MAINTAINING THE SECURITY DILEMMA IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS: RUSSIA’S GEOSTRATEGIC INTERESTS IN GEORGIA

Abstract

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has been fuelling frozen conflicts in the South Caucasus region in order to promote instability and force security dilemmas as part of its geopolitical strategy in the former Soviet republics, geared towards maintaining its control over the post-Soviet space. Throughout the post-Cold War period, Russia has been actively involved in stirring up conflicts in the South Caucasus, sustaining interstate tensions and unsolvable security dilemmas by supporting Armenia against Azerbaijan, and the secessionist republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia against Georgia, resulting in diminished regional cooperation and curtailing Euro-Atlantic integration. Russia’s geopolitical strategy often follows the principles of the Eurasianist ideology that has identified Russia as an alternative power to the West. Owing to that, Russia’s geostrategic ambitions in the South Caucasus regard the region as a critical battlefield in the status conflict between Russia and the West, with Russia actively pursuing these strategic ambitions by keeping the region in a constant state of destabilization through interstate security dilemmas and frozen conflicts.