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The leader of the Georgian opposition Labor Party said on Thursday that the grenade attack on U.S. President Bush in Tbilisi on May 10 was prepared and staged by Georgia’s secret services in a bid to improve the image of Georgian President Saakashvili and present him as a staunch fighter for democracy.

“On the basis of the analysis of the information I had received I want to announce for the whole world that the May 10 terrorist attack against Bush was carried out by Saakashvili’s special services in order to salvage the destroyed image of the dictatorship,” Russia’s RIA-Novosti news agency quoted Shalva Natelashvili as saying.

“By this Saakashvili wanted to make the media mention his name along with the U.S. president’s name as a man who fights for democracy and who is a victim of terrorism,” Natelashvili said.

The politician claimed that the suspected attacker, Vladimir Arutunyan, has been an agent of Georgia’s special services for many years and got his weapons from them.

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