The chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, Irakli Kobakhidze, accused the United National Movement and "its satellite parties, media outlets, commercial entities affiliated with it, and some of the wealthiest civil society organisations" of harbouring xenophobic attitudes toward Russian citizens and waging a chauvinistic campaign.
From his point of view, these organisations are attempting to persuade the public that Russians have entered Georgia in unprecedented numbers and that this poses severe challenges to the country through the gross fabrication of facts. In his speech, he cited an event from March in which a young Russian woman was stoned. These organisations want to inflame animosity towards Russian citizens, which should lead to an escalation of events through the xenophobic campaign. All of this is done to somehow draw Georgia into the armed confrontation," he added.
The Chairman of the ruling party also criticised Public Defender Nino Lomjaria for responding 10 days late to a xenophobic campaign launched in March by the United National Movement. "This individual participates actively in political processes. She aspires to be a politician despite her lack of popularity," he said.
"Those who pushed the country toward war were forced to back down because of the healthy and quick response of society. Right now they are trying to do indirectly what they couldn't do directly with a xenophobic campaign," said MP Kobakhidze.
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