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In November 2003, Eduard Shevardnadze, Mikhail Gorbachev’s Foreign Minister during the collapse of the Soviet Union and the first President of independent Georgia, was forced to resign after 11 years in office following three weeks of peaceful protests over fraudulent parliamentary elections. Had to happen.
The peaceful Rose Revolution brought 36-year-old Mikheil Saakashvili to power. A graduate of Columbia University and a pro-Western leader, Saakashvili and his young, reformist team sought to rebuild Georgia as a modern, democratic state.
In 2008, Saakashvili’s decision to attack South Ossetia – a Russian-backed breakaway region – provoked a Russian invasion that brought Abkhazia and South Ossetia under Moscow’s control. Putin promised to punish Saakashvili severely if he forms an alliance with the EU or NATO. For the Georgians, it strengthened their resolve to break free from Russia’s grip and engage with Europe.
The 2013 presidential election marked the end of Saakashvili’s repressive rule. Their prime minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili – a reclusive Georgian oligarch who amassed his fortune in Russia – planned a political takeover. Ivanishvili’s coalition, Georgian Dream, came to power promising to restore relations with Russia. Ivanishvili’s disciple Georgi Margvelashvili won the presidency with 62 percent of the vote.
Saakashvili, the outgoing pro-West president, was deported from the country, stripped of his Georgian citizenship, convicted on multiple criminal charges and sentenced in absentia to nine years in prison.
Initially, Georgian Dream retained a pro-European stance, leading Georgia’s efforts towards EU integration. The signing of the EU Association Agreement in 2014 and the introduction of visa-free travel in the Schengen area in 2017 were regarded as significant achievements.
Shortly after, Georgian Dream stymied plans to build a deep-water port at Anaklia on Georgia’s Black Sea coast – a strategic project supported by the US and the EU – which would serve as a base for NATO submarines. Could have done. In return, the Kremlin reopened its markets to Georgian goods.
Growing anti-liberal sentiment, a compromised judiciary, rising crime rates and the return of corruption and nepotism fueled public anger. Violence broke out, riot police responded harshly, and the government’s declining legitimacy was dealt another blow.
