TBILISI, September 17. /TASS/. Official Tbilisi could not tell the truth in the past that the 2008 war in South Ossetia was started by ex-Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili, the country’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said.

"The answer to a question about the changed position is simple and I can express it in two words: The Hague and Strasbourg. Due to ongoing cases in The Hague and Strasbourg we have been avoiding firm and clear statements on this issue. Yet now, when we see that, first of all, the court cases are over, secondly, the very same political force is trying to ignite a war in the country even now, we cannot permit ourselves not to tell the whole truth to Georgian society that it was precisely the Saakashvili regime that unleashed a war in Georgia on August 7, 2008," Kobakhidze said at a briefing.

Replying to a journalist’s question as to whether the government’s new stance is that the war was started by Georgia, the prime minister answered that the European Council concurs and its resolution was signed by the Saakashvili regime. "This is just stating generally recognized facts," the Georgian premier concluded.

An armed conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia broke out in August 2008 after Georgian forces tried to forcibly take control of the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinval. On August 8, Moscow sent troops to protect Russian nationals and the Russian peacekeeping contingent stationed in the region, forcing the Georgian army to retreat. On August 26, 2008, Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another former Georgian autonomous region.

Previously, official Tbilisi insisted that Russia was the aggressor that initiated the war in South Ossetia. On September 14, the founder of the Georgian Dream ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili during a pre-election rally asserted that Georgia will apologize for the war launched in August 2008 by Saakashvili. Ivanishvili also accused Saakashvili of starting a war on orders from abroad.