“Years on, it has been established that Heidi Tagliavini’s viewpoint remains unchanged. She dismissed the journalist’s all attempts somehow to justify treasonous activities of the United National Movement (UNM) committed 16 years ago with arguments-based discourse,” reads the statement of the ruling Georgian Dream’s (GD) Political Council.
The GD Political Council echoed the interview of the Georgian bureau of Radio Liberty (journalist Vazha Tavberidze) with Heidi Tagliavini, Head of the International Fact-Finding Commission into the August 2008 Russia-Georgia war.
The GD believes that Radio Liberty sought to get a different viewpoint about the war, but the attempt failed.
“On 9 August, the Radio Liberty’s Georgian Service published journalist Vazha Tavberidze’s interview with Heidi Tagliavini, the head of the International Investigative Commission investigating the August 2008 war.
The Tagliavini Report is equivalent to a verdict for the National Movement. However, it was clear from the outset, given the journalist’s questions and positions, that the media hostile to the government and supportive of the collective National Movement were not driven by a desire to remind the public of this report but by a completely opposite goal. Radio Liberty wanted to obtain a new, different position about the August War from Heidi Tagliavini, which would soften the extremely grave report written years ago. However, this attempt proved unsuccessful. It turned out that Tagliavini’s position remains unchanged years later, and she countered all of the journalist’s attempts to somehow justify the National Movement’s treasonous actions of 16 years ago with well-reasoned arguments.
Tagliavini was commissioned by the European Union to prepare the report on the August War, and the Swiss diplomat gathered evidence related to the war with this high mandate. Both Russia and the authorities of Georgia at that time agreed to the unified report based on the said evidence, thereby confirming the veracity of the facts contained in the report.
Russia’s acceptance of the document is completely understandable as the document evaluated Russia’s military intervention as a response to the armed conflict initiated by the Georgian side. Moreover, the document states that Russia had the legal right to enter the territory of Georgia. The fact that Saakashvili’s actions created the legal basis for Russia’s military intervention was clearly reiterated by Tagliavini in her interview with Radio Liberty. Furthermore, Tagliavini stressed that Russia was granted emergency legitimacy to enter Georgia due to the attack on peacekeeping forces, who were operating in the Tskhinvali Region under a mandate confirmed by the Georgian side. This circumstance has become relevant since Tagliavini’s last interview because no evaluator has previously focused on this issue. In contrast to Russia’s position, there is no explanation for the actions of the Saakashvili government.
According to Tagliavini’s report, the then authorities of Georgia carried out a massive armed attack on Tskhinvali on 7 August. In doing so, they provided the Russian Federation with a legal basis for its invasion of Georgia, which Russia took advantage of and initiated a retaliatory military operation, leading to the occupation of Georgian territories. The Saakashvili regime’s acceptance of a document containing such evidence and conclusions clearly proves that these people have committed grave treason against their own country and people, first by creating the corresponding evidence and then by confirming the conclusion.
Soon after the end of the war, Saakashvili, Lomaia, Kurashvili, Gogava, and others openly stated that the authorities of Georgia at that time had made the decision to restore constitutional order in the Tskhinvali Region. On 7-8 August, Saakashvili and his regime’s propagandist media actively disseminated information about the success of the offensive operation and the capture of successive settlements while confirming the lack of Russian interference in the hostilities.
Clearly, Saakashvili should have had a thorough understanding of Russia’s response to the aforementioned actions; therefore, we must conclude that this was part of a premediated plan. Saakashvili deliberately did everything to bring the Russian army, which had left Georgia a year earlier, back into the country.
The collective National Movement states that talking about the start of the 2008 War is an offence and it should remain a taboo topic. Against this backdrop, we cannot fail to recall that they admitted starting the 2008 war first by signing the resolution of the Council of Europe and then by accepting the Tagliavini Report, while also declaring Russia’s military intervention as a retaliatory and legally justified action. Attached to Heidi Tagliavini’s interview with Radio Liberty is an interview with Putin, who stated that an approved and confirmed plan of the “Georgian operation” existed back in 2007. However, even this attempt by the journalist to justify Saakashvili’s treasonous crime falls completely flat. Recall that a series of provocations in both conflict regions began several weeks after Saakashvili came to power, and this was actively covered in both Russian and Georgian media. Several dozen incidents, including intense armed clashes, took place between 2004 and 2008. In the wake of the aforementioned, top officials of the Georgian Government, including the then-president and defense minister, actively made militaristic statements, adding fuel to the fire and artificially inflaming the escalation.
Clearly, Saakashvili’s plans since 2004 were easy to decipher and the Russian authorities did not lose sight of this. Despite four years of incessant provocations, however, Russia did not have the legal basis to enter Georgia, so it refrained from starting a war. Thus, the main part of the plan could not be achieved – the National Movement was yet unable to bring Russian troops into Georgia. Saakashvili and his protectors realized that much more aggressive and large-scale actions were needed to achieve the goal. According to the Tagliavini Report, Saakashvili’s government created such a moment on 7 August 2008, when, as a result of the artillery bombardment of Tskhinvali, Russia was given free rein and Russian troops entered Georgia.
We would like to remind the public once again that this factual circumstance is accepted by the National Movement itself, which first signed the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and then agreed with the Tagliavini Report. The majority of the Georgian public is justified in doubting the soundness of his judgement. However, the fact remains that Saakashvili’s reckless actions in August 2008 were not the result of his psychological instability, but rather the outcome of externally commissioned and carefully planned treason. We have a situation where there are former authorities that have admitted to starting the 2008 War, that is, committing treason against one’s own country and people, and this political force is still driven by the desire to return to power.
We believe that under these conditions, the legal non-assessment of the committed crime is tantamount to a crime in its own right. Today, with the legal proceedings in The Hague and Strasbourg concluded, there is no time for hints. The time has come for the perpetrators to be held accountable to the full extent of the Constitution and the law. Given the above factual circumstances, in order to establish long-term peace and stability in Georgia, it is vital to conduct a public legal process and to ensure that the public learns, once and for all, who committed grave treason against our country and our people.”
