PM highlights “failure of war party” to “open second front” in Georgia amid Ukraine war

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday said the “destructive war party” - a reference to some of the domestic political opposition and their alleged partners abroad - had experienced a “complete fiasco” in its plans to “open a second front” in Georgia amid the war in Ukraine, which he said had been “one of the main goals” of the forces.

In his speech at the Georgian Parliament to present the annual report on the work of the Government, Garibashvili noted the Government needed to carry out a “reasonable and result-oriented” policy.

You remember how they behaved last year, when the war started in Ukraine [and] then the war was on the verge of spreading in the region, including in our country. One of the main goals of this destructive war party was to open a second front in Georgia. What other purpose did the provocations they planned and failed to carry out serve? Everything failed, all plans failed, they experienced a complete fiasco”, Garibashvili told MPs.

The Government head stressed his cabinet had “openly stated” that it would not take steps that would “harm the national interests” of the country amid the war in Ukraine.

The occupation [of Georgian territories] remains one of the main challenges for us. Russian occupation forces continue to be based on the territory of our country. Occupation, as you know, is a challenge that our Government inherited in 2012. For comparison, I would like to remind the public that after the [2008] August war, no country - including us - had initiated any specific measures to stop the occupation, to condemn it [by implementation of] sanctions”, Garibashvili noted.

“These people [the domestic opposition] asked us to impose sanctions [against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine], including economic sanctions. [...] They wanted to start a war, open a second front and destroy the country. This irresponsible war party wanted to destroy the country for a second time, just as it had destroyed the country once [in the 2008 war]. We have publicly and openly said from the beginning that we will not take any step that will harm the national interests of our country, the interests of the citizens”, he continued.

Garibashvili stressed his Government would follow the mentioned policy and added “no-one will be able to make us change it”, further adding that “we will implement only those policies that our country needs”.

Imposing the so-called sanctions, introducing some restrictions, blocking trade, economy [and so on] would be completely irresponsible. Moreover, this can be called a betrayal of one's country and people”, he said in comments, adding the moves would damage domestic interests.

The PM noted imposition of sanctions would mean “[w]e would no longer be able to speak so boldly that we have economic growth and jobs”, contrasting the scenario with “250,000 new jobs created over the past two years” under his Government.