Saakashvili makes unsubstantiated claim that Georgia foiled a government coup by Russia!
MOSCOW, Russia - May 5, 2009 - Georgia claimed today to have foiled a Russian-backed plot to stage a military coup on the eve of joint exercises with NATO troops.
An Interior Ministry spokesman announced that the special services had uncovered a plot to topple the government involving a former high-ranking officer at the Defense Ministry.
A tank battalion had mutinied at a base in Mukhrovani, 20 miles east of Tbilisi, and was refusing to obey orders, the Defense Ministry said.
The dramatic development comes a day before Georgia hosts three weeks of military exercises with NATO that Russia has condemned as provocative so soon after the war over the breakaway region of South Ossetia in August last year.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is also facing a sustained protest campaign from opposition parties demanding his resignation.
David Sikharulidze, the Georgian Defense Minister, told state television that several hundred troops in the tank battalion had launched a rebellion aimed at overthrowing the authorities and wrecking the NATO exercises.
"The mutiny is continuing. The rebellious battalion was told to stop," said Sikharulidze.
