The Daily Beat: 19 July

The Polish Foreign Ministry reacted to the summoning of the acting Polish Ambassador to Georgia in connection with an incident at the Vivamedi Clinic, stating that the incident had no intentions inconsistent with the agreement and the decision of the Georgian Justice Ministry to publish the recording of the search of the Polish doctor, as well as emotional statements issued by representatives of Georgian state bodies, contradict the principles of good cooperation.

The German Foreign Ministry allocated five million euros to the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund (ASB) over the next 18 months to help Ukrainian refugees in Georgia affected by the ongoing Russia -Ukraine war. The project was officially announced on 18 July during a press conference at which Peter Fischer, the German Ambassador to Georgia, handed a symbolic check to Clemens von Hymendal, Director of ASB Georgia.

Defense Minister, Juansher Burchuladze, participated in the 14th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. The virtual meeting, chaired by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, was attended by Defense Ministers and Chiefs of Defense forces of various countries, including Ukraine. The main agenda of the meeting focused on assessing the situation in Ukraine in light of Russian aggression and discussing the urgent need for coordinated military assistance to support Ukraine in the ongoing war.

In a Facebook post, Speaker Shalva Papuashvili referred to the information published on the website of the US Justice Department, claiming that it reveals the extent of worldwide lobbying on ex-President Saakashvili’s behalf, attempting to achieve not only his illegitimate release but also undermines the country’s international standing. “From the newly uploaded FARA documents, we have learned that the European Parliament resolutions criticizing the Georgian government were written not by the ‘well-intentioned’ members of the European Parliament themselves but by the paid lobbyists who were commissioned to include these shameful passages into these utterly inaccurate resolutions,” wrote the Speaker in his Facebook post.

Six Members of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on LGBTI rights lodged a joint letter addressed to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, as well as the EU’s Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, requesting to condemn the LGBTIQ-phobic attacks on Tbilisi Pride that happened on 8 July. In a joint letter, the group of MEPs also encouraged the EU officials to impose targeted sanctions on the Alt-Info group and their leader Konstantin Morgoshia.

Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI) issued a report on the Legal Status of Foreigners and Racism in Georgia 2022, noting that in the reporting period, the accessibility of public information from public agencies sharply deteriorated. According to the report, Russian citizens who are critical of the Russian government and wish to flee from repression face serious obstacles while attempting to cross the Georgian border, which, in most cases, result in them being unable to enter Georgia. “Since 2021, the government has been creating obstacles for Ukrainian public figures who wish to enter Georgia,” reads the TDI report.