On August 16, Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, commented on the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Papuashvili stated that the meeting confirmed that the war between Russia and the West could have been avoided and emphasized that Georgia was used as a pawn in the conflict.

He remarked that the meeting was significant because "the Russian president agreed with President Trump's opinion that war could have been avoided," adding that this proved a war between Russia and the West was indeed taking place. According to him, this idea was not new but was "officially confirmed at the meeting between the presidents". He also recalled that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had previously described the war in Ukraine as a "so-called proxy war".

Papuashvili argued that this confirmation exposed the efforts of "foreign friends-enemies and their agents among our internal 'useful' idiots" who tried to draw Georgia into the conflict. The Speaker of Parliament noted that the Alaska meeting also explained why war did not break out in Georgia in 2022. "Because those who wanted to use our country as a weapon encountered patriots in the Georgian government, not puppets, unlike in 2008," he stated.

Papuashvili recalled that five months before the war in Ukraine, in October 2021, foreign special services secretly brought Mikhail Saakashvili to Georgia on the day of local elections, staged a referendum, and attempted to change the government by force. He stressed that "today, it is clear to everyone what the goal of this plan was—to have people in government offices who would unhesitatingly agree to 'use the window of opportunity,' 'accept a barrage of bombs,' and 'distract ten thousand Russian soldiers here,' turning Georgia into a pawn sacrificed for the next move on the chessboard of global confrontation".

Notably, on August 15, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a high-profile summit in Anchorage, Alaska, marking the first time Putin had been invited to a Western country since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The meeting, conducted at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, lasted nearly three hours and was characterized by a carefully choreographed welcome, including a red carpet and a military flyover. Despite initial expectations, the summit did not result in a ceasefire agreement for Ukraine. President Trump expressed disappointment, stating, "We didn't get there," indicating that a temporary ceasefire was not achieved.