Georgian Parliament Speaker warns of “grave consequences” had Georgia followed foreign calls during early days of Ukraine war

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday reiterated that Georgia had avoided potentially devastating consequences in 2022 by refusing demands from foreign officials to take steps that, in his view, could have drawn the country into military confrontation with Russia.

In a social media message, Papuashvili reflected on the beginning of the war in Ukraine and the choices the Georgian Government faced at the time.

“The public is once again given the opportunity to understand what would have happened if, at the outset of the Ukraine war, decision-making power had been held not by a national government but by those eager to please foreign actors”, the Speaker said.

Papuashvili claims that in the first days of the war, some Western diplomats urged Georgia to take steps that he says would have carried significant security risks. He specifically referenced a meeting on February 28, 2022, during which the then-US Ambassador made “categorical demands” of Georgia. Complying with those demands, Papuashvili argues, “would have meant sacrificing Georgia to war”.

He stated that he later raised the same concerns directly with James O’Brien, the former US Assistant Secretary of State, during O’Brien’s visit to Georgia. Papuashvili maintains that neither at that meeting nor at any other time did he receive a convincing explanation of how Georgia could have been asked to take such risks “without any security guarantees”.

“The fact that, under the proper leadership of the previous US administration (and of the West in general), the war in Ukraine would not have happened is something the US Government itself acknowledges. The same US Government also says that the war in Ukraine is a proxy war. Four years after the start of the war in Ukraine, it now appears that this war is approaching its end. We can all see how Ukraine is being forced to consider whether or not to accept extremely difficult conditions. On this backdrop, it is even clearer how warped is that Georgian who still gazes admiringly at the same statements, eyes, and resolutions of those who, back then, were pushing the flag of a vanguard unit headed into someone else’s war into our hands”, the Speaker continued.

“What the then-US Ambassador categorically demanded from me during our meeting on February 28, 2022 - the fourth day after the start of the war in Ukraine - I have described many times, and therefore I am once again attaching my detailed post below. I have said not only publicly, but also directly to James O’Brien, the former US Assistant Secretary of State, during his visit to Georgia last year, that complying with the US Ambassador’s demands would have meant sacrificing Georgia to war. I never heard any convincing explanation - either at that meeting or at any other time - as to how one could ask Georgia to take on the risk of military confrontation with Russia without providing any security guarantees. The same applies to many European politicians who, comfortably sheltered under NATO’s umbrella, felt free to make such demands”, Papuashvili said.

The Speaker concluded by emphasising the fact that those who urged the Georgian Government to pursue a strategy of ‘strategic patience’ toward Russia demanded maximum escalation with Russia the moment the war in Ukraine began.

“Our own recent past has shown us many times that the final point of such escalation is war. And those foreigners who were demanding escalation with Russia while pretending not to see that war is the inevitable end of escalation were either naïve themselves, or they thought we were the naïve ones - naïve enough to believe in their naïveté”, Papuashvili said.