The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has responded to Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s offensive remarks about Ukraine ahead of the October 26 elections in that country.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze commented on the election banners of the ruling Georgian Dream party, which compare war-damaged buildings in Ukraine and Georgia. He made his statement on air on the Imedi TV channel.
Kobakhidze believes that Georgians had no information about what was happening in Ukraine and that his party’s election banners “exposed” the truth about it.
According to the prime minister, “specific subjects”—opponents of the government: politicians and NGOs—are concerned about advertising banners.
“In fact, the public did not have complete and adequate information about what was happening in Ukraine, and these billboards… expose the lies. Therefore, people who tried to present the situation in Ukraine as desirable for Georgian society are worried, says the Georgian prime minister.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry believes that the Georgian prime minister wants to “erase from the memory of the Georgian people the numerous crimes Russia has committed and continues to commit in the temporarily occupied territories of both Georgia and Ukraine.”
We consider it shameful that the Georgian Dream party used images of Russia’s ruthless war against Ukraine in its political advertising. The brazen speculation on the Ukrainian grief exposed the truth about the ruling party of Georgia, which lies in the complete disregard for the Ukrainian people and the readiness to cause irreparable harm for the sake of political points to the traditionally friendly relations between the Ukrainian and Georgian peoples, the statement of Ukrainian diplomats says.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers such statements by Kobakhidze to be a monkey approach of the Russian Federation to limiting the participation of civil society and human rights organizations in ensuring the democratic development of the country and maintaining a competitive electoral environment; the Georgian government has turned into a copier of the Kremlin.
Kyiv reminded Tbilisi of all the pro-Russian actions of past years:
- refusal of the Georgian authorities to support international sanctions imposed against the Russian Federation in response to full-scale aggression against Ukraine;
- restoration of direct air communication with Russia;
- the abolition of the visa regime introduced in the early 2000s and the intensification of bilateral trade;
- the appearance in Georgian cities of private Russian schools accredited in Russia.
We also urge those who want to expose the truth to explain to their own people why in Kherson, which was destroyed by the Russian occupiers, where critical infrastructure facilities were deliberately destroyed, there are an order of magnitude fewer interruptions in the supply of electricity and gas than in peaceful Tbilisi,” the Foreign Ministry added.
Source: Racurs
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