“The stopwatch on the existence or non-existence of Georgia has been turned on, and amid the silence of the people and politicians, the country is rapidly moving toward a fatal outcome. Unless Ukraine’s victory, which is near, indeed saves us once again,” stated Mikheil Saakashvili, the third president of Georgia, who is serving a prison sentence.
On his Facebook page, the politician wrote that today part of the Georgian opposition remains silent, while another part has either sold out to the authorities or is living in fear. This was his reaction to the responses following Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s statement that the August 2008 war was unleashed by the “criminal Saakashvili regime.”
“The fact that in recent days we have overlooked incredibly treasonous statements, which essentially means a mass surrender to the enemy, is due to the following factors: the opposition, with rare exceptions, is inactive because criminal cases have been opened against them and they fear going to prison, or it has sold out, or it believes that defending Georgia plays into my hands, or it has simply stretched out on the beach or is resting abroad and couldn’t find the time to say anything at all.
Part of the public genuinely believes Russian propaganda, part are simply outright traitors, but the majority has nevertheless fallen into apathy and is waiting for the outcome of the war in Ukraine, as if with Ukraine’s victory, victory will be served to us on a silver platter, and Ivanishvili will vanish into thin air by himself. In addition, people see the opposition’s passivity and are therefore demotivated.”
According to the former president, Ivanishvili, acting on instructions from Moscow, is preparing the official recognition of the surrender of Georgian territories, and the public’s silent reaction has convinced him that there will be no one to raise their voice. Saakashvili is convinced that “to save his own skin, in the near future he [Ivanishvili] will certainly recognize Abkhazia and Tskhinvali as independent states (first by concluding a non-aggression agreement, and then through full recognition).”
Against this backdrop, according to the third president, the good news is that while Georgians have given up, “80% of Ukrainians, according to recent polls, believe in victory and are ready to endure for as long as it takes.”