TBILISI, September 18. /TASS/. External forces are seeking to use Georgia and Ukraine to advance their own interests through the local opposition, Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party and Mayor of Tbilisi Kakha Kaladze told reporters.
"The so-called opposition, agents without a homeland, have been reduced to nothing. Society sees everything. The people of our country know who is who. They know that the opposition is engaged in hostile activities against the country. They are trying to carry out orders from abroad. Of course, this is not for the good of the homeland, because their foreign patrons have their own interests. They want to use countries such as Georgia and Ukraine to advance their own interests," Kaladze said.
Georgia’s relations with the EU and the United States began to deteriorate after the country’s parliament passed a foreign agents law in May 2024. In late 2024, the Georgian legislature passed a law banning LGBT propaganda (the LGBT movement is designated as extremist and banned in Russia). The two laws led Western countries to conclude that Georgia had moved away from European values and was no longer pursuing integration with the EU. The United States and EU countries subsequently began imposing sanctions on Georgian officials.
The West was also dissatisfied with the results of the parliamentary elections held on October 26, 2024. The ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party won the elections, but the opposition and former President Salome Zourabichvili refuse to recognize the results.