Shalva Papuashvili: Key Question Is Not When the War Began, but Why It Began

The key question surrounding the 2008 Russia-Georgia war is not when it began but why it happened, Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said on Saturday, accusing the former government of Mikheil Saakashvili of leading the country into the conflict.

Speaking to reporters at the Mukhatgverdi military cemetery, Papuashvili said disputes over whether the war began on Aug. 7 or Aug. 8 diverted attention from what he described as the central issue, the circumstances that led Georgia into the conflict.

“Manipulating and juggling with dates is a particular speciality of the United National Movement and its agents,” Papuashvili said, comparing the debate to disputes over Jan. 7 versus Dec. 25, May 8 versus May 9, and Aug. 7 versus Aug. 8.

He said such disputes were deliberately introduced from outside Georgia to prevent society from reaching agreement on fundamental issues and to distract attention from the broader causes of the war.

“There would have been no war if Saakashvili’s puppet regime had not been in power in Georgia at the time. If a patriotic force like Georgian Dream had been in government, there would have been no war, no destruction and no casualties,” Papuashvili said.

He also argued that, had the 2008 war not occurred, Russia’s war in Ukraine might not have happened either, saying Georgia had been treated as a “sacrificial pawn” in a broader geopolitical confrontation.

“Georgia became a sacrificial pawn on the chessboard of geopolitical confrontation, with a specific role assigned to it through a puppet regime,” he said.

Papuashvili drew a parallel with events following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, claiming that there had again been attempts to draw Georgia into a military confrontation.

“If these activist political groups, the United National Movement and today’s activist groups, had been in power instead of Georgian Dream in 2022, there would definitely have been a war, and today Georgia would be a country that had already gone through war and destruction,” he said.

“That is why the main question is not when the war began, but why it began, why Saakashvili and his puppet regime led Georgia into war,” Papuashvili added.