President Saakashvili said on July 29, that there was a threat of Russia’s attack on Georgia this summer, but strong U.S. support to Georgia and “unity of the people” within the country helped to avert the new war.

He said Putin wanted to attack Georgia this year “to put an end to the Georgian statehood.”

“The Georgian state has not collapsed after April [reference of opposition’s street protest rallies, which started on April 9]; our people maintained unity and our economy did not collapse… Today Russia’s economy and the economy of most of the European countries are in far worst situation than the Georgian economy,” Saakashvili said.

“Because of these factors and also because of the western and U.S. support the threat of war this summer has passed,” he said.

Saakashvili was speaking at an outdoor meeting with a group of local residents of one of Tbilisi’s suburbs in presence of TV cameras. The meeting was part, what Saakashvili called “dialogue with the public” announced during his address to the Parliament on July 20.

“My goal during next several years that are left before the end of my term in office will be to bring your voice to each and every public official and to the international community,” he said at the meeting.

“Those who are seen most often on the TV are in fact far from your problems. In Georgia there is a large group of politicians for whom talking is simply a business... Most of the politicians have turned into TV anchors, they are seen night and day on the TV screens, talking about the people, which they have not even met with; talking about hardship, which they have never experienced… they misappropriate the right to speak on behalf of the people.”

“My goal is not get fixated on the screens of several TV stations and not to get fixated on what is going on in corridors of the Parliament or in Tbilisi center,” Saakashvili said. “I came here to listen to you and to speak less.”