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grams of dried cannabis as a crime for which individuals could face punishment that does not include imprisonment.
The Girchi party, which has led a drive to legalise marijuana since November 2016, said then that it will fight for complete decriminalisation of marijuana in the country.
2.4 Syria’s Assad meets with head of Georgian breakaway region South Ossetia
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with the visiting head of the Georgian breakaway region South Ossetia on July 23, two months after Damascus became one of only a handful of countries to recognise the region's declared independence, RFE/RL reported.
Assad's office said in a statement that Anatoly Bibilov, the de facto president of South Ossetia, was in Syria on a three-day visit, and that Assad thanked him for backing his government in its seven-year civil war against Sunni rebels and for recognising Syria's "sovereignty" and "unity."
Assad, a close ally of Russia, which has a military presence in both Syria and South Ossetia, claimed that the breakaway region "respects the basis and principles of international law, contrary to most of the West, which knows nothing except the politics of dictation," his office said.
Interfax reported that Bibilov and Assad signed a "treaty on friendship and cooperation" at a ceremony in Damascus on July 23.
South Ossetia and another Georgian breakaway region, Abkhazia, are internationally recognised as part of Georgia, but Russia and a handful of other countries allied with Moscow have recognised their independence.
Syria's move in May to recognise the two breakaway regions prompted Tbilisi to cut diplomatic ties with Damascus.
Russia waged a brief war with Georgia in 2008 over the two regions. Moscow has stationed thousands of troops there.
Venezuela, Nicaragua, and the Pacific island of Nauru are the only other states that have also recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent.
2.5 Putin re-enters heated debate on Ukraine and Georgia’s Nato prospects
Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 19 re-entered the heated debate over whether Ukraine and Georgia should have a prospect of joining Nato. He warned Nato against cultivating closer ties with the two neighbours of Russia, saying such a policy was irresponsible and would have unspecified consequences for the alliance.
Last week, Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg defended Georgia’s right to decide for itself whether it wants to join the military alliance, saying that Russian pressure against Tbilisi on the issue was “totally unacceptable”,
A decade ago Nato leaders promised Ukraine and Georgia they would one day
9 GEORGIA Country Report August 2018 www.intellinews.com