Is Georgia currently occupied by Russia?
Occupied territories of Georgia
Occupied territories of Georgia () are the territories occupied by Russia after the Russo-Georgian War in 2008. They consist of the regions of Abkhazia and the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast of Soviet Georgia (currently divided between several administrative divisions of independent Georgia), whose status is a matter of international dispute.
Background of the Russo-Georgian War
In 2005, Georgia accused Russia of the annexation of its internationally recognized territory. Russian officials had "de facto" control of South Ossetia's institutions, including security institutions and forces; South Ossetia's "de facto" government was largely staffed with Russians and South Ossetians with Russian passports, who had occupied equivalent government positions in Russia. Reuters reported that before the war, Russia supplied two-thirds of South Ossetia's annual budget, and that Russia's state-controlled gas giant Gazprom was building new gas pipelines and infrastructure worth of 15 billion Russian rubles there.
Cyberterrorism
During the Russia-Georgia War, on 5 August 2008, three days before Georgia launched its invasion of South Ossetia, the websites for OSInform News Agency and OSRadio were hacked. The OSinform website at osinform.ru kept its header and logo, but its content was replaced by a feed to the Alania TV website content. Alania TV, a Georgian government-supported television station aimed at audiences in South Ossetia, denied any involvement in the hacking of the websites. Dmitry Medoyev, at the time the South Ossetian envoy to Moscow, claimed that Georgia was attempting to cover up information on events which occurred in the lead-up to the war. One such cyber attack caused the Parliament of Georgia and Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs websites to be replaced by images comparing Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili to Adolf Hitler.
Other attacks involved denials of service to numerous Georgian and Azerbaijani websites, such as when Russian hackers allegedly disabled the servers of the Azerbaijani Day.Az news agency.
Embassy of Georgia, Moscow
The Embassy of the Republic of Georgia in Moscow was the diplomatic mission of Georgia in the Russian Federation. It is located at 6 Maly Rzhevsky Lane () in the Arbat district of Moscow. On 29 August 2008, Georgia broke diplomatic relations with Russia and withdrew all its diplomats from Russia and closed the Georgian Embassy in Moscow. They also ordered Russia to withdraw all its diplomats from Georgia and close the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi.
Russia and Georgia had previously fought a five-day war over two Georgian breakaway regions declaring independence, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Georgia, is represented through the Georgian Interests Section of the Embassy of Switzerland in Russia.
Occupied territories of Georgia
In May 2014, President François Hollande had three-day trip to South Caucasus countries and finished by visiting Georgia on 13 May. Speaking at a joint news conference with his Georgian counterpart Giorgi Margvelashvili, he said that Georgia’s territories remain occupied and the cease-fire agreement is not fully respected. "France did everything for the agreement to be reached and the conflict to stop. However we see today that occupation still exists and Georgia still has to regain territorial integrity," Hollande said while speaking about the 2008 Georgia-Russia war.
Occupied territories of Georgia
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly held its annual session in Monaco on 9 July 2012. It passed a resolution supporting Georgia, and referring to breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia as occupied territories. The resolution urged the Government and the Parliament of the Russian Federation, and the "de facto" authorities of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to allow the European Union Monitoring Mission access to the occupied territories. It also said that the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly was “concerned about the humanitarian situation of the displaced persons both in Georgia and in the occupied territories of Abkhazia, Georgia, and South Ossetia, Georgia, as well as the denial of the right of return to their places of living”. Russian Foreign Ministry reacted harshly, saying that "the majority of deputies in the Assembly (parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE) once again don't wish to objectively accept the realities of the situation today in the Caucasus."
Embassy of Russia, Tbilisi
The Embassy of Russia in Tbilisi was the diplomatic mission of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Georgia. The chancery is located at 51 Chavchavadze Avenue in Tbilisi. On August 29, 2008, Georgia ordered the Russian ambassador Vyacheslav Kovalenko and all other Russian diplomats to leave the country and close the embassy and severed diplomatic relations with Russia. Russia and Georgia had previously fought a five-day war over two Georgian breakaway regions (Abkhazia and South Ossetia) declaring independence. The Russian Federation is represented through the Russian Federation Interests Section of the Embassy of Switzerland in Georgia.
Timeline of the Russo-Georgian War
Parts of Gori, a strategic central Georgian city, was occupied by a Russian tank battalion several hours after the ceasefire agreement. Talks of a possible Russian advance on Tbilisi began. The head of National Security Council of Georgia said that 50 Russian tanks had entered Gori.
David Bagration of Mukhrani
During the Russia–Georgia war over South Ossetia in August 2008, Bagrationi accompanied Georgian soldiers to the front-line to render moral support. He commented afterwards that he regretted Georgia "had to pay such a high price to show the world the true face of Russia," and issued a message to the Georgian nation. Bagrationi considers restoration of monarchy in Georgia is not an option at this time because of ongoing Russian occupation of parts of the country; and it is up to the people of Georgia to decide when the monarchy should be restored.
Occupied territories of Georgia
On 19 September 2008, Hryhoriy Omelchenko (, member of Verkhovna Rada from Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, declared that Russia attacked Georgia without a declaration of war and occupied the Georgian territories. He said that: "Therefore, according to international legal norms, Russian Federation is an aggressor, invader and occupant." He called for respect for inviolability of existing borders and territorial integrity.
Occupied territories of Georgia
The report prepared by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and the Institute for the Study of Human Rights, raised concerns that Russia "not only failed to withdraw, it expanded territory under its control beyond the pre-war conflict zones" and Russia "established a troop presence in 51 villages it did not control before the war and conducted military patrols on territory it did not previously hold".
The report also describes Russian military presence in Abkhazia and South Ossetia:
In one of the Georgian villages in South Ossetia, Russian forces bulldozed the Georgians' houses and built new military bases in their places for the Russian 58th Army.
2008 Georgian spy plane shootdowns
“This indicates clearly that the Russian Federation’s so-called peacekeeping operation, carried out under cover of the CIS, has in fact turned into fiction and now represents nothing more than open military aggression against Georgia with the aim of annexing part of our territory.”
Russo-Georgian War
After Georgian troops had left Tskhinvali on 10 August, the Russians indiscriminately bombed the civilian areas in Gori on 11 August. The Georgian forces withdrew from Gori on 11 August. A Georgian official said that the troops were ordered to secure Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. By late 11 August, majority of inhabitants and Georgian troops had abandoned Gori. Georgian president Saakashvili stated that Russians had split Georgia into two by occupying an important intersection near Gori.
Russian bombers attacked Gori on 12 August, killing a seven people and wounding over thirty. Dutch TV journalist Stan Storimans was among those killed and another foreign reporter was injured. According to Georgian authorities, the Russians aimed at the city's administrative offices. The air raids set the post office and the Gori University on fire. The Gori Military Hospital carrying a Red Cross flag was struck by a rocket, and one doctor was killed.
Occupation of Poti
The Raid on Poti was a series of Russian strikes against the Georgian port of Poti during the Russo-Georgian War in August 2008. The city was later occupied by Russian troops, who remained for some time before eventually withdrawing.
Timeline of the Russo-Georgian War
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said that Georgia would declare Russian peacekeepers as occupiers and the breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as occupied territory. Saakashvili announced at a large rally outside parliament that Georgia would leave the Commonwealth of Independent States. Georgia filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice, accusing Russia of carrying out ethnic cleansing between 1993 and 2008.
