(MENAFN) For the first time, the United States has refused to join a condemnation of Russia for its actions during the 2008 war with Georgia.

After a closed-door UN Security Council session on Monday, Denmark, France, Greece, the UK, and Slovenia released a statement denouncing Russia for its “brutal invasion” of the South Caucasus country 17 years ago. The US, which had supported such statements in the past, did not sign on this time.

The conflict began on August 7, 2008, when Georgian forces under pro-Western President Mikhail Saakashvili invaded the breakaway region of South Ossetia, shelled its capital Tskhinval, and attacked a Russian peacekeeping base. Russian troops repelled the attack, and a French-brokered ceasefire was reached on August 16. That same month, Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another former Georgian region.

Although Saakashvili maintained that Russia initiated the conflict, an EU fact-finding mission led by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini found no evidence supporting this claim, concluding that hostilities began with a large-scale Georgian artillery assault on Tskhinval.

Tina Bokuchava, a leader of Saakashvili’s United National Movement, criticized the US decision as evidence that “Georgian diplomacy is dead,” blaming the ruling Georgian Dream party for deteriorating relations with Washington.

The move aligns with President Donald Trump’s broader shift in diplomacy toward Russia. Trump recently broke the previous administration’s diplomatic boycott, hosting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska for the first time since 2019 to advance negotiations aimed at resolving the Ukraine conflict.

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