Erosi Kitsmarishvili is a Georgian

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 media executive and the ex-Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to the Russian Federation in 2008.

Prior to accepting the ambassadorial post, Kitsmarishvili owned the Rustavi 2

Rustavi 2

Rustavi 2 Broadcasting Company , better known as Rustavi 2, is the most successful private television broadcasting company in Georgia. The Rustavi, based in Tbilisi, was founded in 1994 in the town of Rustavi. It is a privately owned free to air terrestrial broadcaster that currently reaches around...

 television broadcasting company, which played a key role during the Rose Revolution

Rose Revolution

The "Revolution of Roses" was a change of power in Georgia in November 2003, which took place after having widespread protests over the disputed parliamentary elections...

 of 2003. Since his dismissal in mid-September by Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili

Mikheil Saakashvili

Mikheil Saakashvili is a Georgian politician, the third and current President of Georgia and leader of the United National Movement Party.Involved in the national politics since 1995, Saakashvili became president on 25 January 2004 after President Eduard Shevardnadze resigned in a November 2003...

, he has publicly criticized Saakashvili's handling of the August 2008 war

2008 South Ossetia war

The 2008 South Ossetia War or Russo-Georgian War was an armed conflict in August 2008 between Georgia on one side, and Russia and separatist governments of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other....

 with Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia

South Ossetia

South Ossetia or Tskhinvali Region is a disputed region and partly recognized state in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic....

 and Abkhazia

Abkhazia

Abkhazia is a disputed political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny...

— claiming that although Russia had provoked the conflict, the actual fighting had been started by Georgia, and that the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 had approved the Georgian government's plans to retake Abkhazia in early 2008. Kitsmarishvili has also spoken out in favour of increased pluralism in the Georgian media. In November 2009, Kitsmarishvili took over the management rights of the Tbilisi

Tbilisi

Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...

-based pro-opposition television station Maestro TV.