Shevardnadze: Saakashvili made a deadly mistake

Шеварднадзе: Саакашвили смертельно ошибся

The Georgian intervention in South Ossetia was a "deadly mistake." The opinion was expressed in an interview with the German newspaper Bild by Eduard Shevardnadze, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR and former President of Georgia. According to him, the military operation was extremely poorly planned. "Georgia should not have entered Tskhinvali in such an unprepared state. This was a deadly mistake," stated Shevardnadze, noting that now the situation is very complicated, strained, and as to how it will be solved--it's not clear.

Shevardnadze expressed hope that negotiations between Mikhail Saakashvili and his Western partners will lead to an end in the conflict in the region. Earlier, in an interview with the newspaper Affairs, Shevardnadze expressed his opinion that the West should not intervene in the conflict, but provide only "psychological support" to Georgia. As the former President of Georgia, Shevardnadze has personal experience with the first Georgian intrusion into Abkhazia and the subsequent unsuccessful outcome of the Georgian-Abkhazian war in the early 90s, and it would have ended his own life if the Russian command hadn't intervened.

In his interview with Bild, Shevardnadze described the expansion of PRO [missile shield] as a new nuclear arms race.

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