Russia is working on “a new plan” in respect of Baltic states, Georgia and Ukraine with “a supposed aim to undermine statehood of these countries,” Rustavi 2 TV was reporting in its news bulletins on February 20.

The TV station said that possible scenario of destabilization in Georgia would include “recruitment of locals and staging protest rallies, as well as possible military provocations” in the conflict zones by spring.

A ruling party MP Shota Malashkhia told the TV station that by doing so Russia wanted was “to distract attention from its internal crisis.”

In contrast with this opinion, President Saakashvili said at a meeting with a group of businesspeople in Barcelona on February 18, that with the economic crisis Russia could not afford to be aggressive towards its neighbors.

“Russia has an economic crisis,” Saakashvili said. “It has supported an economy that it does not know how to modernize. With the drop in oil prices, we see how its economy is collapsing… It cannot allow itself to become aggressive.”

These remarks by the President were reported by French news agency, AFP; while the Georgian televisions, although reported about the President’s Barcelona visit itself, but did not provide coverage of his speech itself.