Ruling party, opposition MPs: Georgia on “peaceful path”, not getting into war

Parliament’s Defence and Security Committee Chair Irakli Beraia maintained that the Georgian government would not deviate from its policy of peace. Photo: Parliament of Georgia/Facebook

Agenda.ge, 27 Mar 2022 - 15:55, Tbilisi,Georgia

The ruling Georgian Dream party and opposition MPs on Sunday asserted the country was on a “peaceful path” and would not get involved in war, following remarks by Oleksiy Danilov, the Ukrainian Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, who said Georgia would “greatly help” Ukraine by opening military fronts against Russia to forcefully regain control over the occupied breakaway Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions.

In his comments, Danilov had also said Georgia was "not behaving very correctly, to put it mildly" in its stance on Ukraine amid Russia's invasion of the country.

But Mikheil Sarjveladze, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, said there was “no justification” for calling Georgia to get involved in war.

It is very important to say that [Georgia’s involvement in war] will not assist Ukraine in any way,” Sarjveladze added.

In his response, Nikoloz Samkharadze, who chairs the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed his hope that Danilov’s statement was "fake".

I hope that it [the statement] is fake. Is the National Security and Defence Council Secretary of Ukraine calling on Georgia to deviate from its peaceful policy for restoring territorial integrity by opening the second front, so that our towns and villages would get destroyed and Georgian women and children would die too? Really?” Samkharadze wrote.

The Parliament’s Defence and Security Committee Chair Irakli Beraia maintained that the Georgian government would not deviate from its policy of peace, “no matter who calls for it,” while ruling party MP Giorgi Tsagareishvili called Danilov’s statement a “direct call” to get Georgia involved in the ongoing conflict. He noted the country would remain on a “peaceful path.”

Aleksandre Rakviashvili, an MP from the opposition Girchi party, said he found Danilov’s remarks “morally unacceptable,” adding Georgia would work to solve its problems “only in a peaceful manner.” Opposition MP Paata Manjgaladze, from the Strategy Aghmashenebeli party, also disagreed with Danilov’s statements, saying “Georgia is not in a condition to make such decisions.”