The President of Georgia made a comment regarding the recent statements of Vladimir Putin today. According to Mikheil Saakashvili, Vladimir Putin once again proved by his statements made about the ethnic origins of Boris Akunin, the writer, that his dislike is for the whole nation of Georgia; not the Government of Georgia. Mikheil Saakashvili does not consider that this attempt of the Russian diplomacy to persuade African countries to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be an issue.

“If anyone wants to stubbornly assert that Putin has a problem with the Government of Georgia, Putin “poured cold water” on them a few days ago. In his statement, Putin expressed that he has a problem with Akunin being of Georgian heritage and the Country of Georgia; not the Government of Georgia. First, we basically knew this, but he proved it by personally stating it this time. Second, what he was saying about Georgians, he said the same thing about Caucasians today. Regarding the threats of the Russian side, we are not afraid of these threats, because their country is currently collapsing on their heads. Panicky statements like this by Putin about the fact that it was not a peaceful operation and it was a Georgian-Russian military conflict (what we always called it) only points to the kind of trouble this regime is in today. The fact that Putin sent emissaries to African States in recent weeks and promised specific governments and officials hundreds of millions including bribes, in return for recognizing independence for Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region is amusing and curious. None of the countries that have self-respect recognized independence of these regions and Russia was completely defeated in this sense. On the contrary, all of the nations uniformly admitted that our regions have been occupied while establishing the term “Ethnic Cleansing” - a war crime. By this, they gave a classical definition - “imperialistic aggression” to the actions of Russia. The more they try to get approval from corrupt countries like Nauru, the more pathetic the attempt of the Russian diplomacy will appear, the more negative results they will get, the faster we will regain control of these territories. It’s very clear to me. This also points to the current condition of Russia and where the Russian “dead end politics” have taken us. That is why we need to be calm and keep rehabilitating and implementing impressive reforms, which have been praised for by many including numerous Russian opposition members and an important part of the Russian society. They express this openly. We need to continue to work in order to keep our current corruption-free and rapidly progressing environment, bring more people out of poverty, and implement even more new projects and reforms. Their internal politics will bring them to the appropriate result” – stated the President of Georgia.