01.12.2022.

Russia's creeping land grab in Georgia

In the shadow of the Ukraine war, the conflict over the Russian-controlled region of South Ossetia in Georgia receives little attention. But at the unofficial border line, Russian troops keep creating new facts.

«This is not a question of a possibility. It will happen. If Russia wins in Ukraine, we’re next.» Orthopedic surgeon Vazha Gaprindashvili sits in a restaurant in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital. He is watching Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine with concern. It has been two and a half years since the doctor was detained by Russian soldiers on the so-called «administrative border line» between South Ossetia and Georgia. In November 2019, the Georgian, now 64, had illegally crossed the «border line» - as the Russian occupiers of South Ossetia saw it.

Gaprindashvili wanted to visit a patient in the South Ossetian town of Tskhinvali. He took the position that he had not crossed any border because South Ossetia was part of Georgia and was simply under Russian occupation. A South Ossetian court sentenced him to one year and nine months in prison. He was finally released after 49 days, after Georgia and international organizations and politicians lobbied the Russian government for his release. «I got away because society stood up for me,» Gaprindashvili says.

4000 Russians stationed there

Currently, about 20 percent of Georgia is under Russian occupation. This reality is often not mentioned by name because Russia exercises its control only indirectly, with the help of the separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. These two regions had tried to break away from Georgia in the 1990s. The decision was made in 2008 in a five-day war between Russian troops and the Georgian army. It ended with a Georgian defeat and with Moscow not only increasing its troop presence in the breakaway regions but also recognizing them as independent states.

South Ossetia, which is slightly more than twice the size of the canton of Zurich, is now home to only about 50,000 people, 90 percent of whom are Ossetians, members of an Iranian ethnic group. Of the ethnic Georgians, two-thirds have left the region since the 2008 war. Many of those who fled South Ossetia now live in refugee villages outside Tbilisi.

Since the end of the war, some 4,000 Russian soldiers have been stationed in South Ossetia and also control the border with the Georgian heartland. Last September, satellite images surfaced purporting to show construction of a new Russian military base nearby. A referendum on annexation to Russia was even planned in South Ossetia for this summer, but South Ossetian President Alan Gagloev, elected in May, canceled it – arguing that this step was «premature.»

Within South Ossetian society, things seem to be simmering: After the war in Ukraine began, there were credible reports that hundreds of Ossetian contract soldiers in Russia’s service had been moved to the Ukrainian border. Some then returned home on their own, having refused to fight on the side of the invaders against the Ukrainians.

Demonstration of power with barbed wire

Even though there is currently no shooting between Georgia and South Ossetia, tensions are building. A «border fortification process» is taking place on the part of the Russians. These gradually provide the «administrative border line» with barbed wire and fences. According to the EU monitoring mission stationed in Georgia since 2008, this now affects around 90 kilometers of the 400-kilometer line. In some places, the EU’s unarmed patrols observed Russian occupiers carrying out their fortification work 50 to 100 meters inside Georgian-controlled territory - a land grab that takes place under the eyes of international observers and Georgian border police.

In addition, Georgian civilians, mostly farmers from the border area, are repeatedly arrested by Russian soldiers. Currently, seven Georgians are in custody in South Ossetia, says Gaprindashvili, the doctor. He is aware that the Georgian authorities were so successful in securing his release only because of his popularity as a well-known orthopedic surgeon.

The Georgian government’s dilemma in the face of the Russian threat was recently described by regional expert Olesya Vartanjan to the al-Jazeera broadcaster: «You see the Russians building fences, but at the same time you don’t react because you understand the consequences of open confrontation for your country.» After the clearly anti-Russian and pro-Western course of former President Mikheil Saakashvili, the country is pursuing a much more cautious line toward Moscow under the influence of billionaire businessman and former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, who officially no longer holds any office but is considered the country's informal leader.

Near the village of Khurvaleti, two Georgian policemen trudge up through the dry grass to a hill. One of the officers has his pistol tucked into his pants at his hip, and the other carries a Kalashnikov on his shoulder. Khurvaleti is located on the «administrative boundary line» with South Ossetia, and this meadow is a clear example of the way the arbitrary demarcation of borders by the Russians affects the local population. Valia Valishvili, an 87-year-old Georgian, lives behind the barbed wire fence on the Russian-controlled side. She will not leave this place voluntarily.

Last year her husband of sixty years, who had built the house with his own hands, died. He, too, had steadfastly refused to leave the property when the Russians installed the barbed wire, leaving the couple separated from the rest of the village. One problem is that there are no crossings between South Ossetia and Georgia for small-scale border traffic. Entry into South Ossetia can only be through Russia and the Russian constituent republic of North Ossetia, which is an illegal border crossing under Georgian law. A rare exception was granted to the family of Valia Valishvili after the death of her husband: «I asked that our relatives be allowed to come to the funeral, and some were allowed,» she says, standing on the other side of the barbed wire.

There is a Russian guard post only about a hundred meters from their property. At least the patrols seem to show some leniency here. Valia Valishvili sometimes receives drinking water over the fence from acquaintances. «My visitors come and push the barbed wire down, then the Russians make it higher again, and so on. It is very difficult to live alone. I often cry,» says the old woman.

A few villages away, in Sadiantkari, lives 74-year-old Tariel Tesiashvili. Just recently, Russian border guards raised a second fence on his land to reinforce their fortifications and create a sort of strip for patrols. They erected the first fence in 2008 after the Georgian-Russian war. This forced the farmer Tesiashvili to leave his farm for eleven long years. He kept his head above water with day labor, and for a time he was housed in the capital Tbilisi as an internally displaced person. The Georgian has lost a lot of land: About half of the property near the house fell victim to the border fences, and an additional hundred hectares, located in Russian-occupied territory, are impossible for him to reach.