Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee Chair denies “anti-Western” rhetoric by ruling party, highlights “friendly, partnerly” relations with US

Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, on Thursday rejected the idea of the ruling Georgian Dream party producing “any anti-Western rhetoric”, and noted “we have friendly and partnerly relations with the United States of America”.

Samkharadze was commenting on a statement by the US Department of State Spokesperson Ned Price, who on Wednesday said that “disinformation and personal attacks on Ambassador Degnan or her team are not consistent with how partners communicate with one another”, in remarks related to Georgia.

The Georgian official stressed that under the Georgian Dream governance Georgia had not deviated and would not deviate from the path of European integration as “this is a constitutional task that we set for ourselves together with the public”.

This path will not be revised in any way. Georgian Dream does not produce any anti-Western rhetoric - this is a big lie. We have friendly and partnerly relations with the United States of America. Accordingly, we will clarify all misunderstandings with our partner country and eliminate them as it suits [relations between] partners”, the Parliament official said.

Since a few questions had arisen regarding [Ambassador] Kelly Degnan, of course, [the State Department Spokesperson] supporting their own Ambassador is a common thing, and I don't see anything here that could harm our relations even a little bit”, he concluded in his comments.

The comments by Price followed a recent statement by Tbilisi City Court Judge Lasha Chkhikvadze, who on Friday alleged interference of an Embassy representative in his sentencing of Nika Gvaramia, the founder of the opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi channel, to imprisonment in May.

Degnan on Friday said any suggestion of the US interfering in the judicial process in Georgia was “simply not true”.