Moscow Outlet Reminds Its Readers about Existence of Armenian Region in Georgia

 

Paul Goble

            Staunton, January 16 – Azerbaijan is not the only neighbor of Armenia with a significant ethnic Armenian population. Georgia is as well, Zen.Yandex’s Subjective Guide portal says; and that country’s Javakhetia district is over 90 percent Armenian. As such, it is another potential flash point in the South Caucasus.

            But as the Moscow outlet concedes, Georgia and Armenia have fought only one war in their long histories, even though the borders between them have been changed by outside conquerors, including the Russians (zen.yandex.ru/media/varandej/gugark-ili-lori-est-li-territorialnye-spory-u-armenii-s-gruziei-5ffc2c2af906b168726bb826).

            Indeed, what makes the appearance of this report disturbing is that Moscow has talked about using the Javakhetia issue against Georgia at the time of the 2008 Russian invasion, the 2014 Crimean Anschluss when borders seemed more fluid, and again in 2018 when relations between Russia and Georgia deteriorated (windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2009/02/window-on-eurasia-moscows-program-to.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2014/06/window-on-eurasia-moscow-appears-ready.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2018/06/is-moscow-planning-to-try-to-cut.html).

            For a Moscow outlet to be talking about this now suggests at least three disturbing possibilities: first, that some in Moscow think that they can fold this issue into broader discussions on the South Caucasus, second, that Russia wants to exacerbate ethnic problems in Georgia on its own, and third that Moscow hopes to again use Armenia against its neighbors for Russian purposes.