Ukrainian ambassador to Georgia: Georgia’s told Moscow it still remembers the occupation

“Moscow has received a clear signal from Georgia that it has not forgiven anything, that no one has forgotten the occupation,” said Ambassador Igor Dolgov in an interview with InterpressNews.

In the interview, Dolgov talks about State Duma MP Gavrilov’s visit, the anti-occupation rallies and Saakashvili

Protest demonstrations have gone on for more than a month now in Tbilisi in front of the parliament where, in addition to the resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs, one of the main slogans is ‘No to Russian occupation.’

The rallies began after Russian communist MP Sergei Gavrilov delivered a speech in the Georgian parliament from the seat of the speaker. Gavrilov was taking part in the parliamentary assembly of Orthodox countries, which was being held in the building of the Georgian parliament.

On the same day, many thousands of people came out onto the street in front of the parliament demanding explanations from the Georgian authorities about how a Russian deputy, who does not recognise the territorial integrity of Georgia, came to the chair of the parliament.

On June 20, during the speech of Gavrilov, the Ambassador of Ukraine was present in the meeting room of the parliament, who soon left the hall in protest.

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Dolgov says that it was unacceptable for him to listen to a Russian MP “who voted for the annexation of Crimea, who voted to give Putin the right to use troops on the territory of Ukraine, who represents the Russian Duma, who also supported and recognized the so-called “independence” of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.”

Dolgov says that he understands the people who have gone outside to protest Gavrilov’s visit.

“The appearance of a representative of the State Duma in Georgia, in the capital of the country, twenty percent of which is occupied by the Russian Federation, could not be considered commonplace. This caused protests and demonstrations.” 

Dolgov said that what happened the next day and night “is already the modern history of Georgia.”

“Moscow received a clear signal that nothing has been forgotten, no one has forgotten about the occupation and that Georgia is not ready to accept that the territory of the country has been occupied. The same applies to Ukraine”. the ambassador said.

In the interview, he also touches on Mikheil Saakashvili.

The Ambassador of Ukraine to Georgia says that the Saakashvili factor will not affect the attitude of two countries: Georgia and Ukraine.

The ambassador noted that Saakashvili is a single citizen:

“The population of Ukraine is 42 million, Saakashvili is one of them there. The population of Georgia is about 4 million and here, he was one of many. Why exaggerate the role of a single citizen?” said Dolgov to Interpressnews.