Ukraine and Georgia weren't taken to NATO to keep them as "manpower" for war

Bidzina Ivanishvili, the honorary chairman of the Georgian Dream ruling party and number one on its electoral list, said that in 2008 Georgia and Ukraine were not accepted into NATO by the Alliance's “real coordinators” because they were reserved for “manpower” in the war against Russia.

Ivanishvili said this in an interview cited by the SOVA portal, according to Yevropeiska Pravda.

Ivanishvili, the founder of the Georgian Dream and a pro-Russian oligarch, claimed that at the 2008 NATO summit, Ukraine and Georgia were denied entry not because of the blockade of one or two countries, but because it was decided by “NATO coordinators” - “those who actually run NATO.”

He said that these “coordinators” did not want to accept Ukraine and Georgia “for an elementary reason.”

“A lot of statements are made by Western politicians that we are doing everything to prevent NATO from getting involved in Russia's war, that we will give Ukraine weapons, money, all the means, but only Ukraine should be a living force... This was planned in 2008, of course,” Ivanishvili said, referring to the Russian-Georgian war of that time.

“They were saving Georgia and Ukraine for this very purpose, that is why they were not accepted into NATO, against this background we had a good rehearsal from Saakashvili, and in 2008 he dragged us into the first war,” Ivanishvili added.

Since the outbreak of the great Russian-Ukrainian war, the Georgian authorities have been claiming that Georgia wants to open a “second front” against Russia, and only the Georgian Dream can prevent this and keep the peace.

Author - Dmitriy Levchenko, 22/10/2024