The Daily Beat: 29 May
EU Ambassador Paweł Herczyński, accompanied by colleagues from the other EU member states, delivered a diplomatic demarche to the Deputy Prime Minister, Levan Davitashvili, over the resumption of direct flights with Russia. “We have conveyed that we regret the decision of the Georgian government to accept direct flights with Russia; we have conveyed that this decision goes against the decisions of 27 member states not to have flights to and from Russia and not to allow overflight of Russian airplanes on the territory of EU member states,” Ambassador Herczyński told the press after the meeting. He also noted that the Georgian side stuck to the old arguments, describing the meeting as “open and frank.”
While the EU is upset by the Georgian authorities, Vladimir Putin is dismayed by the Georgian people. During a meeting with the business community, Russia’s Vladimir Putin claimed that it was his personal decision to resume direct flights to Tbilisi, taken in support of Russian holidaymakers and of those in Tbilisi who advocate the normalization of Russia-Georgia relations. He expressed disappointment over the apparent lack of gratitude by the Georgian people and said that an uproar it caused was incomprehensible.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili and Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili congratulated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on his re-election for a third 5-year term following his victory in the presidential elections. In congratulatory messages, the president and the prime minister expressed hopes for furthering neighborly relations and strategic partnership.
On Sunday, supporters, Mtavari Arkhi TV staff, journalists, and opposition politicians held a rally to demonstrate support for the jailed director of Mtavari Arkhi TV, Nika Gvaramia. A Sunday rally, “Freedom to Nika,” was held near the Presidential Palace on Orbeliani Square as rally participants called on the President to use her privileges of pardon and release Gvaramia, whom they call Bidzina Ivanishvili’s personal prisoner. President Zurabishvili is set to address the European Parliament on May 31, and many hoped she would pardon Gvaramia before her Brussels appearance.
The Georgian Dream issued a statement saying it would ignore the President. The ruling party accused Zurabishvili of displaying “political bias” and ignoring the presidential functions in favor of the “agenda of radical opposition,” which, it said, is “in gross contradiction to the function of a non-partisan Constitutional official.” The statement came following the President’s scathing Independence Day speech and shortly before her scheduled visit to Brussels.
ALDE party Congress in Stockholm adopted a resolution on Georgia, supporting its EU and NATO integration. The resolution reaffirms steadfast support for granting the EU candidacy status to Georgia and regrets the anti-Western statements of Georgian officials, undermining the EU image and resumption of air flights with Russia. Allowing family members of Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov to enter the country, despite them being under Western sanctions as well as “the government’s position to deepen cooperation with Russia,” is also mentioned among the regrets.
