Georgia: Escalating tension with Russia - timeline
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Timeline
- June 2007. The Georgian Parliament (the unicameral legislature on June 8 approves President Mikhail Saakashvili's proposal to increase Georgia's military contingent in Iraq to 2,000 servicemen, more than doubling its size.
- April 2007. Saakashvili unveils a new peace plan aimed at resolving the conflict over the breakaway province of South Ossetia.
- March 2007. Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli describes the legislative elections held in the unrecognised breakaway republic of Abkhazia as “immoral and illegal” because of the “ethnic cleansing campaign” that had been perpetrated there.
- November 2006. The breakaway republic of South Ossetia holds a simultaneous independence referendum and presidential election. Nogaideli describes the referendum as “a provocative action . . . with the support of Russia which can only increase tensions in the conflict zone and in the region”.
- October 2006. Russia commences a campaign of sanctions against Georgia, including the closure of air, road, rail, and sea transport links, in response to the arrest of Russian intelligence officers in Georgia. Russian President Vladimir Putin claims that the sanctions were intended to prevent Georgia using military force to regain control of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
- September 2006. Tension between Georgia and Russia escalates when four Russian army intelligence officers are detained in Georgia on spying charges.
- July 2006. Oleg Alborov, secretary of the security council of South Ossetia, is killed by a remote controlled bomb. The South Ossetian authorities accuse the Georgian government of involvement in the assassination.
- February 2006. Georgia's Parliament approves a non-binding resolution which condemns Russia's attempt at “annexing” South Ossetia and recommends that Saakashvili ensure the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from South Ossetia.
- January 2006. Relations with Russia deteriorate over gas pipeline blasts which leave large parts of Georgia and Armenia without energy, prompting President Saakashvili to accuse Russia of “sabotage”.
- August 2005. The UN Security Council on July 29 adopts Resolution 1615 (2005) extending the mandate of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) until Jan. 31, 2006.
- March 2005. The Georgian Parliament on March 10 unanimously adopts a non-binding resolution demanding that the Russian authorities agree by May 15 on a timetable for the closure of two remaining Russian military bases in Georgia.
- May 2004. The leader of separatist Adzharia, Aslan Abashidze, is removed after militias loyal to Abashidze blow up three major bridges connecting Adzharia with the rest of Georgia.
- March 2004. Saakashvili retains the presidency in the Georgian legislative elections, but the crisis with Adzharia escalates.
- December 2003. A large bomb explodes outside the state television centre in Tbilisi (the capital), on Dec. 3. The bomb explodes while the Russian ambassador to Georgia, Vladimir Chkhikvishvili, is being interviewed in the centre.
- November 2003. President Eduard Shevardnadze is forced to resign in late November after weeks of peaceful mass protests, referred to as the “Rose Revolution”, following the announcement of the results of elections to Parliament, which were widely believed to have been rigged in favour of the President.
- September 2002. The Russian authorities accuse Georgia of sheltering Chechen rebel fighters in the Pankisi Gorge in north-eastern Georgia. Putin insists that Russia has the right to self defence and accuses Georgia of harbouring individuals responsible for planning the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the USA.
- May 2001. Maj. Akaki Keghoshvili, the commander of the Georgian peacekeeping forces in South Ossetia, is arrested on May 9 for alleged arms dealing.
- October 2001. Renewed fighting breaks out in Abkhazia. The escalation in violence is accompanied by an increase in tensions between Georgia and Russia. Russia had repeatedly accused Georgia of harbouring militant Chechen separatists and Georgia opposed the presence in Abkhazia of Russian peacekeepers. Putin states that Russia will not be drawn into a war with Georgia and is prepared to withdraw the Russian peacekeepers.
- November 1999. Relations between Georgia and Russia remain tense, following repeated claims by Russia that Georgia is sheltering Chechen soldiers wounded in the continuing conflict with Russia.
- September 1998. Four observers from the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) are wounded when their car is attacked in Sukhumi, the capital of the breakaway Abkhazia region. Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba condemns the shooting, which he blames on Georgia, however, Georgian officials deny involvement in the incident.
