Davit Matikashvili: This Statement Helps Settle the Question of When the Georgia-Russia War Began

The statement partly answers and helps settle the question of exactly when Russian regular military units entered Georgia and, consequently, when the Georgia-Russia war began, Georgian parliamentary majority member Davit Matikashvili said.

“The statement by Saakashvili’s former prosecutor is yet another admission of the betrayal committed by the United National Movement in 2008. They are becoming entangled in their own lies — first they say one thing, then another, and can no longer find a way out of the maze of falsehoods they themselves have created.

“This statement partly answers and effectively settles the question of when, and on which day, regular Russian military units began entering Georgia — in other words, when the Georgia-Russia war began. What happened the previous day, followed by the flight of a Russian bomber the next morning, provides a clear answer to that question.

“It is also an admission of the existential danger in which the treacherous actions of Mikheil Saakashvili and the United National Movement, together with the Russian occupying forces, placed Georgian statehood. He himself acknowledges that the country came very close to collapse. Georgia avoided total collapse, but only partially.

“We know very well that 20% of Georgia’s territory is occupied by Russia. The Russian Federation has recognized Georgia’s historic regions as independent states, and Russian occupation has become an established reality.

“These contradictions and inadvertent admissions once again give the public a clear answer as to who was responsible for the tragedy of 2008 — alongside, of course, the Russian occupying forces. First and foremost, it was Mikheil Saakashvili’s treacherous system and regime that brought the country to the brink of destruction.

“Today, former leaders of the United National Movement are effectively saying and admitting these things openly themselves. Their statements provide answers and put an end to the deliberate claims and falsehoods through which they sought to conceal their own responsibility for what happened in 2008,” Matikashvili said.

Matikashvili was responding to remarks by Davit Sakvarelidze, a former senior prosecutor under Mikheil Saakashvili’s government. Speaking on Iago Khvichia’s program The Birth of Georgia, Sakvarelidze recalled his experience of the August 2008 war:

“The August 2008 war had a very profound impact. The day before, the mood was completely different — people still had some hope that we might be able to restore Georgia’s territorial integrity in some form. But the next morning, when a Russian bomber flew over us, I realized that this was our reality,” Sakvarelidze said.