Georgian Western Defence Command

In brief

The second territorial command — the western one, whose area contains the Black Sea coast with the ports of Poti and Batumi, the Enguri line with Abkhazia and the Turkish frontier, with its own staff and logistics.

Scope: Structure, role, lineage and links. No subordinate records published.
Subordination: Subordination confirmed
Sources: 3 on the record
Record state: Partial

Broad area of activity

Western Georgia — Samegrelo on the Enguri line, Imereti, Guria and Adjara on the coast and the Turkish frontier

Notable history

The Western Command holds the half of the country whose problems are the sea and the Enguri: the Black Sea coast, with the ports that the Middle Corridor and Armenia's transit both depend on, and the boundary line with Abkhazia along the river, where Russia's 7th Military Base sits on the other side. Like its eastern counterpart it was created in the 2010s reform as an autonomous territorial command with its own staff and logistics. The 2008 war reached its area when Russian forces landed at Poti and destroyed the naval and coast-guard vessels there — the event that ended Georgia's navy as a service and put maritime security into the Coast Guard of the Border Police.

Strengths

The coast and the ports behind it, and terrain on the Enguri that has held a line since 1993.

Limitations

A sea that Georgia has no navy on since 2008 and that Russia dominates, and a boundary line policed by other structures under a policy that forecloses the command's offensive use. No strength, holdings, positions or readiness are published.

Related locations

Poti · Broad regional association Enguri dam & power complex · Broad regional association

Poti: The port and the coast in the command's area; no positions are represented. Enguri dam & power complex: The Enguri line with Abkhazia falls in the command's area; policing of the line is the Border Police's, not the command's.