There will be no new war: Georgian president

President Mikheil Saakashvili said Georgia knows it cannot take back its Russian-backed rebel regions militarily but fears Moscow has designs on Tbilisi.

In an interview with Reuters a year after a war with Russia, Saakashvili said the world had failed to hold Moscow to account for "mass ethnic cleansing" of Georgians in the South Ossetia conflict for fear of jeopardising energy and trade interests.

That he is still in office is "almost a miraculous story of survival", Saakashvili said, adding that though a new war is not imminent, Russia has not given up hope of ousting him with forces 50 km (30 miles) from the Georgian capital.

"I am still sitting in this office despite solemn pledges by (Prime Minister Vladimir) Putin to hang me by different parts of my body, to crush Georgia's statehood," Saakashvili said.

"The issue is whether anybody in the world wants new war in Europe with the participation of Russia, and the obvious answer is 'No', and that's exactly what Vice President Biden was implying, and which we share," Saakashvili said.