29 Oct, 2024 21:35

Timeline: How an ex-Soviet state drifted off its ‘Euro-Atlantic path’

The Georgian opposition has refused to admit election defeat amid Western calls for the country to return to its former course

Last weekend's parliamentary elections in Georgia have led to a bitter standoff between the winning Georgian Dream and four opposition parties that claim the vote was stolen. The country’s French-born president, Salome Zourabichvili, has refused to recognize the results and called for mass protests.

Large crowds gathered outside Parliament on Monday evening as the opposition demanded new elections and refused to join the new legislature.

Washington accused the Georgian Dream party of various violations and threatened Tbilisi with “further consequences if the Georgian government’s direction does not change” and the nation does not return to its “Euro Atlantic path.”

The US and 13 EU member states have demanded an inquiry into alleged election irregularities despite the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) reporting that it observed no systemic voting violations.

RT takes a look back at the South Caucasian nation’s modern history and the role the West has played in it.

Post-Independence turmoil

Georgia announced its intention to leave the USSR in 1990 after parliamentary elections in the then-Soviet republic were won by nationalist parties. In 1991, the Georgian authorities declared independence following a referendum that showed the population overwhelmingly supported this. The US Congress recognized the results of the referendum on the day they were announced. Most nations did not recognize Georgia’s independence until 1992, after the collapse of the USSR.

Two parts of Georgia – Abkhazia in the northwest and South Ossetia in the north – expressed their wish to leave the newly formed state. Both regions had bad experiences with an independent Georgia in the early 20th century after the collapse of the Russian Empire and were wary of the new nationalist government in Tbilisi. Both were denied their wish to leave.

Ethnic tensions quickly spiraled into armed conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the early 1990s, in which hundreds were killed, tens of thousands were displaced, and the land was devastated economically. Each of the conflicts eventually ended with internationally approved ceasefire regimes that involved Russian peacekeepers.

The policies of independent Georgia’s first president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, alienated ethnic minorities and eventually led to a two-year civil war as well. He ultimately died under murky circumstances, but his supporters continued to be a thorn in the Georgian government’s side for years.

The Rose Revolution

The tumultuous first years of independence have had a lasting impact on Georgia, which had to battle economic hardship and never regained control over Abkhazia and South Ossetia. From 1995 to 2003, the nation was led by president Eduard Shevardnadze, a former Soviet foreign minister, who sought to improve the nation’s relations with both the West and Russia.

In November 2003, crowds took to the streets of Tbilisi to challenge the results of a parliamentary election that they believed was flawed. They also demanded Shevardnadze’s resignation. The protests, which were later known as the Rose Revolution, reached their peak when the new parliament held its opening session. A crowd led by the US-educated politician Mikheil Saakashvili broke into the building and interrupted the president’s speech.

Shevardnadze eventually resigned and Saakashvili was elected president in January 2004.

Saakashvili’s rule

Unlike his predecessor and former patron, Saakashvili took a sharply antagonistic stance towards Russia and wanted his nation to become part of NATO. He also drastically increased Georgia’s military budget from less than 1% of GDP to 8% and pursued a harsher political course towards Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The president also hired a number of Western advisers to aid his reforms, and sent Georgian troops to Iraq and Afghanistan to join US- and NATO-led forces.

The then-US president, George W. Bush, called Georgia a beacon of liberty during a visit to Tbilisi in 2005. Meanwhile, international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch voiced concerns over what they called instances of detainees’ ill-treatment and torture in Georgian prisons under Saakashvili.

Massive protests against Saakashvili’s government in 2007 were met with a brutal crackdown. The president called them an attempted coup sponsored by Russia.

War of 2008

In early August 2008, Saakashvili, who was reelected in January that year, sent the Georgian army to take control of South Ossetia. Russian peacekeepers stationed there were killed in the Georgian shelling of the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinval. Moscow responded by sending troops to the area.

Russian forces dealt a serious blow to Georgian troops in a five-day campaign and forced them to retreat. Moscow also recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia while its relations with Tbilisi ended up frozen for years.

The disastrous military campaign seriously weakened Saakashvili’s support at home and his party lost the 2012 parliamentary elections. The president fled Georgia in 2013, even before his second term expired. Saakashvili initially moved to the US before ending up in Ukraine where he attempted to re-start his political career. In 2021, he returned to Georgia, where he was arrested on multiple charges.

After the war

Since 2012, the Georgian Dream party has been the leading party in the South Caucasian nation. The party retained a majority in the national legislature through three consecutive election cycles – 2012, 2016, and 2020.

With relations with Moscow strained after the 2008 war, Tbilisi initially continued to pursue pro-Western policies. In 2014, Georgia signed an association agreement with the EU. The country also made its EU and NATO membership aspirations part of the constitution under amendments that came into force in 2018.

In March 2022, it applied for EU membership and was granted candidate status, and received reform recommendations from Brussels in late 2023.

Over the years since 2012, Tbilisi has gradually steered away from the course set for it by Washington and Brussels. Georgia condemned Russia’s military campaign against Ukraine in 2022, but nevertheless took a neutral stance on the conflict, refusing to take part in the Western sanctions on Russia and declining to provide any direct support to the combatants.

In 2023, Georgia also resumed direct air traffic with Russia after President Vladimir Putin lifted an air travel ban and visa regime with the South Caucasian nation imposed in 2019. The move prompted Washington to threaten Tbilisi with sanctions.

Western governments have accused Georgia of democratic backsliding and warned that its recent policies could hamper the country’s aspirations to join the EU. In 2024, the Georgian Parliament approved laws that allow NGOs to be labeled ‘foreign agents’ and ban LGBTQ ‘propaganda’ to minors, both of which sparked protests. The US and its allies have since repeatedly demanded Tbilisi repeal “anti-democratic legislation,” as well as expressing their support for the protesters.

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Timeline: How an ex-Soviet state drifted off its ‘Euro-Atlantic path’

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