Saakashvili Defends Actions in 2008 War in Interview with Russian TV
Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili gave an interview to Russian TV channel "Nastoyaschyee Vremya” (Now) yesterday, in which he reiterated his position that Russia was responsible for starting the August 2008 War between Russia and Georgia.
“Only complete idiots and complete morons can say that Georgia started [the war]. Complete idiots and morons. In fact, it is immoral, because there is a huge amount of material,” said Saakashvili.
"Ask the Russian mothers, whose children were sent there, ask Colonel [Andrey] Kazachenko [commander of the 135th Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 19th Motorized Infantry Division of the 58th All-Arms Army], who came into the gorge at three o'clock in the morning together with his regiment. It is well documented, he does not deny it. It is no longer possible to ask Sergei Bagapsh [the second president of Abkhazia, who passed away in 2011]. He said on the day, 24 hours before the alleged start of the war: ‘I was reassured, the Russian troops have already entered through the [Roki] tunnel. Everything is fine.’ He said it, it's all well documented,” Saakashvili reiterated.
Saakashvili presented the position that as the war began, “a huge number of people” had already entered the Tskhinvali Region, and they “blew up and attacked” infrastructure and civilians. “They were not so-called peacekeepers,” he continued, “They were not so-called volunteers, although these volunteers were also Russian troops. These were regular Russian troops. This is well documented.”
"They tell us: ‘In 2008, Georgia started the war.’ But our main battle-ready brigade was in Iraq at the time. If we wanted to start something, we could bring them home at any time, there was such an agreement with the Americans. But we did not bring them. Our army was then really - three incomplete combat brigades, which were able to mobilize somewhere,” explained Saakashvili.
"It was 10 times less than [Russia] had. Not to mention the fact that they had 200 aircraft, and we did not have enough air defense equipment, although we shot down more than 10 of their aircrafts. But in any case, of course, this was not enough, when they’re bombing you with 200 planes. Therefore, naturally, even then Georgia did not have a military solution, and now there is no military solution,” he stressed.
Saakashvili also outlined what he believes Russia's goals were in the 2008 war. “The purpose of the Russian invasion was not just an attack on Georgia as a country, but on Georgian statehood, because Georgian statehood then created problems in the form of successful reforms and so on. And then the goal was to capture Tbilisi, change the government and abolish Georgia as a state,” Saakashvili argued.
You can watch the full interview here.
Source: Lenta.ru
By Samantha Guthrie
Photo: Настоящее Время / YouTube
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