EN
With regard to a 'cold war', which governed Russian-Georgian relations, this study analyses initial phases of ethno-political conflicts between Tbilisi and the separatist republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which received increasing support from Moscow provoked by the acute Russian-Georgian conflict. The essay opens with an analysis of the interior political development in Georgia in the late 80's. It shows that many events of the late Soviet period, which occurred between the Soviet headquarters and the Georgian periphery, significantly affected the character of Georgian policy towards separatist regions. Next, the essay analyses the outset of two ethno-political conflicts, which occurred within the brief existence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (1919-1921). Attention is paid to antagonistic ethno-historiographic narratives of the Georgians, South Ossetians and Abkhazians, which formed an ideological foundation for separatists and the Georgian party. The article then concentrates on the escalation of conflicts, i.e. when sporadic exchanges of fire between local armed squads erupted into active conventional fighting (from the late 80's to the early 90's). Special attention is paid to Moscow's piece initiatives between 1992 and 1994.