PM Garibashvili: Russia’s foiled attempt to hamper Georgia’s EU integration

Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili says Russia tried to obstruct Georgia’s efforts to sign the Association Agreement (AA) with the EU but its efforts were "in vain.”

Garibashvili stated the domineering country had also tried to pressure Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Armenia to refrain from signing agreements with the EU, and he expressed his opinion about this in an interview with French media outlet France 24.

"The cases of Ukraine and Armenia are different comparison to Georgia. […] Russia does not have a lot of leverage to put pressure on the decision of Georgia’s EU integration,” Garibashvili said.

He underlined the country’s recent constructive dialog with Russia in an attempt to normalise relations with the country. But despite Georgia’s positive intentions, Garibashvili said Russia still provoked the country.

"We still feel many provocative issues from Russia, including the fact they continue to install barbed wire fences around a 45 km border line of our territory - and they did this in 2013.”

Below is the video of the interview, in French language.  

Following Garibashvili’s answer, the French journalist reminded the PM of Russia’s recent actions where it shifted the boundary zone by 11km further into Georgian territory on the Psou River, near Gagra in the town of Abkhazia - a breakaway territory of Georgia.

The journalist asked Garibashvili if he thought this was a slow process of territory appropriation.

"Yes, this is so. They say it is a temporary event [to do with the Sochi Olympics] but who knows,” Garibashvili said.

According to the resolution of the de-facto government of Abkhazia, the boundary zone will impede on Georgian territory until March 21, when the Olympic Games are over.

The French media outlet spoke about the imprisonment of former government officials. The journalist asked Garibashvili if his Government’s political opponents questioned whether this was political persecution.

Garibashvili replied: "Sure they could say it like that. […] But I would like to say that Georgia’s juridical system is completely independent. A few years ago there were a lot of problems including discrimination and torturing of prisoners but now the approach is completely different.”

"The legal system has become more liberal and transparent.Even the courts are open and media representatives can attend the listen to the cases,” Garibashvili said.

The PM particularly mentioned the case of Georgia’s former ex-Minister of Defense David Kezerashvili’s, who had been released on bail by a French court.

"A few weeks ago the press released a document showing Kezerashvili owns a company whose profits are up a half a billion dollars. So it is very interesting to see is how he earned this money in Georgia [while he was incarcerated] during the past few years,” Garibashvili said.

The scandalous document, published on January 15 in Georgian newspaper Alia, showed the former high official was the sole beneficial owner of the FPC Group, which was registered in an offshore zone. The turnover of the company in the year it established, 2009, was almost 9 million USD and increased to more than 795 million USD in 2012. The document was prepared by international audit company Deloitte Limited.

At the end of the interview, Garibashvili once more stressed that signing the AA with the EU was of great importance for Georgia.

"Georgia is ready to sign the AA agreement with the EU in August or September. […] By the latest statistics, the majority of Georgia’s population, more than 85 percent, agreed to sign the AA agreement with the EU. Since the country regained its independence 20 years ago, we are [continually] striving towards Europe,” Garibashvili said.