Archil Talakvadze, the Georgian parliament vice speaker, on Tuesday said “many people” recognised the imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili as “not an opponent but an ally” of Russian president Vladimir Putin, adding “violations” committed by the former government head and his team over the years had been “only in Russia's interests”.
Talakvadze was commenting on a resolution voted on by the Council of Europe on Thursday and related to the latest Russian military escalation in Ukraine. The resolution was not supported by the Georgian delegation due to the addition of an entry about Saakashvili to its text.
The adopted resolution called for a “review of cases of other political prisoners opposed to President Putin, in Russia and in other countries, and for their release, including Mikheil Saakashvili, Ukrainian citizen and former president of Georgia”.
It is unfortunate that artificially introducing the issue of Saakashvili into such an important issue as Ukraine, and its support, had a very toxic effect on the resolution. Opinions were divided and many people in the Council of Europe disagreed with the entry that was made”, the parliament official said.
“Many people know that Saakashvili is not an opponent of Putin but his ally, because the violations committed by him and his team over the years were only in Russia's interests”, he said.
The Georgian delegation initially supported the resolution - we support the proposal given there. There have been more weighty resolutions that we have supported. Therefore, Georgia's support to Ukraine is not and cannot be questioned”, Talakvadze concluded in his comments.
Nikoloz Samkharadze, the chair of the Georgian parliament's foreign affairs committee, on Monday explained the Georgian delegation had been one of the co-sponsors of the resolution but could not support its adoption after the appearance of the “meaningless and distorted” entry about Saakashvili.