Georgia is ruled by pro-Russian forces and we could not get candidate status due to their purposeful actions, said Giorgi Vashadze, Chairman of Strategy Builder.

According to him, the statistics, according to which the chairman of the ruling party actively criticizes the West and Ukraine, but has criticized Russia only 9 times, indicate the pro-Russian nature of the Government.

"Citizens of Georgia have a question, why the European Union did not give us candidate status. They did not give us candidate status because of the fact that the leader of the Georgian Dream ruling party has attacked our European partners 57 times, whereas he has mentioned Russia only 9 times after journalists asked questions about Russia, and he has criticized Ukraine 26 times. This is evidence of the fact that Georgia is run by pro-Russian political forces and it is because of their actions that we were not granted candidate status. Moreover, there is another survey against Ms. Kelly Degnan and relating to the anti-Western campaign in general. Georgia­n Dream has spent hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars on the anti-Western campaign on social networks. Their so-called news agencies are spreading misinformation and trying to portray as if the West does not want Georgia, or as if America and Europe want to start a war," he said.

For information, OC-Media counted how many times the Georgia­n Dream chairman criticized Russia and compared these statements with the comments directed against Ukraine and the West. The reporting period includes the period dfrom February 24 to July 27. According to OC-Media, Kobakhidze has made critical comments about Russia only 9 times, whereas he has criticized Ukraine and Ukrainian officials 26 times and has made 57 critical comments relating to the West.