The Georgian authorities should have exercised great tact if they wanted to show that scandalous video on Russian intrusion into the Georgian territory to test the population’s vigilance, Stepan Safaryan, Head of the Heritage parliamentary faction, told NEWS.am.

He pointed out the need for a most detailed calculation in such cases to prevent nervous reaction inside and outside the country. Safaryan pointed out a similar incident in Armenia in 1993: the Haylur program reported that the then President Levon Ter-Petrosyan had been hospitalized, and Vice-President Gagik Harutyunyan was acting on his behalf. The Haylur program was closed after that “joke.”

Late on March 13, the Imedi television channel aired a fictitious report of a Russian invasion and the assassination of Saakashvili during its evening news program, which sparked panic in the country.

T.P.