In addition to the risk of the Ukraine War spreading to Georgian territory, the planned Russian naval base in Abkhazia could threaten Georgia's status as a global east-west connectivity hub.
The de facto authorities fortified government buildings in an apparent attempt to prevent a revolution like the ones that overthrew previous governments in 2020 and 2014.
Officials in Moscow and their allies in Abkhazia and South Ossetia all canceled meetings with international diplomats brokering the discussions, casting the future of the talks into question.
While the decision isn’t likely to have a practical effect on people’s freedom to travel, it does signal a potential shift in Brussels’s approach to Georgia’s breakaway territories.
In South Ossetia, meanwhile, the authorities have remained completely silent on the issue. Most residents in both territories hold Russian citizenship, raising the prospect they could be drafted.
Land ownership is a sensitive issue in Abkhazia. The deal also sparked controversy in Georgia proper, where critics accused the government of closing its eyes to Russian expansion.
Many outsiders have been calling on Georgia to take advantage of Russian weakness to reclaim its lost territories. But Georgians themselves aren’t having it.
Every country in the region has its own relationship with self-proclaimed breakaway republics, forcing them to reckon in their own ways with Russia’s moves in Ukraine.
The suicide of a man who was forced to flee Abkhazia 30 years ago has put the spotlight on the emotional and economic plight of hundreds of thousands of Georgian IDPs.
The territory's public health officials have warned against opening up to tourism, and the arrival of tourists has coincided with a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases.
The vote went ahead in spite of the global coronavirus outbreak; although Abkhazia hasn’t recorded any cases, election officials took pains that the disease couldn’t be spread by voting.
The criticism from Abkhazia is rare, given its deep dependence on Russia. But a Russian media report about the “poisoning” of an opposition politician appears to have triggered Sukhumi.
Last year the candidate, Aslan Bzhania, claimed to have been poisoned by the then-president. Now he has fallen seriously ill again and his campaign says the vote can't go ahead without him.
In our monthly Russian business briefing: Uzbekistan dithers, Azerbaijan offers a backdoor to Europe, and the rocket that fell on Kazakhstan will not frustrate a new $1 billion test range.