Troops awarded with medal honouring National Hero Giorgi Antsukhelidze
Tweet 
Share
A group of Georgian Armed Forces service members on Friday became the first recipients of a brand-new medal honouring the country’s National Hero Giorgi Antsukhelidze.
In eastern Georgian village of Kvemo Alvani, 13 soldiers of the Georgian Armed Forces were distinguished for their service with the Ministry of Defence of Georgia medal.
The troops were awarded for "individual bravery demonstrated during combat missions, or high professionalism and fruitful participation in managing or planning exercises”.
The new medal established by Defence Minister Izoria. Photo: Georgia’s Defence Ministry press office.
The awards ceremony involved ministry and local government officials as well as armed forces commanders.
Instituted by Defence Minister Levan Izoria, the new award was established to honour Georgia’s national hero Junior Sergeant Giorgi Antsukhelidze.
Antsukhelidze was tortured and killed in captivity by South Ossetian combatants after he became prisoner of war during the 2008 Russian-Georgian conflict in Georgia’s breakaway Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region.
Minister Izoria photographed while awarding service members earlier today. Photo: Georgia’s Defence Ministry press office.
The 23-year old service member was posthumously honoured with the state National Hero Award.
Today’s ceremony was coincided with the birthday of Antsukhelidze, and marked with a memorial plaque opened by Izoria at an elementary school in Kakheti region’s Akhmeta Municipality, which the young soldier graduated from.
The largest edition of the annual Noble Partner defence exercise has officially ended at the Vaziani military air base outside the capital of Tbilisi.
United States (US) Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley is paying a two-day working visit to Georgia. Milley will attend the Noble Partner 2017 international military drills taking place in Georgia.
One Georgian soldier was killed and three injured in an attack during joint motorised patrolling on Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, reports Georgia’s Defence Ministry.
Hundred Georgian soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Brigade officially launch their participation in the NATO Resolute Support Mission today.
Georgian sailors have received Certificates of Commendation of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for “exceptional bravery at sea”.
Today is the birthday of Georgian national hero Giorgi Antsukhelidze, who heroically sacrificed his life for his country in the Russian-Georgian war of 2008. Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia honoured the memory of Antsukhelidze and said that ‘we must remember him and pay tribute’.
Today Georgia celebrates the 37th birthday of national hero Giorgi Antsukhelidze, who heroically sacrificed his life for his country in the Russian-Georgian war of 2008.
Commanders of the Georgian Defence Forces and heads of related institutions were awarded by Defence Minister Juansher Burchuladze in an occasion linked to the Defence Forces Day that was celebrated on April 30, the Ministry said on Friday.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday paid homage to the memory of Giorgi Antsukhelidze, a servicemember captured in the 2008 Russia-Georgia war before being tortured and killed by Russian forces and troops of the de facto authorities of central Georgia’s occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region, on his 39th birthday.