The map above is from Mémoire sur l'indépendance de l'Ukraine présenté à la Conférence de la paix par la délégation de la république ukrainienne (Note on the Independence of Ukraine, presented by the delegation of the Ukrainian Republic to the Paris Peace Conference), published in Paris in 1919. As can be seen from this map - Ukraine has a direct border with Georgia in the Caucasus. It was on the basis of this map, which reflects the settlement area of Ukrainians and historically related peoples (including the Crimean Tatars), it was supposed to create an independent Ukrainian state after the First World War.

The Paris Peace Conference (1919-1920) was an international conference, convened by the victorious powers in the First World War, in order to negotiate and sign peace agreements with the defeated states. It took place on 18 January 1919 - 21 January 1920. The conference produced the peace treaties that became known as the Versailles system of post-war treaties.

This system also included the later annulled Treaty of Sèvres. The Armenian nationalists are very fond of showing maps of their claims to the Treaty of Sevres, but for some reason the wishes of other countries and peoples, including Ukraine, are hushed up.

In general, representatives of the Armenian lobby, who are based in Russia and determine the policy and ideology of the Russian Federation, which led this country to its Ukrainian aggressive adventure, have until recently had two favourite pastimes - drawing maps of a huge "great Armenia" and dividing other states. Including Turkey, Georgia and Ukraine. The advice of such "dividers" led the Kremlin to its fateful decisions: first to annex Crimea and foment separatism in the Ukrainian Donbass, and then to launch direct aggression against Ukraine in February 2022.

But beyond the "Greater Armenia" maps, there are other maps that have a much better chance of materialising. Especially in light of the fact that by all indications Russia is defeated in the war with Ukraine and the fighting has already spread to the internationally recognised territory of the Russian Federation. In particular, in the Belgorod region.

 Today few remember that in 1918, after the emergence of an independent Ukrainian state, the city of Belgorod and its surroundings belonged to Hetman Pavel Skropadsky's independent Ukrainian state (which recognised the independence of the South Caucasus countries, including Georgia). And it is quite possible that at the end of the current war Belgorod will again be part of Ukraine, as it already was in 1918.  And not just Belgorod.

The present day Krasnodar region (Kuban) did not become part of independent Ukraine in 1918. But it was claimed by Ukraine as its ethnic territory in 1918-1920, as reflected in the materials prepared for the Paris Peace Conference.

Back then, in the distant 1919-1920, the major problems of the post-war world order were solved at the Paris Peace Conference by the so-called "Big Four" of the Great Power leaders, including US President Woodrow Wilson, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau and Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando. The French-language "Note", together with the map above, was one of the information publications of the Ukrainian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference.

With such printed material, the delegation of the (Ukrainian People's Republic) UNR, headed by Grigory Sidorenko, tried to interest the Ukrainian issue in the "Big Four", which decided the fate of the states and borders in the world after the First World War in 1914 - 1918. The 125-page book contains basic information about the geography, history, culture and economy of Ukraine, a justification of the right of Ukrainians to an independent state and a presentation of the desired borders of the UNR (described in the text and depicted on the map).

Other national delegations were then in Paris with similar documents: the Polish, Czechoslovak, Georgian and Azerbaijani delegations.... However, only some of the delegations from the newly emerged republics were allowed to participate in the peace conference. Most, including the Ukrainian delegation, had to make do with behind-the-scenes talks with Western politicians and experts.

The fact is that then the Entente powers, the same France, decided to bet not on the "Great Ukraine", but on the "Great Poland". They even enabled Poland with the French money and French weapons to defeat the Bolsheviks in 1920. As a result Ukraine was divided up, most of it was given to Soviet Russia, and the West of Ukraine was divided by Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania.

However, after the current Ukrainian war, the question of fair and secure borders will inevitably be raised again. Russia, with its aggressions in the Black Sea region (against Georgia and against Ukraine), as well as with its manic fix "to control the straits and Constantinople", has done everything to make the world community take steps to permanently block any Russian power from access to the Black Sea. So that there would be no new recurrences of aggression. And the easiest way to do this is to restore the Ukraine of the 1918-1919 model within the lands that it claimed at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919-1920. Including the Kuban - now the Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Federation. Here the majority of the population are Kuban Cossacks, who are of Ukrainian origin (descendants of the Zaporozhye Cossacks).

As for the Circassians and Nogais, who were subjected to genocide by the Russian Empire, they can hope for repatriation and national revival within Ukraine, like the Crimean Tatars in the Ukrainian Crimea.  A dangerous "alternative" to such a just solution could be the creation of a new hotbed of aggression in the form of "maritime Armenia", which Armenian nationalists dream of creating from the same Krasnodar Krai and Georgian Abkhazia, actively settling these lands.

The assumption that developments in such a way that Georgia will have a common border with Ukraine is quite real. It goes without saying that in case of Russia's defeat in the war against Ukraine, the occupants will clear Abkhazia and Samachablo, which will return to Georgia. Such a development was stated by former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in his post posted on Facebook:

"At 8am in May 2019, President-elect Zelenski called and woke me up in Warsaw to tell me that one of his first assignments as president was to restore my citizenship.

My first reaction, apart from gratitude, was to tell him that I see him as the leader of our entire region. Neither could I have imagined that with Putin's madness, he would become the leader of the free world.

Georgia has a separate place in Zelenski's heart, but even if we leave emotion behind, we should all prepare for Ukraine's inevitable victory. The Ukrainian and Western coalition-occupied zones in the Black Sea region will be totally unacceptable.

We must prepare for the liberation of Abkhazia and Shida Kartli. This window will open soon and we must all seize the moment when the Russian army will be completely destroyed and the chaos in Moscow will be shattered.

Zelensky has a broad strategic vision and after the war this vision will be based on the strongest European military forces and the word of Ukraine will carry a lot of weight in the world.

Georgia, including Abkhazia, is also becoming an attractive and very rich country for the world.

I do not rule out that we share a common border with Ukraine on the Black Sea coast. Today our country's presence and victory depends on President Zelensky and the Ukrainian army.

I am absolutely sure that Zelensky, the West, Ukraine and i.e. the Georgian people will win in a short period of time.

Let's get ready for the Georgian-Ukrainian border at Psou!".

Indeed, Georgia should already be preparing for a post-war arrangement for the world. And as part of this arrangement it can get new neighbours in the north - new independent states in place of the current North Caucasian autonomies of Russia and Ukraine.

Grigol Giorgadze