Parliament vice speaker: former president Saakashvili “recognised by many” as “not opponent but ally” of Putin
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”. Photo: Parliament of Georgia
Tweet 
Share
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.
The head of the ruling Georgian Dream party and MPs from the faction on Tuesday criticised Ukrainian authorities for promoting Zurab Adeishvili, the wanted former prosecutor general and justice minister of Georgia, as a senior advisor to the Ukrainian prosecutor general, condemning his recent presence at the Council of Europe along with his chief to discuss Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
Nikoloz Samkharadze, the chair of the Georgian parliament's foreign affairs committee, on Monday explained a “meaningless and distorted” entry on the country’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili had become the reason for the Georgian delegation’s refusal to support a Council of Europe resolution on the Russian military escalation in Ukraine.
A delegation of the ruling Georgian Dream party chaired by head Irakli Kobakhidze is expected to raise topics related to the country’s European integration process, including the implementation of the European Union’s conditions for Georgia’s membership candidate status, at the Party of European Socialists congress in Berlin between Friday and Saturday.
Irakli Chikovani, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said the Georgian delegation at the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe this week would talk about the progress made by the country's authorities in implementing conditions for the European Union membership candidate status.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said the Georgian government had a “one-sided friendship” with the Ukrainian authorities, with the situation “ongoing for years” now.
Georgian parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday told Tiny Kox, the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, that the passage in body’s recently adopted resolution citing the imprisoned former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili as a “political prisoner” opposing Russian president Vladimir Putin was “baseless” and “damaged the credibility” of the Assembly in the Georgian public.