Parliament Speaker: ignoring Russia’s 2008 aggression in Georgia led to Ukraine invasion

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday said the international community “turning a blind eye” to Russia’s military intervention in Georgia in 2008 had led to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by the Kremlin. 

In his remarks over the 15th anniversary of the 2008 invasion of Georgia by Russia, Papuashvili noted the “great tragedy” had resulted in more than 400 servicemembers, police officers and civilians killed and over 2,000 persons injured.

Unfortunately, many chose to turn a blind eye [to Russia’s actions] at that time. Instead of imposing sanctions on Russia, they imposed an embargo on Georgia's arms purchases. Instead of having a tough policy towards Russia, some were busy resetting relations with Russia, some were busy building strategic pipelines, and some were holding a military parade in Red Square with Russian troops two years after the war”, Papuashvili said. 

“Perhaps we were too small and too far away. However, ignoring this aggression in 2008 brought us the [situation in] Ukraine of 2014 [the annexation of Crimea] and 2022 [the full-scale Russian invasion], and a transfer of war from the edge of Europe to the heart of Europe”, he continued.

Papuashvili added “now many countries understand the essence” of Russia's aggressive policy, but said “words are not enough - now the action is important”, noting Georgia had “already had its share of war”.