Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili criticized Ukrainian political leaders in a March 12 interview with TV channel ImediNews, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko and other politicians, for their open show of support for recent protests in Tbilisi.
Garibashvili called the appeals of Ukrainian politicians, including Klitschko and chief of the Servant of the People parliamentary bloc David Arakhamia, to stand with democratic values a “direct intervention” in Georgia’s internal politics. The prime minister also called other Ukrainian politicians supporting the protests “dirty losers who say we need change, a coup.”
“First, take care of yourself and your country, and we will take care of our country,” he said.
Massive protests against a controversial law on “foreign agents.” took place in Tbilisi on March 7, after the Georgian parliament passed a draft law that displayed resemblance to the similar law in Russia, designed to make the surveillance and later prosecution of opposition actors easier.
On March 8, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affair said in a statement that it expresses “solidarity with the Georgian people in their desire to continue building the European future of Georgia.”
