Cable reveals that Russia’s covert war on Georgia started as early as 2004

Russia launched what its security service calls “active measures” against Georgia as early as 2004 according to a recently disclosed WikiLeaks cable. Well before open hostilities broke out in August 2008, Russia was engaged in a covert war against Georgia consisting of “political disinformation campaigns, industrial sabotage and assassinations,” according to the Washington Times.

The cable inferred that Russia was responsible for the 2007 helicopter gunship attack of a pro-government group in Abkhazia and the murder of police officers in the Georgian town of Gori. The Russians also instigated missile attacks, car bombings and arms shipments to anti-government rebels in South Ossetia.

“The variety and extent of the active measures suggests the deeper goal is turning Georgia from its Euroatlantic orientation back into the Russian fold,” John Tefft, U.S. ambassador to Georgia, wrote in the cable.

Georgia’s national security adviser Giga Bokeria told the Times that Russia’s covert war actually started long before 2004—dating back as far as Georgia’s independence in 1991. He said it intensified in 2004 with the election of pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili.

“The cumulative weight of the evidence of the last few years suggests that the Russians are aggressively playing a high-stakes, covert game, and they consider few if any holds barred,” Mr. Tefft wrote, summarizing Russia’s policy toward Georgia.

Though the cable was written in July of 2007—about a year before the Russian invasion—the U.S. response was predictably weak. As the Washington Times noted, “The White House has limited its opposition to Russia’s bullying of former Soviet republics like Georgia to public statements.” Apparently the White House was too busy pursuing its “reset” in Russian relations to aid its ally in the region.

In April 2008, the Trumpet observed that “Russia has its eye on Georgia.” Staff writer Richard Palmer wrote, “Russia is using both carrot and stick to bring Georgia back into its fold. … Russia intends to control Georgia in the end.” Four months later, Russian forces invaded South Ossetia.

As columnist Stephen Flurry wrote on Friday, “What a fascinating week this has been, to sift through numerous reports on WikiLeaks, many of them confirming what we have been saying for years—all of it based on the sure word of Bible prophecy!”