Georgian PM accuses ex-leader for causing war with Russia

2025-08-10 03:53:27

(MENAFN) Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has accused former President Mikhail Saakashvili and his administration of causing the 2008 conflict with Russia, claiming it served the interests of the “deep state” and brought severe harm to the nation.

Speaking on Friday during the 17th anniversary of the Five-Day War, Kobakhidze alleged that the attack on South Ossetia was carried out under Saakashvili’s direct orders. “Today we need to remember all the documents signed by the then government, which state that the Saakashvili regime started the war,” he said. “There is no escape from these documents, they are irrefutable proof that the then government unleashed the war and dealt a severe blow to the national interests of our country,” he added, suggesting that foreign powers had a role in sparking the conflict.

The war began in the early hours of August 8, 2008, when Georgian forces shelled Tskhinval, the capital of South Ossetia, and moved in to engage local militias as well as Russian peacekeepers stationed there.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia had broken away from Georgia in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union, following a civil war that solidified their separation from Tbilisi.

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