President of Georgia completely disagrees with the government on the Ukrainian issue

President of Georgia completely disagrees with the government on the Ukrainian issue


Giorgi Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza


The head of the Georgian state, Giorgi Margvelashvili, who was elected president on the recommendation of the ruling coalition Georgian Dream and Bidzina Ivanishvili personally, completely disagreed with the government's position on the Ukrainian issue. This is confirmed by his visit to Kiev, participation in a march devoted to last year's Maidan events, and a statement on the activities in Ukraine of Mikheil Saakashvili, who is wanted in connection with several criminal cases.

For Georgia, the Ukrainian issue consists of two interconnected parts: the attitude to Russia’s activity and the reaction to the invitations to Mikheil Saakashvili and his supporters to hold top official positions among the Ukrainian authorities. Saakashvili was appointed as a freelance advisor to President Poroshenko, while other members of his team of “young reformers” took important positions in various structures. The Georgian government reacted to this painfully: the ambassador of Ukraine was summoned for explanations, while government officials stated that none of them would participate in the Kiev march. They don’t accept Poroshenko’s attitude to Saakashvili, who doesn’t hide his plans to return to Georgian politics and “overthrow the clan of the Russian oligarch Ivanishvili peacefully.”

At the same time, the current President Giorgi Margvelashvili considers the development in a way which differs from the view of the team which has taken him to power. He decided to visit Kiev to participate in the march, stating: “We will gather a full airplane to show the Ukrainians that we stand for them.” However, Irakli Garibashvili’s government doesn’t undertake such demarches – none of the Georgian ministers (except for the Minister for Healthcare) had visited Kiev during the last year.

There were many speculations about whether Giorgi Margvelashvili would meet Saakashvili at the march, but the former president urgently flew to Washington for talks with the US leadership on supplies of American arms to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Margvelashvili stated in Kiev that the appointment of Saakashvili “wouldn’t spoil Georgian-Ukrainian relations,” while he explained the activities of the former president were due to his striving “to help Ukraine to hold reforms.”

Thus, the current head of the Georgian state is in complete disaccord with the ruling coalition on very important issues of internal and foreign policies. This could lead to further confrontation between President and government, as well as the actual leader of the country, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.

 

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