Russia’s Passportization Policy in Georgia

Abstract

After the collapse of Soviet Union, separatist tendencies in some cases led to civil wars in former Soviet states. In Georgia armed conflicts in the early 1990’s resulted in two of its former autonomous republics proclaiming sovereignty and independence. The role of Russian Federation in influencing the formation of status quo has been closely observed and researched in political as well as academic circles, however the aim of this thesis is to focus on the passportization policy which Russia conducted in Abkhazia and South Ossetia later in 2002 and 2004. The process of passport distribution took place with strong Russian administrative support and in excessive quantity, thus granting over 90 percent of local residents with Russian citizenship. Political and scholarly attention to this fact increased after 2008 August war, when Russia justified the military intervention by claiming to be protecting its citizens. Along with analyzing legal aspect of the policy, whether it violated or abused International Law or Russia’s domestic code on citizenship, the objective of the thesis is to address the following questions: If this policy was a reaction to protect minority groups against manifested interest of Georgian government to regain control over breakaway regions, or to create the pretext for validating political and military presence in the strategically important region.