Eurasianet

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.

Because official statistics are nonsense, we look to personnel reshuffles to understand where the government recognizes it is underperforming. Our weekly briefing.

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.

Some in the breakaway territory worry that, by getting involved militarily in Ukraine, they could be exposing themselves to an attack from Georgia.

Their economies are exposed, but political concerns remain paramount.

As anti-Russian sentiment rises in Georgia, the many Russians here share Georgians’ shock and disgust at what is happening in Ukraine.

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 ruling bolsters Tbilisi’s narrative that Moscow “occupies” the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Rigged elections have created political crises in two other post-Soviet countries this year, leaving Nur-Sultan edgy ahead of a parliamentary vote.

Astana Hub hoping political unrest could tempt some specialists into coming their way.

Hypocritical election congratulations underscore the cold strategic underpinnings of a bloc that is as much about politics as it is about trade.

Many in the territory blame the rising numbers of coronavirus cases on the authorities’ decision to open up to Russian tourists.

The move disappointed many Armenians, who see the ongoing protests in Belarus as an echo of their own Velvet Revolution two years ago.

Usenov claims he died in 2013 and that he is really called Uritsky.

As coronavirus cripples the territory’s tourism season and Russia has stopped sending aid, Abkhazia faces a 10 percent GDP decline this year.