Fath-Ali Shah Qajar
During the early reign of Fat′h Ali Shah, Imperial Russia took control of Georgia, a territory which Iran had ruled intermittently since 1555 with the Peace of Amasya. Georgia, led by Erekle II, had forged an alliance with Persia's rival, Russia, following the Treaty of Georgievsk. To punish his Georgian subjects, his uncle, Agha Mohammad Khan, had invaded and sacked Tblisi, seeking to reestablishing full Persian suzerainty over Georgia, in which he succeeded. Even though the Russian garrisons in the city had to retreat, Persia didn't manage to put back all of its needed garrisons over the country as Agha Mohammad Khan was assassinated soon afterwards in Shusha, following with Russia's act of annexation of those priorly-Iranian ruled parts of Georgia in 1801, after many Georgian embassies and a treaty. Also, not only was Georgia annexed but also was Dagestan invaded, which had also been under Persian rule since the early Safavid era. As it was seen as a direct intrusion into Persian territory, Fat′h Ali Shah, determined to reassert Persian hegemony over the whole region, declared war on Russia after General Pavel Tsitsianov attacked and stormed the city of Ganja, massacring many of its inhabitants and forcing many thousands to flee deeper within the Iranian domains. In 1804, Fath Ali Shah ordered the invasion of Georgia in order to regain it, under pressure from the Shia clergy, who were urging a war against Russia. The war began with notable victories for the Persians, but Russia shipped in advanced weaponry and cannons that disadvantaged the technologically inferior Qajar forces, who did not have the artillery to match. Russia continued with a major campaign against Persia; Persia asked for help from Britain on the grounds of a military agreement with that country (the military agreement was signed after the rise of Napoleon in France). However, Britain refused to help Persia claiming that the military agreement concerned a French attack not Russian.
Georgia–Russia border
With the independence of Georgia in 1991, the border became an international one.
After the armed conflict in 2008, Russia recognized the Russian-occupied territories of Georgia as the independent republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, so the border between Georgia and Russia, from the Russian point of view, has become much shorter (from 694 to 365 km), and is separated into two portions, a western one between Abkhazia and South Ossetia and an eastern one between South Ossetia and Azerbaijan.
From the Georgian perspective, the Russian–Georgian border did not change after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Military history of Georgia
Georgia declares independence from the Soviet Union on 9 April 1991. After gaining independence, Abkhazia and South Ossetia declare independence from Georgia, which leads to a civil war in which Russia directly supports the Abkhazians. The conflict between Georgia and its separatist territories still has not yet been resolved. In 1992 Russia brokers a cease-fire agreement between the breakaway region of South Ossetia and Georgia, during their war in the early '90s. Later in 2008 Russia declares that it recognizes South Ossetia as a sovereign nation alongside Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru.
Occupied territories of Georgia
In July 2017 it was reported that Russia again moved its fences and border signs several hundred meters deeper into Georgian territory.
Armenia–Georgia relations
By 1490, Georgia was fragmented into a number of petty kingdoms and principalities, which throughout the Early Modern period struggled to maintain their autonomy against Iranian (successive Safavid, Afsharid and Qajar dynasties) and Ottoman domination until Georgia was finally annexed by the Russian Empire in 1801. Russian possession over Georgia got nominally finalised with Qajar Iran in 1813 in the Treaty of Gulistan following Russia's victory in the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813). Greater Armenia was from the early 16th century up to including the course of the 19th century was also, more dominantly even, divided between the rivalling neighboring Ottoman and successive Iranian dynasties. In the first half of the 19th century, after several centuries under its rule in the early modern era, Iran was forced to cede its last remaining territories in the Caucasus which included modern-day Armenia (also known as Eastern Armenia) to Imperial Russia following its loss in the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828), which got ratified in the 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay. Greater Armenia was now divided between the Ottoman Empire and Russia.
Occupied territories of Georgia
On 17 September 2013, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia issued a statement on the Russian troops' illegal activities along the Tskhinvali region's occupation line and expressed its concern. The statement also said: "Critical situation in Georgia's occupied regions and adjacent areas once again underlines the necessity of the establishment international security and human rights monitoring mechanisms."
Timeline of the Russo-Georgian War
At 03:16 MSK, it was reported that Russians were not being allowed to leave Georgia. In the morning such reports were denied by the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Later, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that it had received such reports from over 360 stranded Russian citizens.
After Georgian troops had left Tskhinvali on 10 August, the Russians indiscriminately bombed the civilian areas in Gori on 11 August by the afternoon and this was reported by "The Guardian". Aerodrome near the Azerbaijani border and a radar station in Tbilisi were also bombed by Russia on the same day. While the valley, where Gori is located, was held by Georgian forces until about from Tskhinvali on 10 August, Western photographers said that by afternoon of 11 August the Georgians had fallen back about . About a dozen bombs detonated on the northern rim of the valley at about 12:30 pm. That day, reporters witnessed a skirmish near Tskhinvali after the ceasefire was offered by Georgia and bombing of civilians in Tkviavi by Russia. Gori is located from the South Ossetian boundary.
Occupied territories of Georgia
On 3 March 2014, several hundred Georgians held a rally in the village Atotsi near the South Ossetian boundary protesting the resumption of installation of barbed wire by Russian soldiers. Demonstrators carried Ukrainian flags because they saw the similarity between the situation in Georgia and the crisis in Ukraine. Demonstrators also performed the Georgian anthem. Ossetian/Russian news agency OSInform reported that a rally was held by "Georgian fascist elements", the number of "the destructive elements" was about 500, and they were "accompanied by the Georgian Polizei". The news report concluded that "Georgian fascism is not finished off and is raising its head together with the Ukrainian supporters of Bandera."
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development. It contains two "de facto" independent regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which gained very limited international recognition after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Georgia and most of the world's countries consider the regions to be Georgian territory under Russian occupation.
Occupied territories of Georgia
In March 2011, the Russians demanded village Aibga, situated on the Psou River in the northwest part of Abkhazia, to be transferred to Russia. During the existence of the Soviet Union, the village was divided into two; the southern part belonged to Georgia and the northern part to Russia. It is claimed that Russia further demanded 160 sq. kilometres of land near Lake Ritsa in Gagra District. After the Abkhaz side proved that the southern part of Aibga belonged to the Georgian SSR, the claim on the village was dropped by Russia.
Azerbaijanis in Georgia
After Russia conquered the South Caucasus and Dagestan from Qajar Iran following the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813), the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828) and the out-coming treaties of Gulistan and Turkmenchay, the government reorganised the Kingdom of Georgia into a governorate, with subdivisions of its own, five of which were referred to as the Tatar ranges (the Czarist nomenclature used the word "Tatar" for Azeri), namely Borchali, Pambak, Shuragel, Kazakh, and Shamshadin. In 1868, the latter two became part of the Elisabethpol Governorate, while the former three were incorporated into the Tiflis Governorate as the Borchali uyezd. The plains of the uyezd were mainly Azeri-populated: out of 63 villages in the Borchali Plain covering 390 square versts (equal to 444 square kilometres) of land, 61 were populated with Azeris.
Occupied territories of Georgia
On 1 March 2014, EUobserver stated that Russia after the war "entrenched its occupation of South Ossetia and a second breakaway entity, Abkhazia, in what is widely seen as a way of blocking Georgia’s EU and Nato aspirations".
