Prime Minister of Georgia Bidzina
Ivanishvili admitted responsibility of Georgia for the outbreak of the
war in August of 2008. He stated that the actions of the authorities of
the country before crossing the border of Georgia by Russian forces were
inadequate. This statement will have tangible consequences, first of
all, for President Mikhail Saakashvili.
"The political noose" around the
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's neck is getting tighter. He is
not yet being investigated, but the new authorities have already talked
about the possibility of his interrogation about the events of 2008. The
country may begin a new investigation into the five-day war. Prime
Minister Ivanishvili spoke in favor of conducting a second investigation
of the facts.
During a meeting with the editors of a
number of Georgian media outlets, Ivanishvili called the actions of the
authorities in August of 2008 inadequate. Georgia's acknowledgement of
at least part of its responsibility for the war could seriously affect
the country's foreign policy, and above all, the relationship with
Russia.
But first of all, this may affect the
President who is leaving office this year. "I believe that the
government, led by President Saakashvili, acted inappropriately when the
fighting began. This refers to the period when the Russian troops had
not yet crossed the border. Georgia could have avoided a military
conflict. There were no attacks of the magnitude that would require
ivolvement of the Georgian army. When a shell got into a house during
shelling of Georgian villages, which did not result in casualties, they
should have evacuated people from the village and brought international
observers instead of using the armed forces. Personally for me a lot in
this conflict is not clear, so I welcome the statement by the Minister
of Justice on the need for an investigation," said Ivanishvili.
Perhaps the Prime Minister is gradually preparing the public opinion for the fact that Saakashvili, after leaving office, will have issues with the law. In that case, charges of "inadequate actions" during the events of 2008 will clearly be not the only ones on the President's "account."
Perhaps the Prime Minister is gradually preparing the public opinion for the fact that Saakashvili, after leaving office, will have issues with the law. In that case, charges of "inadequate actions" during the events of 2008 will clearly be not the only ones on the President's "account."
"I think that Saakashvili should not be
surprised if he gets a subpoena. This investigation will not affect the
international image of Georgia or the image of the president. I think he
should be understanding," said Ivanishvili.
Bidzina Ivanishvili who has repeatedly
proven himself as a competent politician, by making a statement about
the events of 2008 may have implemented a multi-step operation that
would significantly improve the country's position in foreign policy. In
any event, Tbilisi at least partially admitted its fault for the war.
In addition, it clearly puts the responsibility for the mistakes on
President Saakashvili. These two fundamental postulates cannot but cause
a positive reaction in Moscow, particularly regarding the perspective
of a prosecution of the odious President of Georgia.
The Minister of Justice of Georgia Tea
Tsulukiani spoke about the possibility of a new investigation a few days
ago: "I do not rule out that the former and current senior officials
will be questioned, including the President of Georgia." Most likely,
this initiative voids the results of the activity of a special
parliamentary commission charged with investigating the events of August
2008. This commission, led by a companion of Saakashvili, Paata
Davitaia, no longer enjoys the confidence of the parliament.
Of course, now many in Georgia have
forgotten that Ivanishvili made several statements during his campaign
about the fault of Saakashvili for starting the war in August 2008.
Incidentally, there is another, international investigation into the
events of the August war, held by an international investigation team
led by Heidi Tagliavini, the former head of the UN mission in Georgia.
It is worth noting that the authors of this document believe that at
some time the blame for the escalation of the conflict should indeed be
attributed to Georgia.
It should be added that such
recognition, particularly expressed at such a high level of the
"official Tbilisi", according to journalists of a number of
publications, will cause great distress among the Russian non-system
opposition. Politonline.ru mentioned a similar situation with
the "spy rock" (a British intelligence unit placed in Moscow and
disguised as a rock). First bloggers and opposition politicians said
that it was "an invention of the Russian propaganda", and after
confirmation by the UK officials were indignant about the UK playing
into the hands of the Russian government. The publication suggests that
its readers should go to search engines and search for "August-September
2008," and enjoy reading texts in which network opposition activists
and even some leaders and media celebrities accused Russia of"
aggression "and enthusiastically discussed how the U.S. would crack down
on Russia, and the European Union would impose sanctions and embargoes.
It would be interesting to know whether they are ashamed of those
tantrums now.
Anton Krivenyuk
Pravda.Ru
Russian Version HERE
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