Saakashvili Comments on Gori Blast Investigation

President Saakashvili hailed the Georgian police and counter-intelligence service for arresting three suspects in a car bomb explosion in Gori, which killed three policemen in February. Saakashvili said that despite the evidence which proves involvement of Russian intelligence services in this terrorist act, Georgia ?does not want to use it for further confrontation with Russia.?

?I know how difficult this operation [to capture] was, [which was] carried out in the [South Ossetian] conflict zone under the difficult circumstances? It took much time to identify the persons, who carried out this [terrorist] act, and much more time to arrest the terrorists,? Mikheil Saakashvili said.

President Saakashvili made the statement during the meeting with Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili and with those officials from the counter-intelligence service, who were engaged in the investigation of the Gori blast.

?Despite the clear evidence of a fact that citizens of foreign country participated in this [terrorist act] ? and we have numerous facts and information to prove this ? we do not want to use this information for further confrontation. We do not want cooperation with Russia to move in the direction of confrontation. We want to have absolute cooperation with Russia, with Russian relevant agencies and with Russian government in field of fight against terrorism. Because these people [terrorists] hit only Georgia, but these people represent a huge problem for Russia itself,? President Saakashvili said.

The President said that Gori explosion has proved once again that ?uncontrolled territories pose a threat.? ?I want our citizens in this region [South Ossetia] to know that we do not want a large-scale confrontation. We are ready to solve everything through civilized dialogue,? Saakashvili said.

?But I want to warn de facto authorities of Tskhinvali [capital of breakaway South Ossetia] to refrain from any kind of provocation. We will respond to provocations, but we want a peaceful dialogue,? Saakashvili said.

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