Plebiscite in Georgia on opening a "second front": How serious is it?
Plebiscite on a “second front”
Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party Irakli Kobakhidze says the Ukrainian government is trying to drag Georgia into the war. High-ranking Kyiv officials can’t hide their desire to open a second front in Georgia so that it gets involved in the war.
Kobakhidze has therefore put forward the idea of holding a plebiscite wherein the people of Georgia will be asked if they want to open a second front in Georgia.
“We can hold a plebiscite and ask people whether they want to open a second front in Georgia or not. Do they agree with the top leadership of Ukraine, or with our position not to open a second front,” Kobakhidze said.
This statement from Kobakhidze was taken as irony aimed at the Georgian opposition, and no one is seriously considering the possibility of a plebiscite on the matter, but it statement received much more attention in the Russian media.
“Georgia allows referendum on second front against Russia.”
“The ruling party of Georgia is responding to Kyiv’s call to open a second front,” Russian media write.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Georgian authorities have maintained that “certain forces” [meaning Ukraine and the West] want to “open a second front” in Georgia and drag the country into war.
To underscore this theory, four members of the parliamentary majority formally left the ruling party and their parliamentary positions on June 28 to “freely speak the truth”, and later founded the “People’s Power” movement.
The deputies who left Georgian Dream soon published their first statement, which opponents of the government assessed as an anti-Western conspiracy theory. According to former deputies, the European Union will not grant Georgia candidate status “unless it enters a war or imposes sanctions on Russia.”
The deputies openly accuse US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan of putting pressure on the government and on oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili in order to drag Georgia into the war. Degnan met with Ivanishvili, who currently does not hold any official position, allegedly for this purpose.
The letter was published by Bidzina Ivanishvili himself. He confirmed that he met with the US ambassador to Georgia. As Ivanishvili explains, the meeting took place at the request of the ambassador on March 21 and “lasted about three hours.” However, Ivanishvili did not specify what he discussed with the American ambassador.
Kelly Degnan also confirmed the meeting with Ivanishvili. The ambassador explained that they had never discussed Georgia’s participation in the war. According to Degnan, their meetings have always focused on the US-Georgia strategic partnership and American efforts to support the development of the economy, security and democracy in Georgia.
Plebiscite on a “second front”
