TBILISI, August 18. /TASS/. The August 15 talks between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska exposed Kiev as being a pawn in the hands of the West, something Georgia refuses to become, a Georgian politician told reporters.

"The meeting (between Putin and Trump - TASS) showed the whole world that Ukraine, unfortunately, was indeed used as a pawn. <...> Georgia has averted that fate," Mamuka Mdinaradze, the executive secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party, said at a briefing.

The politician reiterated that, behind closed doors in 2022, Georgia was asked to open a "second front" against Russia. The Georgian authorities fought against this.

On August 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump met at a military base in Alaska. The meeting lasted about three hours. In a statement to the press following the talks, Putin said that the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict was the main topic of the summit. The Russian leader also called for a new chapter in bilateral relations and cooperation, and he invited Trump to Moscow. For his part, Trump announced the progress achieved in the talks but noted that they had not reached an agreement on everything.