‘Kremlin puppet dictator’ warning as appointed president Mikheil Kavelashvili takes over in Georgia
Georgian opposition figures have warned that the country is at risk of becoming a pro-Kremlin dictatorship like Belarus as an ultra-nationalist politician was inaugurated as president.
Georgian opposition figures have warned that the country is at risk of becoming a pro-Kremlin dictatorship like Belarus as an ultra-nationalist politician was inaugurated as president.
Mikheil Kavelashvili, who once played professional football in Britain, was directly elected in parliament this month by a 300-seat electoral college dominated by MPs from Georgian Dream, the ruling party – the first time a president had been appointed by officials rather than the people.
Mr Kavelashvili was the only candidate on the ballot.
“I am your personal president,” Mr Kavelashvili appeared to tell Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire and the country’s most powerful figure, in a video from the ceremony.
Mr Ivanishvili, who has accused a Western “global party of war” of trying to drag Georgia into the conflict in Ukraine, made his fortune in banking and metals in Russia in the early 2000s.
Protesters outside parliament flashed red cards, a reference to Mr Kavelashvili’s football career that included a spell at Manchester City in the 1990s. About half a dozen people were arrested, adding to the hundreds detained in earlier protests.
As Mr Kavelashvili was being sworn in on Sunday, outgoing pro-Western president Salome Zourabichvili announced that she was refusing to stand down.
Speaking to thousands of supporters outside the Orbeliani Palace in the capital of Tbilisi, Ms Zourabichvili said parliamentary elections in October had been rigged with Moscow’s help, meaning that MPs had no right under law to appoint a new president.
“I remain the only legitimate president,” she said to wild cheering from a crowd waving Georgian and EU flags.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze had threatened her with “many years of imprisonment” if she refused to vacate the premises. However, as tensions increased, Ms Zourabichvili told the crowd the palace was merely a symbol of her power.
“I will leave the presidential palace and stand with you, carrying with me the legitimacy, the flag and your trust,” she said. Moments later, she stepped out of the gates of the palace for the last time.
Opposition figures say that if the country’s slide is not reversed, Georgia will transform into an authoritarian, pro-Kremlin dictatorship like Belarus, the former Soviet state that is President Vladimir Putin’s biggest ally in Europe.
Russia, which has occupied one-fifth of Georgia since 2008, has tanks only 50km from Tbilisi.
“There remains the hope that this can still be turned around,” Tina Bokuchava, head of the United National Movement opposition party, said.
“The fear that Georgia may become a Russian proxy in the style of Belarus has been a key driver in bringing protesters on to the streets night after night in such vast numbers for a month now.
“Like Belarus, Georgia is currently governed by an illegitimate parliament, which in turn is controlled by a Russian puppet, Bidzina Ivanishvili.”
Mr Ivanishvili was targeted by US sanctions on Friday.
Imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili welcomed the sanctions, but said they were not enough to bring down Georgia’s ruling party.
“The sanctions that have been introduced are wounding the beast, but not killing it,” he wrote from his prison cell. “If protesters don’t achieve new elections now, Georgia will become worse than Belarus for the simple reason that so many more people have resisted here, which means so many more will be repressed.”
The Times
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