Tbilisi, Georgia — On a clear October day, the snow-capped Caucasus mountain peaks of Georgia’s South Ossetia are visible from Tbilisi. Yet for most Georgians, the region is off-limits. 

South Ossetia, and Abkhazia farther to the west, have been under the control of Russian-backed separatists since 1992. Both regions broke away from Georgia during the collapse of the Soviet Union, in brutal ethnic conflicts stoked by Moscow.  

Russia’s historical influence looms over Georgia’s upcoming election on Oct. 26, which is widely seen as a referendum on a future aligned to the West or to Moscow. 

The ruling Georgian Dream party has pledged to reconcile with the breakaway regions and reunite Georgia. 

“I want to use this opportunity to address our people on the other side of occupation land in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions,” Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said at the United Nations’ General Assembly last month. 

“Whatever actions we take are done to help our people, so that one day with our children we can live together in one happy, united and developed Georgia. On this side of the occupation line, we will always meet you with an open heart. We have to rebuild all the broken bridges in our country,” Kobakhidze added. 

Russian forces invaded Georgia in 2008, before formally recognizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. Several hundred Georgian soldiers and civilians died in the five-day conflict. Russia’s troops still occupy 20% of Georgian territory, including the two breakaway regions. 

Yet the billionaire founder of Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, blames Georgia for the conflict, accusing the “criminal regime” of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili of starting the war on the orders of foreign powers. 

“Immediately after the October 26 elections, those who instigated the war will face justice,” Ivanishvili said at a campaign event on Sept. 15 in Gori, a city briefly occupied by Russian forces in 2008. He said that Georgia would then apologize for the war. 

Ivanishvili’s comments sparked widespread anger among Georgians.  

Critics said it’s a stark example of Georgian Dream’s closer alignment with Russia — but this time, it backfired. 

“In this case, they didn’t get a favorable response from Russia,” noted political analyst Ghia Nodia of Georgia’s Ilia State University. “Russia stated that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are independent states, and reunification with Georgia isn’t going to happen.” 

Georgian Dream officials defended Ivanishvili’s comments. 

“In order to resolve this conflict, of course, there’s the issue with Russia, but there’s also the problem between Georgian society and the Ossetians and Abkhazians,” said Nikoloz Samkharadze, a member of Georgian Dream and chairman of the parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee. “Reconciliation won’t happen unless these societies forgive and apologize to one another.” 

The legacy of Stalin 

The weight of history on the upcoming election extends from well before the collapse of communism and Georgian independence in 1991.  

Giorgi Kandelaki is from the Tbilisi-based Soviet Past Research Laboratory, an organization dedicated to busting romanticized myths about the Soviet Union and uncovering the truth of Communist rule. He said Georgian Dream’s leaders, aided by Moscow, are attempting to rewrite the history of Georgian-born Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin — an effort to stoke divisive culture wars ahead of the election. 

“Many polls indicate that Stalin’s popularity is rising in Georgia, with him being seen as a model of Georgian patriotism,” Kandelaki told VOA. 

“This narrative paints Western civilization as a threat, for example by attempting to ‘make us all gay,’ while portraying the Russian world, with an emphasis on religion, as the savior of our souls. In this project, Stalin, as an icon of Georgian patriotism, plays a crucial role.

“Georgian Dream, especially its grassroots supporters and local leaders in the regions, also plays a role in promoting this narrative,” he added. 

More than 70 years after his death, the debate over Stalin’s legacy remains a live issue in Georgia’s election.  

The European Union has frozen accession talks with the Georgian government, citing concerns over a slide towards autocracy. Last Friday, EU lawmakers approved a resolution that expressed regret over the “growing cult of Stalin and the related increase in Soviet nostalgia in Georgia, supported by the ruling government, which underscores its closer alignment with Russia.”  

Georgian Dream strongly rejected that characterization.  

“This is utter nonsense and absurd. No one is promoting the cult of Stalin in Georgia,” Samkharadze told VOA. “I urge [EU lawmakers] to once again come to Georgia and show me the processes that supposedly contribute to promoting the cult of Stalin. This is especially offensive to me, considering I come from a family that was repressed by the Stalin regime.” 

The EU resolution, which calls for sanctions to be imposed on Ivanishvili, also suggested that the Georgian government was trying to bury the truth about what happened during Soviet times.

“Some of Georgia’s most important Soviet-era archives (including the archives of the former KGB and the former Central Committee of the Communist Party) have been completely closed since October 2023 without any explanation,” according to the EU parliament resolution. 

