“No country’s leader arrived under their national flag – the OSCE Secretary General was sent under a neutral flag, and he’s simply studying the situation,” said Petre Tsiskarishvili, Secretary General of United National Movement, during an interview on Palitra News’s Free Studio, assessing the OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioğlu’s visit to Georgia.

According to Tsiskarishvili, the purpose of the visit is to understand “what plans the regime that seized power has.”

He added that the visit feeds “Georgian Dream’s propaganda.”

“The problem is that this visit feeds propaganda – the regime’s TV channels use it to underline their supposed legitimacy when a high-level guest like the OSCE Secretary General arrives. On the other hand, this very visit highlights and signals that not a single democratic capital recognizes them. No leaders or prime ministers or presidents of any country are visiting Georgia anymore.

We remember that during Saakashvili’s nine-year rule, there was a line of leaders and presidents from various countries, especially Western ones, who visited Tbilisi, strolled through its streets, and learned about the reforms. Now no one comes. But international organizations still send representatives to study and observe what’s going on — to understand who holds power and what plans this regime has. This only reinforces the fact that the civilized world does not recognize them and does not see them as a legitimate force.

If no one came at all, would they fence the country off entirely? Georgia used to be a key geopolitical actor, and geography hasn’t changed — we’re still at the crossroads of the South Caucasus, just like we have been for centuries.

It even reminds me of how Russian athletes are banned from international tournaments and, after great effort, can only compete under neutral flags – white flags. This is the same: no leader arrived under their own flag; the OSCE Secretary General came under a neutral one, just to observe. And I’m convinced he made many observations regarding the regime’s rejection of democratic values.”

Regarding recent government reshuffles, Tsiskarishvili stated that Kakha Kaladze and Irakli Kobakhidze are part of the same internal group within Georgian Dream.

“All these officials being dismissed from somewhere and brought into the cabinet are ultimately puppets of Bidzina Ivanishvili and the Russian government. So these reshuffles have no meaningful or substantive significance.

Whatever intrigue is unfolding in the corridors, whichever faction currently holds more power at Ivanishvili’s and the Kremlin’s court, determines who gets dismissed or promoted. Kaladze and Kobakhidze are seen as a group, a clan, within Georgian Dream. At one point, they outmaneuvered others and brought in their own people.

At another point, they may have to step aside, resign, or even face worse. This has no practical value for our country,” Tsiskarishvili said.