Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili accused Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky of meddling in his country’s political situation by commenting on protests there last week, prompting an angry response from Kyiv.
During the protests against a “foreign agents” law that critics said signaled an authoritarian shift in Georgia, Zelensky thanked protesters for waving Ukrainian flags, saying it showed respect, and he wished Georgians “democratic success.”
Last Friday, Georgia’s parliament dropped the bill, which had threatened to harm Tbilisi’s bid for closer ties with Europe. Critics had said it was inspired by a 2012 Russian law that has been used widely to crack down on dissent in Russia.
“When a person who is at war... responds to the destructive action of several thousand people here in Georgia, this is direct evidence that this person is involved, motivated to make something happen here too, to change,” Garibashvili said in an interview with the Georgian IMEDI television broadcast on Sunday, referring to Zelensky.
“I want to wish everyone a timely end to this war, and peace,” Garibashvili added.
However, Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson Oleh Nikolenko accused Garibashvili of repeating “Russian propaganda” by suggesting that Kyiv sought to draw Georgia into its conflict with Moscow.
“We categorically reject such claims, which have nothing to do with reality. The Georgian authorities are looking for an enemy in the wrong place,” Nikolenko said on Facebook on Monday.
“Ukraine has been and will remain a friend of the Georgian people, whom we do not wish to stop (in their task of) building a European future.”
Despite Garibashvili’s comments, Georgian public opinion is strongly pro-Ukrainian and anti-Russian. Georgia fought its own brief war with Russia in 2008 over the status of two Moscow-backed breakaway regions, Azkhazia and South Ossetia.
Georgia and Ukraine both aspire to join the European Union one day.
Georgian PM tells Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky not to meddle in his country
https://arab.news/98fes
Georgian PM tells Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky not to meddle in his country
- Volodymyr Zelensky thanks protesters for waving Ukrainian flags, saying it showed respect, and he wished Georgians ‘democratic success’
- ‘When a person who is at war... responds to the destructive action of several thousand people here in Georgia, this is direct evidence that this person is involved’
IAEA board meets over Ukraine nuclear safety concerns
- The war in Ukraine “continues to pose the world’s biggest threat to nuclear safety,” Grossi said
- The mission will assess 10 substations “crucial to nuclear safety,” according to Grossi
VIENNA: The UN nuclear watchdog’s board of governors on Friday discussed nuclear safety in Ukraine, with several countries expressing “growing concern” following Russian attacks on the power grid.
Energy supplies to Ukraine’s nuclear plants have been affected as Russia has pounded its neighbor’s power sector since the start of its 2022 invasion, prompting fears of a nuclear disaster.
The war in Ukraine “continues to pose the world’s biggest threat to nuclear safety,” Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said when opening the board meeting.
The extraordinary meeting that lasted four hours was called after 13 countries led by the Netherlands expressed in a letter seen by AFP a “growing concern about the severity and urgency of nuclear safety risks” following a series of attacks.
Ukrainian ambassador Yurii Vitrenko told reporters before the meeting that it was “high time” for the IAEA board to discuss the situation.
A weeks-long IAEA expert mission to Ukrainian substations and power plants is under way and expected to wrap up next month, Vitrenko said.
The mission will assess 10 substations “crucial to nuclear safety,” according to Grossi.
Russian Ambassador Mikhail Ulyanov dismissed the board’s gathering as “absolutely politically motivated,” adding there was “no real need to hold such a meeting today.”
Last week, Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant temporarily lost all off-site power.
Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, occupied by Russian forces since March 2022, has also been repeatedly affected by fighting.
Earlier this month, Russia and Ukraine agreed to a localized ceasefire to allow repairs on the last remaining backup power line supplying Zaporizhzhia.
The line was damaged and disconnected as a result of military activity in early January.
The Zaporizhzhia plant’s six reactors have been shut down since the occupation. But the site still needs electricity to maintain its cooling and security systems.
Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of risking a nuclear catastrophe by attacking the site.