Vladimir Zhirinovsky
Russia's southern neighbor Georgia has been another frequent target of Zhirinovsky's rhetoric. After Aslan Abashidze was ousted from power in 2004 as leader of Ajara, an autonomous Georgian region, Zhirinovsky worried that similar revolutions would occur in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Highly critical of Georgia's pro-Western line, he is an energetic supporter of Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia; in a high-profile incident in August 2004, he departed on a campaign to promote a tourist season in Abkhazia aboard a cruise ship which was briefly intercepted by a Georgian coast guard vessel. After war broke out between Russia and Georgia in 2008, Zhirinovsky argued in favor of Russian recognition of Abkhazian and South Ossetian independence. "We should have taken the whole territory of Georgia under control," he complained, and "arrested all Georgian officers and taken them here, like to Guantanamo, arrested Saakashvili and handed him over for trial by a military tribunal and gone to the border with Turkey." In 2009, he called the decision to hold NATO military exercises in Georgia during Soviet Victory Day celebrations in Moscow a "total revision of the history of the Great Patriotic War" and suggested that Russia should respond by conducting large-scale joint military drills with Cuba and Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea.
Zhirinovsky has been expelled from Bulgaria for insulting its president and was barred from entry to Germany. In 2005, Kazakhstan declared Zhirinovsky "persona non grata" on the territory of his historical homeland, due to the politician's controversial speech about the change of the Russia-Kazakhstan border, in which he questioned the Kazakhs' place in history.
Occupied territories of Georgia
On 28 June 2010, the Senate of Romania adopted a resolution on the situation in Georgia, reaffirming its support for Georgia's territorial integrity and recognizing the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as integral parts of Georgia. The Senate condemned the recognition of Georgia's breakaway regions by a number of countries and emphasized the necessity of complying with the six-point ceasefire agreement of 12 August 2008. The Romanian Senate supported the Georgian Government's strategy with respect to the occupied territories. It condemned the continuation of the policy of changing the ethnic composition in the two regions and insisted on ensuring the unhindered return of refugees.
Occupied territories of Georgia
In September 2014, the U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel visited Georgia. Speaking at a news conference after meeting with the Georgian Defense Minister, Hagel hailed Georgia’s new status as an enhanced NATO partner and Georgia's drive to become a NATO member. "Russia’s actions here [in Georgia] and in Ukraine pose a long-term challenge that the United States and our allies take very seriously," he said. Hagel called on Russia to "fully withdraw its forces from Georgia’s borders" and hailed "the restraint Georgia has shown".
Timeline of the Russo-Georgian War
Although journalists had reported that Russian military violated the ceasefire, Anatoly Nogovitsyn claimed on 13 August that it was Georgia in violation of ceasefire. According to Al Jazeera, "Russia's military on Wednesday repeatedly denied that any troops were inside Gori." Georgian president Saakashvili had accused Russia of "Balkan-type and World War II-type ethnic cleansing and purification campaigns". Russia said that "despite the assurances from the Georgian side that they have ended all military activities, Russian troops shot down a second Georgian drone over Tskhinvali earlier today." Georgia reported that 175 Georgians had died from the war.
Armenia–Georgia relations
Relations with Georgia are of particular importance for Armenia because, under the border blockades imposed against Armenia by Turkey and Azerbaijan due to the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Georgia offers Armenia its only land connection with Europe and access to its Black Sea ports. However, because of Armenia's reliance on Russia and Georgia, both of whom fought in the 2008 South Ossetia war and severed diplomatic and economic relations as a result; and as 70% of Armenia's imports entered via Georgia especially from Russia which has imposed an economic blockade on Georgia. The President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan has stated that Armenia will not formally recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states any time soon but reiterated his support for their residents’ right to self-determination, while adding that Armenia cannot recognise another entity in the same situation as long as it has not recognised the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Georgia supports resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. Georgian State Minister for Diaspora Affairs Mirza (Papuna) Davitaia has stated that Georgia has unilaterally supported the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and they back the liberation of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili stated that "whoever opposes Azerbaijan" is Georgia's "enemy."
Military history of Georgia
In 1918 a three-sided dispute on whether the region of Sochi which was under Georgian-Abkhazian rule during previous centuries should be the border between Russia and Georgia, sparks a conflict over the control of the territory primarily between the Democratic Republic of Georgia, the SFSR and the White Movement. The Abkhazian nobility requests military aid from the Georgian government as Bolshevik forces are attempting to capture Sochi. Georgia responds by sending troops to repulse the Bolshevik incursion with aid of the Abkhazians resulting in the capture of all three major areas along the entire coastline as far as Tuapse while Sochi is secured. Initially the White Movement forces are considered allies by Georgia until their announcement of a Greater Russia including the entire Caucasus region as integral part. With Denikins forces pushing back the red army towards Tuapse the Georgians are forced to abandon the town but keep Sochi under their control which causes great protest among the White Movement leadership. In response Denikin conducts an unsuccessful siege of the town until the Georgian forces under general Konyev give in to increasingly overwhelming numbers and are driven back as far as the Georgian town of Gagra. Before the Georgians are able to mount a counterattack, British representatives intervene resulting in the establishment of a temporary DMZ. After failed negotiations, joint Abkhaz-Georgian troops under Mazniashvili conduct a large scale offensive retaking Gagra after a bloody battle intending to move further but the operation is halted when a British contingent arrives in the capital of Georgia forcing the Georgian government to back down.
Name of Georgia (country)
Georgia fell under successive Ottoman, Iranian (Safavid, Afsharids, Qajars), and Russian rule during the 15th to 19th centuries. It was re-united as the short-lived Democratic Republic of Georgia (საქართველოს დემოკრატიული რესპუბლიკა "sakartvelos demokratiuli respublika") on May 26, 1918, transformed into the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა "sakartvelos sabchota socialisturi respublika") in 1921, and eventually gaining independence as the Republic of Georgia (საქართველოს რესპუბლიკა "sakartvelos respublika") on November 14, 1990. 
According to the 1995 constitution, the nation's official name is საქართველო "sakartvelo", with "Georgia" given as its English equivalent.
Military history of Georgia
In 1921 Soviet Russian forces invade and ultimately annex the Democratic Republic of Georgia. Thousands of people are killed on both sides including civilians.
Occupied territories of Georgia
Many international journalists and media companies, such as Le Figaro, Fox News, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Al Jazeera, Financial Times, The Washington Post, Forbes, The New York Times, Fortune, Der Spiegel, USA Today, Associated Press and Deutsche Welle have referred to Abkhazia and South Ossetia as Russian-occupied territories.
Occupied territories of Georgia
In 2012 the European Commission considered that Georgia's "continued application of the law on Occupied Territories" was a concern for the effectiveness of the "engagement strategy" with the breakaway territories, and in 2013 noted that there had been no change to the "restrictive aspects of the law" but that it hoped for a "more relaxed implementation of the Law" from the new government in Georgia.Russia claims, that "Abkhazia and South Ossetia are not occupied territories, but independent States."
The Russian Federation also holds that it "... does not at present, nor will it in the future, exercise effective control over South Ossetia or Abkhazia;" and "it was not an occupying power." It also noted that "despite having crossed into the territory of Georgia in the course of the conflict, Russia was not an occupying power in terms of IHL." According to Russia, "the number of Russian troops stationed in South Ossetia and Abkhazia [...] does not allow Russia in practice to establish effective control over these territories which total 12 500 sq. kilometers in size."
Russo-Georgian War
The independent Democratic Republic of Georgia was invaded by the Red Army in 1921 and a Soviet government was installed. The government of Soviet Georgia created an autonomous administrative unit for Transcaucasian Ossetians in April 1922, called the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast. Historians such as Stephen F. Jones, Emil Souleimanov and Arsène Saparov believe that the Bolsheviks awarded this autonomy to the Ossetians in exchange for their help against the Democratic Republic of Georgia, since this area had never been a separate entity prior to the Russian invasion.
