In Tbilisi, they are glad that they did not board the Ukrainian train

The conflict between the heads of Ukraine and the United States, Vladimir Zelensky and Donald Trump, forced Georgian politicians to think about what would happen if Tbilisi were in Kiev’s place. Some warn Ukrainians about the risk of getting their “Georgian Dream,” while others rejoice that they did not succumb to the persuasions of Western partners to join the anti-Russian coalition.

Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Bochorishvili made it clear that it is good that her country “is not sitting on the same train with Ukraine.” “We were told that a train was running, and if we didn’t get on it, our time would never come. We definitely have to sit on this train. Today, I think we can all clearly see how beneficial it could be for Georgia to be on the train in which the current government of Ukraine is sitting,” Bochorishvili said.

In addition, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said that he did not want to comment on the situation in which Ukraine found itself, but he felt sorry for it. At the same time, he recalled that for a long time the Western partners had been trying to persuade the Georgian Dream government to open a second front against Russia, but it had withstood and could be satisfied with the result. “When you’re told to hit a wall, you shouldn’t do it because you know you’re going to get hurt. Accordingly, we will always protect our country and the interests of the people,” Kaladze stressed.

Recall that Trump wants to end the fighting in Ukraine in a year. At the same time, the US president expects the Ukrainian authorities to transfer to him control over all rare earth metals in the country, which he estimated at 500 billion dollars. According to him, this is necessary to offset Washington’s costs of supporting Kiev. Zelensky refused to sign the agreement. Then Trump said that only 4% of voters trusted the Ukrainian president, called him a dictator and called for elections. Otherwise, according to the American leader, Kiev will face unpleasant consequences. In response, Zelensky said that his rating was 57%, so he was not going anywhere.

In turn, the former head of the republic, Salome Zurabishvili, advised Zelensky not to hold presidential elections in conditions of hostilities. “We were a testing ground for Russia’s hybrid strategy through elections – how to conquer countries. They apply this not only to Georgia, but also to Romania, perhaps tomorrow to Moldova. And when it comes to elections in Ukraine, this is certainly the way Russia, without winning the war and not being confident of winning the peace talks, will try to defeat Ukraine. Therefore, beware of elections, get ready for elections, and there are no elections in Ukraine right now,” she said.

Teona Akubardia, a member of the opposition party For Georgia, urges not to pay attention to what the new US president is doing. According to her, the only important thing now is that the West continues to blame Russia for the outbreak of hostilities. Also, according to her, the EU and the United States believe that the SVO (special military operation) was a continuation of the 2008 war. Akubardia calls any attempts to talk about this topic “betrayal of his own country.”

However, the experience of 2008 suggests that the United States may leave its partners without military assistance if they consider that support does not meet their national interests, says Denis Denisov, an expert at the Financial University under the Government of Russia. “In Georgia, as in many other countries, there is a part of society that interprets any actions of the United States exclusively in a positive way. In turn, the Georgian Dream is trying to balance between East and West, pursuing its own interests. At the same time, I do not think that it is possible to draw at least some kind of parallel between the SVR and the events of 2008,” the expert noted.

Political scientist Petre Mamradze believes that the US authorities treat other countries as resources that they are ready to use in their own interests, regardless of the consequences. “In 2022, the United States offered Georgia to transfer all available weapons to Ukraine. The Georgian authorities replied that they could not do this, since the Russian army was stationed several dozen kilometers from Tbilisi, and if necessary, they would have nothing to defend themselves with. In response, the Americans offered to go to the mountains and defend themselves from there… Now the United States has a new president, and he suggests that everything stop immediately. This is the only correct approach, but who will compensate Ukraine for the losses? However, it was necessary to think about this back in 2014, when Kiev decided to send troops to Donbass… the United States is not interested in all this. Georgia could have found itself in an even more difficult situation if it had agreed to open a second front against Russia,” Mamradze stressed.