University officials cancelled a study abroad Exploration Seminar in Tbilisi, Georgia, due to Russia’s recent invasion of its southern neighbor. About six students were enrolled in the Exploration Seminar to Tbilisi, which would have left in late August.

Max Savishinsky, the director of the UW’s Exploration Seminars, along with other faculty, decided it would be best to cancel the program, said Norm Arkans, the executive director of media relations at the UW.

“Student safety is the most important consideration,” Arkans said.

Fighting broke out Aug. 7 when Georgian troops entered South Ossetia, a separatist region tied to Russia, according to The New York Times. Russia’s retaliation included sending tanks and planes into Georgia. Georgian and Russian presidents agreed to a cease-fire Aug. 12, but the effects have yet to be seen.

Paul LePore, the assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said the decision to cancel the Tbilisi program was made Aug. 9.

Another Exploration Seminar program to Sochi, Russia, may also be cancelled because it is fairly close to the Russia-Georgia border, said Cameron Frisch, the interim director of the UW’s International Programs and Exchanges (IPE).

Savishinsky has been in meetings discussing the Sochi program and details of cancelling the Tbilisi program, although there is not enough time to relocate either program.

“We want to create as soft a landing for students as possible,” Frisch said, referring to easing students’ possible frustrations about the cancellation.

The Georgia seminar is not the first IPE program to be cancelled in recent history: the UW’s year-long exchange in Chengdu, China, was relocated to Shanghai, China, when earthquakes struck Chengu in May.

“Students should go abroad, and these types of circumstances will occur more and more as students travel internationally,” LePore said.

The program would have explored Georgia’s history and culture as the key to understanding its current state of transition, according to a description of the program on the Exploration Seminars Web site.

LePore said he doubts that the programs could be relocated, as the Chendu program was, but is optimistic about the future.

“The situation can be really fluid and change, and we hope they will be able to travel there at some point,” he said.