Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Says US and EU Pressuring Sovereign States, Targeting Georgia
By Liza Mchedlidze
Wednesday, June 5, 2024
In an interview with TASS, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said that there might be an attempt to create another centre of tension near Russia's borders by changing the government in Georgia and implementing the Maidan scenario.
"We see the attempts of Westerners to escalate the situation in the context of parliamentary elections scheduled in October in Georgia. We do not rule out that in the hope of creating another centre of tension near the borders of Russia, the goal is to change the government by trying to implement the Maidan scenario," said Galuzin.
According to Galuzin, the USA and EU countries are exerting pressure on numerous sovereign states.
"This time, the Westerners decided to get busy with Georgia regarding the discussion of the law on "transparency of foreign influence", although much stricter standards already exist or are being discussed in the USA and other "minority" countries of the world. From Brussels and Washington came hypocritical accusations of "undermining democracy", incompatibility with "European" and "Euro-Atlantic" values. Also, the threat of using personal sanctions, about blocking Georgia's "Euro-Atlantic perspectives", depriving it of the EU candidate status and suspending the visa-free regime for the citizens of this country," said the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia.
Additionally, Galuzin addressed the arrival of the foreign ministers of Lithuania, Estonia, and Iceland at the protest rally in Tbilisi.
"It is difficult to describe it in any other way than gross interference in the domestic affairs of an independent state. All this is a terrible example of the neo-colonial practice of influencing the countries whose sovereignty they seek to limit.
For our part, we are interested in the stable democratic development of Georgia. At the same time, unlike the United States of America or the European Union, we do not interfere in the domestic affairs of sovereign states," said Russia's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.