It’s been 10 years since Russia invaded and occupied parts of Georgia, a country that shares Ukraine’s ambitions for NATO membership and closer integration with the European Union. The West is still “deeply concerned” and is still calling on Russia to withdraw its troops from the 20 percent of Georgia it occupied in the five-day war in August 2008.
“Ten years since the Russian military invasion of Georgia, we remain deeply concerned over the continued occupation of Georgian territories and underline the need for the peaceful resolution of the conflict, based on full respect for the Helsinki Final Act, and the norms and principles of international law, reads the joint statement of the Group of Friends of Georgia statement published on Aug. 7, 2018.
In August 2008, Russia signed a peace agreement and promised to withdraw its troops from the occupied parts of Georgia. But that never happened. Indeed, it has since been quietly taking more territory.
And what has the West done? It has expressed deep concern. Meanwhile, the West maintains diplomatic and economic relations with an aggressor country that forced more than 200,000 Georgian citizens to flee their homess and killed some 2,000 people in the war.
How long will Ukraine, now enduring its fifth year of Russia’s war, have to wait for the West to wake up and realize it needs to change tactics in confronting the Kremlin?
Since 2014, Russia has been sending troops to the Donbas, occupying about 7 percent of Ukraine. More than 10,000 lives have been lost in this war, and 1.5 million people forced to flee their homes. While the West has imposed some economic sanctions on Russia, they have not been painful enough to force the Kremlin to change its behavior.
The West seems to have no shortage of deep concern about Russian’s actions. But is that all it has to offer? After another 10, 20, 50, or 100 years of Russian aggression, will there still only be “deep concern?”
