On April 2, two high school boys from Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge, populated by Muslim Chechens (known as Kists in Georgia), disappeared and later contacted their parents, notifying them that they were in Turkey. It is widely believed that the teenagers are heading for Syria, in... MORE

Russian defense and interior ministry troops have each staged large-scale military exercises, one after another. Military drills take place across Russia practically year-round, but what was interesting about a recent series of exercises is that they were conducted in the mountainous regions of the North... MORE

Irakli Alasania, the former Georgian minister of defense (October 2012–November 2014), recently lifted the veil of secrecy over a mysterious document he signed during his visit to France in October 2014 (Newsday.ge, October 28, 2014). That memorandum of understanding (MoU), which was agreed to in... MORE

Recent geographically broad, intensive and large-scale military exercises of the Russian army, including those in the North Caucasus (Russia’s Southern Military District—MD), have again raised concerns about Vladimir Putin’s possible attempts to hinder the development of Georgia’s cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)... MORE

On March 26, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili declared that he was postponing his state visit to Ukraine because he was too busy dealing with Georgia’s domestic affairs. Garibashvili took pains to emphasize that the postponement of his visit was not due to his unhappiness... MORE

Until now, Georgia’s economic situation has been most clearly defined by its movement closer to Europe thanks to last year’s signing of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area agreement with the European Union (Slon.ru, July 21, 2014) as well as episodic disputes with its... MORE

President Vladimir Putin has been organizing so many military exercises in so many parts of the Russian Federation (see EDM, March 19)—a process that has required Moscow to shift units from one area to another—that it is virtually impossible to say just where he intends... MORE

On March 4, Gogi Topadze, the leader of the Party of Industrialists and one of the key members of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) coalition, delivered another diatribe against Georgia’ hopes for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership. Topadze stated that Georgia’s NATO membership was... MORE

One might expect that while Russia’s political, diplomatic, military and economic resources are tied down in its protracted war in Ukraine, the Kremlin would have difficulty focusing on other regions within the post-Soviet space. But even a casual glance at Russia’s recent activities in Georgia... MORE

On February 18, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the head of the “Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Ossetia,” David Sanakoev, signed an agreement “On the State Border,” whereby Russia recognized the “state borders” of South Ossetia (Bigmir.net, February 20). A similar prepared treaty... MORE