For the president of Ukraine, Georgia chose “friendship with Russia and not moving towards the EU.” He did not comment on his counterpart’s fraud allegations, but said the current government is “pro-Russia.”
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky affirmed this Wednesday that the result of the legislative elections in Georgia, in which the ruling party was declared the winner, in the face of accusations of fraud by the opposition, was a victory for Russia.
“It is necessary to recognize that Russia won in Georgia,” said the Ukrainian head of state in a meeting with journalists in Reykjavik, Iceland, of which he published a video on his social networks.
Zelensky, who did not comment on the accusations of fraud denounced by the Georgian president herself, Salomé Zurabishvili, associated the victory of the pro-Russian Georgian Dream party with the Russian occupation of part of Georgian territory since 2008.
“At first they occupied part of Georgia, then they changed the policy, they changed the government and now there is a pro-Russian government, pro-Russian positions“Zelensky stressed.
The Ukrainian leader added, referring to the Georgian government, that “The option is friendship with Russia and not moving towards the EU [União Europeia]”.
Zelensky also said that “if Western countries do not change their rhetoric on red lines, will lose Moldova within a year or two“.
Ukraine has repeatedly criticized Western countries for respecting certain red lines drawn by Russia, for example by not allowing it to attack military targets in Russia with missiles sent to that country or by not guaranteeing Ukraine’s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( BORN). .
Zurabishvili, a pro-European, stated this Wednesday that he “has no intention” of detailing his accusations before the Prosecutor’s Office about the alleged fraud in the legislative elections, in which the ruling party was declared the winner.
Further from the EU? Georgia elections may have been the subject of a “Russian special operation”
In addition to confirming the violation of the right to secret voting in places with electronic voting, the official added that more than a thousand requests to cancel votes in 246 assemblies have already been sent to the Central Electoral Commission (CEC).
Despite the immunity status, the President of Georgia is obliged to appear for questioning and may request the presence of a judge and not the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The Georgia Prosecutor’s Office announced the opening of an investigation into alleged fraud in the legislative elections and asked the President to detail his accusations.
According to the electoral commission, the ruling party, with which Brussels froze EU accession negotiations due to its proximity to Russia, won the elections with 53.92% of the votes.
HE Opposition accuses oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian dream of bringing Georgia closer to Russia and distance it from possible membership in the EU and NATO, two objectives enshrined in the country’s Constitution.
The president had already refused to recognize the results and had called on Georgians to protest in the streets.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, for his part, called the victory of the Georgian Dream “impressive and obvious,” considering that “any attempt to talk about electoral manipulation is doomed to failure.”
The observation mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) highlighted the good organization of the elections, but reported “many cases of coercion” of voters and “frequent violations of the secrecy of the vote”, among others. possible irregularities.
Source: Observadora
