The Polish foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz and his counterparts from Lithuania, Latvia and Georgia – Linas Linkeviczus, Edgars Rinkevicz and Dawit Zalkaliani as well as the deputy prime minister of Ukraine Paweł Rozenka – made a journey to the border between Georgia and South Ossetia to mark the tenth anniversary of Russian aggression in Georgia.
The journey followed the path taken by president Lech Kaczyński and leaders of the Baltic States and Ukraine during the war in 2008.
In August 2008, Polish president Lech Kaczyński gathered leaders of the Baltic States and Ukraine. Together, they travelled to Georgia and held a joint rally in Tbilisi. In a famous speech, Kaczyński warned the world of Russian aggression. “We know very well, that today it’s Georgia, tomorrow Ukraine, the day after the Baltic States and then the time will come for my country, Poland!,” he said.
We know very well, that today it’s Georgia, tomorrow Ukraine, the day after the Baltic States and then the time will come for my country, Poland!
Lech Kaczyński died in a plane crash in Smoleńsk, Russia in April 2010.
Last year, former Polish foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski visited Tbilisi twice as part of the Eastern Partnership of Tbilisi. This partnership includes cooperation in terms of economy, international security and human assets.
In August 2008 a military conflict between Russia and Georgia over control of South Ossetia erupted. Georgia aimed to reclaim the lands which Russia had helped tear away from Tbilisi in the nineties. In response, the Russians entered not only South Ossetia but also further into Georgian territory.
