Vladimir Putin accuses Saakashvili of breaking his promise regarding not to deal with the issues of South Ossetia and Abkhazia with the use of force

Russian president Vladimir Putin talked about relations between Georgia and Russia in the recent episode of interviews with news agency TASS.

Answering question of the journalist about Russia’s close neighbours distancing themselves from Russia, Putin said (About Georgia): “They didn’t just distance themselves – they jumped aside. Through no fault of ours. They should thank Mikhail Nikolayevich [Saakashvili] for that” – He said.

"He is running around, from square to square, on rooftops, like a tomcat. We had a lot of discussions with him on the subject when he was still in office. I think that Mikhail Nikolayevich would recall that. I told him: ‘Listen, don't you ever try to deal with South Ossetia and Abkhazia with the use of force.’ ‘No, no, I'll never do that,’ he said. And he still stormed in, stormed in and got knocked back!” – Putin commented.