{"id":7174,"date":"2025-02-12T08:42:26","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T06:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/?p=7174"},"modified":"2025-02-12T08:45:49","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T06:45:49","slug":"kremlin-behaving-toward-ukraine-now-the-way-it-did-toward-georgia-before-2008-invasion-portnikov-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/kremlin-behaving-toward-ukraine-now-the-way-it-did-toward-georgia-before-2008-invasion-portnikov-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Kremlin behaving toward Ukraine now the way it did toward Georgia before 2008 invasion, Portnikov says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moscow\u2019s propaganda campaign against Ukraine and its dislocation of troops near the Ukrainian border echo the propaganda it deployed against the Republic of Georgia and the troops it moved up to the Georgian border before invading that country in 2008,\u00a0Vitaly Portnikov<\/a>\u00a0says.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Because Moscow invaded Ukraine seven years ago in a hybrid fashion, the\u00a0Ukrainian analyst says<\/a>, most people are comparing what happened in advance of Moscow\u2019s moves then with what it is doing now. But a far more instructive comparison is provided by what Moscow did in Georgia in 2008.<\/p>\n

Vladimir Putin<\/a>\u00a0and his representatives constantly accuse Ukraine of being aggressive and unpredictable and of preparing to invade the\u00a0Donbas<\/a>. Viewed from Kyiv, these claims look like Russian paranoia. Not only have Ukrainian leaders denied what Moscow is accusing them of, but Ukraine has not made any preparations, unlike Russia which has beefed up its forces.<\/p>\n

In reality, Portnikov continues, what Moscow is showing is not paranoia but cold calculation. It is behaving exactly as it did before the start of the Russian-Georgian war in 2008. Then, South Ossetia shelled Georgian territory and Russian \u201cpeacekeepers\u201d did nothing to stop it. Instead, Moscow blamed Tbilisi for causing the problem \u2013 exactly as Moscow is doing now in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAnd therefore, when Russian forces appeared first on the territory of self-proclaimed South Ossetia and then in Georgia proper, few were surprised not only in Russia but in the world.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Western leaders had been \u201cpsychologically prepared\u201d by the Kremlin\u2019s attacks on the Georgian leadership.<\/p>\n

Repeating the same approach in Ukraine gives Moscow three advantages:<\/p>\n