Lelo Leader Khazaradze Accuses Georgian Dream Party of Intentionally Fostering Georgia's Economic Dependence on Russia
By Liza Mchedlidze
Friday, March 29, 2024
Mamuka Khazaradze, Lelo party leader, criticized the Georgian Dream party, suggesting that its motives are disguised as Georgian, but in reality, its sole objective is to maintain power. Khazaradze alleged that the party's actions serve as direct Russian propaganda in Georgia. He pointed to examples such as visa-free travel and the scheduling of flights to cities that were not accessible from Tbilisi even during the Soviet Union era.
Lelo's leader emphasized that in the upcoming 2024 elections, the Georgian people's clear preference for European values should be reflected.
"The Georgian people, who have repeatedly expressed their European choice, should reflect this in the 2024 elections.
The Georgian Dream party is disguised with pseudo-Georgian motivations, but in reality, it is driven by only one goal - to stay in power. Its other actions, whether hidden or not, serve as direct Russian propaganda in Georgia. This is evident in policies such as visa-free travel and the scheduling of flights to cities that were not even accessible from Tbilisi during the Soviet Union era.
This is manifested in the mass influx of Russians without visas in the last two years, not to mention the 'Gavrilov Night', nor the so-called Russian law on agents. Additionally, the direct attack on our strategic partners in the United States or various political leaders in Europe has also been very visible in the last two years.
Also, the slander and attempted impeachment of a Western-oriented president simply because the president was meeting with European leaders to discuss our future and support the choices of our people, and various similar things," Khazaradze stated.
Khazaradze emphasized the significance of publicizing statistics demonstrating the growing economic dependence of Georgia on Russia. He accused the Georgian Dream party of intentionally fostering this dependence.
"Also, it is essential to publicize the statistics that reflect the increasing dependence of the Georgian economy on Russia. The Georgian Dream has intentionally made our economy reliant on Russia, as evidenced by the import-export dynamics of all strategic products. Strategic items such as wheat, gasoline, and gas are imported, and we are not talking about a 20 or 40 percent share; we are talking about 90 percent of strategic products. Additionally, wine, one of our key export products, has almost 70 percent of its exports passing through Russia. This level of dependence does not happen by accident.
This is a deliberate policy, and from the outside, we are practically part of the Russian economy because 26,000 Russian companies were registered in Georgia in the last two years, and you cannot name even 100 European companies that were registered here during this period. This is the result," Khazaradze said.
