Soldiers at the Mukhrovani military complex briefly revolted, demanding that the government of President Mikhail Saakashvili and his political opponents stop their feuding and begin dealing with the country's problems. Opposition groups have been staging massive protests in Tbilisi for the past three weeks, demanding that Saakashvili resign for failing to bring about democratic reforms, mismanaging the country's economy and for leading Georgia into a disastrous war against Russia last summer.
Col. Mamuka Gorgishvili, commander of the rebel tank battalion said, "watching the country being torn apart by the current standoff is unbearable," to explain why his troops chose to revolt.
But now that the uprising is over, for now, the finger-pointing has begun in earnest. Saakashvili is, of course, blaming the Russians for the uprising at Mukhrovani, saying it was part of a larger Russian-led coup attempt aimed at driving his government from power. Russia's ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin dismissed Saakashvili's accusation as being ridiculous. "If Saakashvili gets diarrhea, it must also be the hand or foot of Moscow," Rogozin said on Russian television, a humorous way of pointing out that Saakashvili now routinely blames all of Georgia's problems on Russia.
Georgia's opposition leaders, meanwhile, blamed the uprising on Saakashvili himself, suggesting that he staged the whole thing as a way of undermining the protests going on against his government and derailing a planned day of civil disobedience across Georgia. "What we saw looked like a one-man theater show," said opposition leader David Gamkrelidze after the uprising ended.
One thing is for sure; this won't be the end of the problems in Georgia, or the protests against Saakashvili.
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