Of course, I don’t like it if you are friends of war criminals, but if you want to be friends of Putin’s Russia, you can be, but what you cannot do is undermine the values ​​and rules of this organization, - this is how German MEP Frank Schwabe addressed the Georgian government during his speech at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where a debate on Georgia was held.­

According to him, the Georgian government has deviated from the path of democracy, the rule of law and human rights.

“There was some hope regarding the Georgian Dream and I can state as the leader of the Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group, they were members of our group, that we tried to work together to improve the situation through dialogue, but they went in a different direction. Membership of the Council of Europe is a commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and it is not about geopolitics. Some members of the Georgian Dream were telling me: “You want to decide which direction we should go”. Of course, I don’t like it if you are friends of war criminals, but if you want to be friends of Putin’s Russia, you can be, but what you cannot do is undermine the values ​​and rules of this organization, you have to protect it. If you change your country according to the same model as Putin’s Russia, then we will have problems together, and this is described in this report. In January, we sent you a very clear “message”: please come back. Come back to a constructive dialogue with us and let’s move in the right direction together, but unfortunately, today we can say that the opposite has happened. Please, Georgian authorities, get back on track. I think you need to hold new elections, because you need some new legitimacy, we saw violations during the elections. You must do everything to stop the violence and release political prisoners," the German MP noted.