A former British army captain who in 2008 accused Georgia of starting the
South Ossetia war has been appointed as deputy head of the EU Monitoring
Mission to Georgia (EUMM).
In 2008, Ryan Grist was in charge of a
group of foreign observers who were trapped
during the war, and successfully led them out of the trap.
Grist said
afterward that Georgia launched military strikes first against South Ossetia,
statements which led to him being accused of being a Russian spy, reports
DFWatch.
“Georgian
rockets and artillery were hitting civilian areas in the breakaway region of
South Ossetia every 15 or 20 seconds,” he said.
“It was clear
to me that the attack was completely indiscriminate and disproportionate to
any, if indeed there had been any, provocation. The attack was clearly, in my
mind, an indiscriminate attack on the town, as a town,” Grist said, according
to the New York Times.
To Wall Street
Journal he explained:”I have never said there was no provocation by the South
Ossetians. What I have said is that the response from the Georgian authorities
was absolutely disproportionate. To react with indiscriminate shelling — there
just had to be a Russian response.”
According to
the EUMM website, Grist served with the UN Peacekeeping Missions in Cyprus and
the Middle East, and worked within the European Community Monitoring Mission
and UN in the former Yugoslavia.
He has held
the position of deputy head of mission in two OSCE missions – Moldova and
Georgia – and has also held a senior position with the UN in Central Asia. He
has also seen service as a stabilization adviser in Helmand Province,
Afghanistan.
Ryan Grist is
a former British army officer and holds a PhD in international conflict
analysis.
Georgian diplomats and members of Civil
Society have objected appointment of Ryan Grist as Deputy Head of EUMM in
Georgia. They made a public announcement accusing MFA and Government of Georgia
for failing to effectively challenge this action, and urged Georgian side to take
immediate actions in perspective of having Ryan Grist dismissed from his new position.
