.

● Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II refused to testify to prosecutors, his lawyer said. On February 14, a criminal case was opened against him on charges of obstructing enforcement of a court ruling related to Bishop Arman Sargsyan. The Catholicos had removed the bishop after he supported Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s initiative to reform the Church. The bishop sued, and the court barred the Church from interfering with his duties pending a final decision, but the Catholicos stripped him of his rank. The case prohibits the Catholicos from leaving the country, preventing him from attending a bishops’ assembly in Austria. His lawyer said the case aimed to disrupt that meeting and called it “one of the shameful days in Armenia’s history,” warning of serious consequences.

In early January, the prime minister and ten bishops signed a statement launching church reform, with the ultimate goal of removing Garegin II and electing a new Catholicos. Main accusations against him include political involvement and violating celibacy rules. Read more here

●  International rating agency S&P Global Ratings forecasts Armenia’s GDP growth at 5.3% in 2026 and 4.8% in 2027 and upgraded the country’s outlook from stable to positive, citing potential improvements in regional geopolitics and further progress in normalization between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

● Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan said Armenia’s GDP per capita reached 3,666,540 drams (about $9,474) in 2025, a 7.2% increase year-on-year.

● President Vahagn Khachaturyan, summarizing his visit to Greece, said discussions focused on global developments and finding solutions under current conditions. He emphasized that the key formula is peace and noted historical parallels between Armenia and Greece, both concluding that peaceful and good-neighborly relations are the only solution.

● Design work has been completed for a new tunnel on the Sevan–Dilijan section. It will run parallel to the existing tunnel, which will later be converted into an evacuation route. Construction is estimated at €70–80 million and planned under a loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank. The project was designed by an Austrian company, and construction is expected to take 4–4.5 years.

● Former prosecutor Tigran Sukiasyan died after falling from Victory Bridge in Yerevan. According to reports, his body was found in the Hrazdan River with no signs of violence, and the circumstances are under investigation. He had been dismissed during staff changes in late 2023 and early 2024.

● Armenian gymnasts performed successfully at the first stage of the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Germany: Artur Avetisyan won gold on the rings, and Mamikon Khachatryan took silver on the pommel horse.

● Students and faculty of Ilia State University have signed a manifesto demanding the cancellation of a decision by Georgia’s Education Ministry to cut several programs and reduce admissions as part of a large-scale reform of the education system. The ministry announced that in the 2026–2027 academic year a total of 6,650 students will be admitted to Tbilisi State University, and 3,880 to Georgian Technical University. Ilia State University, however, will be allowed to admit only 300 students in total. In addition, only pedagogy and STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) will remain active programs there next academic year. Ilia State University is the only public university in the country whose rector is not appointed by the authorities but elected by the academic community, local media report. A protest march is scheduled for March 9, with students from other universities expected to join.

● Lasha Bakradze, an associate professor at Ilia State University, described the reduction of university quotas as “an absolutely political decision.” “This has nothing to do with improving the quality of education. There is no plan except to destroy Ilia University first of all, because they see it as a breeding ground of liberalism. They want to eliminate a space of freedom where people are taught free thinking. The country is undergoing a large-scale dismantling of free, democratic institutions — the very institutions we saw as the future of our development,” Bakradze said.

●  Leading actors of Tbilisi’s Vaso Abashidze New Theatre resigned in protest after a banner featuring their colleague, well-known actor Andro Chichinadze, was removed from the building. In September 2025 he was sentenced to two years for participating in pro-European protests and found guilty of “organizing or taking part in group actions disrupting public order.” Chichinadze was among dozens detained during pro-European protests in Tbilisi that have continued for more than a year and a half since November 28, 2024, when the ruling party Georgian Dream announced the suspension of Georgia’s EU integration process. Read more here

● A large protest rally-march under the slogan “We Will Not Tolerate Occupation” is planned in Tbilisi on February 25. Participants will gather near Vera Park and march toward the parliament building. According to organizers, the rally is linked to the events of February 25, 1921, when the Russian Bolshevik Red Army invaded Georgia.

