RF MFA: SAAKASHVILI SEEMS CONFIDENT THAT GEORGIAN CITIZENS MUST EXCUSE ALL HIS WRONGDOINGS
PanARMENIAN.Net
08.11.2007 16:44 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia’s Foreign Ministry dismissed Georgian
President Mikhail Saakashvili’s claim Wednesday that Moscow was behind
opposition protests in Georgia.
"Moscow views this step by the Georgian authorities as an irresponsible
provocation," the ministry said in a statement. "Saakashvili seems
confident that Georgian citizens must excuse all his wrongdoings."
Georgian police used truncheons, tear gas and water cannons to
disperse opposition protests in the capital, Tbilisi. Saakashvili
said that tough action was necessary to prevent the ex-Soviet nation
from sliding into chaos and blamed Russia for instigating the unrest.
Saakashvili accused Russian special services of funding and directing
the Georgian opposition and said that several Russian diplomats would
be expelled.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that "horror stories about Russian
spies" and claims that Moscow was behind the opposition protests were
part of Saakashvili’s efforts to cast Moscow as an enemy.
"Once again, the Georgian authorities are trying to replace a
responsible and honest approach to numerous internal problems with
banal attempts to blame everything on plots by ‘an external enemy’
and accuse dissenters of being its agents," the ministry said.
It said that Moscow would protect Russia’s citizens in South Ossetia
and Abkhazia and act as a "guarantor of peace and order in the region."
In what sounded like a call on the United States, the ministry urged
"those who have direct influence on Tbilisi to warn the Georgian
leadership from further destructive steps fraught with unpredictable
consequences." It did not name any nation, the IHT reports.