Huge numbers of police have moved in there. They seem to have lost control of the

parliament building for some of the time this afternoon they're making

up for it now with massive force.

The recent demonstrations in Georgia brought thousands of EU flag-waving citizens to the streets

protesting against the Kremlin-inspired law. Along with Ukraine and other

borderland states, the people of Georgia reminded the world

that Russia really is the world's worst neighbor. And yet, there may be some hope

for democracy emerging from all this destruction.

It's the sense that Russian aggression may not only be checked,

but also that the threat from Putin has united Europe as never before

behind democratic ideas and institutions.

We'll hear from two of Russia's near neighbors about the dangers now and how they're being

counted. I'm Gavin Esler and this is not a drill. Oh, yeah. Russia's 2022

2022 invasion of Ukraine was a wake-up call, a belated one, but it was not Russia's first European war of the 21st century.

Vladimir Putin had already taken big bites out of other nations.

Putin's Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, seizing Crimea and part of the Donbass region. The world shrugged. Back in 2008, Putin's troops supported separatists since seizing 20% a fifth of Georgia's territory,

the regions of Alpazia and South Ossetia.

Others, including the European Union and NATO muttered, but nothing

much was done. Putin, reasonably you might think, decided no one was interested in stopping his plans for empire.

That has now changed.

So of the politics of those vital European states where Russian aggression is both a threat,

and an opportunity to build a more secure democratic European

...