Russia Sees U.S. Hand in Georgia’s Velvet Revolution
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in the interview published by the Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda accused the United States and its ambassador to Georgia of masterminding ‘velvet revolution’ in Georgia, which led to Shevardnadze’s resignation.
“I think there are enough facts proving that what happened in those days wasn’t spontaneous, it didn’t arise suddenly,” Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov was quoted as saying.
“Of course, there were preparations and the U.S. ambassador was involved, as Shevardnadze himself admitted,” Ivanov said.
Ivanov also recalled visit of James Baker, former U.S. Secretary of State, who was dispatched to Georgia in July by the White House to push the Georgian authorities to hold free and fair elections.
“I don’t have any information or documents on what the aim of their mission was. But today it has become obvious that one of their goals was to convince Shevardnadze to resign,” Ivanov said.
Ivanov also said that a fund set up by billionaire George Soros to foster civil society development in Georgia also played a role.
In his several interviews after the resignation Eduard Shevardnadze had also accused Soros of funding the opposition, and U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Richard Miles of encouraging the opposition movement.
