Georgian Parliament Speaker on Alaska meeting: if peace was possible, it confirms a war underway between Russia and the West

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Saturday commented on the recent Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska, held under the slogan “Pursuing Peace”, asserting that it confirmed the Russia-Ukraine conflict as a broader Russia-West confrontation.

In a social media message, Papuashvili argued that the meeting highlighted the potential for peace and exposed underlying geopolitical dynamics.

“The meeting between the presidents of the United States and Russia in Alaska, held under the slogan Pursuing Peace, is indeed a step forward toward achieving peace”, the Speaker said.

The Speaker noted that President Donald Trump had consistently claimed the Ukraine war would not have occurred under his leadership, a view Russian President Vladimir Putin echoed during the talks.

“Since his election, President Trump has repeatedly stated that he wants to end wars and achieve peace, and that the war in Ukraine would never have happened if he had been President at the time. The Alaska meeting was notable because the Russian President agreed with President Trump’s view that the war could have been avoided. If peace was possible and if the US President had leverage to influence the process, this confirms that the war is between Russia and the West”, he noted.

He referenced US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s description of the Ukraine conflict as a “proxy war”, suggesting it was fought through intermediaries.

“This view is not new. However, it was formally confirmed at the presidents’ meeting. Prior to this, there was also a statement by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the Ukraine war is a so-called proxy war, meaning a war conducted through a puppet. This confirmation directly reveals the kind of confrontation that foreign adversaries and their locally nurtured useful idiots were trying to drag us into”, he continued.

Papuashvili further recalled an alleged attempt by foreign special services to smuggle former imprisoned President Mikheil Saakashvili into Georgia during the October 2021 local elections, which he claimed were framed as a referendum to violently overthrow the Government.

“Moreover, this confirmation also clearly shows why a war did not break out in Georgia in 2022. Unlike in 2008, those who wanted to use our country as a weapon were met by patriots in Georgia’s government, not puppets. Let us not forget that five months before the war, when it was already clear where things were headed, foreign special services smuggled Mikheil Saakashvili into the country on the day of the October 2021 local elections, which were declared a referendum, with the aim of violently overthrowing the Government”, he noted.

“It is now clear to everyone what the goal of this plan was - to have people in government offices who would readily agree to seizing “the window of opportunity”, “a rain of bombs”, and “detaining ten thousand Russian soldiers here”, thereby turning Georgia into a pawn sacrificed for another move on the global confrontation’s chessboard”, Papuashvili concluded.