Georgian ruling party head says recall of ambassador hinders PM’s visit to Ukraine

Head of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Irakli Kobakhidze says that the recent  recall of ambassador by Kyiv from Georgia is one of the reasons why the country’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has not visited the war-torn country so far. 

Speaking for Imedi TV late on Sunday, Kobakhidze suggested that “the recall of Ambassador Igor Dolgov and his subsequent release hindered the visit.” 

“In our case in particular, there is one important factor, including others, which hampers a possible visit of the Prime Minister. This is that the ambassador was first recalled for consultations and then dismissed. However, the act, as far as I know, has not been issued in this regard so far,” Kobakhidze said.

“In practice, the Ukrainian government is still in a state of diplomatic demarche towards Georgia. In  such a case, the Prime Minister’s visit to Ukraine is problematic,” Kobakhidze added. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky summoned Ambassador Dolgov for consultations on March 1, 2022  “because of the immoral position for preventing volunteers from flying to Ukraine and the decision of the Georgian Dream authorities not to impose sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.” 

Almost a month later, on March 30, he announced that he had signed a decree on the recall of an ambassador from Morocco, noting that “the ambassador has also returned from Georgia.”

Andriy Kasyanov is currently serving as an acting ambassador to Georgia.  

Tbilisi called out Kyiv for the move and stated that Georgia has stood by Ukraine from the very first days of the war, ensuring the largest humanitarian aid for the country and supporting all international activities against Russia. 

Tbilisi said that imposing sanctions on Russia by the Georgian authorities would have harmed Georgians more than Russia.