Tbilisi, Nov 29: Eduard Shevardnadze, who last weekend resigned as president of Georgia amid unprecedented protests, laid part of the blame for his overthrow at the feet of US groups in an interview. The 75-year-old former Soviet foreign minister, still feted in the west as a man who helped end the cold war, also heaped praise on the youngsters who drove him from power.
"I don't want to talk about the United States. They have various bases of power, democratic institutes. Various structures, there are embassies," Shevardnadze said in an interview with a handful of journalists in his study at the Ktstanisi presidential residence outside Tbilisi.
"Some participated, some helped, some aided. I don't think the administration itself participated in what happened in Georgia," he said.
"The west supports realistic power. They saw, they were convinced that others had come to power," he said in between sips of black tea.
"Who are we going to deal with afterward? they looked for someone and found those three," he said.
He was referring to Nino Burjanadze, Zurab Zhvania, and Mikhail Saakashvili.
Bureau Report