Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin blamed Georgia on Wednesday for sending relations with Russia to their all-time low.
Ties between the two ex-Soviet states which fought a brief war in August 2008, when Russia crushed Georgia's assault on breakaway pro-Russian republic South Ossetia, strained further last week, when authorities demolished a Soviet war memorial in the Caucasus state's second largest city.
"This is a result of Tbilisi's policies," Putin said at a meeting with the leader of Georgian opposition Movement for a Just Georgia, Zurab Nogaideli, Russian lower house speaker Boris Gryzlov, and Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov.
"If policies had been different, I am positive, tragic events would not have taken place in Abkhazia and South Ossetia 18 months ago," Putin said.
Putin said Tbilisi is continuing such policies, the latest example of which was the destruction of a World War II memorial in Kutaisi.
Georgia demolished the 46-meter-high (150-foot) concrete and bronze memorial saying it is making way for a new parliament building. The move triggered protests in the city, and Russia's Foreign Ministry condemned it as "an act of state vandalism" and "disrespect" for Georgians who fought in the Soviet army during the war.
A woman and her eight-year daughter were killed during the demolition, which coincided with Georgian pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili's birthday.
The Russian and Georgian people have been tied "with thousands of invisible bonds, common interests and history," including the commemorations of heroes of World War II, Putin said.
"Saakashvili has pursued political goals of tearing the bonds linking Russia and Georgia," he said.
Echoing Putin, Nogaideli said the removal of the sculpture was a political move ordered by Saakashvili.
Putin proposed on Tuesday that the Glory Memorial designed by Georgian sculptor Merab Berdzenishvili be rebuilt in Moscow. Today he approved of a memorial park on Poklonnaya Hill in western Moscow as the site for the memorial.
MOSCOW, December 23 (RIA Novosti
