A demonstrator holds a pro-Ukraine sign during a protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in Almaty, Kazakhstan — a former Soviet republic that has largely stayed neutral during the conflict — in March 2022.
(AP Photo/Vladimir Tretyakov)
It is commonplace these days to invoke the fears that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has awoken in Eastern Europe. With the 2008 invasion still fresh in the minds, the Black Sea nation of Georgia…
Stage two: the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, meeting with defence minister Sergei Shoigu in the Kremlin, April 2022.
Kremlin Photo Pool
As Russia prepares to take more Ukrainian territory, Moldova could be next on Putin’s target list.
Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, takes part in a service at Vladimirskaya Gorka in Kyiv in July 2012, part of anniversary celebrations of the christening of the country known as Kyivan Rus by its grand prince Vladimir I in 988AD.
Reuters/Alamy
Vladamir Putin’s version of Russian history portrays his country as a victim – a historian examines the evidence.
Slovenia Prime Minister Janez Jansa (left), Czech Republic Prime Minister Petr Fiala (second from left) and Poland Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (third from left) meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a visit to Kyiv on behalf of the European Council on March 16, 2022.
Ukrainian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Anders C. Hardig, American University School of International Service
The Russian invasion has triggered an outpouring of support for Ukraine from European countries. Will Putin’s gamble backfire and ultimately push Ukraine firmly into the European fold?
In this August 2012 photo, Russian soldiers ride atop an armoured vehicle through a street in Tskhinvali, capital of the Georgian breakaway enclave of South Ossetia, with a destroyed tank in the foreground. The Russian military quickly routed the Georgian army during the war.
(AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev)
In the midst of the Ukraine-Russia war, we should pay more attention to the evolution of Russia’s official rhetoric and military actions in former Soviet states.
Russia’s antiquated military was exposed in the 2008 war with Georgia, prompting a major overhaul of the armed services that are now being unleashed on Ukraine.
Russian army special forces on patrol in Chechnya in 1995.
Alamy
As fighting continues between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, neighbouring Iran has offered to mediate.
In this April 2017 photo, Georgian border guards patrol a border with Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia, near the village of Khurvaleti, Georgia.
(AP Photo/ Shakh Aivazov)
International recognition of South Ossetia would allow for increased economic, political and cultural contacts with the outside world and prevent the country from being integrated into Russia.
Caucasus mountains in Svaneti, northwest Georgia.
Polscience/Wikimedia
How does reporting on the environment promote democracy? A US journalism professor describes conditions in the republic of Georgia, where the media isn’t equipped to cover issues like pollution.
Protesters in Tbilisi voice their anger about Russia’s activities in Ukraine.
EPA
This latest instalment in our series on Russia’s relations with its neighbours focuses on Georgia. Caucasus-watcher Julie George explains how the Ukraine situation has magnified the uneasy truce that continues…