Jailed ex-president Saakashvili: During meeting in New York, Richard Gere expressed concern over Russia’s attack on Georgia, urged to reject weapons, reduce army to zero

Jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili recalled his meeting with actor Richard Gere held in New York after the 2008 war in his Facebook post.

According to Saakashvili, Richard Gere told him that he had to reject any weapons and reduce the army to zero immediately, adding that what the famous actor failed to do had been fulfilled by Bidzina Ivanishvili.

“After the 2008 war, I arrived in New York to attend the UN General Assembly. In the evening, the hotel concierge called me to tell me that Richard Gere wanted to meet with me. I am a great admirer of this actor, and of course, I immediately went down to meet him.

We sat in a hotel bar. Gere started the conversation by saying that he was deeply concerned about Russia’s attack on Georgia. He mentioned that he was a Buddhist, and then went on to say what he wanted to tell me – you should immediately renounce any weapons and reduce the army to zero.

What the greatest Hollywood actor failed to do was fulfilled by Ivanishvili. This became apparent amid the ongoing war in the region.

We have neither air defence, although Obama vowed to provide through an agreement with me, but Ivanishvili came and he rejected, nor ballistic missiles, which we had agreed to jointly produce with Ukraine. We do not have cruise missiles, the production of which was intended in Delta,” he wrote.