| Summary/Abstract |
Georgia suffered significant violence during and following the demise of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991. It left Abkhazia and South Ossetia outside the control of the republic, and in 2008, following the Russia-Georgia War, Russia recognised them as independent states, a status acknowledged only by a handful of other states. The Kremlin proclaimed the right of self-determination and secession, but the situation is not straightforward because Georgia has traditionally been multi-ethnic. People have lived side-by side relatively peacefully in Abkhazia and South Ossetia for centuries. The de facto secession poses many dangers of ethnic strife for the future.
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