On September 15, the de facto authorities of Abkhazia and South Ossetia reacted to a statement made by Bidzina Ivanishvili, the leader of Georgian Dream, which blamed the 2008 war on "external forces" and the Georgian government of the time. 

Atsamaz Bibilov, the so-called opposition representative of the occupied region and leader of the party United Ossetia, expressed that "Georgia must acknowledge its guilt for starting the war and committing war crimes in South Ossetia; only then can we consider Georgian politicians’ apologies to be sincere." He also linked Ivanishvili’s promises to the pre-election campaign, stating that "with elections approaching, the current government, represented by Georgian Dream, is making various statements about South Ossetia and Abkhazia. However, in practice, the Georgian side is taking no steps toward joint delimitation and demarcation of the South Ossetia-Georgia border."

On September 16, the de-facto foreign ministry of the separatist Abkhazia issued a statement. While noting that Ivanishvili’s statement does not directly concern the "Republic of Abkhazia," they expressed that such a statement, if followed by real steps towards reconciliation, reassessment of past mistakes, apologies to the peoples of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, abandonment of political and economic pressure, and the signing of a peace treaty, could pave the way for peaceful coexistence and good-neighborly relations. The de-facto Abkhazian authorities concluded that Ivanishvili’s statement shows "that there is still a resource for internal reassessment and recognition of mistakes in Georgia."