There is a small Russian population in Georgia of less than 0.5% [1] of the total population. For many years, Georgia was a part of the Russian Empire, and later the Soviet Union. As the two countries share a border, many Russians settled in various regions of Georgia. In recent years, the number of Russians living in Georgia has sharply declined.[ citation needed ] In 2022, thousands of Russians fled to Georgia, especially Russian men of fighting age, in order to escape mobilization in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
During the Soviet period, most Russians were urban dwellers and made up a disproportionately high percentage of the urban population.[ citation needed ] In 1959, there were more than 125,000 Russians in Tbilisi alone (18,1%). [2] In addition to that, Russians made up 36,8% of the population in Sokhumi (making them the largest ethnic group there at the time), [3] 31,6% in Rustavi, 26,8% in Poti and 25,6% in Batumi. There was also a sizable rural Russian community in Ninotsminda, consisting mainly of members of the Doukhobor religious group. In many places, Russian served as the lingua franca, as is served as the language of interethnic communication with Georgia's many other minorities. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian was not only abolished as the country's de facto official language, Georgia also faced several wars, economic hardship and ethnic tensions arose. This led to a strong emigration of Russians from Georgia, with their number decreasing from 341,172 in 1989 [4] to 67,671 in 2002 and further declining to only 26,453 in 2014. [1]
Ethnic Russians appeared in Georgia in significant numbers after Georgia became part of the Russian Empire in 1803 (Kartli and Kakheti) - 1878 (Ajara).
Census data shows that the Russian population had risen from 83 to the high-point of 407,886 between 1926 and 1959 and then began to decline slowly to 341,172 in 1989. Almost all Russians left Georgia during the 1990s due to economic hardships, ethnic tensions and other reasons decreasing percent of Russian population in Georgia from 6.3% in 1989 to 0.5% in 2014. [5]
Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, an estimated 100,000 Russian citizens and residents are estimated to have left Russia by mid-March 2022 as economic migrants. [6] [7]
In September 2022 alone 222,274 people entered Georgia from Russia, according to the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs. [8]
The arrival of Russians made real estate prices skyrocket in Tbilisi; in November 2022, average real estate prices were 210% higher than 1 year prior. This has rendered rent unaffordable for Georgian locals, exacerbating pre-existing tensions between Russians and Georgians. [9] [10]
In October 2022, protests were held demanding the introduction of a visa regime with Russia in order to mitigate the economic damage caused by the migration, with the ruling Georgian Dream party dismissing such a step as "irrational". [8]
A great part of its indigenous population emigrated to Turkey after the Muhajirism, with the result of repopulation of the land with ethnic Armenians and Pontic Greeks. Russians made up 2% of the 100,000 population of Abkhazia by 1897. Russian population rose between 1926 and 1970 and declined thereafter. Post-independence decline was particularly steep due to the War in Abkhazia.
The demographic features of the population of Georgia include population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population.
According to current reports from Rosstat, the population of Russia as of January 1, 2023 was approximately 146,400,000 people. On December 10, 2023 was approximately 146,115,376 people. Russia, the largest country in the world by area, had a population of 147.2 million according to the 2021 census, or 144.7 million when excluding Crimea and Sevastopol, up from 142.8 million in the 2010 census. It is the most populous country in Europe, and the ninth-most populous country in the world, with a population density of 8.5 inhabitants per square kilometre. As of 2020, the overall life expectancy in Russia at birth was 71.54 years.
Vladislav Ardzinba was the first de facto president of Abkhazia. A historian by education, Ardzinba led Abkhazia to de facto independence in the 1992–1993 War with Georgia, but its de jure independence from Georgia remained internationally unrecognised during Ardzinba's two terms as President from 1994 to 2005.
South Ossetia, officially the Republic of South Ossetia or the State of Alania, is a partially recognised landlocked state in the South Caucasus. It has an officially stated population of just over 56,500 people (2022), who live in an area of 3,900 square kilometres (1,500 sq mi), with 33,000 living in the capital city, Tskhinvali.
Politics in Abkhazia is dominated by its conflict with Georgia. Abkhazia became de facto independent from Georgia after the 1992–1993 war, but its de jure independence has only been recognised by a few other countries. Abkhazia is a presidential representative democratic republic with a multi-party system, wherein the President is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government of the Republic of Abkhazia. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the People's Assembly of Abkhazia.
