While Ukraine is enjoying unprecedented Western support, it will not prevent Moscow from achieving its national security goals – just as it did not help Georgia’s ill-fated invasion of South Ossetia in 2008, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday.
Writing on Telegram on the 15th anniversary of the start of the five-day conflict between Russia and Georgia, which erupted when Tbilisi shelled the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinval, Medvedev noted that Moscow “responded resolutely to the despicable attack” and “gave a tough rebuff to the aggressor.”
Medvedev, who was president at the time of the hostilities, said that then-Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili had the backing of “the collective West, which even then was trying to stir up the situation in the immediate vicinity of Russia’s borders.”
However, Medvedev continued, it took Moscow’s military less than a week “to severely punish the impudent [Georgian] nationalists.”
Explaining the West’s failure to do more to derail Russia at the time, the ex-president said that “the US and its vassals clearly did not have enough experience then.”
“Today they are once again waging a criminal war by proxy, trying to wipe Russia off the face of the earth,” he added, referring to the conflict in Ukraine.
The entire NATO system is fighting against us practically in the open. We have enough forces to solve all the tasks of the special military operation. Just like in August 2008, our enemies will be crushed, and Russia will achieve peace on its own terms.
When Tbilisi, which at the time was actively seeking closer ties with NATO, attacked the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, Moscow responded by announcing a ‘peace enforcement operation’ to protect Russian citizens living in the area, as well as the local Russian peacekeeping contingent. Meanwhile, another breakaway region – Abkhazia – announced a mobilization, fearing a renewal of fighting with Tbilisi.
Russian reinforcements quickly turned the tide, pushing Georgian forces back into their territory, with Medvedev announcing the end of the operation on August 12. Later that month, Moscow recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Tbilisi, however, still claims both territories as its own, with only a handful of countries, including Syria and Venezuela, recognizing their independence.
Russian officials have repeatedly slammed the West over its massive weapons deliveries to Ukraine, arguing that it will only prolong the conflict, but will fail to change the outcome. Moscow has also said that the security assistance makes NATO a direct participant in the hostilities.