tly on Russia. As it is mentioned “although Georgia became independent after the breakup of the Soviet Union, ties with Russia remain strong. Russia managed to keep Georgia in its sphere of influence precisely through hotbeds (like Abkhazia and South Ossetia) of tension and economic dependence. However after Saakashvili rise to power, Georgia took a sharp turn towards the West, which certainly angered Russia.” Author argues that Russia knows that Georgia’s integration in to NATO is under the question mark while country has unsolved domestic problems.2 And this point was also somehow declared during Bucharest summit in April 2008.3 So this was the impetus for Russia to keep the issues of conflicted regions unsolved.
Analyzing interests of west and Russia, in his article “The Russo-Georgian war and the balance of power” George Friedman notes that “Russians welcomed the opportunity to drive home the new reality, which was that they could invade Georgia and the West could not respond.” Author claims that Russians did not view the invasion as risky because they new that Europeans and Americans needed Russia more than Russians needed them.
He also mentions two motives why Russia invaded. First is the ignorance of Russia’s request not to be given formal independence to Kosovo. And due to this reason “Russians decided to respond where they had all the cards: in South Ossetia”. The more important was second motive. Putin considered the fall of Soviet Union as a situation in which Russian national security was t...