Georgia ? Before this summer’s Georgia-Russia war, President Mikhail Saakashvili was itching to do battle and authorities mistook messages from the United States as encouragement to use force, Georgia’s former ambassador to Russia said Wednesday.

But Russia also takes a share of the blame because it was trying to inflame Saakashvili’s itch, Erosi Kitsmarishvili says.

His statements at a news conference added new intensity to a growing debate about what and who bear the onus for starting the five-day war that saw Russia drive deep into Georgian territory, caused devastating damage to Georgia’s military, and aggravated already troubled Russia-U.S. relations.