The West knew about Saakashvili’s aggressive plans, Wikileaks insists

Mikhail Saakashvili. Photo: EPA

Another series of secret documents that has been recently published by “Wikileaks” web site confirms that Georgia’s plan to attack South Ossetia in August 2008 was not a secret for the then US top officials. These documents – mostly, secret letters from the American embassy in Georgia to the US State Department – indicate that there were secret messages from Washington to Tbilisi on the eve of “the five-day war”.

However, this time, Wikileaks’ hosts were not that lucky as in previous times – the site was shut down for several days. But, of course, the site’s founding father Julian Paul Assange, an experienced hacker, had already protected his project by sending copies of the once secret documents to several world’s most influential magazines.

The documents have also been published on the “Russian Reporter” web site. Among other samples of diplomats’ correspondence, the site published reports from former US ambassador in Georgia John Tefft, which reveal that on August 7, 2008 he and his staff received information that Georgia is moving its forces to the border of South Ossetia. On August 8, Mr. Tefft, referring to OSCE observers, reported to his bosses that the Georgian army was shelling South Ossetia’s capital Tskhinval, despite the fact that on the day before, Saakashvili announced a unilateral ceasefire. 

“It is no secret that Washington knew about Georgia’s plans beforehand,” deputy Director General of the Foundation of Strategic Culture Andrey Arishev says.

“Saakashvili has strong ties with the US administration, and it is quite evident that before his attack on South Ossetia, he received instructions from Washington. It is probably more difficult to say how he reacted to them, for US top politicians often wrap their instructions in words that can be interpreted in several ways – but he did receive them.”

As you may remember, on August 8, 2008 Georgian forces invaded South Ossetia, at that time an autonomous republic within Georgia. In violation of all international laws, Georgian troops attacked Russian peacekeepers who were deployed there in accordance with a UN mandate, killing several of them. After that, Moscow found it necessary to interfere. It took Russia only five days to stop the aggression.

The documents published by Wikileaks make it clear that Western diplomats – Mr. John Tefft, at least - knew from the very beginning who was the real initiator of this war. Not Russia, not South Ossetia. It was Georgia who started all that. Still, it didn’t stop the EU and the US from accusing Russia of “disproportional use of force”.

 However, from the documents published by Wikileaks, one can’t say with a 100% confidence that Saakashvili started the war because the US ordered him to do so. Still, one thing can be said for sure – though the US has known about Saakashvili’s aggressive plans, they didn’t even try to stop him.