One major assumption behind the new Georgian government’s Russia policy holds that Georgia might regain its Russian-occupied territories in the future through a negotiated solution. This presupposes making Georgia an attractive country to the occupied territories’ populations; de-isolating them to broaden their options; and—if those... MORE

Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili supervises Georgia’s policy toward Russia through his special envoy, veteran diplomat Zurab Abashidze. This appointment has led to the establishment of a bilateral negotiating channel between Abashidze and Russia’s Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister and State Secretary Grigory Karasin. In the absence... MORE

The construction of barbed wire fences by Russian border troops, crossing from South Ossetia into previously uncontested Georgian territory (see Part One, EDM, June 11), caught Tbilisi and its Western partners by surprise. With this operation, Russia de facto annexed several additional bits of Georgian... MORE

From its first days in power, the Georgian Dream coalition government under Bidzina Ivanishvili unilaterally set out to improve relations with Russia, and it has taken a series of unilateral steps toward that end. The government’s initiative stems from domestic, regional, and global considerations.Domestically, Georgian... MORE

For the past several days, Georgian politicians and experts have extensively discussed the alarming development of the situation around the village of Ditsi (https://en.ria.ru/world/20130527/181373355.html), located at the border between Georgia and South Ossetia. The government in Tbilisi considers this boundary “administrative” and is invariably sensitive... MORE

On May 14, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Russia’s 7th military base in Gudauta, in the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia. At the base, Shoigu toured a Russian military sanatorium and parking lot under construction, which is planned to house current and incoming military... MORE

The Georgian government under Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili is escalating the level of repression and threats against the pro-Western opposition United National Movement (UNM). The arrest of UNM’s leader Vano Merabishvili on May 21 caps a series of repressive measures, which Ivanishvili had earlier threatened... MORE

On May 21, United National Movement (UNM) Secretary General Vano Merabishvili, a probable candidate in the upcoming presidential election, former internal affairs minister and prime minister, was arrested by prosecutors on criminal charges, and detained without bail. The prosecution announced that Merabishvili and co-accused Zurab... MORE

The office of Georgia’s prosecutor general announced it had arrested Secretary General of the United National Movement (UNM) Vano Merabishvili after questioning him for five hours (https://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=26090). Merabishvili had previously served as Georgia’s interior minister (December 2004–July 2012) and prime minister (July–October 2012). He has... MORE

On May 17, several hundred gay rights activists from the organization Identoba (Identity) attempted to hold a rally in central Tbilisi to mark the International Day Against Homophobia (https://www.tabula.ge/ge/story/71188-17-maisis-aqcia-live-feed). Although the government deployed police to protect the demonstrators, thousands of anti-gay mobs led by radical... MORE