Gov’t “no reaction” on Lukashenko visit to de facto Abkhazia led to new visits – GSAC founder

If the current Georgian Dream authorities have had a proper reaction to recent visit of Belarus president to the country’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia visit,  the parliamentary delegation of Belarus and Russia would not have arrived in the breakaway region, Giorgi Rukhadze, the founder of Strategic Analysis Center – GSAC told Front News on Thursday. 

He stated that the Georgian government refused to react on “anything which concerns Russia, making the country, once with clear Euro-Atlantic aspirations, an addition to the federation”. 

“This is a disrespect for the sovereignty of the territorial integrity of Georgia, which requires a response from the Georgian authorities. We have already gotten used to the fact that the Georgian government no longer reacts to anything related to Russia. We have actually turned into a Russian appendage state that once had European and Euro-Atlantic ambitions. In fact, nothing is happening in this direction anymore”, Rukhadze said. 

He stated  that recent foreign visits of the Georgian prime minister to Hungary and the United Arab Emirates – “reveal the government’s real priorities”. 

“The only visit the prime minister had made to Europe recently was to Hungary. It is true that Hungary is an EU state and its support is important, but it is better not to have any support at all than to be supported by Viktor Orban only. After Hungary Irakli Garibashvili should have gone to Austria, Germany or somewhere else, but he went to the UAE and it is not clear for what purpose” he said. 

Rukhadze stated that Georgia had “no progress” in meeting the 12-point conditions set by the EU for Georgia’s membership candidate status, and that the recent ruling of court of appeals over the head of the opposition-minded Mtavari channel Nika Gvaramia and leaving him in custody for abuse of power while running the Rustavi 2 TV, “is one of the confirmations of this”.