"The government of 'Georgian Dream' must stop! Sanctions must be imposed. It is unfortunate that we are moving so, so slowly in this direction," said Lithuania's former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabrielius Landsbergis, in an exclusive interview with InterpressNews.

According to him, new elections are necessary to de-escalate the situation, but they must be fair elections.

"I think what we are seeing this year is 'Stalinization' of the country. Civil rights are being taken away from the people to make the country resemble Belarus or Russia, without protest, without free elections, without the freedom to assemble. If this is allowed and the West loses Georgia as a country trying to connect with the West, it will truly be a tragedy. The government of 'Georgian Dream' must stop. Sanctions must be imposed. It is unfortunate that we are moving so, so slowly in this direction. You might call this a mistake, but the fact is that Europe is in a very difficult situation and is divided, with its main focus being the war in Ukraine against Russia. So perhaps 'Georgian Dream' saw this as an opportunity, knowing that EU countries simply cannot keep track of the events happening in Tbilisi, but I want to praise the courage of the Georgian people. Without their resilience in the face of everything they have done, despite the repression, arrests, fines, and house searches, they are still protesting. For more than 70 days, they go out every day when it's cold and raining, and probably fear arrest, but still do the same thing. Without the demonstrations, Europe would likely not have understood or even cared about what is happening in Georgia.

Of course, new elections are needed to de-escalate the situation, but they must be fair elections. If they hold new elections and still falsify them, it will not improve anything," said Gabrielius Landsbergis.