“… [T]he arrival of more than 100,000 Russians in [Georgia] since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine … has left Georgians uncertain whether to welcome them as friends or shun them as foes. … Despite gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, a potential European future [for Georgia] is still struggling to be born. Georgia’s stance towards Russia […]
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“But a series of revolts against a pro-Russian strongman could also plant the seeds of rebellion at home, analysts say.” “… The arrival in Kazakhstan of 2,500 troops from a Russian-led military alliance amid … violent protest was the fourth time in … two years … Moscow has flexed its muscle in neighboring states — Belarus, Armenia and Ukraine being […]
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TBILISI. Aug 8 (Interfax) – The United States urges Russia to implement the ceasefire agreement of August 12, 2008, and to pull its troops stationed in Abkhazia and South Ossetia to the line that existed before the August 2008 conflict, U.S. Charge d’Affaires in Georgia Elizabeth Rood told the press on Thursday in connection of the 11th anniversary of the […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Simon Saradzhyan – August 7, 2018) Simon Saradzhyan is the founding director of the Russia Matters Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. [Text with links and chart russiamatters.org/analysis/when-does-vladimir-putins-russia-send-troops] This month marks the tenth anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s first military intervention abroad, in Georgia. Since then there have been two […]
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“Like many other heads of state, I had planned to attend the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. I canceled my trip after Russian-backed separatists began firing on Georgian positions in the breakaway territory of South Ossetia. … Long before its conventional assault on Georgia, Russia openly backed separatist militants, launched cyberattacks, and used disinformation to meddle in the internal affairs […]
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“… Ten years ago this week … Putin struck one of the first major blows when he sent Russian forces into South Ossetia in neighboring Georgia in support of Russian-backed separatists. The Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, fearing a full-blown invasion, ordered his troops to attack, thus springing Putin’s trap. Using the Georgian attack as a pretext, Putin launched that full-blown […]
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(Government.ru/Kommersant – August 7, 2018) Question: Mr Medvedev, the August 2008 war seemed unavoidable even before it started. Did you have the same feeling? Dmitry Medvedev: No, it was not at all unavoidable. And I still think that there would not have been a war if not for the irresponsible, immoral and criminal actions of Saakashvili and his minions. Indeed, […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – August 6, 2018) On the 10th anniversary of the Russia-Georgia war, more Russians blame Georgia than leadership in Moscow for the conflict, according to an independent Levada Center poll published Monday. The war, which began over the breakaway region of South Ossetia on Aug. 8, 2008 and ended five days later, was Russia’s biggest combat […]
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Subject: Upcoming Event: 4.20.17 Russia’s Hybrid War on Georgia: 2008 and Beyond Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2017 14:31:30 -0400 (EDT) From: IERES, GW Elliott School <ieresgwu@gwu.edu> Russia’s Hybrid War on Georgia: 2008 and Beyond Ambassador Vasil Sikharulidze, Visiting Fulbright Scholar, IERES In August 2008, Russian armed forces invaded Georgia in the first open military invasion of another sovereign nation by […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Brian Whitmore – August 17, 2016) Eight years ago, Georgia’s government apparently started a war with Russia — even though Georgian troops never left Georgian territory. Two and a half years ago, the Ukrainian people apparently started a war with Russia — by overthrowing a corrupt and autocratic ruler in a popular uprising. You really gotta […]
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(Interfax – January 28, 2016) The Russian Investigative Committee has provided the International Criminal Court (ICC) with the files of a criminal case opened into the crimes committed during the 2008 armed conflict in South Ossetia, Investigative Committee director Alexander Bastrykin has said. “The Investigative Committee of Russia conducted a thorough investigation into the crimes committed by the Georgian military,” […]
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(Interfax – September 21, 2015) Half of Russians deem Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be independent states and think that these republics and Transdniestria should have formal independent status, the Levada Center has told Interfax. According to the poll of 800 respondents held in 134 populated localities in 46 regions on August 21-24, practically half (47 percent) of respondents see […]
