Georgia declined proxy war role, faced Gov’t change attempts, says Parliament official

Levan Machavariani, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party and Deputy Chair of the parliamentary faction of the ruling party, on Saturday claimed that ongoing attempts to change the Georgian Government were stemming from its refusal to be dragged into the geopolitical conflict surrounding the ongoing war in Ukraine.

In his remarks, Machavariani accused European officials and unnamed oligarchic actors of retaliating against Georgia for its independent stance on the war in Ukraine.

“We are witnessing the continuation of the blackmail that began the very day the war in Ukraine began. This is all easily explained - we refused to let Georgia be used as a satellite state in a proxy war”, the official said.

“Naturally, the Eurocrats and informal oligarchic rulers could not forgive us this, and since then, there have been constant attempts to replace the Georgian Dream [party] with a radical opposition that will unquestioningly carry out any order. This is clear to the absolute majority of our citizens, which is exactly why we have such strong support and why over one million one hundred twenty thousand voters cast their ballots for the Georgian Dream”, Machavariani concluded.