Georgia's War Lessons for Ukraine

Feb 5, 2015 9:52 AM EST
By Leonid Bershidsky

Georgia's example in breaking with its Soviet past inspires many Ukrainians. Georgian reformers from former President Mikheil Saakashvili's cabinet have taken high-profile posts in the Ukrainian government recently, and Saakashvili himself is widely seen as a candidate for the job of chief corruption fighter in Kiev.

So perhaps the Ukrainian government and its Western allies should also consider the experience of Georgia's 2008 war with Russia in resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which is again escalating.

Perhaps the most immediate lesson from Georgia's short war concerns the provision of U.S. weapons to Ukraine, which U.S. President Barack Obama's nominee for defense secretary and other dignitaries have recently backed. Because before the 2008 war, in which Russian troops overran Georgia's territory in just five days after Georgian shelled the pro-Russian breakaway territory of South Ossetia, the U.S. had already provided weapons and trainers for Georgian troops.

From 2002 to 2009, Georgia received $693 million in U.S. security assistance and used the money, among other things, to buy military vehicles, radios, and surveillance and detection equipment. During the George W. Bush administration, Georgia received $132.5 worth of weaponry, mostly small arms and light weapons. The U.S. refused the anti-aircraft and other high-end arms that Saakashvili pressed for, but Georgia bought drones from Israel and anti-aircraft systems from Ukraine.

None of this did much for the Georgian military when it came to fighting off a purposeful Russian invasion. The bigger nation used some pretty outdated machinery, such as 30-year-old T-72 tanks, but its onslaught was so overwhelming that Georgia's ill-trained military had to capitulate.

If the U.S. were to arm Ukraine today, this would be a powerful irritant to Russia, as were the arms supplies to Georgia before 2008. It would probably provoke Russian President Vladimir Putin to use regular troops in eastern Ukraine less sparingly than he has done so far, probably with similar results to the ones seen in Georgia. It may well be too late to start training Ukrainian soldiers in the use of sophisticated U.S. technology or even unfamiliar light weapons, because the war is already on.

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http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-02-05/georgia-s-war-lessons-for-ukraine