Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has given several interviews at once to foreign press.
Western media reminding that Russia has blocked the presence of UN observers in the region and begins regular exercises in the Caucasus. And this, in the opinion of journalists, is symptoms of beginning of a new war, perhaps, on the eve of visit of US President Barack Obama to Moscow.
Russia started war with Georgia to gain energy supplies, Mikhail Saakashvili said in his interview to British The Times
"We didn't attack Russia. We didn't go there and bomb Moscow," he told.
Saakashvili stated that he would never resign, even if he would be declared a responsible for August war last year.
"No investigation would say I did wrong. South Ossetia is our territory. There are some idiots who say we started the war, not taking into account the dangers of Russian invasion. The only thing for what I regret is that we did not prepared before", Saakashvili said in his interview to Spanish El Pais.
According to Saakashvili, taking over the whole of Georgia was vital to Putin's plan, because he saw it in terms of geopolitical competition with the West. "Five days later (after the beginning of war) George Bush said, ‘We will not allow them to enter Tbilisi'. Half an hour after that statement the Russians backed down."
"The lesson the Kremlin drew from the war was that European and American outrage was shortlived and not accompanied by any serious sanctions", the author of The Times writes.
In his view, the Russians may unleash a war directly on the eve of visit of the US president to Moscow to depose Saakashvili and humiliate Obama.
We would like to remind that Obama's visit to Moscow is due to be held on July 6-8, in the context of world tour, during which the US leader will also visit the "G8" summit in Italy.
It is impossible to exclude that Russia will start a new war with Georgia, believes the author of analytical article in the same edition. Russian troops stationed in South Ossetia were already less than one hour from Tbilisi.
The author of article, a correspondent Philip Pank, has witnessed several shots from South Ossetian side Ergneti, "on Georgia's new front line".
Georgian policemen, guarding the border, claim that the Russian border guards and South Ossetian paramilitaries get drunk every night and shoot across the checkpoint for fun.
Moreover, on Monday additional 8,500 Russian troops, 200 tanks, 450 armoured cars and 250 artillery pieces will be deployed to the Caucasus for a military exercise.
Georgia claims that "some of these forces will join thousands of troops stationed in the country's two separatist regions since last summer", The Times notes.
A similar version has also been put forward by Moscow experts. Some of them even name the date for a new war: 6 July.
Meanwhile, last week Moscow vetoed the presence of UN observers in Abkhazia.
"They kicked out these observers because they are preparing for war," a villager of Ergneti told to correspondent.
"This scheme is exactly the same as it was last year. Russians are increasing their military presence, Russians are conducting large-scale military exercises, directly threatening Georgia, and they are making all the time statements that Georgians are concentrating forces and Georgians are beginning to start the war and we have to respond", David Bakradze, the parliamentary Speaker and a close ally of the President, told The Times.
However, as the paper notes, the EU is confident that Russia, which is keen to build bridges with the US Administration, will hold back.
Saakashvili has expressed his dissatisfaction with the termination of the UN mission in Abkhazia, but in an interview to the Spanish El Pais he said that it was "very weak", since it could not to prevent "Russia to bombard our towns throughout many years".
Meanwhile, despite the threat of war, Saakashvili has a set of plans in his head concerning his country. He plans to turn the Black Sea port of Batumi to a second Barcelona or Poti in Dubai, Der Standard writes.
"We have stabilized the country and we offer the EU an alternative to Russian gas monopoly. (...) When it becomes clear that there will be no more wars, the investors will return. In the meantime, we are trying to realize the tourism potential of Georgia: in less than three years, we will turn Batumi into Barcelona Black Sea coast", Saakashvili said in interview to the newspaper.
The system built in Georgian is the most democratic in the region, Georgian President believes. According to him, as a result of the painful reforms the country had managed to put an end to corruption, "leaders of the Mafia are in prison or in Russia". In addition, experts from the EU would help to train police, "although sometimes they are itching and they fight", he admitted.
In "the international level, we have only one problem - Russia", Saakashvili said. Regarding domestic policy, he is concerned about the opposition of parliament rather than street protests.
"I would not give pleasure to Russia, by allowing it to finish me off. I have 60 % popularity and international support. Why should I hold an election, if some governments in Europe have level of popularity 20 %?", the newspaper quotes the words of Georgian president.
"Saakashvili is living in another world - one of the opponents of the Georgian leader and former presidential candidate Levan Gachechiladze sneers. - There are two Georgias: one - is in his head, while another - is the one in which real people are living".
Department of Monitoring,
Kavkaz Center
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