Source:

FMO Research Guide: Ethnic Russians ("o.A. - FMO Research Guide: Georgia") [ID 5075]

"Russians are not geographically concentrated in Georgia and this restricts their political/ethnic representation. Most Russians emigrated to Georgia during Soviet rule, and they settled in significant numbers in urbanized areas, especially in Rustavi and Tbilisi, as well as in Abkhazia. Russians are migrating to Russia in large numbers, but also to Canada and elsewhere. This is leading to a loss of qualified labour from Georgian industry. Most Russians are Greek Orthodox, and this ethnic group is characterized by a low birth rate."

Document(s): o.A. - FMO Research Guide: Georgia

10.01.2007 - Source: Minorities at Risk

Chronology of events concerning Russians in Georgia (January 1991 - May 2000) ("Chronology for Russians in Georgia") [#37951],  [ID 5071]

Document(s): Open document

10.2006 - Source: European Centre for Minority Issues

1.55% of Georgia’s population are Russians; they are concentrated in urban centres; most Russians belong to the Russian Orthodox Church; there are around 214 Russian schools in Georgia ("Implementing the Framework Convention for the Protection of Minorities in Georgia: A Feasibility Study") [ID 18148]

"Formerly the dominant nationality of the USSR, Russians nowadays represent a very small minority in Georgia; according to the 2002 Census, only 1.55% of Georgia’s population are Russians. Between 1989 and 2002, the Russian population fell from 341,172 to 67,671, a drop of 80% that was mainly caused by emigration to Russia. Previously Russians were concentrated in the major urban centres of Georgia; in 1979, Russians made up 23.7% of the population of Poti, 20.3% in Batumi, 17.8% in Rustavi and 12.2% in Tbilisi. Today, while Russians are still concentrated in urban centres, their numbers even here are depleted. Thus in 2002, 5.2% of Batumi’s population was Russian, compared with 4.0% in Poti, 3.1% in Rustavi and 3.0% in Tbilisi. Most Russians belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. However, there are small communities of Russian non-conformists (Dukhobors and Molokans) in a few villages. The Dukhobors settled in seven villages of what is now Ninotsminda district – Gorelovka, Orlovka, Spasovka, Yefremovka, Bogdanovka (Ninotsminda), Tambovka and Rodionovka – in the nineteenth century in order to escape religious persecution, but today few remain. According to representatives of the Dukhobor minority, there are only 800 or so Dukhobors today, most in the village of Gorelovka, with smaller populations in Spasovka and Orlovka. There are even fewer Molokans left; according to the 2002 census there were around 180 Molokans in the village of Uilanovka in Sighnaghi district and another 60 or so in Krasnogorska in Sagarejo district. The Russian language belongs to the Slavic group of the Indo-European family of languages. In 2000, it was reported that there were around 214 Russian schools in Georgia, of which 127 were bilingual and 87 were exclusively Russian. 56 In addition, there are several Russian language departments in state-accredited universities, including Tbilisi State University and Tbilisi State Medical University. The main issue facing the Russian population of Georgia is emigration. As mentioned above, about four-fifths of the entire Russian population has left Georgia since 1989. The Dukhobor and Molokan communities are particularly vulnerable; there is a danger that these two communities may disappear entirely from Georgia in the next decade or two. The Dukhobor community also faces the problem of inadequate access to land; preferring communal agriculture, many Dukhobors did not participate in the land privatisation process and face the risk of losing to other communities land that they had previously tended."

Document(s): Open document

16.08.2001 - Source:

University of Maryland - Minorities at Risk: Background Information ("16.08.2001 - University of Maryland - Minorities at Risk: Background Information") [ID 5072]

"Thousands of Russians suddenly found themselves as members of a minority group in Georgia when the Soviet Union collapsed. While many Russians from the newly independent states migrated to Russia in the 1990s, sizeable minorities still exist in most. The Russians in Georgia share many traits with their kindred elsewhere: they are clustered predominantly in urban areas (GROUPCON = 1); they are not highly organized around their ethnicity (COHSEX0 = 4); and they have experienced neither communal conflict (COMCO98X = 0) nor any significant political discrimination (POLDIS90-98 = 0) since Georgian independence. They are an economically, and to some extent a socially, advantaged group (ECDIFXX = -2).
The fortunes of the Russians in Georgia depend to a large extent upon the relationship of the various governments of Georgia to Moscow. Significant Russian minorities live in Georgia proper, where they are under the control of the Shevardnadze government in Tbilisi, and in the break-away republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where their safety is dependent upon the goodwill of the local rulers and the thousands of Russian peacekeepers overseeing uneasy peace agreements.
Thus far, perhaps because all sides of the various Georgian conflicts are courting the favor of Moscow, Russian minorities in Georgia have not been subject to significant political, economic or cultural discrimination."

Document(s): 16.08.2001 - University of Maryland - Minorities at Risk: Background Information