On the 17th anniversary of the 2008 Russia–Georgia war, Marko Mihkelson, Chairman of the Estonian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, issued a statement condemning Russia’s aggression as part of its long-standing imperial ambitions.
“Seventeen years ago today, Russia launched a war against Georgia, which ended with the occupation of one-fifth of its territory and a halt to NATO expansion,” Mihkelson wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “This was yet another stage in Russia’s imperial wars that began in the early 1990s, ending in success for the Kremlin and paving the way for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.”
As Georgia marks 17 years since the August war, the toll of the conflict remains heavy. Based on official data, the war claimed the lives of 170 employees of the Ministry of Defense, 14 from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and 224 civilians. The number of wounded and injured—both military and civilian—reached 2,232, including 1,045 military personnel.
