On May 8, 2014 the Russian-Georgian Civic Center, Tbilisi, hosted the presentation of working paper “Russian-Georgian Relations: in Search for New Ways for Development” issued jointly by RIAC and Georgian International Center of Conflicts and Negotiations (ICCN).
The paper was presented by Nikolai Silayev, Senior Research Associate of the Center for Research on the Caucasus and Regional Security at MGIMO-University and Andrey Sushentsov, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Applied Analysis of International Problems at MGIMO-University.
On May 8, 2014 the Russian-Georgian Civic Center, Tbilisi, hosted the presentation of working paper “Russian-Georgian Relations: in Search for New Ways for Development” issued jointly by RIAC and Georgian International Center of Conflicts and Negotiations (ICCN).
The paper was presented by Nikolai Silayev, Senior Research Associate of the Center for Research on the Caucasus and Regional Security at MGIMO-University and Andrey Sushentsov, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Applied Analysis of International Problems at MGIMO-University.
The event was followed by the roundtable “Russian-Georgian Relations’ Normalization: the Ukraine Crisis Fallout” with participation of Russian and Georgian experts who covered the following issues:
- Russian and Georgian intermediate assessments of domestic and international consequences of the Ukraine crisis.
- The impact of Ukraine developments on Russian-Georgian relations.
- The future of post-Soviet integration projects, i.e. the Customs Union and EU association, following the Ukraine events.
- The future of NATO expansion.
- Changes in Black Sea basin environment after Crimea’s transition under Russia’s sovereignty.
Experts pointed out that Russia could not help but step in the Ukraine situation. The tragic events notwithstanding, “the gravest post-Soviet crisis” could bring international benefits, for example a genuine reset of Russia-U.S. relation. As far as the Caucasus is concerned, a repeat seems out of question.
At the same time, after the Crimea’s accession to the Russian Federation, the number of Georgians regarding Russia as a threat has doubled. They also fear that after Tbilisi signs the association agreement with the EU, Russia will restrict access of Georgian goods to its market to hit the national economy really hard.
RIAC and ICCN keep working on their joint project and plan to publish a collection of articles on topical issues of the bilateral relationship by authors from the two countries later this year.
