"Someone seems to want to damage Georgian-Ukrainian relations," says Ukraine's Acting Chargé d'Affaires
Problems in Georgian-Ukrainian relations
Ukraine’s Acting Chargé d’Affaires in Georgia, Mykhailo Kharyshyn, told InterPressNews that it seems someone wants to damage Georgian-Ukrainian relations.
Kharyshyn also explained the reasons for Ukraine’s recall of its ambassador from Georgia. The diplomat clarified that when the Ukrainian president’s decree on the appointment of an ambassador was being prepared, the then prime minister of Georgia used strange rhetoric. According to him, this coincided with the “performance” of anti-Ukrainian and pro-Russian forces near the Ukrainian embassy in Georgia, which featured offensive banners and slogans against Ukraine.
“Unfortunately, soon after, some other Georgian politicians, including representatives of government structures and the parliamentary corps, resorted to similar rhetoric. It seems that someone is trying to spoil the once exemplary relations between Georgia and Ukraine. Naturally, as a state that respects itself and other states, like any other normal country, Ukraine could not ignore these facts,” Kharyshyn said in an interview.
On March 1, 2022, after a charter flight for volunteers wishing to go to Ukraine was canceled and due to the “immoral stance” on sanctions, president Volodymyr Zelensky recalled the Ukrainian ambassador from Georgia for consultations.
On March 31 of the same year, Zelensky signed a decree recalling the ambassadors from Georgia and Morocco.
According to Kharyshyn, Ukraine is not opposed to having diplomatic relations with Georgia at the ambassadorial level, although, he says, it is necessary to avoid negative factors and tendencies for that to happen:
“In Ukraine, we always emphasize and adhere to the principle that civil society must be a participant and the main force in resolving all important public issues in the country. Without society, without volunteers, it would have been very difficult for us at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, when the entire society united.”
According to the Ukrainian representative, in this context, in April, when the “well-known events” were happening in Georgia [massive civil protests against the “foreign agents” law], the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry clearly stated that among the rights that should be protected by countries that consider themselves European and aspire to join European structures, citizens have the right to peaceful protest.
“Based on this, Ukraine cannot support the ‘foreign agents’ law in its current form. This law, at the very least, needs to be revised or completely repealed, as most European countries suggest.
Ukraine has already experienced similar episodes in its history. This happened at the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014 when the Verkhovna Rada, dominated by the ruling Party of Regions, passed laws restricting the freedoms of Ukrainians, known as the ‘draconian laws.’
This sparked massive outrage among Ukrainian society. The Party of Regions disappeared forever, and along with it, the then-President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, fled in disgrace.
So, that is our approach in this regard,” Kharyshyn responded to a journalist’s question about whether Georgia had deviated from its Euro-Atlantic course.
The temporary chargé d’affaires of Ukraine in Georgia also spoke about the imprisonment of Mikheil Saakashvili, stating that the “factor of Mr. Saakashvili” is important for the development of relations with Georgia. He mentioned that “regarding the unclear statements about a grand conspiracy,” such claims cannot serve as a basis for the extradition of former high-ranking officials.
He noted that since April 2022, Ukraine has been awaiting a response from the Georgian Ministry of Justice to a request for the necessary documents to discuss the issue of transferring Mikheil Saakashvili to Ukraine.
“Some representatives of the Georgian government make unclear statements such as ‘grand conspiracy,’ ‘party of global war,’ and ‘Masonic conspiracies.’ These statements are more political in nature and cannot objectively serve as a basis for considering the responsibility of specific individuals or their possible extradition from one country to another.
This doesn’t only concern Ukraine. Similar statements are made about several European countries, and they involve the same individuals mentioned in the context of Ukraine. If we are discussing a particular issue, there must be clearly defined legal grounds,” said Mykhailo Kharyshyn.
Guram Macharashvili, a deputy from the People’s Power party, commented on Mykhailo Kharyshyn’s statement, saying that the fact that the Ukrainian authorities recalled their ambassador and cut off relations at the ambassadorial level without any reason is a regrettable situation.
According to Macharashvili, the Ukrainian government unilaterally made baseless and anti-Georgian decisions.
“We assert that we provided Ukraine with every possible support, except for one thing — we could not assist in the killing of women and children, which they asked of us. We did everything else and provided all possible assistance to the Ukrainian authorities. We participated in approximately 400 international actions.
Unfortunately, there were unilateral, unfounded, and anti-Georgian decisions made by the Ukrainian authorities. If the situation changes, we will continue to support the Ukrainian state as we did before. However, those unclear, mistaken, and anti-Georgian decisions remain absolutely unacceptable,” Macharashvili stated.