Occupied territories of Georgia
In September 2012, "The Wall Street Journal" published an article by the Estonian defense minister Urmas Reinsalu, titled "Georgian Democracy and Russian Meddling". Reinsalu argued: "In Tallinn—and hopefully in Brussels, Paris and Washington as well—we are trying to understand what Russia expects to gain by occupying Georgian territory. Does the Kremlin believe that a country is excluded from NATO membership just because a fifth of its territory is occupied? Did Russian officials not hear when on two recent occasions, most recently at May's NATO Summit in Chicago, that Georgia was assured of admission into NATO?"
Occupied territories of Georgia
In April 2010, the Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament of Georgia appealed to legislative bodies of 31 countries, asking to declare Georgia’s two regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia as territories under Russian occupation and to recognize that the massive displacement of civilians from those regions by Russia amounts to ethnic cleansing.
Russo-Georgian War
On 9 September 2008, Russia announced that Russian forces in South Ossetia and Abkhazia would remain under bilateral agreements with their respective "de facto" governments. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that a Russian deployment in Abkhazia and South Ossetia would prove decisive in preventing Georgia from recovering territories. Georgia considers Abkhazia and South Ossetia Russian-occupied territories. In November 2011, the European Parliament passed a resolution acknowledging Abkhazia and South Ossetia as occupied Georgian territories.
Occupied territories of Georgia
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said during a visit to Tbilisi in July 2010 that "Abkhazia and South Ossetia are integral parts of Georgia and Russia should withdraw its troops from those territories." He also said that "the term 'occupation' cannot solve the problems between Georgia and Russia" while answering questions from journalists.
Russo-Georgian War
Georgia
Occupied territories of Georgia
President Băsescu told Realitatea TV broadcaster on 13 April 2014, "The Russian forces control the Black Sea almost in its entirety, through controlling all these frozen conflicts." He also said that "In Transnistria they occupy Moldovan territory, in Crimea they occupy Ukrainian territory, in Georgia they occupy Georgian territory, South Ossetia and Abkhazia..."
Georgia within the Russian Empire
During the first decades of Russian rule, Georgia was placed under military governorship. The land was at the frontline of Russia's war against Turkey and Persia and the commander-in-chief of the Russian army of the region was also the governor. Russia gradually expanded its territory in Transcaucasia at the expense of its rivals, taking large areas of land in the rest of the region, comprising all of modern-day Armenia and Azerbaijan from Qajar Persia through the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828) and the resulting Treaty of Turkmenchay. At the same time the Russian authorities aimed to integrate Georgia into the rest of their empire. Russian and Georgian societies had much in common: the main religion was Orthodox Christianity and in both countries a land-owning aristocracy ruled over a population of serfs. Initially, Russian rule proved high-handed, arbitrary and insensitive to local law and customs. In 1811, the autocephaly (i.e. independent status) of the Georgian Orthodox Church was abolished, the Catholicos Anton II was deported to Russia and Georgia became an exarchate of the Russian Church.
Georgia–Russia relations
On August 8, 2008, after weeks of rising tensions Georgian troops tried to retake the breakaway province and launched an offensive, including heavy bombardment of Tskhinvali. Russian forces entered South Ossetia and Abkhazia. After four days of intense fighting, Georgian forces were expelled from South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russian paratroopers raided Georgian bases from Abkhazia. The Russian Air Force bombed military and logistical targets inside Georgia, and the Russian Navy entered Abkhazian waters and defeated Georgian Naval Forces in a brief skirmish. Both sides agreed to a ceasefire on August 12, but the next day Russia violated that ceasefire, sending regular and paramilitary forces into Georgia proper. The Georgian Army retreated to defend Tbilisi, and the Russians took the main highway and the cities of Poti and Gori without a fight, removing or destroying any military equipment left behind, and set up "buffer zones" around the Abkhazian and South Ossetian borders, gradually withdrawing.
2012 Georgian parliamentary election
Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said "I hope for constructive changes to let us normalise the relations. We will be judging not by statements, but by deeds”. At the same time, he warned Georgia’s new ruling power that Russia was not going to hold any negotiations on the law on "occupied territories", which Georgia adopted following the 2008 South Ossetia war. Lukashevich said that Russia would refer to the "Republic of Abkhazia" and "Republic of Ossetia" and not use the term "occupied territories".
Grigol Peradze
On February 25, 1921, Georgia was occupied by Soviet Russia. Grigol Peradze went into exile in Germany in November the same year.
Occupied territories of Georgia
After the Russo-Georgian War, on 26 August 2008, the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed decrees recognising the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as sovereign states. The Georgian parliament unanimously passed a resolution on 28 August 2008 formally declaring Abkhazia and South Ossetia Russian-occupied territories, and calling Russian troops occupying forces. Russia established diplomatic relations with both Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russian troops were placed in both Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that a military presence in Abkhazia and South Ossetia was necessary to prevent Georgia from regaining control. Russian security forces were deployed along the demarcation lines with Georgia.
Georgia (country)
Tensions between Georgia and Russia began escalating in April 2008. A bomb explosion on 1 August 2008 targeted a car transporting Georgian peacekeepers. South Ossetians were responsible for instigating this incident, which marked the opening of hostilities and injured five Georgian servicemen. In response, several South Ossetian militiamen were hit. South Ossetian separatists began shelling Georgian villages on 1 August. These artillery attacks caused Georgian servicemen to return fire periodically since 1 August.
At around 19:00 on 7 August 2008, Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili announced a unilateral ceasefire and called for peace talks. However, escalating assaults against Georgian villages (located in the South Ossetian conflict zone) were soon matched with gunfire from Georgian troops, who then proceeded to move in the direction of the capital of the self-proclaimed Republic of South Ossetia (Tskhinvali) on the night of 8 August, reaching its centre in the morning of 8 August. One Georgian diplomat told Russian newspaper "Kommersant" on 8 August that by taking control of Tskhinvali, Tbilisi wanted to demonstrate that Georgia wouldn't tolerate killing of Georgian citizens. According to Russian military expert Pavel Felgenhauer, the Ossetian provocation was aimed at triggering the Georgian response, which was needed as a pretext for premeditated Russian military invasion. According to Georgian intelligence, and several Russian media reports, parts of the regular (non-peacekeeping) Russian Army had already moved to South Ossetian territory through the Roki Tunnel before the Georgian military action.
Russia accused Georgia of "aggression against South Ossetia", and launched a large-scale land, air and sea invasion of Georgia with the pretext of "peace enforcement" operation on 8 August 2008. Russian airstrikes against targets within Georgia were also launched. Abkhaz forces opened a second front on 9 August by attacking the Kodori Gorge, held by Georgia. Tskhinvali was seized by the Russian military by 10 August. Russian forces occupied the Georgian cities of Zugdidi, Senaki, Poti, and Gori (the last one after the ceasefire agreement was negotiated). Russian Black Sea Fleet blockaded the Georgian coast.
South Ossetia
South Ossetia declared independence from the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991. The Georgian government responded by abolishing South Ossetia's autonomy and trying to re-establish its control over the region by force. The crisis escalation led to the 1991–92 South Ossetia War. Georgian fighting against those controlling South Ossetia occurred on two other occasions, in 2004 and 2008. The latter conflict led to the Russo–Georgian War, during which Ossetian and Russian forces gained full "de facto" control of the territory of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast. In the wake of the 2008 war, Georgia and a significant part of the international community consider South Ossetia to be occupied by the Russian military.
