Mamuka Kurashvili, the Chief of the Peacekeeping Operations Headquarters of the Joint Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces in 2008, is currently fielding questions from members of the “Temporary Investigative Commission to Investigate the Activities of the Regime and Its Political Officials from 2003 to 2012.”

The commission’s head, Tea Tsulukiani, asked Kurashvili about his awareness of the situation: “As soon as you heard on TV that the other side began evacuating on August 1, you mentioned realizing that you were alone. If you felt isolated, our population was even more vulnerable. Did you have the authority to at least sound the alarm to mitigate casualties among the civilian population? If this was part of your responsibilities, what actions did you take?”

In response to a question, Kurashvili elaborated that their primary objective was to avert conflict.

“We were striving to prevent conflict until the last possible moment. When you initiate an operation, you must provide warnings and facilitate evacuations,” Kurashvili stated.

When asked by commission member Ilia Injia whether an earlier evacuation would have resulted in a greater or fewer number of affected individuals, Kurashvili replied, “There would have been fewer victims.”

He also emphasized that he had informed the Joint Staff about evacuating citizens from the conflict zone.

“How could you imagine that the Security Council could act without the General Staff, raising alarms and knocking on doors? We were attempting to avoid conflict until the last moment. If you start an operation, you must give warnings and evacuate,” Kurashvili reiterated.