By Giorgi Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
One of the leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, the founder and leader of the 'Industry Will Save Georgia' party, a veteran of the Georgian politics, Gogi Topadze, made a series of statements about the need to revise the country's foreign policy and start a dialogue about a real settlement of relations with Russia, including the restoration of diplomatic relations.
Gogi Topadze is not a marginal politician, he is well respected in the political and business elite of the country, he is a close friend and collaborator of the founder and informal leader of Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili.
It is noteworthy that Topadze stated the need for real steps towards Russia in several interviews, trying to initiate a broad discussion in society and political circles about whether to continue the current foreign policy, which, according to him, has not brought Georgia anything but bitter defeat, loss of territories and hundreds of thousands of refugees. We cannot say that Topadze has in mind only the foreign policy of Saakashvili and his associates. After all, it all started much earlier - in 1999, when the second President Eduard Shevardnadze announced his readiness to "knock on the doors of NATO."
Georgian political analyst and regular contributor to Prime weekly, Zurab Gogoberidze, claims that it was the time when the "charge" of aggravation around Abkhazia and South Ossetia was laid, which led to an explosion in 2008.
Gogi Topadze's statements come down to this: Georgia is a small country, it is obliged to look for a "niche" in its opposition to the great powers and should not become a field of geopolitical battle between them; NATO is not ready to accept Georgia into its membership, and endless empty talk about its imminent entry into the alliance irritates Russia. But when this "irritation" translates into concrete action, the West "shrugs" and doesn't give Georgia any real help.
Topadze says that the Eurasian Union is closer to Georgia than the European Union, with which Tbilisi entered into an association agreement last year, but the head of Brussels' diplomacy, Federica Mogherini, recently made it clear that, in contrast to Moldova, Georgia "will not receive a visa-free regime" with the EU at the upcoming summit in Riga. And NATO, in its turn, is not ready to give a Membership Action Plan (MAP) to Tbilisi, because it doesn't want to spoil relations with Moscow.
According to Gogi Topadze, Georgia is spoiling relations with Russia more and more, but it is not getting closer to any other security system. Maybe it would be better to have a dialogue with Moscow?
The Beer King, who has created one of the most successful companies in the country, answers this question in the affirmative. And we cannot say that his position is predetermined by business interests, for example, Topadze wanting to sell more beer in Russia. He is an experienced businessman and understands that Georgian beer is not wine, and even in the case of free trade with Russia, it will not be able to compete with Russian brewing giants on the Russian market. But in Georgia these giants may oust Kazbegi beer, which is produced by Topadze's company. So the position of the leader of the "industrialists" is not caused by mercantile considerations, although he has always stood for closer economic ties with Russia and other CIS countries, as more "compatible" with Georgia and the Georgian economy.
Topadze's statements provoked strong criticism from the pro-Western coalition. In particular, the Republicans and Free Democrats accused the businessman and politician of "ignoring the results of the referendum of 2008, when the majority of citizens voted in favor of NATO." Topadze answers that he remembers the referendum, but it took place before the "five-day war" when the West, according to him, did not help Georgia, "sent us drinking water" and continued relations with Moscow, forgetting the promises of the Bucharest summit that "Georgia will become a member of NATO."
Despite the "attacks from the right flank," the leader of the ruling coalition, Bidzina Ivanishvili, as well as his inner circle, is in no hurry to anathematize Topadze, making it clear to everyone that the ideas voiced by the businessman make sense, which means that sooner or later they will probably materialize in real politics.
This requires a combination of several factors: the continued indifference-detached Western policy towards Georgia, the continued denial of a MAP or visa-free regime with the EU, the inevitable discrediting of the pro-Western forces, which stubbornly keep repeating the mantra of the need to continue the policy of joining NATO, although nobody is going to admit Georgia, as is obvious from the clear statements of the US and French presidents.
