The Georgian-Russian friendship monument before the Jvari Pass. It was constructed in 1983, to commemorate the bicentennial of the Treaty of Georgievsk, whereby the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti became a protectorate of the Russian Empire (and was eventually annexed in 1801). Photo (c): Maxim EdwardsGeorgia’s most recent population census released in April 2016 reports that ethnic Russians constitute the third largest national minority behind Azerbaijanis and Armenians, totaling 26,500 persons. Yet Russians appear to occupy a peculiar place in the imaginary of Georgia’s ethnic and religious diversity. Given the Russo-Georgian War of 2008 and Moscow’s support for breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia, that’s no surprise. Ethnic Russians have lived on Georgian territory for centuries — but do they have a place in Georgian society beyond agents of geopolitical intrigue? Can they ever hope to?
This results from two major population movements: the arrival of banished sectarian groups such as Dukhobors and Molokans to the South Caucasus, as well as Cossack military settlers in the 19th century. Later years saw the mass migration of workers to supply the steel-producing industries in cities such as Rustavi in the 1940s and 1950s. At least in theory, this community’s needs and interests continue to be represented by approximately 25 NGOs—the most prominent of which include “Yaroslavna” Union of Russian Women of Georgia, Union of Russian Youth of Georgia, International Cultural-Educational Union "Russian Klub” (whose director Nikolai Sventitski also manages Tbilisi's Griboedov State Drama Theatre), and Center for Legal Protection of Russian Compatriots in Georgia—which are distributed nationally and headed by the umbrella “Otchizna” (Fatherland) Union of Russian Compatriots of Georgia and its longtime president, Valery Svarchuk.
The situation of ethnic Russians is relevant given that Georgia is the only former Soviet republic — including even Ukraine — to sever diplomatic relations with Moscow
