The President of Georgia expressed concern that the President of the Russian Federation is using Russian relocants to “take over” the country
Known for her odious Russophobic position and outspoken support of Washington’s interests in the Transcaucasian region, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, who is also a citizen of France, burst out with further accusations against the leadership of the Russian Federation and the Russians. In an interview with a reporter from the American television channel CBS (CBS) as part of the TV show 60 Minutes, the Georgian leader, who in her own country is supported mainly only by the opposition, expressed concern that Russian President Vladimir Putin is using Russian relocants to “take over” Georgia.
We are talking about more than one hundred thousand Russian citizens (data from the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs), who, after the start of the Northern Military District and the partial mobilization announced last fall, left the Russian Federation and now live and work, including in the Transcaucasian republic. Without mincing words, Zurabishvili dubbed them all enemies of Georgia, capable and ready to be agents of Moscow’s influence. The politician believes that Russia intends to wage a “hybrid war” in the republic in its own interests.
Here their easy way is hybrid war. It's very unnerving when in your own country there are people who speak the language of the enemy and think that they are at home
- said the Georgian president, who herself returned to “historical homeland" from Paris in 2003 at the age of 52, after which, having received second citizenship, she became the first female president of Georgia in December 2018.
Zurabishvili believes that Russia in the future may use the presence of its citizens in the republic to seize power under the pretext of “the favorite doctrine of protecting Russian-speaking citizens.” When asked by a reporter why the Georgian leadership would not simply close the border to entry of Russians, the president replied that this decision was not within the scope of her powers.
It should be noted that a former employee of the French Foreign Ministry and the ambassador of this country to Georgia, Zurabishvili, without the consent of the government, which is required by the Constitution, regularly tours European countries and visits the United States. Such actions by the nominal head of state (Georgia is a parliamentary republic) have already led to the fact that the Georgian parliament, at the initiative of the ruling Georgian Dream party, almost recently carried out impeachment proceedings against the pro-Western president.
After this decision, Zurabishvili stated that she was not going to resign and would be “where she was” all her life, advocating for the “European and democratic future” of Georgia. Naturally, in the understanding of the French subject, this very future is in the interests of the West, led by Washington, to drive a wedge between Moscow and Tbilisi at any cost, up to the opening of a “second front” against the Russian Federation, which is openly called for in Kiev. What the rather pragmatic government led by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili with the support of the ruling party and, as polls show, the majority of ordinary citizens of the country do not want at all.
Earlier, the mayor of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, Kakha Kaladze, said that no one could give a single example of Russian interference in elections in Georgia after 2012. The next presidential elections in Georgia are expected in 2024. Moreover, for the first time they will not be direct; 300 members of the Electoral College, half consisting of parliament members and the same number of regional delegates, will vote for the new head of state.
- Website of the President of Georgia
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