What brought matters to a head between Georgia and the EU was the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The Georgian government condemned the invasion, sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine and imposed certain sanctions on Russia. However, it tried to block Georgian volunteers going to Ukraine to fight and rejected Western pressure to send military aid and to impose the full range of EU sanctions, leading to fresh accusations of being “pro-Russian”, according to the American publication Responsible Statecraft, which published an interview with Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili recorded in New York.

In the interview, President Kavelashvili claimed that Western partners had demanded Georgia join the war with Russia. He stressed that Georgia’s current leadership acts in the national interests of its people and state.

“On this, President Kavelashvili pushed back very strongly. He accused the West of trying to provoke a new war with Russia that would be catastrophic for Georgia. “The West demanded that we get involved in war with Russia against our vital national interests…just like in 2008, when the then government’s unreasonable actions on the basis of trust in NATO led Georgia to disaster,” he said in our interview, adding, “but today, Georgia has a government that represents the interests of our people…the same media outlets that accuse us of being under Russian influence tell the same lie about President Trump,” the article states.

According to Responsible Statecraft, Kavelashvili also highlighted the role of organizations such as USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the European Parliament in supporting and mobilizing the Georgian opposition.

“President Kavelashvili accused the U.S. “deep state” and organizations like USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the European Parliament of mobilizing the Georgian opposition to this end; “but despite all this pressure, we stood and continue to stand as guardians of Georgian national interest and of Georgian economic growth,” the article concludes.