'Russian nightmare is coming back to haunt' Georgia – Zurabishvili in Vilnius

VILNIUS – Georgia's fifth president, Salome Zurabishvili, warned that her country is facing an existential threat as a "Russian nightmare" resurfaces.

"Today, as Georgia faces one of the gravest threats to its democracy in modern history, I come not only to express gratitude but to call for action," Zurabishvili told the Lithuanian parliament in Vilnius on Tuesday. 

"This Russian nightmare, which we thought was part of history since our independence, is coming back to haunt us in the 21st century," she said.

Zurabishvili thanked Lithuania for its long-standing support in Georgia's fight for independence and Euro-Atlantic integration, as well as its backing during the 2008 war with Russia. 

"But now, the crisis in Georgia has escalated beyond electoral fraud, beyond a mere political crisis," she said.  

According to Zurabishvili, the ruling Georgian Dream party "tries to consolidate its power at any cost to compensate for the popular support that has started eroding".  

"We are confronting something of a different nature, which we can only qualify as an existential challenge, a usurpation of our destiny," she said.  

'REPRESSION IS THE ONLY AND EXCLUSIVE POLICY'

Zurabishvili said that journalists performing their duties and people expressing their civic positions are being subjected to repression. 

"They are being dragged into police stations, falsely accused, and sentenced under fabricated charges," the former president said.

"They can be sentenced to 11 years in prison just for peaceful protests," she said.

Protesters are also slapped with massive fines to cripple them financially.

Non-governmental organizations receiving international funding "face suffocating restrictions" under the so-called foreign agents law, according to Zurabishvili. 

"The ruling party that leads these endless repressions, is, in fact, not governing the country; there is no economic policy, no foreign policy beyond attempts at hand shaking, no positive measures or policies that would aim at making the country more effective, more stable, solving social issues, or preventing the looming economic and financial crisis," the former president said.

"Repression has become the only and exclusive policy," she added.  

'PART OF BROADER STRATEGY TO PUSH NATO, EU OUT OF BLACK SEA' 

Zurabishvili said that the situation in Georgia is a test for all of Europe.

"The events unfolding in my country are part of a much larger plan – one orchestrated by Moscow to reestablish its control over the Black Sea, the Caucasus, and even Europe’s access to Central Asia," she said.

"The Black Sea is becoming a battleground. Russia is expanding its military presence in Ochamchire, in occupied Abkhazia, turning it into a naval base that will further project Russian power into the region. This, combined with its continued militarization of Crimea and its attacks on Odesa, is part of a broader strategy to push NATO and the EU out of the Black Sea entirely". 

According to Zurabishvili, if Georgia falls fully into Russia's sphere of influence, the Caucasus will be cut off from European integration, Armenia, which is striving for closer ties with the West, will be left vulnerable, and Russia will gain full control over this strategic region.

"Central Asia is also concerned. If Georgia falls, Europe will lose its last direct transit route to Central Asia, ceding economic and political influence to Russia and China," she said, warning that "the consequences will be irreversible".

Zurabishvili stressed that Europe must act now and that the EU and NATO cannot passively watch what is unfolding in Georgia. She said alleged election manipulation should be subjected to scrutiny.

"Europe should take a closer look at the financial networks supporting this regime, which are today helping Russia to turn Georgia into a sanctions evasion hub," she said.  

Zurabishvili called not only for sanctions against Georgian officials but also for linking them to conditions and timeframes, keeping them in place until new elections are held, pursuing a policy of non-recognition of the current government, and strengthening Georgia's civil society.

"The European Union should express more support for what is the only known stable and peaceful way out of the current stand-off between the ruling party and the protests that enter their fifth month: new elections in a free and fair environment," the former president said. 

She emphasized that there is no alternative to new elections – otherwise, a new crisis will not only threaten Georgia but the entire region.

ELECTION RESULTS NOT RECOGNIZED

Georgian Dream claimed victory in last October's parliamentary elections, which the opposition dismissed as rigged.

Last December, for the first time, Georgians did not elect their president by direct vote. Instead, the president was chosen by an electoral college controlled by Georgian Dream. 

Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former footballer and far-right politician loyal to the ruling party, was sworn in as Georgia's new president in late December.  

Zurabishvili rejected the results of both the parliamentary and presidential elections, declaring herself the "only legitimate president" and vowing to fight against Georgian Dream.

Tens of thousands of Georgians took to the streets in protest against what they saw as rigged parliamentary and illegitimate presidential elections. Authorities attempted to disperse the protests, using violence against demonstrators.

Georgian Dream has also frozen Georgia's EU accession talks. Human rights activists in Georgia have accused the government of drifting toward authoritarianism and drawing the country closer to Russia's sphere of influence.

Lithuania and other Western nations have condemned the actions of the Georgian government.

The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry has told BNS that due to "severe and systematic human rights and fundamental freedoms violations, as well as repression against the people of Georgia", 102 politicians and officials from the South Caucasus country are currently banned from entering Lithuania.