Newly elected president of Georgia: this is not the time to be friends with Russia
The newly elected president of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili stated that she had never talked about cooperation with Russia, reported BBC.
“This is not a balance. I know that it was mistakenly said about me that I want balance… this is also fake news because I never talked about cooperation with Russia” she said.
According to her, in the near future Georgia would not be able to move to cooperation with Russia.
“I think that as long as Russia behaves like this on the occupation line, where they abduct people every day, and while this line, this constant threat, moves deep into our territory, ever closer to Tbilisi, and also considering how Russia is behaving towards Ukraine now, I don’t think that as of today we can start cooperation,” she added.
According to her, Georgia is a pro-European country.
“I don’t think there is a balance here. We are the West, we are Europe, we are pro-European. If the West, Europe, or our American partners start a dialogue with Russia in some form, we too will be close, we will follow them, as long as our principles, our sovereignty, and territorial integrity is respected,” Zurabishbilli summarized.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko congratulated Salome Zurabishvilli with the victory at the presidential election in Georgia.
According to the results of the votes counted, 1.1 million votes (59.52%) voted for Zurabishvilli. Her opponent Grigol Vashadze received 780.6 thousand votes (40.48%).