The Abkhazia conflict is a territorial dispute over Abkhazia, a region on the eastern coast of the Black Sea in the South Caucasus, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The conflict involves Georgia, Russian Federation and Russian-backed self-proclaimed Republic of Abkhazia, internationally recognised only by Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Syria; Georgia and all other United Nations members consider Abkhazia a sovereign territory of Georgia. However, as of 2023, Georgia lacks de facto control over the territory.
The Russian diaspora is the global community of ethnic Russians. The Russian-speaking (Russophone) diaspora are the people for whom Russian language is the native language, regardless of whether they are ethnic Russians or not.
Russia and Georgia have had relations for centuries. The contacts between the two date back to the 15th and 16th centuries, and the most important stage started in the 1580s, when the Georgian kingdom of Kakheti and the Russian Empire signed a treaty of alliance in 1587. Since then, Georgia–Russia relations have been developing vibrantly and culminated in the Treaty of Georgievsk, which established eastern Georgia as a protectorate of Russia. At that time, Georgia saw Russia as a powerful Christian and modernizing neighbor, capable of protecting Georgia from invading Muslim empires and North Caucasian raiders.
The history of Abkhazia, a region in the South Caucasus, spans more than 5,000 years from its settlement by the lower-paleolithic hunter-gatherers to its present status as a partially recognized state.
The War in Abkhazia was fought between Georgian government forces for the most part and Abkhaz separatist forces, Russian government armed forces and North Caucasian militants between 1992 and 1993. Ethnic Georgians who lived in Abkhazia fought largely on the side of Georgian government forces. Ethnic Armenians and Russians within Abkhazia's population largely supported the Abkhazians and many fought on their side. The separatists received support from thousands of North Caucasus and Cossack militants and from the Russian Federation forces stationed in and near Abkhazia.
The history of the Jews in Abkhazia dates back to the early 19th century. The Jewish population of Abkhazia consisted of Ashkenazi, Georgian and other Jews. It grew after the incorporation of Abkhazia into the Russian Empire in the middle of the 19th century. Most of the Jews left or were evacuated from Abkhazia as a result of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict of 1992–1993.
Since their independence from the Soviet Union, Georgia and Ukraine have forged close political and cultural relations. The diplomatic relations between the two nations are realized at the level of embassies and consulates. Due to the prosecution in Georgia of Georgian/Ukrainian politician Mikheil Saakashvili and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, relations between the two countries have soured significantly.
Kazakhstan–Russia relations are the bilateral foreign relations between Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation. Kazakhstan has an embassy in Moscow, a consulate-general in Saint Petersburg, Astrakhan and Omsk. Russia has an embassy in Astana and consulates in Almaty and Oral.
The foreign policy of Vladimir Putin concerns the policies of the Russian Federation's president Vladimir Putin with respect to other nations. He has held the office of the President previously from 2000 to 2008, and reassumed power again in 2012 and has been President since.
The 2008 Russo-Georgian War was a war between Russia, alongside the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and Georgia. The war took place in August following a diplomatic crisis between Russia and Georgia, both formerly constituent republics of the Soviet Union. The fighting took place in the strategically important South Caucasus region. It is regarded as the first European war of the 21st century.
This article describes the background of the Russo-Georgian War.
Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It covers 8,665 square kilometres (3,346 sq mi) and has a population of around 245,000. Its capital and largest city is Sukhumi.
The Armenians in Abkhazia form the second largest ethnic group in Abkhazia after the native Abkhazians. Armenians settled in Abkhazia in late 19th and the early 20th centuries and are now the largest ethnic group in Sukhumi, Gulripsh and Gagra Districts forming 20% of the Abkhazian population with approximately 42,000 out of a total of 242,862.
The Kurds in Georgia form a major part of the historically significant Kurdish population in the post-Soviet space, and are members of the eponymous ethnic group that are citizens of Georgia. In the 20th century, most Kurds fled religious persecution in the Ottoman Empire to the Russian Empire. The return of their Kurdish surnames needs effort according to a Kurdish activist in Georgia. The Kurds also have their own schools, school books and a printing press in Georgia. Illiteracy among them disappeared in the early 1900s. Kurds in Georgia are politically neutral; however, in 1999 they staged a huge demonstration in Tbilisi, demanding the release of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, Abdullah Öcalan. Kurds in Georgia today use Cyrillic script. Earlier, in the 1920s, they used the Latin script.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine that started in late February 2022, more than 300,000 Russian citizens and residents are estimated to have left Russia by mid-March 2022, at least 500,000 by the end of August 2022, and an additional 400,000 by early October, for a total of approximately 900,000. This number includes economic migrants, conscientious objectors, and some political refugees.