Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili used a Russian saying – meaning raving nonsense – to describe remarks by Russia’s first vice-premier, Sergey Ivanov, about the August 6 missile incident.
“I want to response to Ivanov’s statement very succinctly,” Merabishvili told journalists, “Bred sivoy kobyly.” When translated literally, this Russian expression means “delirium of a grey horse.”
Ivanov said on August 11 that the missile incident was “a theatrical show” staged by the Georgian authorities.
Earlier on August 13, a senior Georgian lawmaker, Kote Gabashvili, described Ivanov’s remarks as “immoral” and “full of cynicism.”
Davit Bakradze, the Georgian state minister for conflict resolution issues, said: “Unlike its neighboring country, the Georgian authorities do not plant bombs in apartment buildings” – a reference to allegations that the 1999 apartment building bombings in Moscow and Volgodonsk were masterminded by the FSB to justify the launch of the second war in Chechnya.