Gori city council chair: “Russians came to Georgia as peacekeepers”
Russians in Georgia in 2008
David Razmadze, chair of Gori city council, told the New York Times: “The Russians came here as peacekeepers, and thank God they did, because Misha [Saakashvili]’s thugs were looting the whole city.”
The interview with Razmadze was part of a wide-ranging New York Times article on Georgia titled “Why Georgia, once a beacon of democracy, is drifting towards Russia.”
In the interview, the chair of Gori city council blamed Georgia’s third president, Mikheil Saakashvili, for provoking Russia’s assault in August 2008.
“It was all Misha’s fault. He deliberately provoked the situation. This is just one of many problems he created,” Razmadze said.
The New York Times noted that in the 90-minute interview Razmadze accused Saakashvili of everything “from declining church attendance to overspending on municipal drinking fountains.”
Razmadze also welcomed the entry of Russian troops into Gori during the 2008 war:
“They came here as peacekeepers, and thank God they did, because Misha’s thugs were looting the whole city. They even stole a priest’s car — can you believe it? If the Russians hadn’t come in, who knows how much more destruction they would have caused.”
Razmadze denies everything
“The person who interviewed me turned out to be an ‘advocate’ for Saakashvili and those bastards. If my teammates back me, of course I will go to court. Bastard… I don’t even know if he really represented The New York Times — I doubt it. He was sent,” Razmadze said. He insisted he had never spoken positively about Russia.
“This is slander. I have never said anything positive about Russia. I never said anything like that about Saakashvili’s thugs. What I said was that Saakashvili’s government had abandoned the city. The bastard who interviewed me turned out to be an advocate for Saakashvili and those bastards. If my teammates support me, of course I will go to court,” David Razmadze told TV channel Pirveli.
Asked whether he considered EU membership unacceptable for Georgia, Razmadze replied: “I am a member of Georgian Dream. Has Georgian Dream ever said we are against European integration?!”
In response to a question about whether he blamed Georgia’s third president, Mikheil Saakashvili, for starting the war, Razmadze said he accused him of enabling it:
“How can I blame Saakashvili? It was the Russians who started it. I accuse him of enabling it. Saakashvili facilitated the annexation of Georgian territory.”
Russians in Georgia in 2008
