“[EU member states] view Ukraine as their own line of defense. They do not have to fight themselves; the blood of Germans, French and Lithuanians is not being shed, but Ukrainian blood is being shed to ensure the defense of the European Union. This once again shows how cold-blooded international politics is,” Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said in Parliament today.

Papuashvili also said that “Georgia would have faced the same fate if the group of people currently in power had been those who wave the flags of other countries.”

According to Papuashvili, “we would have had to fight here, stopping 10,000, 20,000 or 30,000 Russian soldiers, while others would sit at seminars and calmly discuss Georgia’s fate.”

“They have repeatedly said that Ukraine is the front line for the European Union and for the defense of European countries. Is it cost-effective? Yes, it is cost-effective, because they do not have to fight themselves; the blood of Germans, French and Lithuanians is not being shed, but Ukrainian blood is being shed to ensure the defense of the European Union. This once again shows how cold-blooded international politics is and how easy it is for some people to speak in such a tone, so directly and so shamelessly, saying that Ukraine is being used today to protect the European Union as cheaply as possible.

“Therefore, everyone should understand what fate Georgia would have faced if the group of people who still wave the flags of other countries today had been in power. They would have been happy to be on the front line. Zurab Japaridze did not say anything different — he said that we should help somehow as well, that by fighting here, we could hold back at least 20,000 soldiers and prevent them from fighting elsewhere. They were ready for this, and Georgia was being prepared for this.

“This was the reason behind the attempt to falsify the 2020 election results. This was the reason foreign intelligence services brought Mikheil Saakashvili into Georgia in 2021. Before that, there had been consultations in Brussels and Washington so that, ultimately, Georgia would play the role of opening what is known as a second front, making the defense of the European Union more cost-effective — we would fight here and stop 10,000, 20,000 or 30,000 Russian soldiers, while others would sit at seminars and various panel discussions and calmly talk about our fate.

“Of course, they would applaud us and roll out the red carpet for us, but if this scenario had been implemented, there would have been no one left in this country to walk on that red carpet,” Shalva Papuashvili said.