Medvedev says NATO, US didn’t learn lesson from Georgia’s 2008 conflict

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia and the former president of the country has stated that neither NATO nor the US have learnt a lesson from the Russia-Georgia 2008 war and subsequent recognition of the country’s Akhazia and Tskhinvali regions as independent states. 

Medvedev’s statement comes on the heels of the Kremlin’s recognition of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states. 

 

“NATO and the United States have not learned the lesson that Russia has taught them by recognizing the independence of South Ossetia (Tskhinvali) and Abkhazia,” haMedvedev has told journalists. 

Medvedev claimed that in 2008 the Kremlin had to make a “difficult decision” by the recognition of the “independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.”

“Through military force and political will, Russia saved hundreds of thousands of lives, and it has taught an objective lesson to NATO, to the United States, to all those who have aggressive intentions against Russian citizens,” he said, noting that the US and NATO continued anyway to ‘approach the borders of Russia.” 

Medvedev believes the West has helped Kyiv ‘sabotage the Minsk agreement’ by opening its hands to nationalists and a “weak government”.

“The war against Donetsk and Luhansk was going on without rules. People were subjected to constant repression. Their houses were set on fire, they were forced to live in continued fear, they hid from bombs in basements,” Medvedev said, justifying the move. 

Tbilisi says that Russia is repeating in Ukraine what it didi in Georgia in 2008.