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Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, an unwitting expert on aggression from Vladimir Putin's Russia, cautions the Ukrainian government that military exercises being conducted across the Russian side of the border are similar to those that took place before Russia invaded Georgia in 2008. "Putin certainly has plans for large-scale military intervention in the whole of Ukraine," Saakashvili told The Daily Beast on Monday. "I think Russia is looking for a hot war."

Saakashvili, who has long warned the United States that an invasion of Crimea was a major possibility, is currently in Kiev providing counsel to the new government. His advice? "Maintain maximum restraint, but... prepare for the worst, because I don't think Vladimir Putin is going to stop where he is. He is not going to stop anywhere until he gets rid of the leadership in Kiev."