Due to Moscow's continued presence in Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgia has no intentions of re-establishing diplomatic relations with Russia, stated the country's prime minister on Sunday.
“We have no diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation. We are just pursuing a pragmatic policy towards Russia,” Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced at a press briefing.
In response to a journalist’s question about the possibility of Georgia restoring ties with Moscow, Kobakhidze replied: “No, no, no. There are no plans in this respect because 20% of our territory [Abkhazia and South Ossetia] is occupied by the Russian Federation.”
Since Russia’s defeat of Tbilisi in a five-day war in 2008, Moscow has provided military, diplomatic, and economic support to Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
The war led to a diplomatic break between the two countries, and formal diplomatic relations have not been re-established.
Kobakhidze’s remarks came after a parliamentary election considered critical for determining whether Georgia would pursue European Union membership, with observers reporting significant violations.
The ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory with nearly 54% of the vote on Sunday, though opposition parties dispute this result.
Earlier this year, Georgia witnessed mass protests against what opposition members perceived as government attempts to restrict democratic freedoms and pivot away from a pro-Western stance toward a closer alignment with Russia.
Since coming to power in 2012, Georgian Dream initially pursued a liberal, pro-Western agenda.
However, in the past two years, this approach has shifted.
Their campaign leaned on a conspiracy narrative involving a "global war party" purportedly controlling Western institutions with intentions to drag Georgia into the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
In a nation still marked by the scars of Russia's 2008 invasion, Georgian Dream warned of an imminent threat of war, claiming only they could prevent it.
The party’s contentious "foreign influence" law, seen as targeting civil society, sparked weeks of protests and was condemned as a Kremlin-style tactic aimed at suppressing dissent.
The legislation led to Brussels freezing Georgia’s EU accession process, while Washington imposed sanctions on numerous Georgian officials.