Mikheil Tsereteli
On February 25, 1921, Georgia was occupied by Soviet Russia. From March 1921, Mikheil Tsereteli was an émigré.
Military history of Georgia
In 2008 after a series of provocation and skirmishes from both sides the Georgian government attempts to restore constitutional order over the separatist region of South Ossetia by military force. In the fighting Russian peacekeepers get involved and some of them killed which triggers a Russian response resulting in a brief large-scale conflict with hundreds of people killed, wounded and missing while tens of thousands are displaced. The Russian Federation actively supports the secession of both breakaway regions contradicting its own firm political stance on separatism. Currently, Russia is occupying 20% of Georgian de facto territory with considerable military presence.
Outline of Georgia (country)
Georgia (country) – country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia, located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe. After a brief period of independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia was occupied by Soviet Russia in 1921, becoming the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic and part of the Soviet Union. After independence in 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil unrest and economic crisis for most of the 1990s. This lasted until the Rose Revolution of 2003, after which the new government introduced democratic and economic reforms.Regions of Georgia
Occupied territories of Georgia
The process of border demarcation continued in February 2013. Russian troops started the installation of barbed wire barriers to separate the South Ossetian territory from the rest of Georgia. In some instances, the Georgian residents could not access their plots or come out of their homes because the border of barbed wire runs through or around their property. According to Georgia's Interior Ministry, there was no fencing activities at the administrative border of Georgia’s other breakaway region of Abkhazia, where the Enguri river served as "a natural dividing line", but Russian troops were blocking the pathways to prevent "illegal" movement across the administrative boundary line. The new South Ossetia-Georgia border extended between 50–300 meters beyond the occupation line. By August 2013, an estimated 27 kilometers of barriers had been built.
Occupied territories of Georgia
According to the Georgian law titled Law on Occupied Territories of Georgia, the term “the occupied territories and territorial waters” or “The Occupied Territories” covers the territories of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, Tskhinvali Region (territory of the former South Ossetia Autonomous Region) and waters in the Black Sea located in the aquatic territory of the Black Sea, along Georgia’s state border with the Russian Federation, to the South of the Psou river, up to the administrative border at the estuary of the Engury River. The term also covers the air space over the aforementioned territories.
Occupied territories of Georgia
In October 2013, several rallies were held in Georgia to protest against Russian occupation. On 13 October, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and students went to the village Ditsi to protest the "borderization". They symbolically lit torches and released balloons. At about 15:00, another rally started in the Georgian towns of Tbilisi, Rustavi, Telavi, Gori, Batumi, Kutaisi and Zugdidi. At about 19:00 a concert started on Rose Revolution Square in Tbilisi under the slogan "No to Occupation! No to Sochi Olympics!"
History of Georgia (country)
In August 2008 Russia and Georgia engaged in the 2008 South Ossetia war. Its aftermath, leading to the 2008–2010 Georgia–Russia crisis, is still tense.In October 2011 famous georgian tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili admitted his entrance to politics of Georgia. In December he established opposition political movement Georgian Dream and announced his desire to take part in the 2012 parliamentary elections to obtain replacement of government regime of Mikheil Saakashvili and United National Movement. In February 2012 they formed coalition with Republican Party of Georgia, Free Democrats, National Forum and Industry Will Save Georgia. Tensions rose during pre-election campaign, whereas many leaders of opposition were arrested and sentenced for administrative detention. 54% of electorate voted in favor of the newly-formed coalition, thus Georgia Dream determined 65 seats in parliament.
History of Georgia (country)
In the summer of 1805 Russian troops on the river Askerani and near Zagam defeated the Qajar Persian army during the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813) led by Fath-Ali Shah Qajar who sought to regain full control over Georgia and Dagestan, saving Tbilisi from its attack. Russian suzerainty over Persia's traditionally eastern and southern Georgian ruled territories were nominally finalized in 1813 in the Treaty of Gulistan. In 1810, the kingdom of Imereti (Western Georgia) was annexed by the Russian Empire after the suppression of King Solomon II's resistance. From 1803 to 1878, as a result of numerous Russian wars against Turkey and Persia, several formerly Georgian territories were annexed to the Russian Empire. These areas (Batumi, Artvin, Akhaltsikhe, Poti, and Abkhazia) now represent the majority of the territory of the present state of Georgia. Georgia was reunified for the first time in centuries but had lost its independence.
Russo-Georgian War
Poti is the crucial seaport of Georgia on the Black Sea and serves as an essential entrance for Transcaucasia and the landlocked Central Asia. Russian aircraft attacked the town of Poti on 8 August, causing a two-day shutdown of the seaport. Russia positioned ships in the vicinity of Poti and other Georgian ports on 10 August 2008. The next day, Georgian and Russian representatives said that Russian troops were in Poti. However, Russia claimed it had only sent a task force for surveying the area. On 13 August, six Georgian watercraft were submerged by Russian troops in Poti. Anatoliy Nogovitsyn, Russian deputy chief of the General staff, denied the Russian presence in Poti the following day. One day after Russia's declaration of the beginning of the withdrawal from Georgia, 70 Russian soldiers moved into the seaport on the morning of 19 August. Russian soldiers took twenty-one Georgian troops prisoner and grabbed five US Humvees in Poti, taking them to a Russian-occupied military base in Senaki. "The Wall Street Journal" said that Russian actions in Poti constituted an additional attack on the Georgian economy. Russian military was accused of plundering and damaging properties during their presence in Poti, even ransacking toilets.
Administrative divisions of Georgia (country)
As a result of the military conflicts in 1992–1993 and 2008, Georgia has no effective control over Abkhazia, whose declaration of independence is recognized by Russia and three other UN member states. Georgia considers Abkhazia as its autonomous republic, whose government sits in exile in Tbilisi, and currently an occupied territory. Abkhazia's territory, in the Kodori Valley, which had been under Georgia's control prior to the Russo–Georgian War of 2008, is "de jure" the self-governing community of Azhara. Abkhazia's secessionist government divides the entity's territory into seven districts ("raion").
Occupied territories of Georgia
The processerecting borders between Russian-occupied territories and Georgia properwas called "borderization". The "borderization" process also involved a gradual advance of the occupation line inside Georgia by grabbing small chunks of Georgian-held terrain to enlarge the Russian-held territory, placing it nominally under South Ossetian administration. The "borderization" intensified after Russian President Vladimir Putin endorsed a proposal by the Russian government to sign an agreement on the state border between Russia and South Ossetia. The decree published on 12 September said that Putin had directed the Foreign Ministry to hold talks with South Ossetia and sign a treaty upon reaching an agreement. In Dvani, the village of Kareli Municipality, the border was moved further inside the Georgian-controlled territories by 400 metres. Several families were given a few days to abandon their homes in Dvani. New border crossed through several Georgian villages, and effectively separated people from their farmland, ancestral homes, and cemeteries. After Ditsi and Dvani, Adzvi became the third Georgian village that was divided into two parts. By late October 2013, about 40 km of fencing or barbed wire had been erected, supported by intermittent pylons equipped with hi-tech surveillance cameras. Russia had built 19 border guard bases.
Occupied territories of Georgia
In February 2014, European Parliament adopted the resolution regarding EU-Russia summit. The EP members condemned Russian actions in the occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in particular "the process of borderisation around Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region / South Ossetia, which has led to the expansion of the area of occupied territories, to the detriment of Georgia".
