Georgian Lawmakers Hold Talks in Moscow

Alliance of Patriots MPs meet Konstantin Kosachev, October 3, 2017. Photo: council.gov.ru

Lawmakers from the opposition Alliance of Patriots party, which has a six-member faction in the Parliament of Georgia, are on a three-day working visit to Moscow to meet the legislators from the Russian State Duma and the Federation Council.

The three-member Georgian delegation, consisting of MPs Giorgi Lomia, Ada Marshania and Nato Chkheidze, held talks with the Chairman of the State Duma (lower legislative chamber) Committee for CIS Affairs and Eurasian Integration, Leonid Kalashnikov, on October 3.

At the meeting, the sides discussed the prospects for restoration of diplomatic relations between Georgia and Russia, as well as “the questions of humanitarian character,” according to the Russian State Duma press release.

“The people of Georgia welcome restoration of relations with Russia and you feel the sentiment of the people,” Kalashnikov told the Georgian lawmakers, adding that Alliance of Patriots MPs have been demonstrating “persistence” amid the “panic” that “some Georgian officials” have raised over their contacts with the Russian counterparts.

Giorgi Lomia noted that “some political forces” in Tbilisi were indeed trying to hinder the party’s contacts with Russian parliamentarians. He also suggested holding “an international forum” in Tbilisi, with Russian participation. The MP noted he believed Georgia could cooperate with both Russia and NATO, and make it “so that Russia does not feel threatened from Georgia,” echoing the party’s pre-election campaign demands of introducing a trilateral Georgia-NATO-Russia format of negotiations.

On October 3, the Alliance representatives also met with the Federation Council (upper legislative chamber) Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Konstantin Kosachev, who said the “frozen” relations between Russia and Georgia “should be remedied, because our countries are not only neighbors, but used to be friendly too.”

Besides the meetings with the Duma and the Federation Council members, the leader of the Alliance David Tarkhan-Mouravi, who is in Russia as well, has reportedly held other, informal meetings in Moscow, though his interlocutors remain unknown so far.

Reactions in Tbilisi

The visit of the Alliance of Patriots has drawn criticism in Georgia, including from both the ruling and the opposition parties.

United National Movement MP Roman Gotsiridze said “Russia is successfully continuing its hybrid war and has already infiltrated the Parliament, it has actually found a lobby group for itself within the Parliament, which is really bad for our country.”

European Georgia MP Sergo Ratiani commented as well, saying the former PM Bidzina Ivanishvili “is endearing himself to Putin,” with the visit. “He is demonstrating to Russia that in Georgia an openly pro-Russian force in the Parliament, and members of the Parliament of Georgia are going to Russia and collaborating with the occupier,” he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Parliament Chairman Tamar Chugoshvili noted: “Any such communication is unacceptable for me personally, and I do not think such meetings can ever serve the interests of our country, especially when the situation in the occupied territories is worsening day-by-day, and there is ethnic cleansing, ethnic persecution and discrimination of Georgians going on.”

This is the Alliance MPs’ second visit to Russia after a two-day trip in July, when they agreed to set up a cooperation group with their Russian counterparts, and to hold regular meetings.

The Alliance of Patriots was established in late 2012, and has been running on a populist nationalist and socially conservative platform since, simultanously advocating better relations with Russia.