SPOTLIGHT | Georgian Dream bristles at Ukrainian official’s remarks

On March 26, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, remarked that if Russia had other fronts apart from Ukraine, it would greatly help Kyiv. With this respect, Danilov spoke of Georgia, Moldova, and Poland.

In particular, Danilov said that if Georgia and Moldova engage in returning their territories, it would help Ukraine a lot. He added that Poland is also yet to voice its claims over Kaliningrad.

“It will definitely help us, because the Russians will have something else to do apart from destroying our cities and villages, killing our children and women,” Danilov explained.

Danilov’s statement was shortly responded to by Georgian authorities. One of them was Irakli Beraia, Chairman of the Defense and Security Committee. According to Beraia, there are actors, both inside the country and abroad, who try everything to expand the geographical area of ​​hostilities and drag Georgia into the war.

“This [Danilov’s statement] is unacceptable and shocking to us. I wish the Ukrainian people peace, and as for Danilov - more prudence and rationality,” Beraia wrote on his Facebook page.

Defense Committee Chair Beraia also noted that the Georgian Government will never deviate from its stated peace policy.

Danilov’s statement was similarly slammed by Chairman of Foreign Relations Committee, Nikoloz Samkharadze. Samkharadze hoped in his tweet that the reports on Danilov’s remarks were fake.

“I hope this is fake. Secretary of Ukraine security council calling on Georgia (& others) to abandon its policy of peaceful restoration of territorial integrity, by opening second front so that our cities and villages are destroyed and Georgian women and children are killed too? Really?” Samkharadze tweeted.

Ukrainian official was also criticized by another Georgian Dream MP, Mikheil Sarjveladze, who serves as Chairman of the Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee. Sarjveladze claimed that Danilov’s statement actually "exposed" Ukraine’s "real motivation" for dissatisfaction with Georgia. As Sarjveladze explained, Ukrainian grievances over Georgia were not related to Tbilisi not joining the sanctions, but to the assumption that Georgia would get involved in “military adventure” which would somehow help Ukraine.

Sarjveladze also linked Danilov’s statement to the opposition United National Movement.

“National Movement, unfortunately, had the motivation to start a war in Georgia. They worked for it and unfortunately, it had supporters in the Ukrainian government, it seems,” Sarjveladze said.

For the record, Georgia-Ukraine relations have been particularly strained lately. At the early stage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Georgia's PM Irakli Gharibashvili stated that Tbilisi was not going to join sanctions against Moscow. This was followed by Ukraine recalling its Ambassador from Georgia. As Zelensky himself explained, the step was due to Tbilisi's "immoral position" on the issue of imposing sanctions. While clarifying the decision, Zelensky also noted that the Georgian side prevented the departure of volunteers to Ukraine.

Following the recall of the Ukrainian Ambassador, several protest rallies were held in Tbilisi, expressing solidarity with Ukraine and demanding the resignation of PM Gharibashvili at a time.