The Georgian media and members of the pro-presidential ruling party have been actively commenting on the recent events in Moscow, St.Petersburg and other Russian cities. The protesters demanded punishment for the murderers of a young soccer fan, and the riots resulted in clashes on ethnic grounds.
All the local TV channels showed the violence against Caucasians in Moscow, as well as the slogans 'Russia for Russians'. Emotions do not facilitate a rational comprehension of events. The more so as Georgians have bitter experience of 2006 when, in response to the arrest of four Russian officers in Tbilisi and Batumi on espionage charges, Moscow and other Russian regions initiated a hunt for ethnic Georgians living and working illegally in Russia.
For example, the independent expert Moorman Kuprashvili believes that the nationalistic sentiment in Russia is not a coincidence and not an isolated issue, but the consequence of a paradigm shift in Russian statehood. According to Kuprashvili, "at a time when even Angela Merkel has recently recognized the failure of the European project of multiculturalism, meaning the rejection of nationalism, which originated in the era of the French Revolution, it is not surprising that Putin and Medvedev regard the formation of the Russian nation as the only legitimate project after the collapse of the great empire.
But along this way there are so many obstacles, challenges and risks that the outcome of the struggle is not clear yet. Only one aspect is clear and unambiguous: a nation and empire are incompatible. No
exceptions apply to this rule.”
George Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi, exclusively for ‘Vestnik Kavkaza.’
