Engineering surveys have already begun in Armenia for the railway component of TRIPP—a transport project designed to link the region's major transport corridors and serve as part of the Trans-Caspian Trade Route. This was announced by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

On August 9, three people—a 15-year-old boy and two of his uncles—died in the Sunzha River in the Sernovodsky District of Chechnya. The men rushed into the water when the boy began to drown but were unable to get out of the river themselves.

Georgia's opposition has sharply criticized Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze after he said the August 2008 war began on August 7, when Georgian forces attacked Tskhinvali. The Coalition for Change accused the prime minister of effectively repeating the Kremlin's narrative, while the United National Movement described his remarks as "a direct betrayal of Georgia's national interests."

Lawmakers from several Turkish political parties have jointly called on the government to establish direct transport links between Turkey and Abkhazia and to recognize Abkhaz passports as valid travel documents. According to the Turkish newspaper Jineps Gazetesi, this is the first time such demands have been publicly voiced at the interparty parliamentary level.