MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. Georgia and Russia are interested in improving relations and have groundwork in place to make that happen following the election in the Caucasus nation, said Andrei Bystritsky, chairman of the board at the Foundation for the Development and Support of the Valdai International Discussion Club.
He was commenting in the wake of Saturday's parliamentary elections in Georgia and statements of the country’s current president, Salome Zourabichvili, who said the outcome of the election is tantamount to subjugating Georgia to Russia. The analyst warned against hasty conclusions about the prospects of Russia-Georgia relations, but said there is certain potential for improvement.
"Objectively, both the Georgian side and Russia are interested in the development of relations, so they are of a reasonable economic nature. And Georgia realizes that over the past two years, under the existing conditions, Georgia has been making a lot of money thanks to Russia. As I understand, some Russian businesses can also function with the help of Georgia. So objectively there is a basis for an improvement of relations. But it is hard to say how it will play out in the political domain," he said.
Bystritsky pointed to the ruling Georgian Dream party, which supports relations with Russia and opposes sanctions against Russia. It won 54.08% of the vote, according to the ballot count, giving it the right to form a cabinet single-handedly, but this drew a sharp reaction from the opposition. All opposition parties that won seats in the parliament refuse to recognize the election results, and Zourabichvili called for holding a major protest in the center of Tbilisi on Monday. According to the analyst, this threatens to split Georgian society and there are no guarantees that the situation will remain within "more or less legal boundaries."
"So far, we see that no agreement has been reached in the country, with the opposition venting its complaints about the election. So there is some impending confrontation in Georgian society. And we have no clue how it will develop. We can only speculate," he said. "In general, as we know, the leadership of the Georgian Dream is behaving with restraint and making statements about normalization of relations with Western countries. The statements on Russia are positive."
Election outcome
Georgia held its parliamentary election on Saturday, with 18 parties involved, including the ruling Georgian Dream — Democratic Georgia party, which has been in power for 12 years. According to the latest data from the country’s Central Electoral Commission, the ruling party secured 54.08% of the vote, allowing the Georgian Dream to form a government independently. Additionally, the Coalition for Change (10.92%), the Unity — National Movement (10.12%), the Strong Georgia coalition (8.78%), and the Gakharia For Georgia party (7.76%) have also won seats in parliament, while other parties failed to surpass the five-percent election threshold.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected accusations that Russia meddled in the Georgian election, but stated that many European forces sought to influence the vote and did not even hide that as they made public statements.