On August 8, 2023, in the “Alternative Vision” program of the pro-Kremlin TV channel “Alt-Info,” the founder, Konstantine Morgoshia, spoke about the Russo-Georgian war. According to Morgoshia, all the villages and gorges that Georgia lost after the August war were exchanged for Mikheil Saakashvili to remain as president, which was also confirmed in the book by the former US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. Morgoshia published the full recording of the program on his Facebook page, and the fragment in which the founder of “Alt-Info” talks about Condoleezza Rice’s book was also published on Facebook by supporters of the pro-Kremlin “Conservative Movement” party (1, 2, 3, 4).
The claim that, according to Condoleezza Rice’s book, after the Russo-Georgian war, certain territories were sacrificed to preserve the position of the current president, Mikheil Saakashvili, is false. In one of the chapters, Condoleezza Rice indeed talks about the Russo-Georgian war and Lavrov’s stated conditions, but nowhere does she mention that Georgia lost territories in exchange to keeping Saakashvili’s position.
Condoleezza Rice’s book – No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington – published in 2011, tells the story through the eyes of the former US National Security Advisor and Secretary of State.
“This is her unflinchingly honest story of that remarkable time, from what really went on behind closed doors when the fates of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Lebanon often hung in the balance and how frighteningly close all-out war loomed in clashes involving Pakistan-India and Russia-Georgia, to her candid appraisal of her colleagues and contemporaries.” – mentions the review of the book.
The section about the Russo-Georgian war
One of the chapters of the book entitled “War breaks out in Georgia” is dedicated to the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. At the beginning of the mentioned chapter, Condoleezza Rice recalls her visit to Tbilisi and talks about how in July 2008, Mikheil Saakashvili showed the picturesque views of Tbilisi from the terrace of the “Kopala” restaurant and informed about the restoration works that were going on at various historical monuments of Tbilisi. According to Rice, “He was very proud of his leadership of the country and rightly so: Georgia’s corruption levels (according to the Corruption Perception Index) had declined dramatically beginning with Saakashvili’s police reform initiatives in which thousands of corrupt officers had been fired and the department completely rebranded. The country was also trying to shield itself from Russia’s pressure, by attempting to use gas from Azerbaijan instead of Russia. And despite Moscow’s embargo of Georgian goods, the economy continued to grow even though large segments of the population still lived in dire poverty.” In July 2008, Condoleezza Rice stated that Georgia is a “very good ally” of the United States of America, noting, that the April 16 decree of the Russian President on the establishment of official relations with South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as the introduction of railway forces into Abkhazia, causes concern.
-
According to Rice’s book, it was Lavrov who demanded Saakashvili’s resignation
Condoleezza Rice had to come to Georgia again in a month, but now because of the war. At the time, President George W. Bush was attending the Beijing Olympics. According to Rice, at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, Bush sat next to Putin and listened to awkward conversations in which the Russians accused Georgians of genocide and ignored the actions of Russian troops. Rice believed that the conflict should not turn into a US-Russia conflict and that the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) should be actively involved in the negotiations. Rice also issued a statement calling on Russia to cease fire, to “cease attacks on Georgia by aircraft and missiles, respect Georgia’s territorial integrity and withdraw its ground combat forces from Georgian soil.” On August 11, Sergey Lavrov called her for a second time and told her that Russia had three demands: “The first two are that the Georgians sign the no-use-of-force pledge and that their troops return to barracks,” he told me. Done,” I answered. But then Sergei said, “The other demand is just between us. Misha Saakashvili has to go.” I couldn’t believe my ears, and I reacted out of instinct, not analysis. Sergei, the secretary of state of the United States, does not have a conversation with the Russian foreign minister about overthrowing a democratically elected president,” I said. “The third condition has just become public because I’m going to call everyone I can and tell them that Russia is demanding the overthrow of the Georgian president.” “I said it was between us,” he repeated. “No, it’s not between us. Everyone is going to know.”
In the book of the former US Secretary of State, we read that after the conversation with Lavrov, Condoleezza Rice called George Bush’s national security adviser, Steve Hadley, and informed the British, French, and representatives of other countries about the Russian request. At the same time, Rice asked his representative to inform the UN Security Council about Lavrov’s request. Lavrov was enraged by this and said that he’d never had a colleague divulge the contents of a diplomatic conversation. Rice wrote that if Georgians wanted to punish Saakashvili because of the war, they would have the opportunity to do so in a constitutional way. But the Russians had no right to insist on Saakashvili’s removal. “The whole thing had an air of the Soviet period, when Moscow had controlled the fate of leaders throughout Eastern Europe.” Condoleezza Rice does not write anywhere that the failure to fulfill Lavrov’s third condition caused Georgia to lose additional territories.
According to Rice, during the August war, Saakashvili called the White House constantly, and they decided that in addition to sending humanitarian supplies by military transport, which was a visible expression of American support, Condoleezza Rice should come to Georgia.
On August 12, 2008, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov himself admitted that he told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Saakashvili should resign. In an interview with CNN after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, Condoleezza Rice recalled the August 2008 war and drew a parallel with the situation around Ukraine. She was talking about what the West can learn from the example of Russia’s invasion of Georgia. Rice also recalled that during the meeting, Lavrov named Mikheil Saakashvili’s resignation as one of the conditions for ending the actions.
Notably, after the publication of Condoleezza Rice’s memoirs in 2011, interpretations were spread as if Condoleezza Rice blamed Georgia for the start of the war, although Condoleezza Rice denied this in November 2011 in a conversation with the Atlantic:
Condoleezza Rice: “The idea that I somehow blamed Saakashvili for this … I just don’t think that is accurate,” she said. “It is true that we were worried that the Russians would provoke Saakashvili and that he would allow himself to be provoked. But in no way were the Georgians at fault, and I think that’s clear from the full text.”
It should be noted that “Myth Detector” revealed disinformation about Condoleezza Rice’s memoirs in the past as well. It was argued that according to the book, Mikheil Saakashvili was going to flee the country during the war. However, Condoleezza Rice writes in her memoirs that Moscow wanted Saakashvili to resign, but nothing is said about the plan to leave Georgia. For more, see:
- What did Lavrov Demand from Saakashvili during August War and what does Condoleezza Rice Write about it?
About the Source
Facebook user Nutsa Javelidze is a supporter of the “Conservative Movement” and shares the videos of their leaders and Alt-Info on her personal page. The user has disseminated disinformation in the past as wel (1, 2).
The article has been written in the framework of Facebook’s fact-checking program. You can read more about the restrictions that Facebook may impose based on this article via this link. You can find information about appealing or editing our assessment via this link.
Read detailed instructions for editing the article.
Read detailed appeal instructions.
