Georgia's ruling party founder surprises with statement on war with Russia in 2008
Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgian politician (photo: flickr.com/nato)
The founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, called the party of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili responsible for the 2008 Russian aggression. He also expressed confidence that Georgia would “find the strength” to apologize to the Ossetians.
According to Ivanishvili, who recently became No. 1 on the Georgian Dream party's electoral list for the upcoming parliamentary elections, the 2008 war “was not the will of either the Georgian or Ossetian people.” He also vowed to find and punish “all those responsible for this crime,” alluding to Saakashvili's National Movement party.
“When the instigators of the war are brought to justice, we will definitely find the strength to apologize for the fact that, according to the task of the traitorous National Movement, in 2008, our Ossetian sisters and brothers were engulfed in flames,” Ivanishvili said.
Bidzina Ivanishvili is a pro-Russian oligarch and former Prime Minister of Georgia. He once lost his Georgian citizenship when he became a citizen of Russia and France. But he later regained Georgian citizenship through the courts. Recently, Ivanishvili returned to Georgian politics.
War in Georgia in 2008
In 2008, against the backdrop of the deteriorating situation in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two separatist regions that became part of Georgia after the collapse of the USSR, Russian troops attacked Georgia. The Russian “peace enforcement” operation, which began on August 8, lasted five days and ended with the de facto Russian occupation of these two regions.
On August 26, Russian ex-President Dmitry Medvedev recognized the “independence” of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, although they have been under Russian control since then. In addition, approximately 3,500 Russian troops and about 1,500 FSB officers are deployed in each region.
Georgia considers Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be occupied by Russia. This position is shared by the civilized world, including Ukraine.
Earlier, in an interview with RBC-Ukraine, Georgian oppositionist Khatia Dekanoidze suggested that Russians could be Ivanishvili's strategic advisors.
