President Saakashvili said on January 20, that Georgia was not afraid of threats by Russian leaders as their “own country is collapsing on their heads.”

Commenting on Russia’s PM Vladimir Putin’s January 18 remarks on Georgia, Saakashvili said that these remarks made worthless arguments of those who “stubbornly claim” that Putin had problems with the Georgian government, but not with the Georgian people.

“If anyone wants to claim stubbornly that Putin has a problem with the Georgian government, this man [referring to Putin] threw cold water on them, because when he said that [Russian novelist Boris] Akunin fights against him because he [Akunin] is ethnic Georgian, he [Putin] showed that he has a problem with Georgians, with the Georgian nation and not with any of the Georgian government – something that we anyway knew, but now he said it himself,” Saakashvili told journalists on January 20.

“As far as their [Russia’s] threats are concerned, we are not afraid of their threats, because their own country is really collapsing on their heads,” he said.

“All these panicking statements and admissions that there was no peacekeeping operation and instead it was Georgian-Russia armed conflict [in August, 2008] – something that we have always been stating – simply indicate at the current state of this regime [in Russia].”

“By the way it’s a funny fact – which again shows how inadequate they are – that in recent weeks they [the Russian authorities] have sent emissaries to Africa, offering hundreds of millions in bribe to countries in Africa, including offering pocketing tens of millions in bribe to certain officials from governments of some countries in Africa in exchange of recognizing our occupied territories [Abkhazia, South Ossetia] as independent states,” Saakashvili continued.

“The more Russia adds to Nauru’s recognition [of Abkhazia and South Ossetia] a recognition from a corruption-inclined country in Africa, more ridiculous and miserable efforts of the Russian diplomacy will look and it will have an absolutely opposite result and we will regain control over our territories faster; it is plain as day for me. But it clearly indicates at the current state of Russia and what Russia’s absolutely impasse-oriented policy has caused,” he said.

“So we can stay calm, we should continue out rebuilding process, our reforms, which have become a source of admiration for many Russian opposition politicians and a very significant part of the Russian society too,” Saakashvili said. “We should take care of maintaining this non-corrupt and fast developing environment… and wait for what will happen. We really do not want to be a part of their [Russia’s] internal politics. Their internal politics will lead them to a relevant result.”