THE RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN WAR OF 2008: VISIONS OF THE POLITICAL ELITE IN UKRAINE

The visions of the political elite in Ukraine regarding the Russian-Georgian war of 2008 are studied. It is asserted that if the position of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko was consistently pro-Georgian, and he resolutely stood up for the official Tbilisi, then in general, mostly among Ukrainian politicians, a neutral attitude towards military operations in Transcaucasia prevailed. At the same time, representatives of the “Party of Regions” (despite their “neutral” statements) and the Communist Party of Ukraine actually took pro-Russian positions in their assessment of the military conflict, blaming the Georgian side for the start of hostilities and supporting the idea of recognizing the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia after the Russian Federation.