Giorgi Kandelaki of the Soviet Past Research Laboratory echoed that complaint. “Since 2013, [the Georgian government] has implemented increasingly restrictive measures, gradually making it harder for researchers to access these archives. Today, it’s easier to study Soviet archives in Russia than it is in Georgia,” he said. 

Again, Georgian Dream denied those accusations. “Regarding the archives, there are no restrictions, except for foreign citizens. Georgian citizens have no restrictions whatsoever,” Samkharadze told VOA. 

Georgian Dream insisted it intends to join the EU by 2030, an aspiration enshrined in the country’s constitution. The party denied it is pro-Russian, highlighting resolutions it has sponsored at the U.N. condemning Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The party has held power since 2012 — but polls suggest it will struggle to retain its majority in the upcoming election.  

Aka Zarqua, the editor-in-chief of the website Realpolitika, said voters no longer trust Georgian Dream. 

“The strategic ambiguity they tried to maintain over the years — claiming to support the EU and the West, while simultaneously taking anti-Western steps — has collapsed,” he said.
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Washington — Russian-backed radio programmer Sputnik no longer broadcasts in the Washington market after years of criticism that its local radio station, WZHF, carries antisemitic content and false information about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Political cartoonist Ted Rall, who described himself as a guest on Sputnik’s programming, posted a comment Tuesday on X: “Biden/Harris say they’re fighting for democracy. Yet: today Sputnik News US is being forced to shut down today due to Biden/Harris sanctions. My radio show and cartoons for them are being quashed. So are the other amazing shows. I go off the air with the station at noon.” 

Manila Chan, a self-described indie journalist, tweeted Tuesday that she and Rall would be relaunching their show on YouTube “following sanctions that have shut down RT+Sputnik.” 

As first reported by The Desk, a news website on the business of streaming media, Sputnik stopped programming in its Washington-based market and three stations in the Kansas City, Missouri, area this week. 

Last month, the U.S. State Department introduced new sanctions on Russian-backed broadcasters, including television channel RT, for fundraising on behalf of the Russian military in opposition to Ukraine. The sanctions marked the first time the United States accused Russian broadcasters of providing direct and material military support. 

“RT wants its new covert intelligence capabilities, like its longstanding propaganda disinformation efforts, to remain hidden. Our most powerful antidote to Russia’s lies is the truth. It’s shining a bright light on what the Kremlin is trying to do under the cover of darkness,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month.  

The sanctions did not specifically prohibit the content of the programming but made it more difficult for Sputnik to continue buying airtime on U.S. stations. 

“As Foreign Missions Act-designated entities, Rossiya Segodnya, RIA Novosti, RT, TV-Novosti, Ruptly, and Sputnik will be required to notify the State Department of all personnel working in the United States. The entities will also be required to disclose all real property they hold within the United States,” said the State Department in a September 4 statement. 

RT and RT America, the TV and digital media company founded by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2005, directs Sputnik. Prior to this week, five U.S. radio stations carried Russian government-backed Sputnik programming. 

Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the National Association of Broadcasters said in a statement, “While the First Amendment protects freedom of speech, however, it does not prevent private actors from exercising sound, moral judgment. To that end, given the unprovoked aggression exhibited by Russia against the free and sovereign people of Ukraine, NAB calls on broadcasters to cease carrying any state-sponsored programming with ties to the Russian government or its agents.”

“While we know that airings of such programs are extremely limited, we believe that our nation must stand fully united against misinformation and for freedom and democracy across the globe,” said NAB.

In January, Republican Representative Jack Bergman called on the Federal Communications Commission to revoke the license of Radio Sputnik Washington affiliate WZHF (1390) and its translator W288BS at 105.5 FM. In the letter, Bergman cited a steady stream of antisemitic tropes and false information about the war in Ukraine. 

“An FCC licensee clearly has a First Amendment right to broadcast. However, that right is tempered by its obligation to broadcast programming that is in the public interest and responsive to the needs of the local community,” Bergman wrote in the letter.

He also argued the licensees “have made no effort to ascertain the needs or interests of the local community” and that their programming decisions “are based exclusively on monetary considerations.”

In 2018, three Democratic members of Congress asked then-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to investigate Sputnik’s alleged efforts to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. 

“In Washington, D.C., listeners need only tune their radios to 105.5 FM to hear the Russian government’s effort to influence U.S. policy,” the letter from Democratic Representatives Anna Eshoo, Mike Doyle and Frank Pallone said. “Disturbingly, this means the Kremlin’s propaganda messages are being broadcast over a license granted by the FCC.” 

