Georgian Parliament Speaker says Ukraine caught in power struggle between global actors

The war in Ukraine is a confrontation between global powers, with Ukraine serving only as the battlefield, the Georgian Parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili said on Sunday in an exclusive interview with Imedi TV.

Papuashvili noted that forces responsible for global security failed to act with due responsibility, which ultimately led to the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war.

He argued that had these countries and institutions behaved prudently and responsibly in time, the conflict could have been avoided.

“At the time, those forces, countries, and states that had assumed responsibility for global security should have acted with foresight and responsibility. Had they done so, this war would not have happened. Even today, if all these forces acted responsibly, the war would end”, the speaker said.

He added that the current US administration has also described the conflict as a proxy war in which global powers are confronting one another through intermediaries.

“This is a war fought by proxy, where in reality global powers are opposing each other, and Ukraine is merely a battlefield for these global forces”, he continued.

Papuashvili also spoke about Georgia’s efforts to avoid becoming involved in the conflict. He emphasised that the Georgian people had drawn lessons from their own past and managed to prevent what he described as an inevitable war four years ago.

“The Georgian people learned from their own history, and four years ago we avoided a war that would have been inevitable. It would have been inevitable because we saw what internal forces we were dealing with. In reality, this is a fifth column that is ready to sacrifice the interests of its own country to serve the interests of other states, political groups, or other actors”, Papuashvili concluded.