Abstract:
The present work deals with the issues concerning Georgian-Russian
relationship. Institute of political hostages, as the way of Russian policy, was
used in relation with neighboring countries.
It was widely in use in domestic and external affairs. The institute of
political hostages was one of the major guarantee of loyalty even in 60-s of 19th
century for the Russian Empire.
We do not share the opinion maintained by some members of Georgian
historiography that Orthodox Russians had never demanded the hostages from
Georgian sovereigns. North-Caucasian and Siberian princes were directly
demanded to send the hostages, while the Georgians could have been demanded
some guarantees in exchange for military assistance. In 90-s of 16th century a
demand to send the hostages was met with hursh protest by the Georgians and
the Russian side never discussed this issue again. But “Amanatoba” changed her
appearance and the issue was resolved differently. The issues like marital
arrangement between the brides and bridegrooms, visit and delay of Georgian
prince – “son of Russian Tsar”, Erekle-Nikolay in Moscow, also after treaty of
Georgievsk “visit” of Mirian and Teimuraz in Russia should be understood as
the way of keeping the political hostages in Russian Empire.
