Georgian Vice PM: Russia started 2008 war with invasion, Georgia proved war crimes at The Hague

Mamuka Mdinaradze, Georgia’s Vice Prime Minister and State Minister for Regional Policy Issues, said on Tuesday that Russia started the Russia-Georgia war by invading Georgia on August 8, 2008, adding that Russian soldiers from specific military units were responsible for war crimes, which Georgia proved before the International Court of Justice.

In his remarks, Mdinaradze asserted that the war lasted from August 8 to August 12, 2008, during which the regular Russian army invaded Georgia, occupied parts of its territory, and committed war crimes.

“The Russia-Georgia war was started by Russia with its invasion of Georgia on August 8, 2008. It lasted five days, from August 8 to August 12. Accordingly, August 8 is considered the first day of the war, while August 12 marks its end. Everyone described the conflict in these terms, and all documentary evidence also indicates that the Russian regular army invaded Georgia on August 8, 2008. It attacked our country, occupied parts of its territory, and carried out hostile activities. Naturally, it also committed war crimes, which the Georgian authorities attributed to Georgian servicemen”, he said.

He acknowledged that on August 7, Saakashvili ordered the bombardment of Tskhinvali and publicly displayed the attacks, thereby providing Russia with a pretext for its military intervention. However, he stressed that no pretext could justify Russia’s invasion of Georgia.

“As for August 7, Saakashvili gave the order and carried out bombardments in the direction of Tskhinvali, which, in my view, he deliberately made visible to the entire world. This is factual reality and requires no further assessment. No pretext or reason can justify Russia’s invasion of Georgia; under no circumstances did it have the right to invade. Russia invaded Georgia and launched a full-scale military operation on August 8, 2008. There is neither evidence nor logic to support the opposite conclusion”, Mdinaradze noted.

The Vice Prime Minister criticised former officials, including Giorgi Baramidze, for supporting a resolution that placed blame on Georgian servicemen and, he argued, created legal risks for Georgia at the International Court of Justice.

“Then, two months later, by supporting what I consider a treacherous resolution, they confirmed that they had betrayed their own country. Giorgi Baramidze blamed the Georgian military for war crimes both then and now, creating a major risk for Georgia at the Hague Court, where no one was interested in what day or at what exact time the war began - they were investigating war crimes. In that investigation, the Georgian side, under the Georgian Dream government, ensured that we prevailed despite their support for the treacherous resolution. This is history, and it cannot be rewritten”, he said.

Mdinaradze also said that military escalation had been observed on Georgian territory between August 1 and 7, including shelling and injuries.

According to him, the Georgian side did not convene the UN Security Council over the developments or take any effective measures that would have demonstrated to the international community that Georgia was “absolutely in the right” on the matter.