Foreign relations between Russia and Georgia: from the independence to the Russian invasion.

Abstract

Georgia, as one of the three states which make up the Caucasus region, consists part of Russia’s ‘near abroad’, a wide region around the borders of the modern Russian Federation, which has been vital for Russian interests in different historical circumstances. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, in 1991, Russian interests in Georgia, like the wider Caucasus region, started being shaped steadily and becoming all the more multifaceted. Russia’s conduct in Georgia, the last twenty years, can be predominantly analyzed via the lens of realism, as a theoretical framework of international relations. Despite the whatever fluctuations now and again in Russian foreign policy, the latter has remained firmly loyal to concrete fundamental principles, such as the continual interest for Russia’s ‘near abroad’ and the consistent perception of the West as a threat. This is not to say that Russia is isolated politically, economically and ideologically in a way reminiscent of the Cold War era; Russian foreign policy towards Georgia and its ‘near abroad’, in general, is directed not only by the Soviet legacies and the consistent perceptions of Russia as a traditional great power in the international system, but also by a multitude of other factors, such as external developments and pressures, internal political processes, the quality of the Russian democracy and the evolution of the increasingly complex Russia’s national interests.