The President of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili, has long ago planned blow over South Ossetia in order to return the republic under the control of Tbilisi, the Ex-Minister of Defense of Georgia and the former political companion-in-arms of Georgian President Irakli Okruashvili said in his interview to Reuters. According to Okruashvili, he and Saakashvili together developed the military plan on seizure of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. "Abkhazia was our strategic priority, but we were prepared in 2005 to the intrusion both into Abkhazia and South Ossetia," said Okruashvili.
The initial plan envisaged operation on the territory of South Ossetia with the seizure of Tskhinvali, Roksk tunnel and Javi, said the Georgian ex-minister. However, Saakashvili aimed only at the seizure of Tskhinvali, "because he thought that the USA will overlap the Russian answer through the diplomatic channels," said Okruashvili. According to him, the Georgian President sent the troops to the Roksk tunnel when he only understood that the reaction of Washington solves nothing, but it was already late.
Okruashvili noted that after 2006, Georgia did not have a possibility to realize its plans in a military way because "the Russians regrouped and strengthened their military infrastructure in North Caucasus, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Speaking of the role of the USA in the conflict, Okruashvili said that part of the fault for the last events falls on Washington, which supported Saakashvili in spite of his growing authoritarianism and uncontrolled ambitions. According to the ex-minister, in May 2005 at the meeting with the President of the USA George Bush, the Georgian leadership was said directly: do not interfere in the military confrontation - we will not be able to help you in a military way", RBK reported.