Mikheil Saakashvili: In the Donbass Ukraine fights against the Soviet past

In the Donbass Ukraine fights against the Soviet past, said Mikheil Saakashvili, the President of Georgia (2000-2001, 2004-2007) during the 8th Kyiv Security Forum organized by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation.

"The struggle, which now takes place in Ukraine - is not purely territorial struggle, it is rather ideological one. It concerns the choice between the Soviet way of life and Ukraine’s aspiration to build an open, free and democratic society," - said the politician.

Herewith he ruled out the ethnic component of this conflict: “As there are regions in the Donbass where people speak Ukrainian, but support Putin, and most of the Ukrainian military troopers speak Russian. Therefore, it is neither an ethnic nor linguistic issue”. The former President said that unfortunately, in countries that were beginning to struggle against the Soviet past, as a rule, violence always occurred.

However, Saakashvili added that Ukraine must fight not only against the external, but also against an internal enemy. "For Ukraine the danger is not only in Russia, but also in too slow reforming process, ineffective system of governance, corruption that we inherited from the Soviet Union. And when people begin to fight against it, Putin sees it as a fight against himself. So corrupt officials and oligarchs in Ukraine are his natural allies. And everything that is associated with the former, past lies within the scope of the definition of Putin's allies," - he added.

The former president stressed that the internal front of Ukraine`s struggle lies in Kyiv, Odessa, Kharkiv. "How are the government procurement conducted, are the laws efficient,  how are documents issued, how much money was stolen? These are problematic issues. If you get rid of these problems, you will get rid of Putin. Putin is more than a man, it is the way of thinking, the way of life," - says M. Saakashvili.

For your information:

The annual international event ‘Kyiv Security Forum’, established by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation in 2007 is a platform for discussion of the most pressing issues concerning the security in Europe and the Black Sea region. The Forum is aimed at promoting security cooperation between the European Union and the Black Sea Region, raising awareness of the development of security among key players and strengthening the role of independent and non-governmental actors in solving security problems in Europe.