11 January – Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili joins world leaders in the
Paris "unity rally" in solidarity of
France after the
Charlie Hebdo shooting.[1]
20 January – Iuri Vazagashvili, a campaigner for an investigation of the death of his 22-year-old son in a controversial police operation in Tbilisi in 2006, dies in an explosion while visiting his son's grave. Police launches an investigation on suspicion of premeditated murder.[2]
23 January –
Alexander Tchikaidze, Georgia's Interior Minister, resigns, citing accusations of his being involved in "protecting" the police officers participating in an operation, in 2006, which killed two young men, including Zurab Vazagashvili, whose father died in an explosion on 20 January 2015.[3]
26 January – Tchikaidze is succeeded as Minister of Internal Affairs by
Vakhtang Gomelauri, his deputy and former security detail of the ex-Prime Minister
Bidzina Ivanishvili.[4]
February
2 February – Forty six
non-governmental organizations release a joint statement, condemning ex-Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili's recent remarks about his plans to look into activities of several civil society personalities as "threatening" and alluding to Ivanishvili as "an informal ruler of the state".[5]
2 February – Five former and six current Interior Ministry officers are arrested in connection to the 2006 police operation in which two young men, Zurab Vazagashvili and Aleksandre Khubulov, were shot to death in what the prosecution claims was a "
premeditated murder", planned and executed by Irakli Pirtskhalava, then-deputy chief of criminal police, for the sake of personal revenge.[6]
4 February –
President of RussiaVladimir Putin signs into law the ratification of the treaty of "alliance and strategic partnership" with Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia, sparking protests from Tbilisi.[7]
8 February – Chief Prosecutor's Office declares the high-profile murder of Zurab Vazagashvili solved as police arrests a policeman suspected of planting a hand grenade that killed Vazagashvili at his son's grave.[8]
18 February – A statement by the high-ranking Georgian diplomat Zurab Abashidze that Georgia joining the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization is not currently on the agenda sparks controversy with the opposition politicians denouncing the government's attempts at appeasing Russia.[11]
18 March – Russia and Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia sign a treaty of "alliance and integration", giving Russia the responsibility for the defense and security of South Ossetia. The treaty is denounced by the Georgian government as an "actual annexation".[14]
21 March – The opposition United National Movement party holds a large anti-government rally in downtown Tbilisi.[15]
April
6 April – The ethnic
Kist elders from Georgia's
Pankisi Gorge call on the government of Georgia to undertake measures to stop recruitment of the local Muslim youth by the
Islamic State.[16]
22 April – The Government of Georgia launches the state-funded Hepatitis C Elimination Program and partners with the U.S.-based
Gilead Sciences, which offers its highly effective but costly anti-viral drug
Sovaldi (Sofosbuvir) for free.[18]
26 April – Construction of a new Cathedral of the Holy Virgin of Iveron on Makhtata Hill is finalized in Tbilisi.[19]
May
The U.S. paratroopers take part in Georgia's
Independence Day celebrations, on 26 May 2015, after conclusion of the joint U.S.-Georgia drills Noble Partner.
22 May –
European Union's
Eastern Partnership summit in
Riga,
Latvia, concludes with a joint declaration praising the "progress made by Georgia and Ukraine respectively in the implementation of their Visa Liberalisation Action Plans", but falls short of granting visa-free regime to these countries for the time being.[23][24]
25 May – Four high-profile members of the Parliament of Georgia—
Zurab Japaridze, Pavle Kublashvili,
Giorgi Khachidze, and Giorgi Meladze—leave the opposition United National Movement, declaring they will stay in opposition to the incumbent government.[25]
30 May – Georgia's former President
Mikheil Saakashvili is appointed by President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko governor of the
Odesa Oblast.[26]
14 June – Several people, including a local mosque
imam from the
Pankisi Gorge, are arrested in a special police operation on charges of recruiting fighters for the
Islamic State group.[29]
10 July – Georgia accuses the Russian troops in South Ossetia in installing "border demarcation" banners so as a small portion of the
Baku-Supsa pipeline falls within the Russian-occupied territory.[31]
17 July – The Parliament of Georgia passes a legal amendment transferring responsibility for banking supervision from the
National Bank of Georgia to a specially created new agency despite international and domestic criticism.[32] President Margvelashvili vetoes the law, but the Parliament's ruling majority is able to override it in September.[33]
15 August – The Georgian Defense Ministry reinstates its four employees released from their pre-trial detention over corruption charges in a controversial case which has led to a split in the ruling Georgian Dream coalition in 2014.[34]
31 August – The Georgian government, South Korea's water resource agency
K-water and Italian construction company
Salini Impregilo sign series of contracts in Tbilisi for construction of 280MW
Nenskra hydro power plant in Georgia's highland region of
Svaneti.[36]
September
18 September – Tbilisi's ex-mayor and one of the leaders of the opposition UNM party,
Gigi Ugulava, is sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison for misspending of public funds during his mayoral tenure. The verdict comes a day after Ugulava is released from a 14-month pretrial detention following winning a landmark
Constitutional Court case. The opposition claims the court's decision is politically motivated.[37]
29 September – Georgia joins the
NATO Response Force, a high readiness and technologically advanced force led by NATO.[38]
November
5 November – In an ownership dispute over the private television
Rustavi 2, known for its criticism of the current government, a Tbilisi City Court judge orders to appoint interim management the replacing broadcaster's director general
Nika Gvaramia and chief financial officer Kakha Damenia. Earlier, in August, the court has frozen assets of Rustavi 2 TV as part of the lawsuit by the broadcaster's former owner Kiber Khalvashi. The rulings lead to domestic criticism and international concerns.[39]
12 November – The Tbilisi City Court judge, Tamaz Urtmelidze, partly overturns his earlier ruling and reinstates Rustavi 2 TV's top management.[39]
December
2 December – At a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, the alliance reaffirms its "open door" policy toward Georgia, but states the country should first go through a
Membership Action Plan (MAP) phase.[40]
4 December – A decree by President Margvelashvili deprives ex-President and current Ukrainian official Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgian citizenship on account of his becoming a foreign country national.[41]
10 December – The Chief Prosecutor's Office launches an investigation into alleged influence peddling after Aleko Elisashvili, ex-chairman of the State Pardons Commission, has claimed that senior politicians from the ruling Georgian Dream coalitions were trying to exert undue pressure on him.[42][43]
18 December – The
European Commission states that Georgia has fulfilled all the benchmarks of its visa liberalization action plan and it will put forth to the EU member states a legislative proposal on visa waiver for the citizens of Georgia.[44]
22 December – The
Russian Foreign Ministry announces easing visa requirements for the Georgian nationals starting from December 23.[45]
23 December – Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili unexpectedly announces his resignation, without specifying reasons behind his decision.[46]
24 December – Belgium becomes the last European Union member state to ratify Georgia's Association Agreement with the EU.[47]