Imminent changes will mean less interaction between officials and local residents, less money for small-town Russia, and accelerated depopulation.

With the West distracted by a series of its own disruptive votes, Georgia’s ruling party has largely managed to withstand pressure both at home and abroad following contested parliamentary elections.

Georgian Dream’s message that the parliamentary elections were a chance for Georgians to choose between war and peace clearly proved more convincing than the opposition’s narrative of a choice between Russia and the EU.

A narrower-than-expected victory for pro-EU incumbent Maia Sandu chimes with Moldova’s electoral history and complex regional loyalties.

The Georgian Dream party is stoking hopes among ordinary Georgians about the return of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Yet without Moscow’s approval, it’s impossible to imagine substantive negotiations taking place.