14:45, 29 September 2008

Georgia's ambassador to Russia joins opposition to Saakashvili

Erosi Kitsmarishvili, Georgia's ambassador to Russia, said today in his interview to the Georgian weekly "Kviris Palitra" that after the August events in South Ossetia he cannot stay with the Georgian power structures headed by President Mikhail Saakashvili.

"I can't stay with Saakashvili's power structures after the war with Russia wasn't prevented," Mr Kitsmarishvili has stated.

He believes the Georgian leadership could have quite easily avoid carrying the case off to warfare with Russia, the "Interfax" reports. "Should the present Georgian leaders have spent at least one percent of what is spent on military needs, I'm sure, the result would have exceeded all our expectations," said Erosi Kitsmarishvili.

According to his story, western leaders and diplomats had tried to keep Saakashvili, in every possible way, from attempts to settle the conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia by means of war. "One of very high-ranking western diplomats wrote that every time such conversation remained in force for 2 weeks only, then his military rhetoric resumed," notes the Georgian diplomat.