Word: abkhazia
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...response was all too predictable: having jealously guarded the territory's autonomy from Georgia as a point of leverage against Tbilisi's desire to join NATO, Moscow launched an offensive of its own, fighting Georgian forces inside South Ossetia and bombing cities inside Georgia proper. Meanwhile, separatist forces in Abkhazia, another Moscow-backed separatist Georgian province, opened a second front against Georgian forces, while Russia's Back Sea Fleet sailed from its base in Ukraine to impose a naval blockade along Georgia's coast...
Chaos in Georgia With ethnic war threatening to fracture the former Soviet republic of Georgia into several smaller units, ousted President Zviad Gamsakhurdia seized the western province of Mingrelia. ''This can be compared to the French Resistance,'' said Gamsakhurdia. Meanwhile, separatists who captured Abkhazia, the westernmost region of Georgia, continued ''ethnic cleansing''-style expulsions...
...carried out mass ''ethnic cleansing,'' looting and plundering the former homes of Georgians, Russians and people of other nationalities. In a belated move to support Georgia, which reluctantly joined the Russia- dominated Commonwealth of Independent States only two weeks ago, Moscow has cut off energy and fuel supplies to Abkhazia and has sealed the border with the rebel-held region. Still, Georgian officials fear that their country faces complete collapse unless the Kremlin sends Russian troops to help recapture the Black Sea region and quash the spreading rebellion in the Transcaucasian state...
...transportation links, severed in October 2006 over the arrest of Russian personnel by the Georgians on suspicion of espionage. At the same time, Russia has invoked "the Kosovo precedent" to turn up the heat on Georgia by upgrading Moscow's ties with Georgia's breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, falling just short of formally recognizing their independence...
...part, NATO, long eager to grant Georgia membership, has backpedaled, saying that Georgia isn't yet ready to join. The Kosovo opening may indeed encourage a resurgent Russia to go beyond simply exercising de facto control over Abkhazia and South Ossetia...