“We are not Germany, France, or any other country that Ukraine’s leadership can address in the tone it sees fit to use,” declared the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, in remarks to journalists.

Papuashvili stated that when speaking about Georgia, Ukraine’s president must moderate his tone.

“We have our own historical experience, and Ukraine’s leadership has no business addressing us in a tone of grievance and demands. That is something Ukraine’s leadership must come to understand itself. If Ukraine’s leadership expects everyone to weigh their words carefully when speaking to them, then we equally expect the same from everyone, including Ukraine’s leadership.

Let them weigh every word and every decision concerning Georgia and the Georgian people. We are not some Western European country at which Ukraine can justifiably level complaints; justifiably, because had the major powers risen to the occasion when it mattered, this war would never have happened. Of course, Ukraine has every right to hold those nations to account, for it is the responsibility of global powers, those answerable for global security, that this war began at all.

Donald Trump says that had he been in power, this war would not have happened and should never have started. Their grievances towards Europe are therefore understandable, but let them not redirect that tone onto the Georgian people. We will not accept that tone from anyone in general, and not from Ukraine’s leadership, not from Zelenskyy specifically. We will not accept or tolerate so much as a single reproach from him. From the very Zelenskyy who expelled Georgia’s ambassador. When every other ambassador fled and abandoned Kyiv, lowering their flags, our ambassador remained there to the last, until Zelenskyy suggested he might like to go home to Georgia. Were it not for the expulsion of our ambassador and Zelenskyy’s lies and slander, claiming that Saakashvili was being tortured and killed, that criminal whom he harboured, and to this day, Saakashvili addresses us sometimes in Ukrainian, sometimes in Georgian, and has stated that he remains to this day the chairman of Zelenskyy’s reforms council. Every such statement will be answered.

And what of it that they are at war? We, too, have been at war. Did we reproach anyone? Did we level demands? Being at war confers greater responsibility upon a person, and that responsibility must be borne with greater dignity. When he accuses Georgia of torturing Saakashvili, that is a dishonourable act. There was talk of how supporting the UN resolution was supposedly a mark of decency, as though we should be grateful for it. First of all, gratitude is owed for everything. Let them look at the list, who voted in favour, who abstained, who voted against, and then speak to us. And when they talk of decency, for the past several years now, Ukrainian delegations in various formats have been supporting every hostile decision taken against the Georgian people. Is that gratitude? Is that how you treat a friend? When they turn their gaze towards us, Ukraine’s president must moderate his tone,” declared Shalva Papuashvili.

For context: the Speaker of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stepanchuk, had addressed an open letter to the Georgian Parliament Speaker, Shalva Papuashvili. In that letter, Stefanchuk wrote: “Ukraine does not need lectures from moralists, it needs real allies.”

In response, Shalva Papuashvili replied to Ruslan Stepanchuk: “Had Ukraine’s leadership weighed its own words and actions towards the Georgian people every time, neither my assessment nor your response would have been necessary.”