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.
Putin’s Imperial Strategy Through the Eyes of Eka Tkeshelashvili
by
March 2026
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