Georgia Started Russian-Georgian War, Former Georgian Ambassador Says

TBILISI, Georgia — Before this summer's Georgia-Russia war, President Mikhail Saakashvili was itching to do battle and authorities mistook messages from the United States as encouragement to use force, Georgia's former ambassador to Russia said Wednesday.

But Russia also takes a share of the blame because it was trying to inflame Saakashvili's itch, Erosi Kitsmarishvili says.

His statements at a news conference added new intensity to a growing debate about what and who bear the onus for staring the five-day war that saw Russia drive deep into Georgian territory, caused devastating damage to Georgia's military, and aggravated already troubled Russia-US relations.

Georgia launched a massive artillery barrage Aug. 7 on the capital of the separatist region of South Ossetia, which was backed by Moscow and patrolled by Russian peacekeeping forces. Russian forces poured into the region, drove Georgian forces out and went on to take control of substantial swaths of northern and western Georgia.

The war ended with Russian forces firmly in control of South Ossetia and another separatist region, Abkhazia. Moscow has recognized both regions as independent.

Georgian leaders have said they launched the Aug. 7 attack after separatists shelled Georgian villages and Russian forces invaded from the north. Russia denies that, saying it sent troops to protect civilians and Russian peacekeepers from the Georgian onslaught.

Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili, in Wednesday testimony to a parliamentary commission investigating the war, presented what he said were telephone recordings supporting the Georgian authorities _ one in which men said to be South Ossetian border guards say Russian forces had crossed the border the night before the barrage and another purporting to show the South Ossetian interior minister receiving an order to raze a village under Georgian control.

But according to Kistmarishvili, "Saakashvili wanted that war, he has been bracing for that during the last four years. And Russia was eager to exploit it, pushing him to that using all means."

Story continues below

advertisement

In the early postwar period, Georgian public opinion was strongly behind Saakashvili and a large majority believed Georgia had reacted to Russian aggression in launching the attack on South Ossetia.

In recent weeks, opposition politicians have been increasingly critical of the president and the war, but Kitsmarishvili appears to be the most highly placed official of the prewar period to publicly challenge Saakashvili on the conflict.

The former diplomat said Georgian officials had hoped to regain South Ossetia within hours, and did not expect Moscow to intervene.

He said Georgian officials believed the United States backed the idea of sending Georgian troops to reclaim Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which have been de-facto independent and patrolled by Russian peacekeepers since the early 1990s.

Kitsmarishvili said Georgian officials told him President George W. Bush gave his blessing for such a use of force when he met the Georgian president in Washington in March.

"Saakashvili's entourage has tried to form an opinion that the U.S. administration would support the use of force," Kitsmarishvili said. "In reality, it was not like that."

Georgian officials also perceived a July 9-10 visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as encouragement for the plan, Kitsmarishvili said. He said people in Saakashvili's circle told him that Rice "gave the green light."

Rice has denied that Washington encouraged Georgia to use force on the provinces. The U.S. Embassy reiterated that line on Wednesday.

Kitsmarishvili made similar allegations to a Georgian parliamentary panel Tuesday, angering pro-government lawmakers who accused him of siding with Moscow and called for a criminal investigation against him. Some pro-government lawmakers accused him of lying in order to deflect attention from his alleged ineffectualness as ambassador.

Georgia recalled Kitsmarishvili from the Georgian Embassy on July 10, about a month before the war broke out. In the intervening weeks, he met in Georgia with an array of Western and Russian politicians and diplomats.

The countries have since severed diplomatic ties.

___

Associated Press Writer Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili contributed to this report.

Comments

[bubbuh]

See, we didn'i corner the market on idiocy in government during the Bush years. There's still a plentiful supply all around the world.

[LMPE]

As I learned in a Russian conversation class, this all started with the 1915 Armenian Genocide. The people in the Caucasus turned to Russia for help against the Ottoman Empire. The Caucasus countries later got incorporated into the USSR. When Georgia gained independence from the Soviet Union, Abkhazia and South Ossetia wanted independence from Georgia but Georgia's government said no. So, Abkhazia and South Ossetia started waging separatist wars, until Georgia's government sent troops in to quell the rebellion. Then Russia invaded Georgia. Meanwhile at the Beijing Olympics, a Russian and Georgian stood side by side as medalists.

[ezvu]

Our big corp media knowingly withheld the truth and lies to us at most sensitive moments and they will do it again and again until something really horrible happens.

Must give credit to Pat Buchanon here , the only one who told the truth about this war but I bet he didnt dare to say it on NBC as CNN, FOX, ABC, CBS and NBC all compete with eath other in ltwisting the truth as they did just before Iraq war.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBRl-BvKJII

[MillaRSC]

This calls for rethinking so many of our steps in foreign policies...This calls for our official media to watch their steps. Luckily, today we have so many people involved in politics on line ( small doors, but we are visible). If Blogg World was this big when Bush "found" WMD reason for war in Iraq, everything would be different.
My hopes are that President Obama is much, much more honest, honorable and reasonable then Bush.
But, still, the army of bloggers is here to help him navigate.

