Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili thinks “it’s time for our democratic partners, whether they are European, British or American, to tackle this new reality, which is that Russia is trying to win over democratic countries that are linked to, or part of the European Union, or linked to EU trought candidate status.”

In an interview with Rest Is Politics, she said: “They’re trying to win them over through elections. That has happened in Romania. It was, at the last moment, overturned because they still have a constitution in court, which we don’t have anymore. We don’t have any institution left beyond that of the president. They’re all in the hands of the ruling party, but completely in the hands.

That’s the issue that is now set for the democratic countries, partners. They have to decide whether they will be always so cautious in declaring that elections have not been won, that they are not legitimate. If they are going to continue to use observing missions that are very important at the OSCE/DHIR report that came out after the European Council. Why? But it’s very clear except that it doesn’t give a political conclusion. The IRI, the Republican Institute’s report is even clearer, but they don’t have either to make a political conclusion. The political conclusion is to be made by the governments

And for some reason, they have not yet come to the decision that this war they have to look at it as a war, not as being overall too cautious about what they declare as legitimate, what they declare as illegitimate.”