Condoleezza Rice: I believe we stopped the Russian ambition to take Tbilisi, they clearly wanted to overthrow Mikheil Saakashvili

According to former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the United States stands by Ukraine and helps it, but it should do more so that Ukraine repels Russian aggression. Condoleezza Rice talked about the above with the Ukrainian Service of Voice of America.

To the question – “Going back to 2008, do you believe that the response to Putin's aggression in Georgia should have been much stronger and then again in 2014 in Ukraine? Would you blame the Bush administration and the subsequent Obama administration for not responding strongly enough and thus creating conditions for Putin to go on the full-scale invasion?” - Condoleezza Rice replied:

“I don't know what more we could have done about Georgia. Frankly, I believe we stopped the Russian ambition to take Tbilisi. They clearly wanted to overthrow [former Georgian President Mikheil] Saakashvili.

Let me use this as an opportunity to appeal to Georgia on behalf of Misha Saakashvili, who is ill and under arrest. He is a man who I would hope we would understand his historical role and the humanitarian circumstances there. But we did stop them from Tbilisi. Georgia remained an independent country. Yes, Russia was able to seize the territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but unfortunately, there were already peacekeepers there, which was a mistake made much earlier. I would have liked to see stronger sanctions after Georgia. Of course, we got into a financial crisis, and there were other economic issues”.