On May 9, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to the French Republic and the Principality of Monaco, Gotcha Javakhishvili announced his resignation over the reintroduced Foreign Agents Bill. According to him, the atmosphere that was created between Georgia and its friends and partners due to the re-introduction of the bill made his job “extremely difficult.”
“Personally, I do not know anyone around me, neither in the government nor among diplomats to be openly pro-Russian. I understand that this may be a kind of tactic to achieve a certain goal. However, I no longer see my role and resources in this direction: to aspire to Europe and [simultaneously] to defend myself from Europe,” Ambassador Javakhishvili wrote on Facebook.
“I will also honestly say that we should express both protest and satisfaction at the elections. I don’t want my honest opinion to be perceived as a political demarche for the benefit or detriment of anyone. I want, after a long hesitation, to get rid of the burden that I feel I can’t bear anymore,” he explained, adding that “even if I am wrong, I will not regret it. I will only act according to the dictates of my conscience.”
Ambassador Javakhishvili reaffirmed his commitment to Georgia’s European future, and wrote: “I firmly believe that Georgia has already got strong enough in national values, we know the price of freedom and independence. The Georgian nation has seen and experienced so much from Russia that the Georgian land will never again be fertile for Russian seeds and saplings.”
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)