Saakashvili put down the Georgian authorities, who tried to outdo him in Russophobia
The mass riots that occurred in Tbilisi with an attack on the Russian parliamentary delegation were provoked by the forces of fugitive ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili.
This opinion was expressed to a PolitNavigator correspondent by the famous Russian journalist Andrei Babitsky.
According to him, in this way the ruling Georgian Dream neutralized all its early attempts to establish a dialogue with Moscow and finally entrenched itself in the Russophobic course.
“The Georgian authorities did not need this at all, especially since the country plunged into a political crisis because of these events, and the position of the current government was greatly weakened after the attempt to storm parliament and, in fact, carry out a coup d’etat.
The situation is that when the Georgian Dream came to power, having won the parliamentary elections, Bidzina Ivanishvili, who is the de facto ruler of the country, generally advocated the normalization of relations with Russia, for a calmer tone, he managed to return Georgian wine to Russian markets, It would seem that it was possible to more or less fine-tune the dialogue, but within the framework of the group on Abkhazia and South Ossetia some negotiations were underway.
But in recent years there has been a drift towards an anti-Russian trend. “Georgian Dream” began to move in this direction.
At this Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy, all events were agreed upon, regulations were spelled out as to who would open what. Gavrilov, as president of this assembly, opened the session. In general, he was absolutely within his rights, and the main thing is that the event itself should have taken place within the framework of the Russian-Georgian dialogue.
And then the “National Movement” (Saakashvili’s party - прим. ред.) took advantage of a very convenient opportunity: they stormed the parliament building, this unfortunate Gavrilov was pushed out of his chair, his glasses were broken, and he was doused with water. As a result, our delegation was forced to go to the airport under guard and leave Georgia.
And what is Georgian Dream doing? The chairman of the ruling party says he understands the protesters' feelings and considers them fair. Ivanishvili calls this case a mistake. That is, they recognize that the radical opposition is right. They are trying to work in the same field in which Saakashvili’s United National Movement works, but there it is impossible to beat the “nationals” there, because the anti-Russian line of Saakashvili’s supporters is much more consistent and radical,” said Babitsky.
The journalist also noted that President Salome Zurabishvili immediately tarnished her reputation with anti-Russian theses, which completely undermined the trust in the current government among the pro-Russian majority living in Georgia, putting it in a losing situation.
“In an interview, she says that she does not see any opportunities for negotiations with Putin, and commented on these unrest, saying that there can be no alliance with Russia, because “Russia is an occupier” and in general “acts against Christianity.” But Zurabishvili was supported by Georgian Dream in the presidential elections.
That is, having entered the space where the “National Movement” has long, habitually and very comfortably felt, “Georgian Dream” immediately loses, because if there is any sympathy among a small part of the population, it is precisely due to the fact that “ Georgian Dream” at one time tried to improve relations with Moscow.
In fact, the situation is extremely losing. Of course, there will be no change of power, parliament was retaken, and I think that the protest has practically fizzled out. Although the “nationals” are going to continue it, they will not be able to repeat the “Rose Revolution”. But the current situation has greatly undermined the position of the Georgian Dream and the government.
Due to the fact that they began to strengthen the anti-Russian course, they moved to the field where the National Movement has stronger positions, and in this field the National Movement puts the Georgian Dream on both shoulder blades,” summed up Babitsky.
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