Saakashvili says Russia still out to get him

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Georgia knows it "cannot take back its Russian-backed rebel regions militarily", Reuters reported. But he told the news agency in an interview that he "fears Moscow has designs on Tbilisi". Saakashvili says Russia still out to get him In an interview a year after a war with Russia, Saakashvili said the world had failed to hold Moscow to account for "mass ethnic cleansing" of Georgians in the South Ossetia conflict for fear of jeopardizing energy and trade interests. That he is still in office is "almost a miraculous story of survival," Saakashvili said, adding that though a new war is not imminent, Russia has not given up hope of ousting him with forces 50 kilometersfrom the Georgian capital. "I am still sitting in this office despite solemn pledges by [Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin to hang me by different parts of my body, to crush Georgia's statehood," Saakashvili said. "[I]n many ways it's mission unaccomplished. That's certainly very worrisome." Russia crushed a Georgian assault on South Ossetia last August, sending tanks into Georgia proper and shaking Western confidence in oil and gas routes running through the South Caucasus, Reuters says, and adds that "a spike in tensions ahead of the anniversary is fuelling fears of new hostilities". Meanwhile, RIA Novosti reports that on the eve of the first anniversary of Georgia’s invasion of South Ossetia, the republic’s President Eduard Kokoity told the news agency that the situation will remain stable and that he "rules out a new Georgian aggression now".

Saakashvili says Russia still out to get him

In an interview a year after a war with Russia, Saakashvili said the world had failed to hold Moscow to account for "mass ethnic cleansing" of Georgians in the South Ossetia conflict for fear of jeopardizing energy and trade interests.

That he is still in office is "almost a miraculous story of survival," Saakashvili said, adding that though a new war is not imminent, Russia has not given up hope of ousting him with forces 50 kilometersfrom the Georgian capital.

"I am still sitting in this office despite solemn pledges by [Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin to hang me by different parts of my body, to crush Georgia's statehood," Saakashvili said. "[I]n many ways it's mission unaccomplished. That's certainly very worrisome."

Russia crushed a Georgian assault on South Ossetia last August, sending tanks into Georgia proper and shaking Western confidence in oil and gas routes running through the South Caucasus, Reuters says, and adds that "a spike in tensions ahead of the anniversary is fuelling fears of new hostilities".

Meanwhile, RIA Novosti reports that on the eve of the first anniversary of Georgia’s invasion of South Ossetia, the republic’s President Eduard Kokoity told the news agency that the situation will remain stable and that he "rules out a new Georgian aggression now".