Georgia's Saakashvili lashes out at Russia

TBILISI, Georgia, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili wrote a stinging political indictment of Russia's military invasion Thursday in the Financial Times.

Saakashvili alleged the incursion into Georgia this month by Moscow was "prepared over years, to rebuild its empire, seize greater control of Europe's energy supplies and punish those who believed democracy could flourish on its borders."

In the opinion piece, Saakashvili challenged Russia' assertion it rolled in tanks and troops to protect its citizens in South Ossetia, claiming Moscow had been "manufacturing" citizens by issuing passports to citizens for the past five years.

"The most egregious was Moscow's absurd claim on the eve of the invasion that Georgia was committing genocide in South Ossetia, with 2,000 civilian deaths," Saakashvili wrote in the Financial Times. "A week later, Moscow admitted that only 133 people had died."

The president concluded his piece with a plea for international support.

"Regrettably, this story is no longer about my small country, but the West's ability to stand its ground to defend a principled approach to international security and keep the map of Europe intact," he wrote.

Saakashvili's article was in response to a similar op-ed item by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Wednesday's Financial Times.