[YesWeCanada]

This was all about OIL pipelines. The USA and others want Georgia under the protection of NATO. NATO membership requires that their are no disputed territory claims. Russia does not want to lose their control over the movement of oil in surrounding territories that were once a part of the USSR.

[Peterpaul]

You see? This is exactly why the world and now most Americans, believe that our media is owned and controlled by a small, incestous cabal of people who simply refuse to report the news in an honest straightforward way. This is why so many people in other countries think that our country is in the hands of the Jews who constantly start wars.

[elcojonu]

The Georgians knew they were playing with fire, they know how the Russians operate; they kick ass and ask questions later. They're not gonna worry about any world reaction when acting at their doorstep. Great Countries don't worry about such things.
Now the fools lost almost half of their country; it serves them right for being so stupid.

[escobar]

Gee, I thought it was common knowledge that Georgia started the war with the first attack...except on Fox and "Reality according to the PNAC think tank's.

[Ides]

Actually, Fox News was the only network reporting from South Ossetia. They were the only channel who would even cover the conflict the first couple of days while CNN picked up the pro-Georgian side of the story and pretended there was no such thing as South Ossetia.

This happened before with the Pentagon's doctored Iranian Speed Boat A/V that Fox News debunked but CNN kept repeating.

[bubbuh]

There were reports to that effect, but, very early on from European news outlets and several anti-war blogs. here's one: http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13285

Before these reports could gain any traction , John McCain thought he saw a patriotic foreign policy issue on the order of Kennedy's embrace of Berlin. He issued several statements and wrote several opinion pieces over a period of several days, frequently finishing the statements with the catch-phrase "I am a Georgian" in imitation of Kennnedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner. Finally, he and his writers placed a piece in the WSJ, trying to "own the issue." The catchphrase was changed to the less obviously imatory "We are all Georgians." in that article.

Kennedy's speech
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/26/newsid_3379000/3379061.stm

McCain's WSJ Op-Ed
http://mccain.blogsforvictory.com/2008/08/14/we-are-all-georgians/

This was used subsequently unless McCain forgot himself. Mccain got a lot of play on Fox and some of the other channels with Russia being tagged as the aggressor, largely based on the misinformation being generated by the McCain. The "war" never caught fire Amaricans, largely because teh European Union worked hard to defuse the situation and Russia cooperated.


Now the EU is trying sort planning to sort things in order to completely resolve the situation:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iGjUcahVghkSHXq40RXMNNHKbQHA

Note the US role: Oh, there wasn't one.

[vippy]

Europe did their own investigation and found out that Sashkavili was lying about Russia starting the war and they are angry. Now 2 months later we hear it in the USA. What is the matter with our press?

[ftprairiedog]

If you believe anythink from the msm, than you would believe anything that comes out of Washington. Some people still think Iraq had wmd's .

[xxnounxx]

whoever want honest press,without cencorship...should watch aljazira news..i have not seem a more honest news channel,,,thats why bush tried to bomb their headquarters in baghdad for reporting the truth,that bush wants aconcealed from american eyes.

[bubbuh]

Oh, sure, no censorship, uh huh. And, the various Islamic states are democracies which encourage debate and alternative opinions.

[saron123]

McCain said he is a close friend of Georgia's president.

I think Georgia's government was also trying to influence the U.S. presidential campaign. By making foreign policy the main issue, they were plotting for a McCain winning game plan.

Thank God it failed. But, too bad for the Georgians who suffered through it all.

[Rowland]

The International Republican Institute, www.iri.org has a web page devoted to its efforts in Georgia. Before hostilities began the President of Georgia spoke with Sen. Mccain by telephone. It has been said that there were some 2000 US and Israeli operatives on the ground there when it happened. A number of US Humvees were captured by the Russians. Further, it is said that Israel has been attempting to divert the oil from the crosscountry pipeline there to Haifa for refinement and that Russia bombed the airfields in Georgia to prevent Israel from using those bases to launch an attack on Iran. Senator McCain has been the Chairman of the Board of the International Republican Institute since the 1980s. After the shooting stopped, Cindy McCain made an unexplained visit to Georgia.

[Birdman]

Georgia Started Russian-Georgian War, Former Georgian Ambassador Says

Pretty much what I had figured a while back. Bush made guarantees about protection and help which made the Georgian government bold and when they thought was a good time they went on the attack figuring Cowboy George would back them up unconditionally, but it didn't exactly work out that way. It was good GW didn't respond militarily otherwise we would be mired in a 3rd war.

[ankjack]

I said all of this at the time. I hope this will mean that the West will rethink admitting former Eastern-bloc countries with an axe to grind with Russia into NATO.

[NoSillyName]

Yeah, I thought this was common knowledge. This is how I heard the reporting as it was happening.

[nwfurn]

Yes, all this got forgotten in the media. Big bad commies were to blame and who started it? Georgia, with the US urging them on.

[retrocozayshin]

Georgia is a bully. Good job Russia.

[mystic]

I second that. I just learned that Russia is building a wall to protect S.Ossetia from the Georgian thugs. Good job again.

[Deparis]

What a waste of time, money and energy! I knew and said this all along the next couple of days after the war started. What was not so obviously about it that they had to convene a parliamentary investigation panel? No news here!