Vakhtang (Buba) Kikabidze, a Georgian singer and actor universally loved across the former Soviet Union, has died at the age of 84, drawing the curtain on an era.
Men seeking to avoid being sent to Ukraine are flocking out of the country, and Georgia is one of the few options that doesn’t require an exorbitant air ticket.
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.
Georgians and Russians have not had such close contact, and on such a scale, since the breakup of Soviet Union. Now they are figuring each other out again.
Georgian cinema has been enjoying a renaissance, becoming a darling of the international independent film world. But it’s also running into political problems at home.