Russia recognized South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, as independent states, following the Russian troops’ attack on Georgia in reaction to the country’s attempt to reassert control over the regions in a five-day war in 2008.
Even prior to the Russian aggression, most of the ethnic Georgians inhabiting the breakaway areas had been expelled by the pro-Russian rebels. Most of the rest of the world continues to recognize the territories as Georgian.
Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire ex-prime minister who is the lead candidate of the ruling pro-Russian Georgian Dream party in an October 26 election, said the “criminal regime” of former President Mikheil Saakashvili triggered the war on the orders of foreign powers, according to Georgian public broadcaster 1TV.
Former president Saakashvili is currently serving a six-year prison sentence for alleged abuse of power. Saakashvili himself as well as his supporters claim his imprisonment is politically motivated.
“Immediately after the October 26 elections, those who instigated the war will face justice,” Ivanishvili said, adding that Georgians would then “apologize” for the war. He was speaking at a campaign event in the town of Gori, which was briefly occupied by Russian invasion forces during the 2008 war.
Ivanishvili’s party has been pushing a
‘foreign agents’ bill, modeled on a similar Russian law, which many see as an attempt to gag political opposition.
The passing of the law might seriously
hamper Georgia’s ambitions to join the European Union.
Even his own United National Movement (UNM) party said that Ivanishvili’s remarks were a national shame that served the interests of Russia and said the statement was treacherous, according to Interpress News.
A small and mountainous country that gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Georgia is being courted by the West, Russia and China and many Georgians say the country is at a crossroads as it heads into next month’s election.
