Parliament Speaker highlights “fragility of peace”, responsibility to “prevent war” in country on Russian invasion anniversary

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday highlighted the “fragility of peace” and the responsibility of the political leadership to “prevent war” in the country, in comments on an anniversary of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war.

Papuashvili was speaking at the Mukhatgverdi Cemetery, where servicemembers killed in the war are buried.

“Today we all remember the soldiers and civilians who died in the August war, we must not forget the fragility of peace and the responsibility of the political leadership to prevent war in the country”, he said.

[We remember] our heroic soldiers, who were on the front line, civilians who were at the epicentre of the war, and Georgia as a whole, which was particularly hard hit by the aggression that was taking place against Georgia”, the lawmaker continued.

“We must not forget the fragility of peace and, above all, the responsibility of the political leadership to prevent war in the country. This is what [the ruling] Georgian Dream [party] has been doing for the last 12 years”, he concluded.

The 2008 war saw 170 servicemembers and professionals of Georgia’s Ministry of Defence killed, along with 14 employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and 224 civilians.

Around 30,000 citizens of the country were forced to abandon their homes in the now-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region.

Foreign officials and embassies on Wednesday reaffirmed their “unwavering” support for Georgia’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity on the occasion of the anniversary.