Memorial to victims of Russian occupation unveiled in Tbilisi

A monument dedicated to victims of Russia's ongoing occupation of two of Georgia's regions has been unveiled in Tbilisi following an initiative by city mayor Kakha Kaladze.

In the Ponitchala district of the capital city, the installation by sculptor Irakli Tsuladze can now be found in a park of a residential area, with its design replicating the barriers erected by occupation forces along the administrative boundary line separating the regions from the Georgian-controlled territory.

Entitled 'Monument to the Memory of the Victims of the Occupation', the structure is composed of two bronze figures separated by a multi-layer glass barrier.

A close-up look at the detail of the etching on the glass designed to replicate barbed wire lines that have become symbolic of the occupation. Photo: Aleksei Serov/via Irakli Tsuladze Sculpture on Facebook.

A series of barbed wire-shaped lines are etched in the glass structure to convey the means of physical separation employed by de-facto authorities and the Russian forces to demarcate the ABL.

Placed adjacent to the occupied territories, barbed wire lines are often moved beyond their initial position in a process that has become known as "borderisation" since the 2008 Russian-Georgian war.

The monument also features nighttime lighting installed on its edges and illuminating parts of the strips while also casting light on the rest of the composition.