Business Insider: “Russia is quietly seizing territory in Georgia as it warns of a ’horrible conflict’ if the Eurasian country joins NATO“

The decade-long and ongoing occupation of two of Georgia’s regions is splitting communities, while Russia is warning the country against joining NATO, a new article from Business Insider explains.

In a feature from John Haltiwanger, the reality of occupying forces taking over an increased amount of land via the process of "borderization” is explained to readers.

[This] incremental seizure of land has had a detrimental impact on many locals, as the Russia-backed "borderization" has split communities and led some Georgians to literally find their homes in Russian-controlled territory overnight, NBC News reports”, notes the author.

Haltiwanger also shows that while the occupation concerns about 20 percent of Georgia’s internationally recognised territory, Russia has also maintained nearly 20 military bases in the Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region, one of two Georgian provinces under de-facto separatist control.

[This territorial dispute is] part of the reason the [United States] has continued to provide Georgia with 100 million [USD] in aid every single year, which is also linked to the country's active role in supporting the [NATO peacekeeping mission] in Afghanistan”, the story outlines.

But Georgia’s aspirations of actually joining the alliance are subject of continued warnings of response from the Kremlin.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Monday echoed Putin and said if NATO admitted Georgia it could trigger a ‘terrible conflict’”, notes the Business Insider piece.

The ongoing US support for the territorial integrity of Georgia and the failure of the Russian government to fulfill its commitments of removing the troops from the occupied regions following its 2008 war with Georgia also receive attention in the piece.

Read the full story here: businessinsider.com