Georgia and Russia have agreed to re-open a key artery closed since 2006, another sign that Moscow would like to repair relations with its former satellite.

As widely anticipated, an EU report on last year's Russian invasion of Georgia finds plenty of blame to go around, finding that Tblisi "triggered" the conflict but that Moscow violated international law by its invasion and with numerous atrocities thereafter.

Georgia has put down a rebellion at an army barracks near Tblisi, which President Mikheil Saakashvili's government is claiming was "coordinated with Russia and aimed at minimum thwarting NATO military exercises."  Moscow says this allegation is "mad."

On April 9 and successive days, people took to the streets of Tbilisi calling upon Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to resign.  The President remains in office, as a majority of Georgians want.  However, the demonstrations have not been for naught—the peaceful, democratic demeanor of demonstrators and government alike has burnished Georgia’s image abroad. 

On Tuesday, an official EU probe into the causes and progression of the Georgia conflict in August was launched.  Deutsche Welle:

Ukraine is seeking to repair relations with Russia as its hopes of entering NATO fade, the Times reports:

News broke over the weekend that shots were fired as a convoy carrying Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili and Polish president Lech Kaczynski approached South Ossetia.  There were no injuries, and the convoy returned safely to Tbilisi.  Predictably, Georgia is blaming Russia, and Russia is blaming Georgia.  Reports vary significantly. 

The Times published an interesting exchange between Sarkozy and Putin from the August ceasefire talks on Georgia, leaked courtesy of Sarkozy's chief diplomatic advisor Jean-David Levitte: