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The Georgian regime appear to have abandoned their campaign of smears and vilification against leading opera singer Paata Burchuladze who has tonight featured in a positive piece on Rustavi 2 alongside Tbilisi mayor Gigi Ugulava.

In September Burchuladze was the victim of a crude forgery on the Imedi channel (run by Mikheil Saakashvili's fomer chief of staff Giorgi Arveladze) which appeared to show him singing at a concert in Moscow in honour of the Russian army when, in fact, he'd sung at a different event - a charity concert - in the same festival.

Burchuladze's crime, in the eyes of Mikheil Saaakshvili's regime, was to have gone to Moscow at all and particularly because in doing so he took the advice of the Catholicos-Patriarch and ignored the instructions of the government, who told him that he would face "difficulties" if he disobeyed.

The difficulties that followed were more than the personal smears. The national TV stations - refused to broadcast adverts for his Iavnana children's charity and the man who just weeks previously was being feted was reduced to the status of a non-person.

Now, though, it seems the regime has had a change of heart. With Iavnana's annual, highly popular, gala concert coming up and with an election to fight, Tbilisi mayor Gigi Ugulava has been on hand to offer his blessing (see screen capture).

In an extensive piece Rustavi 2's 9pm Kurieri bulletin profiled the event, interviewed Burchuladze and then saw Ugulava interviewed with posters of Burchuladze prominently on display.