1 Sochi 2014 – the Rubicon of Russian Neo-expansionism Shalva Dzebisashvili  Abstract: The earlier version of this paper was drafted and presented at international conference held in Brussels on 20-21 February this year.** The dramatic events in Crimea and Ukraine confirmed the logic and the validity of the made analysis, however, they also made it unavoidable to include additional thoughts and go beyond the geographic scope of the South Caucasus, to make final conclusions relevant for the rest of the former Soviet Union. In earlier paper we argued that Olympic Games 2014 were more relevant for the prospects of regional security architecture, rather than in terms of providing security guarantees for participants and town-visitors. We also suggested to increase the quality of the analysis by putting Olympic Games in the context of МШЮЧtrТОs‘ ЛТХКtОrКХ sОМЮrТtв rОХКtТШЧsСТЩs ЮЧНОr serious scrutiny. The paper is a policy-driven contribution that attempts to provide an explanation i.e. rationale for Russian decision-making in the context of the Olympics and significantly affected RЮssТК‘s foreign - and security policy towards its immediate neighbors. In light of recent developments between Russia and Ukraine some aspects of the earlier analysis applied to Georgia are very much valid and must be applied to Ukraine too. Georgian case serves as the exemplary narrative of how Russia may act in order to change strategically the environment, given its actual strength factors and obvious limitations. Keywords: Sochi 2014, Olympic Games, Russia, South Caucasus, Georgia, Ukraine, Security Introduction The Sochi Winter Olympics 2014 draw attention in every respect; not only due to the general political controversy surrounding the host country, but also due to numerous implications they have on countrв‘s РШЯОrЧКЧМО, rОsШЮrМО- and financial management, as well as their impact on regional security in North and South Caucasus. It was no secret that the decision to grant Russia the hosting of the Olympic Games in 2014 (the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union) was interpreted by the Kremlin as direct recognition of its growing political influence on the global scene. And Moscow has invested everything possible not to prove the contrary. There are a number of brilliant articles and papers that deal with two key aspects of Russian politics surrounding the Olympic preparations: the terrorism  The author is a former Georgian Official, served in Ministry of Defence from 2003-to 2009 and at NATO HQ in the position of Defence Advisor to Georgian Ambassador in the period of 2009-2012. He is a member of Civil Council for Defence and Security (CCDS) and currently works as a doctoral research fellow at the Institute of European Studies (IEE/ULB) in Brussels and the University of Bielefeld, Germany. His academic interests include international relations (IR), international organizations (IO), global and regional security studies. E-mail: shalva.dzebisashvili@erasmusmundus-gem.eu ** Sochi 2014: (Geo) political, economic and social dynamics, International Conference, Brussels, ULB, 20-21 February 2014