Tbilisi. Georgia's ex-President, Mikheil Saakashvili
believes, Georgia has missed the right moment to get advantage of the situation
for the settlement of the territorial integrity problem.
"We have missed the right moment to
act and when the Premier was saying that everything is all right:that means
that we have lagged behind the peaceful processes and are now face-to-face with
Russia," Saakashvili stated on air of Rustavi 2 TV.
At the same time, Mikheil Saakashvili
again blamed ex-Premier, Bidzina Ivanishvili and the incumbent leadership for
pursuing Russia's policy.
"They are talking about their unique
approach in relations with Russia, which lies in non-interference of the West
and that suits Russia most of all:and it does not matter whether it is an
unimaginable incompetence or they are fulfilling Russia's orders - this is
anyway betrayal of the motherland," Saakashvili claimed.
Moscow unilaterally recognized the
independence of Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and so-called South
Ossetia (Tskhinvali region, Georgia) after the August war 2008. Georgia, in
turn, broke off diplomatic relations with Moscow and declared Abkhazia and
Tskhinvali region the occupied territories.
Georgia's new government, that came to power as a result of October 2012
parliamentary elections, named normalization of ties with Russia as its key
foreign policy priority, emphasizing that it would, in no way, happen at the
expense of country's territorial integrity.
Ex-President left Georgia immediately
after inauguration of the newly elected President, Giorgi Margvelashvili, in
November 2013. Since that time, Mikheil Saakashvili has never returned to
Georgia. He has been wanted in Georgia. Georgian Chief Prosecutor's Office
brought charges against Saakashvili in absentia pursuant to three articles of
the Criminal Code of Georgia - embezzlement of state funds (the matter concerns
US$5million) and abuse of official powers in the case of dispersal of the
protest rally in November 2007 and attack on then-MP, Valeri Gelashvili.