Russia Denounces Tbilisi’s “Military Rhetoric”

In a statement issued on August 25, the Russian Foreign Ministry said “after the failed military adventure” in breakaway South Ossetia, Georgia started “to look for an inexistent ‘foreign enemy’… with hints and accusations aimed at ‘the northern neighbor’ – supposedly the source of all problems and conflicts in Georgia.”

“Military rhetoric prevails in the statements made by the officials in Tbilisi… these statements are not even worth of commenting because of their absurdity,” the Russian Foreign Ministry statement reads.

The strong-worded statement refers to the Tbilisi’s accusations that Russia was ready for direct military intervention in the South Ossetian conflict. Georgian President Saakashvili said on August 25 that decision to pull out Georgian troops from South Ossetia was necessary in order to avoid war. Earlier in an interview to the France’s Liberation Saakashvili said that Georgia is “very close to a war” with Russia.

The Russian Foreign Ministry’s August 25 statement also recalls the statements of the Georgian officials regarding killing of 8 Russian mercenaries, particularly Cossacks in the recent clashes in South Ossetia.

“The Georgian authorities promised that they will show ‘the corpses of Cossacks’ but their [Georgian officials] statements turned to be only the words,” the Russian Foreign Ministry says.

The Georgian authorities claimed that the Georgian troops killed 8 Cossacks while capturing strategic heights in breakaway South Ossetia on August 19. However, only one corpse was seen by the independent observers, including journalists. A dead body of fighter was later identified by the South Ossetian side as the local resident of the breakaway region Gena Sanakoev.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)