Salome Zurabishvili: "I will not leave Georgia, and there is no question about leaving Georgia. I am there, and I want to emphasize that I do not want to see suggestions that I become like Tikhanovskaya or the Venezuelan president who was recognized as soon as they left the country," the President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, said during an interview with TVPWorld in Strasbourg when asked whether she plans to return to Georgia.

"I will not leave Georgia; there is no question of me leaving Georgia. I am there, and I want to emphasize that I do not want to see suggestions that I become like Tikhanovskaya or the Venezuelan president who was recognized as soon as they left the country and, as I understand, was even awarded the Sakharov Prize. I don’t want such recognition when everything is over. What good is such support? I need support now in my country, together with my people," Salome Zurabishvili stated.

Additionally, she noted that the European Union should not recognize a president elected by an "illegitimate parliament."

"What the European Union can do, at the very least, is not recognize a president elected by an illegitimate parliament after stolen elections," Salome Zurabishvili added.

She also mentioned that the EU’s response to the ongoing developments in Georgia has been appropriate.

"From almost all our partners, except for one or two, we have heard moral and political support, including from the Baltic countries, Poland, Germany, and the French President. In this respect, I can say that the EU’s response has been adequate," she said.

According to Zurabishvili, what is happening in Georgia now is worse than democratic backsliding.

"You mentioned democratic backsliding. This is not democratic backsliding; it is much more than that. It is the imposition of the Russian model in Georgia, which was one of the oldest and strongest democratic models in the region. This means that Russia is testing new ground that is not about military intervention, which didn’t bring them the results they expected, whether in Ukraine or Syria. They are trying something new, which involves using elections as a tool, allowing them to consolidate their puppets and, through this method, capture countries striving for democracy and Europe. This is what should alarm Europe because it is a tool of electoral warfare that has been tested not only in Georgia but also, as we later saw, in Romania," Salome Zurabishvili emphasized.