Former Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili stated at the Munich Conference that she does not see sufficient reaction from European and American partners regarding Georgia’s current situation.

Zourabichvili emphasized that the current Georgian government lacks legitimacy and operates as a one-party system.

“What is more important regarding Georgia is that these elections were stolen, but this isn’t merely an internal political issue. It’s about whether Russia can recover and take over a country that has been moving towards Europe and Euro-Atlantic integration for 30 years, with population support of 80% or more.

This support has even grown recently. Russia is attempting to take over this country in a much easier way than the war it couldn’t win in Ukraine – because Russia has not won the war in Ukraine. Whatever may come from the possible negotiations starting now, the fact remains that for three years, Russia has not achieved any of its objectives in Ukraine.

It has cost Russia heavily in human resources, even if they don’t value this cost, the numbers are there. The economic cost and prestige cost of failing to achieve what they promised has damaged the Russian military and Russian military elite.

So the alternative strategy, the hybrid strategy, is to win Georgia through a proxy – through a man who currently controls Georgia without any political status.

Regarding legitimacy – he wasn’t elected. The one-party system increasingly resembles the Russian model. The elections were manipulated through various tested methods: call centers, misuse of citizens’ personal data, and traditional election fraud techniques.
This way, you install this proxy government into power to make the decisions you want. Particularly after the candidate status, the goal is to redirect Georgia from its European path back to a Russian one. This is extremely dangerous because if this succeeds in Georgia – and I don’t see sufficient reaction from our European or American partners currently – it might be tested elsewhere.

Georgia isn’t just Georgia – it’s not just about a country where 80% of the population has long supported the European path. It’s about the Black Sea. It’s about who will control the Black Sea tomorrow. Before this recent period and before the Ukrainian war, we had port calls by NATO vessels and all European partners. This has stopped,” Zourabishvili said.