I was in a tour van — called a “marshrutka” here — on my way to a hiking trip in Northern Georgia’s Truso Valley earlier this year when I first saw the Russia-Georgia Friendship Monument.
It’s an impressive if not gaudy decoration dominating the stunningly beautiful Devil’s Valley among the sprawling misty green Caucasus mountains. It was a joint project of the two countries, built in 1983 along the Georgia Military Road to celebrate “ongoing friendship” between what were then the Soviet states of Russia and Georgia, and the Treaty of Georgievsk‘s bicentennial anniversary.
The monument remains a colorful anomaly standing alone between the Georgian ski resort town of Gudauri and the Jvari pass, while tensions rise in a nervous population of Georgians who remember the deadly Russian invasion of their country that occurred a scant 14 years ago, and the fact that Russia still controls about 20 percent of the land that Georgia has long claimed as its own along its northern border with Russia.
Now eight months after Russia invaded Ukraine, Russia’s taking a beating in a continuing war that its President Vladimir Putin thought would be an easy victory.
Putin has since called for a massive mobilization of new Russian recruits to boost the war effort, sending Russian men fleeing in droves to neighboring countries to avoid Putin’s grasp. Many have gone to Georgia, their “friendly” neighbor.
Russians in Georgia are nothing new, as many come to enjoy Georgia’s traditional hospitality, beaches, mountains, food and wine.
But it was the Russian army that invaded Georgia as recently as 2008, sending tanks rolling through the streets of the northern city of Gori, bombing and strafing buildings, killing and terrorizing civilians, and leaving troops in control of Georgia’s two northern border districts, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
A precise number of how many Russians are crossing the border into Georgia is not clear, but they have surely swelled the population and are blamed by many locals for everything from inflating real estate prices and housing costs to being saboteurs, provocateurs or spies for Putin’s plan to make another move on Georgia.
Visas are not required of Russian citizens for stays of up to a year in Georgia. (The same is true of American citizens in Georgia.) However media reports of huge traffic jams at border entry points indicate a number estimated in the tens of thousands.
Meanwhile, there’s an eerily tense atmosphere in the streets that I didn’t feel on my first trip to Tbilisi last year, likely due to the bitter anti-Russian graffiti that has become a fixture on walls around the capital city of Tbilisi.
A wary concern over the influx of Russians to Georgia has taken over the native population, seen in graffiti protesting the presence of Russians in Georgia and castigating Russian President Putin.
Gori-born tour guide Zhana Odiashvili is not afraid to lend her voice to the anonymous writings on the walls of Tbilisi, where she now lives.
Odiashvili was 14 years old when Russians invaded Gori, where she lived with her parents.
Today she lives in Tbilisi and gives tours of Gori to visitors that include graphic descriptions of what she witnessed.
“Every day I tell tourists not only about 2008, but also about the occupation and illegal arrests,” Odiashvili writes on her Facebook page.
“Russians killed my neighbors, relatives, compatriots,” she said.
Odiashvili scoffs at Georgians who wish to accommodate the influx of Russians.
“Don’t come to me pseudo-humanitarians, (saying) poor Russians. I don’t care about their future.
“Georgia is not a shelter for coward Russians.”
This is great! So much information I was totally unaware of. Thank you, David, for stellar writing and clarity about these local and international situations.