Georgian outgoing president calls for immediate EU support before it's too late

euronews (in English)

In an interview with Euronews, Salomé Zourabichvili asked EU countries to avoid 'business as usual' with the Georgian government, as 'Russia is experimenting a new form of invasion' in the country.

Transcript

00:00The pro-European president of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, won't leave office the day her

00:08term ends in late December.

00:10She considers the newly elected president, the pro-Russian former football player Mikhail

00:14Kavelashvili, not to be legitimate.

00:17That was one of her main messages during her intervention at the European Parliament.

00:22My legitimacy, in a way, comes from my election, and it comes from the illegitimacy of the

00:29recent elections, and it comes from the trust and confidence of the population.

00:35It doesn't depend on a building, or on a security apparatus, or on anything material that they

00:42will or will not provide.

00:46Zurabishvili claims that the elections were manipulated through several systems, such

00:49as ballot stuffing, intimidation, or buying voters.

00:52I mean, there are many, many ways in these countries in which you can buy the fidelity,

00:59the loyalty of people, which is not really fraud, but it's administrative resource.

01:08But the president thinks Georgia is not at risk of a traditional Russian invasion, due

01:12to the lack of resources from Moscow and their military presence in some Georgian territory.

01:18But she does fear something else.

01:20Russia is experimenting a new form of invasion, a hybrid invasion, through elections, through

01:27proxies, through authoritative government or persons.

01:32Zurabishvili, who has been president of Georgia since 2018, hopes the EU will act to avoid

01:38Russia deciding the foreign policy of the bloc.

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