In Polish edition "Gazeta Wyborcza" of American journal "Newsweek" there is published interview with the main editor Adam Mikhnik. He talks with the journalist Pert Naishtub about Russian-Ukrainian conflict and role of Vlaldimer Putin in this conflict. In the interview Adam Mikhnik talks about Georgia too.
GHN offers extract from interview:
Question: you say that you are surprised with attitude of Vladimer Putin toward Ukrainian conflict, but before we saw his oppressive actions in Chechnya, after this in Georgia... doesn't this actions show the real face of Putin?
Adam MIkhnik: there is controversy, I don't know they are right or not who first said that "the KGB" Colonel is exactly the same as it should be. My Russian friends (dissidents) used to say it to me. I used to think that they were forced to say this after mental trauma that they received after years spent in prison. I used to think that like other communist leaders (Algirdas Brazauskas -in Lithuania, Leshek Miller and ALeksadr Kvasnevski - in Polland) Putin would join democratic society, but I was wrong. George Bush used to believe in "rebooting" but he was mistaken too.
As for the (actions of Putin) in Chechnya, there was region's mutiny ruled by Islamist fundamentalists. This is different case.
Georgia? Of course the Russian reaction was inappropriate, but Mikheil Sakashvili gave reason to Russia for actions; he thought that when Vladimer Putin was on Peking Olympic Games he could capture Abkhazia and South Ossetia. So this is not annexation. Annexation is different thing and it doesn't happen after 1945.