Georgian Parliament official questions Moldovan President’s authority to criticise Georgia

Levan Makhashvili, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s European Integration Committee, on Tuesday criticised Moldovan President Maia Sandu’s remarks about Georgia, questioning her authority to comment on the country’s foreign policy.

Makhashvili commented on Maia Sandu’s address at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), where she spoke about Georgia in the context of Russia’s alleged hybrid influence.

In his remarks, Makhashvili questioned why an official from a Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member country felt entitled to comment on Georgia’s foreign policy.

“I cannot tell you why an official of a Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member country allows herself to criticise another country’s - Georgia’s - foreign policy”, he said.

“She has probably finished dissolving her own country and can now comment on other issues”, he concluded.

In her address to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Moldovan President Maia Sandu spoke about Russia’s hybrid operations and claimed that Moscow had brought Georgia back into its orbit by exploiting fears of war.