Georgia on my mind

Protesters in Tbilisi, capital city of the nominally independent state of Georgia in the Caucasus, are attempting to halt the government's perceived 'Russification' of the country, adding an extra dimension to Vladimir Putin's expansionist agenda.

Putin's invasion of Ukraine a year ago has tended to focus world attention on his previous territorial aggrandisement in Crimea and the Donbas region in 2014, whilst his partial invasion of Georgia in 2008 has largely been forgotten. This is despite the fact that Georgia is in line to join both the EU and NATO. 

The Georgian Dream Party has led the government for the past ten years during which time, in its own estimation at least, it has negotiated a delicate relationship with its neighbour, the Russian Federation. Protesters, however, feel that the government is mired in corruption and is drawing ever-closer to Russia. 

Now, its latest move to force NGOs in receipt of foreign funding to declare themselves 'foreign agents', replicating a similar Russian law introduced by Putin, has sparked serious unrest. Georgian protesters are angry because Georgia's EU and NATO membership aspirations are conditional on being able to  demonstrate the existence of a thriving civil society. Contrast this with Moldova, for example, whose membership application is unconditional.

Georgia is no stranger to such protests and its recent history has been quite volatile. Its so-called 'Rose Revolution' of 2003 led to the resignation of pro-Russian president, Edvard Shevardnadze, in favour of Mikheil Saakashvili, who succeeded him in the election of 2004. Georgia completed its negotiations for initial EU association in 2013, placing the country on a firmer path towards full membership.That progress has been placed in jeopardy by these latest proposals.*

The February 2004 constitutional amendment re-established the position of Prime Minister and Government, making them responsible to the President and Parliament. In a series of amendments passed between 2010 and 2018, Georgia was transformed into a parliamentary democracy, with most of the executive powers of the President being granted to the Prime Minister, currently Irakli Gharibashvili.

In 2019 a speech to parliament by visiting Communist member of the Russian Duma, Sergei Gavrilov, delivered in Russian from a seat reserved for the Head of Parliament, led to protests against an alleged pro-Russian coup attempt. The so-called 'Gavrilov's Night' protests sparked mass demonstrations, leading to Vladimir Putin suspending direct flights from Russia to Georgia and imposing trade sanctions on Georgian wine and mineral water.

From this brief recap of modern Georgian history it will be apparent that the current protests in Tbilisi are just the latest in a series of popular actions seeking to preserve Georgia's fragile independence and democracy in the face of a very real threat of Russian interference in its sovereignty.

And this takes us to the heart of the problem the West now has with Putin. How far are the actions of the EU, and NATO in particular, responsible for provoking Putin into taking retaliatory actions against a perceived Western threat following the fall of the Soviet Union? 

In 2008, on the eve of a NATO summit in Bucharest, US President, George W Bush, pledged to support the case for NATO membership by both Georgia and Ukraine. A core of European states, however, led by France and Germany, insisted that they were not ready and feared such a move would exacerbate tensions with Russia. 

The 20th NATO Summit duly took place on 2-4 April 2008, with Vladimir Putin in attendance. While welcoming the two countries’ aspirations for membership and agreeing that "these countries will become members of NATO", the NATO members decided to review their request in December 2008. At their meeting on 3 December it was concluded that both countries had made strides forward but concluded both “have significant work left to do”. 

Ominously, they also noted that no business had been conducted by the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) since August. On August 8, 2008, Russian forces had begun the invasion of Georgia. In retrospect it appears the scene was set for everything that has followed. Triumphalism in the West and paranoia in the East has led us to where we are now.

Where it will end, only time will tell.

*Update: Georgia's parliament has now opted to drop this controversial draft legislation.

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