Defense Minister Okruashvili Talks Tough about Secessionist Leaders

Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili said on February 5 that the leaders of breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia can not take even one minor decision without agreeing over it with their “masters” in Moscow.

“With whom should we hold a dialogue? With [Abkhaz leader Sergey] Bagapsh, who is deprived of any right to make decisions, or with [South Ossetian leader Eduard] Kokoity, whom I have once described as a charlatan? There are three Russian generals who rule South Ossetia currently… and they are decision-makers there,” Irakli Okruashvili told Georgian reporters in Munich on the sidelines of an international security conference.

Okruashvili commented on a statement made by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov, who said earlier on February 5 at a news conference in Munich that Georgia should negotiate with the leadership of South Ossetia and Abkhazia if Tbilisi wants to solve these conflicts.

“Russia is not going to do this instead of you [the Georgian side],” Ivanov added.