Threats, Risks and Challenges to the National Security of Georgia 1. Occupation of Georgian territories by the Russian Federation and terrorist acts organized by the Russian Federation from the occupied territories: At the beginning of the 20th century, Georgia was the victim of Russian aggression that led to 70 years of Soviet occupation. In 1991, Georgia regained its independence; this was followed by political and economic instability caused by the Russian Federation. At the beginning of the 1990s, aggressive separatist movements—fueled and supported by the Russian Federation—triggered an armed confrontation in which military forces of the Russian Federation directly participated, together with local criminal groups. This confrontation resulted in the ethnic cleansing of Georgians, a fact recognized by the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) in Europe, and the European Parliament. In order to infringe upon the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia and to limit its free and democratic choice, in August 2008 the Russian Federation perpetrated a further military aggression, accompanied by a new wave of ethnic cleansing. The unlawful actions of the Russian Federation are documented in the Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia, commissioned by the European Union. The occupation of Georgian territories by the Russian Federation is recognized by a number of governments, as well as by international governmental and non-governmental organizations. In an attempt to legalize the results of its military aggression, the Russian government, ignoring the principles of international law and the Ceasefire Agreement signed by the Russian Federation and Georgia on August 12, 2008, declared the occupied regions to be independent states and deployed new military forces and infrastructure in Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali Region. In addition, the Russian Federation appealed to other members of the international community to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali Region, placing political and economic pressure on certain countries to do so. The military occupation of part of Georgian territory by the Russian Federation breaches the sovereignty of Georgia and is a factor that impedes its statehood and subverts its political, economic, and social development. The intensive militarization of the occupied regions and the deployment of Russian ground, air, naval, and border forces breaches Georgia’s sovereignty and endangers security in the region as a whole. Russia’s disrespect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states—and its attempts to change the European and Euro-Atlantic security architecture and restore principle of “spheres of influence”—endanger not only Georgia, but also all states that are neighbors of the Russian Federation as well as European security in general. There is ample evidence that, after the Russian-Georgian War of 2008 and the occupation of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali Region, Russia has used these territories to recruit and train terrorists to 7