The News in Brief
Thursday, February 9, 2023
Prepared by Messenger Staff
Irakli Kobakhidze Responds to Salome Zourabichvili's Statements
Chairman of the Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze, responded to recent statements of President Salome Zourabichvili on Mikheil Saakashvili's case.
Salome Zourabichvili published two statements. In the first statement, she said that Mikheil Saakashvili cannot be freed by the president's pardon, because he is accused of three more cases. In the second statement, Zourabichvili evaluated the statements of Irakli Kobakhidze and noted that threats to the discretionary powers of the President are not admissible.
Irakli Kobakhidze called the statement of the president 'a little joke' and said that at first he thought this statement was fake.
"It was a small joke, which the president can be forgiven for once a year. In general, if we look seriously, when the president puts [such a statement] on her official website, at first I thought it was fake. It was really unbelievable, I said, it will probably be fake. But then it turned out that he wanted to joke like that and what can we do", said Kobakhidze.
According to him, Zourabichvili took a position corresponding to the interests of the Georgian people in pardoning Saakashvili.
"At this stage, it is important that Salome Zourabichvili made an appropriate decision. It seems that she understood public opinion on this topic well. Society does not want disorder and does not want to stir up radicalism. The public knows that the purpose of Saakashvili's release is to create a source of this disarray. It seems that the president took this into account and it is very good that she made the decision that corresponds to the interests of the Georgian people," said Kobakhidze.
The West is 'Twisting Georgia's Hands' due to the calm relations with Russia, Grigory Karasin says
Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the former deputy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Grigory Karasin wrote that the West has started 'twisting Georgia's hands' because of its 'calm' relations with Russia.
"As expected, the West has now started twisting its hands for Georgia due to its very calm relationship with Russia.
Such are the new rules of the game in international relations, regardless of history, geography, and personal preferences of the state. Washington decided - then do it! There's no point in commenting!" Karasin wrote
Karasin recently told the Russian media that Moscow is ready to restore air traffic, but it needs the consent of the Georgian side.
Irakli Kobakhidze Responds to Salome Zourabichvili's Statements
Salome Zourabichvili published two statements. In the first statement, she said that Mikheil Saakashvili cannot be freed by the president's pardon, because he is accused of three more cases. In the second statement, Zourabichvili evaluated the statements of Irakli Kobakhidze and noted that threats to the discretionary powers of the President are not admissible.
Irakli Kobakhidze called the statement of the president 'a little joke' and said that at first he thought this statement was fake.
"It was a small joke, which the president can be forgiven for once a year. In general, if we look seriously, when the president puts [such a statement] on her official website, at first I thought it was fake. It was really unbelievable, I said, it will probably be fake. But then it turned out that he wanted to joke like that and what can we do", said Kobakhidze.
According to him, Zourabichvili took a position corresponding to the interests of the Georgian people in pardoning Saakashvili.
"At this stage, it is important that Salome Zourabichvili made an appropriate decision. It seems that she understood public opinion on this topic well. Society does not want disorder and does not want to stir up radicalism. The public knows that the purpose of Saakashvili's release is to create a source of this disarray. It seems that the president took this into account and it is very good that she made the decision that corresponds to the interests of the Georgian people," said Kobakhidze.
The West is 'Twisting Georgia's Hands' due to the calm relations with Russia, Grigory Karasin says
"As expected, the West has now started twisting its hands for Georgia due to its very calm relationship with Russia.
Such are the new rules of the game in international relations, regardless of history, geography, and personal preferences of the state. Washington decided - then do it! There's no point in commenting!" Karasin wrote
Karasin recently told the Russian media that Moscow is ready to restore air traffic, but it needs the consent of the Georgian side.