Gov't Interest is to not 'Destroy' Georgia by Sanctioning Russia, Irakli Kobakhidze Says
By Liza Mchedlidze
Friday, February 10, 2023
Irakli Kobakhidze, the chairman of the ruling party Georgian Dream spoke about sanctions against Russia in Parliament. According to him, Georgia has the military resources to worsen the situation for Russia, but they will refrain from doing so to not 'destroy' Georgia.
According to Kobakhidze, it is in the interest of the government not to destroy the country and Georgian authorities are planning to follow this interest until the end.
"There is a specific interest in opening a second front, in order to aggravate the situation on the first front for Russia. We have 25 thousand well-trained soldiers, we have about a hundred tanks, two fighter planes, etc.
There are certain resources for us to make the situation worse for Russia, but it will ultimately come at the cost of destroying Georgia. It is in our interest not to destroy the country, so we will follow this interest to the end."
Kobakhidze also noted that, given the last two weeks, Russia has the advantage on the front, because Ukraine "has not returned" any populated points during this time.
"If we take the last couple of weeks, none of the settlements were taken by the Ukrainian side, and at least in the last week, about ten settlements were taken by the Russian side. This shows that, at this stage, the Russian side has the advantage.
In general, before the war, Russia occupied Crimea and part of Donbas. Today, Russia occupies 80% of Kherson, as well as part of Kharkiv district and 80% of Zaporizhia district," Kobakhidze said, adding that under these conditions, the interest of some forces to 'get Georgia involved in a military conflict' is increasing.
Kobakhidze also said that the Georgian government is actively protecting people's best interests, similarly to the United States, member states of the EU, etc.:
The United States of America, Japan, South Korea, all try their best to protect their national interests and not harm their own people. When we do this in Georgia, we are 'roasted' by the opposition, but if you really look at it, why didn't the United States of America cut off trade in specific areas? There are very important areas where trade with Russia has not stopped.
The same applies to the member states of the European Union, where the volume of funds has increased. They themselves say that they were transferring a billion euros a day to the Russian Federation and thereby directly financing the war. Why - Because in the end, the protection of people's interests turned out to be a priority for them. At such a time, our discrimination is absolutely unfair. We protect the interests of our country and will continue to do so, of course," he said.
