Georgia Recognizes Russian Genocide of Circassians

Georgia has moved to formally recognize the Russian killing and deportation of the Circassian people in the 1860s as genocide, an aggressive move against its northern neighbor. Georgia has long threatened Russia with this recognition, and the 2008 Russia-Georgia war and the 2010 awarding of the Russian Caucasus city of Sochi with the 2014 Winter Olympics drove Tbilisi to take action. While the move is not a jarring blow to Moscow, the timing ahead of the Olympics is inopportune, and it could embolden other Caucasus minority groups with their own long-simmering issues over alleged Russian genocide.