damaging testimony on war, former ambassador

Wow. I don't know exactly how credible former ambassador to Russia, Erosi Kitsmarishvili really is, especially as he is no longer the ambassador and the political climate seems to be turning away from Saakashvili following the events of the August war, but this testimony seriously undermines the credibility of the current administration.

Starting in 2004, Kitsmarishvili traces a series of events and meetings that suggested that a peaceful solution or 'deal' with Russia over South Ossetia, however undesirable, was routinely rejected or avoided by the Georgian side. Further, he accuses former defense minister Okruashvili and Saakashvili of plotting war as early as August 2004, closely averted by then Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania (found dead of mysterious circumstances in February, 2005, see this blog entry).

It will be interesting to see if labeling this testimony as 'pro-Russian rhetoric by a disgruntled former minister' by the investigating "Commission" will sufficiently discredit this testimony. Otherwise I'm interested to see what happens next. Here's a Kitsmarishvili quote from the public interview, which is found in a full article here:


"On June 19 Iakobashvili said in my presence and also in presence of other Georgian participants of the meeting that was held in Moscow [referring to a meeting co-organized by Institute of Contemporary Development], including Zurab Abashidze, former Georgian ambassador to Russia and Davit Aprasidze [chairman of the Tbilisi-based think-tank Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development], that the Georgian side was capable of taking over Tskhinvali in three hours; when I told him that Russia would respond, Iakobashvili said: ‘Russians will not even move their fingers about it.’"