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Georgia

Out of Eden Walk: Walking Tbilisi

Out of Eden Walk

Georgia’s capital city, Tbilisi, sits at the ancient crossroads of Asia and Europe, of Islam and Christianity. It is currently the scene of a political confrontation over a Russia-inspired law that critics fear will stifle media freedom. Host Marco Werman speaks with National Geographic Explorer Paul Salopek in Tbilisi about the city’s rich cultural past and its current tensions.

Cars queuing to cross the border into Kazakhstan at the Mariinsky border crossing, about (250 miles south of Chelyabinsk, Russia, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022.

Anti-war Russians who fled for safety now face deportation

Ukraine
For more than a century, water from mineral springs in the Georgian town of Borjomi has been bottled and sold throughout the former Soviet Union. To this day, Borjomi remains a well-known brand from Kyiv to Kazakhstan.

Georgia’s famous Borjomi water company takes a hit during Russia-Ukraine war

Ukraine
Zhemal Gamakharia, Chairman of Abkhazia’s Supreme Council, a regional-level parliament.

Georgian politicians from Russian-occupied Abkhazia run a ‘government-in-exile’

Leaders
Protesters wave a Georgian national and EU flags as they rally against a draft law

Georgia faces a rocky road to EU membership

Foreign policy
Linguist Thomas Wier and Udi activist Alexander Kavtaradze at a memorial to Zinobi Silikashvili, the founder of the village of Zinobiani, Georgia. The inscription includes both Caucasian Albanian (Udi) and Georgian script.

Udi, a dying language with its own alphabet, sees a revival in this small Georgian town

Language

Udi is a language with its own ancient alphabet and an unlikely grammatical feature that some linguists believe is unique. Now, researchers in Georgia are trying to preserve the language from possible extinction.

Customers walk into the Dedaena Bar in Tbilisi past a QR code notice

Georgia’s proxy war with Russia has linguistic ripple effects

Language

More than 10,000 Russians are fleeing to neighboring Georgia every day to escape being drafted into the war in Ukraine. The influx is exacerbating tensions going back to Soviet times.

Many of Tskaltubo's sanatoriums will soon be renovated and reopened to tourists once again through an initiative funded by the government and private investment.

Longtime refugees in Georgia say goodbye to the Soviet-era sanatoriums they called home

Displacement

Displaced people have spent decades living in old sanatoriums and hotels scattered throughout Georgia. Now, the government plans to restore the dilapidated buildings to boost tourism. 

Stalin refrigerator magnets for sale outside the Stalin Museum in Gori, Georgia

As Putin’s war in Ukraine continues, historians say it’s crucial to reflect on Stalin’s reign in the Soviet era

History

For some Georgians, Stalin represents a rags-to-riches tale — they see him as the country’s most-famous native son who put Georgia on the map. Others are pushing for a more comprehensive view of the man responsible for millions of deaths.

demonstrator holding the Ukraine flag around their body

Russians in Georgia help to evacuate Ukrainians  

Ukraine

Hundreds of Russian dissidents and members of civil society who have challenged Vladimir Putin’s government have settled in nearby Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. The country’s relaxed visa rules and low cost of living have attracted artists, activists and journalists. Some who’ve settled there are now working to support their fellow Russians and protest the war from afar.

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