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lawmakers who voted the proposal through by 507 to 119 at the European Parliament. There were 37 abstentions.
The Eastern Partnership was launched in 2009. The initiative is meant to bring the six nations closer to the EU, but eventually making clear offers of future membership is not one of its objectives.
“While accession is not foreseen under the framework of the Eastern Partnership, the Eastern Partnership policy can facilitate a process of gradual integration into the EU,” a report tied to the vote read.
In creating the common economic space, Brussels should “focus on telecommunications and prioritise the creation of a roaming-fees-free regime between the EU and Eastern Partnership countries and an intra-Eastern Partnership one as soon as possible”, it added
Other proposals put forward by the MEPs included the establishment of an Eastern Partnership University in Kyiv and the appointment of an EU special envoy for Crimea and eastern Ukraine.
2.3​ ​Alleged plot to kill Georgia TV host who insulted Putin foiled by Georgia’s state security service
The State Security Service of Georgia (SUS) has foiled a plot to murder Giorgi Gabunia, a TV host who on air in July last year used expletive-laden language to criticise Russian President Vladimir Putin, Nika Gvaramia, head of opposition-oriented Mtavari Arkhi TV told a June 16 press conference.
On the same day, the SUS said that a Russian citizen had been detained for the illegal purchase and possession of fake documents in Tbilisi, adding that the arrest was connected to an investigation into the preparation of murder.
Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen Republic in the Russian Federation, refuted claims that he sent an assassin to Tbilisi with orders to assassinate Gabunia.
“Trust me, if someone acts on my instructions, he will fulfill the order," Kadyrov said 0n his official Telegram social media channel.
Kadyrov publicly vowed to "punish" Gabunia after the latter’s defamatory speech against Putin during a broadcast. Gabunia called the Russian leader a “stinking occupier” and used a string of obscenities to curse him.
In recent years, several Kadyrov critics have been killed outside Russia, and many believe that either Kadyrov himself or Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) were behind the apparent assassinations that claimed their lives, Radio Free Europe ​commented​.
The Coalition for Euro-Atlantic Georgia, a group of 16 local civil society organisations, issued ​a statement​ on June 16 concerning the alleged plot, assessing it as part of “a Russian scheme to destabilize Georgia”.
“This foiled plot was also aimed at stirring up public anxiety in the country
7​ GEORGIA Country Report ​July 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com