Time in Tbilisi: March 29, 2024 18:24
The Georgian Government remains committed to the policy of peaceful de-occupation and will resist “all provocations” aimed at escalating a new military confrontation with “our Abkhaz and Ossetian brothers and sisters,” Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said on Monday.
Kobakhidze was commenting on the matter following a statement last week by Oleksiy Danilov, the Secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council, that said Georgia would “greatly help” Ukraine in its defence from the ongoing Russian invasion by opening fronts against Russia to forcefully regain control over the occupied Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia).
Kobakhidze stressed any war in the Russian-occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali would mean conflict not only against the Russian occupation forces, but also with Abkhazian and Ossetian populations.
A few days ago, another visit of the ‘War Party’ - i.e. the [United] National Movement [opposition party] - to Ukraine took place. The visit seems to have been ‘successful’ because upon its completion, senior Ukrainian officials began to speak openly about the need to open a second front in Georgia and bring the ongoing war in Ukraine to Georgia,” the GD official said in criticism of the UNM party.
Kobakhidze said the “main goal of all the provocations” by the UNM was to “drag Georgia into” the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine, and added Georgia should instead extend help to the people living in the Russian-occupied territories to solve their social problems.
The Georgian Government will act in accordance with the state interests of Georgia, respond appropriately to all provocations of the ‘war party’, and will not allow Georgia to be involved in a military conflict,” the ruling party head said.
The ruling Georgian Dream party and opposition MPs on Sunday asserted the country was on a “peaceful path” and would not get involved in war, following remarks by Oleksiy Danilov, the Ukrainian Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, who said Georgia would “greatly help” Ukraine by opening military fronts against Russia to forcefully regain control over the occupied breakaway Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions.
Georgia stands with the Ukrainian people and has taken a “firm stance” “wherever” political support has been needed, the ruling Georgian Dream party head Irakli Kobakhidze said on Thursday in an interview with Imedi TV.
The Georgian Government’s stance on not imposing sanctions against Russia remains unchanged and “no one can change” it, the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party head Irakli Kobakhidze said on Wednesday.
Georgia is the only country in the world where the opposition is using the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine for a campaign to damage this country, the ruling Georgian Dream party head Irakli Kobakhidze said on Friday.
Zbigniew Rau, the Chairman-in-Office of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Poland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, will visit Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia for meetings with officials of the states starting today, the OSCE said.
The citizens living in Georgia’s Russian-occupied territories should know the Government’s position that the country’s territorial integrity can only be restored through peaceful means and not through use of force, Sozar Subari, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, said at a Parliament plenary sitting today.
Irakli Zarkua, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, has called on opposition parties in Georgia to avoid "acting like the fifth column" in the country amid the crisis of the war in Ukraine.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said Georgia getting involved in a war against Russia amid the ongoing hostilities in Ukraine would mean a "destruction" of the country.
The Georgian opposition think they are working against the Government, but in reality they are acting against the country itself, Nikoloz Samkharadze, the ruling Georgian Dream party MP who chairs the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Friday in an interview with the Georgian Public Broadcaster.
Georgia has a 5,000-year history of existence and no-one can rewrite it, Archil Talakvadze, the Vice Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, said on Tuesday in response to a now-deleted post published on a social media channel of Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev.
Michael Gahler, a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, on Tuesday called the “colonial” Soviet Russian empire the “only artificial construction”, in response to a now-deleted post published on a social media channel of Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev that claimed Georgia “did not exist” as a country until its becoming a part of the Russian empire in 1801.
Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said the Georgian Government would “always work” to ensure restoration of its territorial integrity and unification of “sisters and brothers” across the occupation line, but the objective would not be accomplished through war.
Calls by the Lelo for Georgia opposition party to impose visa requirements for Russian and Belarusian citizens serve the goal of dragging Georgia into Russia’s war in Ukraine, ruling Georgian Dream party MP Anri Okhanashvili said on Thursday in remarks that also reminded the opposition that the visa requirement with Russia had been lifted by the former President Mikheil Saakashvili while in office.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Friday called on the public to disassociate themselves from a “discriminatory campaign” against Russian citizens in Georgia, claiming the “sole purpose” of speculation on number of Russian nationals entering the country and calls for imposing visa requirement for them was “to turn Georgia into a second front” amid the war in Ukraine, and adding xenophobia and chauvinism “has never been and will never be” a part of Georgian culture.
Anri Okhanashvili, a ruling Georgian Dream party MP and the Head of Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, said on Friday denying travellers entry to Georgia for their nationality was “wrong”, in comments on recent calls by the domestic opposition to impose visa requirements for Russian and Belarusian citizens on the backdrop of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Abkhazians and Ossetians should “know for sure” that no Georgian government will ever follow the path of achieving deoccupation of its territories through war, Mamuka Mdinaradze, the executive secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said on Wednesday.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said “any war where Georgians and Abkhazians, and Georgians and Ossetians face each other” with weapons again should not be allowed.
Security environment in the Russian-occupied regions of Georgia and in the vicinity of the occupation line, as well as the illegal actions of the occupation forces, were discussed on Friday in a meeting between the Georgian foreign minister Ilia Darchiashvili and the co-chairs of the Geneva International Discussions from the UN and OSCE - Cihan Sultanoğlu and Viorel Moșanu.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday said the Government's non-recognition policy towards the country’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions was “consistent” and would not be revised, after the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said the conflicts in Georgia could be resolved if Tbilisi pledged “non-use of force” against the de facto authorities and launched “delimitation of borders” with them.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday said the “major goal” of the currently imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s return from Ukraine to Georgia in 2021 had been to “spark unrest in the country and overthrow the authorities” to later “drag” Georgia into the Russia-Ukraine conflict.