Russia wants Georgia to be “prosperous and free state”, Russian President, Dmitri Medvedev, said in a message to the Georgian citizens, congratulating the 66th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany.
 
“Russia has always been and will be committed to centuries old traditions of good neighborhood and friendship with the Georgian people. We want to see Georgia as a prosperous and free state, living in peace with all of its neighbors,” the Russian President’s message posted on his website reads.

Georgian Foreign Minister, Grigol Vashadze, described this message of congratulation as “clownery.”

“I do not think the Georgian people have accepted this congratulation by the Russian President, or any Georgian has accepted it; clownery has no limits; one can be a clown in any possible form,” Vashadze told journalists on May 8.

He was speaking after a wreath laying ceremony at the memorial to Unknown Soldier in Tbilisi in which a group of foreign diplomats accredited in Georgia also participated.

“Usually our Ministry [of Foreign Affairs] marks this date [victory over the Nazi Germany] on May 8. Instead of May 9, I am in favor of marking it on May 8, when it is celebrated by the entire world; for totally incomprehensible reasons Russians are marking it, as usually, separately,” Vashadze said.

“I want to congratulate the Victory Day to the Russian people. I am sure that in the nearest future, when there are normal authorities in Russia – as Russians call it вменяемая власть [vmenyaemaya vlast, sane authorities] – and when Russia [becomes] normal and democratic country, we will mark this day together,” Vashadze said.

The Russian President also sent separate messages of congratulations to CIS countries, which were addressed to the leaders of those countries. Medvedev also sent similar messages to the leaders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgia’s two breakaway regions, which Russia recognized as independent states in August, 2008 after war with Georgia.