Alexandre Grigolashvili, a Georgian volunteer who was fighting on the Ukrainian side in that country’s ongoing war against Russia-sponsored separatists, was killed in action on December 19, 2014 (Channel 1 TV, December 20, 2014). On December 20, Georgia’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) issued a statement... MORE

Last week (December 11), Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan paid an official two-day visit to Georgia (Newsday.ge, December 11). The head of the Armenian government held intensive talks with his Georgian counterpart, Irakli Garibashvili, on the entire spectrum of the bilateral agenda. This agenda, however,... MORE

The plans to build a road connecting Dagestan to Georgia have caused concern among experts outside Russia (see EDM, October 2). Following its moves in eastern Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea, its war with Georgia in 2008 and other aggressive acts, every move by Russia... MORE

Implications related to the signing of the Russo-Abkhazian Agreement on Alliance and Strategic Partnership, on November 24, have been reverberating across the region, and have had profound effects on Armenia. For one thing, the agreement again stimulated a discussion about the possible restoration of the... MORE

On December 5, Georgia’s national currency, the lari, fell by another 2.86 percentage points against the US dollar, hitting its lowest point since spring 2004. Overall, from early November 2014, the lari depreciated by 11.2 percent, quickly sending the prices of everyday products and commodities... MORE

After the followers of Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed their allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) organization (sedmitza.ru, June 30), some of the rebel forces opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad became polarized. That polarization also affected the Chechen militant groups fighting in Syria, with... MORE

Georgian authorities are trying to devise new tactics and a new style of relations with Moscow after the November 24 signing of the Russian-Abkhazian agreement On Alliance and Strategic Partnership (Kavkavsky Uzel, November 24; see EDM, October 29, November 24). However, with Western leaders currently... MORE

On November 20, Russian-occupied South Ossetia’s (Tskhinvali region) separatist regime declared that it is negotiating a new “comprehensive agreement on integration” with Russia, which will raise the relationship between the two sides to a “qualitatively new level,” especially in the military sphere (regnum.ru, November 20).... MORE

As of several weeks ago, the station Radio-Sputnik has begun broadcasting in Georgia from its studio located on Ateni Street in downtown Tbilisi. It prepares radio programs for the agency News Georgia, which, in turn, is a partner of the Russian media giant Rossiya Segodnya... MORE

Russia’s position has always been one of creative ambiguity regarding the recognition of territorial secessions from countries in Europe’s East (Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine). In each case, Russian military forces (already in place or intruding) were the direct enablers of secession. The Kremlin’s position on the... MORE