Pai — a Trump administration appointee — declined to investigate, saying the First Amendment prevented the FCC “from interfering with a broadcast licensee’s choice of programming, even if that programming may be objectionable to many listeners.” 

A bipartisan group of members of Congress introduced the Identifying Propaganda on Our Airwaves Act in 2018. 

“Foreign governments shouldn’t be able to hide behind shell companies to fund misinformation and propaganda on American airwaves,” said Democratic Senator Brian Schatz, a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

“By giving the FCC the authority to require disclosure of this foreign propaganda, our bipartisan bill will help stop this practice and improve programming transparency on TV and the radio,” he said.

The bill did not advance in Congress. Federal regulations already prevent foreign governments from holding U.S. broadcast licenses. 
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for Ukraine to receive an unconditional invitation to join NATO and for the deployment of a non-nuclear deterrent to Russian aggression as he went before Ukraine’s parliament Wednesday to outline his “victory plan” in the fight against Russia’s invasion. 

“Together with our partners, we must change the circumstances so that the war ends. Regardless of what Putin wants,” Zelenskyy said.  “We must all change the circumstances so that Russia is forced to peace.” 

Other parts of the part plan include post-war reconstruction pledges from Ukrainian allies as well as help in defending Ukraine’s natural mineral resources. 

Zelenskyy has been discussing the plan in recent weeks in meetings with Western leaders. 

He said he will do so again Thursday as he attends a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels. 

Russia has opposed Ukraine joining NATO, a topic that NATO leaders have said is only a matter to be decided between Ukraine and the alliance itself. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed Zelenskyy’s proposal, calling it an “ephemeral peace plan.” 

“The only peace plan there can be is for the Kyiv regime to realize the futility of the policy it is pursuing and understand the need to sober up,” Peskov said. 

Ukraine’s military said Wednesday it shot down 51 of 136 drones that Russia used to target the country in overnight attacks.    

The intercepts took place over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Sumy, Ternopil and Zhytomyr regions, the Ukrainian air force said.    

Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said air raid alerts lasted for two hours in the Ukrainian capital, but that air defenses destroyed all of the drones that targeted the area. There were no reports of damage or casualties, Popko said on Telegram.    

Russia also fired two missiles as part of its attack.    

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported Wednesday that its air defenses destroyed two Ukrainian aerial drones over the Belgorod region and another drone over Voronezh.    

Some information for this report was provided by Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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SHENGJIN, Albania — A ship carrying the first group of migrants to be processed in Albania under a deal with Italy arrived in the port of Shengjin on Wednesday morning, setting in motion Rome’s controversial plan to process thousands of asylum seekers abroad.   

Italy has built two reception centers in Albania, in the first scheme by a European Union nation to divert migrants to a non-E.U. country. The plan aims to deter irregular arrivals to Italy, but has been criticized by rights groups who say it restricts migrants’ right to asylum.   

The Libra, an Italian navy ship, docked at Shengjin, Reuters footage showed. Sixteen migrants were escorted into a newly built processing center at the port, which was ringed by a high metal fence and adorned with Italian and E.U. flags.  

Rising tension in Europe over migration issues has seen many E.U. nations, including Germany and Poland, propose or adopt tougher policies. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said this week that her country was setting an example for the rest of Europe with the Albanian scheme.  

A small group of protesters gathered at the port on Wednesday. “The European dream ends here,” one banner read.  

“These immigrants who have done long, dangerous journeys to make it to Europe are now rerouting to Albania so that they will go back to their home countries… It’s ending for us [the concept of] Europe as a place of democracy, of values, of human rights,” said Arilda Lleshi, an Albanian human rights activist.  

The group of migrants taken to Albania comprised 10 Bangladeshis and six Egyptians who were picked up at sea on Sunday aboard boats that had set sail from Libya.  

After processing in Shengjin, they will be taken inland to the village of Gjader, a 15-minute drive away, where they will be accommodated until their papers are finalized.  

They will then be sent to Italy if their asylum request is granted, or sent to their home country if rejected.  

The facilities in Shengjin and Gjader will be staffed by Italian personnel. Under the deal, the total number of migrants present at one time in Albania cannot be more than 3,000.  

Italy has said only “non-vulnerable” men coming from countries classified as safe would be sent to Albania, to a limit of 36,000 migrants a year.  

