Moscow, 5 May: The responsibility for the latest events in Tbilisi lies not only with the Georgian authorities but also with their foreign sponsors, the head of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, Konstantin Kosachev, has said.

"The grave situation in Georgia is in many ways due to the indulgence, absolution of sins, given to it (Georgia) by the West, and the way the Georgian opposition and the mutinous military are behaving is a reaction to the hopelessness of President Saakashvili's policy, which is backed by NATO and the USA. Thus, the responsibility for this, to a large extent, lies with Mr Saakashvili's foreign partners," K. Kosachev told journalists on Tuesday (5 May).

The politician noted that it was "not yet clear" what caused the mutiny in Tbilisi. "This mutiny could be caused, in equal measure, either by the disintegration of the political system in Georgia, or this may be some sort of performance staged by the authorities themselves in order to divert attention from the grave political and economic situation in the country," the MP said. At the same time, he stressed that "in any case Russia has nothing to do with this."

"It is in Russia's interests that Georgia should resolve its problems in a democratic, political manner rather than in the street, but this is not happening yet, and every time the changes of power there were brought about by coups. And it is not the first time Mr Saakashvili explains his own problems by the hand of Moscow", K. Kosachev said.

He noted that the events in Tbilisi were "a purely internal problem of Georgia". "But if we see that the destabilization of the situation may spill over the borders of Georgia, we will be ready to prevent that far more successfully than in August of the last year in South Ossetia," the deputy stressed.

At the same time, he pointed to the coincidence of some dates. "NATO's military exercise starts in Georgia tomorrow, and it will end almost on the same day as the parliamentary election in South Ossetia on 31 May - the exercise will end on 1 June," the MP explained.

He noted that the State Duma was receiving signals that the population of South Ossetia was extremely worried about the upcoming military exercise and that many families, worried about their safety, were moving to other regions.

K. Kosachev assured that the Russian side would be closely watching the situation in Georgia in order to ensure the safety of the populations of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.