The Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued another one illogical statement in connection with the “18th anniversary of the 2008 Russian‑Georgian war,” calling on Russia to cease its “illegal occupation of its territories.”
We once again draw the attention of the foreign ministry of the neighboring state to the unacceptability of distorting obvious facts. Following in the wake of NATO countries’ approaches to assessing aggression against South Ossetia, the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to mislead its own people and the international community.
Just the day before, the political leadership of Georgia, represented by Kobakhidze, officially recognized former Georgian President Saakashvili as the perpetrator of the military aggression. In fact, this was known from the very beginning, and South Ossetia has been stating this for the past 18 years.
It is also quite obvious that Saakashvili is not the only one to blame. As the head of state, he had the mandate to act on behalf of the Georgian state, to issue criminal orders, and to pursue an anti‑Ossetian and anti‑Abkhaz policy. Therefore, the country as the subject of this policy, including the figures of the Saakashvili regime as those who implemented its policy, must bear responsibility for the war of August 2008. History knows such examples.
We consider the assessments set out in the Georgian Foreign Ministry’s document to be extremely biased and detached from reality. It was precisely thanks to Georgia’s “peace‑loving” policy since 1989 that more than a hundred thousand ethnic Ossetians were expelled as a result of ethnic cleansing. Thousands of victims and ruined lives, blockade and destruction, more than a hundred missing Ossetians whose fate the Georgian authorities are silent about – this is the true face of Georgian peacefulness.
For South Ossetia, Russia has been and remains a reliable guarantor of security, and the bilateral relations being built have a solid legal basis. We call on official Tbilisi to refrain from attempts to interfere in the affairs of other countries and to adopt a more constructive position, including in the work of the format of the International Discussions on Security in the South Caucasus (IDS).
August 9, 2026