Russian-backed insurgents. Here are some background notes courtesy of BBC.  
Read on. Haruna.
 
 
 
Situated at the strategically important crossroads where Europe meets  Asia, 
Georgia has a unique and ancient cultural heritage, famous traditions of  
hospitality and cuisine and an alphabet which is entirely its own.  
Over the centuries, Georgia was the object of rivalry between Persia, Turkey  
and Russia, before being eventually annexed by Russia in the 19th century. 

Since emerging from the collapsing Soviet Union as an independent state in  
1991, Georgia has again become the arena of conflicting interests, this time  
between a the US and a revived Russia. It has also faced a tough challenge from 
 two separatist regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.  
Overview
Georgia's previous, and rather brief, interlude of independence after the  
1917 Bolshevik revolution in Russia ended when it was invaded by the Soviet Red  
Army in 1921 and incorporated into the Soviet Union a year later.      
 
Anti-government protesters rally outside Parliament in  November 2007, days 
before riot police dispersed  gatherings

In recent years Moscow's key rival, the US has a major interest in security  
and stability in the country, having invested heavily in an oil pipeline from  
Azerbaijan via Georgia to Turkey. The Georgian armed forces have been 
receiving  US training and support.  
Increasing US economic and political influence in the country is being  
watched closely by the Kremlin, as are Georgia's aspirations to join NATO and  the E
U. Tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi are never far from the surface and  
have flared sporadically since Mikhail Saakashvili became Georgian president.  
Post-Soviet years  
Following the collapse of communism in the USSR in 1991, Georgians voted  
overwhelmingly for the restoration of independence and elected nationalist  
leader Zviad Gamsakhurdia as president. However, Gamsakhurdia was soon  overthrown 
by opposition militias which in 1992 installed former Soviet Foreign  Minister 
Eduard Shevardnadze as the country's new leader.  
During his 11 years in office, the Georgian people felt increasingly at the  
mercy of poverty, corruption and crime. He was ousted in November 2003 
following  mass demonstrations over the conduct of parliamentary elections.  
Once a relatively affluent part of the USSR, with independence Georgia lost  
the cheap energy to which it had access in the Soviet period. The rupturing of 
 trading ties caused the economy to nose-dive.  
Georgia has been heavily dependent on Russia for its energy supply. Like some 
 other republics of the former Soviet Union, it saw the price of gas supplied 
by  the Russian gas giant Gazprom rise sharply in January 2006. Gazprom has 
since  doubled the price again. It is no coincidence that Georgia has started 
receiving  an increasing proportion of its gas from Azerbaijan.  
Moscow has also banned imports of Georgian wine and mineral water. It insists 
 that it did so on health grounds but Tbilisi is equally adamant that the 
reasons  were political. As relations deteriorate, Russia has shown that it will 
not  flinch from tightening the economic screw.  
Breakaway regions  
Since independence, the people of Georgia have endured periods of civil war  
and unrest as well as violence related to the independence aspirations of the  
breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Both regions have close ties 
 with Moscow.  
Russian peacekeepers have operated there since the early 1990s. They are  
regularly accused by Tbilisi of siding with the separatists. The Georgian  
parliament has demanded that the Russian peacekeepers in both regions be  replaced 
by an international force. The UN operates a military observer mission  
alongside Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia.  
Russia has had troops stationed in Georgia for over two centuries. After  
protracted discussions, it agreed in 2005 to withdraw from its two remaining  
bases, one in Ajaria and the other in southern Georgia, by the end of 2008.  
Their presence has been another source of tension between Tbilisi and the  Kremlin.



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