Opposition MPs: ruling party’s former MPs’ anti-Western movies jeopardize national interests

The opposition MPs, Teona Akubardia, Khatuna Samnidze, Tamar Kordzaia, Ana Natsvlishvili and Ana Buchukuri, said on Monday in a joint statement that the “anti-Western statements” of the former MPs of the ruling Georgian Dream party, who left the GD last month “to tell the public the truth”, Jeopardized the national interests of Georgia. 

The MPs suggested that the “disinformation narrative” that “America wants to drag Georgia into the war with Russia”, strengthened the anti-Western campaign in Georgia and was against the country’s national interests.

“That is why we want to explain to them [the former GD MPs] and to the public once again that the war is not the continuation of the West’s policy, but of Russia’s.”

“Why these disinformation statements over the war are useful for the Kremlin, it can be easily explained: Russia started a war against Georgia, the result of which is the continuous occupation, hundreds of thousands of refugees in their homeland, militarization of our regions by Russia and the annexation processes.”

The opposition MPs said that through using hybrid war tactics, Russia confronted Georgia’s common value with the West, “which is respecting the principle of the country’s sovereignty, democratization, ensuring prosperity and security, as well as joining the European Union and NATO”. 

They said that on the backdrop of the “disturbing strategic balance” of forces on the Black Sea in favor of Russia (in 1993 by Russia’s occupation of Abkhazia and its coastline, and in 2014 by the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea), “Georgia has become of special importance in NATO’s Black Sea security initiative for the West”.