The Muscovite Tsardom portrayed its relentless territorial expansion as “gathering Russian lands.” In many cases, the lands in question were not even Russian, but once conquered, they were subjected to Russification in due course. The tsars and Russian emperors added the informal but glowing title... MORE

On September 14, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressed parliament in the wake of clashes at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Pashinyan announced that he would sign a document stipulating that “Armenia will have lasting peace and security in an area of 29,800 square kilometers,” in reference... MORE

The Western sanctions imposed on Russia due to its aggression against Ukraine include a ban on overland cargo transit through Russian territory. This situation has highlighted new promising prospects for Georgia as a transit country (see EDM, April 19, April 20, June 9). Indeed, Georgia... MORE

In her July 13 speech in the European Parliament (EP), Lithuanian parliamentarian Rasa Jukneviciene stressed, when talking about the problems of Georgian democracy, that the main challenge goes by the name of one rich man. “Georgia seems to be in the captivity of one person,”... MORE

As a result of the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions on Russia, according to the latest data, about 250,000 Russians are already in Georgia at present. In Georgia, citizens of Russia and Belarus are considered one and the same. The Georgian opposition, in early... MORE

In a social media post on July 5, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili admitted that “the public is still waiting for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.” She was referring to the events that took place one year ago, on July 5, 2021, when pro-Russian,... MORE

On June 27, Baku, Azerbaijan, hosted the first trilateral meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs and transport of Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan (News.az, June 27). The ministers paid special attention to issues of regional cooperation and the development potential of the Middle Corridor (Trans-Caspian... MORE

On June 28–30, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili took part in the ceremonial portions of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit held in Madrid, Spain. In general, this latest gathering of Alliance leaders not only did not bring about anything new or substantial for... MORE

Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is sitting in prison after a Tbilisi court sentenced him to three and six years behind bars for abuse of power during his presidency (2004–2013), presented a historic initiative to resolve an existential problem of Georgian statehood: the status of... MORE

As expected, at the European Union summit in Brussels, on June 23, the European Council decided not to award membership candidate status to Georgia. The EU’s top agenda-setting body, composed of the bloc’s heads of state and government, only conceded its readiness to grant the... MORE