Georgian President: Georgia has Government that serves national interests and will not act at anyone’s behest

Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili said on Tuesday that Georgia now had a government committed to protecting the country’s national interests and would not allow anyone to dictate its actions.

Speaking to journalists, Kavelashvili said that the Georgian Government would act in accordance with the interests of the Georgian people.

“When it comes to the resolution, what does it say? It says that the Georgian side, the government of [imprisoned former President Mikheil] Saakashvili, launched large-scale military operations. They signed it themselves. The [United] National Movement carried out these actions and signed the resolution, acknowledging that they had launched large-scale military operations in the Tskhinvali region, following which Russia responded. The [United] National Movement signed it. This is a fact”, Kavelashvili said.

The President claimed that the “foolish actions” of the former government had resulted in the loss of an additional 120 villages and the homes of 30,000 people, after which Russia became not an occupier, but a partner.

“When Russia needed Georgia’s support at the World Trade Organization, it received that support. Russia became the owner of our strategic assets, which [the United National Movement] sold to it directly. [Opposition leaders] Khoshtaria and Japaridze were saying that ‘Russian money doesn’t smell’ and that we welcomed Russian investment and Russian tourists in Georgia. I am talking about double standards. These shameless people, who are now coming out and trying to prevent us from speaking at all, are directly engaged in Russophobia. They will chase us with microphones and try to provoke us into saying that we recognise Russia and consider it a partner”, Kavelashvili said.

“It was after the heroism of Antsukhelidze and these other servicemen that the government at the time began warming relations with Russia. Do you know why they did so? Because it was their task, based on the influence they were under. They had to fulfill that task, and the circumstances at the time called for a policy of warming relations with Russia. At that point, they no longer remembered Antsukhelidze, the heroes of Shindisi, or the many other Georgian heroes who had fallen”, he continued.

The President further said that it was easy to see that, once the order was received, Russia became a partner of the former government.

“When they received an order following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to carry out aggression, repeat the same actions and open a second front, there was one important difference: today, Georgia has a government that serves the national interest and will not allow anyone to act here at anyone’s behest, under any circumstances. The Georgian Government will act based on the interests of the Georgian people. This is what the struggle is about. They want to instill hatred and contempt in our society in order to somehow provoke civil confrontation and open a second front here. This will not happen under any circumstances”, he concluded.