Roki Tunnel
In September 2008, Matthew Bryza, the deputy assistant secretary of State, said the contents of the recorded phone conversations (which were presented as evidence of Russian invasion on 7 August) were consistent with what Georgians believed on August 7, in the final hours before the war, when a cease-fire collapsed. "During the height of all of these developments, when I was on the phone with senior Georgian officials, they sure sounded completely convinced that Russian armored vehicles had entered the Roki Tunnel, and exited the Roki Tunnel, before and during the cease-fire," he stated. "I said, under instructions, that we urge you not to engage these Russians directly." Bryza had also said earlier in August 2008, "They felt they had to defend the honor of their nation and defend their villages. It was a very dangerous dynamic. That was part of an action-reaction, 'Guns of August' scenario that we tried to defuse."