Medvedev : Russia's top priority in S.Ossetia war was to defend our citizens interests
After the Georgian army launched a full-scale attack on the capital of South Ossetia in August 2008, then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered Russian troops to intervene, the hardest decision of both his political career and life.
In the night of 7 to 8 August, 2008, Tskhinval came under attack by the Georgian army, which violated a truce and killed dozens of Russian citizens and peacekeepers stationed in the city.
The Russian military intervened, and within five days the conflict was over. Dmitry Medvedev, who at that time had spent less than three months in office as president, spoke with RT’s Oksana Boyko about how it started and the behind the scenes political gambles that led to the conflict.
http://rt.com/news/georgia-south-ossetia-medvedev-interview-012/
Saakashvili only got in with bent elections anyway.
Medvedev praises Georgian prime minister for courage to say that Saakashvili was guilty of starting a conflict in South Ossetia.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has described as courageous the remarks of Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili that President Saakashvili was responsible for the armed conflict in South Ossetia in August 2008.
“Suffice it to say what Prime Minister Ivanishvili said. He was right when he said ‘it was you (Saakashvili) who provoked everything and it was you who started the conflict’,” Medvedev said in an interview with the Russia Today television channel on the eve of the 5th anniversary of the tragic events in South Ossetia.
“It must have been very hard for him to say such courageous words,” the Russian prime minister emphasized.
Bidzina Ivanishvili who became Georgia’s prime minister in October last year after his Georgian Dream Coalition had won a parliamentary election has said many times that it was possible to avoid the 2008 war with Russia.
http://indrus.in/news/2013/08/04/medvedev_praises_georgian_prime_minister_for_courage_to_say_that_saakash_27991.html
Russia, Georgia to Turn New Page after Saakashvili's Exit – Medvedev
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Sunday that he was optimistic about the prospects of bilateral relations between Russia and Georgia five years after a brief war between the two countries.
"In this regard, I'm a total optimist. I'm convinced that everything will be fine. Our peoples aren't enemies," Medvedev said in an interview with RT.
"Of course, the conflict didn't help, but it wasn't based on deep-running disagreements. Again, that was a criminal mistake of certain leaders. But these days the situation is indeed a bit different. The country's new leadership that was brought in by the political and constitutional reforms is taking a more pragmatic stance ... We welcome that," Medvedev said.
Russia and Georgia severed diplomatic ties in 2008 after Moscow recognized the de-facto independent Georgian republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states following a brief military conflict over South Ossetia.
Read more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-georgia-to-turn-new-page-after-saakashvilis-exit--medvedev/484056.html#ixzz2b2g8fs3I
The Moscow Times