Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili participated in the Global Security Forum (GLOBSEC) and took part in one of the thematic discussions.
Garibashvili was asked about his opinion on why Russia decided to start a full-scale operation in Ukraine last year.
He responded that it is probably the most challenging time since World War II.
“Although we had very difficult days in 2008, I want to remind everyone that the first war was going on in Georgia. Today, someone may have forgotten that 20% of Georgia, our territory, is occupied by Russia, and in 2008, after the war, Russia did not leave our territory, on the contrary, stayed, they built 2 military bases on our land, on our territory, and this is the result of that devastating war,” he explained.
Garibashvili emphasized if the Georgian Dream were in government at that time, they would have done everything to avoid that war.
He noted that one of the main reasons for starting a war was NATO, the expansion of NATO, and many other reasons.
The Prime Minister pointed out that they are working on the implementation of 12 priorities. Ukraine and Moldova enjoy the status of candidates. Georgia was not given this status.
“I think it was an unfair and unjustified step. For example, what message does this send to Russia? That is, we, the Europeans, are leaving Georgia, which is two or three times ahead of Ukraine and Moldova. If we are talking about merit, it should have been awarded to Georgia, based on work. Georgia was and is still 2 times, 3 times ahead of those two countries, I am talking about the association trio. Therefore, it is better to ask this question to European friends – why they did not give status to Georgia. We have neither arguments nor explanations. Moldova and Ukraine were also given these 12 priorities, but the status was given in advance. This is the difference. So we don’t understand why. We were only told that Ukraine is at war. We were also at war in 2008, 20% is still occupied, so where is the difference? Moldova is in a difficult situation, there is no element of rationality here. If Georgia does not get this status by the end of the year, it will be a very big mistake,” stated Garibashvili.
