Georgian Parliament Speaker Papuashvili: Alaska meeting confirms war between Russia and West

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Saturday said the Alaska meeting held on Friday between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin underscored the ongoing conflict in Ukraine was part of a broader confrontation between Russia and the West.

In a statement posted on social media, Papuashvili noted Trump had often repeated he had wanted to end wars and achieve peace, and that the war in Ukraine would never have happened if he had been President at the time. He said the Alaska talks had highlighted that Putin had agreed with Trump’s position that the conflict could have been avoided.

“If peace was possible, and if the US President had leverage over the process, this confirms that the war is between Russia and the West”, Papuashvili said, adding this view was also expressed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who previously characterized the war in Ukraine as a proxy conflict.

Papuashvili also drew parallels to Georgia, arguing the 2022 war in Ukraine did not spread to Georgia because, unlike in 2008, the country’s leadership was composed of “patriots” rather than “puppets” who could be manipulated by foreign powers.

“Let us not forget that five months before the war, when it was already clear where things were headed, foreign special services brought [former President] Mikheil Saakashvili into the country for the October 2021 local self-government elections - which were declared a referendum - in an attempt to forcibly change the Government”, he said, adding attempts to use Georgia as a “pawn sacrificed for the next combination on the chessboard of global confrontation” had been prevented.