Putin: U.S. government orchestrated Russo-Georgian conflict

Putin: U.S. government orchestrated Russo-Georgian conflict



Reuters, quoting from the interview, reports that Putin said "[t]he suspicion arises that someone in the United States especially created this conflict with the aim of making the situation more tense and creating a competitive advantage for one of the candidates fighting for the post of U.S. president."

Putin, the powerful former president, went on to allege direct involvement by the U.S. government.

"The fact is that U.S. citizens were indeed in the area in conflict during the hostilities," Putin says, according to the CNN's on-air translation. "Then, it should be admitted, that they would do so only following direct orders from their supervisors. Therefore, they were acting in implementing those orders, doing as they were ordered, and the only one who can give such orders is their supervisors."