Daily pro-European protests outside the Parliament of Georgia have now continued for more than 450 days.

● Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II called on believers to seek reconciliation ahead of the start of Lent.

● Archbishop Iakob Iakobishvili of Bodbe also called for reconciliation during a sermon. “The authorities must understand that together with the Church they need to take steps toward national reconciliation. If this is not done, everyone will receive what is due […] We call on everyone to reflect on living together without remaining in a state of tension. If we think about adopting laws to stop someone at some point, let us think about what God wants,” he said.

● Starting March 1, foreign citizens without permanent residency will be banned from working as couriers, guides, and taxi drivers.

● In Batumi, at the Medina Clinic, an employee gave birth in a restroom and allegedly attempted to harm the newborn. According to available information, the baby sustained very serious injuries but survived and is in intensive care. The mother is undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.

● Three minors were killed in a road accident in the village of Melani in Georgia’s Gurjaani district. According to local residents, a 14-year-old was driving the car. After the collision, the vehicle overturned and caught fire; two passengers survived.

● Pro-government media have published a video investigation by Baku TV analyzing footage of an incident in Washington, D.C. between members of the Azerbaijani presidential security service and a group of activists who staged a protest outside the hotel where President Ilham Aliyev was staying. The report disputes claims by several Western and Russian media outlets, including BBC, that disproportionate force was used against the protesters. According to the publication, “individuals calling themselves ‘protesters’ deliberately engaged in provocations despite police demands to leave the area and attempted to unsettle members of the presidential state security service. One of the provocateurs suddenly rushed toward the guards, trying to break through their cordon. This created a real risk of a threat to the head of state’s vehicle. The security service personnel acted promptly and within their authority. No use of tasers, weapons, or even physical force intended to cause harm was recorded — there was only intervention aimed at detention,” the report states.

●A campaign against Azerbaijan is being carried out on social media and in various media outlets, according to a commission of the Milli Majlis dealing with foreign interference and hybrid threats. According to the commission, this activity is “controlled from a single center” and has been ongoing for more than a year. It is reported that the goal is to “confuse public opinion, create conflict within society, and undermine trust in state institutions.” The commission claims the campaign has intensified amid actions by President Ilham Aliyev related to restoring Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, participating in energy projects, and pursuing an independent policy regarding regional transport corridors. The commission stated that the state will not change its position on “hybrid threats” and will continue to protect its information space.

● Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Farzaneh Sadegh, is on a visit to Azerbaijan, where she is taking part in the latest meeting of the Azerbaijan–Iran Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation. The main goals are described as removing existing obstacles and accelerating the implementation of joint economic projects, primarily in transport, energy, trade, and cultural cooperation.

● Igbal Abilov (pictured), an ethnographer and editor-in-chief of the journal Vestnik of the Talysh National Academy, who was sentenced to 18 years on treason charges, protested in a letter from prison against pressure on the Talysh language in Azerbaijan. “February 21 — International Mother Language Day — is a sad day for me, because it once again reminds me that my native language, Talysh, is on the verge of extinction. Its use in public life in Azerbaijan is accompanied by fear and is possible only with permission. Even in pretrial detention, I was forbidden to speak Talysh on the phone with my parents […] The sentence handed down to me is part of a death sentence that these forces have issued to my people and my native language,” Abilov wrote. Read more here

● Several state institutions in Azerbaijan are being reorganized through mergers. The Media Development Agency of Azerbaijan will be expanded by absorbing the Center for Social Research. The Center of Analysis of International Relations will merge with the Baku International Multiculturalism Centre and operate under the new name “Center for Analysis of International Relations and Multiculturalism.” Property, rights, and obligations will be transferred from the former bodies to the new institutions. Approval of their charters, appointment of leadership, staffing levels, and salaries will be coordinated with the president.

Top stories in Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia from 16-20 February, 2026