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2008 Russo-Georgian Diplomatic Crisis

An international diplomatic crisis between Georgia and Russia began in 2008, when Russia announced that it would no longer participate in the Commonwealth of Independent States economic sanctions imposed on Abkhazia in 1996 and established direct relations with the separatist authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The crisis was linked to the push for Georgia to receive a NATO Membership Action Plan and, indirectly, the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo.

Increasing tensions led to the outbreak of the Russo-Georgian War in 2008. After the war, a number of incidents occurred in both conflict zones, and tensions between the belligerents remained high.

Post-War

Seperation

Between 1918 and 1921 Georgia was briefly independent from the Russian empire. After a couple of years Georgia and another former Russian state became Soviet Socialist Republics. During the transition to Soviet Socialist Republic, in 1922 South Ossetia was created within the new Georgian republic than a few years later in1931 the Abkhazia republic was downgraded to being a Oblast republic in Georgia. A year later in 1990 the South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia. A year later Georgia declared independence from the Soviet union which leads to future Georgian conflicts.

From1991-1992 there was armed conflicts between Georgia, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia; during this conflict Zviad Gamsakhurdia was disposed as the president. After 1992 the two territories try to claim independence bit it always resulted in an armed conflict with Georgia. Up until the Abkhazian separatist forces defeated the Georgian military in 1993; after that in October of 1993 Georgia joins the Commonwealth of Independent States. After a couple of years of fighting, a cease fire was declared and signed in 1994 between the Georgian forces and the Abkhazia separatists; during the cease fire Russian Peace troops were dispatched in the conflicted area.

Russian Peacekeepers

After the armed conflict between Georgia and the South Ossetia region, both sides agreed and signed the involvement of Russia and Russia peacekeepers.

Russian Tactics

As the conflict between Georgia and Russia raged on is August 2008, Georgian forces began to realized the conflict between the two was not a coincident. Georgian forces began to realize that the Russian forces seemed prepared to fight in this conflict with Georgia. When Russian forces began to move south into Georgia, they would pick advantage points and use aircrafts to knock out television towers. Russia began to build illegal fences around the South Ossetia territory. Russia’s borderization included, “constructing illegal fencing and earthen barriers to separate communities and further divide the Georgian population” The West and Georgia fear Russia is trying to slowly annex Georgia and divide the country. Over time Russia installed 19 military bases in South Ossetia which makes the West very concerned for the future of Georgia and the region.

Russia Georgia Relation 2013

Five years after the 2008 Russia Georgia conflict, the Georgian government have shown support of restoring relations with Russia. Russia remained to have a presents, "Russian troops [were] stationed in 20% of the country's territory". Russia was in talks about lifting sanctions off of Georgia and relaxing travel restrictions; Georgia wants to continue, its path down of gaining membership in the European Union and NATO. During the conflict many Georgians were asked what their views were on Russia. Many claimed to love the people of Russia, but one interviewee claimed to only dislike Vladimir Putin. Georgians tend to look at Russian literature and share some of the same views of near by Muslim states. Many Russians view Georgia as a sunny and warm vacation destination in the region. The relationship between Georgia and Russia turned foul when the United States in 2003 backed the “Rose Revolution led by Mr. Saakashvili”. The revolution transformed Georgia into the democratic state it is now. They also became a key ally to NATO but conflicts over the years especially the 2008 conflict; NATO became afraid Georgia was going to drag them into a full-scale war with Russia. The relationship between Russia and Georgia has been improving very slowly as both sides talk about the future of the relationship between the two and the future of Georgia.

Impact on Georgia and South Ossetia

The Russia-Georgian conflict came to an end with a ceasefire that was implemented August 12^th of 2008. Georgia ended with conflict without the South Ossetia territory, which Russia recognized their independence, but Georgia still views it as part of Georgia. Ossetia’s split from Georgia has left caused its domestic economy to collapse. After the conflict, South Ossetia “totally rely on funding from Russia, but because of corruption”. This only pushed Georgia to sign an association agreement with the European Union, but they have yet to submit for membership. After the conflict political unrest in Georgia cased people to look at each other negatively if they said anything negative about Saakashvili’s government during the conflict. Many saw it as being against Georgia when they were trying to defend themselves some even go as far as being Russian supporter or agent.

War Crimes

At the end of the conflict between Russia and Georgia , Georgia went to the European court of human rights to provide evidence that Russia committed war crimes during the conflict. During the hearing Georgia claimed, “Russian planes carried out more than 100 attacks on Georgian targets” These Russian bombing lead to many Georgians losing their homes and being killed. Communities and villages were destroyed, and many Georgians were forced by Russian troops to leave their homes. Georgia also claimed that when the conflict first broke out in 2008, Russia had approximately 30,000 troops that were distributed in the South Ossetia and Abkhazia provinces. These Russian troops along with Ossetia forces began “sealing off entrances and exits… then systematically burned down Georgian homes and entire villages… adding that they carried out summary executions and threaten individuals that would not leave”. The verdict for the case is supposed to be given and it may find Russia guilty for some of these cries, but the Kremlin threaten to hold funding from the court and to withdraw from the court entirely.

Weapons of War

Given to the history and connection of Russia and Georgia, they both used different types of weapons during the conflict. By Georgia being a former state of the Soviet Union, it was expected for them to use Soviet era weaponry. Many of the Russian weapons were Soviet era and many soldiers had a hard time using them during the conflict. It was “estimated that some 80 percent of Russian weaponry had not been refurbished since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991” The soviet era weapons set Russia back a little during the conflict while Georgia was using more efficient and updated weaponry. Before the conflict, Georgia had many on its tanks, and infantry vehicles updated by western firms. Reports also claimed “Georgian aircrafts tended to have superior communication, avionics, and weapon-control system” compared to the Russian aircrafts. Russian soldiers at one point during the conflict had to strip dead Georgian soldiers of their armor to increase their protection. Most of the Russian’s military equipment was ineffective against the Georgian forces