Abstract
The aim of the book is to map out an important part of the post-Soviet history of the South Caucasus as Georgia and its separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia sought to find a peaceful solution to their conflicts that had descended to bloody armed conflicts. The study also attempts to analyze the often crucial role of Russia in the evolution of the Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-South Ossetian conflicts both in their military and post-war phases in the period of 1991-2008, that is, since the dissolution of the Soviet union until the outbreak of the Russo-Georgian War in August of 2008, whilst focusing on exploring the milestones of both peace processes in the context of Russo-Georgian relations and paying particular attention to the analysis of the internal transformation of Russia at the turn of the millennia.
The study illustrates that among a range of factors that have shapen Moscow's increasingly assertive attitude toward Georgia and its breakdown regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia affecting the transformation of the official peace processes have belonged Russia's internal centralization, coupled with continuous economic growth, the increasing role of the South Caucasus in Moscow's geostrategic thinking, as well Georgia's pro-Western stance and Moscow's fear of a regional spill-over effect following the ongoing insurgency in the North Caucasus.