Georgian Parliament Vice Speaker calls Bidzina Ivanishvili’s role “historic” in keeping war out of Georgia

Thea Tsulukiani, the Vice Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, on Wednesday said the historic contribution of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the ruling Georgian Dream party's founder and Honorary Chair, lied precisely in preventing the opening of a “second front” in the country.

In his interview with Imedi TV, Tsulukiani noted that influential international forces sought to draw Georgia into a broader military confrontation linked to the war in Ukraine, but Ivanishvili played a decisive role in blocking such efforts.

“We can now clearly see - and perhaps this year is ending on a particularly bad note because of this - that while it previously only surfaced occasionally and we, as government representatives, had information but it wasn't as visible, it is visible now. If you observe these past few days, European politicians are coming forward expressing concern: ‘What will happen to us’ if the war in Ukraine ends?” Tsulukiani said.

She recalled a conversation from four years ago, when she was on an official visit to a major Eastern European country as a minister. According to Tsulukiani, a European counterpart told her that calls for Georgia to open a second front were not motivated by hostility toward Georgia, but by fear that if another front did not emerge, Russia would move on from Ukraine to the Baltic states and then further into Europe.

“Exactly four years ago, when I was on an official visit to a European country in my capacity as Minister - it was a large Eastern European nation, not Hungary - my counterpart there told me during a private conversation: ‘When certain people demand that you open a second front, do not think it is because anyone hates you. It is simply that if a second front does not emerge somewhere else, then after Ukraine, Russia will reach the Baltics, and after the Baltics, they will come for us.’”, the Vice Speaker continued.

“Accordingly, when we did not allow [it] to happen - and this is precisely the historic contribution of Bidzina Ivanishvili—he did not give great powers, very great powers, the opportunity to open this front in Georgia. Now, the situation is even worse for those who wanted to open a second front here, for those countries that were shouting so loudly. How the governments of the Baltic states have disgraced themselves in relation to Georgia. In Ukraine, too, they see that Trump might end the war, and they are very displeased by this because they say, ‘Then we will be the next target’. This already openly confirms that these types of EU members wanted Georgia to be an external battlefield”,Tsulukiani noted.

She added that the situation has now become even more difficult for those countries that, in her words, had been loudly advocating for Georgia’s involvement. Tsulukiani criticised the governments of the Baltic states, claiming they had “discredited themselves” in their relations with Georgia.

Tsulukiani also commented on developments in Ukraine, saying that discussions about the possibility of US President Donald Trump ending the war have caused concern among some European actors.

“They say that if the war ends, they will be the next target”, she noted, adding that this, in her view, confirms that “Georgia was intended by certain EU actors to become an external battlefield”.