On May 10, 2005, while U.S. President George W. Bush was giving a speech in Tbilisi's Freedom Square, Vladimir Arutyunian threw a live hand grenade at where Saakashvili and Bush were sitting.
It landed in the crowd about 65 feet (20 m) from the podium after
hitting a girl and did not detonate. Arutinian was arrested in July of
that year, but before his capture he managed to kill one law
enforcement agent. He was convicted of the attempted assassinations of
Saakashvili and Bush and the murder of the agent, and given a life
sentence.^[27]

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The heads of Abkhazia and South Osetia defended Russian Peacekeepers

On
Tuesday evening in Gagra the leaders of the unrecognized republics of
Abkhazia and South Osetia Sergei Bagapsh and Eduard Kokoyta signed a
communiqu� where they highly praised �peacekeeping and mediating role
of Russia as a main factor of regional stability.� The reason for this
announcement was the seizure in the beginning of the month of a Turkish
sea tanker by the Georgian Navy. The tanker was delivering food and
building materials to Abkhazia. Another reason was the Georgian
accusation of South Osetians who were allegedly participating in the
terrorist acts in Gori, which were allegedly organized by Russian
military intelligence. Thus, the separatist republics one more time
asked the Kremlin to defend them in their confrontation with Georgia, and praised the
�peacekeeping authority of Russia.