Putin admits Moscow planned military actions in Georgia in advance
08.08.12 20:24
At the fourth anniversary of the Russia-Georgia war, President Vladimir Putin has made a scandalous statement admitting that the General Staff of Russia had prepared the plan of military activities in 2006-2007 and he personally endorsed the plan.
This was the time when Vladimir Putin was to assume the office of Russian president for the second term.
The Russian president told media after the meeting with his Armenian counterpart that, within the plan, Moscow was training armed military units in Tskhinvali Region.
"There was such a plan. It was drafted by the General Staff approximately in the end of 2006- the beginning of 2007. Within this plan self-defense forces from South Ossetia were being trained. Frankly speaking, our military experts believed it was rather a hopeless business because offering rebuff to a regular army of any country, even such a small country as Georgia, was impossible. But the military experts were mistaken; these people (self-defense) proved more than necessary and they courageously defended their motherland and jointly with the Russian peacekeepers offered resistance to Georgian military formations for three days until the Russian army came," Putin said.
"While in Beijing, I called Dmitry Medvedev and the defense minister twice, on August 7 and 8", he said when asked about his personal involvement in the military actions.
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