Georgia: Georgian president, prime minister mark Victory Day in capital.

SHOTLIST TBILISI, GEORGIA (MAY 9, 2026) (USERS MUST CREDIT “GEORGIAN PRESIDENT MIKHEIL KAVELASHVILI” HANDOUT – FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY) (OVERLAID WITH MUSIC) 1. SUN SHINING OVER PARK 2. STATUE OF MELITON KANTARIA, SOVIET ARMY SERGEANT (2 SHOTS) 3. ELDERLY WAR VETERAN HOLDING FLOWERS, GREETED BY BOY AS OTHERS SMILE 4. GEORGIAN PRESIDENT MIKHEIL KAVELASHVILI, PRIME MINISTER IRAKLI KOBAKHIDZE, TBILISI MAYOR KAKHA KALADZE AND PARLIAMENT SPEAKER SHALVA PAPUASHVILI WALKING AT VETERANS, CULTURE AND RECREATION PARK 5. CLOSE-UP OF WAR VETERAN WEARING MEDALS 6. MEDIUM SHOT OF KAVELASHVILI, KOBAKHIDZE, KALADZE AND PAPUASHVILI WALKING TOWARD MELITON KANTARIA MEMORIAL TO LAY FLOWERS (2 SHOTS) 7. CLOSE-UP OF STATUE 8. KAVELASHVILI, KOBAKHIDZE, KALADZE AND PAPUASHVILI OBSERVING MOMENT OF SILENCE IN FRONT OF STATUE 9. MEDIUM SHOT OF STATUE 10. CLOSE-UP OF ELDERLY WAR VETERAN’S HAND 11. MIKHEIL KAVELASHVILI SHAKING HANDS WITH WAR VETERANS 12. CLOSE-UP OF FLOWERS 13. MEDIUM SHOT OF MIKHEIL KAVELASHVILI POSING FOR PHOTO WITH BOY IN PARK TBILISI, GEORGIA (MAY 9, 2026) (USERS MUST CREDIT “GEORGIAN PRESIDENT MIKHEIL KAVELASHVILI” HANDOUT – FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY) - Georgia marked the 81st anniversary of Victory Day on May 9, commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and government officials attended a ceremony at the Veterans, Culture and Recreation Park in the capital Tbilisi. Kavelashvili and Kobakhidze laid flowers at the monument of a Georgian soldier who served in the former Soviet Union army during World War II, and met with veterans attending the ceremony. Speaking at the event, Kobakhidze said Georgia respectfully remembered those who lost their lives in the war, adding that 300,000 Georgians died in the fight against fascism and hundreds of thousands served on the front lines. Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze also attended the ceremony. Around 700,000 people from Georgia are known to have gone to the front during World War II. Russian President Vladimir Putin also sent congratulatory messages Friday to leaders of several former Soviet republics marking the 81st anniversary of the victory in what Russia calls the Great Patriotic War. According to the Kremlin, messages were sent to the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as to the authorities of Georgia’s breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which are not widely recognized. Messages were also addressed to the peoples of Georgia and Moldova.