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 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