“And I must recognize Russia’s victory in Georgia,” the Ukrainian head of state said at a press conference in Iceland’s Reykjavík, a video of which he posted on his social networks today.
Zelenskiy, who did not comment on the fraud allegations denounced by Georgian President Salomi Jurapishvili, linked the victory of the pro-Russian Georgian Dream party to the Russian occupation of part of Georgian territory since 2008.
“First, they occupied a part of Russia, then they changed the policy, they changed the government, now there is a pro-Russian government, pro-Russian positions,” Zelensky emphasized.
The Ukrainian leader added about the Georgian government, “The desire is not to move towards friendship with Russia and the European Union. [União Europeia]”.
“If the West does not change its rhetoric about red lines, we will lose Moldova in a year or two,” Zelenskiy added.
Ukraine has repeatedly criticized Western countries for respecting some of the red lines set by Russia, for example not allowing them to attack military targets in Russia with missiles sent to that country or guaranteeing Ukraine’s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (BORN). .
Jurapishvili, a pro-European, said today that he had “no intention” of detailing his accusations against the state prosecutor’s office over alleged fraud in the legislative election, which the ruling party declared victorious.
The official added that more than a thousand requests have already been sent to the Central Election Commission (CEC) to cancel the polls in 246 assemblies, citing violation of the right to secret ballot in places with electronic voting.
Despite immunity, the President of Georgia is obligated to appear at trial and may request the presence of a judge and not the state prosecutor’s office.
Georgia’s attorney general’s office announced it was launching an investigation into alleged irregularities in the legislative election and called for a detailed hearing of the president’s allegations.
According to the Electoral Commission, the ruling party, which blocked EU accession negotiations because of Brussels’ proximity to Russia, won the election with 53.92% of the vote.
The opposition accuses oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream of bringing Georgia closer to Russia and moving it away from potential membership of the European Union and NATO.
The president has already refused to recognize the results and called on Georgians to demonstrate in the streets.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakitse described the victory of the Georgian Dream as “impressive and obvious”, saying that “any attempt to talk about electoral manipulation will end in failure”.
A monitoring mission by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) highlighted the good organization of the elections, but reported “extensive coercion” of voters and “frequent violations of ballot secrecy”, among other possible irregularities.
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