Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said that Georgia is an independent, sovereign state that “needs friends, not masters.”

Kaladze assessed the planned debates on Georgia at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe with journalists and noted that “the tone of the spectators from above is categorically unacceptable.”

“Speaking in this tone and making threats of this type is categorically unacceptable for us. My teammates and I have repeatedly stated that the Georgian government is ready for partnership, ready for friendship. It is ready to deepen relations, but this should not happen at the expense of sacrificing the interests of Georgia, our country, and our homeland. The tone of the spectators from above is categorically unacceptable. We are an independent country, a sovereign state. Accordingly, we want partners, we need friends, not masters,” Kaladze said.