THE RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN WAR OF 2008 IN UKRAINIAN SOCIO-POLITICAL OPINION: A CLUSTER OF EXPERTS AND SOCIOLOGICAL SURVEYS

The evaluations of the expert environment of Ukraine and Ukrainian society in general regarding the RussianGeorgian war of 2008 - a military conflict between Georgia on the one hand and Russia and the separatist groups of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other, the "hot" phase of which fell on August 8-12, are analyzed. It is asserted that assessments of the Russian-Georgian war of 2008 in the expert environment and at the level of ordinary Ukrainians varied. For some analysts and Ukrainian citizens, the fact that the aggressor in this confrontation is definitely Russia was considered indisputable, and in general, the conflict was not just local, but the beginning of a global strategic war between the democratic and totalitarian world. At the same time, pro-Russian circles were convinced that the events of August 2008 in Transcaucasia were nothing more than an attempt by the West, using Georgia, to “squeeze” Russia out of the Caucasus.