TBILISI. Aug 12 (Interfax) - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has called his country an outpost in the "fight" between Europe and Russia.

"We are at the forefront between Europe and Russia today, and we shed our first blood, which was our own choice. We want a civilized and developed country," Saakashvili said at a rally in Tbilisi on Tuesday.

"Russia targeted the soul and the fortitude of the Georgians," Saakashvili said.

"Georgia today is a borderline between the good and the evil, civilization and lack of civilization, and the entire world sees today that David is battling Goliath, and Georgia will win here," he said.

"We are a small country and we have a small army, but we inflicted great losses on the Russian army. They tried to eliminate us, but they got 400 corpses and 21 destroyed planes, which were shot down using primitive means," he said.

"The extermination of the Georgian people and residents of Georgia is continuing, and I, as the president of your country, find myself in a very difficult situation," he said.

"I saw Russian planes bombing our villages and killing our soldiers, but I could not do anything, and this will always be with me. But I promise that I will make them regret this," he said.

Russia has turned Tskhinvali into "a second Grozny," Saakashvili said, referring to the center of Chechnya. "They cannot put up with the fact that someone can be free," he said.

"Georgians have nothing to quarrel over with the Abkhaz and Ossetians, but Russia sets these people against Georgia," Saakashvili said.

"A lot of steps have been taken against us in the past years, but we are continuing to develop, and this drives our enemies mad," he said.