TBILISI, DFWatch–Mayor of Tbilisi Gigi Ugulava has threatened that any investigator involved in the planned new investigation of the 2008 Georgia-Russia war will be participating in ‘betrayal’ and will be ‘punished’ when the right time comes.

The government of Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has said it wants to have a new investigation into the decisions made during the war, and that even President Mikheil Saakashvili might be called in for questioning.

Saakashvili and his allies in the United National Movement (UNM) party are strongly against this, and claim that it will bring up the sensitive issue of who started the war.

UNM’s spokespersons have accused Ivanishvili of having ‘pro-Russian views’ and having earned his fortune in Russia. They claim he is conducting a pro-Russian policy, of which the new inquest into the war is only the latest in a long series of unpatriotic actions.

But despite alleging that Ivanishvili is pro-Russian, on Sunday, Ugulava, one of Saakashvili’s closest allies, accused the prime minister of having attempted to run away when the Russians invaded Georgia during the August war.

He claimed that Ivanishvili had demanded safe passage in Sarpi, a town on the Black Sea bordering Turkey.

Ugulava reiterated his strong objection to having another investigation into what happened in the war.

“No-one believes that Kbilashvili [chief prosecutor], who during the war was sitting in his Maskovskaya Kvartcira [Moscow apartment] can really conduct an objective investigation,” Ugulava said on Sunday after attending a media tour on Turtle Lake in Tbilisi.

“Ivanishvili was ready to run away in Ureki and was demanding safe passage to soon leave. No-one believes that these people can conduct any objective investigation. That’s why it is better to take more care of economy issues, which unfortunately have become more of a problem lately in the country.”