TBILISI, August 7. /TASS/. The government of former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili started the war in South Ossetia in August 2008, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told reporters.
"In 2008, a tragic event occurred when the Saakashvili regime started a war in Tskhinval. You know what the result was: more than 400 dead, occupied territories, and so-called recognition. The war was started by the bloody Saakashvili regime," Kobakhidze said.
When asked by a reporter who instructed Saakashvili to start the war, the prime minister said the instructions came from outside, particularly from representatives of the so-called deep state.
On the night of August 8, 2008, Georgia launched an armed attack on South Ossetia. Russia stood up to defend the republic's citizens, many of whom had taken Russian citizenship by then, as well as its peacekeepers, who had worked in the region since 1992. More than 1,000 people were killed as a result of the five-day military conflict, 72 of whom were Russian servicemen. On August 26, 2008, Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another former Georgian autonomous region.