At present there are 21 such nations on the Italian list. Last year, 56,588 migrants arrived in Italy from just four of them — Bangladesh, Egypt, Ivory Coast and Tunisia. Most abscond from reception centers and head to wealthier northern Europe. 
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LONDON — Some of the most prominent artificial intelligence models are falling short of European regulations in key areas such as cybersecurity resilience and discriminatory output, according to data seen by Reuters.

The EU had long debated new AI regulations before OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public in late 2022. The record-breaking popularity and ensuing public debate over the supposed existential risks of such models spurred lawmakers to draw up specific rules around “general-purpose” AIs.

Now a new tool designed by Swiss startup LatticeFlow and partners, and supported by European Union officials, has tested generative AI models developed by big tech companies like Meta and OpenAI across dozens of categories in line with the bloc’s wide-sweeping AI Act, which is coming into effect in stages over the next two years.

Awarding each model a score between 0 and 1, a leaderboard published by LatticeFlow on Wednesday showed models developed by Alibaba, Anthropic, OpenAI, Meta and Mistral all received average scores of 0.75 or above.

However, the company’s “Large Language Model (LLM) Checker” uncovered some models’ shortcomings in key areas, spotlighting where companies may need to divert resources in order to ensure compliance.

Companies failing to comply with the AI Act will face fines of $38 million or 7% of global annual turnover.

Mixed results

At present, the EU is still trying to establish how the AI Act’s rules around generative AI tools like ChatGPT will be enforced, convening experts to craft a code of practice governing the technology by spring 2025.

But LatticeFlow’s test, developed in collaboration with researchers at Swiss university ETH Zurich and Bulgarian research institute INSAIT, offers an early indicator of specific areas where tech companies risk falling short of the law.

For example, discriminatory output has been a persistent issue in the development of generative AI models, reflecting human biases around gender, race and other areas when prompted.

When testing for discriminatory output, LatticeFlow’s LLM Checker gave OpenAI’s “GPT-3.5 Turbo” a relatively low score of 0.46. For the same category, Alibaba Cloud’s 9988.HK “Qwen1.5 72B Chat” model received only a 0.37.

Testing for “prompt hijacking,” a type of cyberattack in which hackers disguise a malicious prompt as legitimate to extract sensitive information, the LLM Checker awarded Meta’s “Llama 2 13B Chat” model a score of 0.42. In the same category, French startup Mistral’s “8x7B Instruct” model received 0.38.

“Claude 3 Opus,” a model developed by Google-backed Anthropic, received the highest average score, 0.89.

The test was designed in line with the text of the AI Act, and will be extended to encompass further enforcement measures as they are introduced. LatticeFlow said the LLM Checker would be freely available for developers to test their models’ compliance online.

Petar Tsankov, the firm’s CEO and cofounder, told Reuters the test results were positive overall and offered companies a roadmap for them to fine-tune their models in line with the AI Act.

“The EU is still working out all the compliance benchmarks, but we can already see some gaps in the models,” he said. “With a greater focus on optimizing for compliance, we believe model providers can be well-prepared to meet regulatory requirements.”

Meta declined to comment. Alibaba, Anthropic, Mistral, and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

While the European Commission cannot verify external tools, the body has been informed throughout the LLM Checker’s development and described it as a “first step” in putting the new laws into action.

A spokesperson for the European Commission said: “The Commission welcomes this study and AI model evaluation platform as a first step in translating the EU AI Act into technical requirements.”
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Ukraine’s military said Wednesday it shot down 51 drones that Russia used to target the country in overnight attacks.

The intercepts took place over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Sumy, Ternopil and Zhytomyr regions, the Ukrainian air force said.

Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said air raid alerts lasted for two hours in the Ukrainian capital, but that air defenses destroyed all of the drones that targeted the area. There were no reports of damage or casualties, Popko said on Telegram.

Russia also fired two missiles as part of its attack.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported Wednesday that its air defenses destroyed two Ukrainian aerial drones over the Belgorod region and another drone over Voronezh.
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JABLANICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Several thousand mourners in southern Bosnia converged Tuesday around 19 caskets covered in traditional Islamic green cloth, part of a funeral service held for those killed during the destructive floods and landslides that hit the country in early October.

Torrential rains and winds slammed four municipalities in central and southern Bosnia early on Oct. 4, catching people by surprise.

Entire areas were cut off as flash floods swept away roads and bridges, and at least 26 people were reported dead. Authorities are still looking for one missing person.

The 19 victims were from Donja Jablanica, a village outside the town of Jablanica where the Bosnian Islamic Community Grand Mufti Husein Kavazovic led the service.

“No words are necessary,” Kavazovic said, addressing the mourners as they stood outside Jablanica Mosque. “Although the grief is deep and unbearable, we are aware that God decides about our lives. We are mortals.”

