Parliament’s Temporary Investigative Commission examining alleged crimes committed by the former United National Movement Government in 2003 – 2012 reviewed the situation in Georgia’s Russian occupied territories between 2004 and 2008 and the 2008 August war.

Mikheil Kareli, the State Representative in Shida Kartli in 2004 – 2007, spoke about the deployment of the armed forces in the Tskhinvali region in 2008. As he said, the development had exacerbated situation and led to an escalation of the conflict.

He recalled the events in the Adjara region, where Aslan Abashidze relinquished control, bringing the region under the jurisdiction of the central Government. As Kareli added, Mikheil Saakashvili frequently mentioned Tskhinvali as the next step and that “we will enter Tskhinvali very soon”.

“Later, as it turned out, he and a small political elite made the decision to deploy defence armed forces in the region, given the provocations from the Ossetian side. These provocations always existed and were not something unusual.

Of course, this was not desirable, and I don"t want it to sound like it was a positive process; on the contrary, it was a very negative one. However, the deployment of armed forces based on these provocations actually worsened the situation in the region.

As “zugzwang” in chess, any move we make only worsens our situation. Such a situation was created, and in fact, the deployment of these troops led to an escalation of the conflict”, - said Mikheil Kareli.