TSKHINVAL, August 8. /TASS/. Georgia proved to have a more pragmatic and realistic approach than Ukraine as it had learned lessons of the August 2008 conflict and decided not to start a war against Russia even under pressure from the West, former South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity has told TASS.

"Ukrainians failed to draw any conclusions from what happened to Georgia in 2008," said Kokoity, who led the republic between 2001 and 2011. "Ukraine learned nothing from events in Georgia. But Georgia, to its credit, learned its lessons from the 2008 events and now tries to distance itself as far as possible in order not to be manipulated by the collective West, which spurs the Georgian government to open the second front."

"Sadly, after the state coup and the Maidan protests, the people of Ukraine have fallen under the control of their myopic leader, their Western partners and sponsors. And, sadly, the people were not ready to rise against this coup. And Georgia turned out to be wiser and more pragmatic than the people of Ukraine," he added.

Kokoity said that more than 3,000 citizens of his country are on the frontline of the special military operation, and some of them have received the Hero of Russia award. He expressed certainty that all goals of the special military operations, set by Russian President Vladimir Putin, will be met.

On the night of August 8, 2008, Georgia launched an armed attack on South Ossetia. Russia came to the defense of the republic’s citizens, many of whom had by that time obtained Russian citizenship, and its peacekeepers, who had been working in the region since 1992. As a result of the five·day military conflict, more than 1,000 people died, 72 of whom were Russian military personnel. On August 26, 2008, Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and another former Georgian autonomous region, Abkhazia.