Georgia has commemorated the 105th anniversary of the Soviet occupation with flags lowered to half-mast at government buildings across the country and at Georgian diplomatic missions abroad.

State flags were lowered at the Parliament building, the Presidential Palace, the Government Administration, the Ministry of Defence headquarters, the General Staff building, all military units, every Ministry of Internal Affairs administrative building, and the offices of the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, along with its affiliated agencies.

The day of remembrance was formally established by a parliamentary resolution adopted on July 21, 2010, which designated February 25 as the Day of Soviet Occupation.

On this date in 1921, Russia’s Red Army seized Tbilisi, overthrowing the democratically elected government of Georgia and annexing the Democratic Republic of Georgia, a recognised subject of international law. The occupation brought to a violent end a state that had been established through free and fair elections.

This year marks 105 years since that event.