The President met with Ministers of Defense and Internal Affairs in Kvareli, and spoke to them about ending the main phase of the operation, which is going on at the Dagestan part of the Georgian-Russian border. The President expressed gratitude towards the representatives of law enforcement agencies, who took part in freeing hostages. As Mikheil Saakashvili noted, the provocation against Georgia didn’t work because of the hard work of Georgian law enforcers. The Head of State noted that despite harsh relief conditions the main phase of the operation ended successfully.
“We must thank all of the police officers, soldiers and SWAT team members, who participated in the operation. The organizers of this provocation had set several goals: First, it was a test of our military readiness, because we have not participated in an operation of such a scale since 2008. I want to note that progress is evident, and this makes me very happy…their next goal was to organize a provocation in which they have failed. This was a very important political decision because such cases give our conqueror a reason for making excuses for certain kinds of actions. The operation was very tough, based on the harsh relief conditions, because it did not matter how many policemen you put on the ground there. We used unmanned drones and it’s good that we have such means of obtaining intelligence. Many countries, including countries richer than ours, would have had difficulty administering an operation of such quality. It is a huge tragedy for me that three of our fighters have lost their lives, despite the fact that they died as heroes. One of our doctors lost his life while in the process of carrying out a wounded soldier…they were all great warriors. One of them was a world champion in Sambo, another one the best sniper. We knew them very well because they were decorated soldiers. Shavnabada came out of Tskhinvali with no casualties, but we lost some guys here which is a great loss. They were the best fighters of the best unit. Very few countries have such fighters” – stated the President of Georgia, and added that Georgia supports a unified and peaceful Caucasus.
The meeting held in Kvareli was attended by the Minister of Defense Dimitri Shashkin, Minister of Internal Affairs Bacho Akhalaia and Deputy Minister Gia Lortkipanidze.