Saakashvili ‘Played Directly into Russia’s Hands’: WikiLeaks

Despite staunch support from Poland for Georgia during its war with Russia in 2008, a top Polish general warned at the time that the Georgian president was “stupid” and only ”“playing into Russian hands” by moving troops into South Ossetia, reports Polskie Radio S.A.

A recently leaked report quotes Poland’s late Gen. Franciszek Gagor, then Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces (who later died in the Smolensk air crash in April this year), as saying that “Saaskashvili made an extremely bad decision to move into South Ossetia and played directly into Russia’s hands.”

It says Saakashvili was “manipulated by Russian agents, possibly even among his advisors,” who were seeking to disrupt pipelines in Georgia and derail the country’s NATO aspirations.

“Georgia’s ‘stupid’ move only benefits Moscow and greatly strengthens resurgent forces in Russia,” the report reads.

Both the government in Warsaw and the then Polish president, Lech Kaczynski — who made a dramatic trip to Tbilisi during the war in the summer of 2008 — were one of Georgia’s most ardent supporters in Europe. But the Wikileaks documents show that the European Union and some in the United States were split on the issue.