The Georgian Road to Russia: when everything goes south
August 3, 2023
The North-South Corridor, widely promoted by international financial institutions, aims to facilitate the transport of goods as the ‘only land access to the Russian Federation’, as well as to Iran, Armenia and Azerbaijan, running through Georgia. Yet the project impacts the cultural heritage of picturesque landscapes in Georgia without answering the major question raised Georgian taxpayers – why should they pay for a new road to Russia, a country that does not have diplomatic relations with Georgia, has occupied Georgian territories, and presents one of the major obstacles to Georgia’s European future?
Paving over paradise
December 17, 2021
What were once iconic views of Georgia’s beautiful Khada Valley are slowly disappearing. Now, when you drive up the damaged road towards a narrow, 12-kilometre-long gorge, also known as the ‘valley of 60 towers’, the first thing you see is no longer the famous tower of Iukho village. Instead, a massive, white and blue metal construction site appears. Trucks, roaring and echoing through the mountains, drive back and forth near cultural heritage monuments to provide materials for the Kvesheti-Kobi road towards Russia.
