Remarks made by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Sochi on September 11 during a meeting with western journalists and experts, suggest that Moscow was considering South Ossetia and Abkhazia recognition even on August 8, the Russian daily Kommersant reported.
“He [Putin] told those at that meeting that when he was in China, he met with the [Chinese] leadership and told them that he understood very well the problems of China in terms of Taiwan and of other problems of this type. He told them this because he wanted to lift from the Chinese leadership the burden of having to think about recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia’s independence,” Kommersant reported.
“Apart from lifting such a burden from China, Vladimir Putin unwittingly made it clear that he was thinking about the impending recognition [of Abkhazia and South Ossetia] even on August 8, the day the war started,” the newspaper added.
During the same meeting, Putin criticized U.S. President George W. Bush for failing to put pressure on Tbilisi not to launch the assault on Tskhinvali. Putin said that he had met Bush in Beijing twice.
“They [Georgian forces] launched their attacks at 23:30 [on August 7]. I learned about it the following morning. I spoke to Bush. He said ‘No one wants war.’ We expected something would happen,” the Guardian quoted Putin as saying. “I met him [Bush] again at the stadium. I can’t tell you in detail the content of the conversation, but I had the feeling that his administration wouldn’t do anything about stopping the conflict.”
He also brushed off allegations that Russia used “disproportionate force” against Georgia – a term often used by western officials to describe Russia’s intervention into Georgia.
“Yes we went beyond South Ossetia, because there was military infrastructure… Did you expect that we would have waved a pocket knife?.. When tanks, multiple rocket launchers and heavy artillery are used against us, are we supposed to fire with slingshots?.. They [Georgia] should have understood that they would be hit on their snout,” Putin said.
