Zurabishvili Warns of Russian Hybrid Threat to Europe in Paris Speech
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili warned that Russia’s evolving sophisticated hybrid strategy in Georgia could have wider geopolitical consequences for Europe if the bloc loses the country it had granted candidate status. She received an enthusiastic reception from the audience, with her speech interrupted several times by applause.
Speaking at the French Renaissance party rally in Paris on 6 April, Zurabishvili urged the European Union to act decisively against authoritarian influences within its ranks.
“The European Union must not resign itself to watching a country [Georgia], to which it granted candidate status less than a year ago, become in just one year a model of totalitarian dictatorship,” she said. “The European Union must be able to show that it can take decisions, that it can have a coherent policy and that it can speak out — that it is not in the hands of several countries that are already well on the path to advancing totalitarianism,” she said, in an apparent reference to Viktor Orban’s Hungary, which is blocking EU efforts against the Georgian Dream.
Zurabishvili argued that President Vladimir Putin’s all-out war in Ukraine had failed and that Russia is now testing a “new strategy” in Georgia – one characterized by “less cost” and “less direct attack.”
She said Georgia has become a “testing ground” for this hybrid strategy, citing “sophisticated” electoral manipulation and a “proxy oligarch”, a reference to Bidzina Ivanishvili, through whom she said Russia had achieved an “almost total usurpation” of the Georgian state.
“This hybrid strategy threatens everyone. We are now experiencing it as Georgia’s tragedy,” Zurabishvili warned. “I will remain the President of these people until the end.”
She said the threat extends to other “developing democracies” in Europe, such as Ukraine, Moldova and Romania, where she noted “similar attempts” by Russia.
She said: “This is a geopolitical challenge because the loss of Georgia (which is not and will not happen) is not insignificant. It’s the Black Sea, it’s the Caucasus, it’s the fate of European Armenia, it’s the route to Central Asia – it’s a region that deeply concerns you. But above all, it is a challenge for the EU.”
Calling on the EU to stand firm, Zurabishvili urged the defense of democracy on all fronts. “We have to defend democracy everywhere. This means, first of all, the European institutions; it’s a European rearmament, of course – but it’s also a moral rearmament, a political rearmament, the ability to make decisions together”.
She closed her speech by praising France’s role in defending democracy: “On this path of moral, political, and, if necessary, military rearmament, France is at the forefront, as has always been her destiny. We will always be with her. We will always see with hope and ambition that France is the mother of democracy and the motherland of freedom and will remain so despite the challenges you face today. Resist!”
Also Read:
- 31/03/2025 – Tens of Thousands Rally in Tbilisi as President Zurabishvili Calls for “Platform of Resistance”
- 25/03/2025 – “Existential Challenge” Looms over Georgia, President Zurabishvili Tells Lithuanian Seimas
- 20/03/2025 – Salome Zurabishvili Urges EU Leaders to Discuss Georgia at European Council Meeting
- 22/01/2025 – Zurabishvili: The America Trump Describes Is the One Georgia Needs
- 19/12/2024 – President Zurabishvili: Russia’s Has Been Using Electoral Warfare Strategy
- 18/12/2024 – President Zurabishvili’s Address to the European Parliament
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