Kiev tried to pressure Georgia into opening ‘second front’ against Russia

 

Soldiers at the Vaziani Military Base in Tbilisi, Georgia.

RT

Ukraine attempted to push Georgia into joining the conflict against Moscow, Irakli Garibashvili claims
Kiev tried to pressure Russia’s neighbor into opening ‘second front’ 

Georgia could have been turned into a “shooting range” if opposition leaders had managed to take control of the country, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili claims. He said Kiev had tried to pressure Tbilisi into joining the conflict with Russia.

In an address to parliament on Friday, Garibashvili said that Ukrainian attempts to open a “second front” against Russia in Georgia were “not an interpretation, and not a legend,” but a “direct quote” from what was said at a press conference.

“These people [the Georgian opposition] are their [Ukrainian officials] allies. Imagine if these people had been at the helm of the Georgian government today,” Garibashvili said. “Does anybody have any doubt that a ‘second front’ would have been opened in Georgia, turning the country into a ‘shooting range?’”

Tbilisi has so far refrained from taking part in the Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its military operation in Ukraine, and Garibashvili stated in April that his country would not join the fighting, as it would run counter to Georgia’s national interests.

Shortly after Russia launched its military operation in late February, a number of officials in Kiev, including the secretary of the Ukrainian National Security Council, Aleksey Danilov, called on several countries, including Japan, Poland, Moldova, and Georgia, to open up a series of “second fronts” by attacking Russia and seizing such border regions as the Kuril Islands and Kaliningrad. No countries have so far taken Kiev up on the request.