Day: August 21, 2025

In a recently published New York Times article, Davit Razmadze, Georgian Dream chairman of the Gori Municipal Assembly (Sakrebulo), is quoted as blaming former President Mikheil Saakashvili for the August 2008 Russo-Georgian War and saying that Russians “came here as peacekeepers.” As the piece fueled public backlash, Razmadze denied the quotes.

“It was all Misha’s fault,” Razmadze said, reportedly, referring to Saakashvili. “He deliberately provoked the situation,” he added, blaming the former president and his government for starting the war – a stance in line with the ruling Georgian Dream party’s stated position.

Razmadze, who now represents the ruling party in Gori, which was shelled by Russian troops in 2008, called those troops “peacekeepers,” according to the New York Times.

“They came here as peacekeepers, and thank God they did, because Misha’s hooligans were looting across the city,” he said. “They even stole a priest’s car, if you can believe it. If the Russians hadn’t come, who knows how much more damage they would have caused.”

As the NY Times article drew public backlash, Razmadze denied the quotes, calling them “defamation” and “lies.”

“Never in my life have I said anything good about Russia,” Razmadze told TV Pirveli in an August 21 phone call, saying he never referred in the interview to “Saakashvili’s hooligans.” “I said that Saakashvili’s government left the town,” he added, noting he may file a lawsuit against New York Times journalist Scott Anderson, the article’s author. Razmadze also said he does not blame Saakashvili for “starting” the war, but for “supporting the annexation of Georgian territories.”

In the article, Razmadze is also quoted as saying he does not want Georgia to join the European Union, “and have them tell us what to do.” He also reportedly said, “Just as the Soviet Union collapsed, I now want to see the EU fall down because it’s against us.”

“The reason we have always been careful about joining the EU is because we know it is full of KGB agents.”

Razmadze denied making those remarks as well. “I am a Georgian Dream member. Is Georgian Dream saying we are against EU integration?!” he said.

Also Read:

• 11/08/2025 – Kobakhidze: UNM ‘Treason’ in August War Doesn’t Justify Russian Occupation
• 08/08/2025 – Georgian Dream Officials Comment on War Anniversary
• 01/04/2025 – Hard-Pressed, GD Brings the War Back into Focus
• 14/09/2024 – In Gori, Ivanishvili Blames Outsiders, UNM for 2008 War, Broaches Apology “to Ossetian Brothers and Sisters”
• 13/08/2024 – Instrumentalizing Tagliavini Report, GD Blames UNM for 2008 War, Calls for Trial
  

Azerbaijani wrestler Gunay Gurbanova has claimed the bronze medal at U-20 World Championship in Samokov, Bulgaria, Azernews reports.

“A beautiful school is now under construction in the city of Kalbajar, and it is scheduled for commissioning next year. However, this school year, the children of Kalbajar will study in a modular school,” President Ilham Aliyev said at a meeting with Kalbajar city residents.

Air passenger traffic in Azerbaijan marks an overall increase compared to the same period last year

US refused to condemn Russia

On the 17th anniversary of the August 2008 war, several UN Security Council members again condemned Russia’s actions. Notably, this was the first time the United States did not sign such a statement.

Georgia’s foreign ministry has already responded to the declaration issued after the Security Council meeting.

Georgian Dream claims Saakashvili started 2008 war on US orders — backed by Russia’s Foreign Ministry

The majority of the public, along with the entire opposition, blame Russia for starting the war and for the subsequent occupation of Georgian territory — a position also backed by Georgia’s Western partners.

After the closed meeting, Slovenia’s UN ambassador, Ondina Blokar Drobič, read out the declaration. She said it had been signed by Denmark, France, Greece, the United Kingdom and Slovenia, along with the non-permanent Council member Latvia.

The declaration again condemned the killings of Georgian citizens, including Davit Basharuli, Giga Otkhozoria, Archil Tatunashvili, Tamaz Ginturi, Vitali Karbalia and Irakli Kvaratskhelia, stressing that those responsible must be brought to justice.

“We strongly reaffirm our support for Georgia’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. We condemn Russia’s brutal invasion and its ongoing illegal military presence, which violates the UN Charter, as well as its effective control and steps towards annexing two Georgian regions, including the signing of so-called integration agreements, the transfer of strategically important Georgian territory and infrastructure to Russia, and the holding of unlawful so-called elections.

We again condemn Russia’s continuing provocations, violations of international law and the militarisation of the two Georgian regions, including restrictions on freedom of movement, unlawful detention and abductions of local residents, discrimination against ethnic Georgians, bans on education in the native language, the deliberate destruction of Georgian cultural heritage, and the establishment of unauthorised air, rail and maritime links between Russia and the Abkhaz region.

We again call on Russia to fully comply with the 2008 ceasefire agreement and to withdraw its forces from Georgian territory immediately. We repeat the call we made to Russia 17 years ago: to revoke its recognition of the so-called independence of the two Georgian regions, to stop obstructing the creation of international security mechanisms and to allow international human rights and humanitarian organisations access to both regions,” the statement said.

August, 2008. Chronology of the war over South Ossetia in facts and photos

August five-day war: what happened. JAMnews has published a detailed, chronological review of how the war started and unfolded over those five days

Comment

Tina Bokuchava, chair of the opposition United National Movement party, wrote on social media that Bidzina Ivanishvili’s regime had left the country without partners and subordinated it to the influence of Russia and its allies.

She said the fact that, for the first time in 17 years since the 2008 war, the United States had not joined a UN statement in support of Georgia was proof that Georgian diplomacy was “dead.”

Tina Bokuchava:

“The Georgian foreign ministry as an institution no longer exists.

Yesterday, for the first time in 17 years, the United States did not join the statement made after the closed UN Security Council discussion of the 2008 war. This is not just a failure of Georgian diplomacy — it is proof that it is dead.

Ivanishvili’s regime has become so hostile to the United States that our main strategic partner — whose open support in 2008, together with the heroism of the Georgian army, stopped Putin and preserved our state — now refrains from making any statement on the war.

Why? Because today Ivanishvili’s Russia-friendly regime declares America an enemy, accuses it of starting the war, and names Russia, China and Iran as allies.

That is why, since 2012, we have said that Ivanishvili’s political project is the ‘Russian Dream,’ the ‘Putin Dream,’ in which Georgia is left alone in the face of Russia — isolated internationally, without friends and strategic partners. Because there is only one form of relationship with Putin: slavery, servitude and oppression.

Will the Georgian people lose their centuries-long struggle for freedom to Bidzina Ivanishvili? No — never! We will win and restore the national dignity that Ivanishvili has stolen from our country. We will take back Georgia!”

News and events in Georgia

On August 21, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva visited the first residential complex in Kalbajar, where they inspected the living conditions created in individual and multi-story buildings and met with the residents who have relocated there, Azernews reports.

Narimanfilm Film Studio, with the support of the Azerbaijan Culture Ministry and the Azerbaijan Cinema Agency, and with PASHA Holding as the main sponsor, plans to hold the 4th edition of the Salam BYFF from August 25 to 28, 2025, Azernews reports.

South Philadelphia’s roots lie with Lenni Lenape Indians who utilized the Delaware shoreline as source of food. European settlement began with the New Sweden colony, centered in Delaware.