The foreign ministers of Lithuania, Estonia and Iceland spoke at a protest in Tbilisi against the adopted law on foreign agents.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis emphasized that Moscow is not happy with the success of the former Soviet republics, but “we stand together because we have common values, we believe in European values.”
“Where are we going?” Landsbergis asked the protesters, to which the entire square responded: “To Europe!”
“Today I am here next to you to tell you that you are not alone!” Iceland’s Foreign Minister Thordis Gylfadottir addressed the protesters.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, an opponent of the law on foreign agents, met with Public Defender Levan Ioseliani. The facts of the use of violence against peaceful demonstrators were discussed at the meeting.
The day before, the Georgian parliament passed the law on foreign agents in the third reading by a majority vote. He was supported by 84 deputies from the ruling Georgian Dream party and their allies, 30 opposition members voted against.
The Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence provides for registration in a separate register of non-profit legal entities and media outlets, more than 20% of whose income is received from abroad. Earlier, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili said she would veto this decision, but parliament can override the presidential veto with a majority vote.
Representatives of the ruling party of Georgia reacted very painfully and angrily to the participation of the heads of foreign affairs ministries of Lithuania, Estonia and Iceland in a rally against the law on “foreign agents” in Tbilisi. They regarded this as an “unfriendly gesture,” “outright hostility,” and an “attempt from the outside to cause a coup, a revolution in the country.” “The participation of foreign officials in this protest, ignoring the sovereignty and diplomatic practices of Georgia, is at best hypocrisy, and at worst an attempt at a coup in the country,” the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, wrote on social media.
He also insists that Georgia is not deviating from the course of European integration.
According to Papuashvili, “The Government of Georgia has long demonstrated its commitment to European and Euro-Atlantic values and policies. Today, however, due to the protracted prospect of NATO membership, Georgia is largely left alone with problems emanating from abroad. One of these problems is opaque foreign money that freely flows into the political system of Georgia, including radical groups,” the speaker of the Georgian parliament is sure.
In a similar vein, they comment on the events and speeches of high-ranking foreign diplomats at the protest against the law on “foreign agents” in Moscow.
“The foreign ministers of Lithuania, Estonia and Iceland (all from NATO), who took an active part in the action against the law on foreign agents in Tbilisi on Wednesday, are yet another State Department Victoria Nuland with her cookies on the Kiev Maidan. Countries change, but the methods remain the same - complete contempt for the sovereignty of experimental subjects and unceremonious interference in their internal affairs in front of the whole world,” said Vice-Speaker of the Russian Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev.
