MP Gabunia: UNM’s long-standing ties to foreign handlers expose their disgraceful lobbying for anti-Georgian measures

“The United National Movement has long been in contact with its funders, sponsors and bosses, going to foreign actors and begging them to take decisions against Georgia,” said MP Giorgi Gabunia, chair of Parliament’s Culture Committee.

Gabunia was commenting on a social media post by former President Mikheil Saakashvili, who wrote: “At a conference organised by IRI (the International Republican Institute) in Lithuania, American and European experts and politicians told representatives of opposition parties that their only chance was to unite with me. In response, these opposition figures shot themselves in the foot, saying: ‘We don’t want to be with Misha, our supporters don’t want it, and Misha wrecks unity.’”

In Gabunia’s view, the real tragedy is that they do all this of their own free will.

“They themselves are talking about what was said at that meeting and how. This clearly proves that these people are in league with foreign actors. My question is: why should a foreign politician, diplomat or expert discuss Georgia’s domestic politics with people who call themselves politicians and supposedly care about the country’s future? Why would they take such instructions from foreign actors unless they had struck a deal? Saakashvili remains their ideological leader to this day. The fact remains: this is a single force that must be brought to an end in this country. Being an agent is not a one-sided act; it takes two. They go to foreign actors themselves and beg them to take decisions against Georgia. These people’s tragedy is that they do it of their own free will. And who is better than Saakashvili? If they consider Saakashvili a liability, who else do they have to look to? Gvaramia and Japaridze? It’s a choice between bad and worse. These people are a bankrupt force, below zero, with no resources whatsoever. If they are trying, for appearances’ sake, to distance themselves from Saakashvili, they can’t, because both when they were in power and afterwards they regarded Saakashvili as their leader. Saakashvili is their ideological leader; that is the point.

Their goal is to ensure the country remains permanently controlled, dependent on external forces, and subservient to foreign instructions. On that idea they are united. Their values coincide, and they can’t escape that, however much they might want to. This is a single collective force, and we will see what future it has,” Gabunia said.