The events of August 8, 2008 radically changed my life, said Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council and former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev.

“It is one thing when you are elected president at a fairly young age and get used to the tasks and responsibilities you have to carry. It is another thing when you are forced to make decisions about military action. I can say that this is very difficult,” Medvedev said.

According to him, “it was not easy, especially when the Georgian regime was being encouraged from across the ocean.”

“When something like this happens, there is an element of surprise. In my view, the most important thing is to make decisions as quickly as possible, and that is exactly what was done,” Medvedev noted.

Medvedev stated that after telephone conversations with the defense minister, the chief of the general staff, and other military leaders, he made the decision to launch a retaliatory strike against Georgian military formations.

“And we made the right decision. If we had not done so, events would have developed according to a completely different scenario. This made it possible to resolve the situation quickly and to explain that this is not how one should act toward Russia. One should never act this way toward Russia,” said the Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council.