Second Chechen War
Russian officials have accused the bordering republic of Georgia of allowing Chechen separatists to operate on Georgian territory and permitting the flow of militants and materiel across the Georgian border with Russia. In February 2002, the United States began offering assistance to Georgia in combating "criminal elements" as well as alleged Arab mujahideen activity in Pankisi Gorge as . Without resistance, Georgian troops have detained an Arab man and six criminals, and declared the region under control. In August 2002, Georgia accused Russia of a series of secret air strikes on purported separatists havens in the Pankisi Gorge in which a Georgian civilian was reported killed.
Occupied territories of Georgia
The law says that the Russian Federation – the state which has carried out military occupation – is fully responsible for the violation of human rights in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Russian Federation, according to the document, is also responsible for compensation of material and moral damage inflicted on Georgian citizens, stateless persons and foreign citizens, who are in Georgia and enter the occupied territories with appropriate permits.
Red Army invasion of Georgia
On July 21, 2010, Georgia declared February 25 as Soviet Occupation Day to recall the Red Army invasion in 1921. The Georgian parliament voted in favor of the government’s initiative. The decision, endorsed unanimously by the Parliament of Georgia instructs the government to organize various memorial events every February 25 and to fly the national flag half-mast to commemorate, as the decision puts it, the hundreds of thousands of victims of political repressions of the Communist occupational regime.
Timeline of the Russo-Georgian War
Bodyguards forced Georgian president Saakashvili to the ground in Gori when Russian planes flew over. Local civilians in Gori were warned that day by Georgian military of possible Russian advance; both civilians and military began abandoning Gori. Georgian official claimed that Gori was occupied by the Russian military. Georgian officials said that troops were ordered to defend Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Tbilisi is located from Gori. Secretary of the Security Council, Alexander Lomaia, said that the Georgian Army was ordered to hold the city of Mtskheta, from Tbilisi. At about 16:14 GMT, Reuters reported that its reporter in Gori had said that there was "no trace of troops or military vehicles, it is absolutely deserted". That day, "The Daily Telegraph" (UK) reported that it had witnessed "a full scale disorganised and panicked retreat from Gori".
Occupied territories of Georgia
In March 2014, the President of Romania Traian Băsescu at the presentation of the Defence Ministry’s annual report declared: "We can no longer see the incidents of 2008, when the Russian Federation occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as isolated occurrences. Ukraine was next, so all politicians and all military strategists are bound to ask, who will follow. Could it be Transdniestr, could it be the Republic of Moldova? These are questions anyone may ask. The unpredictability of the Russian Federation prompts us to look at various scenarios and response options."
Abkhazia
On 9 July 2012, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly passed a resolution at its annual session in Monaco, underlining Georgia's territorial integrity and referring to breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia as "occupied territories". The resolution "urges the Government and the Parliament of the Russian Federation, as well as the de facto authorities of Abkhazia, Georgia and South Ossetia, Georgia, to allow the European Union Monitoring Mission unimpeded access to the occupied territories." It also says that the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is "concerned about the humanitarian situation of the displaced persons both in Georgia and in the occupied territories of Abkhazia, Georgia and South Ossetia, Georgia, as well as the denial of the right of return to their places of living." The Assembly is the parliamentary dimension of the OSCE with 320 lawmakers from the organisation's 57 participating states, including Russia.
2007 Georgia helicopter incident
The 2007 Georgia helicopter incident refers to the accusation by Georgia that three Russian helicopters fired on the Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia on March 11, 2007. It was a break-away autonomous republic in north-western Georgia (at that time, the Kodori Gorge was the only portion of Abkhazia still under Georgia's control.) The attack was at the village of Chkhalta, which damaged a school, and the government headquarters of the Georgian-backed Abkhaz government-in-exile. Russia denied any attacks and said all its aircraft near the area were grounded over the weekend.
Red Army invasion of Georgia
The independence of Georgia had been recognized by Russia in the Treaty of Moscow, signed on 7 May 1920, and the subsequent invasion of the country was not universally agreed upon in Moscow. It was largely engineered by two influential Georgian-born Soviet/Russian officials, Joseph Stalin and Sergo Ordzhonikidze, who on 14 February 1921 got the consent of Russian leader Vladimir Lenin to advance into Georgia, on the pretext of supporting "peasants and workers rebellion" in the country. Russian forces took the Georgian capital Tbilisi (then known as "Tiflis" to most non-Georgian speakers) after heavy fighting and declared the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic on 25 February 1921. The rest of the country was overrun within three weeks, but it was not until September 1924 that Soviet rule was firmly established. Almost simultaneous occupation of a large portion of southwest Georgia by Turkey (February — March 1921) threatened to develop into a crisis between Moscow and Ankara, and led to significant territorial concessions by the Soviets to the Turkish National Government in the Treaty of Kars.
Occupied territories of Georgia
On 17 November 2011, European Parliament passed the resolution where Abkhazia and South Ossetia were recognized as occupied territories. The resolution noted that Russia continued "... to occupy the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region/ South Ossetia, in violation of the fundamental norms and principles of international law; whereas ethnic cleansing and forcible demographic changes have taken place in the areas under the effective control of the occupying force, which bears the responsibility for human rights violations in these areas." The resolution asks Russia to live up to the ceasefire agreement signed in 2008 and to guarantee EUMM full unlimited access to Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The resolution also called on Russia "... to reverse its recognition of the separation of the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region/ South Ossetia, to end the occupation of those Georgian territories and to fully respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia as well as the inviolability of its internationally recognised borders as provided for by international law, the UN Charter, the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions."
Caucasus 2009
Georgia and Russia fought a brief war in August 2008 when Georgia launched a military operation against South Ossetia, a de facto independent region that was backed by Russia. President Medvedev sent in troops to drive Georgian forces out of the region and invaded Georgia Proper, the base of the Georgian Army.
International recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
The 2008 South Ossetia war was fought in August 2008 between Georgia on one side and South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Russia on the other, resulting in a South Ossetian, Abkhaz and Russian victory and the expulsion of the Georgian military from both territories. On 21 August 2008, rallies were held in Tskhinvali and Sukhumi at which the people of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, respectively, appealed to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and the Russian Federal Assembly for official recognition of their independence as sovereign states. South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity flew to Moscow on 23 August 2008 to address the Federation Council of Russia, and in his appeal stated "what the Georgian leadership has done in South Ossetia can only be described as a Caucasian Stalingrad." On 25 August 2008, President of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh also made a presentation to the Federation Council. In his address to the Council, Bagapsh stated "I can say for certain that Abkhazia and South Ossetia will never be [a] part of Georgia."
Occupation of Gori
Several hours after the ceasefire agreement was reached, a Russian tank battalion occupied parts of Gori. Rumors of a possible attack on Tbilisi circulated. Russian troops took control of Gori on 13 August 2008. Sergey Lavrov said that when Georgian troops abandoned their military headquarters near Gori, they left "a major arsenal of armaments and military equipment" and the Russian troops were guarding it. Russian troops said they were removing military hardware and ammunition from an arms depot outside Gori. A Russian armored column left Gori, traveling along the main road to Tbilisi. Russian forces then halted their advance and camped out in a field about an hour's drive from Tbilisi.
