2008 war inquiry: former UNM Gov't official says fear of appearing war-mongering influenced decision on civilian warnings

Georgian Parliament's Temporary Investigative Commission examining alleged crimes committed by the former United National Movement Government between 2003 and 2012 on Wednesday reviewed the situation in Georgia's Russian occupied territories between 2004 and 2008 and the 2008 August War with Russia.

During a session, Grigol Vashadze, the former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs under the former UNM Government, responded to a question from the Commission's Chair Tea Tsulukiani regarding why the population in the conflict zone was not warned prior to the escalation of hostilities.

In response, Vashadze noted that warning citizens was not his direct responsibility. He further added that he had raised this issue multiple times at the Security Council meetings and was told that it would be addressed.

“This was not my direct responsibility. I raised this issue several times at the National Security Council [meetings], and they told me that they would address it. Georgia was doing everything possible to prevent the war. If we had evacuated civilians at a time when the Russian Federation was demonstratively withdrawing its own population, it would have created the impression that we were also preparing for war. This was one of the considerations expressed at the time”, Vashadze concluded.