madam president although it is factually correct that president saakashvili did indeed launch an attack on south ossetia in two thousand and eight this was only after provocation including severe economic sanctions and a build-up of russian troops in the occupied territories
the report does not seem in my view to fully reflect the fact of the disproportionate response by russian forces which involved bombing civilian areas of georgia like gori and allowed systematic ethnic cleansing of georgians from south ossetia and the occupation of georgian territory by abkhazian forces
saakashvili in my view was indeed intemperate in seeking to regain control of sovereign georgian territory and made a terrible political mistake though it was after all georgian sovereign territory
however russia now is determined illegally to establish a sphere of influence in other countries in its neighbourhood the so-called near abroad which are of course sovereign territories which should be respected in international law
