Russo-Georgian War in the context of "Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic"

The Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine are areas of southern and eastern Ukraine that are controlled by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War and the ongoing invasion. In Ukrainian law, they are defined as the "temporarily occupied territories". As of 2024, Russia occupies almost 20% of Ukraine and about 3 to 3.5 million Ukrainians are estimated to be living under occupation; since the invasion, the occupied territories lost roughly half of their population. The United Nations Human Rights Office reports that Russia is committing severe human rights violations in occupied Ukraine, including arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, torture, crackdown on peaceful protest and freedom of speech, enforced Russification, passportization, indoctrination of children, and suppression of Ukrainian language and culture.

The occupation began in 2014 with Russia's invasion and annexation of Crimea, and its de facto takeover of Ukraine's Donbas during a war in eastern Ukraine. In 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion. However, due to fierce Ukrainian resistance and logistical challenges (e.g. the stalled Russian Kyiv convoy), the Russian Armed Forces retreated from northern Ukraine in early April. In September 2022, Ukrainian forces launched the Kharkiv counteroffensive and liberated most of that oblast. Another southern counteroffensive resulted in the liberation of Kherson that November.

The following list of Georgian cities is divided into three lists for Georgia itself, and the disputed territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Although not recognized by most countries, Abkhazia and South Ossetia have been partially de facto independent since, respectively, 1992 and 1991 and occupied by Russia since 2008 Russo-Georgian War.

The Georgian Coast Guard (Georgian: საქართველოს სანაპირო დაცვა) is the maritime arm of the Georgian Border Police, within the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. It is responsible for the maritime protection of the entire 310 km (190 mi) Black Sea coastline of Georgia, as well as the Georgian territorial waters. The northern half of this coastaline is since the Russo-Georgian War under the control of Abkhazia, though. The primary missions of the service are administration of the territorial waters, marine pollution protection, maritime law enforcement, search and rescue, port security and maritime defence.

The former Georgian Navy (Georgian Naval Forces; Georgian: საქართველოს სამხედრო საზღვაო ძალები, sak’art’velos samkhedro-sazghvao dzalebi) was a branch of the Georgian Defense Ministry armed forces until 2009, when it was merged with the Coast Guard and transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Before the 2008 war, the Georgian Navy consisted of 19 vessels and 531 personnel of which 181 were officers, 200 NCOs, 114 conscripts and 36 civilians.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia are separatist regions of Georgia in the Caucasus. Most countries recognise them as part of Georgia, while Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Syria regard them as independent. Russia's initial recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia occurred in the aftermath of the Russo-Georgian War in 2008. The government of Georgia considers the republics to be Russian-occupied territories.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia were once recognised by up to seven UN member states, until Tuvalu withdrew its recognition of both in 2014, and Vanuatu clarified the status of their recognitions. Vanuatu reconfirmed in 2019 it supports Georgian territorial integrity including the two disputed territories. Abkhazia and South Ossetia recognise each other, and also have some recognition from non-UN member states.

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organisation in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of 20,368,759 km (7,864,422 sq mi) and has an estimated population of 246,200,194. The CIS encourages cooperation in economic, political, and military affairs and has certain powers related to the coordination of trade, finance, lawmaking, and security, including the prevention of cross-border crime.

As the Soviet Union disintegrated, Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine signed the Belovezha Accords on 8 December 1991, declaring that the Union had effectively ceased to exist and proclaiming the CIS in its place. On 21 December, the Alma-Ata Protocol was signed, but Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania chose not to participate. Georgia withdrew its membership in 2008 following a war with Russia. Ukraine formally ended its participation in CIS statutory bodies in 2018, although it had stopped participating in the organisation in 2014 following the Russian annexation and occupation of Crimea. In the aftermath of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moldova voiced its intention to progressively withdraw from the CIS institutional framework.

Russian-occupied territories in Georgia (Georgian: რუსეთის მიერ ოკუპირებული ტერიტორიები საქართველოში, romanized: rusetis mier ok'up'irebuli t'erit'oriebi sakartveloshi) refers to areas of Georgia's sovereign territory to what a large portion of the international community designates as occupied by Russia since the Russo-Georgian War in 2008, regardless of what their status is in Russian law. They consist of the regions of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and the former South Ossetian Autonomous Region of Soviet Georgia (currently divided between several non-autonomous administrative divisions of independent Georgia), whose status is a matter of international dispute.

Since the 2008 war and subsequent Russian military occupation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the Russian government, along with four other UN member states, considers the territories sovereign independent states: the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia. Before Russian occupation, the unrecognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia did not completely control their respectively claimed territories. Russian military bases were established in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia does not allow the European Union Monitoring Mission to enter either Abkhazia or South Ossetia. Russia has signed agreements with the de facto civilian administrations of both territories to integrate them militarily and economically into Russia. Russian troops have started the process of demarcation ("borderization") along, and beyond the Georgia–South Ossetia separation line.

The Abkhazia conflict is a territorial dispute over Abkhazia, a region on the eastern coast of the Black Sea in the South Caucasus, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The conflict involves Georgia, the Russian Federation and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Republic of Abkhazia, which is internationally recognised only by Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Syria; Georgia and all other United Nations members consider Abkhazia a sovereign territory of Georgia. However, as of 2025, Georgia lacks de facto control over the territory.

The beginning of the conflict dates back to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991; however, the dispute can be traced to 1918—1919 Abkhazia conflict over Sukhumi okrug (which corresponds to the Abkhazia region) between the Georgian Democratic Republic, White Russia and the Russian SFSR. Since 1989, the conflict has involved several wars: the 1992—1993 War in Abkhazia, the 1998 War in Abkhazia and the 2008 Russo-Georgian War.

Though tensions had existed between Georgia and Russia for years and more intensively since the Rose Revolution, an international diplomatic crisis escalated in the spring of 2008, namely after Russia announced in response to the Western recognition of the independence of Kosovo that it would no longer participate in the Commonwealth of Independent States economic sanctions imposed on Abkhazia in 1996 and established direct relations with the separatist authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The crisis was also linked to the Georgian attempts to gain a NATO Membership Action Plan at the 2008 Bucharest Summit.

Until the end of June much of the conflict between Russia and Georgia was concentrated in Abkhazia, as were both Georgian and international efforts to negotiate a peace settlement. In early July the theater had moved to South Ossetia, where skirmishes between Ossetian militias and Georgian troops turned deadly on 3 July following the attempted assassination of pro-Georgian president of South Ossetia Dmitry Sanakoyev. The conflict led to a full-scale invasion of Georgia by Russia.

Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Minister of Russia between 2012 and 2020.

Medvedev was elected president in the 2008 election. He was seen as more liberal than his predecessor Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister in Medvedev's presidency. Medvedev's agenda as president was a wide-ranging modernisation programme, aimed at modernising Russia's economy and society, and lessening the country's reliance on oil and gas. During Medvedev's tenure, the United States and Russia signed the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty. In addition to overseeing Russia's recovery from the Great Recession, his presidency also witnessed the Russo-Georgian War. Medvedev also launched an anti-corruption campaign, yet was later being accused of corruption himself.