Georgian prime minister says his nation started war with South Ossetia 'on orders from abroad’

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said Tuesday that his country started a war with its neighbor South Ossetia in 2008 "on orders from abroad."

Speaking at a press briefing in Georgia's capital Tbilisi, Kobakhidze said that then-President Mikhail Saakashvili "was implementing the task that he received from outside."

According to Kobakhidze, the authorities that ruled the country before Saakashvili, who was then head of the opposition forces, were seeking "mutual forgiveness and reconciliation" with Ossetians.

"Mutual forgiveness and reconciliation contradict the purpose for which the regime of the (United) National Movement (Saakashvili's party) in 2008 fulfilled the task from the outside and started the war. It is the theme of reconciliation, not the outbreak of war, that is tragic for the radical opposition," he said.

The prime minister's remarks came several days after another prominent Georgian politician, Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party, said at a public event in the city of Gori that Georgia would find the strength to apologize for the fact that the United National Movement party founded by Saakashvili in 2008 "enveloped Ossetian brothers and sisters in flames of fire."

Ivanishvili also accused Saakashvili of starting a war at the behest of the outside. His words caused outrage among the opposition and part of society.

In August 2008, an armed Georgian-South Ossetian conflict occurred after Georgian troops attempted to take control of the city of Tskhinvali.

On Aug. 8, Moscow sent its military to the conflict zone to protect Russian citizens living there and peacekeepers deployed in the region. As a result, Georgian troops retreated.