Saakashvili Brushes off ‘Miscalculation’ Allegations
President Saakashvili said it was “a gross misinterpretation” when alleging that Georgia miscalculated in its actions in South Ossetia this August.
When asked at BBC’s HARDtalk if his administration’s “enormous miscalculation” was in the heart of what had happened, Saakashvili responded: “I think it’s a gross misinterpretation to call it miscalculation.”
He said Georgia had to react on Russia’s “full-scale invasion,” which he said started a day before Georgian forces moved in South Ossetia and added that Georgia had “incontrovertible evidence” proving that.
Speaking at a U.S. foreign relations committee hearing, William Burns, the under-secretary of state for political affairs, said on September 17 that a “serious [Georgian] miscalculation” was also partly to blame for the August war.
“The causes of this conflict – particularly the dispute between Georgia and its breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia – are complex, with mistakes and miscalculations on all sides," he said. "But key facts are clear: Russia’s intensified pressure and provocations against Georgia – combined with a serious Georgian miscalculation – have resulted not only in armed conflict, but in an ongoing Russian attempt to dismember that country.”
When asked at BBC’s HARDtalk if he felt “humiliated” after what Russia had done with Georgia, Saakashvili responded, that “the world should feel humiliated” about Russia’s “nasty” actions in Georgia.
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