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This former Soviet Republic has been rocked by anti-government demonstrations over the same issues that hurtled Ukraine into war — its relationship with Europe and Russia.
Jeffrey Gettleman spent much of last week interviewing government officials, opposition leaders and protesters amid tense and sometimes violent standoffs in the streets of Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital.
Dec. 10, 2024, 5:03 a.m. ET
On the streets of Georgia, it’s starting to look a little like the Ukraine of 10 years ago, before the war, when tensions with Russia started brewing.
An increasingly authoritarian government in a former Soviet republic cools to the European Union and drifts closer to Moscow.
Enormous protests erupt, calling for the government’s ouster.
Riot police respond.
Young demonstrators are beaten up and dragged away.
Each side digs in, raising the specter of a major crisis in a country that has long struggled to break away from Russian dominance.
On the continent’s far eastern edge, embracing the European Union can be a risky move, threatening vested interests, especially those of Russia, which is wary to lose any of its regional influence.
These tensions have been playing out to different degrees in recent years in Georgia, Moldova and, in the most extreme example, Ukraine. All three are former Soviet republics and Russian troops occupy different slices of each.
