On February 15, early presidential elections will be held in the self-proclaimed republic of Abkhazia. Five candidates submitted documents to the CEC: acting of President Badra Gunba, ex-Minister of Economy, leader of the Abkhaz People's Movement Adgur Ardzinba, former trade representative of Abkhazia in Moscow Oleg Bartsits, ex-head of the Control Chamber Robert Arshba and chairman of the board of the commercial bank "Black Sea Development Bank" Adgur Khurkhumal.

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a long interview to the American podcaster of Ukrainian origin Lex Friedman. Commenting on Vladimir Putin's policy in Ukraine, Zelensky cited the war in Chechnya as an example. He metaphorically noted that the President of Russia was destroying Chechens "with love" - ​​"suffocating in his arms."

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with the relatives of the dead crew members and the surviving flight attendants of the Embraer plane of the AZAL airline. On December 25, 2024, he was following a flight from Baku to Grozny and crashed in Aktau (Kazakhstan).

Real estate and other property worth more than 500 million rubles were confiscated from the ex-head of the Department of Social and Economic Development of the North Caucasian Federal District, Igor Hranovsky. Since March 2024, he has been under arrest and accused of embezzlement of budget funds.

The so-called "mask action" took place near the parliament building in the capital of Georgia. Demonstrators protested against the ban on the use of face coverings, including medical masks, during peaceful assemblies, introduced at the end of last year. Georgian Dream introduced the corresponding amendment to the law in an accelerated manner. Violation of this rule is subject to a fine of 2,000 GEL.

The member of the European Parliament from Latvia, Ryhards Kols, who actively supports the Georgian opposition, called the visit to Tbilisi by the President of the OSCE PA Pia Kauma, scheduled for January 8-10, a "catastrophic and untimely step". According to the MEP, the Georgian authorities will present this visit as a "propaganda victory" against the background of the strengthening "autocracy" in the country.

The monthly salaries of the administration of the Central Election Committee of Georgia increased by more than 20%. This was reported by Mtavari TV channel.

For 10 months of 2024, Armenia accounted for 1.8% of the foreign trade of the Russian Federation, and it was in 8th place among other countries. Italy is next, and Uzbekistan closes the top 10. The three leaders were China, India and Turkey.

Brazilian specialists have begun studying the "black boxes" of the Embraer 190 passenger liner of Azerbaijan Airlines. The analysis is conducted in the presence of investigators from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia.

The Georgian authorities have started procedures for the expulsion of foreign citizens who took part in mass pro-European protests in Tbilisi. This is reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the country.