On October 16, the Russian newspaper Versiya published an interview with the Georgian Defense Minister, Irakli Okruashvili where the minister stated that Russia "would lose if the quarrel between the two countries escalates into a shooting war".General: Russia wants no war with Georgia, The Washington Times, October 16, 2006. On the same day Yury Baluyevsky, the Chief of Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, responded that Russia does not plan a war with Georgia and warned about the "consequences of the provocation by the brash politician".ЕС хочет осудить Россию из-за Грузии, BBC Russian, October 16, 2006 . The next day the Georgian Ministry of Defense denied that Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili was interviewed by the Russian newspaper and called the information "another provocation coinciding with the visit of NATO officials to Moscow."MoD Denies Okruashvili’s Russian Paper Interview, Civil Georgia, October 17, 2006. Russian newspaper asserted that the interview it published was genuine and the audio recording of the conversation between the reporter Ruslan Gorevoy and Okruashvili is available.
