Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili said in an interview with Bloomberg that a peace agreement on Ukraine should include the withdrawal of Russian troops from Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
“Russia must learn where its borders are,” she said. “Georgian issues should be on the negotiating table, because no one should think that this war can be resolved without Russia withdrawing from all the occupied territories.”
In my country blocked
present tense
South Ossetia and Abkhazia until 1990 were part of the Georgian SSR. In the 1990s, both territories declared independence, which Georgia did not recognize. In 2008, after the “five-day war” with Georgia, Russia deployed its troops on the territory of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and recognized their independence. Georgia considers South Ossetia and Abkhazia to be territories occupied by Russia and accuses the Russian Federation of violating the country’s territorial integrity.
If Western countries, Zurabishvili believes, do not demand a complete withdrawal of troops from Russia as part of the terms of surrender, then another big mistake will be made – “as big as in 2008 and 2014.” According to her, Russia “already almost lost the battle, if not completely the war” in Ukraine.
“They read the Gospel over the wolf’s head.” Why the Georgian government refuses to supply weapons to Ukraine, the political scientist explains:
Earlier, Chargé d’Affaires of Ukraine in Georgia, diplomat Andrei Kasyanov wrote in his article that Ukraine asked Georgia for the Buk air defense system, delivered by Kyiv to Tbilisi in 2008, and the American Javelin anti-tank systems.
“Despite the fact that the Georgian government has categorically refused to provide military assistance, Ukraine opposes the use of this issue in internal political disputes and rejects any accusations of trying to drag Georgia into a war with the Russian Federation,” he said.
Despite Kasyanov’s explanations, his article became a pretext for accusations from official Tbilisi. Georgian authorities have repeatedly accused some Ukrainian officials, Western politicians and local opposition of allegedly intending to draw Georgia into the war in order to open a “second front” against Russia.
