Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has slammed ex-Georgian premier and now opposition politician Zurab Nogaideli for his ties with Russia.
"As regards Nogaideli, it's hard to think this man could fall so low... But we also had good premiers," Saakashvili told the Rustavi-2 TV channel.
He said Russia "uses" Nogaideli, who has sharply criticized Saakashvili's decision to demolish a World War Two memorial in the city of Kutaisi. He has visited Moscow several times during the past months.
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.
During the demolition of the Glory Memorial in Kutaisi on December 19, an eight-year-old girl and her mother were killed, when explosives used to topple the structure sent large chunks of concrete hurtling over a wide area.
TBILISI, December 25 (RIA Novosti)
