Saakashvili Comments on Russia’s ‘Unprovoked Onslaught’
In an article published by the Wall Street Journal on October 12, President Saakashvili says that Georgia “will not jeopardize the progress we have made by any rash acts” despite pressure from Russia.
“It is not inconceivable that Moscow is trying to taunt us into a self-destructive response, one which would provide an excuse for Russia to smite the success story to its south,” Saakashvili says in the article under the headline “Unprovoked Onslaught.”
He said that the past week “was a trying one for Georgia” with air, rail, sea, land and postal links cut by Russia.
“Immediately thereafter, Georgians living in Russia were subjected to a form of ethnic targeting not seen in Europe since the Balkans in the 1990s — and the harassment is tinged with even more sinister historical overtones,” Saakashvili says.
He also warned western powers not to turn a blind eye on Russia’s pressure on Georgia.
“If the international community downplays the current rift — or worse, if it pressures Georgia to back down on all counts, shunting aside its hard-earned principles and values — then the problem will simply metastasize to another place.”
Saakashvili also said that “Georgia has no plans to act precipitously or in defiance of the wishes of our friends.”
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
