RUSSIA: Communists stage protest outside U.S. embassy, accuse U.S. of supporting Georgia's Saakashvili

Record ID: 574819

  • Title: RUSSIA: Communists stage protest outside U.S. embassy, accuse U.S. of supporting Georgia's Saakashvili
  • Date: 8th August 2009
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (AUGUST 7, 2009) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS IN FRONT OF U.S. EMBASSY WAVING RED FLAGS COMMUNIST LEADERS ON STAGE ADDRESSING PROTESTERS SKETCH OF GEORGIAN PRESIDENT MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI WITH SIGN READING "GEORGIAN PEOPLE, KICK OUT THE DEVIL" COMMUNIST LEADER GENNADY ZYUGANOV TALKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) GENNADY ZYUGANOV, COMMUNIST PARTY LEADER, SAYING: "It was the first attempt to break us and to make us obey American globalism and NATO's generals. Saaksashvili has failed together with his mercenaries, but this is a lesson to all of us. That's why today, on the day of the war anniversary, we have decided to hold a protest in front of the U.S. embassy and to express our attitude in a direct manner." PROTEST VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS HOLDING PLACARD READING "GEORGIA, DON'T PLAY WITH FIRE" AGAINST BACKGROUND OF U.S. EMBASSY PROTESTERS COMMUNIST PARTY FLAGS PROTEST
  • Embargoed: 23rd August 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Reuters ID: LVA367PAMM29JIME1VO1C7F8HR7P
  • Story Text: About 200 communists gathered on Friday (August 7) outside the U.S. embassy in Moscow on the first anniversary of Russian-Georgian war to protest against Washington, saying it was supporting Georgia.
    Addressing the protesters, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov accused the United States of providing financial support to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and his government and of rearming the country.
    "It was the first attempt to break us and to make us obey American globalism and NATO's generals. Saaksashvili has failed together with his mercenaries, but this is a lesson to all of us. That's why today, on the day of the war anniversary, we have decided to hold a protest in front of the U.S. embassy and to express our attitude in a direct manner," said Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov.
    Protesters held placards with a caricature of Saakashvili with devil-like horns and captions reading 'Georgian people, kick out the devil' and 'Georgia, don't play with fire'.
    Georgian forces launched an assault on South Ossetia late on August 7, 2008 after days of clashes with separatists and years of escalating tension with Moscow, drawing a devastating Russian counter-strike that ended on August 12.
    Russia blames the "aggression" of Saakashvili and his U.S.-trained army, and says it fought to defend Russian peacekeepers and civilians holding Russian passports.
    The war killed at least 390 civilians and at its height displaced more than 100,000. A year on, an unfulfilled ceasefire pact, sporadic gunfire and the withdrawal of monitors from pro-Western Georgia's two rebel regions keep alive the risk of renewed war.
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