In this conversation with Jacob Heilbrunn, Eka Tkeshelashvili—former Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia and senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund—offers a strategic reading of Russia’s trajectory from 2008 to today.
She argues that the war against Georgia was not an isolated conflict, but Putin’s first “test run” — a calibrated experiment in using force against a sovereign neighbor while assessing Western resolve. Ukraine, she explains, represents the continuation and escalation of that imperial logic.
She also examines Putin’s ideological framework, including his rehabilitation of Stalin as a symbol of centralized, unchecked power. For her, the war in Ukraine is not merely territorial — it is a deliberate attempt to erase Ukrainian nationhood itself.
Finally, she urges the United States to adopt a clearer and more coherent strategy in the Black Sea region, warning that strategic ambiguity only creates space for Moscow to expand its influence.

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