US Assistant Secretary of State: It is pity we didn’t wake up immediately after the Russia-Georgia war
US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell says that Russia is a threat. Photo: meta.mk.
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US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell stated in Tbilisi today that western countries have only recently ‘woken up’ and realised that Russia is a threat. He said the west could not see the threat from Russia even after the Russia-Georgia 2008 war.
Earlier, they [western politicians] used to say that Russia is not threat. Now, they have woken up in the West and realised that Russia is a threat. It is a pity that we did not wake up [directly] after the Russia-Georgia war and this fact became the precondition for starting the war in Ukraine,” Mitchell said during a conference organised by the McCain Institute and the Georgian Economic Policy Development Centre.
The West has now woken up and they already know that Russia is a serious player. We must say goodbye to the idea that Russia is weak, we must say goodbye to the idea that economic stagnation in Russia is weakening Russia. Putin is a threat and he is carrying out aggression,” Mitchell stated.
A consistent message throughout #TbilisiConf echoed by Wess Mitchell: The success of democracy in Georgia is the only way - longterm - to secure Georgia and accelerate the path to Western institutions. pic.twitter.com/f1aG2QmLXj
— McCain Institute (@McCainInstitute) September 12, 2018
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili, who also delivered a speech at the conference, stated that the country’s future president should be very clear and vocal about Russian illegalities in Georgia.
President of Georgia has to hold to main value: Georgia is a sovereign independent nation with right to protect itself, choose its allies & no whatsoever justification of the occupation or the Russian aggression is or will be acceptable. #TbilisiConf @McCainInstitute pic.twitter.com/xLRtSPNRaU
— President Of Georgia (@MargvelashviliG) September 12, 2018
He also said that no one in the country should justify Russian aggression and occupation.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius stated in Tbilisi today that Russia is currently not a superpower, but ‘a super problem’.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has stated that the government should prepare the country for membership in NATO and the EU and as soon as soon as the decision about the membership of Georgia is mature, Georgia should join the alliance and the EU.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has called upon Russia to withdraw its forces from historic Georgian lands while making a statement on the 10th anniversary of the Russia-Georgia 2008 war. Bakhtadze also stated that Russian aggression, the occupation of Georgian territories, human losses, tens of thousands of refugees and internally displaced people "are open wounds” for every single citizen of Georgia.
Top Georgian officials, the foreign ministers of Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine have commemorated the Russia-Georgia 2008 war on its 10th anniversary and spoke about the fatal consequences of the short but violent war.