Alliance of Patriots’ hold meetings in Russia
By Tea Mariamidze
Wednesday, July 12
Three MPs out of total six of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia parliamentary minority (APG) have left for Moscow to meet Russian parliamentarians and discuss various issues with them.
APG MPs Ada Marshania, Nato Chkheidze and Giorgi Lomia will meet representatives of the Russian ruling party, Yedinaya Rossiya, and the Communist Party at the CIS Committee.
The visit of the Georgian MPs to Moscow was initiated and scheduled by of one of the leaders of the Russian Communist Party, Leonid Kalashnikov.
Kalashnikov says that one of the main criteria of choosing the APG was the party’s positive attitude towards Russia.
He expects to receive an invitation to Tbilisi by the Georgian MPs.
“I hope I will be invited to Georgia by the Alliance of Patriots MPs and I will gladly accept such an offer,” Kalashnikov stated.
The leader of the APG, Irma Inashvili, claims that direct dialogue with the Kremlin is necessary.
“We do not need complex thinking over the issue that arriving in Moscow is inadmissible and that everyone who goes there are ‘agents’. The people who are trying to hinder this political dialogue are the real ‘agents’. We want to get some positive results for Georgia out of these talks,” Inashvili said.
Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party says the APG MPs went to Russia by themselves and their visit to Moscow has nothing to do with the government.
“This is not a parliamentary assignment and the Alliance of Patriots never agrees its visits with the GD party,” the leader of the parliamentary majority, Archil Talakvadze, stressed.
Georgian opposition parties, however, see some links between the APG visit to Moscow and the ruling party.
The United National Movement (UNM) says the position of the GD faction towards Russia is identical to the position of the Alliance of Patriots.
“There does not exist any example of positive dialogue with Russia in the history of the world,” Zaza Bibilashvili from the UNM said.
Another parliamentary opposition group, European Georgia, says the APG and Georgian Dream are allies.
“A dialogue with our enemies is necessary, but for this there exists the Geneva International Talks,” Giorgi Kandelaki, a European Georgia MP, said.
Nino Bujanadze, the ex-PM of Georgia and the leader of another Russia-affiliated opposition party, Democratic Georgia, approved of the steps of the Alliance of Patriots.
She says the government should have started direct talks with Russia a long time ago.
“The Georgian Dream has committed a crime by not starting a dialogue with Russia because we would have bigger chances of solving our territorial problems,” Burjanadze claimed.
