Ukraine: 'Nobody is adding to the escalation except Putin,' says Georgia's Zurabishvili

Speaking to FRANCE 24 a day after talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, French-born Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili predicted that Moscow will fail in Ukraine just like it failed in Georgia in 2008, saying that "whatever happens, tomorrow's Ukraine will be anti-Russian."

She added that the 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia "never changed the determination of the Georgian people to join Europe and NATO" and that she backed Ukraine's bid to join the EU.

The Georgian leader rejected the argument that the West was in any way escalating the current conflict, saying "nobody is adding to the escalation except Putin". 

"He just used the pretext of so-called danger to justify for himself and for the Russian population his acts of aggression," she told FRANCE 24.

However, Zourabichvili, who is also a former French diplomat, regretted the West's "self-restriction" in the past "not do something that might provoke" Putin.

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning

Take international news everywhere with you! Download the France 24 app