The News in Brief

U.S. Delegation Calls on Patriarch Shio III to Serve as Voice of Reconciliation

The U.S. Embassy released a statement on May 30 describing its delegation's May 27 meeting with Patriarch Shio III at the Patriarchate in Tbilisi, expressing hope that the Church would continue its historic mission of reconciliation and national unity.

The delegation, which included State Department representatives Charles Yockey and Peter Andreoli alongside Chargé d'Affaires Alan Purcell, said it highlighted "the civilizational ties that form the foundation of U.S.-Georgia relations," describing faith, family, national identity, and "deep respect for God-given rights that uphold human dignity" as the cornerstone of the bilateral friendship.

The statement emphasized the Church's "historic mission of serving as a voice of reconciliation among Georgians" and expressed hope that Shio III would "continue this mission of strengthening national unity with renewed spirit." According to the statement, the United States looks forward to deepening its relationship with the Georgian Orthodox Church.



Zourabichvili at Odessa Forum: Russia Using Georgia as Test Model for Hybrid War

Georgia's fifth president Salome Zourabichvili said Russia is waging a hybrid war against Georgia as a "test model," speaking at the Black Sea Security Forum in Odessa.

Zourabichvili said that while the myth of Russia's military invincibility had been shattered in Ukraine, Moscow was simultaneously pursuing a different kind of war elsewhere. "It is waging war not only with missiles, but also through elections, propaganda, institutional capture, intimidation of civil society and the export of its own legislative coercion mechanism. All the laws adopted in Georgia are part of a campaign of hybrid interference, which aims to divert Georgia from the European path," she said.

She described Russia as remaining an imperialist power and framed the struggles of Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova as part of the same fundamental question: "whether Russia's neighboring countries have the sovereign right to choose their own future and whether the international community will protect this right."