Russians in Georgia: geodemographic trends of the first decades of the 21st century

The main vectors of demographic, territorial, and settlement dynamics of the Russian community of Georgia in the 2000s and 2010s are investigated. It was found that in the mid-2010s, 2,482 of the country’s 3,486 (71.4%) settlements had no Russian population, only 105 (3.0%) had more than 10 people. The process of derussification extended to the urban network - in 30 of the 83 centers (36.1%), there were fewer than 10 Russian residents. The highest-altitude northern regions of the country (Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Racha-Lechkhumi, Lower Svaneti) were maximally de-russified, in which Russians remained in 9-11% of settlements. Russian settlement system in the coastal Guria and the lowland parts of Kakheti, where Russians lived in 45-46% of settlements, has been significantly better preserved. While maintaining the overall high level of urbanization of the community (84-85% of the townspeople), there was a specific redistribution of Russians between the individual levels of the settlement system. The share of the capital group increased from 36.6% to 50.7% in 1989-2014; three large centers (Batumi, Kutaisi, Rustavi) - from 12.4% to 18.5%. The share of Kakheti and the southern districts of Tbilisi grew in the settlement system of rural Russians (from 30.8% to 38.8% in 2002-2014). The overall sizes and main locations of the rapidly growing new groups of the Russian population in Georgia in the 2000-2010s were recorded, including property owners (30-35 thousand people), persons in interethnic marriages (7-8 thousand) a group of relocates that emerged after the start of a special military operation (40-60 thousand). The main center of all these groups was the capital, the second one was Batumi. These two centers accounted 60% of the Russian tourist flow to Georgia. It was calculated that during summer seasons in Georgia in 2017-2024 (excluding 2020-2021) there could simultaneously be about 100-120 thousand Russians not related to the long-term resident community, in winter seasons -65-75 thousand.