Aleksandr Dugin
Before war broke out between Russia and Georgia in 2008, Dugin visited South Ossetia and predicted, "Our troops will occupy the Georgian capital Tbilisi, the entire country, and perhaps even Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula, which is historically part of Russia, anyway." Afterwards he said Russia should "not stop at liberating South Ossetia but should move further," and "we have to do something similar in Ukraine." In 2008, Dugin stated that Russia should repeat the Georgian scenario in Ukraine, namely attack it. In September 2008, after the Russian-Georgian war, he did not hide his anger towards Putin, who "dared not drop the other shoe" and "restore the Empire."
South Ossetia
President of France Nicolas Sarkozy negotiated a ceasefire agreement on 12 August 2008. On 17 August, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev announced that Russian forces would begin to pull out of Georgia the following day. Russia recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia as separate republics on 26 August. In response to Russia's recognition, the Georgian government severed diplomatic relations with Russia. Russian forces left the buffer areas bordering Abkhazia and South Ossetia on 8 October and the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia assumed authority over the buffer areas. Since the war, Georgia has maintained that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are Russian-occupied Georgian territories.
Georgian sea blockade of Abkhazia
The Georgian sea blockade of Abkhazia has been in force since 2004, when it was ordered to be imposed by Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili. As a response to the 2008 South Ossetia war, Georgia moved to intensify Abkhazia and South Ossetia's isolation, declaring both entities as Russian-occupied territories outlawing economic activity in the regions without Tbilisi’s permission. Several cargo ships in Georgian waters have been detained by the Georgian coast guard in 2009 on the grounds of violating of Georgia’s law on occupied territories, which bans economic activities in breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia without Georgia’s consent.
Treaty of Moscow (1920)
Parallels have been drawn in modern Georgia between the Georgian-Russian diplomacy in 1920 and in the 2000s. In response to indications by several senior Russian diplomats that Moscow wanted to see Georgia "a sovereign, neutral and friendly country" rather than a member of military alliances such as NATO, President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili said, on October 25, 2007, neutrality was not an option for Georgia because "Georgia signed an agreement on its neutrality in 1920 with Bolshevik Russia and after six months Georgia was occupied."
South Ossetia
South Ossetia (, ), officially the Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania, or The Tskhinvali Region, is a disputed territory in the South Caucasus, in the northern part of the internationally recognised Georgian territory. It has a population of 53,000 people who live in an area of 3,900 km, south of the Russian Caucasus, with 30,000 living in Tskhinvali. The separatist polity, Republic of South Ossetia (or the "State of Alania"), is recognised as a state by Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Syria. While Georgia lacks control over South Ossetia, the Georgian government and most members of the United Nations consider the territory part of Georgia, whose constitution designates the area as "the former autonomous district of South Ossetia", in reference to the former Soviet autonomous oblast disbanded in 1990.
Abkhaz–Georgian conflict
Both Abkhazia and Georgia were annexed into the Russian Empire in the nineteenth century, and remained part of it until the Russian Revolutions of 1917. While Georgia initially joined the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic and subsequently became independent as the Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG) in 1918, Abkhazia was initially controlled by a group of Bolsheviks, before ultimately joining the DRG, though its status was never clarified. In 1921 the Red Army invaded Abkhazia and Georgia, eventually incorporating them into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. Initially Abkhazia was formed as an independent Soviet republic, the Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia (SSR Abkhazia), though it was united with the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic by a treaty; in 1931 the SSR Abkhazia was downgraded to an autonomous republic within the Georgian SSR, to much opposition from the Abkhaz.
Georgia (country)
President of France Nicolas Sarkozy negotiated a ceasefire agreement on 12 August 2008. On 17 August, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev announced that Russian forces would begin to pull out of Georgia the following day. Russia recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia as separate republics on 26 August. In response to Russia's recognition, the Georgian government severed diplomatic relations with Russia. Russian forces left the buffer areas bordering Abkhazia and South Ossetia on 8 October, and the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia was dispatched to the buffer areas. Since the war, Georgia has maintained that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are Russian-occupied Georgian territories.
Administrative divisions of Georgia (country)
South Ossetia enjoyed the status of an autonomous oblast in the Soviet era. After the military conflicts in 1991–1992 and 2008, Georgia considers the former Autonomous Oblast of South Ossetia an occupied territory. Its status is not constitutionally defined by Georgia, but there is a Provisional Administration of South Ossetia sitting in exile in Tbilisi. The territory which had been under Georgia's control prior to the Russo–Georgian War of 2008, was organized into four municipalities, which retain their "de jure" status. South Ossetia's secessionist government divides the entity's territory into four districts ("raion").
Background of the Russo-Georgian War
Georgia had two strategic characteristics that were seen as irreplaceable in Moscow: the border with Turkey and the location on the Black Sea. Russia is more worried of Turkish than Iranian influence in the Caucasus, and perceives Turkey as a threat in the political, economical and military fields. The Russian ruling elites had focused on Georgia since the days of the presidency of Eduard Shevardnadze, whom they blamed, together with Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and Alexander Yakovlev, Central Committee Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, for the dissolution of the Soviet Union and its sphere of influence. Russian post-Soviet security establishments also viewed the Abkhaz coastline and illicit business opportunities provided by lawless Abkhazia and South Ossetia as additional incentives for deep involvement in Georgia. Of the two regions - Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the first is strategically and economically more significant to Russia. In the 1990s the Russian leadership noted that their strategic weight in the Black Sea depended on the presence of Russian troops on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. Russia hoped to use South Ossetia initially to keep Georgia within the Soviet Union and later in a Russian sphere of influence.
Abkhazia
The law says that the Russian Federation – the state which has carried out military occupation – is fully responsible for the violation of human rights in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Russian Federation, according to the document, is also responsible for compensation of material and moral damage inflicted on Georgian citizens, stateless persons and foreign citizens, who are in Georgia and enter the occupied territories with appropriate permits. The law also says that de facto state agencies and officials operating in the occupied territories are regarded by Georgia as illegal. The law will remain in force until "the full restoration of Georgian jurisdiction" over the breakaway regions is realised.
Occupied territories of Georgia
A document adopted by the European Parliament in March 2011 condemned Russian military presence in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, calling it "non-mandated presence of the Russian military troops in the occupied regions of Georgia". The document also mentions ethnic cleansing of Georgians, non-fulfillment of the ceasefire agreement of August 12, 2008, and talks about the necessity to deploy international peacekeeping forces. It also condemned the decision of the joint Russian-Abkhaz Commission on Property Rights that violated Georgian IDPs' right to claim their property in Abkhazia.
Georgia (country)
Georgia (, ) is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi. Georgia covers a territory of , and its 2017 population is about 3.718 million. Georgia is a unitary semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy.
Georgia–Russia border
The modern Georgia–Russia border was drawn with the proclamation of the Georgian Democratic Republic on 8 June 1918.
From 1921 to 1991, it was an internal border of the Soviet Union. The border was changed during 1944–1958 to include part of the territories of the deported Chechens and Karachai into Georgia (now part of Karachay-Cherkessia, with cities Teberda and Karachaevsk, and the highlands of modern Chechnya). After 1958, the border reverted to following the Caucasus range.
Russo-Georgian War
Russian forces temporarily occupied the Georgian cities of Zugdidi, Senaki, Poti, and Gori, holding on to these areas beyond the ceasefire. The South Ossetians destroyed most ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia and were responsible for an ethnic cleansing of Georgians. Russia recognised the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia on 26 August; in response, the Georgian government severed diplomatic relations with Russia. Russia mostly completed its withdrawal of troops from undisputed parts of Georgia on 8 October. In the aftermath, Russia's international relations were largely unharmed. The war displaced 192,000 people and while many returned to their homes after the war, 20,272 people, mostly ethnic Georgians, remained displaced as of 2014. Russia has, since the war, occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia in violation of the ceasefire agreement of August 2008.