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Subject: ON TREATING UKRAINE LIKE GEORGIA – A REPLY TO PAUL SAUNDERS Date: Sun, 30 Aug 201 From: Kirk Bennett <kirkbennett7@yahoo.com> ON TREATING UKRAINE LIKE GEORGIA – A REPLY TO PAUL SAUNDERS By Kirk Bennett Kirk Bennett was the Senior Georgia Desk Officer at the State Department from 2007-09. Kudos to Paul Saunders for his spot-on exposition of U.S. policy […]
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The Wall Street Journal covers Georgia’s shifting policies towards Russia Georgia has toned down its confrontational stance toward Moscow, even as Russia has supported separatists in Georgia and Ukraine. The two countries severed diplomatic relations after the 2008 war and still don’t have embassies. Joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is still Georgia’s declared ambition, [Zurab] Abashidze[, Georgia’s special representative […]
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(Bloomberg – Lucian Kim – August 18, 2013) Twenty-five miles on the main road west from the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, Russian soldiers argue with a mercenary as refugees trudge along in the summer heat. The scene, reminiscent of the Balkans in the 1990s, is the result of a 10-day conflict over the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia. The […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Liana Fix – August 14, 2013) Liana Fix is a researcher on Russia and Eurasia. Her research interests include Russian foreign and security policy after 1991 and regional dynamics in South Caucasus and Central Asia. Five years after the Russian-Georgian war, Georgian Premier Bidzina Ivanishvili has announced that Tbilisi is ready for direct talks with Abkhazia and South […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, August 10, 2013) Five years ago this week, Russian forces invaded Georgia after Tbilisi took actions that Moscow regarded as provocations, thus setting in train the first and so the only use of force between two internationally recognized states on the territory of the former Soviet Union since the very first years […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – August 8, 2013) Georgia has been marking the anniversary of the 2008 war with Russia over its separatist South Ossetia region. A series of events to commemorate the victims of the war and a military parade in the Georgian town of Gori were held on August 8. On the same day, South Ossetia’s de facto foreign […]
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(Government.ru – Gorki, August 4, 2013) Dmitry Medvedev is interviewed by Russia Today correspondent Oksana Boyko on the events in August 2008 and consequences of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict. The interview was recorded on July 24, 2013. Oksana Boyko: Mr Medvedev, thank you for your time… Now that it’s been five years, the international community has all but forgotten this […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, Aug 4, 2013) The Russian government had no intention to occupy Tbilisi and topple the Mikheil Saakashvili regime in its peace enforcement operation against Georgia in August 2008, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said. “As the Supreme Commander in Chief I never gave an order to enter Tbilisi, change their political regime and execute Saakashvili,” Medvedev, the […]
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(Interfax – TBILISI, May 16, 2013) The Georgian presidential administration believes the investigation into the 2008 war and the attempts to accuse the previous government of Georgia increase the risk of South Ossetia and Abkhazia being recognized as different countries. “The attitude adopted by the new administration may lead to a catastrophic result for our country, and responsibility for it […]
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(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 72 – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – Vladimir Socor – April 17, 2013) Georgia’s Prosecutor-General Archil Kbilashvili (formerly a legal counsel to the current Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili), Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani (who does not have a formal degree in law), Georgian Dream parliamentary majority leader Davit Saganelidze, and Defense Minister Irakli Alasania are […]
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(Interfax – TBILISI. April 16, 2013) If Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili does not want to be questioned on the South Ossetian-Georgian conflict in August 2008, then he cannot be, Georgia’s chief prosecutor Archil Kbilashvili said. “The president is untouchable and there are no judicial mechanisms which would permit him to be interrogated,” Kbilashvili told reporters on Tuesday. Georgian Prime Minister […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Helena Bedwell – April 10, 2013) Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili wants to question President Mikheil Saakashvili over the country’s five-day war with Russia in 2008, a probe that may lead to legal proceedings against Saakashvili. The president and the government “acted inadequately” and the Georgian army acted before Russian forces crossed the border during the […]
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