Treaty of Moscow (1920)

The Treaty of Moscow (Russian: Московский договор, Moskovskiy dogovor; Georgian: მოსკოვის ხელშეკრულება, moskovis khelshekruleba), signed between Soviet Russia (RSFSR) and the Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG) in Moscow on May 7, 1920, granted de jure recognition of Georgian independence in exchange for promising not to grant asylum on Georgian soil to troops of powers hostile to Bolshevik Russia.

Treaty of Moscow
LocationMoscow
Effective7 May 1920
Signatories

Background

The Democratic Republic of Georgia, led by the Social Democratic Party, or Menshevik Party, declared its independence from Russia on May 26, 1918. It was not formally recognised by the Soviets at that time, but the Georgian government eventually managed to obtain de facto recognition from the White leaders and the Allies.

Following an abortive Bolshevik coup in Tbilisi and a failed attempt by the Red Army units to penetrate Georgia in early May 1920, Vladimir Lenin's government agreed to sign a treaty with Georgia and to recognise its independence de jure if the Mensheviks formally undertook not to grant shelter on Georgian territory to any force hostile to Soviet Russia. Many Georgian politicians, including Foreign Minister, Evgeni Gegechkori regarded that clause as an infringement of Georgia's sovereignty and supported the rejection of the Russian terms. However, Georgian Prime Minister Noe Zhordania was anxious above all to secure for Georgia international recognition and so agreed to then.

The treaty was finally signed in Moscow by Grigol Uratadze for Georgia and Lev Karakhan for Russia on May 7, 1920.

Provisions

In the treaty's first two articles, Russia unconditionally recognized the independence of Georgia and renounced all interference in its internal affairs:

Article I:

Proceeding from the right, proclaimed by the RSFSR, of all peoples to free self-determination up to and including separation from the State of which they constitute a part, Russia unreservedly recognizes the independence and sovereignty of the Georgian State and voluntarily renounces all the sovereign rights which had appertained to Russia with regard to the People and Territory of Georgia.

Article II:

Proceeding from the principles proclaimed in Article I above of the present Treaty, Russia undertakes to refrain from any kind of interference in the affairs of Georgia.[1]

Georgia, in turn, undertook to disarm and intern all armed units belonging to any organization that was purported to have constituted a threat to the Soviet government and to surrender such detachments or groups to Moscow. In a secret supplement, that was not made public ay the time, the Mensheviks made an even greater concession, allowing a local branch of the Russian Bolsheviks to function freely in Georgia:

Georgia pledges itself to recognize the right of free existence and activity of the Communist party... and in particular its right to free meetings and publications, including organs of the press.[2]

Aftermath

1920s

In spite of brief Menshevik euphoria of the declared diplomatic success, public opinion in Georgia denounced the treaty as "veiled subjection of Georgia to Russia", as was reported by the British Chief Commissioner Sir Oliver Wardrop.[2] The government was subjected to harsh criticism over the concessions made to Moscow from the parliamentary opposition, particularly from the National Democratic Party. Nevertheless, the Treaty of Moscow had a short-term benefit to Tbilisi by encouraging the reluctant Allied Supreme Council and other governments to recognise Georgia de jure on January 11, 1921.[3]

The treaty did not resolve the conflict between Russia and Georgia. Although Soviet Russia had recognised Georgia's independence, the eventual overthrow of the Menshevik government was both intended and planned,[4] and the treaty was merely a delaying tactic on the part of the Bolsheviks,[5] who were then preoccupied with an uneasy war against Poland.[6]

According to the agreement, the Georgian government released most of the Bolsheviks from prison. They quickly established a nominally-autonomous Communist Party of Georgia, which, under the coordination of Caucasus Bureau of the Russian Communist Party, immediately activated their overt campaign against the Menshevik government and so were rearrested by energetic Interior Minister Noe Ramishvili. That caused protests from the newly-appointed Russian Ambassador Plenipotentiary Sergey Kirov, who exchanged fiery notes with Evgeni Gegechkori. The conflict, never finally resolved, was subsequently used in Soviet propaganda against the Menshevik government, which was accused by Moscow of harassing the communists, obstructing the passage of convoys passing through to Armenia and supporting an anti-Soviet rebellion in the North Caucasus. On the other hand, Georgia accused Russia of fomenting antigovernment riots in various regions of the country, especially among ethnic minorities such as Abkhazians and Ossetians, and of provoking border incidents along the frontier with Soviet Azerbaijan.

After nine months of fragile peace, in February 1921, the Soviet Red Army launched a final offensive against Georgia, under the pretext of supporting the rebellion of peasants and workers in the country, put an end to the Democratic Republic of Georgia, and established Soviet Georgia, which would last for the next seven decades.

1990s and 2000s

As Georgia was moving towards independence from the Soviet Union, the Georgian government, led by Zviad Gamsakhurdia, addressed the Russian President Boris Yeltsin and stating that "the only legitimate framework for relations" between Russia and Georgia could be the 1920 treaty. Moscow refused, and Georgia declared Soviet troops in Georgia an occupation force.[7]

Parallels have been drawn in modern Georgia between the Georgian-Russian diplomacy in 1920 and the 2000s. In response to indications by several senior Russian diplomats that Moscow wanted to see Georgia "a sovereign, neutral and friendly country", rather than a member of military alliances such as NATO, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said on October 25, 2007 that neutrality was not an option for Georgia because "Georgia signed an agreement on its neutrality in 1920 with Bolshevik Russia and after six months Georgia was occupied".[8]

References
  1. Beichman, A. (1991). The Long Pretense: Soviet Treaty Diplomacy from Lenin to Gorbachev, p. 165. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 0-88738-360-2.
  2. Lang, DM (1962). A Modern History of Georgia, p. 226. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
  3. Skinner, Peter (2014). Georgia: The Land Below the Caucasus. Narikala Publications. p. 469. ISBN 978-0-9914232-0-0.
  4. Erickson, J., editor (2001). The Soviet High Command: A Military-Political History, 1918-1941, p. 123. Routledge (UK). ISBN 0-7146-5178-8.
  5. Sicker, M. (2001). The Middle East in the Twentieth Century, p. 124. Martin Sicker. ISBN 0-275-96893-6.
  6. Debo, R. (1992). Survival and Consolidation: The Foreign Policy of Soviet Russia, 1918-1921, p. 182. McGill-Queen's Press. ISBN 0-7735-0828-7.
  7. Toria, Malkhaz (2014). "The Soviet occupation of Georgia in 1921 and the Russian-Georgian war of August 2008: historical analogy as a memory project". In Jones, Stephen F. (ed.). The Making of Modern Georgia, 1918-2012: The First Georgian Republic and Its successors. Routledge. p. 318. ISBN 1317815939.
  8. Saakashvili Rules Out Georgian Neutrality. Civil Georgia. 2007-10-25. Retrieved on 2008-06-15.
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