Restoring Russian Hegemony in the Caucasus: Coverage of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and the 2008 Russo-Georgian War in Russian and Ukrainian Print Media

Abstract

Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia, is a polarizing figure who has inserted himself in the region’s debate to remain in Russia’s orbit or to become more Western and democratic in outlook. Ukrainian and Russian print media’s coverage of the 2008 Russo-Georgian War reveals some stark differences in depicting Georgia’s leader at the time. The differing perceptions of Saakashvili tend to divide Ukrainians and unite Russians. Portrayals of Saakashvili unveil the similar aspirations between both Georgian and Ukrainian nationalists to withdraw from Russia’s orbit and Russia’s willingness to employ military force first in Georgia, then in Ukraine. Strikingly, the 2008 Russo-Georgian War had similar preliminary patterns to the 2014 Annexation of Crimea and the ongoing violence in eastern Ukraine. In each case Russia wielded political and economic pressure to obstruct nationalistic, Western-leaning politicians’ goals, stirred separatist sentiments, and conducted covert military infiltration into border areas. In both countries, the ideologies of Russian imperialism and pro-Western nationalism were at the forefront. The interference in Georgia was a political and military prototype for the ongoing disputes in Ukraine. Studying Ukrainian and Russian print media’s biases with respect to Saakashvili, whose vibrant persona occupied the center of the conflict in 2008, provides a nuanced understanding of the cultural and political zeitgeists in both Russia and Ukraine at the time. These sentiments have additionally fueled the current conflict in Ukraine, often with the same actors. Ukrainian print media is relatively balanced between depicting pro- and anti- Saakashvili factions, likely the product of the country’s own ambivalence toward its Russian neighbor. In contrast, Russian media’s frequently monochromatic condemnation of Saakashvili sought to justify Russian inte