Georgian PM: no foreign agents will return to power in Georgia

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Friday said that Georgia would “definitely have a sovereign government” and noted that, in his view, political forces he described as “foreign agents” should not return to power.

During his annual address to the Parliament, Kobakhidze addressed representatives of the opposition For Georgia party, underscoring his government’s responsibility to prevent the return of previous regimes and foreign-influenced forces.

“The only thing for which a person could possibly apologise is that we had the Saakashvili regime, an agent network in power for nine years, which led to very severe consequences, and one of the results of all this was the August 2008 war. That is something that could genuinely be seen as regretful - that we had such a regime in our country that created misery internally and brought about disaster in the form of the 2008 war”, he said.

The Prime Minister firmly declared that Georgia would maintain a sovereign government and explicitly stated there is no room for foreign agents.

“Today we are responsible for ensuring that we do not allow such people to return to power. Neither Saakashvili, nor Gakharia, nor Khazaradze, nor any agent, nor any foreign agent will ever return to power”, Kobakhidze noted.

“Georgia will definitely have a sovereign government. There is no place for foreign agents in the Georgian government. Accordingly, there is no place for your party in the Georgian government either”, he concluded.