Burials were to be held separately after the service ended.

People from Donja Jablanica said they heard a thunderous roar before piles of rocks, mud and water descended on the village. Many houses were demolished and some families lost most of their members.

Enes Dzino said his daughter-in-law’s nine family members were killed in the floods, except for one child who has been hospitalized.

“It’s hard, very hard to bear,” he said. “They were all gone in a second, her entire family. All killed.”

Bosnia’s neighbors and European Union countries sent help.

Human-caused climate change increases the intensity of rainfall because warm air holds more moisture. This summer, the Balkans were also hit by long-lasting record temperatures, causing a drought. Scientists said the dried-out land has hampered the absorption of floodwaters.
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LONDON — British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is expected to visit Beijing and Shanghai, the highest-level trip to China since the Labour government came to power.

Analysts say they will be watching the trip for signs of a possible reset in U.K.-China relations, which have been fraught in recent years. 

Reuters reported last week that Lammy is expected to meet with Chinese officials in Beijing and representatives of British companies in Shanghai. According to sources familiar with the matter, the trip will last two days.

The U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson told VOA that the secretary’s travel plans have not been publicly announced.

At the same time, sources told Sky News that U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is considering a visit to China to resume an economic and financial dialogue that was interrupted in 2019.

During this year’s parliamentary election campaign, the Labour Party promised to conduct a comprehensive audit of U.K.-China relations to develop a “long-term strategic approach” to the relationship.

In August, during a phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that despite the differences, there was a need to have frank exchanges while promoting closer economic ties and global cooperation.

Over the past decade, ties between the U.K. and China have been on a roller coaster. In 2015, then-Prime Minister David Cameron declared a “golden age” in U.K.-China relations. However, by 2020, Boris Johnson’s government was clashing with Beijing over issues such as the Hong Kong National Security Law and the coronavirus pandemic as well as the exclusion of Huawei from Britain’s 5G network construction.

James Jennion, an associate fellow of the British Foreign Policy Group and co-founder of the Labour Campaign for Human Rights, told VOA that he thinks the visit will focus mainly on cooperative aspects of the relationship.

“It’s been made clear this visit is intended as a ‘reset’ of our relations with Beijing, so trade and investment will be front and center,” Jennion said.

He also said cooperation cannot come at the cost of U.K. values and human rights responsibilities.

“Human rights issues, if discussed, will likely cover ‘third-party’ issues like the Middle East and Ukraine, where possible joint solutions will be discussed. Given the nature and purpose of the trip,” he added. 

“I would be very surprised if controversial [to China] issues like Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and Taiwan are mentioned, as these have been the major friction points in previous years.” 

Observers say the business community generally wants to improve economic and trade relations with China, especially in the post-Brexit era, and note that Britain needs to open new markets. Human rights groups, however, have called for the U.K. not to compromise on human rights and national security.

Megan Khoo, a policy adviser for Hong Kong Watch, a human rights NGO based in London, told VOA the group “hopes that the Foreign Secretary uses his bilateral meetings to draw attention to the declining human rights situation in Hong Kong. This is especially important following the passage of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance and the recent sentencing of two former Stand News editors under colonial-era sedition laws.”

Khoo said Lammy should make it clear that Britain remains committed to the observance of human rights in Hong Kong, given its historical commitments to the city.

“The Foreign Secretary should also signal that the U.K. takes seriously its duty to protect the more than 150,000 Hong Kongers who are now living in the U.K. and wish to remain free from political repression,” she said.

  

Luke De Pulford, executive director for the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said Beijing will test Lammy’s resolve. 

“Let’s see if he measures up and sticks with his clear commitments he made to persecuted Uyghurs while in opposition,” De Pulford said, adding that he is not encouraged by the early signs.

“Lammy has an opportunity to show strength in defense of U.K. values, which are core to the national interest,” he said.

China’s recent military exercises around Taiwan could also be a topic of discussion. As an ally of the U.S., the U.K. has been concerned about the security situation in the Indo-Pacific region.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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The republic of Georgia – which was part of the Soviet Union until independence in 1991 – is preparing for a crucial election on October 26th, which is widely seen as a choice between a future aligned with the West or Russia. Western powers accuse the ruling Georgian Dream party of a backsliding of democracy. As Henry Ridgwell reports from the capital, Tbilisi, the party’s leaders are seeking ahead of the election to capitalize on Georgian voters’ fears of war. (Camera: Henry Ridgwell)
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