Politicians Assess PM’s Comments on Ukraine

On July 19, Georgia’s Prime Minister, Irakli Garibashvili, attended a memorial service at the Holy Trinity Cathedral for those who disappeared after the war in Abkhazia in the 1990s and were identified and repatriated from the territory of occupied Abkhazia. In a conversation with journalists, the Prime Minister discussed several recent developments in the country, in particular issues such as Saakashvili’s condition, Georgia-Ukraine relations, and Davit Kezerashvili, the founder of “Formula TV.”

• 20/07/2023 – PM Garibashvili: “Last year, Ukraine was One of Those Interested in Us not Getting the Candidate Status”

Civil.ge presents to you the compilation of remarks from both sides.

Speaker of the Parliament

The Speaker of the Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili stated: “I don’t think that the Ukrainian authorities have the right to talk to Georgia from a moral pedestal…To the country that went through three wars with Russia… and we, when we were in this hot war, did not accuse anyone of anything, did not demand anything from anyone, did not speak from moral pedestal… Before there was Ukraine, there was Georgia, there was the struggle of the Georgians and the war in which Ukraine is now. As for friendship, friendship is known especially in adversity. When there is such a war, and in this war the Ukrainian Government is attacking the Georgian people with such statements… including the spreading of disinformation, regarding the circumvention of sanctions… this is exactly non-friendly behavior”.

Remarks from the opposition

Mikheil Saakashvili, former President of Georgia: “Four Lies of Russian Prime Minister Garibashvili: he claims that the Ukrainian Government sent me to Georgia to start a war and open a second front. I arrived in Georgia five months before the war started, when not only the Ukrainian, but also the American intelligence did not even know about the prospect of the start of the war. That is, he claims that the Ukrainian authorities planned and started the war themselves, a criminal continuation of the rhetoric of “sleeping Tskhinvali”. Garibashvili claims… if there had been a Saakashvili’s Government, the second front would have opened. This is a cheap lie…Let him name at least one Ukrainian official who said this. He/she does not exist. Garibashvili says that Ukraine has blocked the issue of candidate status for Georgia. Everyone in the world knows that if it were not for the heroic struggle of the Ukrainian people, there would be no issue of Georgia on the agenda… I did not need to be sent by the Ukrainian authorities. I had long declared in public that I would come back in connection with the Charles Michel’s referendum and local elections, and I fulfilled my promise… The Prime Minister does not know, or doesn’t want to know, that they did not find a stamp in my passport, because Ukrainian passports are usually not stamped when leaving the country”.

Khatia Dekanoidze, political group “Euro-optimists”: “It is very painful for me when Georgian-Ukrainian relations are at such a low level. This is probably an unprecedented case. The relations between the Ukrainian and Georgian people are very steady and I cannot imagine that this steadiness will be violated. “Georgian Dream” makes [such statements] at the expense of this [relationship] and damages all national interests”.

Paata Manjgaladze, “Strategy Agmashenebeli”: “Garibashvili deliberately strained and spoiled relations with Ukraine and continues to strain the situation with Ukraine, why? To please Russia. In this civilizational confrontation, when the good is on the side of the civilized world, Ukraine, and the evil is on the side of Russia, yes, Garibashvili is on the side of this evil, and this evil is not virtual, this evil is killing innocent Ukrainian children every day, and Irakli Garibashvili participates in this.”

Irakli Kupradze, “Lelo – for Georgia”: “Accusing Ukraine as if Ukraine is against or not interested in Georgia getting the candidate status is complete idiocy. Because today the Government of Ukraine does more to secure the candidate status for Georgia than the “Georgian Dream” does, which represents the Government of Georgia today. The difference between these two directions is very simple, “Georgian Dream” serves Putin’s Russia, the Ukrainian Government tries to put the will of the Georgian people above everything else”.

Beka Liluashvili, “For Georgia”: “To blame everyone but oneself, to point finger at everyone and pass the responsibility… It is an demonstration of only one thing – everyone who is not with me and does not asses me positively,.. is my enemy. This is a clearly expressed strategy of autocratic regimes and it has been tested in many countries… “Georgian Dream” is using it, it is trying to shift all the responsibility to its partners”.

Herman Sabo, “Girchi”: “There was never any public statement from the side of Ukraine that says that [the EU] should not give Georgia any status or [urging the EU to] oppress [Georgia]. If Garibashvili has any secret information, he should speak on it directly… If it wasn’t for the situation that was created in Ukraine, with their blood and sacrifices, and for the world to see what kind of aggressor Russia is, we probably wouldn’t even have come close to the candidate status for several more years”.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)