Georgia’s ruling party calls Kiev’s recall of ambassador from Tbilisi unjustified.
QUICK FACTS:
- Ukraine’s decision to recall its ambassador from Georgia is unjustified and unacceptable, the head of the ruling party Irakli Kobakhidze said on Tuesday, according to RT News.
- Kiev made the move after Georgia would not allow a plane to pick up volunteers for Ukraine’s war against Russia.
- “This decision is unacceptable and unjustified, given all that Georgia has done for Ukraine in recent days,” said Kobakhidze, who leads the ruling party Georgian Dream—Democratic Georgia, RT notes.
- But Kobakhidze also pledged not to continue to criticize the government in Kiev, given the hostile situation in Ukraine.
- Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili had said last week that the republic would not join the sanctions imposed by Western countries against Russia.
WHAT ELSE GEORGIA SAID:
- The chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze, defended his government’s stance as a pragmatic one, Eurasianet reports.
- “Sending fighters to Ukraine means getting directly involved in the war,” Kobakhidze said. “The Georgian government had to act responsibly.”
BACKGROUND:
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced earlier on Tuesday he was pulling the ambassador back to Kiev for consultations.
- Zelenskyy accused Georgia of obstructing volunteers who wanted to fight for Ukraine and an “immoral” position about sanctions.
- Moscow ordered troops into Ukraine on Feb 23, calling it a special operation to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine and protect the newly recognized Donbass republics.
- Ukraine has accused Russia of unprovoked invasion and received support from the West in the form of moral condemnations, sanctions against Russia, and weapons, RT notes.