Occupied territories of Georgia
On 15 April 2014, three Georgian journalists were detained near an administrative boundary line of South Ossetia. The TV crew was working on a report about "borderization" and a shift of the boundary deeper into Georgian-controlled areas. Russia’s Foreign Ministry claimed that the journalists "intentionally and demonstratively" crossed the border and this was "a planned action for the purposes of complicating the atmosphere" of the scheduled meeting between Russian and Georgian diplomats (Grigory Karasin and Zurab Abashidze) in Prague on 16 April. The Ministry said in an official statement: "All this, together with the latest cock-and-bull stories about 'violations of Georgian air space by Russian aircraft', is evidence that the forces attempting to normalise relations with Russia, and the forces sharing the regime of Mikheil Saakashvili supporting the escalation of hostilities, continue to fight within the Georgian community." The detained journalists were released later on 16 April. One of them, journalist Bela Zakaidze recalled the hours spent in pre-detention isolator in Tskhinvali and talked about psychological pressure. Grigory Karasin said: "The journalists were detained for understandable reasons. Today they were expelled back to Georgian territory under a judgment of the South Ossetian court."
Foreign policy of Vladimir Putin
Since the mid-2000s, Georgia has sought closer relations with the West, while Russia has strongly opposed the expansion of Western institutions to its southern border. Georgia has a long connection with the Russian Federation, as it was a republic of the Soviet Union, and became part of the Russian Empire in 1801. In 2003, the Rose Revolution forced Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze to resign from office. Shevardnadze had been the leader of the Georgian Communist Party when Georgia was one of the republics of the Soviet Union, and Shevardnadze led Georgia for most of its first decade of independence. Shevardnadze's successor, Mikheil Saakashvili, pursued closer relations with the West. Under President George W. Bush, the United States sought to invite Ukraine and Georgia into NATO. However, Georgia's potential membership in NATO ran into opposition from other NATO members and Russia. Partly in response to the potential expansion of NATO, Russia initiated the 2008 Russo-Georgian diplomatic crisis by lifting CIS sanctions on Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Though considered to be part of Georgia by the United Nations, Abkhazia and South Ossetia have both sought to secede from Georgia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and both are strongly supported by Russia. The Russo-Georgian War broke out in August 2008, as Georgia and Russia competed for influence in South Ossetia. Russia was strongly criticized by many Western countries for its part in the war, and the war heightened tensions between NATO and Russia. The war ended with a unilateral Russian withdrawal of forces from parts of Georgia, but Russian forces continue to occupy parts of Georgia. In November 2014, a Russian-Abkhazian treaty was met with condemnation from Georgia and many Western countries, who feared that Russia might annex Abkhazia much like it annexed Crimea. Georgia continues to pursue a policy of integration with the West. Georgia holds a strategic position for the European Union, as it gives the EU access to oil in Azerbaijan and Central Asia without having to rely on Russian pipelines.
Occupied territories of Georgia
In late February 2014, when tensions between Ukraine and Russia escalated, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry denounced Russia's continued military presence in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in violation of the ceasefire, saying: "We continue to object to Russia’s occupation, militarisation and borderisation of Georgian territory, and we call on Russia to fulfil its obligations under the 2008 ceasefire agreement, including the withdrawal of forces and free access for humanitarian assistance."
Occupation of Gori
The Occupation of Gori was the military occupation of Gori and its surrounding areas by Russian military forces, which started on 13 August 2008 as part of the Russo-Georgian War, and ended with the withdrawal of Russian units from the city on 22 August 2008.
Georgia–Russia relations
Early in May 2008, both Russian and Abkhaz sides claimed that three more Georgian reconnaissance drones were shot over Abkhazia, and declared that Georgia was preparing to mount an offensive into the region in the near future. The Abkhaz foreign minister Sergei Shamba asked Russia to place Abkhazia under Russia's military control in exchange for security guarantees. Georgia denied these allegations, stating that it was "a provocation aimed at propagandistic support of Russia’s military intervention."
Occupied territories of Georgia
In June 2010, the White House published its report on the U.S.-Russia relations, where it called on Russia to end its occupation of the Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
South Ossetia
Russia accused Georgia of "aggression against South Ossetia", and launched a large-scale land, air and sea invasion of Georgia with the pretext of "peace enforcement" operation on 8 August 2008. Russian airstrikes against targets within Georgia were also launched. Abkhaz forces opened a second front on 9 August by attacking the Kodori Gorge, held by Georgia. Tskhinvali was seized by the Russian military by 10 August. Russian forces occupied the Georgian cities of Zugdidi, Senaki, Poti, and Gori (the last one after the ceasefire agreement was negotiated). Russian Black Sea Fleet blockaded the Georgian coast.
Georgia (country)
Georgia contains two official autonomous regions, of which one has declared independence. Officially autonomous within Georgia, the de facto independent region of Abkhazia declared independence in 1999. In addition, another territory not officially autonomous has also declared independence. South Ossetia is officially known by Georgia as the Tskinvali region, as it views "South Ossetia" as implying political bonds with Russian North Ossetia. It was called South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast when Georgia was part of Soviet Union. Its autonomous status was revoked in 1990. De facto separate since Georgian independence, offers were made to give South Ossetia autonomy again, but in 2006 an unrecognised referendum in the area resulted in a vote for independence.
Abkhazia
A majority of sovereign states recognise Abkhazia as an integral part of Georgia and support its territorial integrity according to the principles of international law, although Belarus has expressed sympathy toward the recognition of Abkhazia. Some have officially noted Abkhazia as under occupation by the Russian military. The United Nations has been urging both sides to settle the dispute through diplomatic dialogue and ratifying the final status of Abkhazia in the Georgian constitution. However, the Abkhaz "de facto" government considers Abkhazia a sovereign country even if it is recognised by few other countries. In early 2000, then-UN Special Representative of the Secretary General Dieter Boden and the Group of Friends of Georgia, consisting of the representatives of Russia, the United States, Britain, France, and Germany, drafted and informally presented a document to the parties outlining a possible distribution of competencies between the Abkhaz and Georgian authorities, based on core respect for Georgian territorial integrity. The Abkhaz side, however, has never accepted the paper as a basis for negotiations. Eventually, Russia also withdrew its approval of the document. In 2005 and 2008, the Georgian government offered Abkhazia a high degree of autonomy and possible federal structure within the borders and jurisdiction of Georgia.
Occupied territories of Georgia
In September 2013, the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi expressed concern over "borderization" activities in Georgia along the administrative boundary lines of Russian-occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The statement called for the barriers "to be removed in accordance with Russia's commitments under the August 2008 cease-fire agreement and its obligations under international humanitarian law".
Occupied territories of Georgia
In August 2011, British ex-MP Bruce George published an article in which he referred to Abkhazia and South Ossetia as territories "under the occupation of Russian troops".
Principality of Guria
The Principality of Guria () was a historical state in Georgia. Centered on modern-day Guria, a southwestern region in Georgia, it was located between the Black Sea and Lesser Caucasus, and was ruled by a succession of twenty-two princes of the House of Gurieli from the 1460s to 1829. The principality emerged during the process of fragmentation of a unified Kingdom of Georgia. Its boundaries fluctuated in the course of permanent conflicts with neighboring Georgian rulers and Ottoman Empire, and the principality enjoyed various degrees of autonomy until being annexed by Imperial Russia in 1829.