Georgian Ambassador Natalie Sabanadze on “Echoes of Annexation” in POLITICO

Ahead of the seven year anniversary of the August war between Russia and Georgia, a popular newspaper, POLITICO, has published an article, “Echoes of Annexation,” written by Natalie Sabanadze, Georgia’s Ambassador in Belgium and Luxembourg, and the head of the Georgian mission into the EU.

Ambassador Sabanadze writes “The five-day war between Russia and Georgia sent shock waves across the international community at the time. However, many of its members were all too keen to forgive and forget…”

She continues on to say that the EU brokered a ceasefire and ended the hostilities, but not the Russian aggression against Georgian sovereignty and territorial integrity. This continues to this day as Russia has been refusing to comply fully with the ceasefire agreement.

“Today, as yet another war is being waged between Russia and one of its neighbors, it is ever so important to remember 2008 and analyze its consequences with the gift of hindsight” – Natalie Sabanadze writes.

The Ambassador draws a parallel with the ongoing Russian war with Ukraine and notes:

“The crisis in Ukraine has revived memories of 2008 — and for a good reason. The conclusions that one can draw from Georgia’s experience are relevant for today’s Ukraine as well as for the broader international community.

“It is clear today that international response to the Russia-Georgia war in 2008 was not proportional to the wider challenge it represented, partly because many chose to believe that this was a one-off event that would not be repeated. Such a response defined the calculus of Moscow in its actions against Ukraine.”

Ambassador Sabanadze concludes that the thesis that world peace would be better preserved by respecting the interests of big powers rather than contesting them is not only “morally flawed” but also “politically misguided.”

The final paragraph reads “Russia may have won the war in 2008 and occupied Georgia’s regions, but it did not succeed in bringing Georgia to submission. Going against the will of the people invites resistance, hardly a recipe for peace and stability.”

The newspaper POLITICO distributes for free to approximately 40’000 people in Washington D.C. and Manhattan. The paper marked a major step forward in its European expansion with the acquisition of the Brussels-based publication European Voice, which it rebranded as POLITICO in spring 2015, seeking to become a leading media player in European politics and policy.

The full article by Ambassador Natalie Sabanadze can be found here.   

Nino Japarashvili