- December 1997. A dispute arises between the Russian and Georgian governments in early December over the demarcation of the border between the two countries in the Dariali gorge.
- July 1997. Representatives of the Georgian government and the breakaway region of Abkhazia meet in Geneva for talks sponsored by the UN. Although no formal agreement is reached, both sides reaffirm their commitment to resolving their differences by peaceful means.
- July 1993. A Georgian-Abkhaz ceasefire agreement is reached, with Russia agreeing to send troops as neutral peacekeepers.
- November 1992. Georgian tensions with Abkhazia and South Ossetia escalate: the South Ossetian parliament votes to leave Georgia and apply to join Russia, whilst fighting continues between Georgian National Guard troops and separatists in Abkhazia, with the death toll reaching over 400 in three months.
- October 1992. The ceasefire mediated by Russia between Georgian government troops and separatist Abkhazian forces is brought to an end when the latter overruns Gagra, on the Black Sea coast.
- May 1992. The withdrawal of Russian Interior Ministry troops from South Ossetia at the end of April is followed by intensified shelling of the regional capital, Tskhinvali, from Georgia. Two ceasefires are quickly broken, with attacks from both sides.
- March 1992. Shevardnadze, the former first secretary of the central committee of the Communist Party of Georgia, returns to his native Georgia for first time in three years. Four days later the Military Council, which had ruled in Georgia since the flight of President Zviad Gamsakhurdia in January, transfers its legislative and executive powers to a newly created State Council. Shevardnadze is appointed chair.
- February 1992. Demonstrations in Tbilisi and major cities in the west are held in support of deposed President Gamsakhurdia.
- January 1992. Four months of violent confrontation between government and opposition forces in Tbilisi escalates into full-scale armed conflict, leaving 113 dead and 420 wounded and culminating in the flight of Gamsakhurdia with 80 of his supporters.
- April 1991. The Georgian Supreme Soviet adopts unanimously a formal declaration of the “restoration of state independence” following the overwhelming “yes” vote in Georgia's March 31 independence referendum.
- August 1990. The Supreme Soviet in the Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) votes to declare independence from Georgia and restore of the full republican status Abkhazia had experienced between 1921 and 1930. The Georgian Supreme Soviet Presidium pronounces the Abkhaz declaration invalid, and action groups representing Abkhazia's majority Georgian population begin protest rallies and a rail blockade of Sukhumi, Abkhazia's capital. The Abkhaz Supreme Soviet itself rescinds the declaration on Aug. 31.
- March 1981. Nationalist demonstrations are reported to have taken place in Tbilisi over the dismissal of a professor of literature, Dr Akaki Bakhradze, who had stressed the need to teach Georgian history.
- December 1972. Shevardnadze replaces Vasily Mzhavanadze as First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party.
- March 1972. The Georgian Communist party is “purged' after the central committee of the Soviet party accuses the party organisation in Tbilisi of abusing their power.
- November 1955. Six leading security officials are executed after being found guilty of “high treason, terrorism, and counter-revolutionary activity”.
- July 1953. Party leaders in Georgia are dismissed and arrested for using their position to “fabricate false and provocative charges against loyal comrades and officials”.
- March 1953. Death of Georgian-born Joseph Stalin, Prime Minister of the Soviet Union and Secretary-General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
- February 1944. The transformation of the political structure of the Soviet State results in each of the 16 republics of the Soviet Union being allowed to possess its own army and its own diplomatic representation.
- October 1937. President Makharadze and Premier Magaloshuili are removed from power in a wave of “purges” against alleged “Trotskyist” elements.
- September 1934. Representatives of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Northern Caucasus, Turkestan, and the Ukraine officially protest against the admission of Soviet Russia to the League of Nations.
- February 1921. Georgia is invaded by the Red Army, loses its independence, and becomes a Soviet Socialist Republic.
- May 1918. Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan declare their independence during the Russian Civil War.
- September 1801. Tsar Paul I of Russia effectively annexes Georgia, which becomes part of the Russian Empire.
